2 Kings 14-15
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 14
Reign of Amaziah of Judah. 1 In the second year[a] of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, became king. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin, from Jerusalem.
3 He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, though not like David his father. He did just as his father Joash had done, 4 though the high places did not disappear, and the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense on the high places.
5 When Amaziah had the kingdom firmly in hand, he struck down the officials who had struck down the king, his father. 6 But their children he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord commanded: “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for one’s own crimes shall a person be put to death.”(A)
7 Amaziah struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Salt Valley. He took Sela in battle and renamed it Joktheel, the name it has to this day.(B)
8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Joash, son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, with this message: “Come, let us meet face to face.” 9 Joash, king of Israel, sent this reply to Amaziah, king of Judah: “A thistle of Lebanon sent word to a cedar of Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage,’ but an animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle underfoot.(C) 10 You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart is lifted up; enjoy your glory, but stay home! Why bring misfortune and failure on yourself and on Judah with you?” 11 But Amaziah did not listen. So Joash, king of Israel, advanced, and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, met face to face at Beth-shemesh of Judah, 12 and Judah was defeated by Israel, and all fled to their tents. 13 But Amaziah, king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, was captured by Joash, king of Israel, at Beth-shemesh. When they came to Jerusalem Joash tore down the wall of Jerusalem, from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits. 14 He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and hostages as well. Then he returned to Samaria.
15 [b]The rest of the acts of Joash, what he did and his valor, and how he made war against Amaziah, king of Judah, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 16 Joash rested with his ancestors; he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and his son Jeroboam succeeded him as king.
17 [c]Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, survived Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, by fifteen years. 18 The rest of the acts of Amaziah are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. 19 When a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, he fled to Lachish. But he was pursued to Lachish and killed there. 20 He was brought back on horses and was buried in Jerusalem with his ancestors in the City of David. 21 Thereupon all the people of Judah[d] took Azariah, who was only sixteen years old, and made him king to succeed Amaziah, his father. 22 It was he who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his ancestors.
Reign of Jeroboam II of Israel. 23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria for forty-one years.
24 He did evil in the Lord’s sight; he did not desist from any of the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit. 25 He restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the sea of the Arabah,[e] as the Lord, the God of Israel, had foretold through his servant, the prophet Jonah, son of Amittai, from Gath-hepher. 26 For the Lord saw the very bitter affliction of Israel, where there was neither bond nor free, no one at all to help Israel. 27 Since the Lord had not resolved to wipe out the name of Israel from under the heavens, he saved them through Jeroboam, son of Joash.
28 The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, with all that he did and his valor, how he fought, and how he regained Damascus and Hamath for Israel, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 29 Jeroboam rested with his ancestors, the kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah succeeded him as king.
Chapter 15
Reign of Azariah of Judah. 1 In the twenty-seventh year[f] of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah, became king. 2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah, from Jerusalem.
3 He did what was right in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Amaziah had done, 4 though the high places did not disappear, and the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense on the high places. 5 The Lord afflicted the king, and he was a leper until the day he died. He lived in a house apart, while Jotham, the king’s son, was master of the palace and ruled the people of the land.[g]
6 The rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. 7 Azariah rested with his ancestors, and was buried with them in the City of David, and his son Jotham succeeded him as king.
Reign of Zechariah of Israel. 8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Zechariah, son of Jeroboam, became king over Israel in Samaria for six months.
9 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, as his ancestors had done, and did not desist from the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit. 10 Shallum, son of Jabesh, plotted against him and struck him down at Ibleam. He killed him and reigned in his place.
11 As for the rest of the acts of Zechariah, these are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 12 This was the word the Lord had spoken to Jehu: Sons of your line to the fourth generation shall sit upon the throne of Israel; and so it was.(D)
Reign of Shallum of Israel. 13 Shallum, son of Jabesh, became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah, king of Judah; he reigned one month in Samaria.
14 Menahem, son of Gadi, came up from Tirzah to Samaria, and struck down Shallum, son of Jabesh, in Samaria. He killed him and reigned in his place.
15 As for the rest of the acts of Shallum, with the conspiracy he carried out, these are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 16 At that time, Menahem attacked Tappuah, all its inhabitants, and its whole district as far as Tirzah, because they did not let him in. He attacked them; he even ripped open all their pregnant women.
Reign of Menahem of Israel. 17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem, son of Gadi, became king over Israel for ten years in Samaria. 18 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight as long as he lived, not desisting from the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit. 19 Pul,[h] king of Assyria, came against the land. But Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver to have his help in holding onto his kingdom. 20 Menahem paid out silver on behalf of Israel, that is, for all the people of substance, by giving the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver for each one. So the king of Assyria went home and did not stay in the land.
21 The rest of the acts of Menahem, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 22 Menahem rested with his ancestors, and his son Pekahiah succeeded him as king.
Reign of Pekahiah of Israel. 23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekahiah, son of Menahem, became king over Israel in Samaria for two years.
24 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, not desisting from the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit. 25 His adjutant Pekah, son of Remaliah, conspired against him, and struck him down at Samaria within the palace stronghold; he had with him fifty men from Gilead. He killed him and reigned in his place. 26 As for the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, with all that he did, these are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
Reign of Pekah of Israel. 27 [i]In the fifty-second year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, son of Remaliah, became king over Israel in Samaria for twenty years.
28 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, not desisting from the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit. 29 In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee—all the land of Naphtali—deporting the inhabitants to Assyria. 30 [j]Hoshea, son of Elah, carried out a conspiracy against Pekah, son of Remaliah; he struck and killed him, and succeeded him as king in the twentieth year of Jotham, son of Uzziah.
31 As for the rest of the acts of Pekah, with all that he did, these are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
Reign of Jotham of Judah. 32 In the second year of Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, became king. 33 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok.
34 He did what was right in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Uzziah had done, 35 though the high places did not disappear, and the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense on the high places. It was he who built the Upper Gate[k] of the Lord’s house.
36 The rest of the acts of Jotham, with what he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. 37 It was at that time that the Lord began to unleash Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, against Judah.(E) 38 Jotham rested with his ancestors; he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David his father, and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king.
Footnotes
- 14:1–2 In the second year…twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: as they stand, the chronological data in the introductions to the reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel are incompatible with one another. The kings of Judah between Athaliah and Ahaz are assigned too many years in all to correspond to the reigns in Israel from Jehu to the fall of Samaria. Various theories have been proposed in an attempt to explain the discrepancy, such as co-regencies, or textual corruption in the process of transmission.
- 14:15–16 See note on 13:12–13.
- 14:17 See note on vv. 1–2.
- 14:21 All the people of Judah: this phrase may refer to the army (compare, for example, “all Israel” in 1 Kgs 16:16–17). If this is its meaning here, then Amaziah’s assassination and Azariah’s succession are owing to a military coup. Azariah: also called Uzziah in many texts.
- 14:25 Sea of the Arabah: the Dead Sea. Jonah, son of Amittai: see note on Jon 1:1.
- 15:1 Twenty-seventh year: see note on 14:1–2.
- 15:5 People of the land: see note on 11:14.
- 15:19 Pul: the Babylonian throne name of the Assyrian Tiglath-pileser III; cf. v. 29.
- 15:27 The twenty years here ascribed to Pekah are difficult to reconcile with other chronological notices about the kings. One theory would see Pekah and Menahem as rival kings over parts of a divided Israelite territory; this could explain Menahem’s concern for Assyrian support (vv. 19–20) and Assyria’s attack on Pekah (v. 29). See 16:1 and note on 14:1–2.
- 15:30 The twenty years here reckoned to Jotham of Judah may include his co-regency with Azariah (v. 5); otherwise they are impossible to reconcile with v. 33, which ascribes him only sixteen years. The verse also appears to contradict 16:1, which has Jotham’s son and successor, Ahaz, coming to the throne while Pekah still reigns in Israel, and 17:1, which dates Hoshea’s accession to the throne to the twelfth year of Ahaz.
- 15:35 The Upper Gate: also called the Gate of Benjamin; cf. Jer 20:2; Ez 9:2.
Proverbs 8:1-21
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 8
The Discourse of Wisdom[a]
1 Does not Wisdom call,
and Understanding raise her voice?(A)
2 On the top of the heights along the road,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
3 By the gates at the approaches of the city,
in the entryways she cries aloud:
4 “To you, O people, I call;
my appeal is to you mortals.
5 You naive ones, gain prudence,
you fools,[b] gain sense.
6 Listen! for noble things I speak;
my lips proclaim honest words.
7 [c]Indeed, my mouth utters truth,
and my lips abhor wickedness.
8 All the words of my mouth are sincere,
none of them wily or crooked;
9 All of them are straightforward to the intelligent,
and right to those who attain knowledge.
10 Take my instruction instead of silver,
and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 [For Wisdom is better than corals,
and no treasures can compare with her.(B)]
12 I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and useful knowledge I have.
13 [The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil;]
Pride, arrogance, the evil way,
and the perverse mouth I hate.(C)
14 Mine are counsel and advice;
Mine is strength; I am understanding.[d]
15 By me kings reign,
and rulers enact justice;
16 By me princes govern,
and nobles, all the judges of the earth.
17 Those who love me I also love,
and those who seek me find me.
18 With me are riches and honor,(D)
wealth that endures, and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
and my yield than choice silver.(E)
20 On the way of righteousness I walk,
along the paths of justice,
21 Granting wealth to those who love me,
and filling their treasuries.
Footnotes
- 8:1–36
Chapter 8 is Wisdom’s longest speech in the book. Wisdom is here personified as in 1:20–33. She exalts her grandeur and origin, and invites all (vv. 1–11) to be attentive to her salutary influence in human society (vv. 12–21), for she was privileged to be present at the creation of the world (vv. 22–31). Finally, she promises life and the favor of God to those who are devoted to her, death to those who reject her.
The poem has four sections, each (except the fourth) with two parts of five lines each:
I. A. vv. 1–5 B. vv. 6–10 II. A. vv. 12–16 B. vv. 17–21 III. A. vv. 22–26 B. vv. 27–31 IV. vv. 32–36 Within chaps. 1–9, chap. 8 is the companion piece to Wisdom’s first speech in 1:20–33. There she spoke harshly, giving a promise only in the last line; here she speaks invitingly, giving a threat only in the last line.
Chapter 8 is the best-known chapter in Proverbs and has profoundly influenced Jewish and Christian thought. The most explicit and lengthy biblical comment is in Sir 24; it too has thirty-five lines in seven five-line stanzas and develops the theme of Wisdom’s intimacy with God and desire to be with human beings. The Gospel of John portrays Jesus in the language of wisdom in Proverbs: Jesus, like Wisdom, calls out to people to listen to him, promises to tell them the truth, seeks disciples, invites them to a banquet, and gives them life. Writers in the patristic period used the language of pre-existent wisdom to express the idea of the pre-existent Word with God.
- 8:5 Naive ones…fools: see note on 1:4.
- 8:7–8 The truth and sincerity of wisdom are absolute because they are of divine origin. They can neither deceive nor tolerate deception. The intelligent understand and accept this. “Straight” and “crooked” in Hebrew and English are metaphors for true, trustworthy and false, deceitful.
- 8:14 What is here predicated of Wisdom is elsewhere attributed to God (Jb 12:13–16).
2 Corinthians 1
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
I. Address
Chapter 1
Greeting. 1 [a]Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, with all the holy ones throughout Achaia:(A) 2 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving. 3 (B)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement,[b] 4 who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.(C) 5 For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ[c] does our encouragement also overflow. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement, which enables you to endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement.[d]
8 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction that came to us in the province of Asia;[e] we were utterly weighed down beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.(D) 9 Indeed, we had accepted within ourselves the sentence of death,[f] that we might trust not in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.(E) 10 He rescued us from such great danger of death, and he will continue to rescue us; in him we have put our hope [that] he will also rescue us again,(F) 11 as you help us with prayer, so that thanks may be given by many on our behalf for the gift granted us through the prayers of many.(G)
II. The Crisis Between Paul and the Corinthians
A. Past Relationships[g]
Paul’s Sincerity and Constancy. 12 [h]For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with the simplicity and sincerity of God, [and] not by human wisdom but by the grace of God. 13 For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand, and I hope that you will understand completely, 14 as you have come to understand us partially, that we are your boast as you also are ours, on the day of [our] Lord Jesus.(H)
15 With this confidence I formerly intended to come[i] to you so that you might receive a double favor, 16 namely, to go by way of you to Macedonia, and then to come to you again on my return from Macedonia, and have you send me on my way to Judea.(I) 17 So when I intended this, did I act lightly?[j] Or do I make my plans according to human considerations, so that with me it is “yes, yes” and “no, no”?(J) 18 As God is faithful,[k] our word to you is not “yes” and “no.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not “yes” and “no,” but “yes” has been in him.(K) 20 For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.(L) 21 [l]But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God;(M) 22 he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.(N)
Paul’s Change of Plan. 23 (O)But I call upon God as witness, on my life, that it is to spare you that I have not yet gone to Corinth.[m] 24 Not that we lord it over your faith; rather, we work together for your joy, for you stand firm in the faith.
Footnotes
- 1:1–11 The opening follows the usual Pauline form, except that the thanksgiving takes the form of a doxology or glorification of God (2 Cor 1:3). This introduces a meditation on the experience of suffering and encouragement shared by Paul and the Corinthians (2 Cor 1:4–7), drawn, at least in part, from Paul’s reflections on a recent affliction (2 Cor 1:8–10). The section ends with a modified and delayed allusion to thanksgiving (2 Cor 1:11).
- 1:3 God of all encouragement: Paul expands a standard Jewish blessing so as to state the theme of the paragraph. The theme of “encouragement” or “consolation” (paraklēsis) occurs ten times in this opening, against a background formed by multiple references to “affliction” and “suffering.”
- 1:5 Through Christ: the Father of compassion is the Father of our Lord Jesus (2 Cor 1:3); Paul’s sufferings and encouragement (or “consolation”) are experienced in union with Christ. Cf. Lk 2:25: the “consolation of Israel” is Jesus himself.
- 1:7 You also share in the encouragement: the eschatological reversal of affliction and encouragement that Christians expect (cf. Mt 5:4; Lk 6:24) permits some present experience of reversal in the Corinthians’ case, as in Paul’s.
- 1:8 Asia: a Roman province in western Asia Minor, the capital of which was Ephesus.
- 1:9–10 The sentence of death: it is unclear whether Paul is alluding to a physical illness or to an external threat to life. The result of the situation was to produce an attitude of faith in God alone. God who raises the dead: rescue is the constant pattern of God’s activity; his final act of encouragement is the resurrection.
- 1:12–2:13 The autobiographical remarks about the crisis in Asia Minor lead into consideration of a crisis that has arisen between Paul and the Corinthians. Paul will return to this question, after a long digression, in 2 Cor 7:5–16. Both of these sections deal with travel plans Paul had made, changes in the plans, alternative measures adopted, a breach that opened between him and the community, and finally a reconciliation between them.
- 1:12–14 Since Paul’s own conduct will be under discussion here, he prefaces the section with a statement about his habitual behavior and attitude toward the community. He protests his openness, single-mindedness, and conformity to God’s grace; he hopes that his relationship with them will be marked by mutual understanding and pride, which will constantly increase until it reaches its climax at the judgment. Two references to boasting frame this paragraph (2 Cor 1:12, 14), the first appearances of a theme that will be important in the letter, especially in 2 Cor 10–13; the term is used in a positive sense here (cf. note on 1 Cor 1:29–31).
- 1:15 I formerly intended to come: this plan reads like a revision of the one mentioned in 1 Cor 16:5. Not until 2 Cor 1:23–2:1 will Paul tell us something his original readers already knew, that he has canceled one or the other of these projected visits.
- 1:17 Did I act lightly?: the subsequent change of plans casts suspicion on the original intention, creating the impression that Paul is vacillating and inconsistent or that human considerations keep dictating shifts in his goals and projects (cf. the counterclaim of 2 Cor 1:12). “Yes, yes” and “no, no”: stating something and denying it in the same or the next breath; being of two minds at once, or from one moment to the next.
- 1:18–22 As God is faithful: unable to deny the change in plans, Paul nonetheless asserts the firmness of the original plan and claims a profound constancy in his life and work. He grounds his defense in God himself, who is firm and reliable; this quality can also be predicated in various ways of those who are associated with him. Christ, Paul, and the Corinthians all participate in analogous ways in the constancy of God. A number of the terms here, which appear related only conceptually in Greek or English, would be variations of the same root, ’mn, in a Semitic language, and thus naturally associated in a Semitic mind, such as Paul’s. These include the words yes (2 Cor 1:17–20), faithful (2 Cor 1:18), Amen (2 Cor 1:20), gives us security (2 Cor 1:21), faith, stand firm (2 Cor 1:24).
- 1:21–22 The commercial terms gives us security, seal, first installment are here used analogously to refer to the process of initiation into the Christian life, perhaps specifically to baptism. The passage is clearly trinitarian. The Spirit is the first installment or “down payment” of the full messianic benefits that God guarantees to Christians. Cf. Eph 1:13–14.
- 1:23–24 I have not yet gone to Corinth: some suppose that Paul received word of some affair in Corinth, which he decided to regulate by letter even before the first of his projected visits (cf. 2 Cor 1:16). Others conjecture that he did pay the first visit, was offended there (cf. 2 Cor 2:5), returned to Ephesus, and sent a letter (2 Cor 2:3–9) in place of the second visit. The expressions to spare you (2 Cor 1:23) and work together for your joy (2 Cor 1:24) introduce the major themes of the next two paragraphs, which are remarkable for insistent repetition of key words and ideas. These form two clusters of terms in the English translation: (1) cheer, rejoice, encourage, joy; (2) pain, affliction, anguish. These clusters reappear when Paul resumes treatment of this subject in 2 Cor 7:5–16.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.