2 Kings 9

¹ The prophet Elisha summoned one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.

² When you arrive, look there for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi. Go in, have him rise from among his companions, and take him to an inner chamber.

³ Then take the flask, pour the oil on his head, and say, 'Thus says the LORD: I anoint you king over Israel.' Open the door and flee—do not delay!"

⁴ So the young prophet went to Ramoth-gilead.

⁵ When he arrived, the army commanders were sitting together. He said, "I have a word for you, commander." Jehu asked, "For which of us?" He said, "For you, commander."

⁶ So Jehu rose and went inside. The young man poured the oil on his head and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anoint you king over the people of the LORD—over Israel.

⁷ You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the LORD shed by Jezebel.

⁸ The whole house of Ahab shall perish. I will cut off from Ahab every male—slave or free—in Israel.

⁹ I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.

¹⁰ As for Jezebel, the dogs will devour her in the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her." Then he opened the door and fled.

¹¹ When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, they said to him, "Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?" He said to them, "You know the man and his talk."

¹² But they said, "That is not true—tell us." So he said, "This is what he said to me: 'Thus says the LORD: I anoint you king over Israel.'"

¹³ They each quickly grabbed his cloak and spread it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and announced, "Jehu is king!"

¹⁴ So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram, along with all Israel, had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,

¹⁵ but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Jehu said, "If this is your wish, let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel."

¹⁶ Then Jehu rode in his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there wounded. Ahaziah king of Judah had also come down to visit Joram.

¹⁷ The watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel spotted Jehu's company approaching and said, "I see a company!" Joram said, "Take a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him ask, 'Is it peace?'"

¹⁸ So the horseman rode out to meet him and said, "The king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Jehu replied, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!" The watchman reported, "The messenger reached them but is not coming back."

¹⁹ Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, "The king asks, 'Is it peace?'" Jehu answered, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me!"

²⁰ The watchman reported, "He reached them but is not coming back either. The driving is like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a madman!"

²¹ "Harness the horses!" said Joram. They harnessed his chariot, and Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of Naboth the Jezreelite.

²² When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, "Is it peace, Jehu?" He answered, "What peace—while the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her many sorceries continue?"

²³ Joram turned around and fled, crying out to Ahaziah, "Treachery, Ahaziah!"

²⁴ But Jehu drew his bow with full strength and shot Joram between the shoulders; the arrow pierced his heart and he sank down in his chariot.

²⁵ Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, "Pick him up and throw him into the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember: when you and I were riding side by side behind Ahab his father, the LORD pronounced this oracle against him:

²⁶ 'Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons—declares the LORD—and I will repay you in this very plot,' declares the LORD. Now pick him up and throw him into the plot, in accordance with the word of the LORD."

²⁷ When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him and said, "Strike him down too!" They struck him in his chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is near Ibleam. But he fled to Megiddo and died there.

²⁸ His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the City of David.

²⁹ Ahaziah had become king over Judah in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab.

³⁰ When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it. She painted her eyes, arranged her hair, and looked down from a window.

³¹ As Jehu entered the gate, she said, "Is it peace, you Zimri, you murderer of your master?"

³² He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.

³³ He said, "Throw her down!" So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her underfoot.

³⁴ Jehu went inside and ate and drank. Then he said, "See to that cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter."

³⁵ But when they went to bury her, they found nothing left of her except the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands.

³⁶ They came back and told him. He said, "This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: 'In the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel,

³⁷ and the body of Jezebel will be like dung on the surface of the field in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, \"This is Jezebel.\"'"