Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah

(2 Chronicles 22:8–9)

14 Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram.

(Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram, 15 but King Joram [fn] had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.)

So Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”

16 Then 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.

17 Now 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?’ ”

18 So 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.”

19 So 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.”

20 Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the charioteer is driving like Jehu son of Nimshi [fn]—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.

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

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

23 Joram turned around [fn] and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”

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

25 And 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.”

27 When 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,[fn] near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there. 28 Then 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.)