Old/New Testament
Jehu kills Ahab's descendants
10 Ahab had 70 sons who lived in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and he sent them to Samaria. He sent them to Jezreel's officers and leaders, as well as to the men who took care of Ahab's sons.[a] 2 This was what the letter said:
‘When this letter reaches you, your master's sons will be with you. You also have his chariots and horses in a strong city. And you have weapons. 3 Choose the best person to be king from among your master's sons. Make him your king instead of his father. Then prepare to fight on behalf of your master's family.’
4 But the letter made the officers in Samaria very afraid. They said, ‘Even two kings could not win against Jehu. So we can never fight against him and win!’
5 So these people sent a message to Jehu:
the officer who took care of the king's palace,
the man who ruled the city of Samaria,
the city's leaders,
and the men who took care of Ahab's children.
The message said, ‘We are your servants. We will do anything that you tell us. We will not make anyone king. You must do what you think is right.’
6 So Jehu wrote a second letter to them. It said, ‘If you are ready to help me and you will obey me, do this: Bring the heads of your master's sons here to me in Jezreel. Bring them by this time tomorrow.’[b]
At that time, important leaders of the city were taking care of the king's 70 sons. 7 When the letter arrived, these men took hold of the king's sons. They killed all 70 of them. They put their heads in baskets. Then they sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. 8 Someone told Jehu, ‘They have brought the heads of the king's sons.’ Then Jehu said, ‘Put them in two heaps at the gate of the city. Leave them there until the morning.’
9 The next morning, Jehu went out to the city's gate. He stood there in front of all the people. He said to them, ‘You are not guilty of any murder. I was the one who decided to kill my master, the king. But who killed these descendants of Ahab? It was not my decision! 10 You must realize this: Every punishment that the Lord said would happen to Ahab's family must happen. The Lord has done what he told his servant Elijah he would do.’
11 After that, Jehu killed everybody in Jezreel who was a descendant of Ahab. He also killed Ahab's officers, his friends and his priests. No descendant of Ahab remained alive.
12 Jehu left Jezreel and he went towards Samaria. He came to Beth Eked, where shepherds had a camp. 13 He met some relatives of Ahaziah, the king of Judah. Jehu asked them, ‘Who are you?’ They said, ‘We are relatives of Ahaziah. We are going to Jezreel to visit the families of the king and his mother.’[c] 14 Jehu said to his men, ‘Catch them, but do not kill them!’ So they took hold of them. Then they killed them all near the well at Beth Eked. They killed 42 people, so that none of them remained alive.
15 When Jehu left Beth Eked, he met Rekab's son Jehonadab. He was coming to meet Jehu. Jehu said, ‘Hello! Do you trust me, as I trust you?’ Jehonadab answered, ‘Yes, I do!’ Jehu replied, ‘Then hold your hand out to me.’ So he did that and Jehu pulled him up into his chariot. 16 Jehu said, ‘Come with me. You will see that I want to serve the Lord faithfully.’ So Jehonadab rode with Jehu in his chariot. 17 Jehu arrived in Samaria. He killed all the descendants of Ahab who were still alive in Samaria. The Lord had told Elijah that this would happen.
Jehu removes false prophets
18 Then Jehu called all the people to come together. He said to them, ‘Ahab served Baal, but he did not do it very well. But I, Jehu, will serve Baal much better! 19 So tell all the prophets who serve Baal to come here, as well as all Baal's servants and his priests. Make sure that they all come. I want to offer a great sacrifice to Baal. If any of them does not come, I will punish him with death.’
But Jehu was deceiving them. He wanted to kill all Baal's servants. 20 He gave a command, ‘Prepare a special day when we can all worship Baal.’ So Jehu's servants told everybody about it.
21 Jehu sent a notice to everyone in Israel. All the servants of Baal came to the meeting. There was nobody who did not come. They all went into the temple of Baal, so that it was completely full of people. 22 Then Jehu said to the man who took care of the special clothes, ‘Bring out the robes for the servants of Baal to wear.’ So the man brought out the robes for them. 23 Then Jehu and Rekab's son Jehonadab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the servants of Baal, ‘Look around carefully. Be sure that there are no servants of the Lord here with you. There must only be servants of Baal here.’ 24 So they went into the temple to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. But Jehu had put 80 of his men outside the temple. He had said to them, ‘Do not let any of these men escape. If you let anyone escape, I will punish you with death.’
25 When Jehu had finished offering the sacrifices, he said to the guards and the soldiers, ‘Go into the temple and kill all Baal's servants. Do not let any of them escape.’ So the guards and soldiers used their swords to cut all the people down. They threw the dead bodies out of the temple. Then they went into the inside room of the temple. 26 They took out the stones from the house of Baal and they destroyed them. 27 They broke the special stone pillar of Baal and they destroyed the temple. People still use it as a toilet, even today!
28 That is how Jehu stopped people from worshipping Baal in Israel. 29 But Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Nebat's son, Jeroboam. Jeroboam had caused Israel to worship images of calves. There were still gold calves at Bethel and Dan. 30 The Lord said to Jehu, ‘You have done well. You have done the things that I say are right. You have punished Ahab's family in the way that I wanted. So your descendants will be kings of Israel for four generations.’[d] 31 But Jehu was not careful to obey completely the law of the Lord, Israel's God. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam which he had caused Israel to do.
32 In those days, the Lord began to make Israel's land smaller. King Hazael of Syria could attack the Israelites anywhere in their land 33 east of the Jordan River. He took from them all the land of Gilead. That included the land that belonged to the tribes of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh. Hazael took the land all the way from Aroer, along the Arnon Valley to Gilead and Bashan.
34 The other things that happened while Jehu was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the great things that Jehu did. 35 Jehu died and they buried him with his ancestors in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz became king after him. 36 Jehu ruled over Israel as king in Samaria for 28 years.
Queen Athaliah and King Joash
11 Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, heard the news that her son was dead. So she started to kill all the royal family. 2 Jehosheba was the daughter of King Jehoram of Judah and the sister of Ahaziah. When Athaliah's servants had come to murder the royal sons, Jehosheba took Ahaziah's son Joash away and she hid him. She put him in a bedroom in the temple to hide him from Athaliah. So Joash stayed alive. 3 Joash and his nurse stayed safely in a room in the Lord's temple while Queen Athaliah ruled Judah for six years.
4 In the seventh year that Athaliah ruled Judah, the priest Jehoiada asked some of the king's officers to come to him.[e] They were officers of army groups, the king's special guards and the palace guards.
They came to meet with Jehoiada in the Lord's temple. There, he made them promise to agree with his idea. Then he showed the king's son Joash to them.
5 Jehoiada said to the officers, ‘This is what you must do: The men who come to work on the Sabbath day must make three groups. One group will keep the palace safe. 6 Another group must stand at the Sur Gate. The third group must stand at the gate behind the special guards. 7 The two groups of soldiers who would not come to work on the Sabbath day must do this: They must be guards at the Lord's temple. They must keep the new king safe. 8 You must stand around the king. Each man must hold his weapon in his hand. If anyone comes near to you, you must kill them. You must stay near to the king everywhere that he goes.’
9 The officers of the army groups did what Jehoiada the priest told them to do. Each officer brought his group of men to Jehoiada. That included the men who worked on the Sabbath and those who did not. 10 Then Jehoiada gave some weapons that were in the Lord's temple to the officers. He gave them the spears and the shields that had belonged to King David. 11 The guards held their weapons in their hands. They stood around the king to keep him safe. They stood in a line from the south side of the temple to the north side. They were around the altar at the front of the temple.
12 Then Jehoiada brought the king's son out of the temple room. He put the crown onto Joash's head. He gave him a copy of the royal covenant. They poured olive oil on his head to show that he was now the king. They clapped their hands and they shouted, ‘May the king have a long life!’
13 Queen Athaliah heard the soldiers and the people as they were shouting. So she went to the Lord's temple where all the people were. 14 Then she saw the king! He was standing in the king's place beside the pillar in the temple.[f] The army officers and the men with trumpets were standing beside the king. All the people of Judah were shouting with joy. Many of them made music with trumpets.
When Athaliah saw this, she was very upset. She tore her clothes. She shouted, ‘Treason! Treason!’[g]
15 Jehoiada the priest gave a command to the army officers who had authority over groups of soldiers. He told them, ‘Bring her out of the temple to the line of guards outside. Use your swords to kill anyone who follows her.’ That was because Jehoiada had said, ‘You must not kill her inside the Lord's temple.’ 16 So they took hold of Athaliah. They took her through the gate for the king's horses into the yard of the palace. They killed her there.
17 Jehoiada prepared a covenant with the Lord. All the people and the king agreed to serve the Lord as his people. The people also agreed to serve the king faithfully.
18 Then people everywhere in the country went to the temple of Baal. They destroyed it. They completely knocked down its altars and idols. They killed Baal's priest, Mattan, in front of Baal's altars.
Then Jehoiada the priest put guards to keep the Lord's temple safe. 19 Jehoiada took with him the officers of army groups, the king's special guards, the palace guards and all the people. They went together to bring the king down from the Lord's temple into the palace. They went into the palace through the gate of the king's royal guards. Then Joash sat on his throne as king.
20 All the people were very happy. There was no longer any trouble in Jerusalem now that Athaliah was dead. They had punished her with death at the palace.
21 And Joash was seven years old when he began to rule Judah as king.
Joash makes repairs to God's house
12 Joash became king of Judah in the seventh year that Jehu was king of Israel. Joash ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother's name was Zibiah. She came from Beersheba. 2 Jehoiada the priest taught Joash to do what was right. So Joash pleased the Lord all through his life.[h] 3 But Joash did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.
4 Joash said to all the priests, ‘Bring together all the money that people have offered to the Lord in his temple. This includes:
the money that each person pays as his tax,
the money that people have given because of a promise,
and the money that people have chosen to give for the temple.
5 Each priest should receive the money that he needs to make repairs to the temple. When he sees that something is broken, he can use some of the people's money to mend it.’
6 When Joash had been king for 23 years, the priests had still not made any repairs to the temple. 7 So King Joash called Jehoiada and the other priests to come to him. He said to them, ‘You have made no repairs to the temple yet! Why not? Do not take any more of your people's money! It must only be used to make repairs to the temple.’ 8 The priests agreed that they would not take any more money from the people. They agreed that they would not make repairs to the temple themselves.[i]
9 Jehoiada the priest took a large box and he made a hole in the top of it. He put it outside the entrance of the temple, on the right side of the altar. The priests who were guards at the temple door took care of the box. When people brought gifts of money to the Lord's temple, the priests put the money in the box. 10 Whenever there was a lot of money in the box, the king's secretary and the leader of the priests counted the money. Then they put those gifts for the temple into bags. 11 When they knew how much money was there, they gave it to the men who had authority over the work. Then those men paid the carpenters and the builders who were working on the Lord's temple. 12 They also paid the men that cut the stones and the men who used the stones to build with. They bought wood and they bought stones that people had cut to use for the repairs to the Lord's temple. They used the money to pay for any work on the repairs.
13 But they did not use any of this money to buy things that they used in the temple. This included:
silver bowls,
small tools that they used for the lamps,
bowls for water,
trumpets,
and anything else that was made with silver or gold.
14 Instead, they used all the money to give to the men who had authority over the repairs to the Lord's temple. 15 Those men did not have to give a report on how they used the money. People knew that they were honest men. 16 But the money that people gave when they made a guilt offering or a sin offering belonged to the priests. It did not pay for the repairs on the temple.
17 At that time, Hazael, the king of Syria, attacked Gath.[j] His army took the city for him. Then King Hazael decided to attack Jerusalem.
18 Joash, the king of Judah, took all the valuable things that he and his ancestors had given to God. Those ancestors were the kings of Judah: Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah. He also took gold that was in the palace and in the temple. He sent all those valuable things to Hazael, king of Syria.[k] When Hazael received the gifts from Joash, he took his army away from Jerusalem.
19 The other things that happened while Joash was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about all the things that Joash did. 20 Joash's officers decided to kill him. Two of them murdered him at Beth Millo, on the road that goes down to Silla. 21 The officers that killed him were Shimeath's son Jozabad and Shomer's son Jehozabad. People buried Joash beside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Amaziah became king after him.
29 The next day, John saw Jesus, who was coming towards him. John said, ‘Look! Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of people in the world.[a] 30 This is the man that I told you about. I told you, “He comes after me, but he is greater than I am. He was already there before I was born.” 31 I did not know him. But I had to show Israel's people who he was. That is why I am baptizing people with water.’
32 Then John told them, ‘I saw God's Spirit come down from heaven. He came down like a dove and he stayed on Jesus. 33 I would not have known who Jesus was. But God had sent me to baptize people with water. And God told me, “You will see the Spirit come down. He will stay on someone. That is the person who will baptize people with my Holy Spirit.” 34 Now I have seen this. So I can tell you that this is God's Son.’
Jesus' first disciples
35 John was standing there again the next day, with two of his disciples. 36 He saw Jesus, who was walking past them. John said, ‘Look! Here is the Lamb of God.’ 37 When the two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned round. He saw that they were following him. He asked them, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi (which means “Teacher”), where are you staying?’ 39 Jesus replied, ‘Come with me and you will see.’ So they went with him. They saw where he was staying. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. And they stayed with him that day.
40 Andrew was one of the two disciples who had followed Jesus. They had heard what John had said about Jesus. Andrew was Simon Peter's brother. 41 The first thing that Andrew did was to find his brother, Simon. Andrew said to Simon, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ (‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ’ mean the same.) 42 Then he brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and he said, ‘You are Simon, John's son. Your name will be Cephas.’ This name is the same as Peter, which means ‘rock’.
43 The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He met Philip, and Jesus said to Philip, ‘Follow me.’ 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, came from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip went to find Nathanael. He told Nathanael, ‘We have found the man that Moses wrote about in the book of God's Law. The prophets also wrote about him. He is Jesus, who is Joseph's son, from Nazareth.’ 46 Nathanael said, ‘I did not think that anything good could come from Nazareth!’ Philip replied, ‘Come and see.’
47 Jesus saw Nathanael, who was coming towards him. Jesus said, ‘Here is a completely honest man. That is what a person from Israel should really be like.’ 48 Nathanael asked, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you before Philip asked you to come. I saw you when you were under the fig tree.’ 49 Nathanael said, ‘Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.’ 50 Jesus said to him, ‘I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. Now you believe me because I told you that. But you will see much greater things than that.’ 51 And Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you this: You will see heaven open. You will see God's angels. They will be going up and they will be coming down on the Son of Man.’[b]
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