Chapter 9
1 Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets , and said to him , " Put your belt on your waist , take this vial of oil in your hand , and go to Ramoth Gilead .
2 When you come there , find Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi , and go in and make him rise up from among his brothers , and take him to an inner room .
3 Then take the vial of oil , and pour it on his head , and say , ‘ Yahweh says , " I have anointed you king over Israel ."’ Then open the door , flee , and don’t wait ."
4 So the young man , the young prophet , went to Ramoth Gilead .
5 When he came , behold , the captains of the army were sitting . Then he said , " I have a message for you , captain ." Jehu said , " To which one of us?" He said , " To you , O captain ."
6 He arose , and went into the house . Then he poured the oil on his head , and said to him , " Yahweh , the God of Israel , says , ‘ I have anointed you king over the people of Yahweh , even over Israel .
7 You must strike your master Ahab’s house , that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets , and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh , at the hand of Jezebel.
8 For the whole house of Ahab will perish . I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall , both him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel .
9 I will make Ahab’s house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat , and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah.
10 The dogs will eat Jezebel on the plot of ground of Jezreel , and there shall be no one to bury her .’" Then he opened the door and fled .
11 When Jehu came out to the servants of his lord and one said to him , " Is all well ? Why did this madman come to you ?" He said to them , " You know the man and how he talks."
12 They said, " That is a lie . Tell us now ." He said, " He said to me , ‘ Yahweh says , I have anointed you king over Israel .’"
13 Then they hurried , and each man took his cloak, and put it under him on the top of the stairs , and blew the trumpet , saying, " Jehu is king ."
14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram . ( Now Joram was defending Ramoth Gilead , he and all Israel , because of Hazael king of Syria;
15 but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) Jehu said , " If this is your thinking, then let no one escape and go out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel ."
16 So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel , for Joram lay there . Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram .
17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel , and he spied the company of Jehu as he came , and said, " I see a company ." Joram said, " Take a horseman , and send to meet them , and let him say, ‘ Is it peace ?’"
18 So one went on horseback to meet him , and said, " the king says , ‘ Is it peace ?’" Jehu said, " What do you have to do with peace ? Fall in behind me !" The watchman said, " The messenger came to them , but he isn’t coming back ."
19 Then he sent out a second on horseback , who came to them and said, " The king says , ‘ Is it peace ?’" Jehu answered, " What do you have to do with peace ? Fall in behind me !"
20 The watchman said, " He came to them , and isn’t coming back . The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi , for he drives furiously ."
21 Joram said , " Get ready !" They got his chariot ready . Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out , each in his chariot ; and they went out to meet Jehu , and found him on Naboth the Jezreelite ’s land .
22 When Joram saw Jehu , he said, " Is it peace , Jehu ?" He answered, " What peace , so long as the prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft abound ?"
23 Joram turned his hands and fled , and said to Ahaziah, " This is treason, Ahaziah!"
24 Jehu drew his bow with his full strength , and struck Joram between his arms ; and the arrow went out at his heart , and he sunk down in his chariot .
25 Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain , " Pick him up , and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite ; for remember how , when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, Yahweh laid this burden on him :
26 ‘ Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth , and the blood of his sons ,’ says Yahweh ; ‘ and I will repay you in this plot of ground ,’ says Yahweh . Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground , according to Yahweh ’s word ."
27 But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this , he fled by the way of the garden house . Jehu followed after him , and said, " Strike him also in the chariot !" They struck him at the ascent of Gur , which is by Ibleam . He fled to Megiddo , and died there .
28 His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem , and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in David ’s city .
29 In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah .
30 When Jehu had come to Jezreel , Jezebel heard of it ; and she painted her eyes , and adorned her head , and looked out at the window .
31 As Jehu entered in at the gate , she said, "Do you come in peace , Zimri , you murderer of your master?"
32 He lifted up his face to the window , and said, " Who is on my side ? Who ?" Two or three eunuchs looked out at him .
33 He said, " Throw her down !" So they threw her down ; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall , and on the horses . Then he trampled her under foot .
34 When he had come in , he ate and drank . Then he said, " See now to this cursed woman , and bury her ; for she is a king ’s daughter ."
35 They went to bury her , but they found no more of her than the skull , the feet , and the palms of her hands .
36 Therefore they came back , and told him . He said , " This is Yahweh ’s word , which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite , saying , ‘ The dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel on the plot of Jezreel ,
37 and the body of Jezebel will be as dung on the surface of the field on Jezreel ’s land , so that they won’t say, " This is Jezebel."’"