2 Kings 9:24–10:11

²⁴Then Jehu drew his bow^j and shot Joram between his shoulders so that the arrow went out from his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. ²⁵He said to Bidkar his third servant, “Lift him out and throw him on the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember, you and I were with the pair of chariots behind Ahab his father when Yahweh pronounced this oracle against him: ²⁶‘ “Since I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his children yesterday,” declares Yahweh, “I will requite it for you in this tract of land,” declares Yahweh.’ So then lift him out and throw him on the tract of land according to the word of Yahweh.”

Jehu Orders the Assassination of Ahaziah

²⁷When Ahaziah king of Judah saw, he fled the way of Beth-Haggen. Jehu pursued after him and said, “Shoot him also, in the chariot.” They shot him at the ascent of Gur which is in Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo, but he died there. ²⁸Then his officers carried him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his tomb with his ancestors^k in the city of David. ²⁹In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.

Jezebel Loses Her High Position

³⁰When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, so she painted her eyes with black eye paint and adorned her head and looked through the window. ³¹Now Jehu had come in the gate, so she said, “Is it peace, O Zimri, murderer of his master?” ³²When he lifted up his face to the window, he asked, “Who is with me?” Two or three eunuchs looked down to him. ³³So he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. ³⁴Then he came and ate and drank, and said, “Please take care of this cursed one and bury her, for she is the daughter of a king.” ³⁵When they went to bury her, they could not find her, except the skull, the feet, and the palms of the hands. ³⁶They returned and told him, and he said, “This is the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the plot of ground of Jezreel, the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel.’ ” ³⁷So the dead body of Jezebel became dung on the surface spread on the field in the plot of ground of Jezreel, so one cannot say, “This is Jezebel.”

Jehu Continues Purging the House of Ahab

10Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu wrote letters, and he sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab, saying, ²“Now, when this letter comes to you and your master’s sons are with you, the chariots are with you, the horses, a fortified city, and weapons, ³then you must select the best and the most suitable from the sons of your master, and you must place him on the throne of his father, and they must fight for the house of your masters.” ⁴But they were very afraid, and they said, “Look, two kings could not stand before him; how can we stand?” ⁵So whoever was over the house, and whoever was over the city, and the elders and the guardians sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants; all that you say to us, we shall do. We shall not make anyone a king. Do what is good in your eyes.”

⁶Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, “If you are for me, and you are listening to my voice, take the heads of the men of the sons of your master and come to me at this time tomorrow at Jezreel.” Now the sons of the king, seventy men, were with the leaders of the city who were raising them. ⁷When the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king, and they killed seventy men. Then they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. ⁸Then the messenger came and told him, saying, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons,” and he said, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the gate until morning.” ⁹It happened in the morning that he went out, stood, and said to all of the people, “You are righteous. Look, I conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all of these? ¹⁰Know then that the word of Yahweh will not fail^a which Yahweh spoke concerning the house of Ahab; Yahweh has done what he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah. ¹¹Then Jehu killed all of the remainder of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all of his leaders, his close friends, and his priests, until there was no survivor left for him.