14 In the second year of Joas son of Joachaz, king of Israel, reigned Amasias son of Joas king of Juda.

² He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and nine and twenty years he reigned in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Joadan of Jerusalem.

³ And he did that which was right before the Lord, but yet not like David his father. He did according to all things that Joas his father did:

⁴ But this only, that he took not away the high places: for yet the people sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

⁵ And when he had possession of the kingdom, he put his servants to death that had slain the king his father:

⁶ But the children of the murderers he did not put to death, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: but every man shall die for his own sins.

⁷ He slew of Edom in the valley of the Saltpits ten thousand men, and took the rock by war, and called the name thereof Jectehel, unto this day.

⁸ Then Amasias sent messengers to Joas son of Joachaz, son of Jehu king of Israel, saying: Come let us see one another.

⁹ And Joas king of Israel sent again to Amasias king of Juda, saying: A thistle of Libanus sent to a cedar tree, which is in Libanus, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And the beasts of the forest, that are in Libanus, passed and trod down the thistle.

¹⁰ Thou hast beaten and prevailed over Edom, and thy heart hath lifted thee up: be content with the glory, and sit at home: why provokest thou evil, that thou shouldst fall, and Juda with thee?

¹¹ But Amasias did not rest satisfied. So Joas king of Israel went up, and he and Amasias king of Juda saw one another in Bethsames a town in Juda.

¹² And Juda was put to the worst before Israel, and they fled every man to their dwellings.

¹³ But Joas king of Israel took Amasias, king of Juda the son of Joas, the son of Ochozias, in Bethsames, and brought him into Jerusalem: and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim to the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits.

¹⁴ And he took all the gold, and silver, and all the vessels, that were found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

¹⁵ But the rest of the acts of Joas, which he did, and his valour, wherewith he fought against Amasias king of Juda, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

¹⁶ And Joas slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, with the kings of Israel: and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.

¹⁷ And Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda lived, after the death of Joas son of Joachaz king of Israel fifteen years.

¹⁸ And the rest of the acts of Amasias, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

¹⁹ Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachis. And they sent after him to Lachis, and killed him there.

²⁰ And they brought him away upon horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

²¹ And all the people of Juda took Azarias, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amasias.

²² He built Elath, and restored it to Juda, after that the king slept with his fathers.

²³ In the fifteenth year of Amasias son of Joas king of Juda, reigned Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel in Samaria, one and forty years:

²⁴ And he did that which was evil before the Lord. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.

²⁵ He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Emath, unto the sea of the wilderness, according to the word of the Lord the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonas the son of Amathi, the prophet, who was of Geth, which is in Opher.

²⁶ For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was exceeding bitter, and that they were consumed even to them that were shut up in prison, and the lowest persons, and that there was no one to help Israel.

²⁷ And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joas.

²⁸ But the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his velour, wherewith he fought, and how he restored Damascus, and Emath to Juda in Israel, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

²⁹ And Jeroboam slept with his fathers the kings of Israel, and Zacharias his son reigned in his stead.

3 For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem:

² I will gather together all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat: and I will plead with them there for my people, and for my inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have parted my land.

³ And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might drink.

⁴ But what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coast of the Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on me? and if you revenge yourselves on me, I will very soon return you a recompense upon your own head.

⁵ For you have taken away my silver and my gold: and my desirable and most beautiful things you have carried into your temples.

⁶ And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem you have sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off from their own country.

⁷ Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads.

⁸ And I will sell your sons, and your daughters by the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off, for the Lord hath spoken it.

⁹ Proclaim ye this among the nations: prepare war, rouse up the strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up.

¹⁰ Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your spades into spears. Let the weak say: I am strong.

¹¹ Break forth, and come, all ye nations, from round about, and gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all thy strong ones to fall down.

¹² Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.

¹³ Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down, for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is multiplied.

¹⁴ Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction.

¹⁵ The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.

¹⁶ And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

¹⁷ And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall pass through it no more.

¹⁸ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk: and waters shall flow through all the rivers of Juda: and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.

¹⁹ Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilderness destroyed: because they have done unjustly against the children of Juda, and have shed innocent blood in their land.

²⁰ And Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation.

²¹ And I will cleanse their blood which I had not cleansed: and the Lord will dwell in Sion.

3 Be ye not many masters, my brethren, knowing that you receive the greater judgment.

² For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body.

³ For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body.

⁴ Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth.

⁵ Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood.

⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell.

⁷ For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man:

⁸ But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

¹¹ Doth a fountain send forth, out of the same hole, sweet and bitter water?

¹² Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear grapes; or the vine, figs? So neither can the salt water yield sweet.

¹³ Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew, by a good conversation, his work in the meekness of wisdom.

¹⁴ But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your hearts; glory not, and be not liars against the truth.

¹⁵ For this is not wisdom, descending from above: but earthly, sensual, devilish.

¹⁶ For where envying and contention is, there is inconstancy, and every evil work.

¹⁷ But the wisdom, that is from above, first indeed is chaste, then peaceable, modest, easy to be persuaded, consenting to the good, full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, without dissimulation.

¹⁸ And the fruit of justice is sown in peace, to them that make peace.

¹¹ To speak a word in due time, is like apples of gold on beds of silver.

¹² As an earring of gold and a bright pearl, so is he that reproveth the wise, and the obedient ear.

¹³ As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to him that sent him, for he refresheth his soul.

¹⁴ As clouds, and wind, when no rain followeth, so is the man that boasteth, and doth not fulfill his promises.

¹⁵ By patience a prince shall be appeased, and a soft tongue shall break hardness.