2 Kings 9

9 ¹Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets: "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil, and go to Ramoth-gilead. ²On arrival, find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, get him up from his companions, and take him to a back room.

³Take the oil flask, pour it on his head, and say, 'This is what our Father says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Open the door, flee—don't delay."

⁴So the young man, the prophet's servant, went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵On arrival, the army commanders sat together. "I have a message for you, commander," he said. "For which of us?" Jehu asked. "For you, commander."

⁶Jehu got up and went inside. The young man poured the oil on his head, saying, "This is what our Father, the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over my people, over Israel. ⁷Strike down the house of Ahab your master, so I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets and of all who serve me. ⁸Ahab's whole house will die. I'll cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, slave or free. ⁹I will make Ahab's house like Jeroboam son of Nebat's and like Baasha son of Ahijah's. ¹⁰As for Jezebel, dogs will eat her in the plot at Jezreel, with no one to bury her.' " Then he opened the door and fled.

¹¹Jehu went out to his master's officers. One asked, "All well? Why did this madman come to you?" "You know the man and his kind of talk," he said.

¹²"That's a lie!" they said. "Tell us." He said, "He told me: 'This is what our Father says: I anoint you king over Israel.'"

¹³They hurried, each taking his cloak and spreading it under him on the bare steps. They blew the trumpet and shouted, "Jehu is king!"

Jehu Strikes Down Joram and Ahaziah

¹⁴Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram, who with all Israel had guarded Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram, ¹⁵but King Joram had gone back to Jezreel to heal from wounds the Arameans gave him fighting Hazael king of Aram. So Jehu said, "If you agree, let no one escape the city to report it in Jezreel." ¹⁶Jehu mounted his chariot and rode to Jezreel, where Joram lay. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see him. ¹⁷When the watchman on Jezreel's tower saw Jehu's company coming, he called, "I see a company of men." "Get a horseman," Joram ordered. "Send him to meet them and ask, 'Is it peace?'"

¹⁸The horseman rode to Jehu: "The king asks, 'Is it peace?'" "What's peace to you?" said Jehu. "Fall in behind me." The watchman reported, "The messenger reached them but isn't returning."

¹⁹The king sent a second horseman. He reached them: "The king asks, is it peace?" Jehu replied, "What's peace to you? Fall in behind me."

²⁰The watchman reported, "He reached them but isn't returning. The driving is like Jehu son of Nimshi's—he drives like a madman."

²¹"Hitch up my chariot," Joram ordered. Ready, Israel's King Joram and Judah's King Ahaziah each drove out in his own chariot to meet Jehu, meeting him on Naboth the Jezreelite's field.

²²Seeing Jehu, Joram asked, "Peace, Jehu?" He replied, "What peace, while your mother Jezebel's countless prostitutions and witchcraft continue?"

²³Joram wheeled around and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, "Treachery, Ahaziah!"

²⁴Jehu drew his bow with full strength and struck Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he sank down in his chariot. ²⁵Jehu told his officer Bidkar, "Lift him and throw him on the plot of Naboth the Jezreelite's field. Remember, when you and I rode together behind his father Ahab, our Father laid this oracle on him:

²⁶'Surely I saw Naboth's blood and his sons' blood yesterday, declares our Father, and I will repay you on this very plot.' Now pick him up and throw him on that plot, as the word of our Father said."

²⁷Ahaziah king of Judah saw this and fled up the Beth-haggan road. Jehu chased him, ordering, "Shoot him too!" They struck him in the chariot on the climb to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there. ²⁸His servants drove him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the City of David. ²⁹(In Joram son of Ahab's eleventh year, Ahaziah became king over Judah.).

The Father's Word Against Jezebel

³⁰Jehu came to Jezreel. Jezebel heard, painted her eyes, fixed her hair, and looked out the window. ³¹As Jehu came through the gate, she asked, "Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?" ^a a v31 Jezebel taunts Jehu by calling him "Zimri" — an army officer who murdered his king to seize Israel's throne, then died within days; she is branding Jehu a doomed traitor.

³²He looked up at the window and shouted, "Who's with me? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.

³³"Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her.

³⁴Jehu went in, ate and drank, then said, "See to this cursed woman and bury her; she was a king's daughter."

³⁵Going to bury her, they found only the skull, feet, and palms of her hands.

³⁶They went back and told Jehu. He said, "This is our Father's word through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: 'In the plot at Jezreel dogs will eat Jezebel's flesh. ³⁷Jezebel's body will lie like manure on the field at Jezreel, so none can say, "This is Jezebel."'"