The Daily Audio Bible

26 Meanwhile, all the people of Y’hudah had taken ‘Uziyahu at the age of sixteen and made him king in place of his father Amatzyahu. ² He recovered Eilot for Y’hudah and rebuilt it; it was after this that the king [Amatzyahu] slept with his ancestors.

³ ‘Uziyahu was sixteen years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for fifty-two years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Y’kholyahu, from Yerushalayim. ⁴ He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his father Amatzyahu had done. ⁵ He consulted God during the lifetime of Z’kharyahu, who understood visions of God; and as long as he consulted Adonai, God gave him success.

⁶ He went out to fight the P’lishtim, breaking down the walls of Gat, Yavneh and Ashdod; and he built cities in the area of Ashdod and among the P’lishtim. ⁷ God helped him against the P’lishtim, against the Arabs living in Gur-Ba‘al, and against the Me‘unim. ⁸ The ‘Amonim brought tribute to ‘Uziyahu, and his fame spread abroad as far as the Egyptian frontier, since he kept growing stronger.

⁹ ‘Uziyahu built towers in Yerushalayim at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the Angle, and fortified them. ¹⁰ He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock, likewise in the Sh’felah and the coastal plain. He had farmers and vineyard-workers in the hills and in the fertile lands, because he loved the soil.

¹¹ ‘Uziyahu had a standing army of fit soldiers divided into units according to the census taken by the secretary Ye‘i’el and the officer Ma‘aseiyah, under the direction of Hananyah, one of the king’s officials. ¹² The total number of clan heads over these strong, brave men was 2,600. ¹³ They directed a trained army of 307,500 fighting men, a strong force supporting the king in war against the enemy. ¹⁴ ‘Uziyahu equipped them, the whole army, with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows and slingstones.

¹⁵ In Yerushalayim he built devices designed by experts for the towers and angles, from which to shoot arrows and lob large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was miraculously helped, until he became strong.

¹⁶ But when he was strong, he became arrogant, which caused him to become corrupt, so that he sinned against Adonai his God by going into the temple of Adonai to burn incense on the incense altar. ¹⁷ ‘Azaryahu the cohen went in after him, and with him were eighty of Adonai’s cohanim, brave men. ¹⁸ They stood up to ‘Uziyahu the king; they told him, “It isn’t your job, ‘Uziyahu, to burn incense to Adonai! The job of burning incense belongs to the cohanim, the descendants of Aharon, who have been consecrated. Get out of the sanctuary! You have trespassed, and Adonai, God, will not honor you for this.” ¹⁹ This made ‘Uziyahu angry as he stood there with a censer in his hand ready to burn incense; and in his anger at the cohanim, tzara‘at broke out on his forehead right in front of the cohanim in the house of Adonai beside the altar for incense. ²⁰ ‘Azaryahu the chief cohen and all the cohanim stared at him — there he was, with tzara‘at on his forehead! Quickly they threw him out of there; and indeed, he himself hurried to get out, because Adonai had struck him. ²¹ ‘Uziyahu the king had tzara‘at until his dying day; he lived in a separate house because he had tzara‘at, and was not allowed into the house of Adonai. Meanwhile, Yotam the king’s son ran the king’s household and was regent over the people of the land.

²² Other activities of ‘Uziyahu, from beginning to end, were recorded by Yesha‘yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz. ²³ So ‘Uziyahu slept with his ancestors, and they buried him with his ancestors in the graveyard belonging to the kings, because they said, “He had tzara‘at.” Then Yotam his son took his place as king.

27 Yotam was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for sixteen years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Yerushah the daughter of Tzadok. ² He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his father ‘Uziyah had done, except that he did not enter the temple of Adonai. Nevertheless, the people acted corruptly.

³ He built the Upper Gate of the house of Adonai and added considerably to the wall of the ‘Ofel. ⁴ He built cities in the hills of Y’hudah, and in the wooded areas he built forts and towers.

⁵ He fought with the king of the people of ‘Amon and defeated them. That year the people of ‘Amon paid him tribute of three-and-a-third tons of silver, 50,000 bushels of wheat and 50,000 [bushels] of barley. The people of ‘Amon paid him the same amount the second and third years also. ⁶ Thus Yotam became strong, because he prepared his ways [of doing things] before Adonai his God.

⁷ Other activities of Yotam, all his wars and his ways [of doing things] are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el and Y’hudah. ⁸ He was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for sixteen years in Yerushalayim. ⁹ Yotam slept with his ancestors and they buried him in the City of David. Then Achaz his son took his place as king.

28 Achaz was twenty years old when he began his reign, and he ruled sixteen years in Yerushalayim. But he did not do what was right from the perspective of Adonai, as David his ancestor had done. ² Rather, he lived in the manner of the kings of Isra’el and made cast metal images for the ba‘alim. ³ Moreover, he made offerings in the Ben-Hinnom Valley and even burned up his own children as sacrifices, in keeping with the horrible practices of the pagans, whom Adonai had thrown out ahead of the people of Isra’el. ⁴ He also sacrificed and offered on the high places, on the hills and under any green tree.

⁵ Because of this, Adonai his God handed him over to the king of Aram; they attacked him and carried off from his people a great number of captives, bringing them to Dammesek.

In addition, he was handed over to the king of Isra’el, who inflicted on him a great massacre. ⁶ For Pekach the son of Remalyah killed in Y’hudah 120,000 men in one day, all of them brave men, because they had abandoned Adonai, the God of their ancestors. ⁷ And Zikhri, a champion from Efrayim, killed Ma‘aseiyah the king’s son, ‘Azrikam the administrator of the household and Elkanah, who was second only to the king. ⁸ The people of Isra’el took captive from their kinsmen 200,000 wives, sons and daughters; they also captured from them much spoil, which they brought to Shomron.

⁹ But a prophet of Adonai named ‘Oded was there; he went out to meet the army coming to Shomron and said to them, “Look, it’s because Adonai the God of your fathers was angry with Y’hudah that he has handed them over to you, and you have slaughtered them in a fury that has reached up to heaven. ¹⁰ Now you intend to force the people from Y’hudah and Yerushalayim into subjection as your slaves; but haven’t you guilty deeds of your own that you committed against Adonai your God? ¹¹ Therefore listen to me now; and send the captives back, the people you have taken captive from your kinsmen; because the fierce anger of Adonai is on you.”

¹² At this, some of the leaders of the people of Efrayim — ‘Azaryahu the son of Y’hochanan, Berekhyahu the son of Meshilemot, Y’chizkiyah the son of Shalum and ‘Amasa the son of Hadlai — protested against those who were returning from the war, ¹³ saying to them, “Don’t bring the captives here, because you intend to do something that will bring guilt on us against Adonai. It will only add to our sins and guilt, for our guilt is great, and there is fierce anger against Isra’el.”

¹⁴ So the armed soldiers left the captives and the spoil there with the leaders and the whole community; ¹⁵ while the men named above took charge of the captives and from the spoil clothed those among them who were inadequately clothed, giving them garments and shoes, providing them food and drink and anointing them with oil. After placing all the weak among them on donkeys, they brought them to Yericho, the City of Date-Palms, to their kinsmen; only then did they return to Shomron.

¹⁶ It was at that time that King Achaz sent to the kings of Ashur to help him. ¹⁷ For again the people from Edom had come, attacking Y’hudah and carrying off captives. ¹⁸ The P’lishtim too had invaded the cities in the Sh’felah and in the Negev of Y’hudah; they had captured Beit-Shemesh, Ayalon, G’derot, Sokho with its villages, Timnah with its villages and Gimzo with its villages; and they settled there. ¹⁹ For Adonai brought Y’hudah low because of Achaz king of Isra’el, since he had caused disturbances in Y’hudah and acted very treacherously against Adonai.

²⁰ Tilgat-Piln’eser king of Ashur attacked and besieged Achaz instead of strengthening him — ²¹ even though Achaz had stripped the house of Adonai and the palaces of the king and princes and had given the plunder to the king of Ashur, it didn’t help him at all.

²² During his time of distress this same King Achaz added to his treachery against Adonai ²³ by sacrificing to the gods of Dammesek, who had attacked him, reasoning, “The gods of the kings of Aram helped them, so I will sacrifice to them, and then they’ll help me.” But they became the ruin of him and of all Isra’el. ²⁴ Achaz collected the equipment from the house of God, broke to pieces the equipment from the house of God and sealed the doors of the house of Adonai; then he made himself altars in every corner of Yerushalayim. ²⁵ In every city of Y’hudah he made high places for offering to other gods, thus provoking Adonai the God of his ancestors.

²⁶ Other activities of Achaz and his ways [of doing things], from beginning to end, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah and Isra’el. ²⁷ Achaz slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the city, in Yerushalayim; because they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Isra’el. Then Hizkiyahu his son took his place as king.

13 Everyone is to obey the governing authorities. For there is no authority that is not from God, and the existing authorities have been placed where they are by God. ² Therefore, whoever resists the authorities is resisting what God has instituted; and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers are no terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you like to be unafraid of the person in authority? Then simply do what is good, and you will win his approval; ⁴ for he is God’s servant, there for your benefit. But if you do what is wrong, be afraid! Because it is not for nothing that he holds the power of the sword; for he is God’s servant, there as an avenger to punish wrongdoers. ⁵ Another reason to obey, besides fear of punishment, is for the sake of conscience. ⁶ This is also why you pay taxes; for the authorities are God’s public officials, constantly attending to these duties. ⁷ Pay everyone what he is owed: if you owe the tax-collector, pay your taxes; if you owe the revenue-collector, pay revenue; if you owe someone respect, pay him respect; if you owe someone honor, pay him honor. ⁸ Don’t owe anyone anything — except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow human being has fulfilled Torah. ⁹ For the commandments, “Don’t commit adultery,” “Don’t murder,” “Don’t steal,” “Don’t covet,”^[a] and any others are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^{[b] 10} Love does not do harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fullness of Torah.

¹¹ Besides all this, you know at what point of history we stand; so it is high time for you to rouse yourselves from sleep; for the final deliverance is nearer than when we first came to trust. ¹² The night is almost over, the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and arm ourselves with the weapons of light. ¹³ Let us live properly, as people do in the daytime — not partying and getting drunk, not engaging in sexual immorality and other excesses, not quarrelling and being jealous. ¹⁴ Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah; and don’t waste your time thinking about how to provide for the sinful desires of your old nature.