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    2 Kings · 37 verses

    2 Kings 9

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    The chapter

    What happens here

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    Two royal messengers ride out asking Jehu whether he has come in peace, and each returns instead as part of his procession. It is diplomacy with a remarkably strong tendency to become recruitment.

    The anointing that must be escapedvv. 1–13

    Elisha sends a young prophet to Ramoth-gilead with oil, a royal announcement, and instructions of almost comic urgency: find Jehu, take him indoors, anoint him, and run. The message is enormous—the house of Ahab is to perish, Jezebel is to be left to the dogs—and the prophet's exit plan is admirably concise. Jehu's companions call the visitor a madman until Jehu admits that the man spoke of becoming king. At once they lay their garments beneath him, blow the ram's horn, and proclaim him king.

    Peace inquiries, with no return journeyvv. 14–29

    Jehu conspires against Joram while the army is still at Ramoth-gilead, then drives to Jezreel. The watchman sees the approaching company; Joram sends a horseman to ask whether Jehu has come in peace, and Jehu orders him to fall in behind. The second horseman receives the same treatment, and the watchman observes that Jehu drives like a madman. Joram and Ahaziah come out in their chariots, meeting Jehu on Naboth's property. Joram is shot and thrown onto the field that the LORD had named, while Ahaziah flees through Beth-haggan, Gur, and Ibleam before dying at Megiddo. His servants carry him to Jerusalem, where he is buried with his fathers.

    Jezebel's last windowvv. 30–37

    Jezebel hears that Jehu has arrived in Jezreel, paints her eyes, adorns her head, and looks down from a window. She greets him by calling him Zimri, murderer of his master. Jehu asks who is on his side; two or three eunuchs look down, and at his command they throw her from the window. Jehu then goes in to eat and drink before ordering her burial. The burial party finds only her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands, leaving the field at Jezreel with a particularly stark answer to the question of what became of her.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. 2 Kgs 9:1Now Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak under your belt, take this flask of oil, and go to Ramoth-gilead.

    2. 2 Kgs 9:2When you arrive, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his companions, and take him to an inner room.

    3. 2 Kgs 9:3Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and declare, ‘This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run. Do not delay!”

    4. 2 Kgs 9:4So the young prophet went to Ramoth-gilead,

    5. 2 Kgs 9:5and when he arrived, the army commanders were sitting there. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said. “For which of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander,” he replied.

    6. 2 Kgs 9:6So Jehu got up and went into the house, where the young prophet poured the oil on his head and declared, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the LORD’s people Israel.

    7. 2 Kgs 9:7And you are to strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the LORD shed by the hand of Jezebel.

    8. 2 Kgs 9:8The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and free, in Israel.

    9. 2 Kgs 9:9I will make the house of Ahab like the houses of Jeroboam son of Nebat and Baasha son of Ahijah.

    10. 2 Kgs 9:10And on the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour Jezebel, and there will be no one to bury her.’” Then the young prophet opened the door and ran.

    11. 2 Kgs 9:11When Jehu went out to the servants of his master, they asked, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” “You know his kind and their babble,” he replied.

    12. 2 Kgs 9:12“That is a lie!” they said. “Tell us now!” So Jehu answered, “He talked to me about this and that, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”

    13. 2 Kgs 9:13Quickly, each man took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”

    14. 2 Kgs 9:14Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,

    15. 2 Kgs 9:15but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.) So Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”

    16. 2 Kgs 9:16Then Jehu got into his chariot and went to Jezreel, because Joram was laid up there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

    17. 2 Kgs 9:17Now the watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, and he called out, “I see a company of troops!” “Choose a rider,” Joram commanded. “Send him out to meet them and ask, ‘Have you come in peace?’”

    18. 2 Kgs 9:18So a horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.” And the watchman reported, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”

    19. 2 Kgs 9:19So the king sent out a second horseman, who went to them and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.”

    20. 2 Kgs 9:20Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the charioteer is driving like Jehu son of Nimshi—he is driving like a madman!”

    21. 2 Kgs 9:21“Harness!” Joram shouted, and they harnessed his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his own chariot, and met Jehu on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.

    22. 2 Kgs 9:22When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

    23. 2 Kgs 9:23Joram turned around and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”

    24. 2 Kgs 9:24Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.

    25. 2 Kgs 9:25And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Pick him up and throw him into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember that when you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, the LORD lifted up this burden against him:

    26. 2 Kgs 9:26‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”

    27. 2 Kgs 9:27When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there.

    28. 2 Kgs 9:28Then his servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.

    29. 2 Kgs 9:29(In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.)

    30. 2 Kgs 9:30Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.

    31. 2 Kgs 9:31And as Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, O Zimri, murderer of your master?”

    32. 2 Kgs 9:32He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down at him.

    33. 2 Kgs 9:33“Throw her down!” yelled Jehu. So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses as they trampled her underfoot.

    34. 2 Kgs 9:34Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.”

    35. 2 Kgs 9:35But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.

    36. 2 Kgs 9:36So they went back and told Jehu, who replied, “This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel.

    37. 2 Kgs 9:37And Jezebel’s body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.’”

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 274 passages were voted onto 34 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 30Jeremiah 4:30And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.
    • 30Ezekiel 23:40Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry.
    • 361 Kings 21:23And the LORD also speaks concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’
    • 11 Samuel 10:1Then Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you ruler over His inheritance?
    • 102 Kings 9:35–36But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.
    • 27Judges 1:27At that time Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and their villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land.
    • 12 Kings 4:29So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
    • 22 Kings 9:5and when he arrived, the army commanders were sitting there. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said. “For which of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander,” he replied.
    • 22 Kings 9:14Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,
    • 22 Kings 9:11When Jehu went out to the servants of his master, they asked, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” “You know his kind and their babble,” he replied.
    • 31 Kings 19:16You are also to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet.
    • 71 Kings 21:15When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, who refused to give it to you for silver. For Naboth is no longer alive, but dead.”
    • 7Deuteronomy 32:43Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him. Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children. He will take vengeance on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him; He will cleanse His land and His people.
    • 71 Kings 18:4for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
    • 81 Samuel 25:22May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”
    • 8Deuteronomy 32:36For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

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