The Reign of Jehoahaz

131 In the twenty-third year of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for seventeen years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he did and made Israel do; he did not keep himself from them. 3 So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the power of Hazael, king of Aram, and into the power of Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, again and again. 4 Then Jehoahaz made prayer to the Lord, and the Lord gave ear to him, for he saw how cruelly Israel was crushed by the king of Aram. 5 (And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they became free from the hands of the Aramaeans; and the children of Israel were living in their tents as in the past. 6 But still they did not give up the sin of Jeroboam, which he made Israel do, but went on with it; and there was an image of Asherah in Samaria.) 7 For out of all his army, Jehoahaz had only fifty horsemen and ten carriages and ten thousand footmen; the king of Aram had given them up to destruction, crushing them like dust. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all he did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? 9 And Jehoahaz went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria; and Joash his son became king in his place.

The Reign of Jehoash of Israel

10 In the thirty-seventh year of the rule of Joash, king of Judah, Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for sixteen years. 11 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning away from the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he did and made Israel do, but he went on with it. 12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all he did, and the force with which he went to war against Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? 13 And Joash went to rest with his fathers and Jeroboam took his place as king; and Joash was put into the earth in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Elisha's Final Prophecy and Death

14 Now Elisha became ill with the disease which was the cause of his death: and Joash, king of Israel, came down to him, and weeping over him said, My father, my father, the war-carriages of Israel and its horsemen! 15 Then Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows: and he took bow and arrows. 16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand on the bow: and he put his hand on it; and Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. 17 Then he said; Let the window be open to the east: and he got it open. Then Elisha said, Let the arrow go; and he let it go. And he said, The Lord's arrow of salvation, of salvation over Aram; for you will overcome the Aramaeans in Aphek and put an end to them. 18 And he said, Take the arrows: and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Send them down into the earth; and he did so three times and no more. 19 Then the man of God was angry with him and said, If you had done it five or six times, then you would have overcome Aram completely; but now you will only overcome them three times.

20 And death came to Elisha and they put his body into the earth. Now in the spring of the year, armed bands of Moabites frequently came, overrunning the land. 21 And while they were putting a dead man into the earth, they saw a band coming; and they put the man quickly into the place where Elisha's body was; and the dead man, on touching Elisha's bones, came to life again, and got up on his feet. 22 And Israel was crushed under the power of Hazael, king of Aram, all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 But the Lord was kind to them and had pity on them, caring for them, because of his agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he would not put them to destruction or send them away from before his face till now. 24 Then Hazael, king of Aram, came to his end; and Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. 25 And Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took again from Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, the towns which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. Three times Jehoash overcame him and got back the towns of Israel.

The Reign of Amaziah

141 In the second year of Joash, son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah, the son of Joash, became king of Judah. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; his mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, though not like David his father; he did as Joash his father had done. 4 But still the high places were not taken away; the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places. 5 Now when he became strong in the kingdom, straight away he put to death those servants who had taken the life of the king his father; 6 But he did not put their children to death; for the orders of the Lord recorded in the book of the law of Moses say, The fathers are not to be put to death for the children, or the children for their fathers; but a man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done. 7 He put to the sword twelve thousand men of Edom in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela in war, naming it Joktheel, as it is to this day.

8 Then Amaziah sent representatives to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us have a meeting face to face. 9 And Jehoash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, The thorn-tree in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son for a wife: and a beast from the woodland in Lebanon went by, crushing the thorn under his feet. 10 It is true that you have overcome Edom and your heart is uplifted; let that glory be enough for you, and keep in your country; why do you make causes of trouble, putting yourself, and Judah with you, in danger of downfall? 11 But Amaziah gave no attention. So Jehoash, king of Israel, went up, and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, came face to face at Beth-shemesh, which is in Judah. 12 And Judah was overcome before Israel, so that they went in flight, every man to his tent. 13 And Jehoash, king of Israel, made Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, prisoner at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and had the wall of Jerusalem pulled down from the doorway of Ephraim to the door in the angle, four hundred cubits. 14 And he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels which were in the house of the Lord and in the store-house of the king, together with those whose lives would be the price of broken faith, and went back to Samaria.

15 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash, and his power, and how he went to war with Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? 16 And Jehoash went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son became king in his place. 17 Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, went on living for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 18 And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah? 19 Now they made a secret design against him in Jerusalem; and he went in flight to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. 20 And they took his body on horseback and put it into the earth with his fathers in Jerusalem, the town of David. 21 Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 22 He was the builder of Elath, which he got back for Judah after the death of the king.

The Reign of Jeroboam

23 In the fifteenth year of the rule of Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, ruling for forty-one years. 24 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning away from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do. 25 He got back the old limits of Israel from the way into Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, as the Lord had said by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet of Gath-hepher. 26 For the Lord saw how bitter was the trouble of Israel, and that everyone was cut off, he who was shut up and he who went free, and that Israel had no helper. 27 And the Lord had not said that the name of Israel was to be taken away from the earth; but he gave them a saviour in Jeroboam, the son of Joash. 28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all he did, and his power, and how he went to war with Damascus, causing the wrath of the Lord to be turned away from Israel, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? 29 And Jeroboam went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son became king in his place.

The Wedding at Cana

21 On the third day two people were going to be married at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there: 2 And Jesus with his disciples came as guests. 3 When they had not enough wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine. 4 Jesus said to her, Woman, this is not your business; my time is still to come. 5 His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. 6 Now six pots of stone, every one taking two or three firkins of water, were placed there for the purpose of washing, as is the way of the Jews. 7 Jesus said to the servants, Make the pots full of water. And they made them full to the top. 8 Then he said to them, Now take some, and give it to the master of the feast. So they took it to him. 9 After tasting the water which had now become wine, the master of the feast (having no idea where it came from, though it was clear to the servants who took the water out) sent for the newly-married man, 10 And said to him, Every man first puts out his best wine and when all have had enough he puts out what is not so good; but you have kept the good wine till now. 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and let his glory be seen openly; and his disciples put their faith in him.

12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they were there not more than two or three days.

The Cleansing of the Temple

13 The time of the Passover of the Jews was near and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And there in the Temple he saw men trading in oxen and sheep and doves, and he saw the changers of money in their seats: 15 And he made a whip of small cords and put them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and the oxen, sending in all directions the small money of the changers and overturning their tables; 16 And to those who were trading in doves he said, Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a market. 17 And it came to the minds of the disciples that the Writings say, I am on fire with passion for your house. 18 Then the Jews put this question to him: What sign of authority have you to give us, seeing that you do these things? 19 And Jesus said to them, Send destruction on this Temple and I will put it up again in three days. 20 The Jews said, The building of this Temple took forty-six years; and you will put it up in three days! 21 But his words were about that holy building which was his body. 22 So when he had come back again from the dead, the memory of these words came back to the disciples, and they had faith in the holy Writings and in the word which Jesus had said.

Jesus Knows All Men

23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, a great number of people came to have faith in his name, after seeing the signs which he did. 24 But Jesus did not have faith in them, because he had knowledge of them all. 25 He had no need for any witness about man; for he himself had knowledge of what was in man.