Bible Reading for April 24

2 Kings Chapter 9

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.

2 Kings Chapter 10

1 And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent
to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that
brought up Ahab's children, saying,

2 Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's sons
are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city
also, and armour;

3 Look even out the best and meetest of your master's sons, and set him
on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house.

4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood
not before him: how then shall we stand?

5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the
elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying,
We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not
make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes.

6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine,
and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your
master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the
king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city,
which brought them up.

7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the
king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets,
and sent him them to Jezreel.

8 And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought
the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at
the entering in of the gate until the morning.

9 And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and
said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my
master, and slew him: but who slew all these?

10 Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of
the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the
LORD hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.

11 So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and
all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him
none remaining.

12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the
shearing house in the way,

13 Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who
are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go
down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen.

14 And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them
at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left
he any of them.

15 And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of
Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine
heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It
is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took
him up to him into the chariot.