Forgiveness for the Offender

2 Corinthians 2 ⁵Now, if anyone has made somebody sad, he has not done it to me but to all of you--in part, at least. (I say this because I do not want to be too hard on him.) ⁶It is enough that this person has been punished in this way by most of you. ⁷Now, however, you should forgive him and encourage him, in order to keep him from becoming so sad as to give up completely. ⁸And so I beg you to let him know that you really do love him. ⁹I wrote you that letter because I wanted to find out how well you had stood the test and whether you are always ready to obey my instructions. ¹⁰When you forgive people for what they have done, I forgive them too. For when I forgive--if, indeed, I need to forgive anything--I do it in Christ's presence because of you, ¹¹in order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand over us; for we know what his plans are.

Paul's Anxiety in Troas

¹²When I arrived in Troas to preach the Good News about Christ, I found that the Lord had opened the way for the work there. ¹³But I was deeply worried, because I could not find our brother Titus. So I said good-bye to the people there and went on to Macedonia.

Victory through Christ

¹⁴But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ's victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance. ¹⁵For we are like a sweet-smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost. ¹⁶For those who are being lost, it is a deadly stench that kills; but for those who are being saved, it is a fragrance that brings life. Who, then, is capable for such a task? ¹⁷We are not like so many others, who handle God's message as if it were cheap merchandise; but because God has sent us, we speak with sincerity in his presence, as servants of Christ.

Servants of the New Covenant

2 Corinthians 3 Does this sound as if we were again boasting about ourselves? Could it be that, like some other people, we need letters of recommendation to you or from you? ²You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read. ³It is clear that Christ himself wrote this letter and sent it by us. It is written, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and not on stone tablets but on human hearts.
⁴We say this because we have confidence in God through Christ. ⁵There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God; ⁶it is he who made us capable of serving the new covenant, which consists not of a written law but of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
⁷The Law was carved in letters on stone tablets, and God's glory appeared when it was given. Even though the brightness on Moses' face was fading, it was so strong that the people of Israel could not keep their eyes fixed on him. If the Law, which brings death when it is in force, came with such glory, ⁸how much greater is the glory that belongs to the activity of the Spirit! ⁹The system which brings condemnation was glorious; how much more glorious is the activity which brings salvation! ¹⁰We may say that because of the far brighter glory now the glory that was so bright in the past is gone. ¹¹For if there was glory in that which lasted for a while, how much more glory is there in that which lasts forever!
¹²Because we have this hope, we are very bold. ¹³We are not like Moses, who had to put a veil over his face so that the people of Israel would not see the brightness fade and disappear. ¹⁴Their minds, indeed, were closed; and to this very day their minds are covered with the same veil as they read the books of the old covenant. The veil is removed only when a person is joined to Christ. ¹⁵Even today, whenever they read the Law of Moses, the veil still covers their minds. ¹⁶But it can be removed, as the scripture says about Moses: "His veil was removed when he turned to the Lord." ¹⁷Now, "the Lord" in this passage is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. ¹⁸All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory.

King Uzziah of Judah
(2 Chronicles 26.1-23)

2 Kings 15 In the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel, Uzziah son of Amaziah became king of Judah ²at the age of sixteen, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. ³Following the example of his father, he did what was pleasing to the LORD. ⁴But the pagan places of worship were not destroyed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. ⁵The LORD struck Uzziah with a dreaded skin disease that stayed with him the rest of his life. He lived in a separate house, relieved of all duties, while his son Jotham governed the country.
⁶Everything else that Uzziah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. ⁷Uzziah died and was buried in the royal burial ground in David's City, and his son Jotham succeeded him as king.

King Zechariah of Israel

⁸In the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King Uzziah of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam II became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for six months. ⁹He, like his predecessors, sinned against the LORD. He followed the wicked example of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin. ¹⁰Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against King Zechariah, assassinated him at Ibleam, and succeeded him as king.
¹¹Everything else that Zechariah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
¹²So the promise was fulfilled which the LORD had made to King Jehu: "Your descendants down to the fourth generation will be kings of Israel."

King Shallum of Israel

¹³In the thirty-ninth year of the reign of King Uzziah of Judah, Shallum son of Jabesh became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for one month.
¹⁴Menahem son of Gadi went from Tirzah to Samaria, assassinated Shallum, and succeeded him as king. ¹⁵Everything else that Shallum did, including an account of his conspiracy, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁶As Menahem was on his way from Tirzah, he completely destroyed the city of Tappuah, its inhabitants, and the surrounding territory, because the city did not surrender to him. He even ripped open the bellies of all the pregnant women.

King Menahem of Israel

¹⁷In the thirty-ninth year of the reign of King Uzziah of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for ten years. ¹⁸He sinned against the LORD, for until the day of his death he followed the wicked example of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin. ¹⁹Tiglath Pileser, the emperor of Assyria, invaded Israel, and Menahem gave him thirty-eight tons of silver to gain his support in strengthening Menahem's power over the country. ²⁰Menahem got the money from the rich men of Israel by forcing each one to contribute fifty pieces of silver. So Tiglath Pileser went back to his own country.
²¹Everything else that Menahem did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel. ²²He died and was buried, and his son Pekahiah succeeded him as king.

King Pekahiah of Israel

²³In the fiftieth year of the reign of King Uzziah of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for two years. ²⁴He sinned against the LORD, following the wicked example of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin. ²⁵An officer of Pekahiah's forces, Pekah son of Remaliah, plotted with fifty men from Gilead, assassinated Pekahiah in the palace's inner fortress in Samaria, and succeeded him as king.
²⁶Everything else that Pekahiah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

King Pekah of Israel

²⁷In the fifty-second year of the reign of King Uzziah of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for twenty years. ²⁸He sinned against the LORD, following the wicked example of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin.
²⁹It was while Pekah was king that Tiglath Pileser, the emperor of Assyria, captured the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor, and the territories of Gilead, Galilee, and Naphtali, and took the people to Assyria as prisoners.
³⁰In the twentieth year of the reign of Jotham son of Uzziah as king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah plotted against King Pekah, assassinated him, and succeeded him as king. ³¹Everything else that Pekah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

King Jotham of Judah
(2 Chronicles 27.1-9)

³²In the second year of the reign of Pekah son of Remaliah as king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah became king of Judah ³³at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. His mother was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. ³⁴Following the example of his father Uzziah, Jotham did what was pleasing to the LORD. ³⁵But the pagan places of worship were not destroyed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. It was Jotham who built the North Gate of the Temple.
³⁶Everything else that Jotham did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. ³⁷It was while he was king that the LORD first sent King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel to attack Judah. ³⁸Jotham died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

King Ahaz of Judah
(2 Chronicles 28.1-27)

2 Kings 16 In the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah son of Remaliah as king of Israel, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah ²at the age of twenty, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not follow the good example of his ancestor King David; instead, he did what was not pleasing to the LORD his God ³and followed the example of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his own son as a burnt offering to idols, imitating the disgusting practice of the people whom the LORD had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced. ⁴At the pagan places of worship, on the hills, and under every shady tree, Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense.
⁵King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel attacked Jerusalem and besieged it, but could not defeat Ahaz. ( ⁶At the same time the king of Edom regained control of the city of Elath and drove out the Judeans who lived there. The Edomites settled in Elath and still live there.) ⁷Ahaz sent men to Tiglath Pileser, the emperor of Assyria, with this message: "I am your devoted servant. Come and rescue me from the kings of Syria and of Israel, who are attacking me." ⁸Ahaz took the silver and gold from the Temple and the palace treasury, and sent it as a present to the emperor. ⁹Tiglath Pileser, in answer to Ahaz' plea, marched out with his army against Damascus, captured it, killed King Rezin, and took the people to Kir as prisoners.
¹⁰When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Emperor Tiglath Pileser, he saw the altar there and sent back to Uriah the priest an exact model of it, down to the smallest details. ¹¹So Uriah built an altar just like it and finished it before Ahaz returned. ¹²On his return from Damascus, Ahaz saw that the altar was finished, ¹³so he burned animal sacrifices and grain offerings on it and poured a wine offering and the blood of a fellowship offering on it. ¹⁴The bronze altar dedicated to the LORD was between the new altar and the Temple, so Ahaz moved it to the north side of his new altar. ¹⁵Then he ordered Uriah: "Use this large altar of mine for the morning burnt offerings and the evening grain offerings, for the burnt offerings and grain offerings of the king and the people, and for the people's wine offerings. Pour on it the blood of all the animals that are sacrificed. But keep the bronze altar for me to use for divination." ¹⁶Uriah did as the king commanded.
¹⁷King Ahaz took apart the bronze carts used in the Temple and removed the basins that were on them. He also took the bronze tank from the backs of the twelve bronze bulls and placed it on a stone foundation. ¹⁸And in order to please the Assyrian emperor, Ahaz also removed from the Temple the platform for the royal throne and closed up the king's private entrance to the Temple.
¹⁹Everything else that King Ahaz did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. ²⁰Ahaz died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.

Micah 5 People of Jerusalem, gather your forces! We are besieged! They are attacking the leader of Israel!

God Promises a Ruler from Bethlehem

²The LORD says, "Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times."
³So the LORD will abandon his people to their enemies until the woman who is to give birth has her son. Then those Israelites who are in exile will be reunited with their own people. ⁴When he comes, he will rule his people with the strength that comes from the LORD and with the majesty of the LORD God himself. His people will live in safety because people all over the earth will acknowledge his greatness, ⁵and he will bring peace.

Deliverance and Punishment

When the Assyrians invade our country and break through our defenses, we will send our strongest leaders to fight them. ⁶By force of arms they will conquer Assyria, the land of Nimrod, and they will save us from the Assyrians when they invade our territory.
⁷The people of Israel who survive will be like refreshing dew sent by the LORD for many nations, like showers on growing plants. They will depend on God, not people. ⁸Those who are left among the nations will be like a lion hunting for food in a forest or a pasture: it gets in among the sheep, pounces on them, and tears them to pieces--and there is no hope of rescue. ⁹Israel will conquer her enemies and destroy them all.
¹⁰The LORD says, "At that time I will take away your horses and destroy your chariots. ¹¹I will destroy the cities in your land and tear down all your defenses. ¹²I will destroy the magic charms you use and leave you without any fortunetellers. ¹³I will destroy your idols and sacred stone pillars; no longer will you worship the things that you yourselves have made. ¹⁴I will pull down the images of the goddess Asherah in your land and destroy your cities. ¹⁵And in my great anger I will take revenge on all nations that have not obeyed me."