14-15. Then Jehu plotted against King Joram, who was in Jezreel, where he had gone to recover from the wounds which he had received in the battle at Ramoth against King Hazael of Syria. So Jehu said to his fellow-officers, “If you are with me, make sure that no one slips out of Ramoth to go and warn the people in Jezreel.”
16. Then he got into his chariot and set off for Jezreel. Joram had still not recovered, and King Ahaziah of Judah was there, visiting him.
17. A guard on duty in the watchtower at Jezreel saw Jehu and his men approaching. “I see some men riding up!” he called out.Joram replied, “Send a rider to find out if they are friends or enemies.”
18. The messenger rode out to Jehu and said to him, “The king wants to know if you come as a friend.”“That's none of your business!” Jehu answered. “Fall in behind me.”The guard on the watchtower reported that the messenger had reached the group but was not returning.
19. Another messenger was sent out, who asked Jehu the same question. Again Jehu answered, “That's none of your business! Fall in behind me.”
20. Once more the guard reported that the messenger had reached the group but was not returning. And he added, “The leader of the group is driving his chariot like a madman, just like Jehu!”
21. “Get my chariot ready,” King Joram ordered. It was done, and he and King Ahaziah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the field which had belonged to Naboth.
22. “Are you coming in peace?” Joram asked him.“How can there be peace,” Jehu answered, “when we still have all the witchcraft and idolatry that your mother Jezebel started?”
23. “It's treason, Ahaziah!” Joram cried out, as he turned his chariot round and fled.
24. Jehu drew his bow, and with all his strength shot an arrow that struck Joram in the back and pierced his heart. Joram fell dead in his chariot,
25. and Jehu said to his aide Bidkar, “Get his body and throw it in the field that belonged to Naboth. Remember that when you and I were riding together behind King Joram's father Ahab, the Lord spoke these words against Ahab:
26. ‘I saw the murder of Naboth and his sons yesterday. And I promise that I will punish you here in this same field.’ So take Joram's body,” Jehu ordered his aide, “and throw it in the field that belonged to Naboth, so as to fulfil the Lord's promise.”
27. King Ahaziah saw what happened, so he fled in his chariot towards the town of Beth Haggan, pursued by Jehu. “Kill him too!” Jehu ordered his men, and they wounded him as he drove his chariot on the road up to Gur, near the town of Ibleam. But he managed to keep going until he reached the city of Megiddo, where he died.
28. His officials took his body back to Jerusalem in a chariot and buried him in the royal tombs in David's City.
29. Ahaziah had become king of Judah in the eleventh year that Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel.