²⁴Jehu pulled on his bow and released an arrow; it hit Joram between the shoulder blades and went right through his heart. He slumped to his knees in his chariot.

^25–26Jehu ordered Bidkar, his lieutenant, “Quick—throw him into the field of Naboth of Jezreel. Remember when you and I were driving our chariots behind Ahab his father? That’s when God pronounced this doom upon him: ‘As surely as I saw the blood of murdered Naboth and his sons yesterday, you’ll pay for it on this exact piece of ground. God’s word!’ So take him and throw him out in the field. God’s instructions carried out to the letter!”

²⁷Ahaziah king of Judah saw what was going on and made his escape on the road toward Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, yelling out, “Get him, too!” Jehu’s troops shot and wounded him in his chariot on the hill up to Gur, near Ibleam. He was able to make it as far as Megiddo; there he died.

²⁸His aides drove on to Jerusalem. They buried him in the family plot in the City of David.

²⁹In the eleventh year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.

^30–31When Jezebel heard that Jehu had arrived in Jezreel, she made herself up—put on eyeshadow and arranged her hair—and posed seductively at the window. When Jehu came through the city gate, she called down, “So, how are things, ‘Zimri,’ you dashing king-killer?”

³²Jehu looked up at the window and called, “Is there anybody up there on my side?” Two or three palace eunuchs looked out.

³³He ordered, “Throw her down!” They threw her out the window. Her blood spattered the wall and the horses, and Jehu trampled her under his horse’s hooves.

³⁴Then Jehu went inside and ate his lunch. During lunch he gave orders, “Take care of that damned woman; give her a decent burial—she is, after all, a king’s daughter.”

^35–36They went out to bury her, but there was nothing left of her but skull, feet, and hands. They came back and told Jehu. He said, “It’s God’s word, the word spoken by Elijah the Tishbite:

In the field of Jezreel,

dogs will eat Jezebel;

³⁷The body of Jezebel will be like

dog-droppings on the ground in Jezreel.

Old friends and lovers will say,

‘I wonder, is this Jezebel?’ ”

^1–210Ahab had seventy sons still living in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters addressed to the officers of Jezreel, the city elders, and those in charge of Ahab’s sons, and posted them to Samaria. The letters read:

^2–3This letter is fair warning. You’re in charge of your master’s children, chariots, horses, fortifications, and weapons. Pick the best and most capable of your master’s sons and put him on the throne. Prepare to fight for your master’s position.

⁴They were absolutely terrified at the letter. They said, “Two kings have already been wiped out by him; what hope do we have?”

⁵So they sent the warden of the palace, the mayor of the city, the elders, and the guardians to Jehu with this message: “We are your servants. Whatever you say, we’ll do. We’re not making anyone king here. You’re in charge—do what you think best.”

^6–7Then Jehu wrote a second letter:

If you are on my side and are willing to follow my orders, here’s what you do: Decapitate the sons of your master and bring the heads to me by this time tomorrow in Jezreel.

The king’s sons numbered seventy. The leaders of the city had taken responsibility for them. When they got the letter, they took the king’s sons and killed all seventy. Then they put the heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel.

⁸A messenger reported to Jehu: “They’ve delivered the heads of the king’s sons.”

He said, “Stack them in two piles at the city gate until morning.”

^9–10In the morning Jehu came out, stood before the people, and addressed them formally: “Do you realize that this very day you are participants in God’s righteous workings? True, I am the one who conspired against my master and assassinated him. But who, do you suppose, is responsible for this pile of skulls? Know this for certain: Not a single syllable that God spoke in judgment on the family of Ahab is canceled; you’re seeing it with your own eyes—God doing what, through Elijah, he said he’d do.”

¹¹Then Jehu proceeded to kill everyone who had anything to do with Ahab’s family in Jezreel—leaders, friends, priests. He wiped out the entire lot.

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