Hezekiah Reigns in Judah^(A)

18 Now it came to pass in the third year of ^(B)Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that ^(C)Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^(D)Abi^[a] the daughter of Zechariah. ³ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

^4 (E)He removed the ^[b]high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the ^[c]wooden image and broke in pieces the ^(F)bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it ^[d]Nehushtan. ⁵ He ^(G)trusted in the Lord God of Israel, ^(H)so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. ⁶ For he ^(I)held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁷ The Lord ^(J)was with him; he ^(K)prospered wherever he went. And he ^(L)rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ^8 (M)He ^[e]subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, ^(N)from watchtower to fortified city.

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Redemption in Christ

^3 (A)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as ^(B)He chose us in Him ^(C)before the foundation of the world, that we should ^(D)be holy and without blame before Him in love, ^5 (E)having predestined us to ^(F)adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, ^(G)according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, ^(H)by which He ^[a]made us accepted in ^(I)the Beloved.

^7 (J)In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to ^(K)the riches of His grace ⁸ which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and ^[b]prudence, ^9 (L)having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure ^(M)which He purposed in Himself, ¹⁰ that in the dispensation of ^(N)the fullness of the times ^(O)He might gather together in one ^(P)all things in Christ, ^[c]both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. ^11 (Q)In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to ^(R)the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, ^12 (S)that we ^(T)who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

¹³ In Him you also trusted, after you heard ^(U)the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ^(V)you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, ^14 (W)who^[d] is the ^[e]guarantee of our inheritance ^(X)until the redemption of ^(Y)the purchased possession, ^(Z)to the praise of His glory.

Hezekiah Keeps the Passover

30 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. ² For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second ^(A)month. ³ For they could not keep it ^(B)at ^[a]the regular time, ^(C)because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem. ⁴ And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly. ⁵ So they ^[b]resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.

⁶ Then the ^(D)runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: “Children of Israel, ^(E)return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of ^(F)the kings of ^(G)Assyria. ⁷ And do not be ^(H)like your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, so that He ^(I)gave them up to ^(J)desolation, as you see. ⁸ Now do not be ^(K)stiff-necked,^[c] as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, ^(L)that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. ⁹ For if you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children will be treated with ^(M)compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the Lord your God is ^(N)gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you ^(O)return to Him.”

¹⁰ So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun; but ^(P)they laughed at them and mocked them. ¹¹ Nevertheless ^(Q)some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹² Also ^(R)the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, ^(S)at the word of the Lord.

¹³ Now many people, a very great assembly, gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of ^(T)Unleavened Bread in the second month. ¹⁴ They arose and took away the ^(U)altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook ^(V)Kidron. ¹⁵ Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites ^[d]were ^(W)ashamed, and ^[e]sanctified themselves, and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the Lord. ¹⁶ They stood in their ^(X)place ^[f]according to their custom, according to the Law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many in the assembly who had not ^[g]sanctified themselves; ^(Y)therefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the Lord. ¹⁸ For a multitude of the people, ^(Z)many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, ^(AA)yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone ¹⁹ who ^(AB)prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.” ²⁰ And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

²¹ So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept ^(AC)the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing to the Lord, accompanied by loud instruments. ²² And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites ^(AD)who taught the good knowledge of the Lord; and they ate throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and ^(AE)making confession to the Lord God of their fathers.

²³ Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast ^(AF)another seven days, and they kept it another seven days with gladness. ²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah ^(AG)gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the leaders gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests ^(AH)sanctified^[h] themselves. ²⁵ The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, also the priests and Levites, all the assembly that came from Israel, the sojourners ^(AI)who came from the land of Israel, and those who dwelt in Judah. ²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of ^(AJ)Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. ²⁷ Then the priests, the Levites, arose and ^(AK)blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to ^(AL)His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

The Whitened Harvest

²⁷ And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸ The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ²⁹ “Come, see a Man ^(A)who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” ³⁰ Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

³¹ In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

³² But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

³³ Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, ^(B)“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to ^(C)finish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes ^(D)the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, ^(E)for they are already white for harvest! ^36 (F)And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that ^(G)both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this the saying is true: ^(H)‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; ^(I)others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

The Savior of the World

³⁹ And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him ^(J)because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of His own ^(K)word.

⁴² Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for ^(L)we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed ^[a]the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

Welcome at Galilee

⁴³ Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. ⁴⁴ For ^(M)Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵ So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, ^(N)having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; ^(O)for they also had gone to the feast.

A Nobleman’s Son Healed

⁴⁶ So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee ^(P)where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain ^[b]nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to him, ^(Q)“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

⁴⁹ The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. ⁵¹ And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”

⁵² Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.

⁵⁴ This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.