18 “If the world hates you, keep in
mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world,
it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I
have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember
what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[b] If they
persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they
will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because
of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I
had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they
have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my
Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no
one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and
yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to
fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[c]
26 “When
the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth
who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And
you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
“I
am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off
every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit
he prunes[a] so that it
will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of
the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain
in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither
can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I
am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will
bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do
not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such
branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If
you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will
be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear
much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As
the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If
you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my
Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you
this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You
are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call
you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I
have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have
made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you
and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and
so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This
is my command: Love each other.
In
the seventh year Jehoiada showed his strength. He made a covenant with the
commanders of units of a hundred: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of
Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of
Zikri. 2 They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites
and the heads of Israelite families from all the towns. When they came to
Jerusalem, 3 the whole assembly made a covenant with the king
at the temple of God.
Jehoiada
said to them, “The king’s son shall reign, as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David. 4 Now
this is what you are to do: A third of you priests and Levites who are going on
duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors, 5 a third
of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate, and all the
others are to be in the courtyards of the temple of the Lord. 6 No one is to enter the temple of the
Lord except the priests and
Levites on duty; they may enter because they are consecrated, but all the
others are to observe the Lord’s
command not to enter.[a]7 The
Levites are to station themselves around the king, each with weapon in hand.
Anyone who enters the temple is to be put to death. Stay close to the king
wherever he goes.”
8 The
Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each
one took his men—those who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were
going off duty—for Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions. 9 Then
he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small
shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God. 10 He
stationed all the men, each with his weapon in his hand, around the king—near
the altar and the temple, from the south side to the north side of the temple.
11 Jehoiada
and his sons brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him; they
presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They
anointed him and shouted, “Long live the king!”
12 When
Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king, she went
to them at the temple of the Lord.
13 She looked, and there was the king, standing by his pillar
at the entrance. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all
the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and musicians with
their instruments were leading the praises. Then Athaliah tore her robes and
shouted, “Treason! Treason!”
14 Jehoiada
the priest sent out the commanders of units of a hundred, who were in charge of
the troops, and said to them: “Bring her out between the ranks[b] and put to
the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest had said, “Do not put her to
death at the temple of the Lord.” 15 So
they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace
grounds, and there they put her to death.
16 Jehoiada
then made a covenant that he, the people and the king[c] would be
the Lord’s people. 17 All
the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars
and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
18 Then
Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests, to whom David
had made assignments in the temple, to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses,
with rejoicing and singing, as David had ordered. 19 He also
stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lord’s
temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter.
20 He
took with him the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people
and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the temple of the
Lord. They went into the palace
through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne. 21 All
the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was calm, because Athaliah had
been slain with the sword.
