2 Kings 9:14-37

Jehu Assassinates Joram and Ahaziah

14 Thus Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. ( ¹Now Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth-gilead against ²Hazael king of Syria,

15 ³but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. ) So Jehu said, “If this is your decision, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel. ”

16 Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to visit Joram.

17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came and said, “I see a company. ” And Joram said, “Take a horseman and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace? ’”

18 So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace? ’” And Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me. ” And the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back. ”

19 Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus the king has said, ‘Is it peace? ’” And Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me. ”

20 Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving ⁴is like the driving of Jehu ⁵the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously. ”

21 Joram said, ⁶“Make ready. ” And they made ready his chariot. ⁷Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu, and met him ⁸at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.

22 And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu? ” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as ⁹the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many? ”

23 Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “Treachery, O Ahaziah! ”

24 And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot.

25 Jehu said to Bidkar ¹⁰his aide, “Take him up and throw him ¹¹on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember, when you and I rode side by side behind Ahab his father, how ¹²the Lord made this ¹³pronouncement against him:

26 ‘As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons—declares the Lord—I will repay you on this plot of ground. ’ Now therefore take him up and throw him on the plot of ground, in accordance with the word of the Lord. ”

27 ¹⁴When Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him and said, “Shoot him also. ” And they shot him^[a] in the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is by ¹⁵Ibleam. And he fled to ¹⁶Megiddo and died there.

28 ¹⁷His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.

29 In the ¹⁸eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.

Jehu Executes Jezebel

30 When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. And ¹⁹she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window.

31 And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, ²⁰“Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master? ”

32 And he lifted up his face to the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who? ” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.

33 He said, “Throw her down. ” So they threw her down. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her.

34 Then he went in and ate and drank. And he said, “See now to this cursed woman and bury her, ²¹for she is a king’s daughter. ”

35 But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.

36 When they came back and told him, he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite: ²²‘In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel,

37 and the corpse of Jezebel shall be ²³as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel. ’”

2 Kings 9:14-37 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 9

In this chapter we are told that one of the sons of the prophets was sent by Elisha to anoint Jehu king of Israel, and to order him to smite and destroy the whole house of Ahab, 2Ki 9:1-10, which being done unto him, and the order received by Jehu, he acquainted his captains with it, 2Ki 9:11-15, who set out with him immediately to Jezreel, 2Ki 9:16-21, where he slew Joram king of Israel, 2Ki 9:22-26, and Ahaziah king of Judah, 2Ki 9:27-29, and Jezebel, the widow of Ahab, and mother of Joram, 2Ki 9:30-37.

Cross References

• 1. 9:14 [ch. 8:28]
• 2. 9:14 [1 Kgs. 19:17]
• 3. 9:15 ch. 8:29
• 4. 9:20 [2 Sam. 18:27]
• 5. 9:20 1 Kgs. 19:17; [ver. 2, 14]
• 6. 9:21 1 Kgs. 18:44
• 7. 9:21 2 Chr. 22:7
• 8. 9:21 1 Kgs. 21:1; [ver. 26]
• 9. 9:22 [2 Chr. 21:13]
• 10. 9:25 [ch. 7:2]
• 11. 9:25 [See ver. 21 above]
• 12. 9:25 1 Kgs. 21:19, 29
• 13. 9:25 See Isa. 13:1
• 14. 9:27 [2 Chr. 22:9]
• 15. 9:27 Josh. 17:11
• 16. 9:27 Josh. 17:11
• 17. 9:28 [ch. 23:30; 2 Chr. 35:24]
• 18. 9:29 [ch. 8:25]
• 19. 9:30 [Jer. 4:30; Ezek. 23:40]
• 20. 9:31 See 1 Kgs. 16:9-20
• 21. 9:34 1 Kgs. 16:31
• 22. 9:36 1 Kgs. 21:23
• 23. 9:37 [Ps. 83:10; Jer. 8:2; 9:22; 16:4; 25:33]

Footnotes

• [a] 9:27 Syriac, Vulgate (compare Septuagint); Hebrew lacks 'and they shot him'