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Azariah Reigns over Judah
15 In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam of Israel, King Azariah son of Amaziah of Judah began to reign.(A) 2 He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.(B) 3 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. 4 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.(C) 5 The Lord struck the king so that he had a defiling skin disease to the day of his death and lived in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the palace, governing the people of the land.(D) 6 Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 7 Azariah slept with his ancestors; they buried him with his ancestors in the city of David; his son Jotham succeeded him.(E)
Zechariah Reigns over Israel
8 In the thirty-eighth year of King Azariah of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. 9 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his ancestors had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. 10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down in Ibleam[a] and killed him and reigned in place of him.(F) 11 Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 12 This was the promise of the Lord that he gave to Jehu, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it happened.(G)
Shallum Reigns over Israel
13 Shallum son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah of Judah; he reigned one month in Samaria.(H) 14 Then Menahem son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria; he struck down Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him; he reigned in place of him.(I) 15 Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, including the conspiracy that he made, are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 16 At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah, all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on; because they did not open it to him, he sacked it. He ripped open all the pregnant women in it.(J)
Menahem Reigns over Israel
17 In the thirty-ninth year of King Azariah of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi began to reign over Israel; he reigned ten years in Samaria.(K) 18 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. 19 King Pul of Assyria came against the land; Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, so that he might help him confirm his hold on the royal power.(L) 20 Menahem exacted the silver from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy, fifty shekels of silver from each one, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land. 21 Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? 22 Menahem slept with his ancestors, and his son Pekahiah succeeded him.
Pekahiah Reigns over Israel
23 In the fiftieth year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned two years.(M) 24 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. 25 Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty of the Gileadites and attacked him in Samaria, in the citadel of the palace along with Argob and Arieh; he killed him and reigned in place of him.(N) 26 Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and all that he did are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.
Pekah Reigns over Israel
27 In the fifty-second year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned twenty years.(O) 28 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin.
29 In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.(P) 30 Then Hoshea son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, attacked him, and killed him; he reigned in place of him, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah. 31 Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.
Jotham Reigns over Judah
32 In the second year of King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel, King Jotham son of Uzziah of Judah began to reign.(Q) 33 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. 34 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done.(R) 35 Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord.(S) 36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 37 In those days the Lord began to send King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.(T) 38 Jotham slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, his ancestor; his son Ahaz succeeded him.
Ahaz Reigns over Judah
16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, King Ahaz son of Jotham of Judah began to reign.(U) 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even made his son pass through fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel.(V) 4 He sacrificed and made offerings on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.(W)
5 Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel came up to wage war on Jerusalem; they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.(X) 6 At that time King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Edom[b] and drove the Judeans from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they live to this day.(Y) 7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”(Z) 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold 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.(AA) 9 The king of Assyria listened to him; the king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir; then he killed Rezin.(AB)
10 When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. King Ahaz sent to the priest Uriah a model of the altar and its pattern exact in all its details.(AC) 11 The priest Uriah built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so did the priest Uriah build it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 12 When the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar, went up on it, 13 and offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured his drink offering, and dashed the blood of his offerings of well-being against the altar. 14 The bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.(AD) 15 King Ahaz commanded the priest Uriah, saying, “Upon the great altar offer 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, their grain offering, and their drink offering; then dash against it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”(AE) 16 The priest Uriah did everything that King Ahaz commanded.
17 Then King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the laver from them; he removed the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a pediment of stone.(AF) 18 The covered portal for use on the Sabbath that had been built inside the palace and the outer entrance for the king he removed from[c] the house of the Lord. He did this because of the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 20 Ahaz slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David; his son Hezekiah succeeded him.(AG)
13 Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”(A) 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. 17 When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck, and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.(B) 18 Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices. 19 A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books[a] was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.(C)
The Riot in Ephesus
21 Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.”(D) 22 So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.(E)
23 About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way.(F) 24 A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans.(G) 25 These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. 26 You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods.(H) 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”
28 When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”(I) 29 The city was filled with the confusion, and people[b] rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions.(J) 30 Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him; 31 even some officials of the province of Asia[c] who were friendly to him sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater. 32 Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.(K) 33 Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people.(L) 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 35 But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven?(M) 36 Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37 You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our[d] goddess.(N) 38 If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another.(O) 39 If there is anything further[e] you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly. 40 For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” 41 When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
Psalm 147
Praise for God’s Care for Jerusalem
1 Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.(A)
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the outcasts of Israel.(B)
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.(C)
4 He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.(D)
5 Great is our Lord and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.(E)
6 The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
he casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre.
8 He covers the heavens with clouds,
prepares rain for the earth,
makes grass grow on the hills.(F)
9 He gives to the animals their food
and to the young ravens when they cry.(G)
10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse
nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner,[a](H)
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
12 Extol the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.
14 He grants peace[b] within your borders;
he fills you with the finest of wheat.(I)
15 He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.(J)
16 He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.(K)
17 He hurls down hail like crumbs—
who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word and melts them;
he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.(L)
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and ordinances to Israel.(M)
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know his ordinances.
Praise the Lord!(N)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.