CHAPTER 9
Now Elisha
the prophet
summoned
one
of the sons
of the prophets
and said
to him,
“Tuck your cloak
under your belt,
take
this
flask
of oil,
and go
to Ramoth-gilead.
When you arrive,
look
for Jehu
son
of Jehoshaphat,
the son
of Nimshi.
Go in,
get him away
from
his companions,
and take
him to an inner room.
Then take
the flask
of oil,
pour
it on
his head,
and declare,
‘This is what
the LORD
says:
I anoint
you king
over
Israel.’
Then open
the door
and run.
Do not
delay!”
and when he arrived,
the army
commanders
were sitting
there.
“I have a message
for you,
commander,”
he said.
“For
which
of us?”
asked
Jehu.
“For you,
commander,”
he replied.
So Jehu got up
and went
into the house,
where the young prophet poured
the oil
on
his head
and declared,
“This is what
the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
says:
‘I anoint you
king
over
the LORD’s
people
Israel.
And you are to strike down
the house
of your master
Ahab,
so that I may avenge
the blood
of My servants
the prophets
and
all
the servants
of the LORD
shed by the hand
of Jezebel.
The whole
house
of Ahab
will perish,
and I will cut off
from Ahab
all the males
in Israel,
both slave
and free.
And
the dogs
will eat
Jezebel
on the plot of ground at
Jezreel,
and there will be no one
to bury her.’”
Then the young prophet opened
the door
and ran away.
When Jehu
went out
to
the servants
of his master,
they asked,
“Is everything all right?
Why
did this
madman
come
to you?”
“You
know
the sort
and their babble,”
he replied.
“That is a lie!”
they said.
“Tell us!”
So Jehu answered,
“He talked
to me
about this
and that,
and he said,
‘This is what
the LORD
says:
I anoint
you king
over
Israel.’”
Quickly,
each man
took
his garment
and put it
under Jehu
on
the bare
steps.
Then they blew
the trumpet
and proclaimed,
“Jehu
is king!”
Thus Jehu
son
of Jehoshaphat,
the son
of Nimshi,
conspired
against
Joram.
(Now Joram
and all
Israel
had been
defending
Ramoth-gilead
against
Hazael
king
of Aram,
but King
Joram
had returned
to Jezreel
to recover
from
the wounds
he had suffered
at the hands of the Arameans
in the battle
against
Hazael
their king.)
So Jehu
said,
“If
you commanders wish to make me king,
then do not
let anyone
escape
from
the city
to go
and tell it
in Jezreel."
Then Jehu
got into his chariot
and went
to Jezreel,
because
Joram
was laid up
there
and Ahaziah
king
of Judah
had gone down
to see
him.
Now the watchman
standing
on
the tower
in Jezreel
saw
Jehu’s
troops
approaching,
and he called out,
“I
see
a company of troops!”
“Choose
a rider,”
Joram
commanded.
“Send him out
to meet them
and ask,
'Have you come in peace?'”
So a horseman
rode off
to meet Jehu
and said,
“This is what
the king
asks:
‘Have you come in peace?’”
“What
do you
know about peace?”
Jehu
replied.
“Fall in
behind me.”
And the watchman
reported,
“The messenger
reached
them,
but he is not
coming back.”
So the king sent out
a second
horseman,
who went
to them
and said,
“This is what
the king
asks:
‘Have you come in peace?’”
“What
do you
know about peace?”
Jehu
replied.
“Fall in
behind me.”
Again the watchman
reported,
“He reached
them,
but he is not
coming back.
And the charioteer
is driving like
Jehu
son
of Nimshi—
he drives
like a madman.”
“Harness!”
Joram
shouted,
and they harnessed
his chariot.
Then Joram
king
of Israel
and Ahaziah
king
of Judah
set out,
each
in his own chariot,
and met
Jehu
on the property
of Naboth
the Jezreelite.
When Joram
saw
Jehu,
he asked,
“Have you come in peace,
Jehu?”
“How
can there be
peace,”
he replied,
“as long as
the idolatry
and witchcraft
of your mother
Jezebel abound?”
Then Jehu
drew
his bow
and shot
Joram
between
the shoulders.
The arrow
pierced
his heart,
and he slumped down
in his chariot.
And Jehu said
to
Bidkar
his officer,
“Pick him up
and throw him
into the field
of Naboth
the Jezreelite.
For
remember that
when you
and I
were riding
together
behind
his father
Ahab,
the LORD
lifted up
this
oracle
against him:
‘As surely
as I saw
the blood
of Naboth
and the blood
of his sons
yesterday,
declares
the LORD,
so will I repay
you on this
plot of land,
declares
the LORD.’
Now then,
according to the word
of the LORD,
pick him up
and throw him
on the plot of land.”
When King
Ahaziah
of Judah
saw this,
he fled
up the road
toward Beth-haggan.
And Jehu
pursued him,
shouting,
“Shoot
him
too!”
So they shot Ahaziah in
his chariot
on the Ascent
of Gur,
near Ibleam,
and he fled
to Megiddo
and died
there.
Then his servants
carried him by chariot
to Jerusalem
and buried
him
with his fathers
in his tomb
in the City
of David.
Now when Jehu
arrived
in Jezreel,
Jezebel
heard of it.
So she painted
her eyes,
adorned
her head,
and looked down
from
a window.
And as Jehu
entered
the gate,
she asked,
“Have you come in peace,
O Zimri,
murderer
of your master?”
He looked up
at
the window
and called out,
“Who
is on my side?
Who?”
And two
or three
eunuchs
looked down
at him.
“Throw her down!”
yelled Jehu.
So they threw her down,
and her blood
splattered
on
the wall
and on
the horses
as they trampled her underfoot.
Then Jehu went in
and ate
and drank.
“Take care of
this
cursed woman,”
he said,
“and bury her,
for
she was
the daughter
of a king.”
But when they went out
to bury her,
they found
nothing but
her skull,
her feet,
and the palms
of her hands.
So they went back
and told
Jehu,
who replied,
“This
is the word
of the LORD,
which
He spoke
through
His servant
Elijah
the Tishbite:
‘On the plot of land
at Jezreel
the dogs
will devour
Jezebel’s
flesh.
And Jezebel’s
body
will lie
like dung
in the field
in the plot
at Jezreel,
so that
no one
can say:
This
is Jezebel.’”