2 Kings 13 - 14, Matthew 24:32-25:46, Psalm 21

Jehoahaz Reigns over Israel

13In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel at Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. ²And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^awith which he made Israel sin; he did not depart from them. ³^aSo the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He gave them continually into the hand of ^bHazael king of Aram, and into the hand of ^cBen-hadad the son of Hazael. ⁴Then ^aJehoahaz entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him; for ^bHe saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them. ⁵And Yahweh gave Israel a ^asavior, so that they came out from under the hand of the Arameans; and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as formerly. ⁶Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, ^awith which he made Israel sin, but walked in ¹them; and ^bthe Asherah also remained standing in Samaria. ⁷For he did not leave to Jehoahaz any people for the army except 50 horsemen and 10 chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers, for the king of Aram had caused them to perish and ^amade them like the dust at threshing. ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁹And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son became king in his place.

Jehoash Reigns over Israel

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned sixteen years. ¹¹And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in ¹them. ¹²^aNow the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ¹³So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

The Death of Elisha

¹⁴Now Elisha ¹became sick with the illness of which he was to die. So Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over ²him and said, “^aMy father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he ¹took a bow and arrows. ¹⁶Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷And he said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “Yahweh’s arrow of salvation, even the arrow of salvation over Aram; for you will strike the Arameans at ^aAphek until you have consumed them.” ¹⁸Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stood still. ¹⁹So ^athe man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have consumed it. But now you shall strike Aram ^bonly three times.”

²⁰And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now ^athe marauding bands of the Moabites would enter into the land in the spring of the year. ²¹Now it happened that they were burying a man, and behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man ¹touched the bones of Elisha he ^abecame alive and stood up on his feet.

²²Now ^aHazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³But ^aYahweh was gracious to them and ^bhad compassion on them and turned to them because of ^cHis covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not bring them to ruin or cast them from His presence until now.

²⁴Then Hazael king of Aram died, and Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. ²⁵Then ^aJehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken in war from the hand of Jehoahaz his father. ^bThree times Joash struck him and recovered the cities of Israel.

Amaziah Reigns over Judah

14^aIn the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, ^bAmaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king. ²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. ³And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done. ⁴Only ^athe high places were not taken away; ^bthe people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ⁵Now it happened as soon as the kingdom was strong in his hand, that he ^astruck down his servants who had struck down the king his father. ⁶But the sons of those who struck him down he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the Law of Moses, which Yahweh commanded, saying, “^aFathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor sons be put to death for their fathers; but ^beach shall be put to death for his own sin.”

⁷He struck down 10,000 of Edom in ^athe Valley of Salt and seized ^bSela by war and named it ^cJoktheel to this day.

⁸^aThen Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “^bCome, let us face each other.” ⁹And Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “^aThe thorn bush which was in Lebanon sent to the cedar which was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ But a beast of the field that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thorn bush. ¹⁰“^aYou have indeed struck down Edom, and ^byour heart has lifted you up. Enjoy your glory and stay at home; for why should you provoke calamity so that you, even you, would fall, and Judah with you?”

¹¹But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at ^aBeth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹²And Judah was ¹defeated by Israel, and ^athey fled each to his tent. ¹³Then Jehoash king of Israel seized Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from ^athe Gate of Ephraim to ^bthe Corner Gate, ¹400 cubits. ¹⁴^aAnd he took all the gold and silver and all the utensils which were found in the house of Yahweh, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

¹⁵^aNow the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ¹⁶So Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son became king in his place.

¹⁷^aAnd Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. ¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁹And they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to ^aLachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. ²⁰Then they carried him on horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. ²¹And all the people of Judah took ¹Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. ²²^aHe built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.

Jeroboam II Reigns over Israel

²³In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel became king in Samaria and reigned forty-one years. ²⁴And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. ²⁵^aHe restored the border of Israel from ¹^,^bLebo-hamath as far as ^cthe Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which He spoke ²through His servant ^dJonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of ^eGath-hepher. ²⁶For ^aYahweh saw the affliction of Israel, which was very bitter; for ^bthere was neither bond nor free, nor was there any helper for Israel. ²⁷^aBut Yahweh did not say that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

Zechariah Reigns over Israel

²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did and his might, how he fought and how he restored ^aDamascus and ^bHamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²⁹And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son became king in his place.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³so, you too, when you see all these things, ¹recognize that ²He is near, right ^aat the ³door. ³⁴“Truly I say to you, ^athis ¹generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³⁵“^aHeaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶“But ^aof that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. ³⁷“For ^ajust as the days of Noah were, so the ^bcoming of the Son of Man will be. ³⁸“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, ^amarrying and giving in marriage, until the day that ^bNoah entered the ark, ³⁹and they did not ¹understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the ^acoming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰“Then there will be two in the field; one ¹will be taken, and one ²will be left. ⁴¹“^aTwo women will be grinding grain at the ¹^,^bmill; one ²will be taken and one ³will be left.

Be Ready for His Coming

⁴²“Therefore ^astay awake, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³“But ¹be sure of this, that ^aif the head of the house had known ^bat what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed his house to be ²broken into. ⁴⁴“For this reason ^ayou also must be ready; for ^bthe Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵“^aWho then is the ^bfaithful and ^cprudent slave whom his ¹master ^dput in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶“Blessed is that slave whom his ¹master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷“Truly I say to you that ^ahe will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸“But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My ¹master ²is not coming for a long time,’ ⁴⁹and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; ⁵⁰the ¹master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, ⁵¹and will ¹cut him in pieces and ²assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be ^aweeping and gnashing of teeth.

Parable of Ten Virgins

25“Then ^athe kingdom of heaven may be compared to ten virgins, who took their ^blamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²“Now five of them were foolish, and five were ^aprudent. ³“For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴but the ^aprudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. ⁵“Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. ⁶“But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷“Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸“And the foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹“But the ^aprudent answered, saying, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰“And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ^aready went in with him to ^bthe wedding feast; and ^cthe door was shut. ¹¹“And later the other virgins also *came, saying, ‘^aLord, lord, open up for us.’ ¹²“But he answered and said, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ ¹³“^aTherefore, stay awake, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

Parable of the Talents

¹⁴“^aFor it is just like a man ^babout to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and handed over his possessions to them. ¹⁵“And to one he gave five ¹^,^atalents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he ^bwent on his journey. ¹⁶“Immediately the one who had received the five ^atalents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. ¹⁷“In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸“But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his ¹master’s money.

¹⁹“Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *^asettled accounts with them. ²⁰“And the one who had received the five ^atalents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed five talents over to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ ²¹“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and ^afaithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will ^bput you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your ¹master.’

²²“Also the one who had received the two ^atalents came up and said, ‘Master, you handed two talents over to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ ²³“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and ^afaithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

²⁴“And the one also who had received the one ^atalent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. ²⁵‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

²⁶“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. ²⁷‘Therefore, you ought to have put my money ¹in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. ²⁸‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

²⁹“^aFor to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. ³⁰“And throw out the worthless slave into ^athe outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Final Judgment

³¹“But when ^athe Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then ^bHe will sit on His glorious throne. ³²“And all the nations will be ^agathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, ^bas the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; ³³and He will put the sheep ^aon His right, and the goats ^bon the left.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, ^ainherit the kingdom, which has been prepared for you ^bfrom the foundation of the world. ³⁵‘For ^aI was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; ^bI was a stranger, and you invited Me in; ³⁶^anaked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you ^bvisited Me; ^cI was in prison, and you came to Me.’ ³⁷“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ³⁸‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ³⁹‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰“^aAnd the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, ^bto the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

⁴¹“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘^aDepart from Me, accursed ones, into the ^beternal fire which has been prepared for ^cthe devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; ⁴³I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴“Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not ¹take care of You?’ ⁴⁵“Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶“And these will go away into ^aeternal punishment, but the righteous into ^beternal life.”

The King Trusts in Yahweh

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

O Yahweh, in Your strength the king will ^abe glad,And in Your ¹salvation how greatly he will rejoice!²You have ^agiven him his heart’s desire,And You have not withheld the request of his lips. ¹ Selah.³For You ^ameet him with the blessings of good things;You set a ^bcrown of fine gold on his head.⁴He asked life of You,You ^agave it to him,^bLength of days forever and ever.⁵His ^aglory is great through Your ¹salvation,^bSplendor and majesty You bestow upon him.⁶For You make him ¹most ^ablessed forever;You make him joyful ^bwith gladness in Your presence.⁷For the king ^atrusts in Yahweh,And through the lovingkindness of the Most High ^bhe will not be shaken.⁸Your hand will ^afind out all your enemies;Your right hand will find out those who hate you.⁹You will make them ^aas a fiery oven in the time of your ¹anger;Yahweh will ^bswallow them up in His wrath,And ^cfire will devour them.¹⁰Their ¹offspring You will destroy from the earth,And their ^aseed from among the sons of men.¹¹Though they ¹^,^aintended evil against YouAnd ^bdevised a scheme,They will not succeed.¹²For You will ^amake them turn their back;You will ¹aim ^bwith Your bowstrings at their faces.¹³Be exalted, O Yahweh, in Your strength;We will ^asing and praise Your might.