6 Surely
the righteous will never be shaken;
they will be remembered forever. 7 They will have no fear of bad news;
their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
In
the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against
Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the
territory of Asa king of Judah.
2 Asa
then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and
sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. 3 “Let
there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father
and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty
with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”
4 Ben-Hadad
agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of
Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim[a] and all the
store cities of Naphtali. 5 When Baasha heard this, he stopped
building Ramah and abandoned his work. 6 Then King Asa brought
all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber
Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.
7 At
that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because
you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord
your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 8 Were
not the Cushites[b] and Libyans
a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen[c]? Yet when
you relied on the Lord, he
delivered them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to
strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a
foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
10 Asa
was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in
prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.
11 The
events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the
kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his
reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was
severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. 13 Then
in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors. 14 They
buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David.
They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and
they made a huge fire in his honor.
45 Finally
the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked
them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “No
one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
47 “You
mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have
any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No!
But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”
50 Nicodemus,
who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does
our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been
doing?”
52 They
replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a
prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
[The
earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John
7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after
John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]
25 At
that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man
they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and
they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that
he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when
the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”
28 Then
Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and
you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me
is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am
from him and he sent me.”
30 At
this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour
had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him.
They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”
32 The
Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief
priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
33 Jesus
said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who
sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and
where I am, you cannot come.”
35 The Jews
said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him?
Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the
Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for
me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
37 On
the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud
voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever
believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within
them.”[c]39 By
this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been
glorified.
40 On
hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”
41 Others
said, “He is the Messiah.”
Still
others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does
not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from
Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were
divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no
one laid a hand on him.
