John 21:15-25

John 21

“Do You Love Me?”

¹⁵ When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love ^[1] me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I care about ^[2] you.”

Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ A second time Jesus asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

He said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I care about you.”

Jesus told him, “Be a shepherd for my sheep.”

¹⁷ He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you care about me?”

Peter was grieved because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you care about me?” He answered, “Lord, you know all things. You know that I care about you.”

“Feed my sheep,” Jesus said. ¹⁸ “Amen, Amen, I tell you: When you were young, you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will tie you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”

²⁰ Peter turned and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them. This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” ²¹ When Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

²² “If I want him to remain until I come,” Jesus answered, “what is that to you? You follow me.” ²³ And so it was said among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say that he would not die, but, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”

²⁴ This is the disciple who is testifying about these things and who wrote these things. We know that his testimony is true.

Much More

²⁵ Jesus also did many other things. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the world itself would not have room for the books that would be written.

John 20:11-31

John 20

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹ But Mary stood outside facing the tomb, weeping. As she wept, she bent over, looking into the tomb. ¹² She saw two angels in white clothes sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She told them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”

¹⁴ After she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not know it was Jesus.

¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”

Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you carried him off, tell me where you laid him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned and replied in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means, “Teacher”).

¹⁷ Jesus told her, “Do not continue to cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father—to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” She also told them the things he said to her.

Behind Locked Doors

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” ²² After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ Whenever you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Thomas Finally Believes

²⁴ But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called the Twin, ^[1] was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

²⁶ After eight days, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but believe.”

²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Purpose of John’s Gospel Account

³⁰ Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 19:17-37

John 19

¹⁷ Carrying his own cross, he went out to what is called the Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸ There they crucified him with two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹ Pilate also had a notice written and fastened on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”

²⁰ Many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

²¹ So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that ‘this man said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

²² Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³ When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴ So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s cast lots to see who gets it.” This was so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

So the soldiers did these things.

Jesus’ Compassion for His Mother

²⁵ Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross.

²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother!” And from that time this disciple took her into his own home.

Jesus Gives Up His Life

²⁸ After this, knowing that everything had now been finished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

³⁰ When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished!” Then, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

The Piercing of Jesus’ Side

³¹ Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses over the Sabbath (because that Sabbath was a particularly important day). They asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and the bodies taken away. ³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who was crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other man.

³³ But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. Immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵ The one who saw it has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ³⁶ Indeed, these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “Not one of his bones will be broken.” ^{[2] 37} Again another Scripture says, “They will look at the one they pierced.” ^[3]

john 18:1-27

john 18

The Arrest

¹ After saying these things, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, ^[1] where there was a garden. He and his disciples went into it.

² Now Judas, who was betraying him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. ³ So Judas took the company of soldiers and some guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴ Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

⁵ “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus told them.

Judas, the betrayer, was standing with them. ⁶ When Jesus told them, “I am he,” they backed away and fell to the ground.

⁷ Then Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”

“Jesus the Nazarene,” they said.

⁸ “I told you that I am he,” Jesus replied. “So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” ⁹ This was to fulfill the statement he had spoken: “I did not lose any of those you have given me.”

¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

¹¹ So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup my Father has given me?”

¹² Then the company of soldiers, their commander, and the Jewish guards arrested Jesus and bound him. ¹³ First they led him to Annas, because he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. ¹⁴ Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews, “It is better that one man die for the people.”

Peter Denies Jesus

¹⁵ Simon Peter and another disciple kept following Jesus. That disciple was known to the high priest, so he went into the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. ¹⁶ But Peter stood outside by the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and talked to the girl watching the door and brought Peter in.

¹⁷ “You are not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” the girl at the door asked Peter.

“I am not!” he said.

¹⁸ The servants and guards were standing around a fire of coals that they had made because it was cold. While they warmed themselves, Peter was standing with them, warming himself too.

Jesus Before Annas

¹⁹ The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

²⁰ Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in a synagogue or at the temple, where all the Jews gather. I said nothing in secret. ²¹ Why are you questioning me? Ask those who heard what I told them. Look, they know what I said.”

²² When he said this, one of the guards standing there hit Jesus in the face. “Is that how you answer the high priest?” he demanded.

²³ “If I said something wrong,” Jesus answered, “testify about what was wrong. But if I was right, why did you hit me?”

²⁴ Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter Denies Again

²⁵ Simon Peter continued to stand there warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples too, are you?”

He denied it, saying, “I am not!”

²⁶ One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?”

²⁷ Peter denied it again, and just then a rooster crowed.

John 17:6-19

John 17

Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer

⁶ “I revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me, and they have held on to your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me, and they received them. They learned the truth that I came from you. They believed that you sent me.

⁹ “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, because they are yours. ¹⁰ All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine. And I am glorified in them. ¹¹ I am no longer going to be in the world, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name, which you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I kept those you gave me safe in your name. ^[1] I protected them and not one of them was destroyed, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

¹³ “But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so that they may be filled with my joy. ¹⁴ I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I am not asking that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the Evil One. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

¹⁷ “Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I also sent them into the world. ¹⁹ I sanctify myself for them, so they also may be sanctified by the truth.

John 16:16-33

John 16

¹⁶ “In a little while you are not going to see me anymore, and again in a little while you will see me, because I am going away to the Father.” ^[1]

¹⁷ Therefore some of his disciples asked one another, “What does he mean when he tells us, ‘In a little while you are not going to see me, and again in a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going away to the Father’?” ¹⁸ So they kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he’s saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you trying to determine with one another what I meant by saying, ‘In a little while you are not going to see me, and again in a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Amen, Amen, I tell you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth has pain, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of her joy that a person has been born into the world.

²² “So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ²³ In that day you will not ask me anything. Amen, Amen, I tell you: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.

²⁵ “I have told you these things using figurative language. A time is coming when I will no longer speak to you using figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name, and I am not telling you that I will make requests of the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am going to leave the world and go to the Father.”

²⁹ “Yes!” his disciples said. “Now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative language. ³⁰ Now we know that you know everything and do not need to have anyone ask you anything. For this reason we believe that you came from God.”

³¹ Jesus answered them, “Now do you believe? ³² Listen, a time is coming, in fact it is here, when you will be scattered, everyone to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not going to be alone, because the Father is with me. ³³ I have told you these things, so that you may have peace in me. In this world you are going to have trouble. But be courageous! I have overcome the world.”

John 15:9-25

John 15

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so also I have loved you. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you hold on to my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have held on to my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that my joy would continue to be in you and that your joy would be complete.

¹² “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you continue to do the things I instruct you. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will endure, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷ These things I am instructing you, so that you love one another.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, for that very reason the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the saying I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too. If they held on to my word, they will hold on to yours as well. ²¹ But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ The one who hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ If I had not done the works among them that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ This was to fulfill the word which is written in their Law: ‘They hated me for no reason.’ ^[1]

John 14:15-24

John 14

¹⁵ “If you love me, hold on to ^[1] my commands. ¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. ¹⁷ He is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him. You know him because he stays with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ The one who has my commands and holds on to them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and show myself to him.”

²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are going to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will hold on to my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ The one who does not love me does not hold on to my words. The word that you are hearing is not mine, but it is from the Father who sent me.

John 13:21-32

John 13

Who Is the Betrayer?

²¹ After saying this, Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: One of you will betray me.”

²² The disciples were looking at each other, uncertain which of them he meant.

²³ One of his disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. ²⁴ So Simon Peter motioned to him to find out which one he was talking about.

²⁵ So leaning back against Jesus’ side, he asked, “Lord, who is it?”

²⁶ Jesus replied, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread, after I have dipped it in the dish.” Then he dipped the piece of bread and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷ As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.

So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do more quickly.”

²⁸ None of those reclining at the table understood why Jesus said this to him. ²⁹ Because Judas kept the money box, some thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the Festival,” or to give something to the poor. ³⁰ As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

³¹ After Judas left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. ^{[1] 32} If God is glorified in him, ^[2] God will also glorify the Son in himself and will glorify him at once.”

2 Kings 24 – 25

Judgment for Judah

2 Kings 24

¹ In the days of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years, but he then rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar again.

² Then the Lord sent bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim. He sent them into Judah to destroy them according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken through his servants the prophets. ³ Surely this happened at the Lord’s command to remove them from his presence because of all the sins Manasseh had committed, ⁴ as well as the innocent blood he had shed. He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.

⁵ As for the rest of Jehoiakim’s deeds and everything he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? ⁶ Jehoiakim rested with his fathers. Then his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

⁷ The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again because the king of Babylon had seized everything that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Stream of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Jehoiachin Son of Jehoiakim, King of Judah

⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he ruled for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem.

⁹ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just like everything that his father had done. ¹⁰ At that time, the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem and put the city under siege. ¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his officers were besieging it.

¹² Then Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon—he and his mother, his officials, his officers, and his eunuchs. ^[1] In the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. ¹³ He brought out all the treasures of the House of the Lord and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all the gold articles in the House of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, just as the Lord had said. ¹⁴ He exiled all Jerusalem and all the officers and all the warriors—ten thousand men went into exile—as well as all the craftsmen and metal workers. No one was left except the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵ He exiled Jehoiachin to Babylon. He also took the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his eunuchs, and the leading citizens of the land into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also took into exile all the soldiers—seven thousand men—and the craftsmen and metal workers—a thousand men, all strong and trained for war. ^{[2] 17} Then the king of Babylon made Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah king in his place, but he changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Son of Josiah, the Last King of Judah

¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ¹⁹ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just like everything that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ Surely it was because of the Lord’s wrath that all this fell upon Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Final Siege of Jerusalem

2 Kings 25

¹ In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came up against Jerusalem. He laid siege to it and built a rampart around it. ² The city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³ By the ninth day of the fourth month, ^[3] famine gripped the city, and the people of the land had no bread.

⁴ Then the city wall was breached, and all the soldiers fled toward the Arabah through the gate that was between the two walls near the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans ^[4] were surrounding the city. ⁵ But the Chaldean army pursued the king. They caught him in the Arabah near Jericho. His whole army was scattered away from him. ⁶ So they seized the king. They brought him to the king of Babylon in Riblah, and a sentence was pronounced on him. ⁷ They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and then Zedekiah was blinded. They bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

Jerusalem Destroyed and the People Deported

⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, ^[5] an officer of the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned the Lord’s house and the king’s palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned down every large building. ¹⁰ The whole Chaldean army, which was under the captain of the guard, tore down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, exiled the rest of the people who remained in the city along with those who had previously surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the crowds. ^{[6] 12} But the captain of the guard left the poorest people of the land to tend the vineyards and farms.

¹³ The Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars which were in the House of the Lord and the carts and the bronze sea which was in the House of the Lord, and they took the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They took the pots, shovels, snuffers, ^[7] and bowls and all the bronze utensils with which they served. ¹⁵ The captain of the guard took the fire pans and the bowls—whatever was made of pure gold and pure silver. ¹⁶ The bronze from all these articles—the two pillars, the sea, and the carts which Solomon had made for the House of the Lord—could not be weighed. ¹⁷ The height of one pillar was twenty-seven feet, and the capital on it was bronze. The height of the capital was four and a half feet. Latticework and pomegranates went all around the capital. All this was bronze, and the other pillar with its latticework was the same.

¹⁸ The captain of the guard took Seriah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second-ranking priest and three doorkeepers. ¹⁹ From the city, he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers and five of the king’s close advisors, who were found in the city, as well as the secretary, the army commander who drafted the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land, who were found in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them with him to the king of Babylon in Riblah. ²¹ The king of Babylon struck them down and killed them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from her country.

The People Left in the Land

²² Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over the people who remained in the land, because he had left some people behind. ²³ All the commanders of the army and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, so they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seriah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Ja’azaniah son of the Ma’akathite, and their men.

²⁴ Then Gedaliah swore an oath to them and to their men and said, “Don’t be afraid of the officials of the Chaldeans. Return to the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.”

²⁵ But in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal descent, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and killed him along with the men of Judah and the Chaldeans who were with him in Mizpah. ²⁶ Then all the people from the least to the greatest and the commanders of the army set out and went to Egypt because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released

²⁷ In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil Merodach ^[8] king of Babylon, in the year he became king, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. ²⁸ He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he ate bread continually in the king’s presence all the days of his life. ³⁰ A regular allowance was given to him from the king, for his daily needs, all the days of his life.

2 Kings 20 – 21

Isaiah Heals Hezekiah

2 Kings 20

¹ In those days Hezekiah became sick and was dying. Then the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says. Give instructions to your house because you are going to die. You will not recover.”

² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your eyes.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Isaiah had not yet gone out from the middle courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him:

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Get a cake of figs.” So they got it and put it on the infected sore, and Hezekiah recovered.

⁸ Then Hezekiah asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the House of the Lord on the third day from now?”

⁹ Isaiah said, “This will be a sign for you from the Lord that the Lord will do the thing which he said. Shall the shadow extend forward over ten more steps, or shall it move backwards ten steps?”

¹⁰ Hezekiah said, “It’s easy for the shadow to get longer and cover ten more steps. Instead, have it go back ten steps.”

¹¹ Then the prophet Isaiah called out to the Lord, and he caused the shadow, which had gone down on the steps of Ahaz, to go backwards ten steps.

Envoys From Babylon

¹² At that time, Merodak Baladan ^[1] son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah because he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ Hezekiah heard the envoys and showed them all his palace treasuries, the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, the armory, and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing which Hezekiah did not show them in his palace or in his whole kingdom.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said, “What did these men say, and where did they come from?”

Hezekiah said, “From a distant land—they came from Babylon.”

¹⁵ Then Isaiah asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

Hezekiah said, “They saw everything in my palace. There is nothing in my treasuries which they did not see.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord. ¹⁷ Listen carefully! The days are coming when whatever is in your palace, everything which your fathers have stored up to this day, will be taken to Babylon. Not a thing will be left behind, says the Lord. ¹⁸ And some of your sons, your own descendants, whom you fathered, will be taken away and will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” He said, “Won’t there be peace and security in my days?”

(2 Chronicles 32:32-33)

²⁰ As for the rest of Hezekiah’s acts and all his mighty deeds, how he made the pool and the channel and brought water into the city, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? ²¹ Hezekiah rested with his fathers. Then his son Manasseh became king in his place.

Manasseh Son of Hezekiah, King of Judah

2 Kings 21

¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.

² He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the disgusting practices of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. ³ He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, just as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to the whole army of the heavens, ^[2] and he served them. ⁴ He built altars in the House of the Lord, about which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” ⁵ He built altars to all the army of the heavens in the two courtyards of the House of the Lord.

⁶ He made his son pass through the fire. He practiced fortune telling and sought omens and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He greatly increased the evil he did in the eyes of the Lord and provoked him to anger.

⁷ He put an image of Asherah, which he had made, into the house about which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. ⁸ I will not make the feet of Israel wander again from the land which I gave to their fathers, if they will just be careful to do whatever I commanded them and to observe the whole law which my servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen. Manasseh led them astray so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord exterminated before the people of Israel.

God’s Judgment on Manasseh

¹⁰ Then the Lord said through his prophets:

¹⁶ Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. This was in addition to the sin which he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.

¹⁷ As for the rest of Manasseh’s acts, everything he did and the sin he committed, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸ Manasseh rested with his fathers, and he was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon Son of Manasseh, King of Judah

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king and he ruled for two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.

²⁰ He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹ He walked in all the ways in which his father had walked, and he served the filthy idols which his father had served, and he worshipped them. ²² He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and he did not walk in the way of the Lord.

²³ Amon’s servants conspired against him, and they killed the king in his palace. ²⁴ Then the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

²⁵ As for the rest of Amon’s acts, the things he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? ²⁶ They buried him in his own tomb in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Josiah became king in his place.

2 Kings 18:1 – 19:7

Hezekiah Son of Ahaz, King of Judah

2 Kings 18

¹ In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah, became king. ² He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi ^[1] daughter of Zechariah. ³ He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like everything that his father David had done. ⁴ He removed the high places, smashed the sacred memorial stones, cut down the Asherah poles, and broke into pieces the bronze serpent which Moses had made, because until those days the people of Israel had been burning incense to it. They called it Nehushtan. ^[2]

⁵ He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, and there was no one like him among the kings of Judah, before him or after him. ⁶ He held fast to the Lord. He did not turn aside from following him, but he kept the command which the Lord commanded Moses. ⁷ The Lord was with him. Wherever he went, the Lord gave him success. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ⁸ He struck down the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

Assyrian Invasions

⁹ In Hezekiah’s fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria went up against Samaria and laid siege to it. ¹⁰ They captured it at the end of three years. In the sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured. ¹¹ Then the king of Assyria exiled Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah and on the Habur River, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ¹² This was because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God, but they abandoned his covenant and all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded. They did not listen to it or obey it.

¹³ In King Hezekiah’s fourteenth year, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. ¹⁴ Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will pay.” Then the king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah a penalty of three hundred talents ^[3] of silver and thirty talents ^[4] of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the Lord’s house and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶ At this time, Hezekiah stripped the gold off the doors of the temple of the Lord and off the doorposts, which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid with gold, and he gave it to the king of Assyria.

The Assyrian Commander Taunts Hezekiah

¹⁷ Then the king of Assyria sent the field commander, the chief of staff, and the herald ^[5] from Lachish with a large army against King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stood by the watercourse from the upper pool, which is on the way to the washerman’s field. ¹⁸ They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was the palace administrator, Shebna, who was the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, who was the recorder, went out to meet them.

¹⁹ The herald said to him, “Tell Hezekiah what the great king, the king of Assyria, says.”

The Taunt

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, along with Shebna and Joah, said to the herald, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. But don’t speak with us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

²⁷ Then the herald said to them:

²⁸ Then the herald stood up and called out in a loud voice in Hebrew and said the following:

³⁶ But the people were silent. They did not answer him a word because the king had commanded them not to speak or answer. ³⁷ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was the palace administrator, Shebna who was the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, who was the recorder, went to Hezekiah with their robes torn and told him the words of the herald.

Isaiah’s Message to Hezekiah

2 Kings 19

¹ When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. Then he went into the House of the Lord. ² He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests, dressed in sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

³ They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says. Today is a day of distress and rebuke and humiliation because children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the herald, ^[7] whom his lord, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and he will rebuke him for the words which the Lord your God has heard, and you will lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant who are left.”

⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say this to your lord: This is what the Lord says. Do not be afraid of these words which you heard, with which the lackeys ^[8] of the king of Assyria blasphemed me. ⁷ See, I am going to put him into such a frame of mind that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his country, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”

2 Kings 15 – 16

Azariah (Uzziah) Son of Amaziah, King of Judah

2 Kings 15

¹ In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king. ² He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he ruled for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jekoliah from Jerusalem. ³ He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like everything that his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ But the high places were still not removed. The people were still offering sacrifices and burning incense there at the high places.

⁵ Then the Lord afflicted the king so that he had leprosy ^[1] until the day of his death. So he lived in a quarantined house, and Jotham, the king’s son, was in charge of the palace and administered justice for the people of the land.

⁶ As for the rest of Azariah’s acts and everything he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? ⁷ Azariah rested with his fathers, and he was buried in the City of David. Then his son Jotham became king in his place.

Zechariah Son of Jeroboam, King of Israel

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam ruled as king over Israel in Samaria for six months. ⁹ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his fathers had done. He did not turn from the sins which Jeroboam son of Nebat caused Israel to commit. ¹⁰ Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him. He struck him down in front of the people and killed him. Then he became king in his place.

¹¹ As for the rest of Zechariah’s acts, you can find them written in the annals of the kings of Israel. ¹² This was the word of the Lord which he had spoken to Jehu: “Four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.” And that is what happened.

Shallum Son of Jabesh, King of Israel

¹³ Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah ^[2] king of Judah, and he ruled for one month in Samaria. ¹⁴ Then Menahem son of Gadi from Tirzah went up to Samaria. He struck down Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him. Then he became king in his place.

¹⁵ The rest of Shallum’s acts, including the conspiracy he led, you can find written in the annals of the kings of Israel. ¹⁶ Then Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and all the people who were in it and its territory. Because they did not open their gates to him, he attacked it and cut open every pregnant woman.

Menahem Son of Gadi, King of Israel

¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel in Samaria and ruled for ten years. ¹⁸ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. All his days he did not turn from the sins which Jeroboam son of Nebat caused Israel to commit. ¹⁹ Pul ^[3] king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents ^[4] of silver for supporting him and strengthening his hold over the kingdom. ²⁰ Menahem exacted the silver from Israel, from every wealthy man—fifty shekels ^[5] from each man—to give to the king of Assyria. Then the king of Assyria left. He did not remain in the land.

²¹ As for the rest of Menahem’s acts and everything he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Israel? ²² Menahem rested with his fathers. Then his son Pekahiah became king in his place.

Pekahiah Son of Menahem, King of Israel

²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria for two years. ²⁴ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn from the sins which Jeroboam son of Nebat caused Israel to commit. ²⁵ Then Pekah son of Remaliah, his military advisor, conspired against him and struck him down in the fortified part of the king’s palace in Samaria, along with Argob and Arieh. Fifty men from Gilead were with Pekah when he killed Pekahiah and became king in his place. ²⁶ As for the rest of Pekahiah’s acts and everything he did, you can find them written in the annals of the kings of Israel.

Pekah Son of Remaliah, King of Israel

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria and ruled for twenty years. ²⁸ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn from the sins which Jeroboam son of Nebat caused Israel to commit.

²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Ma’akah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee—all the land of Naphtali. He exiled them to Assyria.

³⁰ Then Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He struck him down and killed him. Then he became king in his place in the twenty-second year of Jotham son of Uzziah.

³¹ As for the rest of Pekah’s acts and everything he did, you can find them written in the annals of the kings of Israel.

Jotham Son of Uzziah, King of Judah

³² In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah became king. ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.

³⁴ He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like everything that his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ But the high places were still not removed. The people were still offering sacrifices and burning incense on the high places. He built the upper gate for the House of the Lord.

³⁶ As for the rest of Jotham’s acts, the things he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days, the Lord began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ Jotham rested with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David. Then his son Ahaz became king in his place.

Ahaz Son of Jotham, King of Judah

2 Kings 16

¹ In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. ² Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. ³ He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made his son pass through the fire, according to the shameful practices of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. ⁴ He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.

⁵ Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem for war. They laid siege to Ahaz, but they could not defeat him. ⁶ At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elat for Edom, ^[6] and he drove the people of Judah away from Elat. Then Edomites ^[7] came to Elat, and they have lived there to this day.

⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who have come up against me.” ⁸ Then Ahaz took the silver and the gold which were found in the House of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s palace, and he sent them to the king of Assyria as tribute. ⁹ So the king of Assyria listened to him and attacked Damascus. He exiled the inhabitants to Kir. He also killed Rezin.

The Altar of Ahaz

¹⁰ King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria in Damascus. He saw the altar which was in Damascus, and King Ahaz sent a model of the altar and instructions for making one like it to Uriah the priest. ¹¹ So Uriah the priest built this altar. Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had instructed him from Damascus before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. ¹² When the king returned from Damascus, he saw the altar. He approached it and ascended it. ¹³ He offered whole burnt offerings and grain offerings. He poured out drink offerings, and he sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar.

¹⁴ He moved the bronze altar, which had been in the presence of the Lord, away from its location in front of the temple building, from between his altar and the Lord’s house, and he put it on the north side of his altar.

¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Present the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering, his grain offering, and all the people’s burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings on the great altar. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifices on it. But the bronze altar will be mine for divination.” ¹⁶ So Uriah the priest did everything just as King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz cut off the side panels of the carts, and he removed the basins that were on them. He took the sea down from its position on the bronze cattle that were under it and put it on a stone pavement. ¹⁸ In deference to the king of Assyria, he also removed the Sabbath canopy that had been built for the house ^[8] and removed the king’s entrance on the outside of the Lord’s house.

¹⁹ As for the rest of the acts of Ahaz, the things he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ Ahaz rested with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then his son Hezekiah became king in his place.

2 Kings 11 – 12

Athaliah Seizes Control

2 Kings 11

¹ When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she went into action and destroyed all the royal heirs. ^{[1] 2} But Jehosheba, King Joram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s sister, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah. She stole him away from among the king’s sons, who were to be killed. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom. He was kept hidden from Athaliah so that he was not killed. ³ He was kept hidden with her in the House of the Lord for six years while Athaliah was ruling over the land.

Jehoiada Makes Joash King

⁴ In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent a message and summoned the officers in charge of the units ^[2] of the Carians ^[3] and the guards to meet him at the House of the Lord. He made a covenant with them and had them swear an oath in the House of the Lord. Then he showed them the king’s son.

⁵ He commanded them, “This is how you will deploy: A third of you who are coming on duty on the Sabbath are to guard the palace of the king. ⁶ Another third will be stationed at the Sur Gate, ^[4] and the final third at the gate behind the guards who take turns protecting this temple. ^{[5] 7} The two divisions of you who are going off duty on the Sabbath will protect the House of the Lord, together with the king. ^{[6] 8} You will surround the king on all sides, every man with his weapons in his hand. Anyone who comes into the ranks will be put to death. You will accompany the king when he goes out and when he comes in.”

⁹ So the officers of the companies did just as Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each one took his men, those coming on duty on the Sabbath with those going off duty on the Sabbath, and they came to Jehoiada the priest. ¹⁰ The priest gave the officers in charge of the units the spears and shields which had belonged to King David and which were in the House of the Lord. ¹¹ So the guards, each one with his weapon in his hand, stood around the king from the south side of the temple to the north side, near the altar of the temple. ¹² Then Jehoiada brought out the king’s son and set the crown on him and gave him the Testimony, ^[7] and they made him king. They anointed him and clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”

Athaliah’s Death

¹³ When Athaliah heard the noise of the guards and the people, she went to them in the House of the Lord. ¹⁴ She looked, and there was the king standing beside the pillar according to the custom, and the officers and the trumpeters were in front of the king, and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁵ Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the officers in charge of the units of the army, “Bring her out between the ranks! Anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword!”

Because the priest had said, “She is not to be killed in the House of the Lord,” ¹⁶ they laid hands on her as she was going through the passageway where the horses enter the king’s palace, and they killed her there.

¹⁷ Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people that they would be the Lord’s people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. ¹⁸ Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed its altar and its idols till they were dust. They also killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars. Then the priest posted a watch over the House of the Lord.

¹⁹ Then he took the officers of the companies and the Carians and the guards and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the House of the Lord. They entered the king’s palace through the gate of the guards. Then he sat on the throne of the kings. ²⁰ All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. Athaliah had been put to death with the sword in the king’s palace.

²¹ Joash was seven years old when he became king.

Jehoash (Joash) Son of Ahaziah, King of Judah, Repairs the House of the Lord

2 Kings 12

¹ In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash ^[8] became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah from Beersheba. ^[9]

² Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord during the whole time that Jehoiada the priest instructed him, ³ but the high places were still not removed. The people were making sacrifices and burning incense on the high places.

⁴ Jehoash said to the priests, “All the silver from the sacred offerings which is brought into the House of the Lord—the redemption money which is assessed to each man in the census, all the money from the redemption of dedicated things, and all the money which any man brings to the House of the Lord as a gift from his heart— ⁵ the priests are to take it from the donor ^[10] and repair whatever damage is found in the temple.” ^[11]

⁶ But in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the damage to the temple. ⁷ So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests, and he said to them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage to the temple? Do not accept any more silver from those who are handing it in to you. Instead, put it toward repairing the damage to the temple.”

⁸ So the priests agreed that they would not take any silver from the people and that they themselves would not do the work of repairing the damage to the temple.

⁹ But Jehoiada the priest took a box, drilled a hole in its lid, and placed it at the right side of the altar as one entered the House of the Lord. Then the priests who were guarding the threshold put all the money which came into the House of the Lord there. ¹⁰ When they saw that there was a large quantity of silver in the box, the king’s secretary and the high priest went up and tied it in bags and tallied ^[12] the silver which was found in the House of the Lord.

¹¹ Then they gave the silver which had been weighed out to those who were overseeing the work on the House of the Lord. They paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who were working on the House of the Lord, ¹² and to the bricklayers and the stonemasons, who used it to buy wood and stone from the quarry to repair the damage to the House of the Lord and to meet all the expenses for repairing the building.

¹³ But the silver basins, snuffers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets, and all the gold and silver articles for the House of the Lord were not made from this silver which was brought into the House of the Lord. ¹⁴ Rather they paid it to the ones who were doing the work, and they repaired the House of the Lord with it. ¹⁵ They did not audit the men to whom they gave the silver to do the work, because they were acting honestly. ¹⁶ The silver from the restitution offerings and the silver from the sin offerings was not brought into the House of the Lord. It belonged to the priests.

Hazael Attacks Jerusalem

¹⁷ Then Hazael king of Aram came up and attacked Gath and captured it. Hazael turned to go up against Jerusalem. ¹⁸ So Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred articles which his fathers Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated, as well as the sacred articles that he himself had given and all the gold which was found in the treasuries of the House of the Lord and in the king’s palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram. So Hazael left Jerusalem.

The Wickedness and Death of Jehoash

¹⁹ As for the rest of the acts of Jehoash ^[13] and all the things he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ His servants conspired against him and killed Jehoash at Beth Millo, along the road down to Silla. ²¹ His servants Jozabad ^[14] son of Shimath and Jehozabad son of Shomer struck him down, and he died. They buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then his son Amaziah became king in his place.

2 Kings 8 – 9

The Widow’s Land Restored

2 Kings 8

¹ Now Elisha said to the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your household, make preparations and leave, and stay in whatever other country you can, for the Lord has decreed a famine that will be in the land for seven years.” ² So the woman got up and did just as the man of God said. She and her household went and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. ³ At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines. Then she went to appeal to the king to get back her house and her fields.

⁴ The king had told Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, “Tell me all the great things which Elisha has done.”

⁵ While he was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead boy back to life, the very woman whose son he had brought back to life was coming to appeal to the king about her house and her fields. Then Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life.”

⁶ Then the king asked the woman about it, and she told him. So the king appointed a high official to her case, saying, “Return everything which is hers and all the produce of her fields, from the day she left the land until now.”

Hazael Assassinates Ben Hadad

⁷ Elisha went to Damascus while Ben Hadad the king of Aram was sick. The king was told, “The man of God has come here.”

⁸ So the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift and go to meet the man of God. You will inquire of the Lord through him, asking whether I will survive this sickness.”

⁹ Hazael went to meet him. He took a gift of forty camel loads of all the goods of Damascus, and he came and stood before Elisha and said, “Your son, Ben Hadad, king of Aram, sent me to you to say, ‘Will I survive this sickness?’”

¹⁰ Then Elisha said to him, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly survive,’ but the Lord has shown me that he will really die.” ¹¹ Then Elisha stared straight at him until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God wept.

¹² Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?”

Then he said, “Because I know the evil you will do to the people of Israel. You will set fire to their fortified cities. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will dash their children to pieces, and you will rip open their pregnant women.”

¹³ Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, a mere dog, that he could do such a great thing?”

Then Elisha said, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

¹⁴ Hazael then left Elisha and went to his master, and the king said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?”

He said, “He told me that you will certainly survive.”

¹⁵ But the next day, he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on the king’s face so that he died. Then Hazael became king in his place.

Jehoram (Joram) Son of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah

¹⁶ In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, the king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, ^[1] Jehoram ^[2] son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, became king. ¹⁷ He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he was king for eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did, because the daughter of Ahab was his wife. So he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. ¹⁹ But for the sake of his servant David, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, because he had said that he would give a lamp to David and to his sons forever.

²⁰ During his days, Edom broke away from the control of Judah and set a king over themselves. ²¹ So Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. At night he rose up and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but his army fled to their tents. ^{[3] 22} So Edom has been in revolt against Judah to this day. Libnah also rebelled at the same time.

²³ As for the rest of Joram’s acts and everything he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals the Kings of Judah? ²⁴ Joram rested with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then his son Ahaziah became king in his place.

Ahaziah Son of Jehoram, King of Judah

²⁵ In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah became king. ²⁶ Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel. ²⁷ He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as the house of Ahab had done, because he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

²⁸ He went with Joram son of Ahab to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹ So King Joram returned to Jezre’el to recover from the wounds which the Arameans inflicted on him at Ramoth Gilead when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezre’el because he had been wounded.

Jehu Anointed King of Israel

2 Kings 9

¹ Then Elisha called one of the sons of the prophets and told him, “Hike up your garments for travel, ^[4] and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth Gilead. ² When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in and have him excuse himself from his associates ^[5] and bring him into an inner room. ³ Take the flask of oil, pour it out on his head, and say, ‘This is what the Lord says. I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee. Do not delay!”

⁴ So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. ⁵ When he got there, he found the commanders of the army sitting together.

He said, “I have a message for you, commander.”

Then Jehu said, “For which of us?”

He answered, “For you, commander.”

⁶ So Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the servant poured the oil on his head and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel. ⁷ You will strike down the house of your master Ahab, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the Lord that was shed by Jezebel. ⁸ The whole house of Ahab will perish. In Israel I will cut off from Ahab those who urinate against the wall, ^[6] both bound and free. ^{[7] 9} I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Ba’asha son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ The dogs will eat Jezebel on the plot of ground in Jezre’el, and no one will bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.

¹¹ Then Jehu went out to the rest of the king’s officers. They said to him, “Is everything all right? Why did that madman come to you?”

He said to them, “You know the man and how he talks.”

¹² But they said, “That’s not true! Tell us!”

So he said, “He told me this and that, and then he said, ‘This is what the Lord says. I anoint you king over Israel.’”

¹³ Each man quickly took his cloak. Then they placed them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram’s horn and said, “Jehu is king!”

Jehu Seizes the Throne

¹⁴ Then Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram and all Israel had been guarding Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram. ¹⁵ But King Joram ^[8] returned to Jezre’el to recover from the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought against Hazael king of Aram.

Then Jehu said, “If you really want me to be king, don’t let any survivors get out of the city to go and report in Jezre’el.”

¹⁶ Then Jehu got in his chariot and went to Jezre’el, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see Joram. ¹⁷ Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezre’el, and he saw Jehu’s troops coming, so the watchman said, “I see a large group coming!”

Then Joram said, “Get a rider and send him to meet them and say, ‘Do you come in peace?’”

¹⁸ So a horseman ^[9] went to meet him. He said, “This is what the king says. Do you come in peace?”

Then Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”

Then the watchmen said, “The messenger reached him but did not return.”

¹⁹ So he sent a second horseman. He came to them and said, “This is what the king says. Do you come in peace?”

Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”

²⁰ Then the watchman said, “He reached them, but he did not return. But the driving is like Jehu son of Nimshi’s driving. He drives like a madman.”

²¹ Then Joram said, “Hitch up a chariot!” Then they hitched up his chariot, and Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They reached him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth from Jezre’el.

²² When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Do you come in peace, Jehu?”

Jehu answered, “What peace can there be as long as so much of your mother Jezebel’s prostitution and witchcraft exists?”

²³ Then Joram turned his chariot around and fled. He said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”

²⁴ Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between his shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. ²⁵ Then Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, “Pick him up and throw him onto the plot of land that belonged to Naboth from Jezre’el. Remember that when you and I were riding side by side in chariots behind his father Ahab, the Lord made this pronouncement against him: ²⁶ ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, the Lord declares, I will repay you on this plot of land, the Lord declares.’ So now, pick him up and throw him onto that plot of land according to the word of the Lord.”

²⁷ Ahaziah king of Judah saw this and fled on the road toward Beth Hagan. But Jehu pursued him and said, “Shoot him too!” They shot him ^[10] in his chariot on the way up to Gur, that is Ibleam. Then he fled to Megiddo and died there. ²⁸ His servants brought him in his chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb with his fathers in the City of David. ²⁹ (It was in the eleventh year of Joram son of King Ahab that Ahaziah had become king over Judah.)

Jehu Kills Jezebel

³⁰ Jehu went to Jezre’el. When Jezebel heard it, she put on eye make-up and arranged her hair. Then she looked down through a window. ³¹ When Jehu came into the gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri, the killer of your master?”

³² He looked up to the window and said, “Who is with me? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down to him. ³³ Then he said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. ³⁴ Then he went inside and ate and drank. Then Jehu said, “See to that cursed woman and bury her, because she was a king’s daughter.”

³⁵ But when they went to bury her, they did not find her, except for her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ So they came back and told him. Then Jehu said, “This is the word of the Lord which he spoke through his servant Elijah from Tishbe: On the plot of ground at Jezre’el, the dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel. ³⁷ Jezebel’s corpse will be like manure spread on the surface of the field at the plot of ground at Jezre’el, so they won’t be able to say, ‘This is Jezebel.’”