Jehu Anointed King of Israel

1 Then Elisha the prophet called one of ^cthe sons of the prophets and said to him, ^d“Tie up your garments, and take this ^eflask of oil in your hand, and go to ^fRamoth-gilead. 2 And when you arrive, look there for Jehu ^gthe son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. And go in and have him rise from among ^hhis fellows, and lead him to an inner chamber. 3 Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, ⁱI anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.”

4 So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5 And when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were in council. And he said, “I have a word for you, O commander.” And Jehu said, “To which of us all?” And he said, “To you, O commander.” 6 So he arose and went into the house. And the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ⁱI anoint you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. 7 And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge ^jon Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. 8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, ^kand I will cut off from Ahab ^levery male, ^mbond or free, in Israel. 9 And I will make the house of Ahab like ⁿthe house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like ^othe house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 10 ^pAnd the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.

11 When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, they said to him, ^q“Is all well? Why did ^rthis mad fellow come to you?” And he said to them, “You know the fellow and his talk.” 12 And they said, “That is not true; tell us now.” And he said, “Thus and so he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’” 13 Then in haste ^severy man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare¹ steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, ^t“Jehu is king.”

Jehu Assassinates Joram and Ahaziah

14 Thus Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (^uNow Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth-gilead against ^vHazael king of Syria, 15 ^wbut King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) So Jehu said, “If this is your decision, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.” 16 Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to visit Joram.

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 to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’” 18 So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’” And Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.” And the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.” 19 Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus the king has said, ‘Is it peace?’” And Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.” 20 Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving ^xis like the driving of Jehu ^ythe son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.”

21 Joram said, ^z“Make ready.” And they made ready his chariot. ^aThen Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu, and met him ^bat the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22 And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as ^cthe whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?” 23 Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “Treachery, O Ahaziah!” 24 And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot. 25 Jehu said to Bidkar ^dhis aide, “Take him up and throw him ^bon the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember, when you and I rode side by side behind Ahab his father, how ^ethe Lord made this ^fpronouncement against him: 26 ‘As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons—declares the Lord—I will repay you on this plot of ground.’ Now therefore take him up and throw him on the plot of ground, in accordance with the word of the Lord.”

27 ^gWhen Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him and said, “Shoot him also.” And they shot him² in the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is by ^hIbleam. And he fled to ^hMegiddo and died there. 28 ⁱHis servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.

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

Jehu Executes Jezebel

30 When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. And ^kshe painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window. 31 And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, ^l“Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?” 32 And he lifted up his face 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. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her. 34 Then he went in and ate and drank. And he said, “See now to this cursed woman and bury her, ^mfor she is a king’s daughter.” 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: ⁿ‘In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, 37 and the corpse of Jezebel shall be ^oas dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.’”

Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and ^qflogged him. 2 ^rAnd the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that ^sI find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing ^tthe crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ^u“Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, ^v“Take him yourselves and crucify him, for ^wI find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews¹ answered him, “We have a law, and ^xaccording to that law he ought to die because ^yhe has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, ^zhe was even more afraid. 9 ^aHe entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ^b“Where are you from?” But ^cJesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, ^d“You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore ^ehe who delivered me over to you ^fhas the greater sin.”

12 From then on ^gPilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. ^hEveryone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on ⁱthe judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic² Gabbatha. 14 Now it was ^jthe day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.³ He said to the Jews, ^k“Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, ^l“Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 ^mSo he ⁿdelivered him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus, 17 and ^ohe went out, ^pbearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 ^qThere they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate ^ralso wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for ^sthe place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, ^t“What I have written I have written.”

23 ^uWhen the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.⁴ But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” ^vThis was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

So the soldiers did these things, 25 ^xbut standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and ^ythe disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ^z“Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to ^ahis own home.

The Death of Jesus

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now ^bfinished, said (^vto fulfill the Scripture), ^c“I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, ^dso they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ^e“It is finished,” and he bowed his head and ^fgave up his spirit.

Jesus’ Side Is Pierced

31 Since it was ^gthe day of Preparation, and ^hso that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was ⁱa high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other ^jwho had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out ^kblood and water. 35 ^lHe who saw it has borne witness—^mhis testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—ⁿthat you also may believe. 36 ^oFor these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ^p“Not one of his bones ^qwill be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, ^r“They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

Jesus Is Buried

38 ^sAfter these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly ^tfor fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 ^uNicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus⁵ by night, came ^vbringing a mixture of ^wmyrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds⁶ in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and ^xbound it in ^ylinen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a ^zgarden, and ^ain the garden a new tomb ^bin which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish ^cday of Preparation, ^dsince the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.