2 Kings 9:1-37
9 And the prophet Elishaʽ called one of the members of the prophets’ fellowship and said to him “Belt yourself up and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-Gilead;
2 * and when you get there find out Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi there, and go in and have him get up from among his mates, and take him into a closet
3 and take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say ‘Says Jehovah, I anoint you king over Israel,’ and open the door and be off without waiting.”
4 And the young man (the prophet) went to Ramoth-Gilead,
5 and when he got there he found the captains of the army sitting together, and said “I have an errand to you, captain.” And Jehu said “To which of us all?” and he said “You, captain”;
6 and he rose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head and said to him “Says Jehovah the God of Israel, I anoint you king over Israel, Jehovah’s people;
7 and you shall kill off the family of your master Ahab, and I will make Jezebel
8 and all Ahab’s family pay for the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Jehovah-worshipers, and will exterminate every male person that belongs to Ahab, barred and unbarred in Israel,
9 and make Ahab’s family like the families of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and Baʽasha the son of Ahijah;
10 and Jezebel the dogs shall eat on Jezreʽel common, with nobody burying her”—and he opened the door and was off.
11 And Jehu went out to the officers, and they said to him “Is everything all right? how came this lunatic to come to you?” And he said to them “You know the man and his concern.”
12 And they said “You lie; tell us.” And he said “He said like this to me: ‘Says Jehovah, I anoint you king over Israel.’”
13 And in haste they took their cloaks and laid them under him on the bare steps and blew the ram-horn and said “Jehu is king!”
14 And Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi organized a revolution against Joram. Joram had been in garrison at Ramoth-Gilead, he and all Israel, for fear of King Hazael of Syria;
15 but Joram had gone back to recover at Jezreʽel from the wounds the Syrians had given him in his fighting with King Hazael of Syria.
And Jehu said “If it is your mind, let nobody get out of the city to go and tell at Jezreʽel”;
16 and Jehu rode off to Jezreʽel, for Joram was abed there, and King Ahaziah of Judah had come down to see Joram.
17 And there was a watchman standing on the tower at Jezreʽel; and he saw Jehu’s cloud of dust as he came, and said “I see a cloud of dust”; and Joram said “Get a chariot-rider and send him to meet them and say “Is all well?”
18 And a pony-rider went to meet him and said “Says the king, Is all well?” and Jehu said “What business of yours is all’s being well? turn in behind me.” And the watchman reported “The messenger came to them and did not come back”;
19 and he sent a second pony-rider, and he came to them and said “Says the king, All well?” and Jehu said “What business of yours is all’s being well? turn in behind me.”
20 And the watchman reported “He came to them and did not come back; and the driving is like Jehu the son of Nimshi’s driving, for he drives furiously.”
21 And Joram said “Harness!” and his chariot was harnessed, and King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah went out in their chariots to meet Jehu. And they met him on Naboth the Jezreʽelite’s lot;
22 and when Joram saw Jehu he said “Is all well, Jehu?” and he said “What is all well while your mother Jezebel’s loose living and witchcraft go on at such a rate?”
23 And Joram turned his ponies and fled, saying to Ahaziah “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
24 * but Jehu drew an arrow to the head and hit Joram between the shoulders, the arrow coming out at his heart, and he collapsed in his chariot.
25 And he said to his adjutant Bidkar “Take him up and throw him into Naboth the Jezreʽelite’s lot; because I remember you and I were riding paired behind his father Ahab, and Jehovah pronounced this sentence on him,
26 ‘I did see the blood of Naboth and of his sons yesterday, quoth Jehovah, and I will pay you back in this lot, quoth Jehovah’; now take him up and throw him into the lot as Jehovah said.”
27 And King Ahaziah of Judah saw it and fled toward Beth-hag-Gan; and Jehu pursued him and said “Him too,” and they hit him in the chariot going up Gur Hill near Ibleam; and he got away to Megiddo, and died there.
28 And his officers took him to Jerusalem in the chariot and buried him in his grave in David’s City.
29 It was in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab that Ahaziah came to the throne of Judah.
30 And Jehu came to Jezreʽel; and Jezebel had heard, and she put antimony round her eyes and did up her hair and looked out of the window
31 as Jehu was coming in at the gate, and said “Is all well, Zimri that killed his master?”
32 And he turned up his face to the window and said “Who is with me, who?” and two or three eunuchs looked out.
33 And he said “Fling her down”; and they flung her down, and drops of her blood splashed on the wall and on the ponies, and they trampled her.
34 And he went in and ate and drank, and said “Look after that cursed creature and bury her, because she was a princess”;
35 and they went to bury her, but found nothing of her but the skull and legs and hands.
36 And they went back and told him, and he said “It is Jehovah’s prediction that he made by Elijah the Tishbite, ‘On the common of Jezreʽel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel;
37 and Jezebel’s carcass shall be like dung lying out on the range, nobody saying “This is Jezebel.”’”
Footnotes
^ 9:2 Lit. into a room in a room
^ 9:24 Lit. Jehu filled his hand on the bow and hit Joram between the arms
