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 the trumpet, saying, Jehu is king."
He at once marched on Jezreel, and the two kings, surprised at this
movement, went out to meet him with scarcely any escort. The two parties
had hardly met when Joram asked, "Is it peace, Jehu?" to which Jehu
replied, "What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and
her witchcrafts are so many?" Whereupon Joram turned rein, crying to
his nephew, "There is treachery, O Ahaziah." But an arrow pierced him
through the heart, and he fell forward in his chariot. Ahaziah, wounded
near Ibleam, managed, however, to take refuge in Megiddo, where he died,
his servants bringing the body back to Jerusalem.*

* According to the very curtailed account in 2 Chron. xxii.
9, Ahaziah appears to have hidden himself in Samaria, where
he was discovered and taken to Jehu, who had him killed.
This account may perhaps have belonged to the different
version of which a fragment has been preserved in 2 Kings x.
12-17.

When Jezebel heard the news, she guessed the fate which awaited her. She
painted her eyes and tired her head, and posted herself in one of the
upper windows of the palace. As Jehu entered the gates she reproached
him with the words, "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?
Two or three eunuchs rose up behind the queen, and he called to them,
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.
And when he was come in he did eat and drink; and he said, See now
to this cursed woman and bury her; for she is a king's daughter." But
nothing was found of her except her skull, hands, and feet, which they
buried as best they could. Seventy princes, the entire family of Ahab,
were slain, and their heads piled up on either side of the gate. The
priests and worshippers of Baal remained to be dealt with. Jehu summoned
them to Samaria on the pretext of a sacrifice, and massacred them before
the altars of their god. According to a doubtful tradition, the brothers
and relatives of Ahaziah, ignorant of what had happened, came to salute
Joram, and perished in the confusion of