Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting^(A)

³³ Then they said to Him, ^(B)“Why^[a] do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”

³⁴ And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the ^(C)bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”

^36 (D)Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one ^[b]puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into new wineskins, ^[c]and both are preserved. ³⁹ And no one, having drunk old wine, ^[d]immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is ^[e]better.’ ”

Timothy Commended

¹⁹ But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send ^(A)Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your ^[a]state. ²⁰ For I have no one ^(B)like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. ²¹ For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. ²² But you know his proven character, ^(C)that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. ²³ Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. ²⁴ But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly.

Epaphroditus Praised

²⁵ Yet I considered it necessary to send to you ^(D)Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and ^(E)fellow soldier, ^(F)but your messenger and ^(G)the one who ministered to my need; ^26 (H)since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷ For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. ²⁹ Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; ³⁰ because for the work of Christ he came close to death, ^[b]not regarding his life, ^(I)to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.

ק QOPH

Jehoash Repairs the Temple^(A)

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, ^(B)Jehoash^[a] became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ² Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days in which ^(C)Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³ But ^(D)the ^[b]high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁴ And Jehoash said to the priests, ^(E)“All the money of the dedicated gifts that are brought into the house of the Lord—each man’s ^(F)census^[c] money, each man’s ^(G)assessment money—and all the money that ^[d]a man ^(H)purposes in his heart to bring into the house of the Lord, ⁵ let the priests take it themselves, each from his constituency; and let them repair the ^[e]damages of the temple, wherever any dilapidation is found.”

⁶ Now it was so, by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, ^(I)that the priests had not repaired the damages of the temple. ^7 (J)So King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damages of the temple? Now therefore, do not take more money from your constituency, but deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple.” ⁸ And the priests agreed that they would neither receive more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the temple.

⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took ^(K)a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the Lord; and the priests who ^[f]kept the door put ^(L)there all the money brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁰ So it was, whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king’s ^(M)scribe^[g] and the high priest came up and ^[h]put it in bags, and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord. ¹¹ Then they gave the money, which had been apportioned, into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they ^[i]paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the Lord, ¹² and to masons and stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone, to ^(N)repair the damage of the house of the Lord, and for all that was paid out to repair the temple. ¹³ However ^(O)there were not made for the house of the Lord basins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling-bowls, trumpets, any articles of gold or articles of silver, from the money brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁴ But they gave that to the workmen, and they repaired the house of the Lord with it. ¹⁵ Moreover ^(P)they did not require an account from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be paid to workmen, for they dealt faithfully. ^16 (Q)The money from the trespass offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord. ^(R)It belonged to the priests.

Hazael Threatens Jerusalem

^17 (S)Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; then ^(T)Hazael set his face to ^[j]go up to Jerusalem. ¹⁸ And Jehoash king of Judah ^(U)took all the sacred things that his fathers, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things, and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and in the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria. Then he went away from Jerusalem.

Death of Joash^(V)

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of ^[k]Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁰ And ^(W)his servants arose and formed a conspiracy, and killed Joash in the house of ^[l]the Millo, which goes down to Silla. ²¹ For ^[m]Jozachar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of ^[n]Shomer, his servants, struck him. So he died, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then ^(X)Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Jehoahaz Reigns in Israel

13 In the twenty-third year of ^(Y)Joash^[o] the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, ^(Z)Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. ² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the ^(AA)sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He did not ^[p]depart from them.

³ Then ^(AB)the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of ^(AC)Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of ^(AD)Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael, all their days. ⁴ So Jehoahaz ^(AE)pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord listened to him; for ^(AF)He saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. ^5 (AG)Then the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before. ⁶ Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin, but walked in them; ^(AH)and the ^[q]wooden image also remained in Samaria. ⁷ For He left of the army of Jehoahaz only fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers; for the king of Syria had destroyed them ^(AI)and made them ^(AJ)like the dust at threshing.

⁸ Now 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 So Jehoahaz ^[r]rested with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Then ^[s]Joash his son reigned in his place.

Jehoash Reigns in Israel

¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, ^[t]Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. ¹¹ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, but walked in them.

^12 (AK)Now the rest of the acts of Joash, ^(AL)all that he did, and ^(AM)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 So Joash ^(AN)rested^[u] with his fathers. Then Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Death of Elisha

¹⁴ Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, ^(AO)the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”

¹⁵ And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. ¹⁶ Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷ And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at ^(AP)Aphek till you have destroyed them.” ¹⁸ Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so 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 Syria till you had destroyed it! ^(AQ)But now you will strike Syria only three times.”

²⁰ Then Elisha ^[v]died, and they buried him. And the ^(AR)raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. ²¹ So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

Israel Recaptures Cities from Syria

²² And ^(AS)Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³ But the Lord was ^(AT)gracious to them, had compassion on them, and ^(AU)regarded them, ^(AV)because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence.

²⁴ Now Hazael king of Syria died. Then Ben-Hadad his son reigned in his place. ²⁵ And ^[w]Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz recaptured from the hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. ^(AW)Three times Joash defeated him and recaptured the cities of Israel.