Old/New Testament

Azariah becomes the king of Judah

15 Amaziah's son Azariah became king of Judah when Jeroboam had been king of Israel for 27 years.^{[a] 2} Azariah was 16 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother's name was Jecoliah. She came from Jerusalem. ³ Azariah did things that the Lord said were good, as his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ But he did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars.

⁵ The Lord caused the king to have a bad disease in his skin.^[b] He had the disease until the day that he died. He lived in a house away from other people. His son Jotham had authority in the palace and he ruled the people of Judah.

⁶ The other things that happened while Azariah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Azariah did. ⁷ Azariah died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Jotham became king after him.

Zechariah becomes the king of Israel

⁸ Jeroboam's son Zechariah became king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 38 years. He ruled Israel as king in Samaria for six months. ⁹ Zechariah did things that the Lord said were evil, as his ancestors had done. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

¹⁰ Jabesh's son Shallum made a plan to kill Zechariah. Shallum murdered Zechariah at Ibleam and he became king himself. ¹¹ The other things that happened while Zechariah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. ¹² The Lord had given this promise to Jehu: ‘Your descendants will be kings of Israel for four generations.’ That is what happened.^[c]

Shallum becomes the king of Israel

¹³ Jabesh's son Shallum became the king of Israel when Uzziah had been king of Judah for 39 years. He ruled as king in Samaria for one month. ¹⁴ Then Gadi's son Menahem went from Tirzah up to Samaria. He attacked King Shallum and he killed him. Menahem became king of Israel instead.

¹⁵ The other things that happened while Shallum was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the plan that he made to kill King Zechariah. ¹⁶ At that time, when Menahem came from Tirzah, he attacked the city of Tiphsah. The people who lived there refused to let him go into their city. So he killed them all. He even cut open the pregnant women.

Menahem becomes the king of Israel

¹⁷ Gadi's son Menahem became the king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 39 years. He ruled as king in Samaria for ten years. ¹⁸ Menahem did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins. ¹⁹ Then Pul, the king of Assyria, attacked the land of Israel.^[d] Menahem paid him 34 tons of silver to help him to rule Israel with greater power. ²⁰ Menahem made all the rich people in Israel pay taxes to him. Every rich man had to pay 50 silver coins. Menahem gave that money to the king of Assyria. Then the king of Assyria went away. He did not stay any longer in Israel.

²¹ The other things that happened while Menahem was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that Menahem did. ²² Menahem died and his son, Pekahiah, became king after him.

Pekahiah becomes the king of Israel

²³ Menahem's son Pekahiah became the king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 50 years. He ruled Israel as king in Samaria for two years. ²⁴ Pekahiah did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

²⁵ One of Pekahiah's officers was Remaliah's son, Pekah. Pekah made a plan to kill Pekahiah. He took 50 men from Gilead with him, and he killed King Pekahiah. He also killed Argob and Arieh. He killed them all in a strong room in the king's palace in Samaria. Pekah then became king instead of Pekahiah. ²⁶ The other things that happened while Pekahiah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that Pekahiah did.

Pekah becomes the king of Israel

²⁷ Remaliah's son Pekah became the king of Israel when Azariah had been king of Judah for 52 years. He ruled Israel as king in Samaria for 20 years. ²⁸ Pekah did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not turn away from the bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins.

²⁹ While Pekah was the king of Israel, the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser, attacked towns in Israel. He took these places for himself: Ijon, Abel Beth Maakah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee and all of Naphtali's land. He took the people that lived in those places as prisoners to Assyria.

³⁰ Then Elah's son Hoshea made a plan to kill Remaliah's son, Pekah. Hoshea murdered Pekah and he became king instead. That happened when Uzziah's son Jotham had been king of Judah for 20 years. ³¹ The other things that happened while Pekah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that Pekah did.

Jotham becomes the king of Judah

³² Uzziah's son Jotham became the king of Judah when Remaliah's son Pekah had been king of Israel for two years. ³³ Jotham was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled Judah as king in Jerusalem for 16 years. His mother's name was Jerusha. She was Zadok's daughter. ³⁴ Jotham did things that the Lord said were good, as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ But he did not remove the altars on the hills. The people continued to offer sacrifices and to burn incense on those altars. Jotham built the Higher Gate of the Lord's temple.

³⁶ The other things that happened while Jotham was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Jotham did. ³⁷ While Jotham was king, the Lord began to send King Rezin of Syria and Remaliah's son Pekah to attack Judah. ³⁸ Jotham died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David, who was his ancestor. His son Ahaz became king after him.

Ahaz becomes the king of Judah

16 Jotham's son Ahaz became the king of Judah when Remaliah's son Pekah had been king of Israel for 17 years. ² Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. He ruled Judah as king in Jerusalem for 16 years. He did not do the things that the Lord his God said were good. So he was not like his ancestor, King David. ³ He lived in the same bad way that the kings of Israel did. He even caused his son to walk through fire.^[e] In this way he copied the terrible sins of the other nations in Canaan. Those were the nations that the Lord had chased out so that the Israelites could live there. ⁴ Ahaz offered sacrifices and he burned incense on altars on the hills, as well as under all the big trees.

⁵ At that time, King Rezin of Syria and Remaliah's son, King Pekah of Israel, attacked Jerusalem. Their armies made a camp all around the city while Ahaz was there. But they could not win the battle against him. ⁶ (At the same time, King Rezin got Elath town back for Syria. He chased out the people of Judah who were living there. People from Edom then moved into Elath, and they are still living there.)

⁷ King Ahaz sent a message to Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria. He said, ‘I am your servant and I need your help. The king of Syria and the king of Israel have brought their armies to attack me in Jerusalem. Please come here to rescue me.’^{[f] 8} Ahaz took the silver and gold things that were stored in the Lord's temple and in the palace. He sent them all as a gift to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria agreed to do what Ahaz had asked him to do. He attacked Damascus and he took the city for himself.^[g] He sent the people who had lived there to Kir as his prisoners. He punished King Rezin with death.

¹⁰ King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria. When he was there, he saw an altar. He sent a picture and a plan of the altar to Uriah, the priest, so that someone could build one for him. ¹¹ So Uriah built an altar that copied the plan that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Uriah finished it before King Ahaz returned. ¹² When the king arrived in Jerusalem from Damascus, he saw the new altar. He went near it to offer sacrifices on it.

¹³ He made a burnt offering and a grain offering. He poured wine as a drink offering. He splashed the blood from his peace offerings onto the altar.

¹⁴ A bronze altar stood in front of the Lord's temple to bring sacrifices to him. Now it stood between the new altar and the front of the temple. So Ahaz moved it away from there. He put it on the north side of the new altar. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, ‘On the large new altar, offer these gifts:

Splash the blood from all these sacrifices on the new altar. But I will use the bronze altar myself, to find out about my future times.’

¹⁶ So Uriah the priest did what King Ahaz had commanded him to do.

¹⁷ King Ahaz also removed the pieces on the sides of the carts which carried the buckets for water. He also removed the buckets. He took the large bath called ‘the Sea’ from the top of the bronze bulls that it stood on. He stood it on a big flat stone instead.^{[h] 18} He removed the roof that gave shade for people in the temple yard on the Sabbath days. He also removed the king's special entrance into the temple yard. He did these things to please the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ The other things that happened while Ahaz was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Ahaz did. ²⁰ Ahaz died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. His son Hezekiah became king after him.

Jesus and Nicodemus

3 There was a Pharisee called Nicodemus. He was one of the Jewish leaders. ² He came to speak with Jesus at night. He said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we know that God has sent you to us. We have seen the miracles that you are doing. Nobody could do these things unless God was with him.’ ³ Jesus replied, ‘I tell you this: Unless a person is born from above, they cannot understand the kingdom of God.’ ⁴ Nicodemus asked, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot return into his mother's body. He cannot be born a second time.’ ⁵ Jesus explained, ‘I tell you this: Unless a person is born by water and by God's Spirit, he cannot come into the kingdom of God. ⁶ People give birth to what is human. But God's Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ I said to you, “You must be born from above.” What I said should not surprise you. ⁸ When someone is born by God's Spirit, it is like the wind that blows. The wind blows wherever it chooses to blow. You can hear it. But you do not know where it came from or where it is going.’

⁹ Nicodemus asked, ‘How can this happen?’ ¹⁰ Jesus replied, ‘You are an important teacher of people in Israel. You ought to understand these things! ¹¹ I tell you this: We speak about things that we know. We tell you about what we have seen. But even then, you people do not believe our message. ¹² I have told you about things that happen in this world. And you do not believe me. But now I am telling you about things that happen in heaven. So I do not think that you will ever believe me about those things. ¹³ The Son of Man came down from heaven. Nobody else has gone up to heaven except him. ¹⁴ Long ago Moses lifted up the metal snake in the wilderness to save his people.^[a] In the same way, people must lift up the Son of Man on a cross. ¹⁵ As a result, everyone who believes him will be able to live for ever with God. ¹⁶ God loved the people in the world so much that he gave his one and only Son to save them. As a result, everyone who believes in the Son will not die. Instead, they will live for ever with God.’

¹⁷ God did not send his Son into the world because he wanted to punish people. He sent his Son to save the people in the world from punishment. ¹⁸ God will not punish anyone who believes in his Son. But if people refuse to believe in the Son, God has already decided that he must punish them. They have not believed in God's one and only Son.