Jehu Anointed King of Israel
And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him: “Gird up your waist, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
And when you come there, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi; and go in, and have him rise from among his brothers, and bring him into an inner room within a room.
And take the flask of oil and pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: I have anointed you as king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee — do not wait.”
And the young man — the young man, the prophet — went to Ramoth-gilead.
And he came — and look, the commanders of the force were sitting there. And he said, “I have a word for you, commander.” And Jehu said, “For which of us all?” And he said, “For you, commander.”
And he rose and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said to him: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I have anointed you as king over the people of the LORD, over Israel.
And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your lord, so that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, from the hand of Jezebel.
And all the house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab every one who urinates against a wall, bound or free in Israel.
And 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.
And Jezebel — the dogs will eat her in the plot of Jezreel, and there will be no one burying her.” And he opened the door and fled.
And Jehu came out to the servants of his lord; and one said to him, “Is it peace? Why did this madman come to you?” And he said to them, “You know the man and his talk.”
And they said, “A lie! Tell us, please.” And he said, “Thus and so he said to me, saying: ‘Thus says the LORD: I have anointed you as king over Israel.’”
And they hurried, and each took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps; and they blew the trumpet and said, “Jehu is king!”
Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah
So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram had been keeping guard at Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael, king of Aram;
but King Jehoram had returned to be healed at Jezreel from the wounds the Arameans had given him when he fought against Hazael, king of Aram. And Jehu said, “If this is your will, let no fugitive get out of the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”
And Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there; and Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come down to see Joram.
Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company.” And Jehoram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’”
And the rider of the horse went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king: Is it peace?” And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Turn around behind me.” And the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger came to them, but he has not returned.”
And he sent a second rider of a horse; and he came to them and said, “Thus says the king: Peace?” And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Turn around behind me.”
And the watchman reported, saying, “He came to them, but he has not returned. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi — for he drives like a madman.”
And Jehoram said, “Harness!” And his chariot was harnessed. And Jehoram, 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 plot of Naboth the Jezreelite.
And it was, when Jehoram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” And he said, “What peace — while the harlotries of Jezebel your mother and her many sorceries continue?”
And Jehoram turned his hands and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
And Jehu filled his hand with the bow and struck Jehoram between his arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he sank down in his chariot.
And he said to Bidkar his officer: “Lift him out; throw him into the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember — I and you were riding in pairs behind Ahab his father, when the LORD lifted this oracle against him:
‘Surely the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons I saw yesterday — an utterance of the LORD — and I will repay you in this plot — an utterance of the LORD.’ So now, lift him out; throw him into the plot, according to the word of the LORD.”
And Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw it and fled by the way of the garden house; and Jehu pursued after him and said, “Him too — strike him down in the chariot!” — at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.
And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers, in the city of David.
(In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.)
Jezebel’s Violent Death
And Jehu came to Jezreel. And Jezebel heard; and she painted her eyes with kohl, and adorned her head, and looked down through the window.
And Jehu came in at the gate; and she said, “Is it peace, Zimri — killer of his lord?”
And he lifted his face to the window and said, “Who is with me? Who?” And two or three officers looked down at him.
And he said, “Throw her down.” And they threw her down; and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses — and he trampled her.
And he went in and ate and drank; and he said, “See now to this cursed woman, and bury her — for she is a king’s daughter.”
And they went to bury her; but they found nothing of her except the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands.
And they returned and told him. And he said: “It is the word of the LORD that he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying: ‘In the plot of Jezreel the dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel.
And the corpse of Jezebel will be like dung on the face of the field, in the plot of Jezreel — so that they cannot say: This is Jezebel.’”