191 And Jehoshaphat king of Judah turneth back unto his house in peace to Jerusalem, 2 and go out unto his presence doth Jehu son of Hanani, the seer, and saith unto king Jehoshaphat, 'To give help to the wicked, and to those hating Jehovah, dost thou love? and for this against thee 'is' wrath from before Jehovah, 3 but good things have been found with thee, for thou hast put away the shrines out of the land, and hast prepared thy heart to seek God.'
4 And Jehoshaphat dwelleth in Jerusalem, and he turneth back and goeth out among the people from Beer-Sheba unto the hill-country of Ephraim, and bringeth them back unto Jehovah, God of their fathers.
5 And he establisheth judges in the land, in all the fenced cities of Judah, for every city, 6 and saith unto the judges, 'See what ye are doing—for not for man do ye judge, but for Jehovah, who 'is' with you in the matter of judgment; 7 and now, let fear of Jehovah be upon you, observe and do, for there is not with Jehovah our God perverseness, and acceptance of faces, and taking of a bribe.' 8 And also in Jerusalem hath Jehoshaphat appointed of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the heads of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of Jehovah, and for strife; and they turn back to Jerusalem, 9 and he layeth a charge upon them, saying, 'Thus do ye do in the fear of Jehovah, in faithfulness, and with a perfect heart, 10 and any strife that cometh in unto you of your brethren who are dwelling in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and command, statutes, and judgments, then ye have warned them and they become not guilty before Jehovah, and wrath hath not been on you and on your brethren; thus do ye do, and ye are not guilty. 11 'And, lo, Amariah the head priest 'is' over you for every matter of Jehovah, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the leader of the house of Judah, 'is' for every matter of the king, and officers the Levites 'are' before you; be strong and do, and Jehovah is with the good.'
201 And it cometh to pass after this, the sons of Moab have come in, and the sons of Ammon, and with them of the peoples, against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2 And they come in and declare to Jehoshaphat, saying, 'Come against thee hath a great multitude from beyond the sea, from Aram, and lo, they 'are' in Hazezon-Tamar—it 'is' En-Gedi.' 3 And Jehoshaphat feareth, and setteth his face to seek to Jehovah, and proclaimeth a fast over all Judah; 4 and Judah is gathered to inquire of Jehovah; also, from all the cities of Judah they have come in to seek Jehovah. 5 And Jehoshaphat standeth in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Jehovah, at the front of the new court, 6 and saith, 'O Jehovah, God of our fathers, art not Thou—God in the heavens? yea, Thou art ruling over all kingdoms of the nations, and in Thy hand 'is' power and might, and there is none with Thee to station himself. 7 'Art not Thou our God? Thou hast dispossessed the inhabitants of this land from before Thy people Israel, and dost give it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend to the age, 8 and they dwell in it, and build to Thee in it a sanctuary for Thy name, saying, 9 If evil doth come upon us—sword, judgment, and pestilence, and famine—we stand before this house, and before Thee, for Thy name 'is' in this house, and cry unto Thee out of our distress, and Thou dost hear and save. 10 'And now, lo, sons of Ammon, and Moab, and mount Seir, whom Thou didst not grant to Israel to go in against in their coming out of the land of Egypt, for they turned aside from off them and destroyed them not, 11 and lo, they are recompensing to us—to come in to drive us out of Thy possession, that Thou hast caused us to possess. 12 'O our God, dost Thou not execute judgment upon them? for there is no power in us before this great multitude that hath come against us, and we know not what we do, but on Thee 'are' our eyes.' 13 And all Judah are standing before Jehovah, also their infants, their wives, and their sons.
14 And upon Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, hath the Spirit of Jehovah been, in the midst of the assembly, 15 and he saith, 'Attend, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and O king Jehoshaphat, Thus said Jehovah to you, Ye fear not, nor are afraid of the face of this great multitude, for not for you 'is' the battle, but for God. 16 To-morrow, go ye down against them, lo, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz, and ye have found them in the end of the valley, the front of the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 Not for you to fight in this; station yourselves, stand, and see the salvation of Jehovah with you, O Judah and Jerusalem—be not afraid nor fear ye—to-morrow go out before them, and Jehovah 'is' with you.' 18 And Jehoshaphat boweth—face to the earth—and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have fallen before Jehovah, to bow themselves to Jehovah. 19 And the Levites, of the sons of the Kohathites, and of the sons of the Korhites, rise to give praise to Jehovah, God of Israel, with a loud voice on high.
20 And they rise early in the morning, and go out to the wilderness of Tekoa, and in their going out Jehoshaphat hath stood and saith, 'Hear me, O Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, remain stedfast in Jehovah your God, and be stedfast; remain stedfast in His prophets, and prosper.' 21 And he taketh counsel with the people, and appointeth singers to Jehovah, and those giving praise to the honour of holiness, in the going out before the armed 'men', and saying, 'Give ye thanks to Jehovah, for to the age 'is' His kindness.' 22 And at the time they have begun with singing and praise, Jehovah hath put ambushments against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who are coming in to Judah, and they are smitten, 23 and the sons of Ammon stand up, and Moab, against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to devote and to destroy, and at their finishing with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped, a man against his neighbour, to destroy. 24 And Judah hath come in unto the watch-tower, to the wilderness, and they look unto the multitude, and lo, they 'are' carcases fallen to the earth, and there is none escaped, 25 and Jehoshaphat cometh in, and his people, to seize their spoil, and they find among them, in abundance, both goods and carcases, and desirable vessels, and they take spoil to themselves without prohibition, and they are three days seizing the spoil, for it 'is' abundant. 26 And on the fourth day they have been assembled at the valley of Blessing, for there they blessed Jehovah: therefore they have called the name of that place, 'Valley of Blessing,' unto this day. 27 And they turn back, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, to go back unto Jerusalem with joy, for Jehovah hath made them rejoice over their enemies. 28 And they come in to Jerusalem with psalteries, and with harps, and with trumpets, unto the house of Jehovah. 29 And there is a fear of God on all kingdoms of the lands in their hearing that Jehovah hath fought with the enemies of Israel, 30 and the kingdom of Jehoshaphat is quiet, and his God giveth rest to him round about.
31 And Jehoshaphat reigneth over Judah, a son of thirty and five years in his reigning, and twenty and five years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother 'is' Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 32 And he walketh in the way of his father Asa, and hath not turned aside from it, to do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah. 33 Only, the high places have not turned aside, and still the people have not prepared their heart for the God of their fathers. 34 And the rest of the matters of Jehoshaphat, the first and the last, lo, they are written among the matters of Jehu son of Hanani, who hath been mentioned on the book of the kings of Israel. 35 And after this hath Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, (he did wickedly in 'so' doing), 36 and he joineth him with himself to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they make ships in Ezion-Geber, 37 and prophesy doth Eliezer son of Dodavah, of Mareshah, against Jehoshaphat, saying, 'For thy joining thyself with Ahaziah, Jehovah hath broken up thy works;' and the ships are broken, and have not retained 'power' to go unto Tarshish.
21 These things having said, Jesus was troubled in the spirit, and did testify, and said, 'Verily, verily, I say to you, that one of you will deliver me up;' 22 the disciples were looking, therefore, one at another, doubting concerning whom he speaketh. 23 And there was one of his disciples reclining (at meat) in the bosom of Jesus, whom Jesus was loving; 24 Simon Peter, then, doth beckon to this one, to inquire who he may be concerning whom he speaketh, 25 and that one having leant back on the breast of Jesus, respondeth to him, 'Sir, who is it?' 26 Jesus answereth, 'That one it is to whom I, having dipped the morsel, shall give it;' and having dipped the morsel, he giveth 'it' to Judas of Simon, Iscariot. 27 And after the morsel, then the Adversary entered into that one, Jesus, therefore, saith to him, 'What thou dost—do quickly;' 28 and none of those reclining at meat knew for what intent he said this to him, 29 for certain were thinking, since Judas had the bag, that Jesus saith to him, 'Buy what we have need of for the feast;' or that he may give something to the poor; 30 having received, therefore, the morsel, that one immediately went forth, and it was night.
31 When, therefore, he went forth, Jesus saith, 'Now was the Son of Man glorified, and God was glorified in him; 32 if God was glorified in him, God also will glorify him in Himself; yea, immediately He will glorify him. 33 'Little children, yet a little am I with you; ye will seek me, and, according as I said to the Jews—Whither I go away, ye are not able to come, to you also I do say 'it' now. 34 'A new commandment I give to you, that ye love one another; according as I did love you, that ye also love one another; 35 in this shall all know that ye are my disciples, if ye may have love one to another.'
36 Simon Peter saith to him, 'Sir, whither dost thou go away?' Jesus answered him, 'Whither I go away, thou art not able now to follow me, but afterward thou shalt follow me.' 37 Peter saith to him, 'Sir, wherefore am I not able to follow thee now? my life for thee I will lay down;' 38 Jesus answered him, 'Thy life for me thou wilt lay down! verily, verily, I say to thee, a cock will not crow till thou mayest deny me thrice.'
(Read John 13:18-30)
Our Lord had often spoken of his own sufferings and death, without such trouble of spirit as he now discovered when he spake of Judas. The sins of Christians are the grief of Christ. We are not to confine our attention to Judas. The prophecy of his treachery may apply to all who partake of God's mercies, and meet them with ingratitude. See the infidel, who only looks at the Scriptures with a desire to do away their authority and destroy their influence; the hypocrite, who professes to believe the Scriptures, but will not govern himself by them; and the apostate, who turns aside from Christ for a thing of naught. Thus mankind, supported by God's providence, after eating bread with Him, lift up the heel against Him! Judas went out as one weary of Jesus and his apostles. Those whose deeds are evil, love darkness rather than light.
(Read John 13:31-35)
Christ had been glorified in many miracles he wrought, yet he speaks of his being glorified now in his sufferings, as if that were more than all his other glories in his humbled state. Satisfaction was thereby made for the wrong done to God by the sin of man. We cannot now follow our Lord to his heavenly happiness, but if we truly believe in him, we shall follow him hereafter; meanwhile we must wait his time, and do his work. Before Christ left the disciples, he would give them a new commandment. They were to love each other for Christ's sake, and according to his example, seeking what might benefit others, and promoting the cause of the gospel, as one body, animated by one soul. But this commandment still appears new to many professors. Men in general notice any of Christ's words rather than these. By this it appears, that if the followers of Christ do not show love one to another, they give cause to suspect their sincerity.
(Read John 13:36-38)
What Christ had said concerning brotherly love, Peter overlooked, but spoke of that about which Christ kept them ignorant. It is common to be more eager to know about secret things, which belong to God only, than about things revealed, which belong to us and our children; to be more desirous to have our curiosity gratified, than our consciences directed; to know what is done in heaven, than what we may do to get thither. How soon discourse as to what is plain and edifying is dropped, while a doubtful dispute runs on into endless strife of words! We are apt to take it amiss to be told we cannot do this and the other, whereas, without Christ we can do nothing. Christ knows us better than we know ourselves, and has many ways of discovering those to themselves, whom he loves, and he will hide pride from them. May we endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, to love one another with a pure heart fervently, and to walk humbly with our God.
