¹⁷ So when Jesus arrived, He found that he [Lazarus] had already been in the tomb four days.

¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away,

¹⁹ And a considerable number of the Jews had gone out to see Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.

²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, while Mary remained sitting in the house.

²¹ Martha then said to Jesus, Master, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

²² And even now I know that whatever You ask from God, He will grant it to You.

²³ Jesus said to her, Your brother shall rise again.

²⁴ Martha replied, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

²⁵ Jesus said to her, I am [Myself] the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on) Me, although he may die, yet he shall live;

²⁶ And whoever continues to live and believes in (has faith in, cleaves to, and relies on) Me shall never [actually] die at all. Do you believe this?

²⁷ She said to Him, Yes, Lord, I have believed [I do believe] that You are the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), the Son of God, [even He] Who was to come into the world. [It is for Your coming that the world has waited.]

²⁸ After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, privately whispering to her, The Teacher is close at hand and is asking for you.

²⁹ When she heard this, she sprang up quickly and went to Him.

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the same spot where Martha had met Him.

³¹ When the Jews who were sitting with her in the house and consoling her saw how hastily Mary had arisen and gone out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to pour out her grief there.

³² When Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she dropped down at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

³³ When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who came with her [also] sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. [He chafed in spirit and sighed and was disturbed.]

³⁴ And He said, Where have you laid him? They said to Him, Lord, come and see.

³⁵ Jesus wept.

³⁶ The Jews said, See how [tenderly] He loved him!

³⁷ But some of them said, Could not He Who opened a blind man’s eyes have prevented this man from dying?

³⁸ Now Jesus, again sighing repeatedly and deeply disquieted, approached the tomb. It was a cave (a hole in the rock), and a boulder lay against [the entrance to close] it.

³⁹ Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, exclaimed, But Lord, by this time he [is decaying and] throws off an offensive odor, for he has been dead four days!

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you and ^[a]promise you that if you would believe and rely on Me, you would see the glory of God?

⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

⁴² Yes, I know You always hear and listen to Me, but I have said this on account of and for the benefit of the people standing around, so that they may believe that You did send Me [that You have made Me Your Messenger].

⁴³ When He had said this, He shouted with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!

⁴⁴ And out walked the man who had been dead, his hands and feet wrapped in burial cloths (linen strips), and with a [burial] napkin bound around his face. Jesus said to them, Free him of the burial wrappings and let him go.

⁴⁵ Upon seeing what Jesus had done, many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Him. [They trusted in Him and adhered to Him and relied on Him.]

⁴⁶ But some of them went back to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the council (the Sanhedrin) and said, What are we to do? For this Man performs many signs (evidences, miracles).

⁴⁸ If we let Him alone to go on like this, everyone will believe in Him and adhere to Him, and the Romans will come and suppress and destroy and take away our [holy] place and our nation [^[b]our temple and city and our civil organization].

⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, declared, You know nothing at all!

⁵⁰ Nor do you understand or reason out that it is expedient and better for your own welfare that one man should die on behalf of the people than that the whole nation should perish (be destroyed, ruined).

⁵¹ Now he did not say this simply of his own accord [he was not self-moved]; but being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was to die for the nation,^(A)

⁵² And not only for the nation but also for the purpose of uniting into one body the children of God who have been scattered far and wide.^(B)

⁵³ So from that day on they took counsel and plotted together how they might put Him to death.

⁵⁴ For that reason Jesus no longer appeared publicly among the Jews, but left there and retired to the district that borders on the wilderness (the desert), to a village called Ephraim, and there He stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Jewish Passover was at hand, and many from the country went up to Jerusalem in order that they might purify and consecrate themselves before the Passover.

⁵⁶ So they kept looking for Jesus and questioned among themselves as they were standing about in the temple [^[c]area], What do you think? Will He not come to the Feast at all?

⁵⁷ Now the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it to them, so that they might arrest Him.

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13 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.

² He did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin, and did not depart from them.

³ The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and of Ben-hadad son of Hazael continually.

⁴ But Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened to him, for He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria burdened them.

⁵ Then the Lord gave Israel a savior [one to rescue and give them peace], so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians; and the Israelites dwelt in their tents or homes as before.

⁶ Yet they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin; but the nation walked in them. And the Asherah [symbol of the goddess Asherah] remained in Samaria.

⁷ [Ben-hadad] of Syria did not leave to Jehoahaz of [Israel] an army of more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 footmen, for the Syrian king had destroyed them and made them like dust to be trampled.

⁸ The rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, all that he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

⁹ Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. ^[a]Jehoash his son reigned in his stead.

¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.

¹¹ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; he walked in them.

¹² The rest of the acts of Jehoash, all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

¹³ Jehoash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam [II] sat on his throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁴ Now Elisha [previously] had become ill of the illness of which he died. And Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen of it!^(A)

¹⁵ And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows. And he took bow and arrows.

¹⁶ And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it, and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands.

¹⁷ And he said, Open the window to the east. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria. For you shall smite the Syrians in Aphek till you have destroyed them.

¹⁸ Then he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike on the ground. And he struck three times and stopped.

¹⁹ And the man of God was angry with him and said, You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had destroyed it. But now you shall strike Syria down only three times.

²⁰ Elisha died, and they buried him. Bands of the Moabites invaded the land in the spring of the next year.

²¹ As a man was being buried [on an open bier], such a band was seen coming; and the man was cast into Elisha’s grave. And when the man being let down touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

²² Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

²³ But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned toward them because of ^[b]His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence yet.^(B)

²⁴ Hazael king of Syria died; Ben-hadad his son reigned in his stead.

²⁵ Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recovered from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and recovered the cities of Israel.^(C)

14 In the second year of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah reigned.

² He was twenty-five years old when he began his twenty-nine-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.

³ He did right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his [forefather]. He did all things as Joash his father did.

⁴ But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁵ As soon as the kingdom was established in Amaziah’s hand, he slew his servants who had slain the king his father.^(D)

⁶ But he did not slay the children of the murderers, in compliance with what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin only.

⁷ Amaziah slew of Edom in the Valley of Salt 10,000, and took Sela (Greek petra [rock]) by war, and called it Joktheel, which is the name of it to this day.

⁸ Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face and test each other.

⁹ Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah, The thistle in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as wife. And a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle [leaving the cedar unharmed].

¹⁰ You have indeed smitten Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glory in that, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your hurt and provoke calamity, causing you to fall, you and Judah with you?

¹¹ But Amaziah would not hear. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah measured swords at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

¹² But Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled home.

¹³ And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, 400 cubits.

¹⁴ He seized all the gold and silver and all the vessels found in the Lord’s house and in the treasuries of the king’s house, also hostages, and returned to Samaria.

¹⁵ The rest of the acts of Jehoash, his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of Israel’s Kings?

¹⁶ Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with Israel’s kings. Jeroboam [II] reigned in his stead.

¹⁷ Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.

¹⁸ The rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

¹⁹ Now a conspiracy was made against him in Jerusalem, and Amaziah fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and slew him there.

²⁰ They brought him on horses and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David.

²¹ And all the people of Judah took Azariah, sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.

²² He built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king [his father] died.

²³ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam [II] son of Jehoash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years.

²⁴ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam [I] son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.

²⁵ Jeroboam restored Israel’s border from the entrance of Hamath to the [Dead] Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.

²⁶ For the Lord saw as very bitter the affliction of Israel; there was no one left, bond or free, nor any helper for Israel.

²⁷ But the Lord had not said that He would blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens, so He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam [II] son of Jehoash.

²⁸ The rest of the acts of Jeroboam [II], all that he did, his might, how he warred, and how he recovered for Israel Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

²⁹ Jeroboam [II] slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel. Zechariah his son reigned in his stead.

15 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam [II] king of Israel, Azariah (Uzziah) son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign.

² He was sixteen years old when he began his fifty-two-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

³ He did right in the Lord’s sight, in keeping with all his father Amaziah had done—

⁴ Except the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burned incense still on the high places.

⁵ And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper to his dying day, and dwelt in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was over the household, judging the people of the land.^(E)

⁶ The rest of Azariah’s acts, all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

⁷ Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with them in the City of David. Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah Zechariah son of Jeroboam [II] reigned over Israel in Samaria six months.

⁹ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam [I] son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.

¹⁰ Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah and struck and killed him before the people and reigned in his stead.

¹¹ The rest of the acts of Zechariah, see, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

¹² This was the fulfillment of the promise to Jehu from the Lord: Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. And so it came to pass.^(F)

¹³ Shallum son of Jabesh, in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, began his reign of a full month in Samaria.

¹⁴ For Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and smote and killed Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and reigned in his stead.

¹⁵ The rest of Shallum’s acts, his conspiracy, see, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

¹⁶ Then Menahem smote Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on; he attacked it because they did not open to him. And all ^[c]the women there who were with child he ripped up.

¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi began his ten-year reign over Israel in Samaria.

¹⁸ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin.

¹⁹ There came against the land Pul king of Assyria, and Menahem gave Pul 1,000 talents of silver, that he might help him to confirm his kingship.

²⁰ Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all the men of wealth, 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 in the land.

²¹ The rest of Menahem’s acts, all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

²² Menahem slept with his fathers; Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead.

²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem began his two-year reign over Israel in Samaria.

²⁴ He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam [I] son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.

²⁵ But Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against [Pekahiah] and attacked him in Samaria, in the citadel of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh; [for] with [Pekah] were fifty Gileadites. And he killed him and reigned in his stead.

²⁶ The rest of the acts of Pekahiah, all he did, see, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah began his twenty-year reign over Israel in Samaria.

²⁸ He did evil in the Lord’s sight; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam [I] son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.

²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried the people captive to Assyria.

³⁰ Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah [of Israel]; he smote and killed him, and reigned in his stead in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah.

³¹ The rest of Pekah’s acts, all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of Israel’s Kings.

³² In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah became king.

³³ When he was twenty-five years old, he began his reign of sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.

³⁴ He did right in the Lord’s sight, according to all his father Uzziah had done.

³⁵ Yet the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burned incense still on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord.

³⁶ The rest of the acts of Jotham, all he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of Judah’s Kings?

³⁷ In those days the Lord began sending Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.

³⁸ Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried [with them] in the city of David his [forefather]. Ahaz his son succeeded him.