Part 192 (1/2)

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And he opened the door, and fled. Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, ”Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee?”

And he said to them, ”Ye know the man and what his talk was.”

And they said, ”It is false; tell us now.”

And he said, ”Thus and thus spoke he to me, saying, 'Thus saith the Lord. I have anointed thee king over Israel.'”

Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, ”Jehu is king.”

So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nims.h.i.+ conspired against Joram. ( Now Joram kept Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria: but King Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.)

And Jehu said, ”If this be your mind, then let none escape and go forth out of the city, to go to tell it in Jezreel.”

So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. Now the watchman stood 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 horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, 'Is it peace?'”

So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, ”Thus saith the king, 'Is it peace?'”

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And Jehu said, ”What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.”

And the watchman told, saying, ”The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.”

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.”

And the watchman told, saying, ”He came even up to them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nims.h.i.+; for he driveth furiously.”

And Joram said, ”Make ready.” And they made ready his chariot.

And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and found him in the field which had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. And it came to pa.s.s, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, ”Is it peace, Jehu?”

And he answered, ”What peace, so long as the evil deeds of thy mother Jezebel and her witch crafts are so many?”

And Joram turned his hands and fled, and said to Ahaziah, ”There is treachery, O Ahaziah.”

And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and smote Joram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.

Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, ”Take him up, and cast him into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for {161} remember how, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him; 'Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,' saith the Lord; 'and I will requite thee in this field,'

saith the Lord. Now therefore cast him into this piece of ground, according to the word of the Lord.”

But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, ”Smite him also in the chariot”: and they smote him on the way. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulcher with his fathers in the city of David.

And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyelids, and adorned her head, and looked out at the window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, ”Is it peace, thou Zimri, thy master's murderer?”

And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, ”Who is on my side?