Series of Kings: Azariah (Uzziah) over Judah

15 ^(A)In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king. ² He was ^(B)sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was ^[a]Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ³ He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ Only ^(C)the high places were not eliminated; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ^5 (D)And the Lord afflicted the king, so that he had leprosy to the day of his death. And he ^(E)lived in a separate house, ^[b]while Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the household, judging the people of the land. ⁶ Now as for the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁷ And Azariah ^[c]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Jotham became king in his place.

Zechariah over Israel

^8 (F)In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months. ⁹ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his fathers had done; he did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel. ¹⁰ Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and ^(G)struck him in the presence of the people and ^[d]killed him, and reigned in his place. ¹¹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹² This is ^(H)the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” And so it was.

¹³ Shallum the son of Jabesh became king in the ^(I)thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned for ^[e]one month in ^(J)Samaria. ¹⁴ Then Menahem the son of Gadi went up from ^(K)Tirzah and came to Samaria, and struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him and became king in his place. ¹⁵ Now as for the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he formed, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁶ Then Menahem attacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah, because they did not open up to him; so he attacked it and ripped up ^(L)all its women who were pregnant.

Menahem over Israel

¹⁷ In the ^(M)thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi became king over Israel and reigned for ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; for all his days he did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel.

^19 (N)Pul, the king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a ^[f]thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to ^(O)strengthen the ^[g]kingdom ^[h]under his rule. ²⁰ Then Menahem collected the money from Israel, from all the ^[i]mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not stay there in the land. ²¹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²² And Menahem ^[j]lay down with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah became king in his place.

Pekahiah over Israel

²³ In ^(P)the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned for two years. ²⁴ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel. ²⁵ Then Pekah the son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in ^(Q)the castle of the king’s house with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites, and he killed him and became king in his place. ²⁶ Now as for the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and everything that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Pekah over Israel

²⁷ In ^(R)the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, ^(S)Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for twenty years. ²⁸ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel.

²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, ^[k](T)Tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and ^(U)he led ^[l]their populations into exile to Assyria. ³⁰ And Hoshea the son of Elah formed a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him and put him to death, and he became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. ³¹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Jotham over Judah

³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of ^[m]Uzziah king of Judah became king. ^33 (V)He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. ^34 (W)He did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he acted in accordance with everything that his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ Only ^(X)the high places were not eliminated; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ^(Y)He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord. ³⁶ Now as for the rest of the acts of Jotham which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days ^(Z)the Lord began to send Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ And Jotham ^[n]lay down with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David; and his son Ahaz became king in his place.

Ahaz Reigns over Judah

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, ^(AA)Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. ^2 (AB)Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. ³ But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, ^(AC)and he even made his son pass through the fire, ^(AD)in accordance with the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had ^[o]driven out before the sons of Israel. ⁴ And he ^(AE)sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ Then ^(AF)Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem for war; and they besieged Ahaz, ^(AG)but ^[p]were not capable of fighting him. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Aram restored ^(AH)Elath to Aram, and drove the Judeans away from ^[q]Elath; and the ^[r]Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day.

Ahaz Seeks Help of Assyria

^7 (AI)So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(AJ)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and save me from the ^[s]hand of the king of Aram, and from the ^[t]hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” ⁸ And ^(AK)Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a gift to the king of Assyria. ^9 (AL)So the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and ^(AM)captured it, and led the people of it into exile to ^(AN)Kir, and put Rezin to death.

Damascus Falls

¹⁰ Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet ^(AO)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to ^(AP)Urijah the priest the ^[u]pattern of the altar and its model, according to all its workmanship. ¹¹ So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to everything that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, in that way Urijah the priest made it, ^[v]before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. ¹² And when the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar; then ^(AQ)the king approached the altar and ^[w]went up to it, ¹³ and ^[x]burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured out his ^[y]drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ And ^(AR)the bronze altar, which was before the Lord, ^[z]he brought from the front of the house, from between ^(AS)his altar and the house of the Lord, and he put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “Upon the great altar ^[aa]burn ^(AT)the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their meal offering, and their ^[ab]drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But ^(AU)the bronze altar shall be for me, for making inquiries.” ¹⁶ So Urijah the priest acted in accordance with everything that King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz ^(AV)cut off the borders of the stands, and removed the wash basin from them; he also ^(AW)took down the ^[ac]Sea from the bronze oxen which were under it and put it on a pavement of stone. ¹⁸ And the covered way for the Sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entry of the king, he removed from the house of the Lord because of the king of Assyria.

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

¹⁹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written ^(AX)in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰ So ^(AY)Ahaz ^[ad]lay down with his fathers, and ^(AZ)was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

The New Birth

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named ^(A)Nicodemus, a ^(B)ruler of the Jews; ² this man came to ^[a]Jesus at night and said to Him, “^(C)Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these ^[b](D)signs that You do unless ^(E)God is with him.” ³ Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone ^(F)is born ^[c]again he cannot see ^(G)the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of ^(H)water and the Spirit, he cannot enter ^(I)the kingdom of God. ^6 (J)That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born ^[d]again.’ ^8 (K)The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “You are ^(L)the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(M)we speak of what we know and ^(N)testify of what we have seen, and ^(O)you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13 (P)No one has ascended into heaven, except ^(Q)He who descended from heaven: ^(R)the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as ^(S)Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must ^(T)the Son of Man ^(U)be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who ^[e]believes will ^(V)have eternal life in Him.

¹⁶ “For God so ^(W)loved the world, that He ^(X)gave His ^(Y)only Son, so that everyone who ^(Z)believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God ^(AA)did not send the Son into the world ^(AB)to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. ^18 (AC)The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^(AD)the only Son of God.