Menahem Reigns over Israel

¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of King Azariah of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi began to reign over Israel; he reigned ten years in Samaria.^{(A) 18} He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. ¹⁹ King Pul of Assyria came against the land; Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, so that he might help him confirm his hold on the royal power.^{(B) 20} Menahem exacted the silver from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy, fifty shekels of silver from each one, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land. ²¹ Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ²² Menahem slept with his ancestors, and his son Pekahiah succeeded him.

Pekahiah Reigns over Israel

²³ In the fiftieth year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned two years.^{(C) 24} He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. ²⁵ Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty of the Gileadites and attacked him in Samaria, in the citadel of the palace along with Argob and Arieh; he killed him and reigned in place of him.^{(D) 26} Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and all that he did are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

Pekah Reigns over Israel

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned twenty years.^{(E) 28} He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin.

²⁹ In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.^{(F) 30} Then Hoshea son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, attacked him, and killed him; he reigned in place of him, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah. ³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

Jotham Reigns over Judah

³² In the second year of King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel, King Jotham son of Uzziah of Judah began to reign.^{(G) 33} He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done.^{(H) 35} Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord.^{(I) 36} Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days the Lord began to send King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.^{(J) 38} Jotham slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, his ancestor; his son Ahaz succeeded him.

4 My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than those who are enslaved, though they are the owners of all the property, ² but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. ³ So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental principles^[a] of the world.^{(A) 4} But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,^{(B) 5} in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.^{(C) 6} And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our^[b] hearts, crying, “Abba!^[c] Father!”^{(D) 7} So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir through God.^[d]

Paul Reproves the Galatians

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods.^{(E) 9} Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental principles?^[e] How can you want to be enslaved to them again?^{(F) 10} You are observing special days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹ I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted.

¹² Brothers and sisters, I beg you: become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. ¹³ You know that it was because of a physical infirmity that I first announced the gospel to you; ¹⁴ though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ What has become of the goodwill you felt? For I testify that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶ Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? ¹⁷ They make much of you but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them. ¹⁸ It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times and not only when I am present with you. ¹⁹ My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,^{(G) 20} I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah

²¹ Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by an enslaved woman and the other by a free woman.^{(H) 23} One, the child of the enslaved woman, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise.^{(I) 24} Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. ²⁵ Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia^[f] and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶ But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother.^{(J) 27} For it is written,

²⁸ Now you,^[g] my brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, like Isaac. ²⁹ But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.^{(L) 30} But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the enslaved woman and her child, for the child of the enslaved woman will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.”^{(M) 31} So then, brothers and sisters, we are children, not of an enslaved woman but of the free woman. 5 ¹ For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.^(N)

Ahaz Reigns over Judah

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, King Ahaz son of Jotham of Judah began to reign.^{(A) 2} Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had done, ³ but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even made his son pass through fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel.^{(B) 4} He sacrificed and made offerings on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.^(C)

⁵ Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel came up to wage war on Jerusalem; they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.^{(D) 6} At that time King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Edom^[a] and drove the Judeans from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they live to this day.^{(E) 7} Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”^{(F) 8} Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria.^{(G) 9} The king of Assyria listened to him; the king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir; then he killed Rezin.^(H)

¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. King Ahaz sent to the priest Uriah a model of the altar and its pattern exact in all its details.^{(I) 11} The priest Uriah built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so did the priest Uriah build it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. ¹² When the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar, went up on it, ¹³ and offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured his drink offering, and dashed the blood of his offerings of well-being against the altar. ¹⁴ The bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.^{(J) 15} King Ahaz commanded the priest Uriah, saying, “Upon the great altar offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offering; then dash against it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”^{(K) 16} The priest Uriah did everything that King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the laver from them; he removed the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a pediment of stone.^{(L) 18} The covered portal for use on the Sabbath that had been built inside the palace and the outer entrance for the king he removed from^[b] the house of the Lord. He did this because of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰ Ahaz slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David; his son Hezekiah succeeded him.^(M)

Nicodemus Visits Jesus

3 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus^[a] by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.”^{(A) 3} Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”^{[b](B) 4} Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.^{(C) 6} What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You^[c] must be born from above.’^{[d] 8} The wind^[e] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”^{(D) 9} Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”^{(E) 10} Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

¹¹ “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you^[f] do not receive our testimony.^{(F) 12} If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.^{[g](G) 14} And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,^{(H) 15} that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.^[h](I)

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.^(J)

¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.^{(K) 18} Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.^{(L) 19} And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.^{(M) 20} For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.^{(N) 21} But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”^[i](O)