Jehu Reigns over Israel

9 Now Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-gilead. ² When you arrive there, ^[a]search out Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in and ^[b]bid him arise from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner room. ³ Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’ Then open the door and flee and do not wait.”

⁴ So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵ When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting, and he said, “I have a word for you, O captain.” And Jehu said, “^[c]For which one of us?” And he said, “For you, O captain.” ⁶ He arose and went into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. ⁷ You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male person both bond and free in Israel. ⁹ I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.’” Then he opened the door and fled.

¹¹ Now Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?” And he said to them, “You know very well the man and his talk.” ¹² They said, “It is a lie, tell us now.” And he said, “Thus and thus he said to me, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’” ¹³ Then they hurried and each man took his garment and placed it under him on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet, saying, “Jehu is king!”

Jehoram (Joram) Is Assassinated

¹⁴ So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram ^[d]with all Israel was ^[e]defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram, ¹⁵ but King ^[f]Joram had returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which the Arameans had ^[g]inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. So Jehu said, “If this is your mind, then let no one escape or ^[h]leave the city to go tell it in Jezreel.” ¹⁶ Then Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.

¹⁷ Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and he saw the ^[i]company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a ^[j]company.” And Joram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’” ¹⁸ So a horseman went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’” And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me.” And the watchman ^[k]reported, “The messenger came to them, but he did not return.” ¹⁹ Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’” And Jehu ^[l]answered, “What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me.” ²⁰ The watchman ^[m]reported, “He came even to them, and he did not return; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.”

²¹ Then ^[n]Joram said, “^[o]Get ready.” And they made his chariot ready. ^[p]Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu and found him in the ^[q]property of Naboth the Jezreelite. ²² When ^[r]Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” And he ^[s]answered, “What peace, so long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?” ²³ So ^[t]Joram ^[u]reined about and fled and said to Ahaziah, “There is treachery, O Ahaziah!” ²⁴ And Jehu ^[v]drew his bow with his full strength and ^[w]shot ^[x]Joram between his arms; and the arrow went ^[y]through his heart and he sank in his chariot. ²⁵ Then Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Take him up and cast him into the ^[z]property of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for I remember when ^[aa]you and I were riding together after Ahab his father, that the Lord laid this oracle against him: ²⁶ ‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will repay you in this ^[ab]property,’ says the Lord. Now then, take and cast him into the ^[ac]property, according to the word of the Lord.”

Jehu Assassinates Ahaziah

²⁷ When Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu pursued him and said, “^[ad]Shoot him too, in the chariot.” So they shot him at the ascent of Gur, which is at Ibleam. But he fled to Megiddo and died there. ²⁸ Then his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave with his fathers in the city of David.

²⁹ Now in the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah became king over Judah.

³⁰ When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window. ³¹ As Jehu entered the gate, she said, “Is it ^[ae]well, Zimri, ^[af]your master’s murderer?” ³² Then he lifted up his face to the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three officials looked down at him.

Jezebel Is Slain

³³ He said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her under foot. ³⁴ When he came in, he ate and drank; and he said, “See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.” ³⁵ They went to bury her, but they found nothing more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ Therefore they returned and told him. And he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘In the ^[ag]property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; ³⁷ and the corpse of Jezebel will be as dung on the face of the field in the ^[ah]property of Jezreel, so they cannot say, “This is Jezebel.”’”

Message at the Temple Gate

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ² “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’” ³ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘^[a]This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ ⁵ For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the alien, the ^[b]orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, ⁷ then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

⁸ “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and ^[c]offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹ Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord.

¹² “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ¹³ And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore, I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. ¹⁵ I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the ^[d]offspring of Ephraim.

¹⁶ “As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The ^[e]children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite Me. ¹⁹ Do they spite Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves they spite, to ^[f]their own shame?” ²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord ^[g]God, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. ²² For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this is ^[h]what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ ²⁴ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and ^[i]went backward and not forward. ²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. ²⁶ Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.

²⁷ “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you. ²⁸ You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept correction; ^[j]truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

³⁰ For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord, “they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³¹ They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My ^[l]mind.

³² “Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth ^[m]because there is no other place. ³³ The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. ³⁴ Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a ruin.