2 Kings 9

9 ¹ Elisha 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." ² On arrival, find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, get him up from his companions, and take him to a back room.

³ Take 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.

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

⁶ Jehu 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." ⁷ Strike 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. ⁸ Ahab's whole house will die. I'll cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, slave or free. ⁹ I will make Ahab's house like Jeroboam son of Nebat's and like Baasha son of Ahijah's. ¹⁰ As for Jezebel, dogs will eat her in the plot at Jezreel, with no one to bury her.' " Then he opened the door and fled.

¹¹ Jehu 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.'"

¹³ They hurried, each spreading his cloak under him on the bare steps, blew the trumpet, shouting, "Jehu is king!"

Jehu Strikes Down Joram and Ahaziah

¹⁴ Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram, who with all Israel had guarded Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram, ¹⁵ But 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." ¹⁶ Jehu mounted his chariot and rode to Jezreel, where Joram lay. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see him. ¹⁷ When the watchman on Jezreel's tower saw Jehu's company coming, he called, "I see a company." Joram ordered, "Send a horseman to meet them: 'Is it peace?'"

¹⁸ The 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."

¹⁹ The 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."

²⁰ The 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 to meet Jehu, meeting him on Naboth the Jezreelite's field.

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

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

²⁴ Jehu drew his bow with full strength and struck Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he sank down in his chariot. ²⁵ Jehu 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.

²⁷ Ahaziah 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. ²⁸ His 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

³⁰ Jehu came to Jezreel. Jezebel heard, painted her eyes, fixed her hair, and looked out the window. ³¹ As 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.

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

³³ "Throw her down!" So they did, and her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her.

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

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

³⁶ They 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.' ³⁷ Jezebel's body will lie like manure on the field at Jezreel, so none can say, "This is Jezebel."'"