John 16:4-33; 2 Chronicles 24; Psalms 81

John 16:4-33

4 But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you may remember I told them to you. I didn't tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

5 "But now I am going away to Him who sent Me, and not one of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'

6 Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don't go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you.

8 When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment:

9 about sin, because they do not believe in Me;

10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me;

11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

12 "I still have many things to tell you, but you can't bear them now.

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come.

14 He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you.

15 Everything the Father has is Mine. This is why I told you that He takes from what is Mine and will declare it to you.

16 "A little while and you will no longer see Me; again a little while and you will see Me."

17 Therefore some of His disciples said to one another, "What is this He tells us: 'A little while and you will not see Me; again a little while and you will see Me' ; and, 'because I am going to the Father' ?"

18 They said, "What is this He is saying, 'A little while' ? We don't know what He's talking about!"

19 Jesus knew they wanted to question Him, so He said to them, "Are you asking one another about what I said, 'A little while and you will not see Me; again a little while and you will see Me'?

20 "I assure you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.

21 When a woman is in labor she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world.

22 So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will rob you of your joy.

23 In that day you will not ask Me anything. "I assure you: Anything you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be complete.

25 "I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. A time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.

26 In that day you will ask in My name. I am not telling you that I will make requests to the Father on your behalf.

27 For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.

28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

29 "Ah!" His disciples said. "Now You're speaking plainly and not using any figurative language.

30 Now we know that You know everything and don't need anyone to question You. By this we believe that You came from God."

31 Jesus responded to them, "Do you now believe?

32 Look: An hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

33 I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world."

2 Chronicles 24

1 Joash was seven years old when he became king; he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah; [she was] from Beer-sheba.

2 Throughout the time of Jehoiada the priest, Joash did what was right in the Lord's sight.

3 Jehoiada acquired two wives for him, and he was the father of sons and daughters.

4 Afterwards, Joash took it to heart to renovate the Lord's temple.

5 So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, "Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year, and do it quickly." However, the Levites did not hurry.

6 So the king called Jehoiada the high [priest] and said, "Why haven't you required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax [imposed by] the Lord's servant Moses and the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?

7 For the sons of that wicked Athaliah broke into the Lord's temple and even used the sacred things of the Lord's temple for the Baals."

8 At the king's command a chest was made and placed outside the gate of the Lord's temple.

9 Then a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that the tax God's servant Moses [imposed] on Israel in the wilderness be brought to the Lord.

10 All the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought [the tax], and put it in the chest until it was full.

11 Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king's overseers, and when they saw that there was a large amount of money, the king's secretary and the high priest's deputy came and emptied the chest, picked it up, and returned it to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance.

12 Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those in charge of the labor on the Lord's temple, who were hiring masons and carpenters to renovate the Lord's temple, also blacksmiths and coppersmiths to repair the Lord's temple.

13 The workmen did their work, and through them the repairs progressed. They restored God's temple to its specifications and reinforced it.

14 When they finished, they presented the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, who made articles for the Lord's temple with it-articles for ministry and for making burnt offerings, and ladles and articles of gold and silver. They regularly offered burnt offerings in the Lord's temple throughout Jehoiada's life.

15 Jehoiada died when he was old and full of days; he was 130 years old at his death.

16 He was buried in the city of David with the kings because he had done [what was] good in Israel with respect to God and His temple.

17 However, after Jehoiada died, the rulers of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them,

18 and they abandoned the temple of the Lord God of their ancestors and served the Asherah poles and the idols. So there was wrath against Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

19 Nevertheless, He sent them prophets to bring them back to the Lord; they admonished them, but they would not listen.

20 The Spirit of God took control of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, "This is what God says: 'Why are you transgressing the Lord's commands and you do not prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, He has abandoned you.' "

21 But they conspired against him and stoned him at the king's command in the courtyard of the Lord's temple.

22 King Joash didn't remember the kindness that Zechariah's father Jehoiada had extended to him, but killed his son. While he was dying, he said, "May the Lord see and demand an account."

23 At the turn of the year, an Aramean army went to war against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people among them and sent all the plunder to the king of Damascus.

24 Although the Aramean army came with only a few men, the Lord handed over a vast army to them because the people of Judah had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. So they executed judgment on Joash.

25 When the Arameans saw that Joash had many wounds, they left him. His servants conspired against him, and killed him on his bed, because he had shed the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of the Ammonite woman Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of the Moabite woman Shimrith.

27 Concerning his sons, the many oracles about him, and the restoration of the Lord's temple, they are recorded in the Writing of the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah became king in his place.

Psalms 81

1 Sing for joy to God our strength; shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.

2 Lift up a song-play the tambourine, the melodious lyre, and the harp.

3 Blow the horn during the new moon and during the full moon, on the day of our feast.

4 For this is a statute for Israel, a judgment of the God of Jacob.

5 He set it up as an ordinance for Joseph when He went throughout the land of Egypt. I heard an unfamiliar language:

6 "I relieved his shoulder from the burden; his hands were freed from [carrying] the basket.

7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8 Listen, My people, and I will admonish you. Israel, if you would only listen to Me!

9 There must not be a strange god among you; you must not bow down to a foreign god.

10 I am Yahweh your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 "But My people did not listen to Me; Israel did not obey Me.

12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own plans.

13 If only My people would listen to Me and Israel would follow My ways,

14 I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes."

15 Those who hate the Lord would pretend submission to Him; their doom would last forever.

16 But He would feed Israel with the best wheat. "I would satisfy you with honey from the rock."