The Message

2 Kings 9:25-26-37 The Message (MSG)

25-26. Jehu ordered Bidkar, his lieutenant, “Quick—throw him into the field of Naboth of Jezreel. Remember when you and I were driving our chariots behind Ahab his father? That’s when God pronounced this doom upon him: ‘As surely as I saw the blood of murdered Naboth and his sons yesterday, you’ll pay for it on this exact piece of ground. God’s word!’ So take him and throw him out in the field. God’s instructions carried out to the letter!”

27. Ahaziah king of Judah saw what was going on and made his escape on the road toward Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, yelling out, “Get him, too!” Jehu’s troops shot and wounded him in his chariot on the hill up to Gur, near Ibleam. He was able to make it as far as Megiddo; there he died.

28. His aides drove on to Jerusalem. They buried him in the family plot in the City of David.

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

30-31. When Jezebel heard that Jehu had arrived in Jezreel, she made herself up—put on eyeshadow and arranged her hair—and posed seductively at the window. When Jehu came through the city gate, she called down, “So, how are things, ‘Zimri,’ you dashing king-killer?”

32. Jehu looked up at the window and called, “Is there anybody up there on my side?” Two or three palace eunuchs looked out.

33. He ordered, “Throw her down!” They threw her out the window. Her blood spattered the wall and the horses, and Jehu trampled her under his horse’s hooves.

34. Then Jehu went inside and ate his lunch. During lunch he gave orders, “Take care of that damned woman; give her a decent burial—she is, after all, a king’s daughter.”

35-36. They went out to bury her, but there was nothing left of her but skull, feet, and hands. They came back and told Jehu. He said, “It’s God’s word, the word spoken by Elijah the Tishbite:In the field of Jezreel,dogs will eat Jezebel;

37. The body of Jezebel will be likedog-droppings on the ground in Jezreel.Old friends and lovers will say,‘I wonder, is this Jezebel?’”