Old/New Testament

Jehoram becomes king of Judah

21 Jehoshaphat died and they buried him beside his ancestors in the City of David. Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram became king after him. ² Jehoram had brothers who were also sons of Jehoshaphat. They were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these men were sons of King Jehoshaphat of Judah.^{[a] 3} Their father had given them many gifts of silver, gold and other valuable things. He gave them authority over the strong cities of Judah. But Jehoshaphat chose Jehoram be the next king because he was his oldest son.

⁴ Jehoram made himself a strong king to rule over his father's kingdom. Then he killed all his brothers, as well as some of the Israelite leaders. ⁵ He was 32 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for eight years.

⁶ He lived in the same bad way that the kings of Israel did. He did what the family of Ahab had done. He married a daughter of King Ahab and he became as wicked as King Ahab's family was. He did things that the Lord said were evil. ⁷ But the Lord did not want to destroy all David's descendants, because of his promise to David. He had promised that King David would always have descendants who would rule the nation.

Edom fights against Judah

⁸ While Jehoram was king, Edom's people turned against Judah. They would no longer accept the king of Judah's authority over them. They decided to have their own king. ⁹ So King Jehoram travelled to Zair with his army officers and all his chariots.^[b] The Edomite army came and they were all around him. But that night, Jehoram and his officers attacked the Edomites and they escaped. ¹⁰ Even today, Edom's people do not obey the rulers of Judah. The people of Libnah city also turned against Judah at the same time. That happened because Jehoram had turned away from the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

¹¹ He also built altars on the hills of Judah. He caused the people of Judah and Jerusalem to turn away from the Lord and worship false gods.^[c]

Elijah gives a message to King Jehoram

¹² The prophet Elijah wrote a letter to Jehoram. This is what it said:

‘The Lord, the God of your ancestor David says, “You have not lived in a good way as your father Jehoshaphat did and as King Asa of Judah did. ¹³ Instead, you have lived in the way that the kings of Israel live. You have caused the people of Judah and Jerusalem to turn away from the Lord and worship false gods. That is the same as King Ahab's family has done in Israel. You have also killed your own brothers, your father's sons. They were better men than you are. ¹⁴ So now the Lord will send terrible trouble on your people, including your children, your wives and everything that belongs to you. ¹⁵ You will have a bad disease. You will have terrible pain in your stomach that becomes worse and worse. Finally, your inside parts will come out of your body.” ’

¹⁶ There were some Philistines and Arabs who lived near people from Ethiopia. The Lord caused them to be angry with Jehoram. ¹⁷ They attacked Judah and they took power over the land. They took away all the valuable things in the king's palace. They took his sons and his wives as their prisoners. The only son of Jehoram that remained was his youngest son, Ahaziah.^[d]

Jehoram dies

¹⁸ After all this happened, the Lord caused Jehoram to have a bad disease in his stomach. He could not become well again. ¹⁹ He was very ill for two years, and then his inside parts came out because of the illness. So he had a lot of pain until he died. His people did not make a big fire to give him honour, as they had done for his ancestors.

²⁰ Jehoram was 32 years old when he started to rule. He ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. When he died, nobody was sad. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the place where they had buried the other kings.

Ahaziah becomes king of Judah

22 The people who lived in Jerusalem chose Jehoram's youngest son, Ahaziah, to become king. The group of men who came into the city with the Arabs had killed all Jehoram's older sons. So Jehoram's son Ahaziah became the king of Judah.

² Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah. She was a granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.^[e]

³ Ahaziah lived in the same bad way that Ahab's family had done. His mother taught him to do wicked things. ⁴ He did things that the Lord said were evil, as Ahab's family had done. Ahab's family became advisors to Ahaziah after his father died, and they caused Ahaziah's death. ⁵ They told him to join with Ahab's son, King Joram of Israel, to fight against King Hazael of Syria. They fought a battle at Ramoth Gilead. The Syrian army won the fight and they hurt King Joram. ⁶ Joram returned to Jezreel, so that his wounds could get better after the battle. While he was there, King Ahaziah of Judah went to visit him, because of his wounds.

Jehu kills Ahaziah and his people

⁷ When Ahaziah visited Joram, God used it to cause Ahaziah's death. When Ahaziah arrived, he went with Joram to meet Nimshi's son Jehu. But the Lord had chosen Jehu to kill all Ahab's family. ⁸ While Jehu was destroying Ahab's family, he met some of the officers of Judah who had come with Ahaziah. Jehu killed them, as well as some of Ahaziah's relatives who had travelled with him. ⁹ Then he went to look for Ahaziah. Jehu's men caught him in the city of Samaria, where he was hiding. They took him to Jehu. Then they punished him with death. They buried him properly, because they said, ‘He was the grandson of King Jehoshaphat who served the Lord faithfully.’

Now there was nobody in Ahaziah's family who had the authority to rule Judah as king.

Athaliah rules Judah

¹⁰ Ahaziah's mother Athaliah heard the news that her son was dead. So she started to kill everyone in Judah's royal family.

¹¹ But King Jehoram's daughter Jehosheba rescued Ahaziah's son Joash. When Athaliah's servants had come to murder the royal sons, Jehosheba took Joash away and she hid him. She put him in a bedroom in the temple with his nurse. Jehosheba was Ahaziah's sister and she was the wife of Jehoiada, the priest. So she hid Joash from Athaliah to stop her from killing him. ¹² Joash stayed safely in a room in God's temple while Queen Athaliah ruled Judah for six years.

Jesus is the way to the Father

14 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Do not be sad or afraid. Believe in God, and also believe in me. ² There are many rooms in my Father's house. I will go now so that I can prepare a place for you there. If it was not true, I would not have told you this. ³ After I have prepared a place for you, I will return. Then I will take you so that you will be with me. You will be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I will go.’

⁵ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you will go. So how can we know the way to get there?’ ⁶ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Nobody comes to the Father except by me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will also know my Father. From now on, you do know him and you have seen him.’

⁸ Philip said, ‘Lord, show the Father to us. That is all that we need.’ ⁹ Jesus answered, ‘I have been with all of you for a long time. But still you do not seem to know me, Philip! Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why do you say, “Show the Father to us”? ¹⁰ I am in the Father and the Father is in me. You should believe that. The words that I say to you do not come from me myself. But the Father lives in me, and he is doing his work. ¹¹ I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Believe me when I say that. You have seen the things that I have done. So, if you do not believe my words, believe because of my work. ¹² I tell you this: Whoever believes in me will do the same things that I have been doing. Yes, he will do even greater things than these, because I will go to my Father. ¹³ Ask me to help you. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it for you. In that way, the Son will show everyone how great the Father is. ¹⁴ Yes, you should ask me for anything in my name.^[a] I will do it for you.’

Jesus promises to send God's Spirit

¹⁵ Jesus then said, ‘If you love me, do what I have told you to do. ¹⁶ I will ask the Father to help you with this. He will send another Helper to be with you. That Helper will stay with you for ever. ¹⁷ He is God's Spirit and he shows you what is true. The people who belong to this world cannot receive him. That is because they cannot see him. They cannot know who he is. But you know him because he stays with you. And he will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not let you remain alone, like children without parents. I will come to you.

¹⁹ Soon, the people who belong to this world will not see me any more. But you will see me. Because I continue to live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day, you will know that I am in my Father. You will know that you are in me and I am in you. ²¹ Those people who obey my commands are the ones who really love me. They accept my words and they do what I say. My Father will love everyone who loves me. I also will love them and I will show myself to them.’

²² Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, ‘Lord, why will you show yourself only to us? Why will you not show yourself also to the people who belong to this world?’

²³ Jesus replied, ‘Everyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them. And my Father and I will come to them and we will make our home with them. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me will not obey my message. These words that you hear are not my own. No, they come from the Father, who sent me. ²⁵ I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Father will send the Holy Spirit to be with you. He will be your Helper. He will come in my name, and he will teach you all things.^[b] He will help you to remember everything that I have told you.

²⁷ I will go away but I will give you a gift of peace. It is mine to give and yours to keep. It is not like a gift that this world gives. Do not let yourselves be sad. Do not be afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, “I will go away, but I will return to you.” If you loved me, you would be happy because of that. You would be happy because I will go to the Father. And he is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you this now, before it happens. So then, when it does happen, you will believe. ³⁰ I will not talk with you much more, because the ruler of this world will come soon. He has no power over me. ³¹ But the people who belong to this world must learn about me. They must know that I love the Father. I do everything that he tells me to do. I must show that to them. Now get up, we must go from here.’