Series of Kings: Azariah (Uzziah) over Judah

15 ^(A)In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king. ² He was ^(B)sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was ^[a]Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ³ He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ Only ^(C)the high places were not eliminated; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ^5 (D)And the Lord afflicted the king, so that he had leprosy to the day of his death. And he ^(E)lived in a separate house, ^[b]while Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the household, judging the people of the land. ⁶ Now as for the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁷ And Azariah ^[c]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Jotham became king in his place.

Zechariah over Israel

^8 (F)In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months. ⁹ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his fathers had done; he did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel. ¹⁰ Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and ^(G)struck him in the presence of the people and ^[d]killed him, and reigned in his place. ¹¹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹² This is ^(H)the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” And so it was.

¹³ Shallum the son of Jabesh became king in the ^(I)thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned for ^[e]one month in ^(J)Samaria. ¹⁴ Then Menahem the son of Gadi went up from ^(K)Tirzah and came to Samaria, and struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him and became king in his place. ¹⁵ Now as for the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he formed, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁶ Then Menahem attacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah, because they did not open up to him; so he attacked it and ripped up ^(L)all its women who were pregnant.

Menahem over Israel

¹⁷ In the ^(M)thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi became king over Israel and reigned for ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; for all his days he did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel.

^19 (N)Pul, the king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a ^[f]thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to ^(O)strengthen the ^[g]kingdom ^[h]under his rule. ²⁰ Then Menahem collected the money from Israel, from all the ^[i]mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not stay there in the land. ²¹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²² And Menahem ^[j]lay down with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah became king in his place.

Pekahiah over Israel

²³ In ^(P)the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned for two years. ²⁴ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel. ²⁵ Then Pekah the son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in ^(Q)the castle of the king’s house with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites, and he killed him and became king in his place. ²⁶ Now as for the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and everything that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Pekah over Israel

²⁷ In ^(R)the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, ^(S)Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for twenty years. ²⁸ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel.

²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, ^[k](T)Tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and ^(U)he led ^[l]their populations into exile to Assyria. ³⁰ And Hoshea the son of Elah formed a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him and put him to death, and he became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. ³¹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Jotham over Judah

³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of ^[m]Uzziah king of Judah became king. ^33 (V)He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. ^34 (W)He did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he acted in accordance with everything that his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ Only ^(X)the high places were not eliminated; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ^(Y)He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord. ³⁶ Now as for the rest of the acts of Jotham which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days ^(Z)the Lord began to send Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ And Jotham ^[n]lay down with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David; and his son Ahaz became king in his place.

Ahaz Reigns over Judah

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, ^(AA)Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. ^2 (AB)Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. ³ But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, ^(AC)and he even made his son pass through the fire, ^(AD)in accordance with the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had ^[o]driven out before the sons of Israel. ⁴ And he ^(AE)sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ Then ^(AF)Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem for war; and they besieged Ahaz, ^(AG)but ^[p]were not capable of fighting him. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Aram restored ^(AH)Elath to Aram, and drove the Judeans away from ^[q]Elath; and the ^[r]Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day.

Ahaz Seeks Help of Assyria

^7 (AI)So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(AJ)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and save me from the ^[s]hand of the king of Aram, and from the ^[t]hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” ⁸ And ^(AK)Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a gift to the king of Assyria. ^9 (AL)So the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and ^(AM)captured it, and led the people of it into exile to ^(AN)Kir, and put Rezin to death.

Damascus Falls

¹⁰ Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet ^(AO)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to ^(AP)Urijah the priest the ^[u]pattern of the altar and its model, according to all its workmanship. ¹¹ So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to everything that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, in that way Urijah the priest made it, ^[v]before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. ¹² And when the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar; then ^(AQ)the king approached the altar and ^[w]went up to it, ¹³ and ^[x]burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured out his ^[y]drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ And ^(AR)the bronze altar, which was before the Lord, ^[z]he brought from the front of the house, from between ^(AS)his altar and the house of the Lord, and he put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “Upon the great altar ^[aa]burn ^(AT)the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their meal offering, and their ^[ab]drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But ^(AU)the bronze altar shall be for me, for making inquiries.” ¹⁶ So Urijah the priest acted in accordance with everything that King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz ^(AV)cut off the borders of the stands, and removed the wash basin from them; he also ^(AW)took down the ^[ac]Sea from the bronze oxen which were under it and put it on a pavement of stone. ¹⁸ And the covered way for the Sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entry of the king, he removed from the house of the Lord because of the king of Assyria.

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

¹⁹ Now as for the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written ^(AX)in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰ So ^(AY)Ahaz ^[ad]lay down with his fathers, and ^(AZ)was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

The Triumphal Entry

21 ^(A)When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at ^(B)the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to Me. ³ And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them on immediately.” ⁴ Now ^(C)this ^[a]took place so that what was spoken through ^[b]the prophet would be fulfilled:

⁶ The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, ⁷ and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on them; and He sat on ^[c]the cloaks. ⁸ Most of the crowd ^(E)spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. ⁹ Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,

¹⁰ When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds were saying, “This is ^(I)Jesus the prophet, from ^(J)Nazareth in Galilee.”

Cleansing the Temple

^12 (K)And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the ^(L)money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^(M)doves. ¹³ And He *said to them, “It is written: ‘^(N)My house will be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a ^(O)den of robbers.”

¹⁴ And those who were blind and those who limped came to Him in the temple area, and ^(P)He healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple area, “^[f]Hosanna to the ^(Q)Son of David,” they became indignant, ¹⁶ and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘^(R)From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” ¹⁷ And He left them and went out of the city to ^(S)Bethany, and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

^18 (T)Now in the early morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a lone ^(U)fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰ Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and ^[g]asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” ²¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, ^(V)if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. ²² And ^(W)whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all.”

Authority Challenged

^23 (X)When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ^(Y)while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” ²⁴ But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you one ^[h]question, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the ^[i]people; for they all regard John as ^(Z)a prophet.” ²⁷ And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two ^[j]sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘^[k]Son, go work today in the ^(AA)vineyard.’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that ^(AB)the tax collectors and prostitutes ^[l]will get into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but ^(AC)the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even ^[m]have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Landowner

³³ “Listen to another parable. ^(AD)There was a ^[n]landowner who ^(AE)planted a ^(AF)vineyard and put a ^[o]fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to ^[p]vine-growers and ^(AG)went on a journey. ³⁴ And when the ^[q]harvest time approached, he ^(AH)sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. ³⁵ And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he ^(AI)sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. ³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the ^[r]owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and ^(AJ)lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

⁴² Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

⁴³ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a ^[t]people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴ And ^(AL)the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they sought to arrest Him, they ^(AM)feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a ^(AN)prophet.