Jehu Anointed King
1Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tie up your garment, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. 2When you arrive, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his companions, and take him into an inner room. 3Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘This is what Yahweh says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee — do not wait.” 4So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5When he arrived, the commanders of the army were sitting together. He said, “I have a message for you, commander.” Jehu asked, “For which of us?” He said, “For you, commander.” 6Jehu got up and went into the house, and the young man poured the oil on his head and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: I anoint you king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel. 7You are to strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh, shed by Jezebel. 8The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, whether slave or free. 9I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. 10As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her in the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled. 11When Jehu came out to his master’s officers, one of them asked him, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and the sort of thing he says.” 12They said, “That’s not true — tell us.” So he said, “He told me this and that, saying, ‘This is what Yahweh says: I anoint you king over Israel.’” 13At once every man took his cloak, spread it under him on the bare steps, blew the trumpet, and shouted, “Jehu is king!”
Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah
14So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram, with all Israel, had been guarding Ramoth-gilead against Hazael, king of Aram, 15but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in his battle against Hazael, king of Aram. Jehu said, “If this is your will, do not let anyone slip out of the city to go report it in Jezreel.” 16Then Jehu got into his chariot and set out for Jezreel, for Joram was lying there, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, had gone down to visit Joram. 17The watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching and called out, “I see a troop coming.” Joram said, “Send a rider to meet them and ask, ‘Is it peace?’” 18So a rider on horseback went to meet him and said, “This is what the king says: Is it peace?” Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” The watchman reported, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.” 19So the king sent out a second rider on horseback, who came to them and said, “This is what the king says: Is it peace?” Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” 20The watchman reported, “He reached them, but he isn’t coming back either. And the driving looks like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi — he drives like a madman.” 21Joram ordered, “Get my chariot ready.” When it was ready, Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu, and they met him at the plot of land that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. 22When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Is it peace, Jehu?” Jehu answered, “How can there be peace as long as the idolatries of your mother Jezebel and her many sorceries persist?” 23Joram turned his chariot around and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Betrayal, Ahaziah!” 24But Jehu drew his bow with full strength and struck Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he collapsed in his chariot. 25Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Pick him up and throw him into the plot of land that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding side by side behind Ahab his father when Yahweh pronounced this judgment against him: 26‘I have surely seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons — declares Yahweh — and I will repay you on this very plot of ground — declares Yahweh.’ Now then, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground, in keeping with the word of Yahweh.” 27When Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw this, he fled toward Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Strike him down too!” And they struck him in his chariot at the ascent of Gur, near Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo and died there. 28His servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David. 29It was in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab that Ahaziah had become king over Judah.
The Death of Jezebel
30When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. She painted her eyes, arranged her hair, and looked out of a window. 31As Jehu entered the gate, she called out, “Did it go well for Zimri, who murdered his master?” 32He looked up at the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. 33He said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her underfoot. 34Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. Afterward he said, “See to that cursed woman and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.” 35But when they went to bury her, they found nothing of her except the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36They went back and told him, and he said, “This is the word of Yahweh that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘Dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel on the plot of ground at Jezreel. 37The corpse of Jezebel will be like dung on the face of the field in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, This was Jezebel.’”
