He ¹  himself bore our sins ²  in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning ³  and live for righteousness. By his ⁴  wounds ⁵  you were healed. ⁶ 

He breaks through against me, time and time again; ¹  he rushes ²  against me like a warrior.

I beat them ¹  to death; ²  they fall at my feet. ³ 

But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians ¹  when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. ²  Jehu told his supporters, ³  “If you really want me to be king, ⁴  then don’t let anyone escape from the city to go and warn Jezreel.”

They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. ¹  They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’ But everything is not all right! ² 

They offer only superficial help for the hurt my dear people ¹  have suffered. ²  They say, “Everything will be all right!” But everything is not all right! ³ 

Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward, shouting a battle cry. ¹  They chased the Philistines to the valley ²  and to the very gates of Ekron. The Philistine corpses lay fallen along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.

One of the members of the prophetic guild, speaking with divine authority, ordered his companion, “Wound me!” ¹  But the man refused to wound him.

After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. ¹  It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ² 

Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you – though you are a man and not a god – when you are in the power of those who wound you?

I will send a plague into the city ¹  and bloodshed into its streets; the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ²  from every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

So ¹  he sent another slave to them again. This one they struck on the head and treated outrageously.

A man with crushed ¹  or severed genitals ²  may not enter the assembly of the Lord. ³ 

I wipe them out and beat them to death; they cannot get up; they fall at my feet.

The words of a gossip ¹  are like choice morsels; ²  they go down into the person’s innermost being. ³ 

Afterward ¹  it bites like a snake, and stings like a viper.

Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, ¹  or like vinegar poured on soda, ²  so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. ³ 

When they withdrew, they left Joash ¹  badly wounded. His servants plotted against him because of what he had done to ²  the son ³  of Jehoiada the priest. They murdered him on his bed. Thus ⁴  he died and was buried in the City of David, ⁵  but not in the tombs of the kings.

“Come on! Let’s return to the Lord! He himself has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us! He has injured ¹  us, but he will bandage our wounds!

Indeed God strikes the heads of his enemies, the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion. ¹