2 Kings 9

1Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, "Gird your loins, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead."

2When you come there, look there for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi, go in and make him arise from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner chamber.

3Take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, "This is what Yahweh says: I have anointed you king over Israel." Then open the door, flee, and do not wait.

4The young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.

5He came, and behold, the army captains were sitting; he said, "A word from me to you, O captain." Jehu said, "To which of us all?" He said, "To you, O captain."

6He arose and went into the house, poured the oil on his head, and said to him, "This is what Yahweh, God of Israel, says: I have anointed you king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel."

7You shall strike the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh at the hand of Jezebel.

8All of Ahab's house will be destroyed. I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, both the confined and the free in Israel.

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

10The dogs will eat Jezebel on Jezreel's plot, and there will be none to bury her. He opened the door and fled.

11Jehu went out to his master's servants, and one said to him, "Is it well? Why did this madman come to you?" He said to them, "You know the man and his talk."

12They said, "It's false. Tell us now." He said, "He said to me like this and like this: 'Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel.'"

13They hastened and each took his garment and placed it under him on the top of the stairs, then blew the trumpet, saying, "Jehu is king."

14Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram, who with all Israel was guarding Ramoth-Gilead because of Hazael king of Syria.

15King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Syrians inflicted on him when he fought Hazael king of Syria, and Jehu said, “If you're willing, let no fugitive escape from the city to go report it in Jezreel.”

16Jehu rode off to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.

17The watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel spotted Jehu's band as he approached and said, "A band—I see it." Joram said, "Fetch a chariot driver and send him to meet them, and have him say, 'Is it peace?'"

18A horseman went out to meet him and said, "Thus declares the king: Is it peace?" Jehu replied, "What is peace to you? Wheel around behind me!" The watchman reported, saying, "The messenger reached them, but he has not returned."

19He sent a second horseman, who came to them and said, "Thus says the king, 'Peace?'" Jehu replied, "What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me!"

20The watchman reported, "He reached them but is not returning. The driving matches Jehu son of Nimshi's driving, for he drives madly."

21Joram said, "Harness!" They harnessed his chariot. Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, to meet Jehu, and they found him in the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.

22When Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" Jehu answered, "What peace, so long as your mother Jezebel's whoredoms and her witchcrafts abound?"

23Joram turned his hands and fled, saying to Ahaziah, "Treachery, Ahaziah!"

24Jehu drew his bow with full strength in his hand and struck Joram between his arms; the arrow came out from his heart, and he sank down in his chariot.

25He said to Bidkar his captain, "Lift him up and hurl him into the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, Yahweh issued this oracle against him."

26“Surely I have seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday,” declares Yahweh; “I will repay you on this plot,” declares Yahweh. Now therefore, take him and throw him onto the plot, according to the word of Yahweh.

27Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw it and fled toward the garden house along the road. Jehu pursued him and said, "Strike him too in the chariot!" They struck him at Gur's ascent, near Ibleam. He escaped to Megiddo and died there.

28His servants carried him to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave with his fathers in the city of David.

29In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah reigned over Judah.

30Jehu came to Jezreel, and when Jezebel heard, she applied paint to her eyes, adorned her head, and peered out through the window.

31Jehu entered the gate, and she said, "Peace, Zimri, killer of your master?"

32He lifted his face to the window and said, "Who is with me? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.

33He said, “Throw her down!” They threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and the horses. Then he trampled her.

34He came in, ate and drank, and said, “Attend to this cursed woman now and bury her, for she is a king's daughter.”

35They went to bury her, but they found nothing of her except the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands.

36They returned and told him. He said, "This is the word of Yahweh, which he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: 'Dogs will eat Jezebel's flesh on the plot of Jezreel.'"

37Jezebel's carcass will become like dung on the surface of the field in Jezreel's plot, so that they will not say, "This is Jezebel."