1 Then Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and he was buried with them in the City of David. And his son, Jehoram, reigned in his place.
2 And he had brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah.
3 And their father gave to them many gifts of silver, and gold, and valuables, with very fortified cities in Judah. But the kingdom he handed on to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.
4 Therefore, Jehoram rose up over the kingdom of his father. And when he had established himself, he killed with the sword all his brothers, and certain ones from the leaders of Israel.
5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he had begun to reign. And he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem.
6 And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For his wife was a daughter of Ahab, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
7 But the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had formed with him, and because he had promised that he would provide a lamp to him, and to his sons, for all time.
8 In those days, Edom rebelled, so as not to be subject to Judah, and they appointed for themselves a king.
9 And when Jehoram had gone across with his leaders, and all the horsemen who were with him, he arose in the night, and struck the Edomites (who had surrounded him), and all the commanders of his horsemen.
10 Even so, Edom rebelled, so as not to be under the authority of Judah, even to this day. Also at that time, Libnah withdrew, so as not to be under his hand. For he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers.
11 Moreover, he also constructed high places in the cities of Judah. And he caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to fornicate, and Judah to prevaricate.
12 Then letters were conveyed to him from the prophet Elijah, in which it was written: “Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat, your father, nor in the ways of Asa, the king of Judah,
13 but instead you have advanced along the paths of the kings of Israel, and you have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to fornicate, imitating the fornication of the house of Ahab, and moreover, you have killed your brothers, the house of your father, who are better than you:
14 behold, the Lord will strike you with a great plague, with all your people, and your sons and wives, and all your substance.
15 And you shall be sickened by a very grievous disease of your bowels, until your inner organs depart, little by little, each day.”
16 Therefore, the Lord stirred up, against Jehoram, the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, who are along the borders of the Ethiopians.
17 And they ascended into the land of Judah. And they laid waste to it. And they despoiled all the substance that was found in the house of the king, including even his sons and wives. Neither did there remain for him any son, except Jehoahaz, who was the youngest born.
18 And in addition to all these things, the Lord struck him with an incurable disease of the bowels.
19 And as day followed after day, and the space of time turned, the course of two years was completed. And after having been wasted by a long consumption, so much so that even his inner organs were discharged, the disease ended along with his life. And so he died of a very grievous illness. And the people did not make a funeral for him, according to the custom of burning, as they had done for his ancestors.
20 He was thirty-two years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. And he did not walk uprightly. And they buried him in the City of David, yet truly, not in the sepulcher of the kings.
1 Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem appointed his youngest son, Ahaziah, as king in his place. For the robbers of the Arabians, who had fallen upon the camp, had put to death all those who were greater by birth before him. And so Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, reigned as king of Judah.
2 Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.
3 But he too went forth in the ways of the house of Ahab. For his mother impelled him to act impiously.
4 And so he did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as the house of Ahab did. For after the death of his father, they were counselors to him, to his destruction.
5 And he walked in their counsels. And he went with Joram, the son of Ahab, the king of Israel, to war against Hazael, the king of Syria, at Ramoth Gilead. And the Syrians wounded Joram.
6 And he returned, so that he might be cured at Jezreel. For he had received many wounds in the above-stated battle. And so Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, descended, so that he might visit Joram, the son of Ahab, at Jezreel, while he was ill.
7 Indeed, it was the will of God against Ahaziah that he would go to Joram, and when he had gone, that he also would go out with him against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.
8 Therefore, when Jehu was overthrowing the house of Ahab, he found the leaders of Judah, with the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah, who were ministering to him, and he put them to death.
9 Also, while he himself was seeking Ahaziah, he found him to be hiding in Samaria. And having been led to him, he killed him. And they buried him, because he was the son of Jehoshaphat, who had sought the Lord with all his heart. But there was no longer any hope that someone from the stock of Ahaziah would reign.
10 For indeed, his mother, Athaliah, seeing that her son had died, rose up and killed the entire royal stock of the house of Jehoram.
11 But Jehosheba, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from the midst the king’s sons when they were being slain. And she hid him with his nurse in a bedroom. Now Jehosheba, the one who had hidden him, was the daughter of king Jehoram, and the wife of the high priest Jehoiada, and the sister of Ahaziah. And because of this, Athaliah did not kill him.
12 Therefore, he was with them, hidden in the house of God, for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
1 Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada having been strengthened, he took the centurions, namely, Azariah, the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael, the son of Jehohanan, and also Azariah, the son of Obed, and Maaseiah, the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat, the son of Zichri, and he formed a pact with them.
2 And traveling through Judah, they gathered together the Levites from all of the cities of Judah, and the leaders of the families of Israel, and they went to Jerusalem.
3 Then the entire multitude formed a pact with the king, in the house of God. And Jehoiada said to them: “Behold, the son of the king shall reign, just as the Lord has said concerning the sons of David.
4 Therefore, this is the word that you shall do:
5 One third part of you who arrive on the Sabbath, priests, and Levites, and porters, shall be at the gates. Truly, one third part shall be at the house of the king. And one third shall be at the gate which is called the Foundation. Yet truly, let all the remainder of the common people be in the courts of the house of the Lord.
6 Let no one else enter into the house of the Lord, except the priests, and those from the Levites who are ministering. These alone may enter, for they have been sanctified. And let all the remainder of the common people observe the watches of the Lord.
7 Then let the Levites encircle the king, each one having his weapons. And if anyone else will have entered into the temple, let him be slain. And may they be with the king, both entering and departing.”
8 Then the Levites, and all of Judah, acted in accord with all that the high priest Jehoiada had instructed. And each of them took the men who were under him, and who were arriving by the course of the Sabbath, with those who had fulfilled the Sabbath and who were about to depart. For indeed the high priest Jehoiada had not permitted the companies to depart, which were accustomed to replace one another each week.
9 And Jehoiada, the priest, gave to the centurions the lances and round shields and crescent shields of king David, which he had dedicated in the house of the Lord.
10 And he positioned all the people, holding short swords, from the right part of the temple to the left part of the temple, before the altar and the temple, all around the king.
11 And they led out the son of the king. And they imposed the diadem on him, and the testimony. And they gave him the law to hold in his hand. And they appointed him as king. Also, the high priest Jehoiada and his sons anointed him. And they prayed for him, and said, “May the king live!”
12 And when Athaliah had heard it, specifically the sound of running and the praising of the king, she entered to the people in the temple of the Lord.
13 And when she had seen the king standing upon the step at the entrance, and the leaders and companies around him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding the trumpets, and playing on instruments of various kinds, and the voice of those who were praising, she tore her garments, and she said: “Treason! Treason!”
14 Then the high priest Jehoiada, going out to the centurions and to the leaders of the army, said to them: “Lead her away, beyond the borders of the temple. And let her be put to death outside, with the sword.” And the priest instructed that she should not be killed in the house of the Lord.
15 And they laid hands on her neck. And when she had entered the gate for the horses at the king’s house, they put her to death there.
16 Then Jehoiada formed a covenant between himself and the entire people, and the king, so that they would be the people of the Lord.
17 And so, all the people entered into the house of Baal, and they destroyed it. And they broke apart his altars and idols. Also, they put to death Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars.
18 Then Jehoiada appointed overseers in the house of the Lord, under the hands of the priests and Levites, whom David had distributed to the house of the Lord so that they might offer holocausts to the Lord, just as it was written in the law of Moses, with gladness and singing, in accord with the disposition of David.
19 Also, he appointed porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that whoever was unclean for any reason would not enter.
20 And he took the centurions, and the most valiant men, and the leaders of the people, and all the common people of the land, and they set out to descend to the king, from the house of the Lord, and to enter through the middle of the upper gate, to the house of the king. And they placed him on the royal throne.
21 And all the people of the land were rejoicing, and the city was quieted. But Athaliah was slain with the sword.
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1 Say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,’ and to your sister, ‘You have obtained mercy.’
2 Judge your mother, judge: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her fornications from before her face and her adulteries from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise, I may expose her nakedness and set her as on the day of her birth, and I may establish her as a wilderness and set her as an impassable land, and I may execute her with thirst.
4 And I will not have mercy on her sons, for they are the sons of fornications.
5 For their mother has been fornicating; she who conceived them has been brought to ruin. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Because of this, behold, I will fence in your way with thorns, and I will surround it with a wall, and she will not find her paths.
7 And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not obtain them, and she will seek them, but she will not find them, and she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, because it was to some extent better for me then, than it is now.’
8 And she did not know that I gave her grain and wine and oil, and that I increased her silver and gold, which they made into Baal.
9 For this reason, I will turn back, and I will take away my grain in its time and my wine in its time, and I will set free my wool and my flax, which had covered her disgrace.
10 And now, I will reveal her foolishness by the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my hand.
11 And I will cause all her joy to cease: her solemnities, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her feast dates.
12 And I will corrupt her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, ‘These rewards, they are mine, my lovers have given them to me.’ And I will place her in a narrow forest, and the beasts of the field will devour her.
13 And I will inflict on her the days of the Baals, for whom she burned incense, and ornamented herself with earrings and necklace, and went after her lovers, and forgot about me,” says the Lord.
14 Because of this, behold, I will attract her, and I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart.
15 And I will give to her, from the same place, her vinedressers, and the valley of Achor as a passage of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the days of her ascension from the land of Egypt.
16 And it will be in that day,” says the Lord, “that she will call me, ‘My Husband,’ and she will no longer call me, ‘My Baal.’
17 And I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and she will no longer remember their name.
18 And in that day, I will strike a deal with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creatures of the earth. And I will crush the bow and the sword, and I will wipe away war from the earth. And I will let them sleep securely.
19 And I will betroth you to me forever, and I will betroth you to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and compassion.
20 And I will wed you to me in faith, and you will know that I am the Lord.
21 And this will happen in that day: I will listen closely,” says the Lord. “I will hear the heavens, and they will hear the earth.
22 And the land will pay attention to the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and these will hear Jezreel.
23 And I will plant her for me in the land, and I will have mercy on her, though she had been called Without Mercy.
24 And I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’?
24 He answered him in the way of his strength: Declare unto me the fewness of my days.
25 Call me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are unto generation and generation.
26 In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy hands.
27 They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment: And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.
28 But thou art always the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail.
29 The children of thy servants shall continue: and their seed shall be directed for ever.
14 I give thanks to God that I have baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius,
15 lest anyone say that you have been baptized in my name.
16 And I also baptized the household of Stephanus. Other than these, I do not recall if I baptized any others.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize: not through the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ become empty.
18 For the Word of the Cross is certainly foolishness to those who are perishing. But to those who have been saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God.
19 For it has been written: “I will perish the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the discernment of the prudent.”
20 Where are the wise? Where are the scribes? Where are the truth-seekers of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of this world into foolishness?
21 For the world did not know God through wisdom, and so, in the wisdom of God, it pleased God to accomplish the salvation of believers, through the foolishness of our preaching.
22 For the Jews ask for signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom.
23 But we are preaching Christ crucified. Certainly, to the Jews, this is a scandal, and to the Gentiles, this is foolishness.
24 But to those who have been called, Jews as well as Greeks, the Christ is the virtue of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For what is foolishness to God is considered wise by men, and that which is weakness to God is considered strong by men.
26 So take care of your vocation, brothers. For not many are wise according to the flesh, not many are powerful, not many are noble.
27 But God has chosen the foolish of the world, so that he may confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak of the world, so that he may confound the strong.
28 And God has chosen the ignoble and contemptible of the world, those who are nothing, so that he may reduce to nothing those who are something.
29 So then, nothing that is of the flesh should glory in his sight.
30 But you are of him in Christ Jesus, who was made by God to be our wisdom and justice and sanctification and redemption.
31 And so, in the same way, it was written: “Whoever glories, should glory in the Lord.”
