Old/New Testament

Ahaz’s Sin in the Valley of Ben-hinnom

28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. But he did not do what was right in the eyes of Adonai as his father David had done, ² but followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made molten images for the Baalim. ³ Moreover, he burned incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Adonai had driven out before Bnei-Yisrael. ⁴ He offered sacrifices and burned incense in the high places, on the hills and under every leafy tree.

⁵ Therefore Adonai his God gave him into the hand of the king of Aram who defeated him and took away from him many prisoners and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who inflicted many casualties on him. ⁶ In one day, Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 valiant soldiers of Judah—because they had forsaken Adonai, the God of their fathers.

Mercy Shown to Judah’s Captives

⁷ Also Zichri, a warrior from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the official in charge of the palace and Elkanah the second to the king. ⁸ Men of Israel carried away captive 200,000 of their kinsmen, women, sons and daughters. They also took away a great deal of plunder from them that they brought to Samaria.

⁹ But a prophet of Adonai named Oded was there and he went out to meet the army on its return to Samaria. He said to them, “Behold, because Adonai, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He has given them into your hand and you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches to heaven. ¹⁰ So now you intend to bring into bondage the children of Judah and Jerusalem as your male and female slaves? Are you not also guilty of transgressions against Adonai your God? ¹¹ So now, listen to me. Send back the prisoners you have captured from your kinsmen—for the fierce wrath of Adonai is upon you!”

¹² Then some of the leaders of the sons of Ephraim—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—confronted those coming from the campaign, ¹³ and said to them, “Do not bring the captives in here, for that would cause us to trespass against Adonai. Do you intend to add to our sins and our guilt? For our guilt is already great, and his fierce anger is already against Israel.”

¹⁴ So the soldiers released the captives and the plunder in the presence of the chieftains and the entire congregation. ¹⁵ Then the men designated by name stood up and took the captives, and they clothed all who were naked from the plunder. They gave them clothes and sandals, food and drink, anointed them, led all the feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them back to their kinsmen at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

Ahaz Leads Judah Into Idolatry

¹⁶ About that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help. ¹⁷ Once again the Edomites had come and invaded Judah and taken captives, ¹⁸ while the Philistines had raided the towns in the foothills and in the South of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon and Gederot, as well as Soho, Timnah and Gimzo with their villages. ¹⁹ For Adonai humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he threw off restraint in Judah and trespassed against Adonai. ²⁰ Tilgat-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him— ²¹ even though Ahaz plundered the House of Adonai, the house of the king and the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria—it did not help him.

²² In his time of distress, this same King Ahaz acted even more unfaithfully to Adonai. ²³ He even sacrificed to the gods of Damascus after he had been defeated, for he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them and they will help me.” But they caused the downfall of him and all Israel.

²⁴ Ahaz even collected the utensils of the House of God and cut the utensils of the House of God into pieces. He shut the doors of the House of Adonai and made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every town of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods—provoking Adonai, the God of his fathers.

²⁶ Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷ Then Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not brought into the tombs of the kings of Israel. Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Hezekiah Restores the Temple

29 Hezekiah became king when he was 25 years old, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. ² He did right in the eyes of Adonai, just as his father David had done. ³ In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the House of Adonai and repaired them. ⁴ He brought in the kohanim and the Levites and assembled them into the eastern square.

⁵ Then he said to them: “Listen to me, Levites! Sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the House of Adonai, the God of your fathers, and remove the defilement out of the holy place. ⁶ Our fathers acted unfaithfully and did evil in the sight of Adonai Eloheinu and have forsaken Him. They turned their faces away from Adonai’s dwelling place and turned their backs on Him. ⁷ They also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or offering any burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore, the wrath of Adonai was upon Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them an object of horror, dread and scorn, as you are seeing with your own eyes. ⁹ Behold, for this our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, daughters and wives are in captivity.

¹⁰ “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Adonai, the God of Israel, so that His fierce anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, now do not be negligent, for Adonai has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be His ministers and to burn incense to Him.”

¹² Then these Levites arose: from the sons of Kohath, Mahath son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah; from the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; from the sons of Gershon, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah; ¹³ from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; ¹⁴ from the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵ When they had gathered their brothers and sanctified themselves, they went in, as the king ordered according to the words of Adonai, to cleanse the House of Adonai.

¹⁶ So the kohanim went into the inner part of the House of Adonai to purify it. They brought out to the courtyard of the House of Adonai every impure thing that they found in the temple of Adonai. Then the Levites received it and carried it out to Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of Adonai. For eight days they consecrated the House of Adonai and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.

¹⁸ Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have purified the entire House of Adonai—the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, the table of the rows of bread with all the vessels. ¹⁹ We have also prepared and concecrated all the articles that King Ahaz discarded in his unfaithfulness, while he was king. Behold, they are now before the altar of Adonai.”

²⁰ Then King Hezekiah arose early gathered the leaders of the city and went up to the House of Adonai. ²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven he-goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary and Judah, and he commanded the kohanim—the sons of Aaron—to offer them on the altar of Adonai. ²² So they slaughtered the bulls and the kohanim took the blood and sprinkled it against the altar; next they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood against the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood against the altar. ²³ The he-goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the congregation, and they laid their hands on them. ²⁴ The kohanim then slaughtered them and purified the altar with their blood to make atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

²⁵ He stationed the Levites in the House of Adonai with cymbals, harps and lyres, according to the command of David, of Gad the king’s seer and of Nathan the prophet. For the command was by the authority of Adonai through His prophets. ²⁶ So the Levites stood with David’s instruments and the kohanim with the trumpets.

²⁷ Then Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song of Adonai also began with the trumpets, together with the instruments of King David of Israel. ²⁸ The entire congregation prostrated themselves, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹ Now at the completion of the burnt offering, the king and all who were present with him knelt down and worshiped. ³⁰ Moreover, King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to Adonai with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah responded and said, “You have now consecrated yourselves to Adonai. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the House of Adonai.” The congregation brought in sacrifices and thankofferings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.

³² The number of the burnt offerings that the congregation brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs—all of these as a burnt offering to Adonai. ³³ The animals consecrated as sacrifices were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. ³⁴ The kohanim, however, were too few to flay all the burnt offerings, so their kinsmen, the Levites, helped them until the work was completed, and until other kohanim had consecrated themselves. For the Levites had been more conscientious to consecrate themselves than the kohanim. ³⁵ There were also a great many burnt offerings, along with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offering at every burnt offering.

Thus the avodah of the House of Adonai was reestablished. ³⁶ Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because of what God had enabled the people to accomplish, because it happened so suddenly.

The Son Glorifies the Father

17 Yeshua spoke these things; then, lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, so the Son may glorify You. ² Even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, so may He give eternal life to all those You have given Him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua the Messiah, the One You sent. ⁴ I glorified You on earth by finishing the work that You have given Me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world came to be.”

Yeshua Prays for His Disciples

⁶ “I have made Your name known to the men of this world that You gave Me. They were Yours; You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷ Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You. ⁸ The words, which You gave Me, I have given to them. They received them and truly understood that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. ⁹ I ask on their behalf. Not on behalf of the world do I ask, but on behalf of those You have given Me, for they are Yours. ¹⁰ All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹ I am no longer in the world; but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name that You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are. ¹² While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the son of destruction,^[a] so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

¹³ “But now I am coming to You. I say these words while I am still in the world, so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them Your word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

¹⁷ “Make them holy in the truth. Your word is truth. ¹⁸ Just as You sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I make Myself holy, so that they also may be made holy in truth.”

Interceding for All Believers

²⁰ “I pray not on behalf of these only, but also for those who believe in Me through their message, ²¹ that they all may be one. Just as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You, so also may they be one in Us, so the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² The glory that You have given to Me I have given to them, that they may be one just as We are one— ²³ I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them as You loved Me.

²⁴ “Father, I also want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory—the glory You gave Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ Righteous Father, the world did not know You, but I knew You; and these knew that You sent Me. ²⁶ I made your Name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”