The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, ^(A)the servant of the Lord, ^(B)who addressed the words of this ^(C)song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

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 ^(A)twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, ³ but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. ^(B)He even burned his son as an offering,^{[a] (C)}according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ^4 (D)And he sacrificed and made offerings ^(E)on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

^5 (F)Then Rezin king of Syria and ^(G)Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz ^(H)but could not conquer him. ⁶ At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered ^(I)Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from ^(J)Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. ^7 (K)So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(L)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” ⁸ Ahaz also ^(M)took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. ^9 (N)And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus ^(O)and took it, carrying its people captive to ^(P)Kir, and he killed Rezin.

¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet ^(Q)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to ^(R)Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. ¹¹ And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. ¹² And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. ^(S)Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it ¹³ and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ And ^(T)the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed ^(U)from the front of the house, from the place between ^(V)his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of ^(W)his altar. ¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn ^(X)the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but ^(Y)the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶ Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷ And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down ^(Z)the sea^[b] from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. ¹⁸ And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written ^(AA)in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰ And Ahaz slept with his fathers and ^(AB)was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Hoshea Reigns in Israel

17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^(AC)Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ^3 (AD)Against him came up ^(AE)Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. ⁴ But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. ⁵ Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

¹⁷ Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called ^(A)the elders of the church to come to him. ¹⁸ And when they came to him, he said to them:

^(B)“You yourselves know ^(C)how I lived among you the whole time ^(D)from the first day that I set foot in Asia, ^19 (E)serving the Lord ^(F)with all humility and with ^(G)tears and with trials that happened to me through ^(H)the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I ^(I)did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and ^(J)teaching you in public and from house to house, ^21 (K)testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of ^(L)repentance toward God and of ^(M)faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.^{[a] 22} And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained ^(N)by^[b] the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that ^(O)the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that ^(P)imprisonment and ^(Q)afflictions await me. ²⁴ But ^(R)I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only ^(S)I may finish my course and ^(T)the ministry ^(U)that I received from the Lord Jesus, ^(V)to testify to ^(W)the gospel of ^(X)the grace of God. ²⁵ And now, behold, ^(Y)I know that none of you among whom I have gone about ^(Z)proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶ Therefore ^(AA)I testify to you this day that ^(AB)I am innocent of the blood of all, ²⁷ for ^(AC)I did not shrink from declaring to you ^(AD)the whole counsel of God. ^28 (AE)Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all ^(AF)the flock, in which ^(AG)the Holy Spirit has made you ^(AH)overseers, ^(AI)to care for ^(AJ)the church of God,^[c] which he ^(AK)obtained ^(AL)with his own blood.^{[d] 29} I ^(AM)know that after my departure ^(AN)fierce wolves will come in among you, ^(AO)not sparing the flock; ³⁰ and ^(AP)from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore ^(AQ)be alert, remembering that ^(AR)for three years I did not cease night or day ^(AS)to admonish every one ^(AT)with tears. ³² And now ^(AU)I commend you to God and to ^(AV)the word of his grace, which is able to ^(AW)build you up and to give you ^(AX)the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ^33 (AY)I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. ^34 (AZ)You yourselves know that ^(BA)these hands ministered to my necessities and ^(BB)to those who were with me. ³⁵ In all things ^(BC)I have shown you that ^(BD)by working hard in this way we must ^(BE)help the weak and ^(BF)remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed ^(BG)to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ And when he had said these things, ^(BH)he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And ^(BI)there was much weeping on the part of all; ^(BJ)they embraced Paul and ^(BK)kissed him, ³⁸ being sorrowful most of all because of ^(BL)the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And ^(BM)they accompanied him to the ship.