The Daily Audio Bible

Azariah Rules Judah

15 In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to rule. ² Azariah was sixteen years old when he became king. And he ruled for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ³ Azariah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ But the high places were not taken away. The people still gave gifts and burned special perfume on the high places. ⁵ So the Lord sent trouble upon the king. Azariah had a bad skin disease to the day of his death, and he lived in a house alone. Jotham the king’s son ruled over the house, and judged the people of the land. ⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Azariah are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. ⁷ Azariah died and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. His son Jotham became king in his place.

Zechariah Rules Israel

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam became the king of Israel in Samaria for six months. ⁹ Zechariah did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel sin. ¹⁰ Then Shallum the son of Jabesh made plans against him and killed him in front of the people. And Shallum ruled in his place. ¹¹ The rest of the acts of Zechariah are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹² This is the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu. He said, “Your sons, even your great great-grandson, will sit on the throne of Israel.” And so it was.

Shallum Rules Israel

¹³ Shallum the son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah. He ruled for one month in Samaria. ¹⁴ Then Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah to Samaria, and killed Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and became king in his place. ¹⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Shallum and the plans he made are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁶ Then Menahem destroyed Tiphsah and all who were in it, and its land from Tirzah, because they did not open their gates to him. So he destroyed it, and tore open all its women who were going to have babies.

Menahem Rules Israel

¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi became the king of Israel. He ruled for ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ Menahem did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. All his life he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel sin.

¹⁹ King Pul of Assyria came to fight against the land. And Menahem gave Pul silver weighing as much as 1,000 men, that he might help him to be a powerful king. ²⁰ Menahem took the money from all the rich men of Israel. He took fifty pieces of silver from each man to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not stay there in the land. ²¹ Now the rest of the acts of Menahem are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ²² Menahem died, and his son Pekahiah became king in his place.

Pekahiah Rules Israel

²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem became the king of Israel in Samaria. He ruled for two years. ²⁴ Pekahiah did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel sin. ²⁵ Then his captain Pekah the son of Remaliah made plans against him. He killed Pekahiah in Samaria, in the house of the king with Argob and Arieh. Fifty men of the Gileadites were with Pekah. He became king in his place. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Pekah Rules Israel

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah became the king of Israel in Samaria. He ruled for twenty years. ²⁸ Pekah did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel sin.

²⁹ In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came to fight. The king of Assyria took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali. And he made the people go with him to Assyria. ³⁰ Hoshea the son of Elah made plans against Pekah the son of Remaliah. He killed Pekah and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. ³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Pekah are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Jotham Rules Judah

³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to rule. ³³ Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king. He ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ Jotham did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He did all that his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ But the high places were not taken away. The people still gave gifts and burned special perfume on the high places. Jotham built the upper gate of the house of the Lord. ³⁶ The rest of the acts of Jotham are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. ³⁷ In those days the Lord began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ Jotham died, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. His son Ahaz became king in his place.

Ahaz Rules Judah

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham began to rule as the king of Judah. ² Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king. And he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. ³ But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even gave his sons as a burnt gift. This was very sinful and was done by the nations which the Lord had driven out from the people of Israel. ⁴ And Ahaz gave gifts in worship and burned special perfume on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ Then King Rezin of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to fight a war. Their armies closed in around Ahaz, but they could not win the battle against him. ⁶ At that time King Rezin of Syria took back Elath for Syria. And he drove all the men of Judah out of Elath. The Syrians came to Elath, and have lived there to this day.

⁷ So Ahaz sent men with news to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the king of Syria and the king of Israel. They are fighting against me.” ⁸ And Ahaz took the silver and gold from the house of the Lord and the storerooms of the king’s house, and sent a gift to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria listened to him and went up against Damascus. He took it in battle, and took its people away against their will to Kir. And he put Rezin to death.

¹⁰ King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria. He saw the altar at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Urijah the religious leader the plans of the altar and a small object made to look just like it. ¹¹ So Urijah the religious leader built an altar, following all the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Urijah made it before King Ahaz came from Damascus. ¹² When the king came from Damascus, he saw the altar and went up to it. ¹³ There he burned his burnt gift and his grain gift. He poured his drink gift and put the blood of his peace gift on the altar. ¹⁴ He took the brass altar which was before the Lord in front of the house, between his altar and the Lord’s house, and he put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz told Urijah the religious leader, “Upon the large altar, give the morning burnt gift, the evening grain gift, and the king’s burnt gift and his grain gift. Give them with the burnt gifts of all the people of the land and their grain gifts and drink gifts. Put on it all the blood of the burnt gifts given in worship. But the brass altar will be for me to go to when I ask the Lord what should be done.” ¹⁶ Urijah the religious leader did all that King Ahaz told him.

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz cut off the pillars and took the water pots away from them. He took the big brass pool off of the brass bulls, and put it down on stone. ¹⁸ He took from the house of the Lord the covered way they had built in the house, and the king’s gate because of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. ²⁰ Ahaz died, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his son Hezekiah ruled in his place.

¹³ There were Jews who went from city to city trying to put demons out of people. Some of these tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had demons. They said, “I speak to you in the name of Jesus, the One Paul preaches about.” ¹⁴ A Jewish leader of the people by the name of Sceva had seven sons. These sons were trying to do this. ¹⁵ The demon said, “I know Jesus. I know about Paul. But who are you?” ¹⁶ Then the man with the demon jumped on the sons. He had power over them and beat them. They ran out of the house with no clothes on and they were hurt.

¹⁷ All the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus heard about it. Because of this all the people became afraid. And the name of the Lord Jesus was held in great honor. ¹⁸ Many Christians came and told of the wrong things they were doing. ¹⁹ Many of those who did witchcraft gathered their books together and burned them in front of everyone. These books were worth 50,000 pieces of silver money. ²⁰ The Word of the Lord became well-known.

²¹ After this, Paul thought he would go through the countries of Macedonia and Greece. Then he would go to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have been there, I must go to the city of Rome also.” ²² He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia. Paul stayed in the countries of Asia awhile longer.

The Meeting of the Silver Workmen in Ephesus

²³ During that time there was much trouble about the Christians. ²⁴ A man named Demetrius made small silver buildings for the worship of Diana. His workmen received much money for their work. ²⁵ He called his workmen together and other men who made these small silver buildings. He said to them, “Men, you know we make much money from this work. ²⁶ Now you hear that Paul has turned away many people in Ephesus as well as in Asia. He tells them that gods made with hands are not gods. ²⁷ It could be that our work will not be respected. Not only that, the house of worship for the god of Diana will be worth nothing and her greatness will be destroyed. All the countries of Asia and the world worship her.”

²⁸ They became angry when they heard this and cried out, “Great is Diana of Ephesus.” ²⁹ The whole city was filled with loud cries. They caught Gaius and Aristarchus. These two men from Macedonia were with Paul. They gathered around them at the meeting place in the city.

³⁰ Paul wanted to stand in front of all the people but his followers would not let him. ³¹ Some of the city leaders who were his friends told him not to go to the meeting. ³² All this time some were crying out one thing and some another. The meeting was all noise. Most of the people did not know why they had come together. ³³ Then the Jews pushed Alexander to the front. Alexander held his hand up and was going to speak. ³⁴ As soon as they saw he was a Jew, they cried out with a loud voice for two hours, “Great is Diana of Ephesus!”

³⁵ One of the city leaders stopped the noise. He spoke, “Men of Ephesus, everyone knows our city is where the god of Diana is kept. That is the stone god that fell from the sky. ³⁶ Everyone knows this is true, so you must not cry out or do anything foolish. ³⁷ The men you brought here do not rob houses of worship or talk against our god. ³⁸ If Demetrius and his workmen have something against anyone, we have special days for courts. Let them go to court. ³⁹ If you want anything else, it should be done in another meeting. ⁴⁰ We are in danger of being asked about this trouble today. There is no good reason we can give for this meeting.” ⁴¹ When he had said this, he told them to leave.

Praise for God’s Goodness

147 Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God. For it is pleasing and praise is right. ² The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers those of Israel who had been taken away. ³ He heals those who have a broken heart. He heals their sorrows. ⁴ He knows the number of the stars. He gives names to all of them. ⁵ Great is our Lord, and great in power. His understanding has no end. ⁶ The Lord lifts up those who are suffering, and He brings the sinful down to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the Lord with thanks. Sing praises to our God on the harp. ⁸ He covers the heavens with clouds. He gives rain for the earth. He makes grass grow on the mountains. ⁹ He gives food to the animals, and to the young ravens that cry. ¹⁰ His joy is not in the strength of a horse. He does not find joy in the legs of a man. ¹¹ But the Lord favors those who fear Him and those who wait for His loving-kindness.

¹² Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! ¹³ For He has made your gates strong. He has made good come to your children within you. ¹⁴ He makes peace within your walls. He fills you with the best grain. ¹⁵ He sends His Word to the earth. And His Word runs fast. ¹⁶ He gives snow like wool. He spreads ice like ashes. ¹⁷ He throws down His ice as hail stones. Who can stand before His cold? ¹⁸ He sends out His Word and melts them. He makes His wind blow and the waters flow. ¹⁹ He speaks His Word to Jacob, and His Law to Israel. ²⁰ He has not done this with any other nation. They do not know His Law. Praise the Lord!

⁴ The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters. Wisdom comes like a flowing river making a pleasant noise.

⁵ It is not good to favor the sinful, or to keep what is fair from one who is right with God.