Old/New Testament
Jehoiada Establishes Joash as King(A)
23 Seven years later, Jehoiada mustered up some courage and made a deal with the officers who commanded units of hundreds of soldiers, including Jehoram’s son Azariah, Jehochanan’s son Ishmael, Obed’s son Azariah, Adaiah’s son Maaseiah, and Zichri’s son Elishaphat. 2 They traveled throughout Judah and gathered together the descendants of Levi from all the cities of Judah, along with the Israeli family leaders. 3 Everybody went to Jerusalem, and the whole group made a covenant with the king in God’s Temple, where Jehoiada[a] addressed them:
“Look! The king’s son is going to rule, just as the Lord promised David’s descendants. 4 So here’s what you’ll need to do: One third of you priests and descendants of Levi who are on duty during the Sabbath will serve as guards at the temple gates. 5 Another third of you priests and descendants of Levi[b] will take your places in the royal palace, while another third of you priests and descendants of Levi[c] will stand near the Foundation Gate. The rest of you will remain in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. 6 Nobody is to enter the Lord’s Temple except for the priests and descendants of Levi who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially holy, but all the rest of the people must observe the Lord’s instructions. 7 The descendants of Levi will surround the king, brandishing weapons in their hands, and anybody who enters the Temple will be killed. Stay near the king wherever he enters and leaves.”
8 What Jehoiada the priest ordered is precisely what the descendants of Levi and all of Judah did. Each of them took the men who were on duty on the Sabbath as well as those who were off duty. Jehoiada the priest did not release the divisions from service, 9 and Jehoiada the priest issued the spears and shields that King David had placed in storage in God’s Temple to the officers in charge of the units of hundreds. 10 He set the rest of the people to serve as guards for the king, and each one brandished weapons in his hand, from the south side of the Temple to the north side of the Temple, around the altar, and surrounding the palace. 11 Then he brought out the king’s son, put a crown on him, and presented him with the Testimony,[d]
Joash is Crowned and Athaliah Executed(B)
12 When Athaliah heard all the commotion of the people running around and praising the king, she went straight to the Lord’s Temple to confront[e] the people. 13 She looked around, and there was the king, standing by his pillar at the gate, accompanied by officers and trumpeters who stood beside the king, along with all the people of the land rejoicing and sounding trumpets while singers lead the celebration with their musical instruments. Athaliah tore her robes and yelled “Treason! Treason!”
14 But Jehoiada the priest summoned the captains of hundreds who had been appointed in charge over the army and ordered them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and execute anyone who follows her.” The priest also told them, “Don’t execute her in the Lord’s Temple.” 15 So they arrested her when she arrived at the entrance to the Horse Gate near the royal palace, and then they executed her there.
Jehoiada’s Reforms(C)
16 After this, Jehoiada drew up a covenant between himself as an individual with all the people, and between himself as king, that they would be the Lord’s people. 17 Then all the people went to the temple of Baal, broke its altars and idols to pieces, and executed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. 18 Jehoiada also placed the offices of the Lord’s Temple under the authority of the Levitical priests whom David had assigned over the Lord’s Temple, just as is required by the Law of Moses, to offer the Lord’s burnt offerings with joy and singing, just as David had ordered. 19 Jehoiada[f] also stationed inspectors[g] at the Lord’s Temple so that no one would enter who was ritually unclean in any manner. 20 He also took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the people’s governors, and all the people of the land, and they all marched with the king from the Lord’s Temple through the upper gate to the royal palace, where they installed the king on his royal throne. 21 There all of the people of the land rejoiced and the city stayed quiet, because they had executed Athaliah with a sword.
Joash Follows Jehoiada’s Example(D)
24 Joash was seven years old when he began his reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah. She was from Beer-sheba. 2 Joash practiced what the Lord considered to be right during the lifetime[h] of Jehoiada the priest, 3 who found two wives for him, so he fathered sons and daughters.
4 Later on, Joash decided to rebuild the Lord’s Temple, 5 so he assembled the priests and descendants of Levi and ordered them, “Go throughout the cities of Judah and take up a collection[i] from all of Israel for the annual upkeep[j] of the Temple of your God. And make sure that you act quickly.” But the descendants of Levi did not act quickly, 6 so the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and asked him, “Why haven’t you required the descendants of Levi to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the Lord’s servant, and the assembly of Israel for the Tent of Testimony?”
7 Because that wicked woman Athaliah’s family members had broken into the Temple of God and used the consecrated implements of the Lord’s Temple for service to the Baals, 8 the king issued an order and a chest was made and set outside the entrance gate to the Lord’s Temple. 9 A public notice was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in the tax that Moses the servant of the Lord had levied on Israel when they were in the wilderness. 10 So all the princes and all the people gladly brought their tax and placed it into the chest until they had completed paying the tax.[k] 11 Whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officials by the descendants of Levi, the royal secretary and the chief priest’s designated officer would come, empty the chest, and take it back to its place. They did this day after day until they had collected a large amount of cash.[l]
12 Both the king and Jehoiada paid the money to those who were working to maintain the service of the Lord’s Temple, and they, in turn, hired masons and carpenters to restore the Lord’s Temple. Iron and bronze workers also were brought in to repair the Lord’s Temple. 13 As a result, the workmen did their labor, and the repair work progressed steadily under their supervision,[m] and they restored God’s Temple back to what it should be, and strengthened it, too. 14 When they had completed the work, they brought what was left of the money to the king and to Jehoiada, and it was used to cast utensils for the Lord’s Temple that were to be utilized for daily service and for burnt offerings, for incense vessels, and for both gold and silver vessels. Burnt offerings were offered on a regular basis in the Lord’s Temple throughout Jehoiada’s lifetime.
Joash Apostatizes and Kills Jehoiada’s Son
15 Eventually, Jehoiada grew old and died at the age of 130 years, after having lived a full life. 16 He was buried in the City of David among the graves of[n] the kings, because he had accomplished many good things in Israel on behalf of God and his Temple. 17 But after Jehoiada had died, officials from Judah came, bowed down to the king, and the king listened to what they had to say. 18 They abandoned the Lord’s Temple and the God of their fathers, and they served Asherim[o] and idols. As a result this guilt of theirs resulted in wrath coming upon Judah and Jerusalem. 19 Nevertheless, God[p] sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord.
20 Then Jehoiada the priest’s son Zechariah was clothed by the Spirit of God, and he stood above the people and told them, “This is what God has to say: ‘Why are you breaking the Lord’s commandments. You’ll never be successful! Because you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you.’”
21 But the people[q] conspired against him, and at the direct orders of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. 22 This is how King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him: he killed his son. As he lay dying, Zechariah cried out, “May the Lord watch this and avenge.”
The Death of Joash(E)
23 At the end of that year, the Aramean army attacked Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, destroyed every senior official among the people, and sent all of their possessions to the king of Damascus. 24 The Aramean army attacked with only a small force, but the Lord delivered a much larger army into their control because Judah[r] had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. And so the Aramean army carried out God’s[s] judgment on Joash. 25 After the Arameans left him very sick, Joash’s[t] own servants conspired against him because Joash[u] had murdered Jehoiada the priest’s son, and they killed him on his sick bed. 26 The conspirators included Shimeath the Ammonite’s son Zabad and Shimrith the Moabite’s son Jehozabad. 27 Records concerning his sons, the various prophetic statements rebuking him, and records of the reconstruction work on God’s Temple are written in the Midrash[v] of the Book of the Kings. Joash’s[w] son Amaziah reigned in his place.
Jesus the True Vine
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vintner. 2 He cuts off every branch that does not produce fruit in me, and he cuts back every branch that does produce fruit, so that it might produce more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of what I’ve spoken to you.
4 “Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him[a] produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Unless a person abides in me, he is thrown away like a pruned[b] branch and dries up. People gather such branches,[c] throw them into a fire, and they are burned up.
7 “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask for anything you want, and you’ll receive it. 8 This is how my Father is glorified, when you produce a lot of fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. So abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you’ll abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I’ve told you this, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12 “This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one shows[d] greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends, if you do what I command you. 15 I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends, because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father.
16 “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last,[e] so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 17 I am giving you these commandments so that you may love one another.”
The World’s Hatred
18 “If the world hates you, you should realize that it hated me before you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it,[f] the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 They will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.
22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The person who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I hadn’t done among them the actions that no one else did, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that[g] what has been written in their Law might be fulfilled: ‘They hated me for no reason.’[h]
26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father— the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father—he will testify on my behalf. 27 You will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning.
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