12 And they said, “A lie! Tell us now.” So he said, “Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I have anointed you king over Israel.” ’ ”
13 Then each man hastened ato take his garment and put it1 under him on the top of the steps; and they blew trumpets, saying, “Jehu is king!”
Joram of Israel Killed
14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against aJoram. (Now Joram had been defending Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael king of Syria.
15 But aKing Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, “If you are so minded, let no one leave or escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”
16 So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was laid up there; aand Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.
17 Now a watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company of men.” And Joram said, “Get a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say,1 ‘Isit peace?’ ”
18 So the horseman went to meet him, and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Isit peace?’ ” And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace?1 Turn around and follow me.” So the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger went to them, but is not coming back.”
19 Then he sent out a second horseman who came to them, and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Isit peace?’ ” And Jehu answered, “What have you to do with peace? Turn around and follow me.”
20 So the watchman reported, saying, “He went up to them and is not coming back; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously!”
21 Then Joram said, “Make ready.” And his chariot was made ready. Then aJoram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot; and they went out to meet Jehu, and met him bon the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 Now it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, “Isit peace, Jehu?” So he answered, “What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft areso many?”
23 Then Joram turned around and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
24 Now Jehu drew his bow with full strength and shot Jehoram between his arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he sank down in his chariot.
25 Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, “Pick him up, and throw him into the tract of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember, when you and I were riding together behind Ahab his father, that athe Lord laid this bburden upon him:
26 ‘Surely I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,’ says the Lord, a‘and I will repay you in this plot,’ says the Lord. Now therefore, take and throw him on the plot ofground, according to the word of the Lord.”
Ahaziah of Judah Killed
27 But when Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the road to1 Beth Haggan. So Jehu pursued him, and said, “Shoot him also in the chariot.” Andtheyshothim at the Ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. Then he fled to aMegiddo, and died there.
28 And his servants carried him in the chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the City of David.
THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF KINGS, in the ancient copies of the Hebrew Bible, constitute one book. Various titles have been given them; in the Septuagint and the Vulgate they are called the Third and Fourth Books of Kings. The authorship of these books is unknown; but the prevailing opinion is that they were compiled by Ezra, or one of the later prophets, from the ancient documents that are so frequently referred to in the course of the history as of public and established authority. Their inspired character was acknowledged by the Jewish Church, which ranked them in the sacred canon; and, besides, it is attested by our Lord, who frequently quotes from them (compare I Kings 17:9; II Kings 5:14 with Luke 4:24-27; I Kings 10:1 with Matthew 12:42).
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