¹³ And ^(A)in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ¹⁴ Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah ^(B)gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave ^[a]it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord^(C)

¹⁷ Then the king of Assyria sent the ^[b]Tartan, the ^[c]Rabsaris, and the ^[d]Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the ^(D)aqueduct from the upper pool, ^(E)which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ¹⁸ And when they had called to the king, ^(F)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the ^[e]scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them. ¹⁹ Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: ^(G)“What confidence is this in which you trust? ²⁰ You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are ^[f]mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? ^21 (H)Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²² But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He ^(I)whose ^[g]high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ’ ²³ Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them! ²⁴ How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ²⁵ Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”

²⁴ So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, ^(A)“Give God the glory! ^(B)We know that this Man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

²⁶ Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

²⁸ Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. ²⁹ We know that God ^(C)spoke to ^(D)Moses; as for this fellow, ^(E)we do not know where He is from.”

³⁰ The man answered and said to them, ^(F)“Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! ³¹ Now we know that ^(G)God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. ³² Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. ^33 (H)If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

³⁴ They answered and said to him, ^(I)“You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they ^[a]cast him out.

True Vision and True Blindness

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had ^(J)found him, He said to him, “Do you ^(K)believe in ^(L)the Son of ^[b]God?”

³⁶ He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

³⁷ And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and ^(M)it is He who is talking with you.”

³⁸ Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he ^(N)worshiped Him.

³⁹ And Jesus said, ^(O)“For judgment I have come into this world, ^(P)that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

⁴⁰ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, ^(Q)and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, ^(R)“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

The New Jerusalem^(A)

⁹ Then one of ^(B)the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came ^[a]to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you ^(C)the ^[b]bride, the Lamb’s wife.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away ^(D)in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me ^(E)the ^[c]great city, the ^[d]holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, ^11 (F)having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. ¹² Also she had a great and high wall with ^(G)twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: ^13 (H)three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

¹⁴ Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and ^(I)on them were the ^[e]names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ¹⁵ And he who talked with me ^(J)had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. ¹⁶ The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand ^[f]furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. ¹⁷ Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. ¹⁸ The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. ^19 (K)The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve ^(L)pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. ^(M)And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.