2 KingsChapter 9

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¹Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets. He said to him, "Tuck your cloak into your belt. Take this flask of oil and go to Ramoth-gilead. ²When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in and get him away from his friends. Take him into an inner room. ³Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head. Say, 'This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run. Don't wait!" ⁴So the young prophet went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵When he got there, the army commanders were sitting together. "I have a message for you, commander," he said. "For which one of us?" Jehu asked. "For you, commander," he answered. ⁶So Jehu got up and went into the house. The young prophet poured the oil on his head. He said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over the LORD's people Israel. ⁷You are to strike down the family of your master Ahab. In this way I will pay back Jezebel for the blood of my servants the prophets. I will pay her back for the blood of all the LORD's servants that she spilled. ⁸The whole family of Ahab will die. I will cut off every male in Israel from Ahab's family, both slave and free. ⁹I will make Ahab's family like the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat. I will make it like the family of Baasha son of Ahijah. ¹⁰As for Jezebel, the dogs will eat her on the piece of land at Jezreel. No one will bury her.'" Then the young prophet opened the door and ran. ¹¹Jehu went back out to his master's officers. They asked him, "Is everything all right? Why did this crazy man come to you?" "You know that kind of man and the way they babble," he answered. ¹²"That's a lie!" they said. "Tell us now!" So Jehu answered, "He told me this and that. He said, 'This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.'" ¹³Right away, each man took off his cloak and spread it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram's horn and shouted, "Jehu is king!" ¹⁴So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, made a secret plan against Joram. (Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram. ¹⁵But King Joram had gone back to Jezreel to heal. The Arameans had wounded him in the battle against Hazael their king.) Jehu said, "If you commanders want me to be king, don't let anyone slip out of the city. Don't let anyone go and tell about this in Jezreel." ¹⁶Then Jehu got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel. Joram was lying there hurt. And Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him. ¹⁷A watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel. He saw Jehu's troops coming. He called out, "I see a group of soldiers!" Joram ordered, "Choose a rider. Send him out to meet them. Have him ask, 'Do you come in peace?'" ¹⁸So a horseman rode out to meet Jehu. He said, "The king asks, 'Do you come in peace?'" "What do you have to do with peace?" Jehu answered. "Get in line behind me." The watchman reported, "The messenger reached them, but he isn't coming back." ¹⁹So the king sent out a second horseman. He went to them and said, "The king asks, 'Do you come in peace?'" "What do you have to do with peace?" Jehu answered. "Get in line behind me." ²⁰Again the watchman reported, "He reached them, but he isn't coming back. And the man driving the chariot drives like Jehu son of Nimshi. He drives like a madman!" ²¹"Get my chariot ready!" Joram shouted. So they got his chariot ready. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot. They met Jehu at the land that had belonged to Naboth from Jezreel. ²²When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, "Do you come in peace, Jehu?" Jehu answered, "How can there be peace? Your mother Jezebel's idol worship and witchcraft are everywhere!" ²³Joram turned his chariot around and ran away. He called out to Ahaziah, "It's a trap, Ahaziah!" ²⁴Then Jehu pulled back his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow went through his heart. He fell down in his chariot. ²⁵Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, "Pick him up. Throw him into the field of Naboth from Jezreel. Remember when you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab? Back then the LORD spoke this message of judgment against him: ²⁶'Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the LORD. And as surely as I saw it, I will pay you back on this piece of land, declares the LORD.' So now, pick him up and throw him on that piece of land, just as the LORD said." ²⁷When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he ran away up the road toward Beth-haggan. Jehu chased him. He shouted, "Shoot him too!" So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the road up to Gur, near Ibleam. He escaped to Megiddo and died there. ²⁸His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem. They buried him with his ancestors in his tomb in the City of David. ²⁹(Ahaziah had become king over Judah in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab.) ³⁰Then Jehu came to Jezreel. Jezebel heard about it. So she painted her eyes and fixed her hair. Then she looked down from a window. ³¹As Jehu came through the gate, she asked, "Do you come in peace, you Zimri, you murderer of your master?" ³²Jehu looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. ³³"Throw her down!" Jehu shouted. So they threw her down. Some of her blood splashed on the wall and on the horses. And the horses trampled her. ³⁴Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. He said, "Take care of this cursed woman. Bury her, because she was a king's daughter." ³⁵But when they went out to bury her, they found only her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands. ³⁶So they went back and told Jehu. He said, "This is what the LORD said through his servant Elijah the Tishbite. He said, 'On the piece of land at Jezreel, dogs will eat Jezebel's body. ³⁷Jezebel's body will be like dung on the field at Jezreel. No one will be able to say, This is Jezebel.'"