1 Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and
said to him, Gird up your loins, and take this vial of oil in your hand, and
go to Ramoth-gilead. 2 When you come there, look out there Jehu the son of
Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among
his brothers, and carry him to an inner chamber. 3 Then take the vial of
oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you
king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and don’t wait. 4 So the
young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5 When
he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have
an errand to you, captain. Jehu said, To which of us all? He said, To you, O
captain. 6 He arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his
head, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, I have anointed
you king over the people of Yahweh, even over Israel. 7 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 Yahweh, at the hand of
Jezebel. 8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off
from Ahab every man-child, and him who is shut up and him who is left at
large in Israel. 9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah.
10 The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall
be none to bury her. He opened the door, and fled. 11 Then Jehu came forth
to the servants of his lord: and one said to him, Is all well? why came this
mad fellow to you? He said to them, You know the man and what his talk
was. 12 They said, It is false; tell us now. He said, Thus and thus spoke
he to me, saying, Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel.
13 Then they hurried, and took every man his garment, 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 keeping Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of
Hazael king of Syria; 15 but king Joram was 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 be your mind, then let none escape
and go forth 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
was 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 there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus
says the king, Is it peace? Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? turn
you behind me. The watchman told, saying, 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, Thus says the king, Is it peace? Jehu answered, What have you
to do with peace? turn you behind me. 20 The watchman told, saying, He
came even to them, and isn’t coming back: and the driving is like the driving
of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously. 21 Joram said, Make
ready. They made ready his chariot. 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 in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22 It happened, when
Joram saw Jehu, that 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, There is
treachery, 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 said Jehu to Bidkar his captain,
Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite;
for remember how that, when I and you 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 requite you in
this plat, says Yahweh. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of
ground, according to the word of Yahweh. 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, Smite him also in the chariot: and 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 the city of David. 29 In the
eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
30 When Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her
eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window. 31 As Jehu
entered in at the gate, she said, Is it peace, you Zimri, your master’s
murderer? 32 He lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my
side? who? There looked out to him two or three eunuchs. 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: and he trod her under foot. 34 When he was come
in, he ate and drink; and 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, and the feet, and the palms of her
hands. 36 Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, This is the
word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In
the portion of Jezreel shall the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; 37 and the
body of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the portion of
Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
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