Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

^[a] Of David, when he ^(A)changed his behavior before ^(B)Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

Josiah Restores the Passover

²¹ And the king commanded all the people, ^(A)“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, ^(B)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ^22 (C)For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Moreover, Josiah put away ^(D)the mediums and the necromancers and ^(E)the household gods and ^(F)the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish ^(G)the words of the law that were written in the book ^(H)that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. ^25 (I)Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

²⁶ Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, ^(J)because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷ And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, ^(K)as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, ^(L)and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

Josiah's Death in Battle

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^29 (M)In his days ^(N)Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at ^(O)Megiddo, as soon as he saw him. ^30 (P)And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from ^(Q)Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. ^(R)And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.

Jehoahaz's Reign and Captivity

^31 (S)Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was ^(T)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ³² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(U)according to all that his fathers had done. ³³ And ^(V)Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at ^(W)Riblah in the land of ^(X)Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents^[a] of silver and a talent of gold. ³⁴ And ^(Y)Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and ^(Z)changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, ^(AA)and he came to Egypt and died there. ³⁵ And Jehoiakim ^(AB)gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

Paul's Defense Before Agrippa

26 So ^(A)Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

² “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today ^(B)against all the accusations of the Jews, ³ especially because you are familiar with all the ^(C)customs and ^(D)controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

^4 (E)“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among ^(F)my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. ⁵ They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that ^(G)according to the strictest ^(H)party of our ^(I)religion I have lived as ^(J)a Pharisee. ⁶ And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in ^(K)the promise made by God to our fathers, ^7 (L)to which ^(M)our twelve tribes hope to ^(N)attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope ^(O)I am accused by Jews, O king! ⁸ Why is it thought ^(P)incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

^9 (Q)“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of ^(R)Jesus of Nazareth. ^10 (S)And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority ^(T)from the chief priests, but ^(U)when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ And ^(V)I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them ^(W)blaspheme, and ^(X)in raging fury against them I ^(Y)persecuted them even to foreign cities.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

¹² “In this connection ^(Z)I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³ At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. ¹⁴ And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me ^(AA)in the Hebrew language,^[a] ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ ¹⁵ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ But rise and ^(AB)stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, ^(AC)to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, ^17 (AD)delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—^(AE)to whom I ^(AF)am sending you ^18 (AG)to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from ^(AH)the power of Satan to God, that they may receive ^(AI)forgiveness of sins and ^(AJ)a place among those who are sanctified ^(AK)by faith in me.’

¹⁹ “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to ^(AL)the heavenly vision, ²⁰ but declared first ^(AM)to those in Damascus, ^(AN)then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also ^(AO)to the Gentiles, that they should ^(AP)repent and ^(AQ)turn to God, performing deeds ^(AR)in keeping with their repentance. ²¹ For this reason ^(AS)the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. ^22 (AT)To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so ^(AU)I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what ^(AV)the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: ^23 (AW)that the Christ ^(AX)must suffer and that, ^(AY)by being the first ^(AZ)to rise from the dead, ^(BA)he would proclaim ^(BB)light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴ And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, ^(BC)you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” ²⁵ But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, ^(BD)most excellent Festus, but I am speaking ^(BE)true and ^(BF)rational words. ²⁶ For ^(BG)the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” ²⁸ And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be ^(BH)a Christian?”^{[b] 29} And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day ^(BI)might become such as I am—except for ^(BJ)these chains.”

³⁰ Then the king rose, and ^(BK)the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. ³¹ And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, ^(BL)“This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” ³² And Agrippa said to Festus, ^(BM)“This man could have been set ^(BN)free if he had not appealed ^(BO)to Caesar.”