2 Kings 9

Jehu’s Anointed King & the Ahab Family Gets Wiped Out

1 Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and told him, “Listen, strap up your waist, take this small flask of oil with you, and bounce to Ramoth-Gilead.”

2 “When you get there, find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his buddies, and take him to an inner room.”

3 “Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am anointing you king over Israel!”’ Then open the door and get out of there! Do not stall!”

4 So the young dude, the prophet’s assistant, bounced to Ramoth-Gilead.

5 When he got there, look, the army commanders were sitting together. He said, “I got a word for you, Commander.” Jehu asked, “Which one of us,” He said, “For you, Commander!”

6 Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the young dude poured the oil on his head and told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am anointing you king over the Lord’s people, over Israel!’”

7 “’You are going to wipe out the family of Ahab your master, so I can get payback for the blood of My servants the prophets, and for the blood of all the Lord’s servants from the hand of Jezebel.’”

8 “’The whole family of Ahab is going to die. I am going to cut off every male from Ahab’s family, whether slave or free, in Israel.’”

9 “’I am going to make Ahab’s family like the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the family of Baasha son of Ahijah.’”

10 “’And as for Jezebel, dogs are going to eat her in the plot of ground at Jezreel, and nobody is going to bury her.’” Then he opened the door and bounced.

11 When Jehu came out to his master’s officials, they asked him, “Everything straight, Why did that crazy dude come to you,” He told them, “You know the guy and what kind of talk he got.”

12 They said, “Nah, for real, tell us!” He said, “He told me such-and-such, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am anointing you king over Israel!”’”

13 Immediately, each man quickly took off his cloak and spread it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and yelled, “Jehu is king!”

Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah

14 So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel were holding Ramoth-Gilead against Hazael king of Aram;

15 But King Joram had gone back to Jezreel to heal from the wounds the Arameans gave him when he fought Hazael king of Aram.) So Jehu said, “If you all down with this, do not let anyone escape the city to go tell it in Jezreel.”

16 Then Jehu got in his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was laid up there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to visit Joram.

17 Now, the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s crew coming and said, “I see a company of dudes!” Joram said, “Get a horseman and send him to meet them and ask, ‘Is it peace?’”

18 So a horseman rode out to meet him and said, “The king asks, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu said, “What do you care about peace, Get behind me!” The lookout reported, “The messenger got to them, but he is not coming back.”

19 Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “The king asks, ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu answered, “What do you care about peace, Get behind me!”

20 The lookout reported, “He also got to them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, because he drives like a madman!”

21 Joram said, “Hitch up my chariot!” So they hitched up his chariot. Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah both rode out, each in his own chariot, and went to meet Jehu, and they found him at the plot of ground of Naboth the Jezreelite.

22 When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “How can there be peace as long as your mama Jezebel’s whoring and witchcraft are so heavy?”

23 Joram turned his chariot around and bolted, telling Ahaziah, “It is a setup, Ahaziah!”

24 But Jehu drew his bow with full force and shot Joram between his shoulders, and the arrow went through his heart. And he dropped dead in his chariot.

25 Jehu told Bidkar, his aide, “Pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground of Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember, when you and I were riding side-by-side behind his pops Ahab, how the Lord spoke this prophecy against him:”

26 “’Yesterday, I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will pay you back in this very plot of ground,’ says the Lord. ‘So now, pick him up and throw him on that plot of ground, according to the word of the Lord!’”

27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu chased him and said, “Strike him down too in the chariot!” So they struck him down on the way up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo and died there.

28 His servants brought him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his burial place with his ancestors in the City of David.

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

Jezebel’s Death

30 When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it. She painted her eyes, fixed her hair, and looked out the window.

31 As Jehu came through the gate, she said, “Everything straight, Zimri, you murderer of your master,”

32 He looked up at the window and said, “Who is on my side, Who?” Two or three officials looked out at him.

33 He said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and they stomped over her.

34 Then he went in, ate and drank. And he said, “Go deal with that cursed woman and bury her, because she is a king’s daughter.”

35 But when they went to bury her, they could not find anything left of her except her skull, her feet, and her hands.

36 So they came back and told him. And he said, “This is the word of the Lord that He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘In the plot of ground at Jezreel, dogs are going to eat the flesh of Jezebel.’”

37 “And Jezebel’s body is going to be like dung on the open field in the plot of ground at Jezreel, so no one can say, ‘This is Jezebel.’”