2 Chronicles 27

Jotham Reigns in Judah

¹aJotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. ²And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done, bexcept he did not enter the temple of the Lord. But the people still followed corrupt practices. ³He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord and did much building on the wall of cOphel. ⁴Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and forts and towers on the wooded hills. ⁵He fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. And the Ammonites gave him that year 100 talents1 of silver, and 10,000 cors2 of wheat and 10,000 of barley. The Ammonites paid him the same amount in the second and the third years. ⁶So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God. ⁷dNow the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸He was etwenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

2 Chronicles 28

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

¹fAhaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done, ²but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made gmetal images for hthe Baals, ³and ihe made offerings in the jValley of the Son of Hinnom and kburned his sons as an offering,1 according to lthe abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ⁴And he sacrificed and imade offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Judah Defeated

⁵mTherefore the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force. ⁶For nPekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. ⁷And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son and Azrikam the commander of the palace and Elkanah the next in authority to the king.

⁸The men of Israel took captive 200,000 oof their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, pwas angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage qthat has reached up to heaven. ¹⁰And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? ¹¹Now hear me, and send back the captives ofrom your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

¹²Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war ¹³and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” ¹⁴So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. ¹⁵And rthe men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, sprovided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, tthe city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶uAt that time King Ahaz sent to the king2 of Assyria for help. ¹⁷For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives. ¹⁸vAnd the Philistines had made raids on wthe cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco xwith its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settled there. ¹⁹For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made yJudah act sinfully3 and had been very unfaithful to the Lord. ²⁰So zTiglath-pileser4 king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. ²¹aFor Ahaz took a portion from the house of the Lord and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.

Ahaz's Idolatry

²²In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz. ²³For bhe sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, c“Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. ²⁴And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and dcut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself ealtars in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵In every city of Judah he made high places to fmake offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers. ²⁶gNow the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for hthey did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

The Lamb and the 144,000

¹Then I looked, and behold, on vMount Zion wstood the Lamb, and with him x144,000 who yhad his name and his Father's name written zon their foreheads. ²And I heard a voice from heaven alike the roar of many waters and blike the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of charpists playing on their harps, ³and they were singing da new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. eNo one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. ⁴It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for fthey are virgins. It is these gwho follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as hfirstfruits for God and the Lamb, ⁵and iin their mouth no lie was found, for they are jblameless.

The Messages of the Three Angels

⁶Then I saw another angel kflying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to lthose who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. ⁷And he said with a loud voice, m“Fear God and ngive him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and oworship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the psprings of water.”

⁸Another angel, a second, followed, saying, q“Fallen, fallen is rBabylon the great, sshe who made all nations drink tthe wine of the passion1 of her sexual immorality.”

⁹And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone uworships the beast and its image and receives va mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰he also will drink wthe wine of God's wrath, xpoured full strength into the cup of his anger, and yhe will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹And zthe smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and athey have no rest, day or night, these uworshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

¹²bHere is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who ckeep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.2

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: dBlessed are the dead ewho die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, f“that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

The Harvest of the Earth

¹⁴Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one glike a son of man, hwith a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵And another angel icame out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, j“Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for kthe harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” ¹⁶So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸And another angel came out from the altar, lthe angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, mfor its grapes are ripe.” ¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great nwinepress of the wrath of God. ²⁰And othe winepress was trodden poutside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as qa horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.3

The Restoration for Judah and Israel

¹Ask rain bfrom the Lord

in the season of cthe spring rain,

from the Lord dwho makes the storm clouds,

and ehe will give them showers of rain,

to everyone the vegetation in the field.

²For fthe household gods gutter nonsense,

and the diviners see lies;

hthey tell false dreams

and give empty consolation.

Therefore ithe people wander like sheep;

they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.

³j“My anger is hot against the shepherds,

and kI will punish the leaders;1

for lthe Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,

and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.

⁴From him shall come mthe cornerstone,

from him nthe tent peg,

from him the battle bow,

from him every ruler—oall of them together.

⁵They shall be like mighty men in battle,

ptrampling the foe in the mud of the streets;

they shall fight because the Lord is with them,

and they shall put to shame qthe riders on horses.

⁶r“I will strengthen the house of Judah,

and sI will save the house of Joseph.

tI will bring them back ubecause I have compassion on them,

and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,

for vI am the Lord their God and I will answer them.

⁷Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,

and wtheir hearts shall be glad as with wine.

Their children shall see it and be glad;

their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.

⁸x“I will whistle for them and ygather them in,

for I have redeemed them,

and zthey shall be as many as they were before.

⁹aThough I scattered them among the nations,

yet in far countries bthey shall remember me,

and with their children they shall live and return.

¹⁰cI will bring them home from the land of Egypt,

and gather them from Assyria,

and dI will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,

etill there is no room for them.

¹¹fHe shall pass through the sea of troubles

and strike down the waves of the sea,

gand all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.

The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,

and hthe scepter of Egypt shall depart.

¹²iI will make them strong in the Lord,

and jthey shall walk in his name,”

declares the Lord.

Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet

¹Now nbefore othe Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that phis hour had come qto depart out of this world to the Father, rhaving loved shis own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²During supper, when tthe devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, ³Jesus, knowing uthat the Father had given all things into his hands, and that vhe had come from God and wwas going back to God, ⁴rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, xtied it around his waist. ⁵Then he ypoured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷zJesus answered him, “What I am doing ayou do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” ⁸bPeter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, c“If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, dexcept for his feet,1 but is completely clean. And eyou2 are clean, fbut not every one of you.” ¹¹gFor he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹²When he had washed their feet and hput on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, i“Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³jYou call me kTeacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, lyou also ought to wash one another's feet. ¹⁵For I have given you an example, mthat you also should do just as I have done to you. ¹⁶Truly, truly, I say to you, na servant3 is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you know these things, oblessed are you if you do them. ¹⁸pI am not speaking of all of you; I know qwhom I have chosen. But rthe Scripture will be fulfilled,4 s‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ¹⁹tI am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. ²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, uwhoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

One of You Will Betray Me

²¹After saying these things, vJesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, w“Truly, truly, I say to you, xone of you will betray me.” ²²yThe disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. ²³zOne of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table aat Jesus' side,5 ²⁴so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus6 of whom he was speaking. ²⁵bSo that disciple, cleaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶Jesus answered, d“It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread ewhen I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, fhe gave it to Judas, gthe son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷Then after he had taken the morsel, hSatan entered into him. Jesus said to him, i“What you are going to do, do quickly.” ²⁸Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. ²⁹Some thought that, jbecause Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need kfor the feast,” or that he should lgive something to the poor. ³⁰So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. mAnd it was night.

A New Commandment

³¹When he had gone out, Jesus said, n“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and oGod is glorified in him. ³²If God is glorified in him, pGod will also glorify him in himself, and qglorify him at once. ³³Little children, ryet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just sas I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ ³⁴tA new commandment uI give to you, vthat you love one another: wjust as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵xBy this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial

³⁶Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” yJesus answered him, “Where I am going zyou cannot follow me now, abut you will follow afterward.” ³⁷bPeter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” ³⁸Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, cthe rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.