16 And the word of the Lord came to ^(A)Jehu the son of ^(B)Hanani against Baasha, saying, ² “Since I ^(C)exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and ^(D)you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, ³ behold, I will utterly ^(E)sweep away ^(F)Baasha and his house, and I will make your house ^(G)like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ^4 (H)Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the heavens shall eat.”

⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁶ And Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried at ^(I)Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his place. ⁷ Moreover, the word of the Lord came by the prophet ^(J)Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because ^(K)he destroyed it.

Elah Reigns in Israel

⁸ In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years. ⁹ But his servant ^(L)Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, ^(M)who was over the household in Tirzah, ¹⁰ Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

¹¹ When he began to reign, as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he struck down ^(N)all the house of Baasha. He ^(O)did not leave him a single male of his relatives or his friends. ¹² Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, ^(P)according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baasha by ^(Q)Jehu the prophet, ¹³ for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel to sin, ^(R)provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols. ¹⁴ Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Zimri Reigns in Israel

¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were encamped against ^(S)Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, ¹⁶ and the troops who were encamped heard it said, “Zimri has conspired, and he has killed the king.” Therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. ¹⁷ So Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸ And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over him with fire and died, ¹⁹ because of his sins that he committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(T)walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin. ²⁰ Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the conspiracy that he made, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Omri Reigns in Israel

²¹ Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. ²² But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king. ²³ In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for twelve years; six years he reigned in Tirzah. ²⁴ He bought the hill of ^(U)Samaria from Shemer for two talents^[a] of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built ^(V)Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

^25 (W)Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil ^(X)than all who were before him. ²⁶ For ^(Y)he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, ^(Z)provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols. ²⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Omri that he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²⁸ And Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son reigned in his place.

Ahab Reigns in Israel

²⁹ In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. ³⁰ And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(AA)more than all who were before him. ³¹ And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(AB)he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the ^(AC)Sidonians, ^(AD)and went and served Baal and worshiped him. ³² He erected an altar for Baal in ^(AE)the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. ³³ And Ahab made an ^(AF)Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger ^(AG)than all the kings of Israel who were before him. ^34 (AH)In his days Hiel of Bethel built ^(AI)Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Asa's Religious Reforms

15 ^(A)The Spirit of God came^[a] upon Azariah the son of Oded, ² and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: ^(B)The Lord is with you while you are with him. ^(C)If you seek him, he will be found by you, ^(D)but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ^3 (E)For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, ^4 (F)but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. ⁵ In those times there was no peace ^(G)to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶ They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. ^7 (H)But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, ^(I)for your work shall be rewarded.”

⁸ As soon as Asa heard these words, ^(J)the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from ^(K)the cities that he had taken in ^(L)the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord ^(M)that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.^{[b] 9} And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, ^(N)and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹ They sacrificed to the Lord on that day ^(O)from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. ^12 (P)And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, ¹³ but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(Q)should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. ¹⁴ They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. ¹⁵ And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, ^(R)and the Lord gave them rest all around.

^16 (S)Even Maacah, ^(T)his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image ^(U)for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, ^(V)crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. ^17 (W)But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. ¹⁸ And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. ¹⁹ And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Asa's Last Years

16 ^(X)In the ^(Y)thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, ^(Z)that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ² Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king's house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, ³ “There is a covenant^[c] between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ⁴ And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the ^(AA)store cities of Naphtali. ⁵ And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. ⁶ Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ At that time ^(AB)Hanani ^(AC)the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, ^(AD)“Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. ⁸ Were not ^(AE)the Ethiopians and ^(AF)the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet ^(AG)because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. ^9 (AH)For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those ^(AI)whose heart is blameless^[d] toward him. ^(AJ)You have done foolishly in this, for from now on ^(AK)you will have wars.” ¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him ^(AL)in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

^11 (AM)The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians. ¹³ And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier ^(AN)that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, ^(AO)and they made a very great fire in his honor.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by the will of God, and Timothy ^(C)our brother,

² To the ^(D)saints and faithful brothers^[a] in Christ at Colossae:

^(E)Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

^3 (F)We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ since we heard of ^(G)your faith in Christ Jesus and of ^(H)the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵ because of ^(I)the hope ^(J)laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in ^(K)the word of the truth, the gospel, ⁶ which has come to you, as indeed ^(L)in the whole world it is ^(M)bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you ^(N)heard it and understood ^(O)the grace of God in truth, ⁷ just as you learned it from ^(P)Epaphras our beloved ^(Q)fellow servant.^[b] He is ^(R)a faithful minister of Christ on your^[c] behalf ⁸ and has made known to us your ^(S)love in the Spirit.

⁹ And so, ^(T)from the day we heard, ^(U)we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that ^(V)you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all ^(W)spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as ^(X)to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, ^(Y)fully pleasing to him: ^(Z)bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ^11 (AA)being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for ^(AB)all endurance and patience ^(AC)with joy; ^12 (AD)giving thanks^[d] to the Father, who has qualified you^[e] to share in ^(AE)the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He ^(AF)has delivered us from ^(AG)the domain of darkness and transferred us to ^(AH)the kingdom of ^(AI)his beloved Son, ^14 (AJ)in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Preeminence of Christ

^15 (AK)He is the image of ^(AL)the invisible God, ^(AM)the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by^[f] him all things were created, ^(AN)in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^(AO)thrones or ^(AP)dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created ^(AQ)through him and for him. ¹⁷ And ^(AR)he is before all things, and in him all things ^(AS)hold together. ¹⁸ And ^(AT)he is the head of the body, the church. He is ^(AU)the beginning, ^(AV)the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For ^(AW)in him all the ^(AX)fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and ^(AY)through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^(AZ)making peace ^(BA)by the blood of his cross.

^21 (BB)And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, ^(BC)doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled ^(BD)in his body of flesh by his death, ^(BE)in order to present you holy and blameless and ^(BF)above reproach before him, ^23 (BG)if indeed you continue in the faith, ^(BH)stable and steadfast, not shifting from ^(BI)the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed ^(BJ)in all creation^[g] under heaven, ^(BK)and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Paul's Ministry to the Church

²⁴ Now ^(BL)I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh ^(BM)I am filling up ^(BN)what is lacking in Christ's afflictions ^(BO)for the sake of his body, that is, the church, ^25 (BP)of which I became a minister according to ^(BQ)the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ^26 (BR)the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. ^27 (BS)To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are ^(BT)the riches of the glory of ^(BU)this mystery, which is Christ in you, ^(BV)the hope of glory. ²⁸ Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that ^(BW)we may present everyone ^(BX)mature in Christ. ²⁹ For this ^(BY)I toil, ^(BZ)struggling ^(CA)with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.