2 Kings 9:1–37

¹And E‧li′sha the prophet, for his part, called one of the sons of the prophets and then said to him: “Gird up your loins and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ra′moth‐gil′e‧ad.²When you have come in there, see Je′hu the son of Je‧hosh′a‧phat the son of Nim′shi there; and you must come in and make him get up from the midst of his brothers and bring him into the innermost chamber.³And you must take the flask of oil and pour it out upon his head and say, ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “I do anoint you as king over Israel.”’ And you must open the door and flee and not wait.”

⁴And the attendant, the prophet’s attendant, got on his way to Ra′moth‐gil′e‧ad.⁵When he came in, why, there the chiefs of the military force were seated. He now said: “There is a word I have for you, O chief.” At this Je′hu said: “For which one of all of us?” Then he said: “For you, O chief.”⁶So he got up and came into the house; and he proceeded to pour the oil out upon his head and say to him: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘I do anoint you as king over Jehovah’s people, that is, over Israel.⁷And you must strike down the house of A′hab your lord, and I must avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah at the hand of Jez′e‧bel.⁸And the whole house of A′hab must perish; and I must cut off from A′hab anyone urinating against a wall and any helpless and worthless one in Israel.⁹And I must constitute the house of A′hab like the house of Jer‧o‧bo′am the son of Ne′bat and like the house of Ba′a‧sha the son of A‧hi′jah.¹⁰And Jez′e‧bel the dogs will eat up in the tract of land at Jez′re‧el, and there will be no one burying her.’” With that he opened the door and went fleeing.

¹¹As for Je′hu, he went out to the servants of his lord, and they began to say to him: “Is everything all right? Why did this crazy man come in to you?” But he said to them: “YOU​ yourselves well know the man and his sort of talk.”¹²But they said: “It is false! Tell us, please.” Then he said: “It was like this and like that that he talked to me, saying, ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “I do anoint you as king over Israel.”’”¹³At this they hurriedly took each one his garment and put it under him upon the bare steps, and they began to blow the horn and say: “Je′hu has become king!”¹⁴And Je′hu the son of Je‧hosh′a‧phat the son of Nim′shi proceeded to conspire against Je‧ho′ram.

And Je‧ho′ram himself had happened to be keeping guard at Ra′moth‐gil′e‧ad, he with all Israel, because of Haz′a‧el the king of Syria.¹⁵Later Je‧ho′ram the king returned to get healed at Jez′re‧el from the wounds that the Syrians got to inflict upon him when he fought Haz′a‧el the king of Syria.

Je′hu now said: “If ​YOUR​ soul agrees, do not let anyone go out in escape from the city to go and make report in Jez′re‧el.”¹⁶And Je′hu began to ride and go to Jez′re‧el; for Je‧ho′ram was lying there, and A‧ha‧zi′ah the king of Judah himself had gone down to see Je‧ho′ram.¹⁷And the watchman was standing upon the tower in Jez′re‧el, and he got to see the heaving mass of Je′hu’s [men] as he was coming, and he at once said: “There is a heaving mass [of men] that I am seeing.” At that Je‧ho′ram said: “Take a cavalryman and send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is there peace?’”¹⁸Accordingly a rider on a horse went to meet him and said: “This is what the king has said, ‘Is there peace?’” But Je′hu said: “What do you have to do with ‘peace’? Get around to my rear!”

And the watchman went on to report, saying: “The messenger came as far as to them, but he has not returned.”¹⁹So he sent out a second rider on a horse, who, when he came to them, proceeded to say: “This is what the king has said, ‘Is there peace?’” But Je′hu said: “What do you have to do with ‘peace’? Get around to my rear!”

²⁰And the watchman went on to report, saying: “He came as far as to them, but he has not returned; and the driving is like the driving of Je′hu the grandson of Nim′shi, for it is with madness that he drives.”²¹At that Je‧ho′ram said: “Hitch up!” So his war chariot was hitched up and Je‧ho′ram the king of Israel and A‧ha‧zi′ah the king of Judah went out, each in his own war chariot. As they continued on out to meet Je′hu, they got to find him in the tract of land of Na′both the Jez′re‧el‧ite.

²²And it came about that as soon as Je‧ho′ram saw Je′hu, he immediately said: “Is there peace, Je′hu?” But he said: “What peace could there be as long as there are the fornications of Jez′e‧bel your mother and her many sorceries?”²³At once Je‧ho′ram made a turn with his hands, that he might flee, and said to A‧ha‧zi′ah: “There is trickery, A‧ha‧zi′ah!”²⁴And Je′hu himself filled his hand with a bow and proceeded to shoot Je‧ho′ram between the arms, so that the arrow came out at his heart, and he collapsed in his war chariot.²⁵He now said to Bid′kar his adjutant: “Lift him up; throw him into the tract of the field of Na′both the Jez′re‧el‧ite; for remember: I and you were riding teams behind A′hab his father, and Jehovah himself lifted up this pronouncement against him:²⁶‘“Certainly the blood of Na′both and the blood of his sons I saw yesterday,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “and I shall certainly repay you in this tract of land,” is the utterance of Jehovah.’ So now, lift him up; throw him into the tract of land according to the word of Jehovah.”

²⁷And A‧ha‧zi′ah the king of Judah himself saw it and took to flight by the way of the garden house. (Later Je′hu went in pursuit of him and said: “Him also! STRIKE​ him down!” So they struck him down while in the chariot on the way up to Gur, which is by Ib′le‧am. And he continued his flight to Me‧gid′do and got to die there.²⁸Then his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and so they buried him in his grave with his forefathers in the City of David.²⁹And it was in the eleventh year of Je‧ho′ram the son of A′hab that A‧ha‧zi′ah had become king over Judah.)

³⁰At length Je′hu came to Jez′re‧el, and Jez′e‧bel herself heard of it. And she proceeded to paint her eyes with black paint and do her head up beautifully and to look down through the window.³¹And Je′hu himself came in by the gate. She now said: “Did it go all right with Zim′ri the killer of his lord?”³²At that he raised his face toward the window and said: “Who is with me? Who?” Immediately two or three court officials looked down at him.³³So he said: “Let her drop!” Then they let her drop, and some of her blood went spattering upon the wall and upon the horses; and he now trampled upon her.³⁴After that he came on in and ate and drank and then said: “YOU​ men, please, take care of this accursed one and bury her, for she is the daughter of a king.”³⁵When they went to bury her, they did not find anything of her but the skull and the feet and the palms of the hands.³⁶When they returned and told him, he went on to say: “It is the word of Jehovah that he spoke by means of his servant E‧li′jah the Tish′bite, saying, ‘In the tract of land of Jez′re‧el the dogs will eat the flesh of Jez′e‧bel.³⁷And the dead body of Jez′e‧bel will certainly become as manure upon the face of the field in the tract of land of Jez′re‧el, that they may not say: “This is Jez′e‧bel.”’”