Old/New Testament
Chapter 15
Further Reforms. 1 The spirit of God came upon Azariah, son of Oded. 2 He went forth to meet Asa and said to him: “Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you when you are with him, and if you seek him he will be found; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.(A) 3 For a long time Israel was without a true God, without a priest-teacher, without instruction, 4 but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.(B) 5 At that time there was no peace for anyone to go or come; rather, there were many terrors upon the inhabitants of the lands. 6 Nation crushed nation and city crushed city,(C) for God overwhelmed them with every kind of distress. 7 But as for you, be strong and do not slack off, for there shall be a reward for what you do.”(D)
8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy (Oded the prophet), he was encouraged to remove the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the highlands of Ephraim, and to restore the altar of the Lord which was before the vestibule of the Lord. 9 Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, together with those of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were resident with them; for many had defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord, his God, was with him. 10 They gathered at Jerusalem in the third month[a] of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign, 11 and sacrificed to the Lord on that day seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from the spoils they had brought. 12 (E)They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul; 13 and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, from least to greatest, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. 15 All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with their whole heart and sought him with complete desire. The Lord was found by them,(F) and gave them rest on every side.
16 (G)He also deposed Maacah, the mother[b] of King Asa, from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene object for Asherah; Asa cut down this object, smashed it, and burnt it in the Wadi Kidron. 17 The high places did not disappear from Israel, yet Asa’s heart was undivided as long as he lived. 18 He brought into the house of God his father’s and his own votive offerings: silver, gold, and vessels. 19 There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
Chapter 16
Asa’s Infidelity. 1 (H)In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha, king of Israel, attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to block all movement for Asa, king of Judah. 2 Asa then brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the house of the king and sent them to Ben-hadad, king of Aram, who ruled in Damascus. He said: 3 “There is a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father. I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” 4 Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the leaders of his troops against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, besides all the store cities of Naphtali. 5 When Baasha heard of it, he left off fortifying Ramah, putting an end to his work. 6 Then King Asa commandeered all Judah and they carried away the stones and beams with which Baasha was fortifying Ramah. With them he fortified Geba and Mizpah.
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the Lord, your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped[c] your power. 8 (I)Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a vast army, with great numbers of chariots and horses? And yet, because you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your power. 9 The eyes of the Lord roam over the whole earth,(J) to encourage those who are devoted to him wholeheartedly. You have acted foolishly in this matter, for from now on you will have wars.” 10 But Asa became angry with the seer and imprisoned him in the stocks, so greatly was he enraged at him over this. Asa also oppressed some of his people at this time.
11 (K)Now the acts of Asa, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa contracted disease in his feet; it became worse, but even with this disease he did not seek the Lord, only physicians. 13 Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in the tomb he had hewn for himself in the City of David, after laying him on a couch that was filled with spices and various kinds of aromatics compounded into an ointment; and they kindled a huge fire for him.
27 “I am troubled[a] now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.(A) 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”(B) 29 The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”(C) 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.(D) 31 Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world[b] will be driven out.(E) 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”(F) 33 He said this indicating the kind of death he would die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever.[c] Then how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”(G) 35 Jesus said to them, “The light will be among you only a little while. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness may not overcome you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where he is going.(H) 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light.”(I)
Unbelief and Belief Among the Jews. After he had said this, Jesus left and hid from them. 37 [d](J)Although he had performed so many signs in their presence they did not believe in him, 38 [e]in order that the word which Isaiah the prophet spoke might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed our preaching,
to whom has the might of the Lord been revealed?”(K)
39 For this reason they could not believe, because again Isaiah said:
40 “He blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
so that they might not see with their eyes
and understand with their heart and be converted,
and I would heal them.”(L)
41 Isaiah said this because he saw his glory[f] and spoke about him.(M) 42 Nevertheless, many, even among the authorities, believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not acknowledge it openly in order not to be expelled from the synagogue.(N) 43 For they preferred human praise to the glory of God.(O)
Recapitulation. 44 Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me,(P) 45 and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.(Q) 46 I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.(R) 47 And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.(S) 48 Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day,(T) 49 because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.(U) 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.