1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. 2 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; however he did not enter the temple of the Lord. But the people continued acting corruptly. 3 He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord, and he built the wall of Ophel extensively. 4 Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and he built fortresses and towers on the wooded hills. 5 He fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed over them so that during that year the Ammonites gave him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand kors of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. The Ammonites also paid him this amount in the second year and in the third. 6 So Jotham became powerful because he directed his ways before the Lord his God. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 8 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. 9 And Jotham lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and his son Ahaz became king in his place.
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord as his father David had done. 2 But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also made cast metal images for the Baals. 3 Furthermore, he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from the sons of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 Therefore the Lord his God handed him over to the king of Aram; and they defeated him and carried from him a great number of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with heavy casualties. 6 For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had abandoned the Lord God of their fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.
8 The sons of Israel led away captive two hundred thousand of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters; and they also took a great deal of spoils from them, and brought the spoils to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He has handed them over to you, and you have killed them in a rage which has even reached heaven. 10 Now you are proposing to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. Are you not, however guilty yourselves of offenses against the Lord your God? 11 Now then, listen to me and return the captives whom you captured from your brothers, for the burning anger of the Lord is against you.” 12 Then some of the leading men of the sons of Ephraim—Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—rose up against those who were coming from the battle, 13 and said to them, “You must not bring the captives in here, for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us before the Lord, adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great, and His burning anger is against Israel.” 14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoils before the officers and all the assembly. 15 Then the men who were designated by name got up, took the captives, and they clothed all their naked people from the spoils; they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.
16 At that time King Ahaz sent word to the kings of Assyria for help. 17 For the Edomites had come again and attacked Judah, and led away captives. 18 The Philistines had also invaded the cities of the lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they had settled there. 19 For the Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the Lord. 20 So Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21 Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the Lord and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.
22 Now during the time of his distress, this same King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may help me.” But they became the downfall of him and all Israel. 24 Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he closed the doors of the house of the Lord, and made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger. 26 Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 So Ahaz lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3 And they *sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one was able to learn the song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are celibate. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from mankind as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven with an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea and springs of waters.”
8 And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”
9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” 12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trampled outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
1 Ask for rain from the Lord at the time of the spring rain—
The Lord who makes the storm winds;
And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each person.
2 For the household idols speak deception,
And the diviners see an illusion
And tell deceitful dreams;
They comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wander like sheep,
They are wretched because there is no shepherd.
3 “My anger is kindled against the shepherds,
And I will punish the male goats;
For the Lord of armies has visited His flock, the house of Judah,
And will make them like His majestic horse in battle.
4 From them will come the cornerstone,
From them the tent peg,
From them the bow of battle,
From them every tyrant, all of them together.
5 And they will be like warriors,
Trampling down the enemy in the mud of the streets in battle;
And they will fight, because the Lord will be with them;
And the riders on horses will be put to shame.
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah,
And I will save the house of Joseph,
And I will bring them back,
Because I have had compassion on them;
And they will be as though I had not rejected them,
For I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
7 Ephraim will be like a warrior,
And their heart will be joyful as if from wine;
Indeed, their children will see it and be joyful,
Their heart will rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will whistle for them and gather them together,
For I have redeemed them;
And they will be as numerous as they were before.
9 When I scatter them among the peoples,
They will remember Me in distant countries,
And they with their children will live and come back.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
And gather them from Assyria;
And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon
Until no room can be found for them.
11 And they will pass through the sea of distress
And He will strike the waves in the sea,
So that all the depths of the Nile will dry up;
And the pride of Assyria will be brought down,
And the scepter of Egypt will depart.
12 And I will strengthen them in the Lord,
And in His name they will walk,” declares the Lord.
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come that He would depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had handed all things over to Him, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 *got up from supper and *laid His outer garments aside; and He took a towel and tied it around Himself.
5 Then He *poured water into the basin, and began washing the disciples’ feet and wiping them with the towel which He had tied around Himself. 6 So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, You are washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not realize right now, but you will understand later.” 8 Peter *said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no place with Me.” 9 Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus *said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet; otherwise he is completely clean. And you are clean—but not all of you.” 11 For He knew the one who was betraying Him; it was for this reason that He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 Then, when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’; and you are correct, for so I am. 14 So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example, so that you also would do just as I did for you. 16 Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. 18 I am not speaking about all of you. I know the ones whom I have chosen; but this is happening so that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ 19 From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it does happen, you may believe that I am He. 20 Truly, truly I say to you, the one who receives anyone I send, receives Me; and the one who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”
21 When Jesus had said these things, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me.” 22 The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. 23 Lying back on Jesus’ chest was one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 So Simon Peter *nodded to this disciple and *said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” 25 He then simply leaned back on Jesus’ chest and *said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus then *answered, “That man is the one for whom I shall dip the piece of bread and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the piece of bread, He *took and *gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 After this, Satan then entered him. Therefore Jesus *said to him, “What you are doing, do it quickly.” 28 Now none of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. 29 For some were assuming, since Judas kept the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we need for the feast”; or else, that he was to give something to the poor. 30 So after receiving the piece of bread, he left immediately; and it was night.
31 Therefore when he had left, Jesus *said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; 32 if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. 33 Little children, I am still with you a little longer. You will look for Me; and just as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you: ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”
36 Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” 37 Peter *said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” 38 Jesus *replied, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.