1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead:
2 And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber;
3 Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.
4 So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead.
5 And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain.
6 And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.
7 And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel.
8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel:
9 And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah:
10 And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.
11 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 unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication.
12 And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel.
13 Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.
14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria.
15 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 it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.
16 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.
17 And there stood a watchman 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?
18 So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? 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.
19 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.
20 And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.
21 And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?
23 And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah.
24 And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.
25 Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him;
26 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 plat, saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the Lord.
27 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 did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.
28 And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.
29 And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
30 And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
31 And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?
32 And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.
33 And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.
34 And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter.
35 And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.
36 Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:
37 And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
<html><b>Elisha the prophet called, etc.</b> At the same time that Yehorom was ill in Yizre’el. <b>One of the prophets’ disciples.</b> It was Yonah son of Amitai. <b>“Gird you loins.”</b> Every “girding of the loins” is an expression of hurry1<i class=“footnote”>See above 4:29, and Shemos 12:11.</i> [and] might; because he was sent on a perilous mission (he needed to hurry).2<i class=“footnote”>Even though one who performs a mitzvah is ordinarily immune from any harm befalling him, this does not apply to exceptionally dangerous activities such as this. See Maseches Chulin 142a.</i></html>
<html><b>The lad, the prophet’s disciple.</b> The disciple of Elisha the prophet,3<i class=“footnote”>Rashi is explaining the reason for the repetition of הַנַּעַר in this verse.</i> so rendered [Targum] Yonoson, “and the lad, the disciple of the prophet, went.”4<i class=“footnote”>Alternatively, “and the lad, the lad who was a prophet [in his own right], went.”—Malbim</i></html>
<html><b>“You know the man.”</b> You recognize the man, that he is insane.5<i class=“footnote”>Occasionally, prophets under the influence of prophecy lost control of themselves and acted strangely.—Metzudas Dovid. See I Shmuel 19:24. Also, followers of the Baal were making these derogatory remarks about the prophet.—Radak</i></html>
<html><b>They said, “That is a lie.”</b> [What] you are saying; you are hiding what he said to you.6<i class=“footnote”>Yeihu wanted to conceal the prophecy and wait for a more opportune time to reveal it.</i></html>
<html><b>On the top step.</b> (Targum) [Yonoson rendered,] עַל דְּרַג שָׁעַיָּא7<i class=“footnote”>Our text reads לִדְּרַג שָׁrַיָּא</i> [=on the step of the hours], a type of steps made corresponding to the hours of the day,8<i class=“footnote”>I.e., the steps were a type of a sundial, each step representing one hour of the day.</i> to know each hour, when the shade descends one hour. גֶּרֶם, <i>ourle,</i> in O.F., an expression of a notch. “הַגְרָמָה,” pertaining to the laws of שְׁחִיטָה [=ritual slaughtering] is from this derivation, that one slaughters in a straight line, and then [cuts] downwards, making an appearance of a mound above.</html>
<html><b>“If you really want.”</b> That I reign. <b>The city.</b> From Ramos-Gilod. <b>[To] report.</b> [לַגִּיד means the] same as לְהַגִּיד [=to tell].</html>
<html><b>Troop.</b> Troop.9<i class=“footnote”>Alternatively, “a multitude of people.”—Ralbag</i></html>
<html><b>Were riding together.</b> How you and I were riding together (other texts: as a pair) after Achov on the day that he killed Navos. <b>When Adonoy put upon him.</b> This prophecy through Eliyahu the prophet,10<i class=“footnote”>See I Melochim 21:17-26.</i> and we heard.</html>
<html><b>“Strike him down in the chariot, etc.”</b> And in Divrei Hayomim it states, “And he sought Achazyohu, and they captured him when he was hiding in Shomron, and they brought him to Yeihu. ”11<i class=“footnote”>II Divrei Hayomim 22:9.</i> The verses can be reconciled as follows: “And [he] fled by way of the Beis-Hagan,” from Yizre’el to Shomron, and Yeihu pursued him. There is, however, a discrepancy in the matter, because Yeihu did not reign in Shomron until the following day, as it is explained in this account, “Yeihu wrote letters and sent them to Shomron, etc.”12<i class=“footnote”>Below 10:1.</i> Our Rabbis explained in the Aggadah [entitled] “Cheilek,”13<i class=“footnote”>Maseches Sanhedrin 102b.</i> “When he was hiding in Shomron,”14<i class=“footnote”>II Divrei Hayomim 22:9.</i> that he would cut out the Divine Names and write [names of] pagan deities in their place. According to their opinion, one can say that his hiding was not because of Yeihu, rather the following is its explanation: “And he sought Achazyohu, and they captured him when he was escaping by way of the garden.” He had been acting wickedly from the beginning, for he would come to Shomron and hide from the officers of Yehudah, to commit this abomination, because the inhabitants of Shomron were idolaters. “And they brought him to Yeihu,”15<i class=“footnote”>Ibid.</i> [i.e.,] Yeihu’s men, who had pursued him, [after which it states,] “And he said, ‘Strike him in the chariot.’”16<i class=“footnote”>Alternatively, Achazyohu was wounded on the way up to Gur, and he fled to Megido where his condition worsened. The verse therefore uses the expression וַיָמָת [literally=“and he died”] to express his condition although he was still alive. See I Shmuel 25:37 where “וַיָמָת” is used to express the condition of a live person. He then went to hide in Shomron where he was discovered by Yeihu’s men. They brought Achazyohu to Yeihu in Yizre’el and he was executed there.—Radak</i> <b>On the way up to Gur.</b> For they brought him [Achazyoh] there to him [Yeihu]. <b>And he fled to Meggido.</b> He was struck as a result of a conspiracy [=בְנִכְלִיּוּת].17<i class=“footnote”>See Rashi in Bereishis 37:18. In some editions Rashi’s text is מוּכָּה בְלוּנְכִּיוֹת [=struck by spears].</i></html>
<html><b>In the eleventh year of Yorom, son of Achov, Achazyoh became king.</b> Above it states, “In the twelfth year.”18<i class=“footnote”>8:25.</i> And you are forced [to say] that Yehorom his father died in the twelfth year of Yorom, because he became king in the fifth year of Yorom and he reigned for eight years. Why then does it say here, “In the eleventh year”? I say that he reigned one year during his father’s lifetime because he was afflicted with severe maladies, as it is stated, “And after all this, Adonoy afflicted him [in his intestines] with incurable illness, and it was at the end of a year … his intestines came out because of his illness, etc.,”19<i class=“footnote”>II Divrei Hayomim 21:18-19.</i> “and the inhabitants of Yerusholayim made king—Achazyohu.”20<i class=“footnote”>Ibid. 22:1.</i> Here it states, “Achazyohu was twenty-two years old when he became king,”21<i class=“footnote”>Above 8:26.</i> but in Divrei Hayomim [it states], “He was forty-two years old when he reigned.”22<i class=“footnote”>II Divrei Hayomim 22:2.</i> Yehorom, his father, lived for forty years, no more, as it is stated, concerning him, “He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years [in Yerusholayim].”23<i class=“footnote”>Above 8:17.</i> How then is it possible for a son to be two years older than his father? Rather, twenty years before he was born, which is two years before his father was born, this decree was issued. From the day that Asa took Omri’s daughter in marriage for Yehoshophot his son, a decree was issued upon the House of Dovid that it be destroyed with the House of Achov. And similarly it states, “And from God [it was decreed] for the ruination of Achazyohu, that he come to Yorom, etc.”24<i class=“footnote”>II Divrei Hayomim 22:7.</i> Thus it is taught in Seder Olam and in the Tosefta of [Maseches] Sotah.25<i class=“footnote”>12:3.</i> However, in all of Scripture, we do not find that Yehoshophot married Omri’s daughter. However, I did find in Divrei Hayomim, “And he intermarried with Achov.”26<i class=“footnote”>II Divrei Hayomim 18:1.</i> Perhaps this [refers to] his sister whom he married. He married her in the thirty-first year of Asa, as it is stated, “In the thirty-first year of the reign of Asa, [King of Yehudah], Omri reigned [over Yisroel].”27<i class=“footnote”>I Melochim 16:23.</i> And we learned in Seder Olam that he reigned over the entire kingdom, for six years before then he reigned over half the people, and when Asa took his [Imri’s] daughter in marriage to [his son] Yehoshophot, Imri gained prestige, and they assassinated Tivni. Proceed and calculate from the thirty-first year of Asa until Achazyohu’s death and you will find them to be forty-two [years].</html>
<html><b>And made up her hair.</b> [Targum Yonoson] (renders) וּתְקָנַת יַת רֵישָׁהּ [=she adorned her head], in order to have charm in Yeihu’s eyes and he would marry her.28<i class=“footnote”>Alternatively, she made herself look beautiful hoping that Yeihu would spare her life.—Metzudas Dovid</i></html>
<html><b>And she said, “Is everything alright?”</b> Do you wish to be with me in peace? <b>Zimri, murderer of his master.</b> It is nothing new if you assassinated your master,29<i class=“footnote”>She was attempting to minimize this murderous act by citing that what he had done had precedent and was therefore acceptable.—Metzudas Dovid</i> for Zimri too assassinated Eilah, son of Ba’asha.30<i class=“footnote”>See I Melochim 16:9-10.</i></html>
<html><b>“Who is with me?”</b> Who among you will come to help me?31<i class=“footnote”>He was also addressing Ezevel’s allies, inviting them to join forces with him.</i></html>
<html><b>“Push her out!”</b> Of the window to the ground.</html>
<html><b>The skull [and] the feet.</b> Our Rabbis said, that she would dance before bridegrooms with her hands and feet, and shake her head.32<i class=“footnote”>Because these limbs participated in performing acts of kindness, the merit that she had thereby earned was not forgotten. Therefore these limbs were spared from being devoured by dogs. See Pirkei Derabi Eliezer Chapter 17. Also, she would join funeral processions and clap her hands and lament for the dead.</i>33<i class=“footnote”>The prophecy in v. 10 above that “no one will bury her,” referring to Ezevel was fulfilled, because most of her body had been devoured, and was not buried.—Radak</i></html>
<html><b>Like dung.</b> [Targum Yonoson] renders כזבל34<i class=“footnote”>Her name indicated her future, אִיזֶבֶל is an acronym for אִי [=woe] that she will be like זֶבֶל [=dung].—Kli Yakar </i> [=as dung].</html>