2 Kings 9:24–10:11

²⁴Jehu drew his bow, and with all his strength shot an arrow that struck Joram in the back and pierced his heart. Joram fell dead in his chariot, ²⁵and Jehu said to his aide Bidkar, “Get his body and throw it in the field that belonged to Naboth. Remember that when you and I were riding together behind King Joram’s father Ahab, the Lord spoke these words against Ahab: ^26*‘I saw the murder of Naboth and his sons yesterday. And I promise that I will punish you here in this same field.’ So take Joram’s body,” Jehu ordered his aide, “and throw it in the field that belonged to Naboth, so as to fulfil the Lord’s promise.”

King Ahaziah of Judah Is Killed

²⁷King Ahaziah saw what happened, so he fled in his chariot towards the town of Beth Haggan, pursued by Jehu. “Kill him too!” Jehu ordered his men, and they wounded him^t as he drove his chariot on the road up to Gur, near the town of Ibleam. But he managed to keep going until he reached the city of Megiddo, where he died. ²⁸His officials took his body back to Jerusalem in a chariot and buried him in the royal tombs in David’s City.

²⁹Ahaziah had become king of Judah in the eleventh year that Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel.

Queen Jezebel Is Killed

³⁰Jehu arrived in Jezreel. Jezebel, having heard what had happened, put on eyeshadow, arranged her hair, and stood looking down at the street from a window in the palace. ³¹As Jehu came through the gate, she called out, “You Zimri!^u You assassin! Why are you here?”

³²Jehu looked up and shouted, “Who is on my side?” Two or three palace officials looked down at him from a window, ³³and Jehu said to them, “Throw her down!” They threw her down, and her blood spattered the wall and the horses. Jehu drove his horses and chariot over her body, ³⁴entered the palace, and had a meal. Only then did he say, “Take that cursed woman and bury her; after all, she is a king’s daughter.” ³⁵But the men who went out to bury her found nothing except her skull, and the bones of her hands and feet. ^36*When they reported this to Jehu, he said, “This is what the Lord said would happen, when he spoke through his servant Elijah: ‘Dogs will eat Jezebel’s body in the territory of Jezreel. ³⁷Her remains will be scattered there like dung, so that no one will be able to identify them.’ ”

The Descendants of Ahab Are Killed

10There were 70 descendants of King Ahab living in the city of Samaria. Jehu wrote a letter and sent copies to the rulers of the city,^v to the leading citizens, and to the guardians of Ahab’s descendants. The letter read: ²“You are in charge of the king’s descendants and you have at your disposal chariots, horses, weapons, and fortified cities. So then, as soon as you receive this letter, ³you are to choose the best qualified of the king’s descendants, make him king, and fight to defend him.”

⁴The rulers of Samaria were terrified. “How can we oppose Jehu,” they said, “when neither King Joram nor King Ahaziah could?” ⁵So the officer in charge of the palace and the official in charge of the city, together with the leading citizens and the guardians, sent this message to Jehu: “We are your servants and we are ready to do anything you say. But we will not make anyone king; do whatever you think best.”

⁶Jehu wrote them another letter: “If you are with me, and are ready to follow my orders, bring the heads of King Ahab’s descendants to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.”

The 70 descendants of King Ahab were under the care of the leading citizens of Samaria, who were bringing them up. ⁷When Jehu’s letter was received, the leaders of Samaria killed all 70 of Ahab’s descendants, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

⁸When Jehu was told that the heads of Ahab’s descendants had been brought, he ordered them to be piled up in two heaps at the city gate and to be left there until the following morning. ⁹In the morning, he went out to the gate and said to the people who were there, “I was the one who plotted against King Joram and killed him; you are not responsible for that. But who killed all these? ¹⁰This proves that everything that the Lord said about the descendants of Ahab will come true. The Lord has done what he promised through his prophet Elijah.” ^11*Then Jehu put to death all the other relatives of Ahab living in Jezreel, and all his officers, close friends, and priests; not one of them was left alive.