Jehu Anointed King of Israel

1And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Gird up your loins and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. 2And you will come to there and see there Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi, and you will come and make him rise up out of the midst of his brothers. And bring him to an inner chamber. 3And take the flask of the oil, and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says YHWH: I have anointed you king over Israel.’ And open the door and flee, and do not delay.”

4And the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5And he arrived, and behold, the captains of the army were sitting, and he said, “A word from me is to you, commander.”

And Jehu said, “For that of all of us?”

And he said, “To you, commander.”

6And he arose and went into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, “Thus says YHWH, God of Israel: ‘I have anointed you as king over the people of YHWH, over Israel. 7And you shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of YHWH from the hand of Jezebel. 8And all the house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab the one who urinates against the wall, and the one who is restrained, and the one who is free in Israel. 9And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. 10And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there is none to bury her.’”

And he opened the door and fled.

11And Jehu went out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, “Peace? Why did this madman come to you?”

And he said to them, “You⁺ know the man and his babble.”

12And they said, “False! Declare now to us.”

And he said, “Like this and like this he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says YHWH: I have anointed you as king over Israel.’”

13And they hurried, and each man took his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps, and they blew with the shofar and said, “Jehu is king.”

Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah
(2 Chronicles 22:8–9)

14And Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Jehoram.

(And Jehoram had been defending Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, from the presence of Hazael king of Aram. 15And king Jehoram† had returned to recover in Jezreel from the wounds that the Aramaeans had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram.)

And Jehu said, “If it is your⁺ mind, do not let a fugitive go out from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”

16And Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, because Jehoram was laid up there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Jehoram.

17And the watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu in his coming, and said, “A company I see.”

And Jehoram said, “Take a rider and send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’”

18And the rider on the horse went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’”

And Jehu said, “And what is for you regarding peace? Turn around to after me.”

And the watchman declared, saying, “The messenger went to them, and he is not coming back.”

19And he sent out a second rider on a horse, and he went in to them and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is peace?’”

And Jehu answered, “And what to you with peace? Turn around to behind me.”

20And the watchman declared, saying, “He went up even to them and is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi,† for he drives with madness!”

21And Jehoram said, “Harness!” And his chariot was harnessed.

And Jehoram king of Israel went out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each man in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu and they found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.

22And it came to pass, when Jehoram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?”

And he said, “What peace is, during the prostitution† of Jezebel your mother and her many witchcrafts?”

23And Jehoram turned his hands and fled, and he said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah.”

24And Jehu filled his hand with a bow and struck Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow came out from his heart, and he sank down in his chariot.

25And he said to Bidkar his captain, “Lift up and throw him into the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember that I and you were riding together behind Ahab his father, and YHWH lifted up upon him this burden: 26‘If not the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons I saw yesterday, declares YHWH, and I will repay to you in this portion, declares YHWH.’ And now take and throw him into the portion, according to the word of YHWH.”

27And Ahaziah king of Judah saw, and he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan,

and Jehu pursued him and said, “Shoot him also.”

So they shot Ahaziah in the chariot on the Ascent of Gur,† which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo and died there. 28And his servants carried him in the chariot to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the City of David.

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

Jezebel’s Violent Death

30And Jehu had come to Jezreel, and Jezebel heard and put her eyes in paint and adorned her head, and she looked down through the window. 31And Jehu entered into the gate, and she said, “Is it peace, O Zimri, manslayer of his master?†”

32And he lifted up his face to the window and said, “Who is is with me? Who?”

And two or three eunuchs looked out at him.

33And he said, “Drop her!”

And they dropped her, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her underfoot.

34And he came in and ate and drank and said, “Look after now this accursed woman and bury her, for she was a daughter of a king.”

35And they went to bury her, and no more they found of her but if the skull and the feet and the palms of the hands.

36And they turned back and reported to him, and he said, “The word of YHWH it is, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘In the portion of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel. 37And the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they cannot say: This is Jezebel.†’”