Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

1 ^jHezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah¹ the daughter of ^kZechariah. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple

3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he ^lopened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east 5 and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now ^mconsecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth² from the Holy Place. 6 For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him and ⁿhave turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. 7 They also ^oshut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore ^pthe wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them ^qan object of horror, of astonishment, ^rand of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9 For behold, ^sour fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 Now ^tit is in my heart ^uto make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not now be negligent, ^vfor the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”

12 Then the Levites arose, ^wMahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of ^xthe Kohathites; and of the sons of ^xMerari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the ^xGershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; 13 and of the sons of ^yElizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of ^zAsaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 and of the sons of ^aHeman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of ^bJeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15 They gathered their brothers and ^cconsecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded, ^dby the words of the Lord, ^eto cleanse the house of the Lord. 16 The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it and carried it out to ^fthe brook Kidron. 17 They began to consecrate ^gon the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the Lord. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread and all its utensils. 19 All the utensils ^hthat King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and consecrated, and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.”

Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship

20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. 21 And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats ⁱfor a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. 22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood ^jand threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. 23 Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly, ^kand they laid their hands on them, 24 and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, ^lto make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

25 ^mAnd he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, ⁿaccording to the commandment of David and of Gad ^othe king’s seer and of ^pNathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets. 26 The Levites stood with ^qthe instruments of David, ^rand the priests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, ^sthe song to the Lord began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 When the offering was finished, ^tthe king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. 30 And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.

31 Then Hezekiah said, ^u“You have now consecrated yourselves to³ the Lord. Come near; bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were ^vof a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32 The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. 33 And the consecrated offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. 34 But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, ^wtheir brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished—^xfor the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves. 35 Besides the great number of burnt offerings, there was ^ythe fat of the peace offerings, and there were ^zthe drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored. 36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people, for the thing came about suddenly.

The Seven Angels with Seven Plagues

1 Then ^rI saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, ^sseven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

2 And I saw ^twhat appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those ^uwho had conquered the beast and its image and ^vthe number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass ^wwith harps of God in their hands. 3 And they sing ^xthe song of Moses, ^ythe servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

5 After this I looked, and ^ethe sanctuary of ^fthe tent² of witness in heaven was opened, 6 and out of the sanctuary came ^gthe seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright ⁱlinen, ^jwith golden sashes around their chests. 7 And one of ^kthe four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven ^lgolden bowls full of the wrath of God ^mwho lives forever and ever, 8 and ⁿthe sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and ^ono one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

4 Thus said the Lord my God: ^o“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 ^pThose who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, ^qI have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For ^rI will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

7 ^sSo I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named ^uFavor, the other I named ^vUnion. ^sAnd I tended the sheep. 8 In one month ^wI destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. ^xWhat is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10 And I took ^ymy staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages ^zthirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—^athe lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the ^zthirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. 14 Then I broke ^bmy second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of ^ca foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd ^dwho does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but ^edevours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

1 ^d“Let not your hearts be troubled. ^eBelieve in God;¹ believe also in me. 2 In ^fmy Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that ^gI go to prepare a place for you?² 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you ^hto myself, that ⁱwhere I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”³ 5 ^jThomas said to him, “Lord, ^kwe do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am ^lthe way, and ^mthe truth, and ⁿthe life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 ^oIf you had known me, you would have ^pknown my Father also.⁴ From now on you do know him and ^qhave seen him.”

8 ^rPhilip said to him, “Lord, ^sshow us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? ^tWhoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that ^uI am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you ^vI do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that ^uI am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else ^wbelieve on account of the works themselves.

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^xwhoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I ^yam going to the Father. 13 ^zWhatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that ^athe Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 ^zIf you ask me⁵ anything in my name, I will do it.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 ^b“If you love me, you will ^ckeep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another ^dHelper,⁶ to be with you forever, 17 even ^ethe Spirit of truth, ^fwhom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and ^gwill be⁷ in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; ^hI will come to you. 19 ⁱYet a little while and the world will see me no more, but ^jyou will see me. ^kBecause I live, you also will live. 20 ^lIn that day you will know that ^mI am in my Father, and ⁿyou in me, and ^oI in you. 21 ^pWhoever has my commandments and ^qkeeps them, he it is who loves me. And ^rhe who loves me ^swill be loved by my Father, and I will love him and ^tmanifest myself to him.” 22 ^uJudas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it ^vthat you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, ^w“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and ^xwe will come to him and ^ymake our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And ^zthe word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the ^aHelper, the Holy Spirit, ^bwhom the Father will send in my name, ^che will teach you all things and ^dbring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 ^ePeace I leave with you; ^fmy peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. ^gLet not your hearts be troubled, neither ^hlet them be afraid. 28 ⁱYou heard me say to you, ^j‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I ^kam going to the Father, for ^lthe Father is greater than I. 29 And ^mnow I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for ⁿthe ruler of this world is coming. ^oHe has no claim on me, 31 but I do ^pas the Father has commanded me, ^qso that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.