Old/New Testament
Josiah becomes the king of Judah
22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for 31 years. His mother's name was Jedidah. She was the daughter of Adaiah, who came from Bozkath. 2 Josiah did things that the Lord said were right. He lived in the good ways of his ancestor, King David. He did not turn away from the Lord's teaching in any way.
Hilkiah finds the Book of God's Law
3 When Josiah had been king for 18 years, he sent Shaphan to the Lord's temple. Shaphan was the son of Azaliah, and the grandson of Meshullam. He was the king's secretary. Josiah told Shaphan, 4 ‘Go to meet Hilkiah, the leader of the priests. Ask him to count the money that people have brought as gifts into the Lord's temple. Those are the offerings that the temple guards have received from people. 5 The priests must give the money to the men who have authority over the work on the Lord's temple. Those leaders must pay the men who are doing the repairs. 6 Those workers are the carpenters, the builders and the men who work with stones. The leaders of the work must also buy wood. And they must buy stones that are ready to use. They need those things to repair the temple. 7 The leaders of the work are honest men. So they do not need to give a report on how they use the money.’
8 Hilkiah, the leader of the priests, told Shaphan, the king's secretary, ‘I have found the Book of the Law in the Lord's temple.’ He gave the book to Shaphan and Shaphan read it. 9 Then Shaphan went to the king. He said to him, ‘Your officers have paid out all the money that was in the Lord's temple. They have given it to the men who are working on the temple repairs and to their leaders.’ 10 Then Shaphan told the king, ‘Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.’ Shaphan started to read the book while the king listened.
11 When the king heard the words from the Book of the Law, he was very upset. He tore his clothes. 12 He gave a command to Hilkiah the priest, Shaphan's son Ahikam, Micaiah's son Acbor, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's servant. 13 He told them, ‘Go to the temple. Ask the Lord about the message in this book that Hilkiah has found. I need to know what I should do, as well as all the people of Judah. The Lord has become very angry with us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words in this book. They have not done the things that it tells us we should do.’
14 So Hilkiah, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to Huldah. Huldah was a prophetess who lived in the north part of Jerusalem. She was the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah. Tikvah was the son of Harhas, who took care of the king's clothes. The king's men told Huldah why they had come to meet her. 15 She said to them, ‘The Lord, Israel's God, says, “Tell this to the man who sent you here to me: 16 This is what the Lord says. I will bring great trouble to this place and the people who live here. The message of the book that the king of Judah has read tells about what will happen. 17 I will send this trouble because they have turned away from me. They have offered sacrifices to other gods. I am very angry with them because of all the idols that they have made for themselves. My anger is like a fire that is burning and nobody can stop it!” 18 The king of Judah sent you here to ask for the Lord's answer. Say to the king, “The Lord, Israel's God, says this about the message that you have heard:
19 When you heard the message that I had spoken, you were very upset. You made yourself humble to respect me. You tore your clothes and you wept. You did that when you heard how I would punish this place and the people who live here. I said that I would destroy this place so that people would use its name as a curse. Because you became so upset, I have heard your prayer. 20 So I will let you die in peace and people will bury you beside your ancestors. You yourself will never see the great trouble that I will bring to this place.” That is what the Lord says.’
The men took Huldah's answer back to the king.
King Josiah obeys God
23 King Josiah told all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to come and meet with him.
2 He went up to the Lord's temple.[a] All the people who lived in Jerusalem and in the rest of Judah went with him. They included the priests, the prophets, young people and old people. Everyone went to the temple. They all listened while the king read to them all the words in the Book of God's Covenant. That was the book that Hilkiah had found in the Lord's temple.
3 Then the king stood in his place beside the pillar in the temple. He promised the Lord that he would obey the covenant. He agreed to serve the Lord faithfully and to obey his commands, laws and rules. Josiah agreed to obey what was written in the Book of God's Covenant. All the people also promised to obey the covenant.
4 Then the king gave a command to Hilkiah, the leader of the priests, and to the other priests and the temple guards. He told them to bring out from the Lord's temple everything that people used there to worship false gods. People used those things to worship Baal, Asherah and all the stars in the sky. King Josiah burned those things outside Jerusalem, in the fields of the Kidron Valley. Then he took all the ashes to Bethel.[b]
5 He removed the priests who served false gods. The kings of Judah had chosen those priests to make offerings at the altars on the hills. They were on the hills in Judah's cities and all around Jerusalem. These priests offered sacrifices to Baal, to the sun, to the moon and to all the stars in the sky. 6 He also removed the Asherah pole from the Lord's temple. He took it outside Jerusalem, to the Kidron Valley. He burned it there. He made its ashes into dust. He threw the dust over the graves of ordinary people.[c]
7 King Josiah also destroyed the rooms in the Lord's temple where the male prostitutes lived. Women also made clothes there for the idol of Asherah. 8 He brought from the towns of Judah all the priests who served false gods. He destroyed the altars on the hills where those priests offered sacrifices. He did that everywhere in Judah, from Geba to Beersheba. He destroyed the altar that was on the left side of one of Jerusalem city's gates. It was called the Gate of Joshua. Joshua was an officer who had authority over the city. 9 The priests who served at those altars did not have authority to serve at the altar in the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. But they could eat the same flat bread that the other priests ate.
10 King Josiah destroyed the place called Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom.[d] After that, nobody could burn his son or his daughter there in the fire as a sacrifice to Molech. 11 He removed the images of horses that the kings of Judah had put beside the entrance to the Lord's temple. He also burned the chariots that were there. The kings had put the horses and chariots there to give honour to the sun god. They were in the temple yard near the room of Nathan Melech, a palace officer.[e]
12 King Josiah knocked down the altars that were on the roof of the palace. The kings of Judah had built the altars there, above the high room of King Ahaz. He also knocked down the altars that King Manasseh had built in the two yards of the Lord's temple. Josiah broke the altars into small pieces. He threw the bits into the Kidron Valley.
13 King Josiah also destroyed the altars that were on the hills east of Jerusalem. Those altars were on the south side of Mount Trouble.[f] King Solomon had built them to worship these false gods:
Ashtoreth, a wicked female god that the people in Sidon worshipped.
Chemosh, a wicked god that the people in Moab worshipped.
Molech, the evil god that the people in Ammon worshipped.
14 Josiah broke the stone pillars that people worshipped into small pieces. He cut down the Asherah poles. He covered the ground where they had been with human bones.[g]
15 Josiah also destroyed the altar at Bethel. It was an altar for false gods that Nebat's son, King Jeroboam had made. King Jeroboam had caused the people of Israel to do bad things. Josiah completely destroyed that altar. He broke its stones into small pieces so that only dust remained. He also burned the Asherah pole.
16 Then Josiah looked around and he saw graves on the hill. He sent someone to bring the bones from them. He burned them on the altar, so that people could not use it again. The Lord had said that this would happen when King Jeroboam was standing beside the altar. A man of God had spoken God's message to Jeroboam during a festival.
Josiah looked up and he saw the grave of the man of God who had spoken God's message. 17 He asked, ‘Whose grave stone is that?’ The men from Bethel city said to him, ‘It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah. You have now done to this altar at Bethel the things that he said would happen.’ 18 King Josiah said, ‘Do not do anything to his grave. Do not remove his bones.’ So they did not do anything with the bones of the man of God. They also left the bones of the old prophet who had come from Samaria.[h]
19 King Josiah removed the altars on the hills in all the towns of Samaria. The kings of Israel had built those altars and that had made the Lord angry. Josiah destroyed all of them, in the same way that he destroyed the altar at Bethel. 20 He punished with death all the priests who served false gods at those altars. He killed them on their own altars. He burned human bones on all the altars. After he had done that, he went back to Jerusalem.
21 Then the king commanded all the people, ‘The Book of God's Covenant teaches about the Passover festival. Now you must eat that Passover meal to give honour to the Lord your God.’ 22 Since the time when the judges ruled Israel, the Israelites had not had a Passover festival like that. They had never had it during the time when kings ruled Judah and Israel. 23 But in the 18th year that Josiah ruled Judah as king, the people once again had a Passover festival to give honour to the Lord.
24 Josiah did other things to obey the rules that were written in the Book of God's Law. That was the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the Lord's temple. Josiah removed the people who spoke to the spirits of dead people and the other magicians. He destroyed the images that people worshipped in their homes. He destroyed all the other idols that people had started to worship in Jerusalem and in all Judah.
25 Josiah turned to the Lord and he served the Lord faithfully with all his strength. He obeyed all the Law of Moses. No other king was like Josiah, either before him or after him.
26 But the Lord continued to be angry with the people of Judah. The wicked things that King Manasseh did had made him very angry. 27 So the Lord said, ‘I will also send Judah away from me, as I sent Israel away. I will refuse to stay in Jerusalem and in my temple. I chose the city to be my home and the place where people would worship me. But now I will leave there. ’
King Josiah dies
28 The other things that happened while Josiah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Josiah did.
29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt, took his army up to the River Euphrates. He went there to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah took his army to fight against Pharaoh Necho. But Necho killed Josiah in a battle at Megiddo. 30 Josiah's servants put his dead body in a chariot. They took it from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried him in his own grave. Then the people of Judah poured olive oil on the head of Josiah's son Jehoahaz. So he became king after his father.[i]
Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim
31 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah, who came from Libnah. 32 Jehoahaz did things that the Lord said were evil. 33 Pharaoh Necho kept him in a prison at Riblah, so that Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem. Riblah is in the Hamath region. Necho made Judah pay tax to him. It was 3,400 kilograms of silver and 34 kilograms of gold.
34 Pharaoh Necho made Josiah's son Eliakim become the new king of Judah. Necho changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz away to Egypt. Later, Jehoahaz died in Egypt. 35 King Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho all the silver and gold that he asked for. But King Jehoiakim had to make the people of Judah pay taxes so that he could pay Pharaoh Necho. Each person in Judah had to pay what was right, if they were rich or if they were poor.
36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled for 11 years as king in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah. She was the daughter of Pedaiah, who came from Rumah. 37 Jehoiakim did things that the Lord said were evil, as his ancestors had done.
31 While that was happening, the disciples said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, eat something.’ 32 But he said to them, ‘I have food that I can eat. But you do not know about it.’ 33 So the disciples asked each other, ‘Could someone have brought food to him?’ 34 Jesus said to them, ‘My Father has sent me. I must do the things he wants me to do. I must finish the work that he has given to me to do. That is my food. 35 You often say, “It is still four more months until the plants in the farmers' fields will be ready for the harvest.” But I say that you should open your eyes. Look at the fields. The plants are ready for the harvest now. 36 The workers are already bringing in the fruit and their master is paying them. As a result, people are receiving life for ever with God. So the person who plants the seeds will be very happy. And the person who brings in the fruit will also be very happy. Both of them will be happy together. 37 You also say, “One person plants the seeds and another person brings in the fruit.” Now you can see that this is true. 38 I have sent you to bring people to me like a harvest of fruit. You did not do the work to prepare that fruit. Other people did that hard work. Now you have brought in the fruit that they worked for. That makes you happy.’
39 Many of the people who lived in that town in Samaria heard the woman's story. She had said to them, ‘He told me all the things that I have ever done!’ Because of this, they believed in Jesus. 40 So when these people came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them. So he stayed there for two days. 41 Many more people believed in Jesus when they listened to his own words. 42 The people said to the woman, ‘Now we believe in him because we ourselves have heard him. We do not believe only because of what you told us. He really is the man that God has sent to save the world. We know that now.’
Jesus makes an officer's son well
43 After those two days in Samaria, Jesus left there and he went to Galilee. 44 Jesus himself had said earlier, ‘When a prophet of God visits his own town, the people there will not accept him.’ 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the people there were happy to see him. They had been in Jerusalem at the Passover festival too. They had seen all the things that Jesus had done there.
46 Jesus visited Cana again. This was the town in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. A certain man who was one of the king's officers was there. This officer had a son who was at his home in Capernaum. His son was very ill. 47 The officer had heard the news that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea. So he went to Jesus and asked him to go to Capernaum. His son was dying. So he asked Jesus strongly to make his son well again.
48 Jesus said to him, ‘You people want me to do great miracles that will surprise you. Unless you see these great miracles, none of you will ever believe my message.’ 49 The king's officer said to Jesus, ‘Sir, come with me now before my child dies.’ 50 Jesus replied, ‘Go home. Your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus had said. He started to go home. 51 While he was on the way, his servants met him. They told him, ‘Your child is now well. He will live.’ 52 He asked them, ‘At what time did he start to get well?’ They told him, ‘It was yesterday afternoon, at one o'clock. Then his body was no longer hot.’ 53 Then the father remembered. He knew it was the time when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So the man and all his family believed in Jesus.
54 This was the second miracle that Jesus did after he returned from Judea to Galilee.
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