Azariah the Prophet Warns Asa

15 Now ^(A)the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, ² and he went out ^[a]to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: ^(B)the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And ^(C)if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you. ^3 (D)For many days Israel was without the true God and without ^(E)a teaching priest and without the Law. ⁴ But ^(F)in their distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him. ^5 (G)In those times there was no peace for him who went out or him who came in, because many disturbances ^[b]afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. ^6 (H)Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. ⁷ But you, ^(I)be strong and do not ^[c]lose courage, for there is a ^(J)reward for your work.”

Asa’s Reforms

⁸ Now when Asa heard these words and the ^[d]prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from ^(K)the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. ^(L)He then restored the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord. ⁹ And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon ^(M)who resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ So they assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ^11 (N)They sacrificed to the Lord on that day seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the spoils they had brought. ^12 (O)They entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul; ¹³ and whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel ^(P)was to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. ¹⁴ Moreover, they made an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, trumpets, and with horns. ¹⁵ All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought Him ^[e]earnestly, and He let them find Him. So ^(Q)the Lord gave them rest on every side.

^16 (R)He also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from the position of queen mother, because she had made an abominable image ^[f]as ^(S)an Asherah, and ^(T)Asa cut down her abominable image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁷ But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was blameless all his days. ¹⁸ He brought into the house of God the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things: silver, gold, and utensils. ¹⁹ And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

The Temporal and Eternal

5 For we know that if our ^[a](A)earthly ^(B)tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house ^(C)not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For indeed, in this tent we ^(D)groan, longing to be ^(E)clothed with our ^[b]dwelling from heaven, ³ since in fact after putting it on, we will not be found naked. ⁴ For indeed, we who are in this tent ^(F)groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be ^(G)clothed, so that what is ^(H)mortal will be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who ^(I)gave us the Spirit as a ^[c]pledge.

⁶ Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that ^(J)while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— ⁷ for ^(K)we walk by faith, not by ^[d]sight— ⁸ but we are of good courage and ^(L)prefer rather to be absent from the body and ^(M)to be at home with the Lord. ⁹ Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be ^(N)pleasing to Him. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before ^(O)the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for ^[e]his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad.

¹¹ Therefore, knowing the ^(P)fear of the Lord, we persuade people, but we are well known to God; and I hope that we are also ^(Q)well known in your consciences. ¹² We are not commending ourselves to you ^(R)again, but are giving you an ^(S)opportunity to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. ¹³ For if we have ^(T)lost our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For the love of Christ ^(U)controls us, having concluded this, that ^(V)one died for all, therefore all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer ^(W)live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.

¹⁶ Therefore from now on we recognize no one ^[f](X)by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is ^(Y)in Christ, this person is ^(Z)a new ^[g]creation; ^(AA)the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now ^(AB)all these things are from God, ^(AC)who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ^(AD)ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that ^(AE)God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, ^(AF)not counting their wrongdoings against them, and ^[h]He has ^[i]committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore, we are ^(AG)ambassadors for Christ, ^(AH)as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be ^(AI)reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who ^(AJ)knew no sin to be ^[j](AK)sin in our behalf, so that we might become the ^(AL)righteousness of God in Him.

Asa Wars against Baasha

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, ^(A)Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and ^[a]fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. ² Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and sent it to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, ³ “A treaty must be made between ^[b]you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you silver and gold; go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” ⁴ And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa, and he sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they ^[c]conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all ^(B)the ^[d]storage cities of Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha heard about it, he stopped ^[e]fortifying Ramah and put an end to his work. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with it he ^[f]fortified Geba and Mizpah.

Asa Imprisons the Prophet

⁷ At that time ^(C)Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “^(D)Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, for that reason the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not ^(E)the Ethiopians and the Lubim ^(F)an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet ^(G)because you relied on the Lord, He handed them over to you. ⁹ For ^(H)the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those ^(I)whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will have wars.” ¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in ^[g]prison, for he was enraged at him for this. And Asa mistreated some of the people at the same time.

^11 (J)Now, the acts of Asa from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he ^(K)did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. ¹³ So Asa ^[h]lay down with his fathers, and died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ They buried him in his own tomb which he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him in the resting place which he had filled ^(L)with spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers’ art; and ^(M)they made a very great fire for him.

Is There a Resurrection?

^27 (A)Now some of the ^(B)Sadducees (who maintain that there is no resurrection) came to Him, ²⁸ and they questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(C)if ^[a]a man’s brother dies, ^[b]leaving a wife, and he is childless, that his brother is to ^[c]marry the wife and raise up children ^[d]for his brother. ²⁹ So then, there were seven brothers; and the first took a wife and died childless; ³⁰ and the second ³¹ and the third ^[e]married her; and in the same way ^[f]all seven ^[g]died, leaving no children. ³² Finally the woman also died. ³³ Therefore, in the resurrection, ^[h]which one’s wife does the woman become? For ^[i]all seven ^[j]married her.”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, “The sons of ^(D)this age marry and the women are given in marriage, ³⁵ but those who are considered worthy to attain to ^(E)that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; ³⁶ for they cannot even die anymore, for they are like angels, and are ^(F)sons of God, being ^[k]sons of the resurrection. ³⁷ But as for the fact that the dead are raised, even Moses revealed this in ^(G)the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord ^(H)the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ^38 (I)Now He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for ^(J)all live to Him.” ³⁹ Some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” ⁴⁰ For ^(K)they did not have the courage to question Him any longer about anything.

^41 (L)But He said to them, “How is it that they say the ^[l]Christ is ^(M)David’s son? ⁴² For David himself says in the book of Psalms,

⁴⁴ Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ and so how is He his son?”

^45 (P)And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware of the scribes, ^(Q)who like to walk around in long robes, and love personal greetings in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, ⁴⁷ who ^[m]devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive all the more condemnation.”

The Widow’s Gift

21 ^(R)Now He looked up and saw the wealthy putting their gifts into the temple treasury. ² And He saw a poor widow putting ^[n]in ^(S)two ^[o]lepta coins. ³ And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; ⁴ for they all ^[p]contributed to the ^[q]offering from their ^[r]surplus; but she, from her poverty, put in all ^[s]that she had ^(T)to live on.”