Hezekiah Organizes the Priests

¹Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and nbroke in pieces the opillars and cut down pthe Asherim and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, every man to his possession.

²And Hezekiah appointed qthe divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, each according to his service, the priests and the Levites, rfor burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise. ³sThe contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed feasts, tas it is written in the Law of the Lord. ⁴And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give uthe portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the Law of the Lord. ⁵As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly vthe tithe of everything. ⁶And the people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and wthe tithe of the dedicated things that had been dedicated to the Lord their God, and laid them in heaps. ⁷In the third month they began to pile up the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. ⁹And Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. ¹⁰Azariah the chief priest, who was xof the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began to bring the contributions into the house of the Lord, we have eaten and had enough and have plenty left, yfor the Lord has blessed his people, so that we have this large amount left.”

¹¹Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare zchambers in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them. ¹²And they faithfully brought in the contributions, the tithes, and the dedicated things. The chief officer ain charge of them was Conaniah the Levite, with bShimei his brother as second, ¹³bwhile Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, bMahath, and Benaiah were overseers assisting Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and xAzariah the chief officer of the house of God. ¹⁴And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the east gate, was over the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contribution reserved for the Lord and the most holy offerings. ¹⁵bEden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah were faithfully assisting him in dthe cities of the priests, to distribute the portions to their brothers, old and young alike, by divisions, ¹⁶except those enrolled by genealogy, males from three years old and upward—all who entered the house of the Lord eas the duty of each day required—for their service according to their offices, by their divisions. ¹⁷The enrollment of the priests was according to their fathers' houses; that of the Levites ffrom twenty years old and upward was according to their offices, by their divisions. ¹⁸They were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, the whole assembly, for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy. ¹⁹And for the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were in the fields of common land belonging to their cities, there were men in the several cities who were gdesignated by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone among the Levites who was enrolled.

²⁰Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, hand he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. ²¹And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

¹Then vone of the seven angels who had wthe seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of xthe great prostitute ywho is seated on many waters, ²zwith whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and awith the wine of whose sexual immorality bthe dwellers on earth have become drunk.” ³And che carried me away in the Spirit dinto a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on ea scarlet beast that was full of fblasphemous names, and git had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴The woman hwas arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned iwith gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand ja golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. ⁵And on her forehead was written a name of kmystery: l“Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” ⁶And I saw the woman, drunk mwith the blood of the saints, the blood of nthe martyrs of Jesus.1

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. ⁷But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you othe mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. ⁸The beast that you saw pwas, and is not, and qis about to rise from rthe bottomless pit2 and sgo to destruction. And tthe dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in uthe book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because pit was and is not and is to come. ⁹vThis calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; ¹⁰they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. ¹¹As for the beast wthat was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. ¹²And xthe ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings yfor one hour, together with the beast. ¹³These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴They zwill make war on the Lamb, and athe Lamb will conquer them, for he is bLord of lords and bKing of kings, and those with him are ccalled and chosen and faithful.”

¹⁵And the angel3 said to me, d“The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. ¹⁶And ethe ten horns that you saw, they and the beast fwill hate the prostitute. They will make her gdesolate and hnaked, and idevour her flesh and jburn her up with fire, ¹⁷for kGod has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and lhanding over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. ¹⁸And the woman that you saw is mthe great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

Idolatry Cut Off

²“And ion that day, declares the Lord of hosts, kI will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that lthey shall be remembered no more. And also mI will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. ³And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, n‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.

⁴“On that day oevery prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, ⁵but he will say, p‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’1 ⁶And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’2 he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Struck

⁷“Awake, O sword, against qmy shepherd,

against the man who stands next to me,”

declares the Lord of hosts.

r“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;

I will turn my hand against the little ones.

⁸In the whole land, declares the Lord,

two thirds shall be cut off and perish,

sand one third shall be left alive.

⁹And tI will put this third into the fire,

and refine them as one refines silver,

and test them as gold is tested.

uThey will call upon my name,

and vI will answer them.

wI will say, ‘They are my people’;

and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

¹“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. ²xThey will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, ythe hour is coming when zwhoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. ³And they will do these things abecause they have not known the Father, nor me. ⁴But bI have said these things to you, that when ctheir hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, dbecause I was with you. ⁵But now eI am going to him who sent me, and fnone of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶But because I have said these things to you, gsorrow has filled your heart. ⁷Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for hif I do not go away, ithe Helper will not come to you. But jif kI go, lI will send him to you. ⁸mAnd when he comes, he will nconvict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹concerning sin, obecause they do not believe in me; ¹⁰pconcerning righteousness, qbecause I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; ¹¹rconcerning judgment, because the ruler of this world sis judged.

¹²“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When tthe Spirit of truth comes, uhe will vguide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but wwhatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴He will xglorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵yAll that the Father has is mine; ztherefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Your Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

¹⁶a“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and bagain a little while, and you will see me.” ¹⁷So csome of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, d‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, e‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? fWe do not know what he is talking about.” ¹⁹gJesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? ²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, hyou will weep and lament, but ithe world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but jyour sorrow will turn into joy. ²¹kWhen a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²²lSo also you have sorrow now, but mI will see you again, and nyour hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³oIn that day you will pask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, qwhatever you ask of the Father in my name, rhe will give it to you. ²⁴Until now you have asked nothing in my name. sAsk, and you will receive, tthat your joy may be full.

I Have Overcome the World

²⁵“I have said these things to you in figures of speech. uThe hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; ²⁷vfor the Father himself loves you, because wyou have loved me and xhave believed that I came from God.1 ²⁸yI came from the Father and have come into the world, and now zI am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not ausing figurative speech! ³⁰Now we know that byou know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that cyou came from God.” ³¹Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³²Behold, dthe hour is coming, indeed it has come, when eyou will be scattered, each to his own home, and fwill leave me alone. gYet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. ³³I have said these things to you, that hin me you may have peace. iIn the world you will have jtribulation. But ktake heart; lI have overcome the world.”