4 Kingdoms 15:1-17:23
1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Uzziah the 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 Jecholiah of Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to everything his father Amaziah had done, 4 except that he did not remove any of the high places. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 5 Then the Lord touched the king, and he was a leper to the day of his death. He reigned in a house isolated from all others. Concerning matters of the household, Jotham the son of the king judged the people of Israel. 6 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah and everything he did, are these not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 7 So Uzziah rested with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then Jotham his son reigned in his place.
Zachariah Is King of Israel
8 In the thirty-eighth year of Uzziah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam ruled over Israel in Samaria for six months. 9 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who led Israel to sin. 10 Then Shallum, the son of Jabesh, and Keblaam conspired against him. They struck and killed him, and Shallum ruled in his place. 11 Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, indeed they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel. 12 This was the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu saying, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it was.
Shallum Is King of Israel
13 Shallum the son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah. And Shallum ruled for a month in Samaria. 14 For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria. He struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him. 15 Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the conspiracy he led, indeed they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel. 16 Then Menahem attacked Tirzah, all who were there, and the extended area of Tirzah, because they did not open their gates to him. There he ripped open all the women who were with child.
Menahem Is King of Israel
17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi became king over Israel and ruled for ten years in Samaria. 18 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. 19 In his days, Pul king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, so his hand would be with him. 20 This money Menahem exacted from Israel, fifty shekels of silver each from all the very wealthy, as tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and he did not remain in the land. 21 Now the rest of the acts of Menahem and everything he did, are these not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? 22 So Menahem rested with his fathers. Then Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.
Pekahiah Is King of Israel
23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria and ruled for two years. 24 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin. 25 Then Pekah the son of Remaliah his officer, along with Argob and Arieh, conspired against him and attacked him in Samaria, in the citadel of the king’s house. With him were fifty men of the four hundred. Pekah killed him and became king in his place. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and everything he did are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.
Pekah Is King of Israel
27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria and ruled for twenty years. 28 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who led Israel to sin. 29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, the entire land of Naphtali. He exiled the people to Assyria. 30 Then Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck and killed him. He became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. 31 Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and everything he did are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.
Jotham Is King of Judah
32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah became king of Judah. 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 the daughter of Zadok. 34 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to everything his father Uzziah had done. 35 However, he did not remove the high places. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord. 36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and everything he did, are these not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 37 In those days the Lord began to send Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. 38 So Jotham rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David, his father. Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
Ahaz Is King of Judah
1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham became king of Judah. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, and he was not faithful as was his father David. 3 But he walked in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king of Israel; indeed, he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the sons of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every tree growing in the woods.
5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war. They began to besiege Ahaz, but they could not sustain the war. 6 At that time, Rezin king of Syria returned Elath to Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath. Then the Edomites went to Elath, where they continue to dwell to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel. They have risen up against me.” 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the house of the king, and delivered it as a gift to the king. 9 So the king of Assyria heeded him, and he went up against Damascus and took it. He removed the inhabitants and killed Rezin.
10 Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. There in Damascus, he saw an altar. And King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. 11 Then Urijah the priest built an altar according to the design plans King Ahaz sent from Damascus. 12 When the king saw the altar, he went up to it 13 and offered his burnt offering on it, and his sacrifice and his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 He also relocated the bronze altar, which was before the Lord, forward from between the new altar and the house of the Lord. He put it on the north side of the new altar. 15 Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the large altar, offer the morning burnt offering, the evening sacrifice, the king’s whole burnt offering with his sacrifice, and the whole burnt offering of all the people with their sacrifice, and their drink offerings. And sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. The bronze altar shall be mine for the early morning.” 16 And Urijah the priest did everything King Ahaz commanded.
17 Then King Ahaz cut off the embossments of the bases and removed the lavers from them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen under it and put it on a stone base. 18 And he built the foundation for the throne in the house of the Lord, and he brought the king’s entrance back into the house of the Lord, which had been outside because of the king of Assyria. 19 And the rest of the acts of Ahaz, even all he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 20 So Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
Hoshea Is King of Israel
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he ruled for nine years. 2 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel before him. 3 Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against him. Now Hoshea was his servant and had paid tribute to him. 4 And the king of Assyria found scheming in Hoshea. He had sent messengers to Segor the king of Egypt, but in that year, they did not bring any tribute back to the king of Assyria. Therefore the king of Assyria besieged him and bound him in prison.
Israel Exiled to Assyria
5 Now the king of Assyria marched through the entire land. He went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and exiled Israel to Assyria, where he placed them along the rivers of Gozan, in Halah, and in Habor, and on the mountains of the Medes. 7 For the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. But still they came to fear other gods 8 and to walk in the very customs of the nations the Lord had cast out before the face of Israel, before the kings of Israel who did this; 9 so many sons of Israel clothed themselves with customs contrary to the Lord their God, and built for themselves high places in all their cities, by use of the watchtowers guarding the fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves pillars and made wooden images on every high hill and under every tree growing in the woods. 11 There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord previously carried away before them. They acquired familiar spirits and provoked the Lord to great anger. 12 They even served idols, although the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do such a thing to the Lord.”
13 And the Lord solemnly testified against Israel and against Judah by the authority of all His prophets and seers, saying, “Turn from your evil ways. Keep My commandments and My statutes and all the law I commanded your fathers. Keep all that I sent to them through the authority of My servants the prophets.” 14 But they did not heed His voice. Instead, they stiffened their necks, making them more unbending than their fathers. 15 They did not keep the testimonies with which He charged them, but instead followed vain things and became vain. They followed the nations around them in the very things the Lord commanded them not to do. 16 So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and instead made for themselves a molten image, two heifers. And they made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17 They caused their sons and daughters to pass through the test of fire; they consulted oracles and divined from the cries of birds; and they even sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 18 Thus the Lord became exceedingly angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. There was none left, except only for the tribe of Judah alone.
19 But no, not even Judah kept the commandments of the Lord their God. Instead they walked according to the customs and traditions Israel had made. 20 They rejected the Lord, throughout all the seed of Israel. So He afflicted them and gave them over to the hand of those plundering them, until He cast them forth from His presence. 21 And this because the house of Israel had in earlier days revolted from the house of David, and made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and because Jeroboam drew back Israel from following the Lord and led them to commit a great sin; 22 and only because the sons of Israel walked in all the sins which Jeroboam committed, and did not depart from it, 23 until the Lord removed Israel from His presence as He spoke by all His servants the prophets. So therefore Israel was exiled from their own land into Assyria until this day.
Psalm 107
1 The ode of a psalm; by David.
2 My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready;
I will sing and give praise in my glory.
3 Awaken, lute and harp;
I shall awaken early in the morning.
4 I will give thanks to You among the peoples, O Lord,
And I will sing to You among the Gentiles;
5 For great is Your mercy above the heavens,
And Your truth even to the clouds.
6 Be exalted above the heavens, O God,
And Your glory above all the earth.
7 That Your beloved ones may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
8 God spoke in His place,
“I shall be exalted, and I will divide Shechem,
And measure out the valley of tents;
9 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
And Ephraim is the strength of My head;
Judah is My king.
10 Moab is the cauldron of My hope;
I will stretch out My shoe over Edom;
Foreign tribes were subjected to Me.”
11 Who will bring me into a fortified city?
Who will lead me as far as Edom?
12 Will not You, O God, who drove us away?
And will You not go out with our armies, O God?
13 Give us help from affliction,
For the salvation of man is worthless.
14 In God we shall do a mighty thing,
And He shall despise our enemies.
Proverbs 23:33–36
33 When your eyes behold a strange woman,
Then your mouth will speak twisted things;
34 And you will lie down as in the heart of the sea
And as a pilot in a great storm;
35 And you will say, “They beat me, but I did not suffer,
And they mocked me, but I knew it not;
36 When will it be morning,
That I may go seek those with whom I may company?”
John 3:22–36
22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.
23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized.
24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison.
25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.
26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”
27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.
28 “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’
29 “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.
30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 “He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
32 “And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.
33 “He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.
34 “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
35 “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”