Then Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him. And he said to King Jehoshaphat, "Should you be a help to the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh? On account of this, wrath has come against you from Yahweh. Nevertheless some good things have been found in regard to you, for you burned the Asherahs out of the land and set your heart to seek God."

And Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem and returned and went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. And he appointed judges in the land and in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city. And he said to the judges, "Consider what you are doing, for you are not judging for a man but for Yahweh. Now he is with you in speaking justice. So now, let the fear of Yahweh be upon you all. Be careful what you do, for there is neither wickedness nor showing partiality and taking bribes with Yahweh our God."

Moreover, Jehoshaphat appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites and the priests and heads of the families of Israel as judges and to decide legal disputes for Yahweh. And they sat in Jerusalem. And he commanded them, saying, "Thus you must do in the fear of Yahweh in faithfulness and with a whole heart. Any legal dispute that comes before you from your brothers who live in their cities concerning bloodguilt, law, commandment, statutes, and justice, you must warn them, so that they do not incur guilt before Yahweh, and that wrath may not come upon you and your brothers. Thus you must do that you do not incur guilt. And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the word of Yahweh, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all matters of the king, and the Levites shall be before you as officials. Be strong and do well! May Yahweh be with the upright."

And it happened that afterward, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and some of the Meunites came against Jehoshaphat for war. And they came and reported it to Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude from beyond the sea, from Aram, is coming against you. Now behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar" (that is, En Gedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek Yahweh. And he called for a fast through all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek after Yahweh; even from all the cities of Judah they came to seek Yahweh.

Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of Yahweh before the new courtyard. And he said, "O Yahweh, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Now you rule in all the kingdoms of the nations, and in your hand are power and might, and there is none who can resist against you. O, our God, did you yourself not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham your friend forever? And they lived in it and built for you a sanctuary for your name in it, saying, ‘If disaster, a sword, punishment, disease, or famine come upon us, we shall stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you out of our trouble, then you will hear and save us.’ And now, look, the people of Moab and Ammon and Mount Seir whom you did not allow Israel to come against when they came from Egypt, from whom they turned aside and did not destroy, now behold, they are rewarding us by coming to dispossess us from your possession which you gave us as an inheritance. O our God, will you not judge them, for there is no power in us before this great multitude that is coming against us. Now we do not know what we shall do, for our eyes are upon you."

And all Judah was standing before Yahweh, and also their little children, their wives, and their children. Then the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite from the descendants of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, "Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, thus says Yahweh to you: ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed before this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they are coming up the ascent of Ziz. And you will find them at the end of the valley facing the desert of Jeruel. There will be no need for you to fight in this battle. Take your stand! Stand and see the deliverance of Yahweh among you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out before them and Yahweh will be with you.’" Then Jehoshaphat bowed his face down to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before Yahweh to worship Yahweh. Then the Levites, from the Kohathites and from the Korahites stood up to praise Yahweh the God of Israel with an exceedingly loud voice.

And they rose up early in the morning and went out to the desert of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Yahweh your God, and you shall be established! Believe in his prophets, and you shall succeed!" And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed singers to Yahweh who were giving praise to the splendor of his holiness when they went out before the army. And they said, "Give thanks to Yahweh, for his loyal love is everlasting!"

And when they began with singing and praise, Yahweh set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who were coming against Judah. And they were defeated when the people of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to destroy and demolish them. And when the inhabitants of Seir had made an end of them, each helped to destroy his comrade.

And Judah came against the watchtower of the wilderness. And they looked at the crowd, and behold, corpses were lying on the ground. There was none who had escaped. When Jehoshaphat came with his people to plunder their booty, they found among them in abundance possessions, corpses, and precious items. And they took plunder for themselves until they could carry no more. And they were three days in plundering the booty, for it was abundant. And on the fourth day, they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, for there they blessed Yahweh. Therefore the name of that place is called the Valley of Berakah up to this day. And all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned, and Jehoshaphat was at their head in returning to Jerusalem with joy, for Yahweh caused them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with harps, stringed instruments, and trumpets to the house of Yahweh. And the fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the earth when they heard that Yahweh had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at rest, since his God gave rest to him all around.

So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began to reign. And he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in the way of his father Asa and did not turn aside from it, to do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh. Only the high places were not removed. The people still had not yet set their heart on the God of their ancestors. Now the rest of the words of Jehoshaphat, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the chronicles of Jehu the son of Hanani, which are recorded in the scroll of the kings of Israel.

And afterward Jehoshaphat the king of Judah joined with Ahaziah the king of Israel, who acted wickedly. He joined with him to build ships to go to Tarshish. And they built the ships in Ezion Geber. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, "Because of your joining with Ahaziah, Yahweh will break down your works." And the ships were destroyed and were not able to go to Tarshish.

Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room, which was in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent messengers, and he said to them, "Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury."

Then the angel of Yahweh spoke to Elijah the Tishbite, "Get up, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and speak to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ Therefore, thus says Yahweh, ‘The bed upon which you have gone, you will not come down from it, but you shall surely die.’" So Elijah went.

When the messengers returned to him, he asked them, "Why have you returned?" Then they said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and he said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you and speak to him, "Thus says Yahweh, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore the bed upon which you have gone, you will not come down from it, for you will surely die.’"’" Then he spoke to them, "What was the manner of the man who came up to meet you and spoke to you all these things?" They answered him, "A hairy man with a leather belt girded around his waist." And he said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

So Ahaziah sent to him the commander of fifty with his fifty men, and he went up to him while he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, "O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’" Then Elijah answered and said to the commander of the fifty, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty!" Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

So he again sent another commander of fifty and his fifty men. He answered and said to him, "O man of God, thus says the king, ‘Come down quickly!’" Then Elijah answered and said to them, "If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty!" Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

So he again sent a third time a commander of fifty and his fifty, and the commander of the third fifty went up and came and knelt down on his knees before Elijah and entreated him. He said to him, "O man of God, please let my life and the lives of your servants, these fifty, be precious in your eyes. Behold, fire from heaven came down and consumed the first two commanders of fifty and their fifties, so then let my life be precious in your eyes." Then the angel of Yahweh spoke to Elijah, "Go down with him. Do not be afraid because of him." So he got up and went down with him to the king, and he said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel from whom to inquire his word?—therefore the bed upon which you went, you shall not come down from it, for you shall surely die.’"

So he died, according to the word of Yahweh which Elijah had spoken, and Joram became king in his place in the second year of Joram the son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, because he had no son. The remainder of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

For the music director. A psalm of David.

Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the Judean wilderness and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!" For this is the one who was spoken about by the prophet Isaiah, saying,

Now John himself had his clothing made from camel’s hair and a belt made of leather around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan were going out to him, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! And do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! Already now the ax is positioned at the root of the trees; therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who comes after me is more powerful than I am, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John in order to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it now, for in this way it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted him. Now after he was baptized, Jesus immediately went up from the water, and behold, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove coming upon him. And behold, there was a voice from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."