2 Kings 9:16–29

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.

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?’”

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.”

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.”

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

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.

²²When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?”

“How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry^e and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

²³Joram turned around^f and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”

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

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‘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.”

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,^g near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there. ²⁸Then his servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.

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