Joram (Also Known as Jehoram) is Assassinated^(A)

¹⁴ Meanwhile, Jehoshaphat’s son Jehu, the grandson of Nimshi, had been conspiring against Joram while Joram and all the army of^[a] Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against King Hazael from Aram. (¹⁵ But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from wounds he had sustained from the Arameans when he had fought against King Hazael from Aram.) So Jehu concluded, “Since this is what you’ve decided,^[b] then let no one get away, leave the city, and go report to Jezreel!” ¹⁶ Then Jehu rode by chariot to Jezreel, since Joram was recovering^[c] there. King Ahaziah from Judah had come to visit Joram.

¹⁷ While the watchman was standing guard in the tower at Jezreel, he watched Jehu’s entourage arrive. So he called out, “I see a group arriving.”

Joram ordered, “Take a horseman, send him out to meet them, and have him ask, ‘Have you come in peace?’”^[d]

¹⁸ So a horseman went out, greeted Jehu and said, “This is what the king said: ‘Have you come in peace?’”

But Jehu responded, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”

The watchman reported, “The messenger arrived there, but he hasn’t returned.”

¹⁹ Then Joram sent out a second horseman, who went out to them and said, “This is what the king said: ‘Have you come in peace?’”

Jehu responded, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”

²⁰ The watchman reported to Joram, “He arrived there, but he hasn’t returned. Also, he drives like Nimshi’s son Jehu drives—irrationally!”

²¹ Joram replied, “Let’s begin our attack!” As soon as his chariot was prepared, both King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah went out, each in his own chariot, to fight against Jehu. They met together in the property that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite.^[e]

²² As soon as Joram noticed Jehu, he cried out, “Peace, Jehu?”

Jehu^[f] replied, “What peace, given^[g] your mother Jezebel’s prostitution and all of^[h] her witchcraft?”^[i]

²³ Joram reined his horse^[j] around to flee and cried out to Ahaziah, “Ahaziah! Treachery!” ²⁴ But Jehu drew his bow with all of his strength, shooting Joram between his shoulder blades.^[k] The arrow pierced his heart, and he collapsed in his chariot.

²⁵ After this, Jehu called out to Bidkar, his third in command, “Pick up Joram’s body and throw it in the field, the property that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite, because you and I remember how when we were riding together in pursuit of his father Ahab, that the Lord pronounced this oracle^[l] against him:

King Ahaziah is Also Killed^(B)

²⁷ As soon as King Ahaziah of Judah observed this, he attempted to flee by the garden house road, but Jehu pursued him. At the ascent toward Gur which is near Ibleam, he ordered, “Shoot him in the chariot, too!”

Ahaziah fled to Megiddo, where he died. ²⁸ Ahaziah’s servants transported the king’s body^[m] by chariot to Jerusalem and buried it in his own sepulcher near his ancestors in the City of David. ²⁹ Ahaziah had begun to reign over Judah in the eleventh year of the reign of^[n] Ahab’s son Joram.