2 Kings 9
1 Now Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak under your belt, take this flask of oil, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
And Elisha the prophet has called to one of the sons of the prophets and says to him, “Gird up your loins, and take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead,
2 When you arrive, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his companions, and take him to an inner room.
and you have gone in there, and see Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, there, and you have gone in, and caused him to rise out of the midst of his brothers, and brought him into the inner part of an inner-chamber,
3 Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and declare, ‘This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run. Do not delay!”
and taken the vial of oil, and poured [it] on his head, and said, Thus said YHWH: I have anointed you for king to Israel; and you have opened the door, and fled, and do not wait.”
4 So the young prophet went to Ramoth-gilead,
And the young man goes—the young man the prophet—to Ramoth-Gilead,
5 and when he arrived, the army commanders were sitting there. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said. “For which of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander,” he replied.
and comes in, and behold, chiefs of the force are sitting, and he says, “I have a word for you, O chief!” And Jehu says, “To which of all of us?” And he says, “To you, O chief.”
6 So Jehu got up and went into the house, where the young prophet poured the oil on his head and declared, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the LORD’s people Israel.
And he rises and comes into the house, and he pours the oil on his head, and says to him, “Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: I have anointed you for king to the people of YHWH, to Israel,
7 And you are to strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the LORD shed by the hand of Jezebel.
and you have struck the house of your lord Ahab, and I have required the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of YHWH, from the hand of Jezebel;
8 The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and free, in Israel.
and all the house of Ahab has perished, and I have cut off from Ahab those sitting on the wall, and restrained, and left, in Israel,
9 I will make the house of Ahab like the houses of Jeroboam son of Nebat and Baasha son of Ahijah.
and I have given up the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha son of Ahijah,
10 And on the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour Jezebel, and there will be no one to bury her.’” Then the young prophet opened the door and ran.
and dogs eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there is none burying”; and he opens the door and flees.
11 When Jehu went out to the servants of his master, they asked, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” “You know his kind and their babble,” he replied.
And Jehu has gone out to the servants of his lord, and [one] says to him, “Is there peace? Why did this madman come to you?” And he says to them, “You have known the man and his talk.”
12 “That is a lie!” they said. “Tell us now!” So Jehu answered, “He talked to me about this and that, and he said, ‘This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”
And they say, “False! Declare to us now”; and he says, “He spoke thus and thus to me, saying, Thus said YHWH: I have anointed you for king to Israel.”
13 Quickly, each man took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”
And they hurry—each [one]—and take his garment, and put [it] under him at the top of the stairs, and blow with a horn, and say, “Jehu has reigned!”
14 Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,
And Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspires against Joram. And Joram was keeping in Ramoth-Gilead, he and all Israel, from the presence of Hazael king of Aram,
15 but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.) So Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”
and King Joram turns back to be healed in Jezreel, of the wounds with which the Arameans strike him in his fighting with Hazael king of Aram. And Jehu says, “If it is your mind, do not let an escaped one go out from the city, to go to declare [it] in Jezreel.”
16 Then Jehu got into his chariot and went to Jezreel, because Joram was laid up there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.
And Jehu rides, and goes to Jezreel, for Joram is lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah has gone down to see Joram.
17 Now the watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, and he called out, “I see a company of troops!” “Choose a rider,” Joram commanded. “Send him out to meet them and ask, ‘Have you come in peace?’”
And the watchman is standing on the tower in Jezreel, and sees the company of Jehu in his coming, and says, “I see a company”; and Joram says, “Take a rider and send [him] to meet them, and let him say, Is there peace?”
18 So a horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.” And the watchman reported, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”
And the rider on the horse goes to meet him and says, “Thus said the king: Is there peace?” And Jehu says, “And what is peace to you? Turn around behind me.” And the watchman declares, saying, “The messenger came to them, and he has not returned.”
19 So the king sent out a second horseman, who went to them and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.”
And he sends a second rider on a horse, and he comes to them and says, “Thus said the king: Is there peace?” And Jehu says, “And what is peace to you? Turn around behind me.”
20 Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the charioteer is driving like Jehu son of Nimshi —he is driving like a madman!”
And the watchman declares, saying, “He came to them, and he has not returned, and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives with madness.”
21 “Harness!” Joram shouted, and they harnessed his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his own chariot, and met Jehu on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.
And Jehoram says, “Harness”; and his chariot is harnessed, and Jehoram king of Israel goes out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each in his chariot, and they go out to meet Jehu, and find him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
And it comes to pass, at Jehoram’s seeing Jehu, that he says, “Is there peace, Jehu?” And he says, “What [is] the peace, while the whoredoms of your mother Jezebel, and her witchcrafts, are many?”
23 Joram turned around and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
And Jehoram turns his hands and flees, and says to Ahaziah, “Deceit, O Ahaziah!”
24 Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.
And Jehu has filled his hand with a bow, and strikes Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow goes out from his heart, and he bows down in his chariot.
25 And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Pick him up and throw him into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember that when you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, the LORD lifted up this burden against him:
And [Jehu] says to his captain Bidkar, “Lift up, cast him into the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite—for remember, you and I were riding together after his father Ahab, and YHWH lifted this burden on him:
26 ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”
Have I not seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons last night—a declaration of YHWH—indeed, I have repaid to you in this portion—a declaration of YHWH—and now, lift up, cast him into the portion, according to the word of YHWH.”
27 When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there.
And Ahaziah king of Judah has seen, and flees the way of the garden-house, and Jehu pursues after him, and says, “Strike him—also him—in the chariot,” in the going up to Gur, that [is] Ibleam, and he flees to Megiddo, and dies there,
28 Then his servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.
and his servants carry him to Jerusalem in a chariot, and bury him in his burying-place with his fathers in the City of David.
29 (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.)
And in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah reigned over Judah.
30 Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.
And Jehu comes to Jezreel, and Jezebel has heard, and puts her eyes in paint and beautifies her head, and looks out through the window.
31 And as Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, O Zimri, murderer of your master?”
And Jehu has come into the gate, and she says, “Was there peace [for] Zimri—slayer of his lord?”
32 He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
And he lifts up his face to the window and says, “Who [is] with me? Who?” And two [or] three eunuchs look out to him;
33 “Throw her down!” yelled Jehu. So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
and he says, “Let her go”; and they let her go, and [some] of her blood is sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses, and he treads her down.
34 Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.”
And he comes in, and eats, and drinks, and says, “Now look after this cursed one and bury her, for she [is] a king’s daughter.”
35 But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.
And they go to bury her, and have not found [anything] of her except the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands.
36 So they went back and told Jehu, who replied, “This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel.
And they turn back, and declare [it] to him, and he says, “It [is] the word of YHWH that He spoke by the hand of this servant, Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel,
37 And Jezebel’s body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.’”
and the carcass of Jezebel has been as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, that they do not say, This [is] Jezebel.”
