2 Kings 9
Open in the reader1Now My-God-Is-Salvation the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak under your belt, take this flask of oil, and go to Heights-gilead.
2When you arrive, look for He-Who-Is-He son of He-Who-Is-Has-Judged, the son of Drawn-Out. Go in, get him away from his companions, and take him to an inner room.
3Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and declare, ‘This is what He-Who-Is says: I anoint you king over Strives-with-God.’ Then open the door and run. Do not delay!”
4So the young prophet went to Heights-gilead,
5and when he arrived, the army commanders were sitting there. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said. “He-Who-Is-He which of us?” asked He-Who-Is-He. “For you, commander,” he replied.
6So He-Who-Is-He got up and went into the house, where the young prophet poured the oil on his head and declared, “This is what He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, says: ‘I anoint you king over He-Who-Is’s people Strives-with-God.
7And you are to strike down the house of your master Father's-Brother, so that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of He-Who-Is shed by the hand of Jezebel.
8The whole house of Father's-Brother will perish, and I will cut off from Father's-Brother every male, both slave and free, in Strives-with-God.
9I will make the house of Father's-Brother like the houses of The-People-Increase son of Regard and Offensiveness son of My-Brother-Is-He-Who-Is.
10And on the plot of ground at God-Sows the dogs will devour Jezebel, and there will be no one to bury her.’” Then the young prophet opened the door and ran.
11When He-Who-Is-He went out to the servants of his master, they asked, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” “You know his kind and their babble,” he replied.
12“That is a lie!” they said. “Tell us now!” So He-Who-Is-He answered, “He talked to me about this and that, saying, ‘This is what He-Who-Is says: I anoint you king over Strives-with-God.’”
13Quickly, each man took his garment and put it under He-Who-Is-He on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “He-Who-Is-He is king!”
14Thus He-Who-Is-He son of He-Who-Is-Has-Judged, the son of Drawn-Out, conspired against He-Who-Is-Exalted. (Now He-Who-Is-Exalted and all Strives-with-God had been defending Heights-gilead against God-Has-Seen king of Highland,
15but King He-Who-Is-Exalted had returned to God-Sows to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Highland-Ones in the battle against God-Has-Seen their king.) So He-Who-Is-He said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in God-Sows.”
16Then He-Who-Is-He got into his chariot and went to God-Sows, because He-Who-Is-Exalted was laid up there. And He-Who-Is-Has-Grasped king of Praised had gone down to see him.
17Now the watchman standing on the tower in God-Sows saw He-Who-Is-He’s troops approaching, and he called out, “I see a company of troops!” “Choose a rider,” He-Who-Is-Exalted commanded. “Send him out to meet them and ask, ‘Have you come in peace?’”
18So a horseman rode off to meet He-Who-Is-He and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” He-Who-Is-He replied. “Fall in behind me.” And the watchman reported, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”
19So the king sent out a second horseman, who went to them and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” He-Who-Is-He replied. “Fall in behind me.”
20Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the charioteer is driving like He-Who-Is-He son of Drawn-Out —he is driving like a madman!”
21“Harness!” He-Who-Is-Exalted shouted, and they harnessed his chariot. Then He-Who-Is-Exalted king of Strives-with-God and He-Who-Is-Has-Grasped king of Praised set out, each in his own chariot, and met He-Who-Is-He on the property of Fruits the God-Sows-Folk.
22When He-Who-Is-Exalted saw He-Who-Is-He, he asked, “Have you come in peace, He-Who-Is-He?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
23He-Who-Is-Exalted turned around and fled, calling out to He-Who-Is-Has-Grasped, “Treachery, He-Who-Is-Has-Grasped!”
24Then He-Who-Is-He drew his bow and shot He-Who-Is-Exalted between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.
25And He-Who-Is-He said to By-Stabbing his officer, “Pick him up and throw him into the field of Fruits the God-Sows-Folk. For remember that when you and I were riding together behind his father Father's-Brother, He-Who-Is lifted up this burden against him:
26‘As surely as I saw the blood of Fruits and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares He-Who-Is, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares He-Who-Is.’ Now then, according to the word of He-Who-Is, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”
27When King He-Who-Is-Has-Grasped of Praised saw this, he fled up the road toward House-of-the-Garden. And He-Who-Is-He pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot He-Who-Is-Has-Grasped in his chariot on the Ascent of Sojourning, near Devouring-the-People, and he fled to Rendezvous and died there.
28Then his servants carried him by chariot to Foundation-of-Peace and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of Beloved.
29(In the eleventh year of He-Who-Is-Exalted son of Father's-Brother, He-Who-Is-Has-Grasped had become king over Praised.)
30Now when He-Who-Is-He arrived in God-Sows, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.
31And as He-Who-Is-He entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, O My-Song, murderer of your master?”
32He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
33“Throw her down!” yelled He-Who-Is-He. So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
34Then He-Who-Is-He went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.”
35But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.
36So they went back and told He-Who-Is-He, who replied, “This is the word of He-Who-Is, which He spoke through His servant My-God-Is-He-Who-Is the Inhabitants: ‘On the plot of ground at God-Sows the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel.
37And Jezebel’s body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at God-Sows, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.’”