2 Kings

¹The prophet Elisha summoned one of the members of the group of prophets. 'Tuck your cloak into your belt,' he said. 'Take this flask of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth-gilead.'

²When you get there, 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.

³Then take the flask and pour 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 wait.'

⁴So the young prophet went to Ramoth-gilead.

⁵When he arrived, the army officers were sitting together. He said, 'I have a message for you, commander.' Jehu asked, 'For which of us?' He replied, 'For you, commander.'

⁶Jehu got up and went inside. The prophet poured 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.'

⁷You will strike down 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.

⁸The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off every male in Israel belonging to Ahab — slave and free alike.

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 the prophet opened the door and ran.

¹¹When Jehu went back out to his master's officers, one of them asked, 'Is everything all right? Why did this crazy fellow come to you?' He replied, 'You know the man and the kind of things he says.'

¹²They said, 'That's not true. Tell us.' So he said, 'He told me this: This is what the LORD says — I anoint you king over Israel.'

¹³Immediately each of the officers took his cloak and spread it under Jehu at the top of the steps. They blew the trumpet and shouted, 'Jehu is king!'

¹⁴So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, plotted against Joram. At the time Joram and all of Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram.

¹⁵But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had received from the Arameans during the battle with Hazael king of Aram. Jehu said, 'If this is what you want, don't let anyone slip out of the city to go tell the news in Jezreel.'

¹⁶Then Jehu got in his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there. Ahaziah king of Judah had also gone down to see Joram.

¹⁷The watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel spotted Jehu's troops approaching and announced, 'I see some troops coming.' Joram ordered, 'Get a horseman, send him to meet them, and have him ask, Do you come in peace?'

¹⁸The horseman rode out to meet Jehu and said, 'The king asks: Do you come in peace?' Jehu replied, 'What do you know about peace? Fall in behind me.' The watchman reported, 'The messenger reached them but isn't coming back.'

¹⁹So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, 'The king asks: Do you come in peace?' Jehu replied, 'What do you know about peace? Fall in behind me.'

²⁰The watchman reported, 'He reached them but isn't coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi — he drives like a madman.'

²¹Get my chariot ready,' Joram ordered. When it was ready, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out in their own chariots to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth of Jezreel.

²²When Joram saw Jehu he asked, 'Do you come in peace, Jehu?' He replied, 'How can there be peace as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?'

²³Joram turned around and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, 'Treachery, Ahaziah!'

²⁴Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot.

²⁵Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, 'Pick him up and throw him into the field that belonged to Naboth of Jezreel. Remember when you and I were riding side by side behind his father Ahab, how the LORD pronounced this prophecy against him:'

²⁶Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, says the LORD, and I will surely repay you on this very plot of ground. So pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the LORD.'

²⁷When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth-haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, 'Kill him too!' They shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the road to Gur near Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo and died there.

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

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

³⁰Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she put on eye makeup, arranged her hair, and looked down from a window.

³¹As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, 'Have you come in peace, you murderer of your master?'

³²He looked up at the window and called out, 'Who is on my side? Who?' Two or three court officials looked down at him.

³³Throw her down!' he said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses as she was trampled by them.

³⁴Jehu went in, ate and drank, and then said, 'Take care of that cursed woman and bury her, for she was a king's daughter.'

³⁵But when they went to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet, and her hands.

³⁶They 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.'

³⁷Jezebel's body will be like dung on the surface of the ground in the plot of Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say: Here is Jezebel.'