2 Kings 9

¹ The prophet Elisha summoned a member of the prophetic brotherhood to him, 'Hitch up your clothes,take this flask of oil, and go to Ramoth in Gilead.

² When you arrive there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Then, when you find him, telhim to get up and leave his companions, and take him into an inner room.

³ Take the flask of oil then and pour it over his head, and say, "Yahweh says this: I have anointed youking of Israel." Then open the door and flee as fast as you can.'

⁴ The young man left for Ramoth in Gilead

⁵ and when he arrived, found the senior officers of the army sitting together. 'I have a message for you,commander,' he said. 'For which of us?' asked Jehu. 'For you, commander,' he answered.

⁶ Jehu then got up and went into the house. And the young man poured the oil on his head, saying,'Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, "I have anointed you king of Yahweh's people, of Israel.

⁷ You wil strike down the family of Ahab your master, and I shal avenge the blood of my servants theprophets and al of Yahweh's servants, on Jezebel

⁸ and on the whole family of Ahab. I shal destroy every manjack of Ahab's family, fettered or free in Israel.

⁹ I shal make the House of Ahab like the House of Jeroboam son of Nebat and of Baasha son of Ahijah.

¹⁰ As for Jezebel, the dogs wil eat her in the field of Jezreel; no one wil bury her." ' With this, he openedthe door and made his escape.

¹¹ Jehu came out to his master's officers. 'Is al wel ?' they asked him. 'Why did this madman come toyou?' 'You know the fel ow and how he talks,' he answered.

¹² 'Evasion!' they cried, 'Come on, tell us.' He replied, 'He said this and that to me. He said, "Yahweh saysthis: I have anointed you king of Israel." '

¹³ Whereupon they all took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps; they sounded thetrumpet and shouted, 'Jehu is king!'

¹⁴ Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi plotted against Jehoram. (At the time, Jehoram, with al Israel,was holding Ramoth in Gilead against an attack by Hazael king of Aram,

¹⁵ but King Jehoram had gone back to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which he had received fromthe Aramaeans while he was fighting against Hazael king of Aram.) 'If you agree,' Jehu said, 'let no one leavethe town to go and take the news to Jezreel.'

¹⁶ Jehu then mounted his chariot and left for Jezreel; Jehoram had taken to his bed there, and Ahaziahking of Judah had gone down to visit him.

¹⁷ The lookout posted on the tower of Jezreel saw Jehu's troop approaching. 'I can see a body of men,'he shouted. Jehoram gave the order: 'Have a horseman sent to meet them and ask, "Is al wel ?" '

¹⁸ The horseman went to meet Jehu and said, 'The king says, "Is al wel ?" ' 'What has it to do with youwhether all is well?' Jehu replied. 'Fal in behind me.' The lookout reported, 'The messenger has reached themand is not coming back.'

¹⁹ The king sent a second horseman who reached them and said, 'The king says, "Is al wel ?" ' 'What hasit to do with you whether al is wel ?' Jehu replied. 'Fall in behind me.'

²⁰ The lookout reported, 'He has reached them and is not coming back. The manner of driving is like thatof Jehu son of Nimshi: he drives like a madman.'

²¹ 'Harness!' Jehoram cried; and they harnessed his chariot. Then Jehoram king of Israel and Ahaziahking of Judah, each in his chariot, set out to meet Jehu. They reached him in the field of Naboth of Jezreel.

²² As soon as Jehoram saw Jehu he asked, 'Is al wel , Jehu?' 'What a question!' he replied, 'when al thewhile the prostitutions and countless sorceries of your mother Jezebel go on.'

²³ At this, Jehoram wheeled and fled, saying to Ahaziah, 'Treason, Ahaziah!'

²⁴ But Jehu had drawn his bow; he struck Jehoram between the shoulder-blades, the arrow went throughthe king's heart, and he sank down in his chariot.

²⁵ 'Pick him up,' Jehu said to Bidkar, his equerry, 'and throw him into the field of Naboth of Jezreel.Remember how, when you and I manned a chariot together behind Ahab his father, Yahweh pronounced thissentence against him,

²⁶ "This I swear. Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons -- Yahweh says this. Andin this same field I shall requite you -- Yahweh says this." So pick him up, and throw him into the field, asYahweh declared should happen!'

²⁷ When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled along the Beth-ha-Gan road, but Jehu went in pursuit ofhim. 'Strike him down too,' he said. And they wounded him in his chariot at the slope of Gur, which is nearIbleam, and he took refuge in Megiddo, where he died.

²⁸ His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb in the City of David.

²⁹ Ahaziah had become king of Judah in the eleventh year of Jehoram son of Ahab.

³⁰ When Jehu went back to Jezreel, Jezebel was told. She made up her eyes with mascara, adorned herhead and appeared at the window.

³¹ As Jehu came through the gateway she said, 'How did Zimri get on after kil ing his master?'

³² Jehu looked up to the window and said, 'Who is on my side? Who?' And two or three officials lookeddown at him.

³³ 'Throw her down,' he said. They threw her down and her blood spattered the wal s and the horses; andJehu rode over her.

³⁴ He went in and ate and drank, then said, 'See to this accursed woman, and give her burial; after al ,she was a king's daughter.'

³⁵ But when they went to bury her, they found nothing but her skul , feet and hands.

³⁶ They came back and told Jehu, who said, 'This is the word of Yahweh which he spoke through hisservant Elijah the Tishbite, "The dogs wil eat the flesh of Jezebel in the field of Jezreel;

³⁷ the corpse of Jezebel wil be like dung spread on the fields, so that no one wil be able to say: This wasJezebel." '