Azariah Reigns in Judah^(A)

15 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, ^(B)Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, ^(C)became king. ² He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. ³ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done, ^4 (D)except that the ^[a]high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ⁵ Then the Lord ^(E)struck the king, so that he was a leper until the day of his ^(F)death; so he ^(G)dwelt in an isolated house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the royal house, judging the people of the land.

⁶ Now 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 So Azariah ^[b]rested with his fathers, and ^(H)they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then Jotham his son reigned in his place.

Zechariah Reigns in Israel

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, ^(I)Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. ⁹ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(J)as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. ¹⁰ Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and ^(K)struck and killed him in front of the people; and he reigned in his place.

¹¹ Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹² This was the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu, saying, ^(L)“Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it was.

Shallum Reigns in Israel

¹³ Shallum the son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of ^[c]Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria. ¹⁴ For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from ^(M)Tirzah, came to Samaria, and struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him; and he reigned in his place.

¹⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the conspiracy which he ^[d]led, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ¹⁶ Then from Tirzah, Menahem attacked ^(N)Tiphsah, all who were there, and its territory. Because they did not surrender, therefore he attacked it. All ^(O)the women there who were with child he ripped open.

Menahem Reigns in Israel

¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi became king over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. ^19 (P)Pul^[e] king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his ^[f]hand might be with him to ^(Q)strengthen the kingdom under his control. ²⁰ And Menahem ^(R)exacted^[g] the money from Israel, from all the very wealthy, from each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not stay there in the land.

²¹ Now 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 So Menahem ^[h]rested with his fathers. Then Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.

Pekahiah Reigns in Israel

²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years. ²⁴ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. ²⁵ Then Pekah the son of Remaliah, an officer of his, conspired against him and ^[i]killed him in Samaria, in the ^(S)citadel of the king’s house, along with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of Gilead. He killed him and reigned in his place.

²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Pekah Reigns in Israel

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, ^(T)Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. ²⁸ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. ²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, ^[j]Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria ^(U)came and took ^(V)Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he ^(W)carried them captive to Assyria. ³⁰ Then Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck and killed him; so he ^(X)reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Jotham Reigns in Judah^(Y)

³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, ^(Z)Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^[k]Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he did ^(AA)according to all that his father Uzziah had done. ^35 (AB)However the ^[l]high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ^(AC)He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord.

³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days the Lord began to send ^(AD)Rezin king of Syria and ^(AE)Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ So Jotham ^[m]rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. Then Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Ahaz Reigns in Judah^(AF)

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. ² Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned 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; indeed ^(AG)he made his son pass through the fire, according to the ^(AH)abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. ⁴ And he sacrificed and burned incense on the ^(AI)high places, ^(AJ)on the hills, and under every green tree.

^5 (AK)Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Syria ^(AL)captured ^[n]Elath for Syria, and drove the men of Judah from Elath. Then the ^[o]Edomites went to Elath, and dwell there to this day.

⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(AM)Tiglath-Pileser^[p] king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” ⁸ And Ahaz ^(AN)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 it as a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against ^(AO)Damascus and ^(AP)took it, carried its people captive to ^(AQ)Kir, and killed Rezin.

¹⁰ Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. ¹¹ Then ^(AR)Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus. ¹² And when the king came back from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and ^(AS)the king approached the altar and made offerings on it. ¹³ So he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering; and he poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ He also brought ^(AT)the bronze altar which was before the Lord, from the front of the ^[q]temple—from between the new altar and the house of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great new altar burn ^(AU)the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt sacrifice, and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. And the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶ Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

^17 (AV)And King Ahaz cut off ^(AW)the panels of the carts, and removed the lavers from them; and he took down ^(AX)the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stones. ¹⁸ Also he removed the Sabbath pavilion which they had built in the temple, and he removed the king’s outer entrance from the house of the Lord, on account of the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ So Ahaz rested with his fathers, and ^(AY)was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

^13 (A)Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists ^(B)took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ^[a]“We ^[b]exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul ^(C)preaches.” ¹⁴ Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

¹⁶ Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, ^[c]overpowered them, and prevailed against ^[d]them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and ^(D)fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. ¹⁸ And many who had believed came ^(E)confessing and telling their deeds. ¹⁹ Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. ^20 (F)So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

The Riot at Ephesus

^21 (G)When these things were accomplished, Paul ^(H)purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through ^(I)Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, ^(J)I must also see Rome.” ²² So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, ^(K)Timothy and ^(L)Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.

²³ And ^(M)about that time there arose a great commotion about ^(N)the Way. ²⁴ For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of ^[e]Diana, brought ^(O)no small profit to the craftsmen. ²⁵ He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. ²⁶ Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that ^(P)they are not gods which are made with hands. ²⁷ So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and ^[f]her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸ Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ So the whole city was filled with confusion, and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized ^(Q)Gaius and ^(R)Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s travel companions. ³⁰ And when Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not allow him. ³¹ Then some of the ^[g]officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater. ³² Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³ And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And ^(S)Alexander ^(T)motioned with his hand, and wanted to make his defense to the people. ³⁴ But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for about two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ And when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said: “Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess ^[h]Diana, and of the image which fell down from ^[i]Zeus? ³⁶ Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. ³⁷ For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of ^[j]your goddess. ³⁸ Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a ^[k]case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. ³⁹ But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in the lawful assembly. ⁴⁰ For we are in danger of being ^[l]called in question for today’s uproar, there being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering.” ⁴¹ And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.