Anointing of Jehu

9 Then the prophet Elisha called a member of the company of prophets and said to him, “Gird up your loins; take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.^{(A) 2} When you arrive, look there for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi; go in and get him to leave his companions, and take him into an inner chamber.^{(B) 3} Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.”^(C)

⁴ So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵ He arrived while the commanders of the army were in council, and he announced, “I have a message for you, commander.” “For which one of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander.” ⁶ So Jehu^[a] got up and went inside; the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the Lord the God of Israel: I anoint you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.^{(D) 7} You shall strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the Lord.^{(E) 8} For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel.^{(F) 9} I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.^{(G) 10} The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.^(H)

¹¹ When Jehu came back to his master’s officers, they said to him, “Is everything all right? Why did that madman come to you?” He answered them, “You know the sort and how they babble.” ¹² They said, “Liar! Come on, tell us!” So he said, “This is just what he said to me: ‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’ ” ¹³ Then hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spread them for him on the bare^[b] steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”^(I)

Joram of Israel Killed

¹⁴ Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth-gilead against King Hazael of Aram,^{(J) 15} but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought against King Hazael of Aram. So Jehu said, “If this is your wish, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.”^{(K) 16} Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, where Joram was lying ill. King Ahaziah of Judah had come down to visit Joram.^(L)

¹⁷ In Jezreel, the sentinel standing on the tower spied the company of Jehu arriving and said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman; send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ ” ¹⁸ So the horseman went to meet him; he said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ ” Jehu responded, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” The sentinel reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”^{(M) 19} Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ ” Jehu answered, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” ²⁰ Again the sentinel reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. It looks like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives like a maniac.”^(N)

²¹ Joram said, “Get ready.” And they got his chariot ready. Then King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu; they met him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.^{(O) 22} When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the many prostitutions^[c] and sorceries of your mother Jezebel continue?”^{(P) 23} Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “Treason, Ahaziah!” ²⁴ Jehu drew his bow with all his strength and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot.^{(Q) 25} Jehu said to his aide Bidkar, “Lift him out and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember when you and I rode side by side behind his father Ahab how the Lord uttered this oracle against him:^{(R) 26} ‘For the blood of Naboth and for the blood of his children that I saw yesterday, says the Lord, I swear I will repay you on this very plot of ground.’ Now, therefore, lift him out and throw him on the plot of ground in accordance with the word of the Lord.”^(S)

Ahaziah of Judah Killed

²⁷ When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him, saying, “Shoot him also!” And they shot him^[d] in the chariot at the ascent to Gur, which is by Ibleam. Then he fled to Megiddo and died there.^{(T) 28} His officers carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the city of David.^(U)

²⁹ In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.

Jezebel’s Violent Death

³⁰ When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window.^{(V) 31} As Jehu entered the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?”^{(W) 32} He looked up to the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. ³³ He said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down; some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, which trampled on her. ³⁴ Then he went in and ate and drank; he said, “See to that cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.”^{(X) 35} But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ When they came back and told him, he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite: In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel;^{(Y) 37} the corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung on the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, ‘This is Jezebel.’ ”^(Z)

Salutation

1 Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— ² and all the brothers and sisters with me,

To the churches of Galatia:^(A)

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,^{(B) 5} to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

There Is No Other Gospel

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.^{(C) 8} But even if we or an angel^[a] from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!^{(D) 9} As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!

¹⁰ Am I now seeking human approval or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.^(E)

Paul’s Vindication of His Apostleship

¹¹ For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin,^{(F) 12} for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³ You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it.^{(G) 14} I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.^{(H) 15} But when the one^[b] who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace was pleased^{(I) 16} to reveal his Son to me,^[c] so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with any human,^{(J) 17} nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterward I returned to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days,^{(K) 19} but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother.^{(L) 20} In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! ²¹ Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia,^{(M) 22} and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ;^{(N) 23} they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.

Athaliah Reigns over Judah

11 Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she set about to destroy all the royal family.^{(A) 2} But Jehosheba, King Joram’s daughter, Ahaziah’s sister, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s children who were about to be killed; she put^[a] him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus she^[b] hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not killed;^{(B) 3} he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the Lord, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

Jehoiada Anoints the Child Joash

⁴ But in the seventh year Jehoiada summoned the captains of the Carites and of the guards and had them come to him in the house of the Lord. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the Lord; then he showed them the king’s son.^{(C) 5} He commanded them, “This is what you are to do: one-third of you, those who go off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king’s house^{(D) 6} (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall guard the palace, ⁷ and your two divisions that come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of the Lord^{[c] 8} shall surround the king, each with weapons in hand, and whoever approaches the ranks is to be killed. Be with the king in his comings and goings.”

⁹ The captains did according to all that the priest Jehoiada commanded; each brought his men who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath, and came to the priest Jehoiada.^{(E) 10} The priest delivered to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the Lord;^{(F) 11} the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house, to guard the king on every side. ¹² Then he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; they proclaimed him king and anointed him; they clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!”^(G)

Death of Athaliah

¹³ When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the Lord to the people;^{(H) 14} when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to custom, with the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”^{(I) 15} Then the priest Jehoiada commanded the captains who were set over the army, “Bring her out between the ranks and kill with the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest said, “Let her not be killed in the house of the Lord.” ¹⁶ So they laid hands on her; she went through the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, and there she was put to death.

¹⁷ Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, that they should be the Lord’s people; also between the king and the people.^{(J) 18} Then 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, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. The priest posted guards over the house of the Lord.^{(K) 19} He took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land; then they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. He took his seat on the throne of the kings.^{(L) 20} So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed with the sword at the king’s house.

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.^{(A) 2} He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being^{(B) 4} in him was life,^[a] and the life was the light of all people.^{(C) 5} The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.^[b](D)

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him.^{(E) 11} He came to what was his own,^[c] and his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,^{(F) 13} who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.^(G)

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,^[d] full of grace and truth.^{(H) 15} (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.^{[e](I) 17} The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.^{(J) 18} No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who^[f] is close to the Father’s heart,^[g] who has made him known.^(K)

The Testimony of John the Baptist

¹⁹ This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ He confessed and did not deny it, but he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”^{[h](L) 21} And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”^{(M) 22} Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said,

as the prophet Isaiah said.^(N)

²⁴ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked him, “Why, then, are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah,^[i] nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” ²⁶ John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, ²⁷ the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.” ²⁸ This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.