2 Kings 1 – 2

God’s Judgment on Ahaziah

2 Kings 1

¹ Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. ² Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upstairs room in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent messengers and told them, “Go, inquire of Baal Zebub, ^[1] the god of Ekron, whether I will survive this injury.”

³ But an angel of the Lord said to Elijah from Tishbe, “Get up. Go meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, ‘Is there no God in Israel, so that you are going to seek out Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? ⁴ Therefore, this is what the Lord says. You will not get up from the bed you have gotten into. You will certainly die.’” So Elijah went.

⁵ The messengers returned to the king, so he said to them, “Why have you come back?”

⁶ They told him, “A man came up to meet us and told us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him: This is what the Lord says. Is there no God in Israel, so that you are sending men to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from the bed you have gotten into. You will surely die.’”

⁷ He said to them, “How would you describe the man who came up to meet you and said these words to you?”

⁸ They told him, “He was dressed in clothing made of hair, ^[2] with a leather belt tied around his waist.”

Then Ahaziah said, “That was Elijah from Tishbe!”

⁹ So he sent a captain of fifty men to Elijah. He went up to him, and there Elijah was, sitting on top of a hill. Then the captain said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”

¹⁰ Then Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, let fire fall from the sky ^[3] and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from the sky and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹¹ Then the king sent another captain of fifty men to him, and the captain said, “Man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Come down at once!’”

¹² Elijah answered, “If I am a man of God, then let fire fall from the sky and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from the sky and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹³ So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. The third captain went and got down on his knees before Elijah and begged for mercy. He said to Elijah, “Man of God, let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your eyes. ¹⁴ Look, fire from the sky fell and consumed the first two captains and their companies of fifty men. But now, let the lives of your servants be precious.”

¹⁵ Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not fear him.” So Elijah stood up and went down with him to the king. ¹⁶ Then Elijah told the king, “This is what the Lord says. Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron—Is there no God in Israel to inquire of?—therefore, you will not get up from the bed you have gotten into. You will certainly die.”

¹⁷ Then he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. Because Ahaziah did not have a son, Jehoram ^[4] became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. ¹⁸ As for the rest of Ahaziah’s acts which he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Israel?

Elijah Ascends to Heaven

2 Kings 2

¹ When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah was traveling with Elisha from Gilgal. ² Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

³ The sons of the prophets ^[5] who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord is taking your master away from you?”

Then he said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

⁴ Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here because the Lord has sent me to Jericho.”

But he said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

⁵ Then the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord is taking your master away from you?”

He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

⁶ Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here because the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”

But he said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

⁷ Then fifty men from the sons of the prophets came and stood and watched them from a distance, while the two of them were standing at the Jordan. ⁸ Elijah took his cloak, folded it together, and struck the water. The water divided to the right and to the left. Then the two of them crossed on dry land.

⁹ When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask me for whatever I can do for you before I am taken from you.”

Then Elisha said, “Let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.”

¹⁰ He said, “You have asked for a difficult thing. If you see me being taken from you, it will surely be yours. But if not, then it will not.”

¹¹ While they were walking and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire came and separated them. So Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. ¹² Elisha was watching and crying out, “My father! My father! Israel’s chariot and its charioteers!” Then he did not see him anymore. He grabbed his clothing, and he ripped it into two pieces.

¹³ Then he picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen from him. He returned and stood at the edge of the Jordan. ¹⁴ He took Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen from him, and he struck the water and said, “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Yes, where is he?” As soon as he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left so that Elisha could cross.

¹⁵ When the sons of the prophets, who were watching him from Jericho, saw this, they said, “Elijah’s spirit is resting on Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him.

¹⁶ They said to him, “Look, here are your servants, fifty strong men. Please, let them go and search for your master in case the Spirit of the Lord lifted him up and then set him down on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.”

But he said, “Don’t send them.”

¹⁷ But they urged him to the point of embarrassment, so he said, “Send them.” So they sent the fifty men. They searched for three days, but they did not find him.

¹⁸ When they returned to Elisha, he was staying in Jericho. He said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t go’?”

Elisha Demonstrates God’s Power

¹⁹ Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the site of the city is good, as my lord can see, but the water is bad, and the land deprives people of children.”

²⁰ So he said, “Bring me a new dish and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

²¹ Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt in. He said, “This is what the Lord says. I have healed this water. No longer will death or loss of children come from it.” ²² So the water has remained healed to this day, according to the word which Elisha spoke.

²³ He went up from there to Bethel. While he was going up on the road, young boys came out from the city and mocked him. They said, “Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!”

²⁴ So he turned around and looked at them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods, and they tore forty-two boys to pieces. ²⁵ From there Elisha went to Mount Carmel, and then he returned to Samaria.

John 12:20-36

John 12

Death and Glory

²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Festival. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew. Andrew came with Philip and told Jesus.

²³ Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it continues to be one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵ Anyone who loves his life destroys it. And the one who hates his life in this world will hold on to it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, this is the reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”

A voice came from heaven: “I have glorified my name, and I will glorify it again.”

²⁹ The crowd standing there heard it and said it thundered. Others said an angel talked to him. ³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice was not for my sake but for yours.

³¹ “Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die.

³⁴ The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Scriptures that the Christ will remain forever. So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

³⁵ Then Jesus told them, “The light will be with you just a little while longer. Keep on walking while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.”

Jesus spoke these words, and then went away and was hidden from them.

John 11:28-44

John 11

²⁸ After she said this, Martha went back to call her sister Mary. She whispered, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet gone into the village, but was still where Martha met him. ³¹ The Jews who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw that she got up quickly and left. So they followed her, supposing ^[1] she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.

³⁴ He asked, “Where have you laid him?”

They told him, “Lord, come and see.”

³⁵ Jesus wept.

³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.”

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone.

Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴ The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”

John 10:22-42

John 10

“I and the Father Are One”

²² Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon’s Colonnade.

²⁴ So the Jews gathered around Jesus, asking, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I am doing in my Father’s name testify about me. ²⁶ But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep, as I said to you. ^{[1] 27} My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

³¹ Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him. ³² Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?”

³³ “We are not going to stone you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because although you are a man, you make yourself out to be God.”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said you are gods’? ^{[2] 35} If he called those people ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, ³⁶ what about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world? Do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? ³⁷ If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. ³⁸ But if I am doing them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works so that you will know and understand ^[3] that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”

³⁹ So they tried to arrest him again, but he eluded their grasp. ⁴⁰ He went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he stayed there.

⁴¹ Many came to him and were saying, “John never did a miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” ⁴² And many believed in him there.

John 9

A Blind Man Sees

¹ As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that God’s works might be revealed in connection with him. ⁴ I ^[1] must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the World.”

⁶ After saying this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” Jesus told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had seen him before this as a beggar asked, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”

⁹ Some said, “He is the one.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one!”

¹⁰ So they asked him, “How were your eyes opened?”

¹¹ He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹² “Where is he?” they asked.

“I don’t know,” he said.

¹³ They brought this man who had been blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ So the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight.

“He put mud on my eyes,” the man told them. “I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Then some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others were saying, “How can a sinful man work such miraculous signs?”

There was division among them, ¹⁷ so they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man who had received his sight. ¹⁹ They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How is it, then, that he can see now?”

²⁰ “We know that this is our son,” his parents answered, “and that he was born blind. ²¹ But we do not know how he can see now, or who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough. He will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

²⁴ So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind. They told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He answered, “I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”

²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”

²⁸ They ridiculed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we do not know where he comes from.”

³⁰ “That’s amazing!” the man answered. “You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. But he does listen to anyone who worships God and does his will. ³² From the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of someone born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴ They answered him, “You were entirely born in sinfulness! Yet you presume to teach us?” And they threw him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. When he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” ^[2]

³⁶ “Who is he, sir,” the man replied, “that I may believe in him?”

³⁷ Jesus answered, “You have seen him, and he is the very one who is speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” and he knelt down and worshipped him.

³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked, “We are not blind too, are we?”

⁴¹ Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not hold on to sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

John 7:53 – 8:29

John 7

⁵³ Then each of them went home. ^[1]

The Adulteress

John 8

¹ But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning, he came back into the temple courts. And all the people kept coming to him. He sat down and taught them.

³ Then the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and had her stand in the center. ⁴ “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. ⁵ In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ They asked this to test him, so that they might have evidence to accuse him.

Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. ⁷ But when they kept on asking him for an answer, he stood up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote on the ground.

⁹ When they heard this, they went away one by one, beginning with the older men. Jesus was left alone with the woman in the center. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, Lord,” she answered.

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

Jesus Is the Light of the World

¹² When Jesus spoke to them again, he said, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴ “Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “my testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge according to the flesh. I am not judging anyone. ¹⁶ But even if I were to judge, my judgment would be true, because I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. ¹⁷ Even in your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is valid. ¹⁸ I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

¹⁹ Then they asked him, “Where is your Father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”

²⁰ He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the offering box. But no one arrested him, because his time had not arrived yet.

²¹ So he told them again, “I am going away. You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

²² So the Jews asked, “He won’t kill himself, will he, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

²³ “You are from below,” he told them. “I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. ²⁴ That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am the one, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵ “Who are you?” they asked.

Jesus replied, “What I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have many things to say and to judge concerning you. But the one who sent me is true. And what I heard from him, these are the things I am telling the world.” ²⁷ They did not understand that he was talking to them about the Father.

²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one, and that I do nothing on my own. But I speak exactly as the Father taught me. ²⁹ The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

John 7:1-24

John 7

Up to Jerusalem

¹ After this, Jesus moved around in Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to find a way to kill him.

² Now the Jewish Festival of Shelters ^[1] was near. ³ So his brothers said to him, “You should leave here and go to Judea so your disciples there can also see the works you are doing. ⁴ Indeed, no one acts in secret who wants to be known in public. If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵ For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

⁶ So Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not arrived yet, but any time is the right time for you. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. ⁸ You go up to the festival. I am not going up to this festival yet, ^[2] because the right time for me has not yet arrived.”

⁹ After he said this, he stayed in Galilee. ¹⁰ However, after his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly but in a private way.

At the Festival of Shelters ^[3]

¹¹ At the festival, the Jews kept looking for him. They asked, “Where is he?” ¹² And there was widespread whispering about him in the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others were saying, “No, he deceives the people.” ¹³ Yet no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴ When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews were amazed and asked, “How does this man know what is written without being instructed?”

¹⁶ Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but it comes from him who sent me. ¹⁷ If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or if I speak on my own. ¹⁸ The one who speaks on his own is seeking his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him—that is the one who is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. ¹⁹ Didn’t Moses give you the law? Yet none of you does what the law tells you. Why are you trying to kill me?”

²⁰ “You have a demon!” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹ Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you are all amazed. ²² Consider this: Because Moses has given you circumcision (not that it comes from Moses, but from the fathers), you circumcise a man even on the Sabbath. ²³ If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry at me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Stop judging by outward appearance. Instead make a right judgment.”

John 6:22-40

John 6

Bread From Heaven

²² The next day, the crowd that stayed on the other side of the sea noticed that only one boat ^[1] was there. They also knew that Jesus had not stepped into the boat with his disciples, but they had gone away without him. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias came to shore near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord gave thanks. ²⁴ When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. ²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not continue to work for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

²⁸ So they said to him, “What should we do to carry out the works of God?”

²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent.”

³⁰ Then they asked him, “So what miraculous sign are you going to do, that we may see it and believe you? What miraculous sign are you going to perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ^[2]

³² Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the real bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said to him, “give us this bread all the time!”

³⁵ “I am the Bread of Life,” Jesus told them. “The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have also seen me, and you do not believe. ³⁷ Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me, but raise them up on the Last Day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the Last Day.”

John 5:30-47

John 5

³⁰ I can do nothing at all on my own. I judge only as I hear. And my judgment is just, for I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

³¹ “If I were to testify about myself, my testimony would not be valid. ³² There is another who testifies about me, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. ³³ You sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴ The testimony I receive is not from man, but I am saying these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ John was a lamp that was shining brightly, and for a while you wanted to enjoy his light. ³⁶ But I have testimony greater than John’s. For the works that the Father gave me to carry out, the very works that I am doing, these testify about me that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ The Father who sent me—he is the one who has testified about me. You have never heard his voice or seen his form. ³⁸ And you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹ You search the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them. They testify about me! ⁴⁰ And yet you do not want to come to me in order to have life.

⁴¹ “I do not accept honor from people. ⁴² But I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God within you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, yet you do not accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe while you continue to accept glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵ “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe what I say?”

John 4:27-54

John 4

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised that he was talking to a woman. Yet no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking to her?”

²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar and went back into town. She said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see the man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They left the town and came to him.

³¹ Meanwhile, the disciples kept urging him, “Rabbi, eat.”

³² But Jesus said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

³³ Then the disciples said to each other, “Did anyone bring him something to eat?”

³⁴ Jesus told them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘Four more months and the harvest will be here’? Pay attention to what I am telling you. Open your eyes and look at the fields, because they are already ^[1] ripe for harvest. ³⁶ The reaper is getting paid and is gathering grain for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ Indeed in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap a harvest for which you did no hard work. Others have done the hard work, and you have benefitted from their labor.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony: “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ Many more believed because of his message. ⁴² They told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said. Now we have heard for ourselves. And we know that this really is the Savior of the world.”

Jesus Heals an Officer’s Son

⁴³ After two days, Jesus left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ Now Jesus himself had testified that a prophet is not honored in his own country.

⁴⁵ When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all the things he did at the Festival in Jerusalem, because they also had gone to the Festival.

⁴⁶ Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.

In Capernaum, there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come down and heal his son, because his son was about to die.

⁴⁸ Jesus told him, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you certainly will not believe.”

⁴⁹ The royal official said to him, “Lord, come down before my little boy dies.”

⁵⁰ “Go,” Jesus told him, “your son is going to live.”

The man believed this word that Jesus spoke to him and left.

⁵¹ Already as he was going down, his servants met him with the news that his boy was going to live. ⁵² So he asked them what time his son got better. They told him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour ^[2] the fever left him.” ⁵³ Then the father realized that was the exact time when Jesus had told him, “Your son is going to live.” And he himself and his whole household believed.

⁵⁴ This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did after he came from Judea into Galilee.

John 3:22-36

John 3

Jesus and John the Baptist

²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside where he spent some time with them and was baptizing.

²³ John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People kept coming and were being baptized, ²⁴ for John had not been thrown into prison yet.

²⁵ Then an argument broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew ^[1] about purification. ²⁶ His disciples came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, about whom you testified—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”

²⁷ John answered, “A man cannot receive a single thing, unless it has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves are witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens for him, is overjoyed when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.”

³¹ The one who comes from above is superior to everyone. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in a way that belongs to the earth. The one who comes from heaven is superior to everyone. ³² He testifies about what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. ³³ The one who has received his testimony has certified that God is true. ³⁴ In fact, the one whom God has sent speaks God’s words, for God ^[2] gives the Spirit without measure. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. ³⁶ The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, God’s wrath remains on him.

John 2:1-22

John 2

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

¹ Three days later, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. ² Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.

³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.”

⁴ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My time has not come yet.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Six stone water jars, which the Jews used for ceremonial cleansing, were standing there, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ^{[1] 7} Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. ⁸ Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” And they did.

⁹ When the master of the banquet tasted the water that had now become wine, he did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew). The master of the banquet called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have had plenty to drink, then the cheaper wine. You saved the good wine until now!”

¹¹ This, the beginning of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

¹² After this, he went down to Capernaum with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Jesus Clears Out the Temple

¹³ The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁴ In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers sitting at tables. ¹⁵ He made a whip of cords and drove everyone out of the temple courts, along with the sheep and oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those selling doves he said, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a place of business!”

¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ^[2]

¹⁸ So the Jews responded, “What sign are you going to show us to prove you can do these things?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”

²⁰ The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! And you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. ²² When Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this. Then they believed the Scripture and what Jesus had said.

John 1:19-34

John 1

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹⁹ This is the testimony John gave when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites ^[1] to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰ He confessed and did not deny. He confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

²¹ And they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

“No,” he answered.

²² Then they asked him, “Who are you? Tell us so we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³ He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ^[2] just as Isaiah the prophet said.”

²⁴ They had been sent from the Pharisees. ²⁵ So they asked John, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

²⁶ “I baptize with water,” John answered. “Among you stands one you do not know. ²⁷ He is the one coming after me, ^[3] whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”

²⁸ These things happened in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me outranks me because he existed before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know who he was, but I came baptizing with water so that he would be revealed to Israel.”

³² John also testified, “I saw the Spirit descend like a dove from heaven and remain on him. ³³ I myself did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I saw this myself and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

1 Kings 22

Jehoshaphat Visits Ahab

¹ Three years went by without any warfare between Aram and Israel. ² In the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to visit the king of Israel.

³ The king of Israel said to his officials, “Don’t you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us? But we have done nothing to take it from the king of Aram.” ⁴ Then he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you come with me to wage war at Ramoth Gilead?”

Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am like you. My people are like your people. My horses are like your horses.”

⁵ But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the word of the Lord.”

⁶ So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and he said to them, “Should I go up to make war at Ramoth Gilead or should I refrain?”

They said, “Go up, for the Lord ^[1] will give it into the hand of the king.”

⁷ But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here who can inquire of the Lord for us?”

⁸ Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is one man who could inquire of the Lord for us, but I hate him because he does not prophesy anything good about me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not talk like that.”

⁹ So the king of Israel summoned one of his court officials and said, “Quickly bring Micaiah son of Imlah here.”

¹⁰ Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were seated, each on his own throne, arrayed in their robes. They were sitting by the threshing floor at the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

¹¹ Zedekiah son of Kena’anah had made iron horns for himself, and he said, “This is what the Lord says. With these you will gore Aram to death.” ¹² All the prophets were prophesying in this same way: “Go up to Ramoth Gilead and triumph, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”

A Lying Spirit

¹³ The messenger who was sent to summon Micaiah said to him, “Pay attention to the words of the prophets. With one mouth they are promising good things to the king. Let your words be like the words of one of them and say something good.”

¹⁴ But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that is what I will say.”

¹⁵ Then he came to the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go up to make war on Ramoth Gilead, or should we refrain?”

He answered him, “Go up and triumph, for the Lord will give them into the hand of the king.”

¹⁶ Then the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear that you will tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”

¹⁷ Then Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘They have no masters. Each one should return to his home in peace.’”

¹⁸ Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he does not prophesy anything good about me, but only bad?”

The Lord’s Proclamation Against Ahab

¹⁹ Then Micaiah said:

²⁴ Then Zedekiah son of Kena’anah came up and struck Micaiah on his cheek and said, “Where is this pathway on which the spirit of the Lord has traveled from me to speak to you?”

²⁵ Micaiah said, “Listen to me. You will see it on the day you go into the inner room to hide.”

²⁶ Then the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon, the administrator of the city, and to Joash son of the king. ²⁷ Then say, ‘This is what the king says. Put this man in prison and feed him nothing more than bread and water until I come back safely.’”

²⁸ Then Micaiah said, “If you ever come back safely, then the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he said, “Hear this, you people, all of you!”

Ahab Dies in Battle

²⁹ Then the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.

³⁰ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself when I go into the battle, but you wear your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

³¹ The king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone small or great, but only against the king of Israel.”

³² When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “That is the king of Israel!” They turned to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried for help.

³³ When the chariot commanders realized that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him. ³⁴ But a man shot an arrow at random and struck the king of Israel in the seam between two parts of his armor.

So Ahab said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, because I have been wounded.”

³⁵ The battle went on all that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing Aram. He died in the evening, and the blood from his wound ran down onto the floor of the chariot. ³⁶ Then, as the sun was going down, a cry went up through the army: “Every man to his own city and every man to his own land!”

³⁷ So the king died, and they brought him to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. ³⁸ They washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria, and dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed there, in fulfillment of the word which the Lord had spoken.

³⁹ As for the rest of Ahab’s acts and everything he did, and the ivory house he built, and all the cities he built, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Israel? ⁴⁰ Ahab rested with his fathers. Then his son Ahaziah became king in his place.

Jehoshaphat Son of Asa, King of Judah

⁴¹ Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. ⁴² Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. The name of his mother was Azubel daughter of Shilhi.

⁴³ Jehoshaphat walked in all the ways of his father Asa. He did not turn from them. He did what is right in the eyes of the Lord. But the high places were not removed. The people were still sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. ⁴⁴ Jehoshaphat was at peace with the king of Israel. ^[2]

⁴⁵ As for the rest of Jehoshaphat’s acts, the mighty deeds which he did, and the wars he fought, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah?

⁴⁶ He removed from the land the rest of the male shrine prostitutes who remained from the days of his father Asa. ⁴⁷ There was no king in Edom, but rather a governor represented the king.

⁴⁸ Jehoshaphat constructed trading ships ^[3] to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set out, because the ships were wrecked at Ezion Geber. ^{[4] 49} Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in ships,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing.

⁵⁰ Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David. Then his son Jehoram became king in his place.

Ahaziah Son of Ahab, King of Israel

⁵¹ Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. He ruled over Israel for two years. ⁵² He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father and in the ways of his mother and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. ⁵³ He served Baal and bowed down to him, and he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in all the same ways that his father did.