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king's household." So they came and called unto the porters of the city and they told them, saying: "We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were." And the porters called, and they told it to the king's house within.

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And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants: "I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city." And one of his servants answered and said: "Let some take five of the horses that still remain it will happen to them as has happened to all the multitude that are already dead and let us send and see. They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see." And they went after them unto Jordan and lo, all the way was full of garments and weapons, which the Syrians had away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king.

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And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.

Elisha and Hazael (2 Kings viii. 7–15). And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, "The man of God is come hither." And the king said unto Hazael: "Take a present in thine hand, and go, meet the man of God, and enquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?" So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said: "Thy son Ben-hadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?"

And Elisha said unto him: "Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: how beit the Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die." And he settled his countenance stedfastly,

until he was ashamed: 1 and the man of God wept. And Hazael said, "Why weepeth my lord?" And he answered: "Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child." And Hazael said: "But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" And Elisha answered: "The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria."

So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, "What said Elisha to thee?" And he answered, "He told me that thou should est surely recover." And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.

2

Jehu's Revolution (2 Kings ix. ; x. 1-27). 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 Ramoth-gilead: 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; 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."

So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 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." 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. 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." And he opened the door, and fled.

1 and he settled . . . ashamed. Elisha, in a prophetic trance, gazed fixedly at Hazael until he was abashed.

2 An inscription of Shalmaneser II mentions Hazael as king of Damascus in 842 and 839 B. C.

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." 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." 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." So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Jehoram. (Now Jehoram had kept1 Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria. But king Jehoram 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."

So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Jehoram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Jehoram. 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 Jehoram said: "Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace?" 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." 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." 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."

And Jehoram said, "Make ready." And his chariot was made ready. And Jehoram 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. And it came to pass, when Jehoram 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?" And Jehoram turned his hands, and fled, and

1 had kept. Had been defending.

said to Ahaziah, "Treachery, O Ahaziah." 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. 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; 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."

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 smote him 'at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.

And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes,1 and attired her head, and looked out at a window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said: "Is it peace, thou Zimri, thy master's murderer?" 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. 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 they trode her under foot. 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." 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. 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: and the carcass 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."

And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of the city, and

1 Arab women still paint their eyelashes and brows with a mixture of suk phide of antimony and oil.

to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying: "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 armor; 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." But they were exceedingly afraid, and said: "Behold, two kings stood not before him how then shall we stand?" 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." 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.'

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Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up. 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. 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." 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? 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."

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

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