2Ki 9:2 When you arrive there, search out Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in and bid him arise from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner room.

2Ki 9:3 Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, 'Thus says the Lord, "I have anointed you king over Israel."' Then open the door and flee and do not wait."

2Ki 9:4 So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.

2Ki 9:5 When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting, and he said, "I have a word for you, O captain." And Jehu said, "For which one of us?" And he said, "For you, O captain."

2Ki 9:6 He arose and went into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.

2Ki 9:7 You shall strike the house of Ahab your 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.

2Ki 9:8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male person both bond and free in Israel.

2Ki 9:9 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.

2Ki 9:10 The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.'" Then he opened the door and fled.

2Ki 9:11 Now Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, "Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?" And he said to them, "You know very well the man and his talk."

2Ki 9:12 They said, "It is a lie, tell us now." And he said, "Thus and thus he said to me, 'Thus says the Lord, "I have anointed you king over Israel."'"

2Ki 9:13 Then they hurried and each man took his garment and placed it under him on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet, saying, "Jehu is king!"

2Ki 9:14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram with all Israel was defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,

2Ki 9:15 but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. So Jehu said, "If this is your mind, then let no one escape or leave the city to go tell it in Jezreel."

2Ki 9:16 Then Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.

2Ki 9:17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, "I see a company." And Joram said, "Take a horseman and send him to meet them and let him say, 'Is it peace?'"

2Ki 9:18 So a horseman went to meet him and said, "Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?'" And Jehu said, "What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me." And the watchman reported, "The messenger came to them, but he did not return."

2Ki 9:19 Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, "Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?'" And Jehu answered, "What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me."

2Ki 9:20 The watchman reported, "He came even to them, and he did not return; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously."

2Ki 9:21 Then Joram said, "Get ready." And they made his chariot ready. 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 property of Naboth the Jezreelite.

2Ki 9:22 When Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" And he answered, "What peace, so long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?"

2Ki 9:23 So Joram reined about and fled and said to Ahaziah, "There is treachery, O Ahaziah!"

2Ki 9:24 And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between his arms; and the arrow went through his heart and he sank in his chariot.

2Ki 9:25 Then Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, "Take him up and cast him into the property of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for I remember when you and I were riding together after Ahab his father, that the Lord laid this oracle against him:

2Ki 9:26 'Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,' says the Lord, 'and I will repay you in this property,' says the Lord. Now then, take and cast him into the property, according to the word of the Lord."

2Ki 9:27 When Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu pursued him and said, "Shoot him too, in the chariot." So they shot him at the ascent of Gur, which is at Ibleam. But he fled to Megiddo and died there.

2Ki 9:28 Then his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave with his fathers in the city of David.

2Ki 9:29 Now in the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah became king over Judah.

2Ki 9:30 When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window.

2Ki 9:31 As Jehu entered the gate, she said, "Is it well, Zimri, your master's murderer?"

2Ki 9:32 Then he lifted up his face to the window and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" And two or three officials looked down at him.

2Ki 9:33 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 trampled her under foot.

2Ki 9:34 When he came in, he ate and drank; and he said, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter."

2Ki 9:35 They went to bury her, but they found nothing more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.

2Ki 9:36 Therefore they returned and told him. And he said, "This is the word of the Lord, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'In the property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel;

2Ki 9:37 and the corpse of Jezebel will be as dung on the face of the field in the property of Jezreel, so they cannot say, "This is Jezebel."'"

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2Ki 10:1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, the elders, and to the guardians of the children of Ahab, saying,

2Ki 10:2 "Now, when this letter comes to you, since your master's sons are with you, as well as the chariots and horses and a fortified city and the weapons,

2Ki 10:3 select the best and fittest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house."

2Ki 10:4 But they feared greatly and said, "Behold, the two kings did not stand before him; how then can we stand?"

2Ki 10:5 And the one who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders, and the guardians of the children, sent word to Jehu, saying, "We are your servants, all that you say to us we will do, we will not make any man king; do what is good in your sight."

2Ki 10:6 Then he wrote a letter to them a second time saying, "If you are on my side, and you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men, your master's sons, and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow about this time." Now the king's sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who were rearing them.

2Ki 10:7 When the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.

2Ki 10:8 When the messenger came and told him, saying, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons," he said, "Put them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning."

2Ki 10:9 Now in the morning he went out and stood and said to all the people, "You are innocent; behold, I conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these?

2Ki 10:10 Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the Lord has done what He spoke through His servant Elijah."

2Ki 10:11 So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his acquaintances and his priests, until he left him without a survivor.

2Ki 10:12 Then he arose and departed and went to Samaria. On the way while he was at Beth-eked of the shepherds,

2Ki 10:13 Jehu met the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and said, "Who are you?" And they answered, "We are the relatives of Ahaziah; and we have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother."

2Ki 10:14 He said, "Take them alive." So they took them alive and killed them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two men; and he left none of them.

2Ki 10:15 Now when he had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to him, "Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?" And Jehonadab answered, "It is." Jehu said, "If it is, give me your hand." And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot.

2Ki 10:16 He said, "Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord." So he made him ride in his chariot.

2Ki 10:17 When he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to Elijah.

2Ki 10:18 Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.

2Ki 10:19 Now, summon all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests; let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is missing shall not live." But Jehu did it in cunning, so that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal.

2Ki 10:20 And Jehu said, "Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal." And they proclaimed it.

2Ki 10:21 Then Jehu sent throughout Israel and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. And when they went into the house of Baal, the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other.

2Ki 10:22 He said to the one who was in charge of the wardrobe, "Bring out garments for all the worshipers of Baal." So he brought out garments for them.

2Ki 10:23 Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab; and he said to the worshipers of Baal, "Search and see that there is here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but only the worshipers of Baal."

2Ki 10:24 Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he had said, "The one who permits any of the men whom I bring into your hands to escape shall give up his life in exchange."

2Ki 10:25 Then it came about, as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the royal officers, "Go in, kill them; let none come out." And they killed them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the royal officers threw them out, and went to the inner room of the house of Baal.

2Ki 10:26 They brought out the sacred pillars of the house of Baal and burned them.

2Ki 10:27 They also broke down the sacred pillar of Baal and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day.

2Ki 10:28 Thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel.

2Ki 10:29 However, as for the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin, from these Jehu did not depart, even the golden calves that were at Bethel and that were at Dan.

2Ki 10:30 The Lord said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in executing what is right in My eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."

2Ki 10:31 But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel sin.

2Ki 10:32 In those days the Lord began to cut off portions from Israel; and Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel:

2Ki 10:33 from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.

2Ki 10:34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu and all that he did and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

2Ki 10:35 And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.

2Ki 10:36 Now the time which Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

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2Ki 11:1 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring.

2Ki 11:2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons who were being put to death, and placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death.

2Ki 11:3 So he was hidden with her in the house of the Lord six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.

2Ki 11:4 Now in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him in the house of the Lord. Then he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the Lord, and showed them the king's son.

2Ki 11:5 He commanded them, saying, "This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, who come in on the sabbath and keep watch over the king's house

2Ki 11:6 (one third also shall be at the gate Sur, and one third at the gate behind the guards), shall keep watch over the house for defense.

2Ki 11:7 Two parts of you, even all who go out on the sabbath, shall also keep watch over the house of the Lord for the king.

2Ki 11:8 Then you shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand; and whoever comes within the ranks shall be put to death. And be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in."

2Ki 11:9 So the captains of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each one of them took his men who were to come in on the sabbath, with those who were to go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.

2Ki 11:10 The priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of the Lord.

2Ki 11:11 The guards stood each with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, by the altar and by the house, around the king.

2Ki 11:12 Then he brought the king's son out and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony; and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, "Long live the king!"

2Ki 11:13 When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people in the house of the Lord.

2Ki 11:14 She looked and behold, the king was standing by the pillar, according to the custom, with the captains and the trumpeters beside the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, "Treason! Treason!"

2Ki 11:15 And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were appointed over the army and said to them, "Bring her out between the ranks, and whoever follows her put to death with the sword." For the priest said, "Let her not be put to death in the house of the Lord."

2Ki 11:16 So they seized her, and when she arrived at the horses' entrance of the king's house, she was put to death there.

2Ki 11:17 Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they would be the Lord's people, also between the king and the people.

2Ki 11:18 All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord.

2Ki 11:19 He took the captains of hundreds and the Carites and the guards and all the people of the land; and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, and came by the way of the gate of the guards to the king's house. And he sat on the throne of the kings.

2Ki 11:20 So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet. For they had put Athaliah to death with the sword at the king's house.

2Ki 11:21 Jehoash was seven years old when he became king.

====== TODAY =================
Day 185 -- 4 July:   2 Kings 9-11
===== PREVIOUS DAYS ==================

Day 183 -- 2 July:   2 Kings 1-4

Day 184 -- 3 July:   2 Kings 5-8

===== COMING DAYS =================
Day 186 -- 5 July:   2 Kings 12-13; 2 Chronicles 24
Day 187 -- 6 July:   2 Kings 14;2 Chronicles 25
Day 188 -- 7 July:   Jonah 1-4

Day 189 -- 8 July:   2 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 26
Day 190 -- 9 July:   Isaiah 1-4