2 Kings 9

Jehu Is Anointed King

1Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Gird up your waist, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead. 2When you arrive there, look there for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, make him rise from among his brothers, and bring him into an inner room. 3Take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: I have anointed you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not wait.” 4So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-Gilead. 5He came, and look, the commanders of the army were sitting. He said, “I have a word for you, commander.” Jehu said, “For which of us?” He said, “For you, commander.” 6He arose and went into the house. The young man poured the oil upon his head and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. 7You will strike the house of Ahab your lord, so that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the LORD from the hand of Jezebel. 8The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and 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 in the territory of Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.

Jehu’s Officers Proclaim Him King

11Jehu came out to the servants of his lord, and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and his talk.” 12But they said, “A lie! Please tell us.” So he said, “Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: I have anointed you king over Israel.’” 13Then they hurried, and each took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps. They blew the ram’s horn and said, “Jehu is king!”

Jehu Rides to Jezreel

14So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram had been guarding Ramoth-Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Aram. 15Yet King Joram had returned to Jezreel to be healed from the wounds that the Arameans had struck him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram.

Jehu said, “If this is your desire, let no fugitive leave the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.” 16Then Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see Joram.

Joram Goes Out to Meet Jehu

17The watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw Jehu’s company as he came and said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’” 18So the rider on the horse went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me.” The watchman reported, saying, “The messenger came to them but does not return.” 19Then he sent a second rider on a horse. He came to them and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me.” 20The watchman reported, saying, “He came to them but does not return, and the driving is like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives like a madman.” 21Joram said, “Harness!” So his chariot was harnessed. Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot. They went out to meet Jehu and found him in the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.

Jehu Kills Joram

22And it happened when Joram saw Jehu that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He said, “What peace, as long as the prostitutions of Jezebel your mother and her sorceries are so many?” 23Then Joram turned his hands and fled and said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!” 24Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and struck Joram between his arms. The arrow went out through his heart, and he sank down in his chariot. 25Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Lift him and throw him into the field belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember when you and I rode together behind Ahab his father, and the LORD lifted up this pronouncement against him: 26‘Surely I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,’ says the LORD, ‘and I will repay you in this field,’ says the LORD. And now, lift him and throw him into the field according to the word of the LORD.”

Jehu Kills Ahaziah

27When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu pursued him and said, “Strike him also!” They struck him in the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo and died there. 28His servants carried him in the chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the city of David. 29In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah became king over Judah.

Jezebel Dies

30Jehu came to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard, she painted her eyes, arranged her head, and looked out through the window. 31As Jehu entered the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of his lord?” 32He lifted his face to the window and said, “Who is with me? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down to him. 33He 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. 34He went in and ate and drank. Then he said, “Attend now to this cursed woman 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 the LORD that he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘In the territory of Jezreel the dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel, 37and the corpse of Jezebel will be like dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that they will not say, “This is Jezebel.”’”