9:1 The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead.
9:2 When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room.
9:3 Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, ‘This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run; don’t delay!”
9:4 So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead.
9:5 When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said. “For which of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander,” he replied.
9:6 Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the LORD’S people Israel.
9:7 You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the LORD’S servants shed by Jezebel.
9:8 The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel–slave or free.
9:9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.
9:10 As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.’” Then he opened the door and ran.
9:11 When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” “You know the man and the sort of things he says,” Jehu replied.
9:12 “That’s not true!” they said. “Tell us.” Jehu said, “Here is what he told me: ‘This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”
9:13 They hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”
9:14 So 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,
9:15 but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) Jehu said, “If this is the way you feel, don’t let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.”
9:16 Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.
9:17 When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, he called out, “I see some troops coming.” “Get a horseman,” Joram ordered. “Send him to meet them and ask, ‘Do you come in peace?’”
9:18 The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’” “What do you have to do with peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.” The lookout reported, “The messenger has reached them, but he isn’t coming back.”
9:19 So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’” Jehu replied, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”
9:20 The lookout reported, “He has reached them, but he isn’t coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi–he drives like a madman.”
9:21 “Hitch up my chariot,” Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite.
9:22 When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
9:23 Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
9:24 Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot.
9:25 Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, “Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the LORD made this prophecy about him:
9:26 ‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the LORD, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the LORD.”
9:27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, “Kill him too!” They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there.
9:28 His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.
9:29 (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)
9:30 Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window.
9:31 As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?”
9:32 He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
9:33 “Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
9:34 Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of that cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.”
9:35 But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands.
9:36 They went back and told Jehu, who said, “This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.
9:37 Jezebel’s body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, ‘This is Jezebel.’”
9:1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
9:2 And when you arrive there, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi; and go in and make him rise up from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner room.
9:3 Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, Thus says Jehovah, I have anointed you king over Israel. Then open the door and flee, and do not delay.
9:4 So the young man, the prophet s attendant, went to Ramoth-gilead.
9:5 And when he came, there the captains of the army were sitting. And he said, I have a word for you, O captain. And Jehu said, To which one of all of us? And he said, To you, O captain.
9:6 And he rose up and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, I have anointed you king over the people of Jehovah, over Israel.
9:7 And you shall strike the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah at the hand of Jezebel.
9:8 And the whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond and free, in Israel;
9:9 And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah;
9:10 And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the lot of Jezreel, and there will be none to bury her. Then he opened the door and fled.
9:11 And when Jehu came out to the servants of his master, someone said to him, Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you? And he said to them, You know the man and his ranting.
9:12 And they said, That is a lie; please tell us. And he said, Thus and thus he said to me, saying, Thus says Jehovah, I have anointed you king over Israel.
9:13 Then they moved quickly; and every man took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps; and they blew the trumpet and said, Jehu is king!
9:14 And Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had been defending Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael the king of Syria,
9:15 But Jehoram the king returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him when he fought Hazael the king of Syria). And Jehu said, If this is your desire, let no fugitive depart from the city and go and tell it in Jezreel.
9:16 So Jehu rode off in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying ill there. And Ahaziah the king of Judah had come down to see Joram.
9:17 And the watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel and saw Jehu s multitude as he came, and he said, I see a multitude. And Jehoram said, Take a horseman, and send him to meet them; and let him say, Is there peace?
9:18 So the horseman went to meet him and said, Thus says the king, Is there peace? And Jehu said, What do you have to do with peace? Turn behind me. And the watchman reported, saying, The messenger went to them but did not return.
9:19 And he sent out a second horseman; and he came to them and said, Thus says the king, Is there peace? And Jehu said, What do you have to do with peace? Turn behind me.
9:20 And the watchman reported, saying, He went to them but did not return; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, because he drives furiously.
9:21 And Jehoram said, Yoke the chariot! And someone yoked his chariot. And Jehoram the king of Israel and Ahaziah the king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu; and they found him in the lot of Naboth the Jezreelite.
9:22 And when Jehoram saw Jehu, he said, Is there peace, Jehu? And he said, What peace can there be, so long as the harlotries and sorceries of Jezebel your mother are so many?
9:23 And Jehoram turned the reins and tried to flee. And he said to Ahaziah, Treachery, Ahaziah!
9:24 And Jehu drew his bow with full strength and struck Jehoram between his arms; and the arrow went through his heart, and he sank down in his chariot.
9:25 And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, Take him up, and throw him in the lot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how you and I were riding together behind Ahab his father, and Jehovah uttered this oracle against him:
9:26 Surely I have seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares Jehovah; and I will repay you in this lot, declares Jehovah. And now, take him up and throw him in the lot, according to the word of Jehovah.
9:27 And Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this and fled toward the garden house; and Jehu pursued after him and said, Strike him too in his chariot. So they struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo and died there.
9:28 And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave with his fathers in the city of David.
9:29 And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.
9:30 And Jehu came to Jezreel; and Jezebel heard of it. And she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and she looked out the window.
9:31 And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, Is all well, Zimri, you murderer of your master?
9:32 And he lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? And two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
9:33 And he said, Throw her down. And they threw her down. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her.
9:34 And he came in, and ate and drank, and said, Attend now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king s daughter.
9:35 But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than her skull and her feet and the palms of her hands.
9:36 And they returned and reported it to him. And he said, This is the word of Jehovah, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the lot of Jezreel the dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel;
9:37 And the corpse of Jezebel will be like dung upon the surface of the field in the lot of Jezreel, so that they will not say, This is Jezebel.