2 Kings ix.

1. And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box [phial] of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead:

2. And when thou comest thither, look out there Jchu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in [into Jehu's house] and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him [literally, cause him to enter. The object was secresy] to an inner chamber [Heb., chamber in a chamber].

3. Then [And] take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over [unto] Israel. Then [and] open the door, and flee, and tarry not.

4 So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.

5. And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain.

6. And he [Jehu] arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.

7. And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets [see I Kings xviii. 4, 13], and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel.

8. For [And] the whole house of Ahab shall [I will cause to] perish and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel.

9. And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha [see 1 Kings xiv. 10, xvi. 3, 4] the son of Ahijah:

10. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel [literally, and Jezebel the dogs shall eat (comp. Elisha's threat, 1 Kings xxi. 23)], in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.

II. Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow [or this inspired one, in a tone of ridicule (comp. Hosea ix. 7)] to thee? And he said unto them, Ye [emphasis on Ye] know the man, and his communication.

12. And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel.

13. Then they hasted [the quick action shows a strong feeling against Joram in the army, and enthusiasm for Jehu], and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.

14. So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram (Now Joram had kept Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of [against] Hazael king of Syria.

15. But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth [Heb., let no escaper go] nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.

16. So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay [was lying, his wounds were not yet quite healed] there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.

17. And there stood a watchman [literally, and the watchman was standing] on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace [What is the news]?

18. So there went one on horseback, to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.

19. Then he sent out a second on horseback [literally, and he sent a second rider of a horse], which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.

20. And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously [i.e., the foremost charioteer so drives].

21. And Joram said, Make ready [bind the horses to the chariot]. And his chariot was made ready [literally, and one bound his chariot]. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against [to meet] Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth [Naboth's vineyard, which now formed part of the pleasure ground of the palace (see 1 Kings xxi. 16)] the Jezreelite.

22. And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace Jehu? [Is all well at the seat of war?] And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms [in a spiritual sense : idolatries] of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts [sorceries; the use of spells and charms common among Semitic idolatries (comp. the prohibitions in the Law: Exod. xxii. 18; Deut. xviii. 10, 11)] are so many?

23. And Joram turned his hands [turned his horses round (comp. I Kings xxi 34)], and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery [literally, guile, or fraud], O Ahaziah.

24. And Jehu drew [filled his hand with] a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his [or,

came out from his] heart, and he sunk [bowed: see Isa. xlvi. 1] down in his chariot.

25. Then said Jehu [And he said] to Bidkar ["son of stabbing"] his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite : for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him;

26. Surely I have seen yesterday the blood [bloods: plural; implying death by violence: Gen iv. 10)] of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat [or, portion], saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat [portion] of ground, according

to the word of the Lord.

27. But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.

28. And his servants carried him [literally, made him ride] in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his [own] sepulchre [which he had in his lifetime prepared, according to the custom of antiquity] with his fathers in the city of David.

29. And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.

30. And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it and she painted her face [Heb., put her eyes in painting], and tired [adorned] her head, and looked out at a [the] window.

31. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?

32. And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs [or chamberlains].

33. And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some. of her blood was sprinkled on [spirted on to] the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot [he drove over her fallen body].

34. And when he was come in, he did eat and drink [then he could remember that even Jezebel was of royal rank, and perhaps a touch of remorse may be discerned in the mandate for her burial], and said, Go, see now [look, I pray after] this cursed woman [Jehu was thinking of the curse pronounced on Jezebel of the prophet Elijah (see next verse)], and bury her: for she is a king's daughter [comp. I Kings xvi. 31].

35. And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her [the] hands.

36. Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord [see 1 Kings xxi. 23, where this oracle of Elijah is given] which he spake by [Heb., by the hand of] his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall [the] dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel :

37. And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung [comp. Ps. lxxxiii. 10] upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel ; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel,

Chapter x.

1. And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to [nourishers] them that brought up Ahab's children, saying,

2. Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city [fenced cities. There is a tone of mocking irony in Jehu's challenge to the nobles of Samaria, who were probably as luxurious and cowardly as in the days of Amos a few years later (Amos iii. 12, vi. 3-6)] also, and armour;

3. Look even out the best and meetest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house.

4. But they were exceedingly afraid [feared mightily (comp. Gen vii. 19)], and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand?

5. And he that was over the house [the major domo]; and he that was over the city [the prefect or governor], the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes.

6. Then he wrote a letter the second time [a second letter] to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master's sons, and come [bring] to me to Jezreel by to-morrow this time [Jehu is urgent: time is all-important]. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons [not, perhaps, to be taken as exact: seventy being a favourite round number] were with the great men of the city, which brought them

up.

7. And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew [butchered or slaughtered] seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.

8. And there came a messenger [literally, and the messenger came in. Josephus says Jehu was giving a banquet] and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning.

9. And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood [took his place, ie., sat as judge in the palace gateway], and said to all the people, Ye be righteous ["are ye righteous?" implying that Jehu wished to make the people guilty of the massacre of the princes, while owning his own murder of the king]: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?

10. Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.

11. So [And] Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel [the seat of the court], and all his great men [high officials who owed their exaltation to him], and his kinsfolks [his friends: literally his known ones], and his priests, until he left him none remaining [no survivor].

12. And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing-house in the way,

13. Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah [i.e., Ahaziah's kinsmen. His brothers, in the strict sense of the word, were slain by a troop of Arabs in the lifetime of his father Jehoram (2 Chron. xxi. 17, xxii. 1)] and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go [have come] down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen.

14. And he said, Take them alive [perhaps they made some show of resistance]. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearinghouse, even two and forty men [perhaps a definite for an indefinite number, curiously parallel with ii. 24]; neither left he any of them.

15. And when he was departed thence, he lighted on [found] Jehonadab the son of Rechab [comp. Jer. xxxv. 6-11 and 1 Chron. ii. 55] coming to meet him: and he saluted [blessed] him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand [a token of amity; a pledge of good faith. Striking hands scaled a compact]. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.

16. And he said, Come with me, and see [look on at] my zeal for the Lord. So they [he] made him ride in his chariot.

17. And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah.

18. And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.

19. Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty [or, in guile, treacherously], to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.

20. And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly [sanctify a solemn meeting (Isa. i. 13)] for Baal. And they proclaimed it.

21. And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full [or so full that they stood mouth to mouth] from one end to another.

22. And he said unto him that was over the vestry [chests], Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth [the]

vestments.

23. And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord [worshippers of Jehovah], but the worshippers of Baal only.

24. And when [omit "when"] they went in to offer sacrifices and burntofferings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men