2 Kings 10; 2 Kings 11; 2 Kings 12; John 1:29-51

1 Ahab had 70 male heirs in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters to the officials of Jezreel, the respected leaders, and the guardians of Ahab's descendants in Samaria. The letters read,

2 "Your master's heirs are with you, and you have chariots, horses, fortified cities, and weapons. As soon as this letter reaches you,

3 choose the best and most honest of your master's heirs, and put him on Ahab's throne. Fight for your master's family."

4 But they panicked. They said, "If two kings couldn't stand up to him, how can we stand up to him?"

5 So the official in charge of the palace, the mayor of the city, the respected leaders, and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: "We are your servants. We'll do everything you tell us. We won't make anyone king. Do what you think is best."

6 So he wrote them a second letter. It read, "If you are on my side and ready to listen to me, bring the heads of your master's heirs to me in Jezreel about this time tomorrow." The 70 male heirs were staying with the city's most powerful men. These men had raised them.

7 When the letter came to the men, they slaughtered all 70 heirs. They put the heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel.

8 A messenger told him, "They've brought the heads of the king's heirs." Jehu said, "Put them in two piles at the entrance to the gateway until morning."

9 In the morning he stood there. He told the people, "You are innocent. I plotted against my master and killed him. But who killed all these men?

10 You can be sure that the word of the LORD spoken about Ahab's family will be fulfilled. The LORD will do what he said through his servant Elijah."

11 Jehu also killed every member of Ahab's household who was left in Jezreel: all the most powerful men, friends, and priests. Not one of them was left.

12 Then Jehu left for Samaria. When he came to Beth Eked of the Shepherds,

13 he found some relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah. "Who are you?" he asked. They answered, "We're Ahaziah's relatives. We've come to greet the families of the king and the queen mother."

14 Jehu ordered, "Capture them!" [Jehu's men] captured and slaughtered 42 of them at a cistern near Beth Eked. They didn't leave any survivors.

15 When he left that place, he met Jehonadab, son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, "Are you as loyal to me as I am to you?" "I am," Jehonadab answered. [So Jehu said,] "If you are, give me your hand." When he gave Jehu his hand, Jehu helped him up into the chariot.

16 Jehu said, "Come with me. See how devoted I am to the LORD." So he had Jehonadab ride on his chariot.

17 When they arrived in Samaria, Jehu killed the rest of Ahab's family, every member who was left in Samaria. He wiped them out, as the LORD had told Elijah.

18 Then Jehu brought all the people together. He said, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him a lot.

19 Summon all the prophets, servants, and priests of Baal. Make sure no one is missing because I have a great sacrifice to offer Baal. Whoever is missing will not live." (Jehu was deceiving [them]. He actually wanted to destroy those who worshiped Baal.)

20 Jehu said, "Call a holy assembly to honor Baal." So they did.

21 Jehu sent messengers to all the Israelites. All the worshipers of Baal came, and there wasn't one who didn't come. They went into the temple of Baal and filled it from one end to the other.

22 Then Jehu told the man in charge of the priests' robes, "Bring out the robes for all the worshipers of Baal." So he brought out robes for them.

23 Jehu and Jehonadab, son of Rechab, went into the temple of Baal and said to the worshipers of Baal, "Make sure that there are no worshipers of the LORD here with you. Only the worshipers of Baal should be here."

24 So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. But Jehu had stationed 80 of his men outside. He said[to them], "If any of the people I'm putting in your hands escape, you will pay for their lives with yours."

25 When the burnt offerings had been made, Jehu said to the guards and attendants, "Kill them. Don't let anyone get away." So they used swords to kill the Baal worshipers and threw out the bodies until the guards and attendants came to the stronghold in the temple of Baal.

26 Then they brought out the large sacred stone of the temple of Baal and burned it.

27 They destroyed the sacred stone of Baal and the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine. It is still a latrine today.

28 So Jehu got rid of Baal worship throughout Israel.

29 But Jehu did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam (Nebat's son) led Israel to commit--[the worship of] the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan.

30 The LORD said to Jehu, "You did what I consider right, and you did it well. You did everything I wanted done to Ahab's family. That is why four generations of your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel."

31 But Jehu didn't wholeheartedly obey the teachings of the LORD God of Israel. He didn't turn away from the sins that Jeroboam led Israel to commit.

32 So in those days the LORD began to take away some of Israel's territory. Hazael defeated Jehu's army throughout Israel's territory

33 east of the Jordan River: the entire region of Gilead (the territory belonging to Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh) from Aroer, which is near the Arnon River, to Gilead and Bashan.

34 Isn't everything else about Jehu--everything he did, all his heroic acts--written in the official records of the kings of Israel?

35 Jehu lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz succeeded him as king.

36 Jehu ruled as king of Israel in Samaria for 28 years.

1 When Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, saw that her son was dead, she began to destroy the entire royal family.

2 But Jehosheba, daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Ahaziah's son Joash. She saved him from being killed with the king's other sons, and in a bedroom she hid him and his nurse from Athaliah. So Joash wasn't killed

3 but was hidden with her in the LORD's temple for six years while Athaliah ruled the country.

4 In the seventh year of Athaliah's reign, Jehoiada sent for the company commanders of the Carites and the guards and had them come to him in the LORD's temple. He made an agreement with them, put them under oath in the LORD's temple, and showed them the king's son.

5 He ordered them, "This is what you must do: One third of you, those who are on duty on the day of worship, must guard the royal palace.

6 Another third must be at Sur Gate. And another third must be at the gate behind the guards. You will guard the king's residence.

7 Then your two groups who [normally] go off duty on the day of worship must guard the king at the LORD's temple.

8 Surround the king. Each man should have his weapons in his hand. Kill anyone who tries to break through your ranks. Stay with the king wherever he goes."

9 The company commanders did as the priest Jehoiada had ordered them. Each commander took his men who were coming on duty on the day of worship as well as those who were about to go off duty and came to the priest Jehoiada.

10 He gave the commanders the spears and the shields that had belonged to King David but were now in the LORD's temple.

11 The guards stood with their weapons in their hands. They were stationed around the king and around the altar and the temple (from the south side to the north side of the temple).

12 Then Jehoiada brought out the king's son, gave him the crown and the religious instructions, and made him king by anointing him. As the guards clapped their hands, they said, "Long live the king!"

13 When Athaliah heard the noise made by the guards and the other people, she went into the LORD's temple, where the people were.

14 She looked, and the king was standing by the pillar according to custom. The commanders and the trumpeters were by his side. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. As Athaliah tore her clothes [in distress], she cried, "Treason, treason!"

15 Then the priest Jehoiada ordered the company commanders who were in charge of the army, "Take her out of the temple. Use your sword to kill anyone who follows her." (The priest had said, "She must not be killed in the LORD's temple.")

16 So they arrested her as she came to the street where the horses enter the royal palace, and there she was killed.

17 Jehoiada made a promise to the LORD on behalf of the king and his people that they would be the LORD's people. He made other promises between the king and the people.

18 Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed Baal's altars and his statues and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. Next, the priest appointed officials to be in charge of the LORD's temple.

19 He took the company commanders of the Carites and the guards and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the LORD's temple. They went down the street that goes through Guards' Gate to the royal palace. Then Joash sat on the royal throne.

20 All the people of the land were celebrating. But the city was quiet because they had killed Athaliah with a sword at the royal palace.

21 Joash was seven years old when he began to rule.

1 Joash began to rule in Jehu's seventh year as king of Israel, and he ruled for 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah from Beersheba.

2 Joash did what the LORD considered right, as long as the priest Jehoiada instructed him.

3 But the illegal places of worship weren't torn down. The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at these worship sites.

4 Joash told the priests, "[Collect] all the holy contributions that are brought into the LORD's temple--the money each person is currently required to bring and all the money brought voluntarily to the LORD's temple.

5 Each of the priests should receive it from the donors and use it to make repairs on the temple where they are needed."

6 But by Joash's twenty-third year as king, the priests still had not repaired the temple.

7 So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, "Why aren't you repairing the damage in the temple? Don't take any more money from the donors [for your own use]. Instead, use it to make repairs on the temple."

8 The priests agreed neither to receive money from the people [for personal use] nor to be responsible for repairing the temple.

9 Then the priest Jehoiada took a box, drilled a hole in its lid, and put it at the right side of the altar as one comes into the LORD's temple. The priests who guarded the entrance put the money that was brought to the LORD's temple in the box.

10 Whenever they saw a lot of money in the box, the king's scribe and the chief priest would collect and count the money that was donated in the LORD's temple.

11 Then they would give the money that had been weighed to the men who had been appointed to work on the LORD's temple. They used it to pay the carpenters, builders,

12 masons, and stonecutters. They also used it to buy wood and cut stones to make repairs on the LORD's temple and to buy anything else that they needed for the temple repairs.

13 But no silver bowls, snuffers, dishes, trumpets, or any other gold and silver utensils were made for the LORD's temple with the money that was brought.

14 Instead, the money was given to the workmen, and they used it to repair the temple.

15 They didn't require the men who were entrusted with the money for the workers to give an account, because they were honest people.

16 The money from the guilt offerings and the offerings for sin was not brought into the LORD's temple. It belonged to the priests.

17 At this time King Hazael of Aram fought against Gath and conquered it. He was also determined to attack Jerusalem.

18 So King Joash of Judah took all the gifts his ancestors Kings Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah of Judah, had dedicated to the LORD, the things he had dedicated to the LORD, and all the gold that could be found in the storerooms of the LORD's temple and the royal palace. He sent these things to King Hazael of Aram, who called off the attack on Jerusalem.

19 Isn't everything else about Joash--everything he did--written in the official records of the kings of Judah?

20 His own officials plotted against him and killed him at Beth Millo on the road that goes down to Silla.

21 Joash's officials Jozacar, son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of Shomer, executed him. They buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

29 John saw Jesus coming toward him the next day and said, "Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

30 He is the one I spoke about when I said, 'A man who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.'

31 I didn't know who he was. However, I came to baptize with water to show him to the people of Israel."

32 John said, "I saw the Spirit come down as a dove from heaven and stay on him.

33 I didn't know who he was. But God, who sent me to baptize with water, had told me, 'When you see the Spirit come down and stay on someone, you'll know that person is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

34 I have seen this and have declared that this is the Son of God."

35 The next day John was standing with two of his disciples.

36 John saw Jesus walk by. John said, "Look! This is the Lamb of God."

37 When the two disciples heard John say this, they followed Jesus.

38 Jesus turned around and saw them following him. He asked them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which means "teacher"), "where are you staying?"

39 Jesus told them, "Come, and you will see." So they went to see where he was staying and spent the rest of that day with him. It was about ten o'clock in the morning.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two disciples who heard John and followed Jesus.

41 Andrew at once found his brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means "Christ").

42 Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and said, "You are Simon, son of John. Your name will be Cephas" (which means "Peter").

43 The next day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, "Follow me!"

44 (Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.)

45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the man whom Moses wrote about in his teachings and whom the prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, son of Joseph, from the city of Nazareth."

46 Nathanael said to Philip, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip told him, "Come and see!"

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and remarked, "Here is a true Israelite who is sincere."

48 Nathanael asked Jesus, "How do you know anything about me?" Jesus answered him, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49 Nathanael said to Jesus, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!"

50 Jesus replied, "You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that."

51 Jesus said to Nathanael, "I can guarantee this truth: You will see the sky open and God's angels going up and coming down to the Son of Man."