Old/New Testament
Reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah
Chapter 28
The Impiety of Ahaz. 1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. Unlike what his ancestor David had done, he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord. 2 Rather, he followed the example of the kings of Israel and even cast molten idols of the Baals.
3 Furthermore, Ahaz offered burnt sacrifices in the Valley of Ben-hinnom[a] and even went so far as to immolate his sons by fire according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Retribution. 5 Therefore, the Lord his God delivered him over into the hands of the king of Aram. After the Arameans defeated him, they took large numbers of captives and brought them to Damascus. He was also given over into the power of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties on him.[b] 6 In a single day, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed one hundred and twenty thousand valiant warriors.
7 Zichri, an Ephraimite warrior, killed Maaseiah, the king’s son, Azrikam, the commander of the palace, and Elkanah, who was second only to the king in authority. 8 The Israelites took captive from their kinsmen two hundred thousand women, sons and daughters. They also took immense quantities of booty from them and brought it all back to Samaria.
The Prophecy of Oded. 9 In Samaria there was a prophet of the Lord by the name of Oded. He went out to meet the army when it returned to Samaria, and he said: “It was because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah that he delivered them into your hands. However, you have slaughtered them with an intense rage that has reached up to heaven.
10 “And now you have decided to force the people of Judah and Jerusalem to be your slaves. However, have you yourselves not been guilty of sins against the Lord, your God? 11 Now listen to me! Release the captives you have taken from your kinsmen, for the fierce anger of the Lord has been aroused against you.”
12 On hearing this, some of the Ephraimite leaders—Azariah, son of Jehohanan; Berechiah, son of Meshillemoth; Jehizkiah, son of Shallum; and Amasa, son of Hadlai—confronted those who were returning from the war 13 and said to them: “Do not bring these captives here, for what you are proposing will only increase our sins and our guilt. For our guilt is already substantial, and fierce anger threatens the security of Israel.”
14 Therefore, in the presence of the officials and the entire assembly, the soldiers surrendered the captives and the booty. 15 Then those Ephraimite leaders proceeded to help those who had been led away captive. From the booty they clothed those who were naked. They gave them clothing and sandals and gave them food, drink, and healing balm. All those who were weak they mounted on donkeys and took them to their brethren in Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they themselves returned to Samaria.
16 Other Sins of Ahaz. At that time King Ahaz sent a plea to the king of Assyria asking for help. 17 The Edomites had once again invaded and defeated Judah, and carried away captives.
18 Meanwhile, the Philistines had raided the towns in the foothills and the Negeb of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, as well as Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages, and settled there. 19 For the Lord had brought Judah low because of Ahaz, king of Israel,[c] who had behaved without restraint in Judah and had proved to be totally unfaithful to the Lord.
20 After that, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came to Ahaz, but rather than assisting him, he oppressed him instead. 21 Then Ahaz plundered the temple of the Lord, the palace of the king, and the house of his officials. He proceeded to give the plunder to the king of Assyria, but no help from him was forthcoming.
22 During this period of distress, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 He proceeded to offer sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, thinking: “Since the gods of the king of Aram have supported them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may decide to help me.” However, they only caused further disaster to him and to all of Israel. 24 Then Ahaz gathered up the vessels of the house of God and broke them into pieces. After he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord he made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he built high places to offer sacrifices to other gods, thus provoking the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
26 The rest of his deeds and all his activities, from first to last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 27 Ahaz slept with his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not laid to rest in the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him.
Chapter 29
Reforms of Hezekiah.[d] 1 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his ancestor David had done.
3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them. 4 Next he brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east. 5 Then he said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites. Sanctify yourselves first. Then sanctify the house of the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and remove the filth from the sanctuary. 6 For our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, our God. They abandoned him, turned away their faces from him, and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the vestibule and extinguished the lamps, and they ceased to burn incense or present any burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
8 “Therefore, the anger of the Lord fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of terror, astonishment, and derision, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 Our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and our wives have been taken captive as a result. 10 Now I am determined to make a covenant with the God of Israel, in the hope that his fierce anger may turn away from us. 11 Therefore, my sons, do not be negligent any longer, for the Lord has chosen you to sit in his presence and to serve him, to be his ministers, and to offer incense before him.”
12 The Levites immediately set to work: from the sons of the Kohathites: Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah; from the sons of Merari: Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallel; from the Gershonites: Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah; 13 from the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeuel; from the sons of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 from the sons of Heman: Jehuel and Shimei; from the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15 They gathered their brothers together and sanctified themselves; then, in obedience to the king’s order in accordance with the Lord’s command, they proceeded to purify the house of the Lord.
16 The priests entered the inner part of the Lord’s house to cleanse it, and they brought all the unclean things that they found in the temple of the Lord and deposited them in the court of the house of the Lord, where the Levites collected them and carried them out to the Kidron Valley. 17 They began the rites of sanctification on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they had arrived at the vestibule of the Lord. Then for eight days they sanctified the Lord’s house, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they had finished.
18 Their work having been completed, they went in to King Hezekiah and said: “We have cleansed the entire house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table for setting out the consecrated bread with all its utensils. 19 We have restored and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz had cast aside during his reign because of his infidelity. They are now in place before the altar of the Lord.”
20 The Rite of Expiation. King Hezekiah rose early the next morning, assembled the officials of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. 21 They brought with them seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah, and he ordered the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.
22 Therefore, after the city officials slaughtered the bulls, the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Then the rams were slaughtered, and, the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar. After that, the lambs were slaughtered, and the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar.
23 Finally the he-goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them. 24 Then the priests slaughtered them and used their blood as a sin offering at the altar in order to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25 The king stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the ordinance prescribed by David, by Gad the king’s seer, and by Nathan the prophet. This commandment was prescribed by the Lord through his prophets. 26 The Levites were stationed with the instruments of David while the priests stood ready with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be presented on the altar. And at the moment when the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord began also, to the accompaniment of the trumpets and the instruments of King David of Israel. 28 The entire assembly bowed in worship while the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded, all of this continuing until the burnt offering had been completed.
29 When the burnt offering was finished, the king and all those who were present with him bowed down and worshiped. 30 King Hezekiah and his officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord in the words of David and of the seer, Asaph. They joyfully sang their praises, after which they knelt down and prostrated themselves in worship.
31 Then Hezekiah issued this command: “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come forward and bring your sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.”
Therefore, the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all those who had generous hearts brought burnt offerings. 32 The number of burnt offerings that the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were designated as a burnt offering to the Lord. 33 The consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three hundred sheep.
34 However, the priests were too few in number to be able to skin the burnt offerings. Therefore, their brethren the Levites were clearly more conscientious than the priests in sanctifying themselves. 35 In addition to a great number of burnt offerings, there was also the fat of the fellowship offerings and the libations for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored. 36 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had done for the people and how suddenly all this had been completed.
The Priestly Prayer of Jesus[a]
Chapter 17
Knowledge of the Father and the Son.[b] 1 After saying this, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,
“Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your Son,
so that your Son may glorify you,
2 since you have given him authority
over all people,
so that he may give eternal life
to all those you have given him.
3 And eternal life is this:
to know you,
the only true God,
and the one you have sent,
Jesus Christ.
4 “I have glorified you on earth
by completing the work
that you entrusted to me.
5 So now, Father,
glorify me in your presence
with the glory I had with you
before the world began.
The Son and the Disciples[c]
6 “I have made your name known
to those whom you gave me from the world.
They were yours,
and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
7 Now they have come to understand
that everything you gave me is from you.
8 For the words you gave to me
I have given to them,
and they have accepted them
and know with certainty
that I have come from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
9 “It is for them that I pray.
I do not pray for the world,
but for those you gave me
because they are yours
10 Everything I have is yours,
and everything you have is mine,
and through them I have been glorified.
11 I will remain no longer in the world,
but they will still be in the world
while I will be coming to you.
“Holy Father,
protect by the power of your name
those you have given me,
so that they may be one,
even as we are one.
12 While I was with them
I protected them by your name
that you have given me,
and I kept them safe.
Not one of them was lost,
except the one destined to be lost,[d]
so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 “Now I am coming to you,
and I say these things
while I am still in the world
so that my joy may come
to full measure in them.
14 I have given them your word,
and the world has hated them
because they do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
15 I am not asking you
to take them out of the world,
but I do ask you
to protect them from the evil one.
16 They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
17 “Consecrate them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world,
so have I sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I consecrate myself,
so that they too may be consecrated in truth.
The Disciples and the Church To Come[e]
20 “I pray not only on behalf of these,
but also for those who through their word
will come to believe in me.
21 May they all be one.
As you, Father, are in me
and I in you,
may they also be in us
so that the world may believe
that you have sent me.
22 “The glory that you have given me
I have given to them,
so that they may be one,
as we are one,
23 I in them and you in me,
that they may become completely one,
and thus the world may know
that you have sent me
and that you have loved them
even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, allow those you have given me
to be with me where I am,
so that they may behold my glory,
which you have bestowed on me
because you loved me
before the foundation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father,
the world has not known you;
I have known you,
and they have known that you have sent me.
26 I have made your name known to them,
and I will make it known,
so that the love with which you loved me
may be in them, and I in them.”
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.