15 The spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded.^{(A) 2} He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.^{(B) 3} For a long time Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law,^{(C) 4} but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.^{(D) 5} In those times it was not safe for anyone to go or come, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.^{(E) 6} They were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress.^{(F) 7} But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”^(G)

⁸ When Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded,^[a] he took courage and put away the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.^{[b](H) 9} He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing as aliens with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.^{(I) 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, from the spoil that they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.^{(J) 12} They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their soul,^{(K) 13} and whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.^{(L) 14} They took an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. ¹⁵ 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, and the Lord gave them rest all around.^(M)

¹⁶ King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the Wadi Kidron.^{(N) 17} But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was true all his days. ¹⁸ He brought into the house of God the votive gifts of his father and his own votive gifts: silver, gold, and utensils. ¹⁹ And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

5 For we know that, if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.^{(A) 2} For in this tent we groan, longing to be further clothed with our heavenly dwelling, ³ for surely when we have been clothed in it^[a] we will not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are in this tent, we groan under our burden because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.^{(B) 5} The one who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a down payment.^(C)

⁶ So we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— ⁷ for we walk by faith, not by sight.^{(D) 8} Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. ¹⁰ For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive due recompense for actions done in the body, whether good or evil.^(E)

The Ministry of Reconciliation

¹¹ Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences.^{(F) 12} We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.^{(G) 13} For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.^{(H) 14} For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.^{(I) 15} And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;^[b] even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,^[c] we no longer know him in that way.^{(J) 17} So if anyone is in Christ, there^[d] is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!^{[e](K) 18} All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;^{(L) 19} that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,^[f] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.^{(M) 20} So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God.^{(N) 21} For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^(O)

Alliance with Aram Condemned

16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, King Baasha of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah to prevent anyone from going out or coming into the territory of^[a] King Asa of Judah.^{(A) 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 King Ben-hadad of Aram, who resided in Damascus, saying, ³ “Let there be an alliance between me and you, like that between my father and your father; I am sending to you silver and gold; go, break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he may withdraw from me.” ⁴ Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.^{(B) 5} When Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. 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 them he built up Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ At that time the seer Hanani came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped you.^{(C) 8} Were not the Cushites and the Libyans a huge army with exceedingly many chariots and cavalry? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand.^{(D) 9} For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the entire earth to strengthen those whose heart is true to him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”^{(E) 10} Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks, in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties on some of the people at the same time.

Asa’s Disease and Death

¹¹ The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.^{(F) 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.^{(G) 13} Then Asa slept with his ancestors, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.^{(H) 14} They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.^(I)

The Question about the Resurrection

²⁷ Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him^{(A) 28} and asked him a question: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man^[a] shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.^{(B) 29} Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; ³⁰ then the second^{[b] 31} and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. ³² Finally the woman also died. ³³ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, ³⁵ but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.^{(C) 37} And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.^{(D) 38} Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”^{(E) 39} Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” ⁴⁰ For they no longer dared to ask him another question.^(F)

The Question about David’s Son

⁴¹ Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah^[c] is David’s son? ⁴² For David himself says in the book of Psalms,

⁴⁴ “David thus calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?”

Jesus Denounces the Scribes

⁴⁵ In the hearing of all the people he said to the disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and who love respectful greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets.^{(H) 47} They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Offering

21 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury;^{(I) 2} he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.^{(J) 3} He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, ⁴ for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”