Joash Made King
1 mBut in the seventh year Jehoiada took courage and entered into a covenant with the commanders of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri. 2 And they went about through nJudah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers’ houses of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3 And all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And Jehoiada1 said to them, “Behold, the king’s son! Let him reign, oas the Lord spoke concerning the sons of David. 4 This is the thing that you shall do: pof you priests and Levites who come off duty on the Sabbath, one third shall be gatekeepers, 5 and one third shall be at the king’s house and one third at the Gate of the Foundation. And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. 6 Let no one enter the house of the Lord except the priests qand ministering Levites. They may enter, for they are holy, but all the people shall keep the charge of the Lord. 7 The Levites shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand. And whoever enters the house shall be put to death. Be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”
8 The Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they each brought his men, who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss rthe divisions. 9 And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains the spears and the large and small shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of God. 10 And he set all the people as a guard for the king, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house. 11 Then they brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him sthe testimony. And they proclaimed him king, and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and they said, t“Long live the king.”
Athaliah Executed
12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the house of the Lord to the people. 13 And when she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments leading in the celebration. And Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!” 14 Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains who were set over the army, saying to them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword.” For the priest said, “Do not put her to death in the house of the Lord.” 15 So they laid hands on her,2 and she went into the entrance of uthe horse gate of the king’s house, and they put her to death there.
Jehoiada’s Reforms
16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they should be the Lord’s people. 17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, vand they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18 And Jehoiada posted watchmen for the house of the Lord under the direction of wthe Levitical priests and the Levites xwhom David had organized to be in charge of the house of the Lord, to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, yas it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, zaccording to the order of David. 19 He stationed athe gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord so that no one should enter who was in any way unclean. 20 And he took the captains, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching bthrough the upper gate to the king’s house. And they set the king on the royal throne. 21 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword.
The Day of the Lord
sound an alarm on kmy holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for lthe day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2 ma day of darkness and gloom,
ma day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
na great and powerful people;
otheir like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
3 pFire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like qthe garden of Eden before them,
but rbehind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4 sTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5 tAs with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of ua flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
nlike a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
vall faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
weach marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 xThey leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
ythey climb up into the houses,
10 aThe earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
bThe sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 cThe Lord utters his voice
before dhis army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
ehe who executes his word is powerful.
fFor the day of the Lord is ggreat and very awesome;
hwho can endure it?
Return to the Lord
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
i“return to me with all your heart,
jwith fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and krend your hearts and not lyour garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
mfor he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
nand he relents over disaster.
14 oWho knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and pleave a blessing behind him,
qa grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 rBlow the trumpet in Zion;
sconsecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
tConsecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
ugather the children,
even nursing infants.
vLet the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 wBetween the xvestibule and the yaltar
zlet the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations.1
aWhy should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
The Lord Had Pity
18 bThen the Lord became jealous for his land
cand had pity on his people.
19 The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, dI am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
dand you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard2 into ethe eastern sea,
and his rear guard3 into fthe western sea;
gthe stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
21 “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for hthe Lord has done great things!
22 Fear not, iyou beasts of the field,
for jthe pastures of the wilderness are green;
kthe tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and kvine give their full yield.
23 l“Be glad, O children of Zion,
and lrejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given mthe early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore4 to you the years
that othe swarming locust has eaten,
othe hopper, othe destroyer, and othe cutter,
pmy great army, which I sent among you.
26 q“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people rshall never again be put to shame.
27 sYou shall know that I am tin the midst of Israel,
and that uI am the Lord your God vand there is none else.
And my people rshall never again be put to shame.
The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit
28 5 w“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that xI will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
yyour sons and zyour daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 aEven on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show bwonders in the heavens and bon the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 cThe sun shall be turned to darkness, dand the moon to blood, ebefore the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that feveryone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. gFor in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among hthe survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
6The Lord Judges the Nations
1 “For behold, iin those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 jI will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And kI will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and lhave cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
4 “What are you to me, mO Tyre and Sidon, and all nthe regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, oI will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For pyou have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.7 6 You have sold qthe people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and oI will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the rSabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
10 tBeat your plowshares into swords,
and tyour pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
11 uHasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
vBring down your warriors, O Lord.
12 Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to wthe Valley of Jehoshaphat;
xfor there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 yPut in the sickle,
zfor the harvest is ripe.
aGo in, tread,
afor the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For bthe day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
15 cThe sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
16 dThe Lord roars from Zion,
and dutters his voice from Jerusalem,
eand the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is fa refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
The Glorious Future of Judah
17 g“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
hwho dwells in Zion, imy holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and jstrangers shall never again pass through it.
18 “And in that day
kthe mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and lall the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
mand a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Valley of nShittim.
19 o“Egypt shall become a desolation
and pEdom a desolate wilderness,
qfor the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 rBut Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 sI will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged,9
hfor the Lord dwells in Zion.”
Paul Defends His Ministry
1 iI, Paul, myself entreat you, by the jmeekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you kthat when I am present I may not have to show lboldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the mweapons of nour warfare are not of the flesh but have odivine power pto destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and qevery lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to robey Christ, 6 sbeing ready to punish every disobedience, twhen your obedience is complete.
7 uLook at what is before your eyes. vIf anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as whe is Christ’s, xso also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of your authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but zhis bodily presence is weak, and ahis speech of no account.” 11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12 Not that we dare to classify or bcompare ourselves with some of those who care commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are dwithout understanding.
13 But we will not boast ebeyond limits, but will fboast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, gto reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. hFor we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that ias your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be jgreatly enlarged, 16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. 17 “Let kthe one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is lnot the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one mwhom the Lord commends.
