21 Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram^(A) his son succeeded him as king. ² Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.^{[a] 3} Their father had given them many gifts^(B) of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities^(C) in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.

Jehoram King of Judah^(D)

⁴ When Jehoram established^(E) himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers^(F) to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel. ⁵ Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. ⁶ He followed the ways of the kings of Israel,^(G) as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab.^(H) He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. ⁷ Nevertheless, because of the covenant the Lord had made with David,^(I) the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David.^(J) He had promised to maintain a lamp^(K) for him and his descendants forever.

⁸ In the time of Jehoram, Edom^(L) rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. ⁹ So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night. ¹⁰ To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah.

Libnah^(M) revolted at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord, the God of his ancestors. ¹¹ He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

¹² Jehoram received a letter from Elijah^(N) the prophet, which said:

¹⁶ The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs^(T) who lived near the Cushites. ¹⁷ They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah,^[b] the youngest.^(U)

¹⁸ After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. ¹⁹ In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no funeral fire in his honor,^(V) as they had for his predecessors.

²⁰ Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried^(W) in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Ahaziah King of Judah^(X)(Y)

22 The people^(Z) of Jerusalem^(AA) made Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, king in his place, since the raiders,^(AB) who came with the Arabs into the camp, had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.

² Ahaziah was twenty-two^[c] years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.

³ He too followed^(AC) the ways of the house of Ahab,^(AD) for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly. ⁴ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father’s death they became his advisers, to his undoing. ⁵ He also followed their counsel when he went with Joram^[d] son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead.^(AE) The Arameans wounded Joram; ⁶ so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramoth^[e] in his battle with Hazael^(AF) king of Aram.

Then Ahaziah^[f] son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab because he had been wounded.

⁷ Through Ahaziah’s^(AG) visit to Joram, God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. ⁸ While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab,^(AH) he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives, who had been attending Ahaziah, and he killed them. ⁹ He then went in search of Ahaziah, and his men captured him while he was hiding^(AI) in Samaria. He was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, “He was a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought^(AJ) the Lord with all his heart.” So there was no one in the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to retain the kingdom.

Athaliah and Joash^(AK)

¹⁰ When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. ¹¹ But Jehosheba,^[g] the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba,^[h] the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. ¹² He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

Psalm 83^[a]

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

In Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue^(A) with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news^(B) about Jesus and the resurrection.^{(C) 19} Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus,^(D) where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching^(E) is that you are presenting? ²⁰ You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” ²¹ (All the Athenians^(F) and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus^(G) and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.^{(H) 23} For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship^(I)—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it^(J) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(K) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^{(L) 25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^{(M) 26} From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.^{(N) 27} God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^{(O) 28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](P) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.^{(Q) 30} In the past God overlooked^(R) such ignorance,^(S) but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.^{(T) 31} For he has set a day when he will judge^(U) the world with justice^(V) by the man he has appointed.^(W) He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”^(X)

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead,^(Y) some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus,^(Z) also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.