2 Kings 9:24-10:11

Holman Christian Standard Bible

²⁴ Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow went through his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.^{(A) 25} Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, “Pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite.^(B) For remember when you and I were riding side by side behind his father Ahab, and the Lord uttered this oracle against him: ²⁶ ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘so will I repay you on this plot of land’—this is the Lord’s declaration. So now, according to the word of the Lord, pick him up and throw him on the plot of land.”^(C)

²⁷ When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what was happening, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot him in his chariot^[a] at Gur Pass near Ibleam,^(D) but he fled to Megiddo^(E) and died there.^{(F) 28} Then his servants carried him to Jerusalem in a chariot and buried him in his fathers’ tomb in the city of David.^{(G) 29} It was in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab that Ahaziah had become king over Judah.^(H)

Jehu Kills Jezebel

³⁰ When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it, so she painted her eyes,^(I) adorned her head, and looked down from the window. ³¹ As Jehu entered the gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri,^[b](J) killer of your master?”

³² He looked up toward the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs^(K) looked down at him, ³³ and he said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and Jehu rode over her.^(L)

³⁴ Then he went in, ate and drank, and said, “Take care of this cursed^(M) woman and bury her, since she’s a king’s daughter.”^{(N) 35} But when they went out to bury her, they did not find anything but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ So they went back and told him, and he said, “This fulfills the Lord’s word that He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘In the plot of land at Jezreel, the dogs will eat Jezebel’s flesh.^{(O) 37} Jezebel’s corpse will be like manure^(P) on the surface of the field in the plot of land at Jezreel so that no one will be able to say: This is Jezebel.’”

Jehu Kills the House of Ahab

10 Since Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria,^(Q) Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the rulers of Jezreel,^(R) to the elders, and to the guardians of Ahab’s sons,^[c] saying:

⁴ However, they were terrified and reasoned, “Look, two kings^(T) couldn’t stand against him; how can we?”

⁵ So the overseer of the palace, the overseer of the city, the elders, and the guardians sent a message to Jehu: “We are your servants, and we will do whatever you tell us. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever you think is right.”^[e](U)

⁶ Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying:

All 70 of the king’s sons were being cared for by the city’s prominent men. ⁷ When the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered all 70, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel. ⁸ When the messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons,” the king said, “Pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.”

⁹ The next morning when he went out and stood at the gate, he said to all the people, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him.^(V) But who struck down all these? ¹⁰ Know, then, that not a word the Lord spoke against the house of Ahab will fail,^(W) for the Lord has done what He promised through His servant Elijah.”^{(X) 11} So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel—all his great men, close friends, and priests—leaving him no survivors.