(KJV) 2 Kings 91

<< 2 Kings 8 2 Kings 10 >>

⥃Jehu Anointed King of Israel

[1] And Elisha the prophet called one2 of the children3 of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins4, and take this box of oil5 in thine hand, and go to Ramoth–gilead6:7 [2] And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu8 the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren9, and carry him to an inner chamber10; [3] Then take the box of oil, and pour [it11] on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed12 thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee13, and tarry not.

[4] [¶]So the young man14, [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 errand15 to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain. [6] And he arose16, 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 anointed17 thee king over the people18 of the Lord, [even] over Israel. [7] And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge19 the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand20 of Jezebel. [8] For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off21 from Ahab him that pisseth22 against the wall, and him that is shut up23 and left in Israel: [9] And I will make the house of Ahab like the house24 of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house25 of Baasha the son of Ahijah: [10] And the dogs26 shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and [there shall be] none to bury [her]. And he opened27 the door, and fled.

[11] Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and [one] said unto him, [Is] all well28? wherefore came this mad [fellow29] to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication. [12] And they said, [It is] false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus30 spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. [13] Then they hasted, and took every31 man his garment, and put [it] under him on the top32 of the stairs, and blew with trumpets33, saying, Jehu is king34.

⥃Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah [ 2 Chronicles 22:8–9 ]

[14] So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired35 against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramoth–gilead36, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria. [15] But king Joram37 was returned38 to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given39 him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, [then] let none go forth40 [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 there. And Ahaziah41 king of Judah was come down to see Joram. [17] And there stood a watchman42 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 horseman43, and send to meet them, and let him say, [Is it] peace44? [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 do45 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, 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 driving46 [is] like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth47 furiously48. [21] And Joram said, Make ready49. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram50 king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met51 him in the portion of Naboth52 the Jezreelite. [22] And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, [Is it] peace53, Jehu? And he answered, What peace54, so long as the whoredoms55 of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts [are so] many? [23] And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, [There is] treachery56, O Ahaziah. [24] And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength57, and smote58 Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk59 down in his chariot. [25] Then said [Jehu] to Bidkar 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 Lord60 laid this burden upon him; [26] Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth61, and the blood of his sons62, saith the Lord; and I will requite63 thee in this plat64, saith the Lord. Now therefore take [and] cast him into the plat [of ground], according to the word of the Lord.

[27] [¶]But when Ahaziah65 the king of Judah saw [this], he fled by the way of the garden house66. 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 Ibleam67. And he fled to Megiddo68, and died there. [28] And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.69 [29] And in the eleventh70 year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah71 to reign over Judah.

⥃Jezebel’s Violent Death

[30] And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel72 heard [of it]; and she painted her face73, and tired74 her head, and looked out at a window. [31] And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, [Had] Zimri75 peace76, who slew his master? [32] And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who [is] on my side77? who? And there looked out to him two [or] three eunuchs78. [33] And he said, Throw her down79. So they threw her down: and [some] of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses80: and he trode81 her under foot. [34] And when he was come in, he did eat82 and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed [woman83], and bury her: for she [is] a king’s84 daughter. [35] And they went to bury her: but they found85 no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of [her] hands. [36] Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This [is86] the word of the Lord, which he spake by his87 servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: [37] And the carcase88 of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; [so] that they shall not say, This [is] Jezebel.

<< 2 Kings 8 2 Kings 10 >>

  1. 2Kgs 9:1, Elisha sends a young prophet with instructions to anoint Jehu at Ramoth–gilead; 2Kgs 9:4, The prophet having done his message, flees; 2Kgs 9:11, Jehu, being made king by the soldiers, kills Joram in the field of Naboth; 2Kgs 9:27, Ahaziah is slain at Gur, and buried at Jerusalem; 2Kgs 9:30, Proud Jezebel is thrown down out of a window, and eaten by dogs. ↩

  2. The Jews say that this was Jonah, the prophet, the son of Amittai. ↩

  3. 2Kgs 4:1, 2Kgs 6:1-3 ↩

  4. As the upper garments of the Orientals were long and flowing, it was indispensably necessary to tuck up the skirts with a girdle about their loins, in order to use any expedition in their work or on a journey. 2Kgs 4:29; 1Kgs 18:46; Jer 1:17; Luke 12:35-37; 1Pet 1:13 ↩

  5. 1Sam 10:1, 1Sam 16:1; 1Kgs 1:39 ↩

  6. 2Kgs 8:28-29; Deut 4:1, Deut 4:3; 1Kgs 22:4, 1Kgs 22:20 ↩

  7. 1Kgs 20:35 ↩

  8. Jehoram having retired from the army, Jehu seems to have been left first in command, having been long employed by Ahab's family. 2Kgs 9:14; 1Kgs 19:16-17 ↩

  9. 2Kgs 9:5, 2Kgs 9:11 ↩

  10. Heb. chamber in a chamber, 1Kgs 20:30, 1Kgs 22:25 *marg. ↩

  11. Exod 29:7; Lev 8:12; 1Sam 16:13; 1Kgs 19:16 ↩

  12. 2Kgs 8:13; 1Sam 9:16, 1Sam 15:1, 1Sam 15:17, 1Sam 16:12; Ps 75:6-7; Prov 8:15-16; Jer 27:5-7; Dan 2:1, Dan 4:35, Dan 5:18; John 19:10-11 ↩

  13. 1Sam 16:2; Matt 2:13, Matt 10:16 ↩

  14. Hannaâr hannavee, not as some would render, "the servant of the prophet," but, as correctly rendered by our venerable translators, "the young man, the prophet;" for δπςψ, hannaâr, "the young man," is not in regimine, but in appositione, with δπαιΰ, hannavee, "the prophet." 2Kgs 9:4 ↩

  15. Judg 3:19 ↩

  16. Acts 23:18-19 ↩

  17. 2Kgs 9:3; 1Kgs 1:34, 1Kgs 19:16; 2Chr 22:7; Ps 2:6 *marg. Ps 75:6; Isa 45:1; Dan 2:21, Dan 4:17, Dan 4:32, Dan 5:20-21 ↩

  18. 1Kgs 3:8, 1Kgs 10:9, 1Kgs 14:7, 1Kgs 16:2 ↩

  19. Deut 32:35, Deut 32:43; Ps 94:1-7; Matt 23:35; Luke 18:7-8; Rom 12:19, Rom 13:4; Heb 10:30; Rev 6:9-10, Rev 18:20, Rev 19:2 ↩

  20. 2Kgs 9:32-37; 1Kgs 18:4, 1Kgs 21:15, 1Kgs 21:21, 1Kgs 21:25 ↩

  21. 1Kgs 14:10-11, 1Kgs 21:21-22 ↩

  22. 1Sam 25:22 ↩

  23. 2Kgs 14:26; Deut 32:36 ↩

  24. 1Kgs 14:10-11, 1Kgs 15:29, 1Kgs 21:22 ↩

  25. 1Kgs 16:3-5, 1Kgs 16:11-12 ↩

  26. 2Kgs 9:35-36; 1Kgs 21:23; Jer 22:19 ↩

  27. 2Kgs 9:3; Judg 3:26 ↩

  28. 2Kgs 9:17, 2Kgs 9:19, 2Kgs 9:22, 2Kgs 4:26, 2Kgs 5:21 ↩

  29. It is probable there was something peculiar in the young prophet's manner and address, similar to the vehement actions sometimes used by the prophets when under the Divine influence, which caused the bystanders to use this contemptuous language. Isa 59:15 *marg. Jer 29:26; Hos 9:7; Mark 3:21; John 10:20; Acts 17:18, Acts 26:24; 1Cor 4:10; 2Cor 5:13 ↩

  30. 2Kgs 9:6-10 ↩

  31. The spreading of garments in the street, before persons to whom it was intended to shew particular honour, was an ancient and very general custom; the garments in these cases being used for carpets. In the Agamemnon of Aschylus, the hypocritical Clytemnestra commands the maids to spread carpets before her returning husband, that on his descending from his chariot he may place his foot on "a purple-covered path." We also find this custom among the Romans. Plutarch relates, that when Cato of Utica left the Macedonian army, where he had become legionary tribune, the soldiers spread their clothes in the way. Matt 21:7-8; Mark 11:7-8 ↩

  32. The ancient fortified cities were generally strengthened with a citadel (Judg 9:46, Judg 9:51), commonly built on an eminence, to which they ascended by a flight of stairs (Neh 3:15). It is extremely probable, therefore, that Ramoth–gilead, being a frontier town of Israel and Syria, had a tower of this nature; and that Jehu was proclaimed king on the top of the stairs by which they ascended the hill on which the tower stood, i.e., in the area before the door of the tower, and consequently the most public place in the city. ↩

  33. 2Sam 15:10; 1Kgs 1:34, 1Kgs 1:39; Ps 47:5-7, Ps 98:6 ↩

  34. Heb. reigneth ↩

  35. 2Kgs 9:31, 2Kgs 8:12-15, 2Kgs 10:9, 2Kgs 15:30; 1Kgs 15:27, 1Kgs 16:7, 1Kgs 16:9, 1Kgs 16:16 ↩

  36. 2Kgs 8:28; 1Kgs 22:3 ↩

  37. Heb. Jehoram ↩

  38. 2Kgs 8:29; 2Chr 22:6 ↩

  39. Heb. smote ↩

  40. Heb. no escaper go forth, 1Sam 27:9-11 ↩

  41. 2Kgs 8:28-29; 2Chr 22:6-7 ↩

  42. 2Sam 13:34, 2Sam 18:24; Isa 21:6-9, Isa 21:11-12, Isa 56:10, Isa 62:6; Ezek 33:2-9; Acts 20:26-31 ↩

  43. 2Kgs 7:14 ↩

  44. 2Kgs 9:19; 1Sam 16:4, 1Sam 17:22; 1Kgs 2:15; Luke 10:5-6 ↩

  45. 2Kgs 9:19, 2Kgs 9:22; Isa 48:22, Isa 59:8; Jer 16:5; Rom 3:17 ↩

  46. or, marching, Hab 1:6, Hab 3:12 ↩

  47. 2Kgs 10:16; Eccl 9:10; Isa 54:16; Dan 11:44 ↩

  48. Heb. in madness ↩

  49. Heb. bind, 1Kgs 20:14 *marg. Mic 1:13 ↩

  50. 2Chr 22:7 ↩

  51. Heb. found, Num 20:14 *marg. ↩

  52. 2Kgs 9:25; 1Kgs 21:1-7, 1Kgs 21:15, 1Kgs 21:18-19 ↩

  53. 2Kgs 9:17 ↩

  54. 2Kgs 9:18; Isa 57:19-21 ↩

  55. 1Kgs 16:30-33, 1Kgs 18:4, 1Kgs 19:1-2, 1Kgs 21:8-10, 1Kgs 21:25; Nah 3:4; Rev 2:20-23, Rev 17:4-5; Rev 18:3, Rev 18:23 ↩

  56. 2Kgs 11:14; 2Chr 23:13 ↩

  57. Heb. filled his hand with a bow ↩

  58. 1Kgs 22:34; Job 20:23-25; Ps 50:22; Prov 21:30; Eccl 8:12-13; 1Thess 5:3 ↩

  59. Heb. bowed ↩

  60. 1Kgs 21:19, 1Kgs 21:24-29; Isa 13:1; Jer 23:33-38; Nah 1:1; Mal 1:1; Matt 11:30 ↩

  61. Heb. bloods of Naboth ↩

  62. Deut 24:16; 2Chr 24:25, 2Chr 25:4 ↩

  63. Exod 20:5; Deut 5:9; Ezek 18:19 ↩

  64. or, portion ↩

  65. 2Kgs 8:29; Num 16:26; 2Chr 22:7-9; Prov 13:20; 2Cor 6:17 ↩

  66. 1Kgs 21:2 ↩

  67. Josh 17:11; Judg 1:27 ↩

  68. "In the kingdom of Samaria." 2Kgs 23:29-30; Judg 1:27, Judg 5:19; 1Kgs 4:12; 2Chr 22:9 ↩

  69. 2Kgs 12:21, 2Kgs 14:19-20, 2Kgs 23:20; 2Chr 25:28, 2Chr 35:24 ↩

  70. 2Kgs 8:16, 2Kgs 8:24; 2Chr 21:18-19, 2Chr 22:1-2 ↩

  71. "Then he began to reign as viceroy to his father in his sickness." 2Chr 21:18-19 "But in Joram's twelfth year, he began to reign alone. 2Kgs 8:25." ↩

  72. 1Kgs 19:1-2 ↩

  73. Heb. put her eyes in painting, Jer 4:30; Ezek 23:40 ↩

  74. Isa 3:18-24; Ezek 24:17; 1Tim 2:9-10; 1Pet 3:3 ↩

  75. 1Kgs 16:9-20 ↩

  76. 2Kgs 9:18-22 ↩

  77. Exod 32:26; 1Chr 12:18; 2Chr 11:12; Ps 118:6, Ps 124:1-2 ↩

  78. or, chamberlains, Esth 1:10, Esth 2:15, Esth 2:21; Acts 12:20 ↩

  79. 1Kgs 21:11 ↩

  80. This terrible mode of punishment appears to have been but rarely used, though we occasionally meet with it during this and subsequent periods. The same punishment, it is well known, obtained among the Romans, who used to throw certain malefactors from the Tarpeian rock. This practice obtains among the Moors at Constantia, a town of Barbary; and is also of frequent occurrence in Persia. ↩

  81. 2Kgs 9:26, 2Kgs 7:20; Isa 25:10; Lam 1:15; Mic 7:10; Mal 4:3; Matt 5:13; Heb 10:29 ↩

  82. 1Kgs 18:41; Esth 3:15; Amos 6:4 ↩

  83. 1Kgs 21:25; Prov 10:7; Isa 65:15; Matt 25:41 ↩

  84. 1Kgs 16:31 ↩

  85. Job 31:3; Eccl 6:3; Isa 14:18-20; Jer 22:19, Jer 36:30; Acts 12:23 ↩

  86. 1Kgs 21:23 ↩

  87. Heb. by the hand of his, 2Kgs 14:25; Lev 8:36; 2Sam 12:25 ↩

  88. Ps 83:10; Eccl 6:3; Isa 14:18-20; Jer 8:2, Jer 16:4, Jer 22:19, Jer 36:20; Ezek 32:23-30 ↩