Old/New Testament
Azariah’s Reign over Judah
15 In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Amaziah’s son Azariah became king over Judah. 2 He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah, who was from Jerusalem. 3 He did what the Lord approved, just as his father Amaziah had done.[a] 4 But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. 5 The Lord afflicted the king with an illness; he suffered from a skin disease[b] until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters,[c] while his son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.
6 The rest of the events of Azariah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[d] 7 Azariah passed away[e] and was buried[f] with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Jotham replaced him as king.
Zechariah’s Reign over Israel
8 In the thirty-eighth year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Jeroboam’s son Zechariah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for six months. 9 He did evil in the sight of[g] the Lord, as his ancestors had done. He did not repudiate[h] the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him; he assassinated him in Ibleam[i] and took his place as king. 11 The rest of the events of Zechariah’s reign are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.[j] 12 His assassination fulfilled[k] the Lord’s message to Jehu, “Four generations of your descendants will rule on Israel’s throne.”[l] And that is how it happened.
13 Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah’s[m] reign over Judah. He reigned for one month[n] in Samaria. 14 Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah to[o] Samaria and attacked Shallum son of Jabesh.[p] He killed him and took his place as king. 15 The rest of the events of Shallum’s reign, including the conspiracy he organized, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.[q] 16 At that time Menahem came from Tirzah and attacked Tiphsah. He struck down all who lived in the city and the surrounding territory, because they would not surrender.[r] He even ripped open the pregnant women.
Menahem’s Reign over Israel
17 In the thirty-ninth year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel. He reigned for ten years in Samaria. 18 He did evil in the sight of[s] the Lord; he did not repudiate[t] the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin.[u]
During his reign, 19 Pul[v] king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem paid[w] him[x] 1,000 talents[y] of silver to gain his support[z] and to solidify his control of the kingdom.[aa] 20 Menahem got this silver by taxing all the wealthy men in Israel; he took fifty shekels of silver from each one of them and paid it to the king of Assyria.[ab] Then the king of Assyria left; he did not stay there in the land.
21 The rest of the events of Menahem’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.[ac] 22 Menahem passed away[ad] and his son Pekahiah replaced him as king.
Pekahiah’s Reign over Israel
23 In the fiftieth year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Menahem’s son Pekahiah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for two years. 24 He did evil in the sight of[ae] the Lord; he did not repudiate[af] the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 25 His officer Pekah son of Remaliah conspired against him. He and fifty Gileadites assassinated Pekahiah, as well as Argob and Arieh, in Samaria in the fortress of the royal palace.[ag] Pekah[ah] then took his place as king.
26 The rest of the events of Pekahiah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.[ai]
Pekah’s Reign over Israel
27 In the fifty-second year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for twenty years. 28 He did evil in the sight of[aj] the Lord; he did not repudiate[ak] the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 29 During Pekah’s reign over Israel, King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the territory of Naphtali. He deported the people[al] to Assyria. 30 Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He assassinated him[am] and took his place as king, in the twentieth year of the reign of Jotham son of Uzziah.
31 The rest of the events of Pekah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.[an]
Jotham’s Reign over Judah
32 In the second year of the reign of Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah, Uzziah’s son Jotham became king over Judah. 33 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34 He did what the Lord approved, just as his father Uzziah had done.[ao] 35 But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate to the Lord’s temple.
36 The rest of the events of Jotham’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[ap] 37 In those days the Lord prompted King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah to attack Judah.[aq] 38 Jotham passed away[ar] and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor David. His son Ahaz replaced him as king.
Ahaz’s Reign over Judah
16 In the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah son of Remaliah, Jotham’s son Ahaz became king over Judah. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David.[as] 3 He followed in the footsteps of[at] the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire,[au] a horrible sin practiced by the nations[av] whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 At that time King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem.[aw] They besieged Ahaz,[ax] but were unable to conquer him.[ay] 6 (At that time King Rezin of Syria[az] recovered Elat for Syria; he drove the Judahites from there.[ba] Syrians[bb] arrived in Elat and live there to this very day.) 7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your dependent.[bc] March up and rescue me from the power[bd] of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked[be] me.” 8 Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that were[bf] in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as tribute[bg] to the king of Assyria. 9 The king of Assyria responded favorably to his request;[bh] he[bi] attacked Damascus and captured it. He deported the people[bj] to Kir and executed Rezin.
10 When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there.[bk] King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design.[bl] 11 Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus.[bm] Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus.[bn] 12 When the king arrived back from Damascus and[bo] saw the altar, he approached it[bp] and offered a sacrifice on it.[bq] 13 He offered his burnt sacrifice and his grain offering. He poured out his libation and sprinkled the blood from his peace offerings on the altar. 14 He moved the bronze altar that stood in the Lord’s presence from the front of the temple (between the altar and the Lord’s temple) and put it on the north side of the new[br] altar. 15 King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest, “On the large altar[bs] offer the morning burnt sacrifice, the evening grain offering, the royal burnt sacrifices and grain offering, the burnt sacrifice for all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt sacrifice and other sacrifices on it. The bronze altar will be for my personal use.”[bt] 16 So Uriah the priest did exactly as[bu] King Ahaz ordered.
17 King Ahaz took off the frames of the movable stands, and removed the basins from them. He took “The Sea”[bv] down from the bronze bulls that supported it[bw] and put it on the stone pavement. 18 He also removed the Sabbath awning[bx] that had been built[by] in the temple and the king’s outer entranceway to the Lord’s temple, on account of the king of Assyria.[bz]
19 The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[ca] 20 Ahaz passed away[cb] and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Hezekiah replaced him as king.
Conversation with Nicodemus
3 Now a certain man, a Pharisee[a] named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council,[b] 2 came to Jesus[c] at night[d] and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs[e] that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus replied,[f] “I tell you the solemn truth,[g] unless a person is born from above,[h] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”[i] 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?”[j]
5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth,[k] unless a person is born of water and spirit,[l] he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh,[m] and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all[n] be born from above.’[o] 8 The wind[p] blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”[q]
9 Nicodemus replied,[r] “How can these things be?”[s] 10 Jesus answered,[t] “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things?[u] 11 I tell you the solemn truth,[v] we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but[w] you people[x] do not accept our testimony.[y] 12 If I have told you people[z] about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?[aa] 13 No one[ab] has ascended[ac] into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.[ad] 14 Just as[ae] Moses lifted up the serpent[af] in the wilderness,[ag] so must the Son of Man be lifted up,[ah] 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”[ai]
16 For this is the way[aj] God loved the world: He gave his one and only[ak] Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish[al] but have eternal life.[am] 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,[an] but that the world should be saved through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not condemned.[ao] The one who does not believe has been condemned[ap] already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only[aq] Son of God.
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