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.

Our Heavenly Dwelling

5 For we know that if ^(A)the tent that is ^(B)our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, ^(C)a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For in this tent ^(D)we groan, longing to ^(E)put on our heavenly dwelling, ³ if indeed by putting it on^[a] we may not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal ^(F)may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, ^(G)who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

⁶ So we are always of good courage. We know that ^(H)while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, ⁷ for ^(I)we walk by faith, not ^(J)by sight. ⁸ Yes, we are of good courage, and we ^(K)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 ^(L)please him. ¹⁰ For ^(M)we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, ^(N)so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

¹¹ Therefore, knowing ^(O)the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But ^(P)what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. ^12 (Q)We are not commending ourselves to you again but ^(R)giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. ¹³ For if we ^(S)are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For the love of Christ ^(T)controls us, because we have concluded this: that ^(U)one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵ and he died for all, ^(V)that those who live might no longer live for themselves but ^(W)for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, ^(X)we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is ^(Y)in Christ, he is ^(Z)a new creation.^{[b] (AA)}The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, ^(AB)who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us ^(AC)the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling^[c] the world to himself, ^(AD)not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us ^(AE)the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, ^(AF)we are ambassadors for Christ, ^(AG)God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ^21 (AH)For our sake he made him to be sin ^(AI)who knew no sin, so that in him we might become ^(AJ)the righteousness of God.

Asa's Last Years

16 ^(A)In the ^(B)thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, ^(C)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^[a] 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 ^(D)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 ^(E)Hanani ^(F)the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, ^(G)“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 ^(H)the Ethiopians and ^(I)the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet ^(J)because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. ^9 (K)For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those ^(L)whose heart is blameless^[b] toward him. ^(M)You have done foolishly in this, for from now on ^(N)you will have wars.” ¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him ^(O)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 (P)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 ^(Q)that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, ^(R)and they made a very great fire in his honor.

Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

²⁷ There came to him ^(A)some Sadducees, ^(B)those who deny that there is a resurrection, ²⁸ and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us ^(C)that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man^[a] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. ³⁰ And the second ³¹ and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. ³² Afterward the woman also died. ³³ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

³⁴ And Jesus said to them, ^(D)“The sons of this age ^(E)marry and ^(F)are given in marriage, ³⁵ but those who are ^(G)considered worthy to attain to ^(H)that age and to the resurrection from the dead ^(I)neither marry ^(J)nor are given in marriage, ³⁶ for ^(K)they cannot die anymore, because they are ^(L)equal to angels and ^(M)are ^(N)sons of God, being ^(O)sons^[b] of the resurrection. ³⁷ But that the dead are raised, ^(P)even Moses showed, in ^(Q)the passage about the bush, where he calls ^(R)the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. ³⁸ Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all ^(S)live to him.” ³⁹ Then some of the scribes ^(T)answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” ⁴⁰ For ^(U)they no longer dared to ask him any question.

Whose Son Is the Christ?

^41 (V)But he said to them, “How can they say that ^(W)the Christ is ^(X)David's son? ⁴² For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,

⁴⁴ David thus calls him Lord, so ^(AA)how is he his son?”

Beware of the Scribes

^45 (AB)And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and ^(AC)the places of honor at feasts, ^47 (AD)who devour widows' houses and ^(AE)for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The Widow's Offering

21 ^(AF)Jesus^[c] looked up and saw the rich ^(AG)putting their gifts into ^(AH)the offering box, ² and he saw a poor widow put in two ^(AI)small copper coins.^{[d] 3} And he said, “Truly, I tell you, ^(AJ)this poor widow has put in more than all of them. ⁴ For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her ^(AK)poverty put in all ^(AL)she had to live on.”