Joash Repairs the Temple

¹cJoash1 was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ²dAnd Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴After this Joash edecided to frestore the house of the Lord. ⁵And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of gJudah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. ⁶So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem hthe tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for ithe tent of testimony?” ⁷For jthe sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also used all kthe dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the Baals.

⁸So the king commanded, and they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord. ⁹And lproclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord hthe tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.2 ¹¹And whenever the chest was brought to the king's officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the king's secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return it to its place. Thus they did day after day, and collected money in abundance. ¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the Lord, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. ¹³So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it. ¹⁴And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and with it mwere made utensils for the house of the Lord, both for the service and for the burnt offerings, and dishes for incense and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord regularly all the days of Jehoiada.

¹⁵But Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and died. He was 130 years old at his death. ¹⁶And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house.

¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. ¹⁸And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served othe Asherim and the idols. And pwrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. ¹⁹qYet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. rThese testified against them, but they would not pay attention.

Joash's Treachery

²⁰sThen the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah tthe son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, u‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? vBecause you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’” ²¹But wthey conspired against him, xand by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. ²²Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see yand avenge!”3

Joash Assassinated

²³At the end of the year zthe army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. ²⁴Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, athe Lord delivered into their hand a very great army, vbecause Judah4 had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. Thus they bexecuted judgment on Joash.

²⁵When they had departed from him, leaving him cseverely wounded, dhis servants conspired against him because of the blood of ethe son5 of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, fbut they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. ²⁶Those who conspired against him were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite. ²⁷Accounts of his sons and of the many oracles against him and of gthe rebuilding6 of the house of God are written in the hStory7 of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

The Two Witnesses

¹Then I was given ma measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, ²but do not measure nthe court outside the temple; leave that out, for oit is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for pforty-two months. ³And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for p1,260 days, qclothed in sackcloth.”

⁴These are rthe two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵And if anyone would harm them, sfire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, tthis is how he is doomed to be killed. ⁶They have the power uto shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and vto strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. ⁷And when they have finished their testimony, wthe beast that rises from xthe bottomless pit1 ywill make war on them and conquer them and kill them, ⁸and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically2 is called zSodom and aEgypt, where their Lord was crucified. ⁹For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and brefuse to let them be placed in a tomb, ¹⁰and cthose who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and dexchange presents, because these two prophets ehad been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹But after the three and a half days fa breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. ¹²Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, g“Come up here!” And hthey went up to heaven iin a cloud, and their enemies watched them. ¹³And at that hour there was ja great earthquake, and ka tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and lgave glory to mthe God of heaven.

¹⁴nThe second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵Then othe seventh angel blew his trumpet, and pthere were loud voices in heaven, saying, q“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of rhis Christ, and she shall reign forever and ever.” ¹⁶And the twenty-four elders twho sit on their thrones before God ufell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

vwho is and who was,

for you have taken your great power

and wbegun to reign.

¹⁸The nations raged,

but xyour wrath came,

and ythe time for the dead to be judged,

and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,

and zthose who fear your name,

both small and great,

and afor destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

¹⁹Then bGod's temple in heaven was opened, and cthe ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings,3 peals of thunder, an earthquake, and dheavy hail.

A Call for Justice and Mercy

¹oIn the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is pChislev. ²Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men qto entreat the favor of the Lord, ³rsaying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and sthe prophets, “Should I weep and tabstain in uthe fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

⁴Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: ⁵“Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in uthe fifth month and in vthe seventh, for these wseventy years, xwas it xfor me that you fasted? ⁶yAnd when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ⁷zWere not these the words that the Lord proclaimed aby the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, bwith her cities around her, and the bSouth and the blowland were inhabited?’”

⁸And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹“Thus says the Lord of hosts, cRender true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, ¹⁰ddo not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, eor the poor, and flet none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” ¹¹But gthey refused to pay attention hand turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.1 ¹²iThey made their hearts diamond-hard jlest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent jby his Spirit through kthe former prophets. lTherefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. ¹³m“As I2 called, and they would not hear, mso they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, ¹⁴n“and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all othe nations that they had not known. pThus the land they left was desolate, qso that no one went to and fro, rand the pleasant land was made desolate.”

I Am the Good Shepherd

¹“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ²But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵yA stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶This figure of speech Jesus zused with them, but they adid not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, bI am the door of the sheep. ⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters by me, che will be saved and will go in and out and dfind pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and ekill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ¹¹fI am the good shepherd. The good shepherd glays down his life for the sheep. ¹²He who is ha hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and ileaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and jscatters them. ¹³He flees because khe is a hired hand and lcares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴mI am the good shepherd. nI know my own and omy own know me, ¹⁵pjust as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and qI lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶And rI have other sheep that are not of this fold. sI must bring them also, and tthey will listen to my voice. So there will be uone flock, vone shepherd. ¹⁷wFor this reason the Father loves me, xbecause yI lay down my life that I may take it up again. ¹⁸zNo one takes it from me, but yI lay it down aof my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and bI have authority to take it up again. cThis charge I have received from my Father.”

¹⁹dThere was again a division among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰Many of them said, e“He has a demon, and fis insane; why listen to him?” ²¹Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. gCan a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

I and the Father Are One

²²At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, hin the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are ithe Christ, jtell us plainly.” ²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. kThe works that I do lin my Father's name bear witness about me, ²⁶but myou do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ²⁷nMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸oI give them eternal life, and pthey will never perish, and qno one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, rwho has given them to me,1 sis greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of tthe Father's hand. ³⁰uI and the Father are one.”

³¹vThe Jews picked up stones again to stone him. ³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” ³³The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but wfor blasphemy, because you, being a man, xmake yourself God.” ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in yyour Law, z‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be abroken— ³⁶do you say of him whom bthe Father consecrated and csent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because dI said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷eIf I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; ³⁸but if I do them, feven though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that gthe Father is in me and I am in the Father.” ³⁹hAgain they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

⁴⁰He went away again across the Jordan to the place iwhere John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. ⁴¹And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but jeverything that John said about this man was true.” ⁴²And kmany believed in him there.