Jesus Heals an Official's Son

John 4 ⁴³After spending two days there, Jesus left and went to Galilee. ⁴⁴For he himself had said, "Prophets are not respected in their own country." ⁴⁵When he arrived in Galilee, the people there welcomed him, because they had gone to the Passover Festival in Jerusalem and had seen everything that he had done during the festival.
⁴⁶Then Jesus went back to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. A government official was there whose son was sick in Capernaum. ⁴⁷When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to go to Capernaum and heal his son, who was about to die. ⁴⁸Jesus said to him, "None of you will ever believe unless you see miracles and wonders."
⁴⁹"Sir," replied the official, "come with me before my child dies."
⁵⁰Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live!"
The man believed Jesus' words and went. ⁵¹On his way home his servants met him with the news, "Your boy is going to live!"
⁵²He asked them what time it was when his son got better, and they answered, "It was one o'clock yesterday afternoon when the fever left him." ⁵³Then the father remembered that it was at that very hour when Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." So he and all his family believed.
⁵⁴This was the second miracle that Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Nathan's Message to David
(2 Samuel 7.1-17)

1 Chronicles 17 King David was now living in his palace. One day he sent for the prophet Nathan and said to him, "Here I am living in a house built of cedar, but the LORD's Covenant Box is kept in a tent!"
²Nathan answered, "Do whatever you have in mind, because God is with you."
³But that night God said to Nathan, ⁴"Go and tell my servant David that I say to him, 'You are not the one to build a temple for me to live in. ⁵From the time I rescued the people of Israel from Egypt until now I have never lived in a temple; I have always lived in tents and moved from place to place. ⁶In all my traveling with the people of Israel I never asked any of the leaders that I appointed why they had not built me a temple made of cedar.'
⁷"So tell my servant David that I, the LORD Almighty, say to him, 'I took you from looking after sheep in the fields and made you the ruler of my people Israel. ⁸I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have defeated all your enemies as you advanced. I will make you as famous as the greatest leaders in the world. ^9-10I have chosen a place for my people Israel and have settled them there, where they will live without being oppressed any more. Ever since they entered this land they have been attacked by violent people, but this will not happen again. I promise to defeat all your enemies and to give you descendants. ¹¹When you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will make one of your sons king and will keep his kingdom strong. ¹²He will be the one to build a temple for me, and I will make sure that his dynasty continues forever. ¹³I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will not withdraw my support from him as I did from Saul, whom I removed so that you could be king. ¹⁴I will put him in charge of my people and my kingdom forever. His dynasty will never end.'"
¹⁵Nathan told David everything that God had revealed to him.

David's Prayer of Thanksgiving
(2 Samuel 7.18-29)

¹⁶Then King David went into the Tent of the LORD's presence, sat down, and prayed, "I am not worthy of what you have already done for me, LORD God, nor is my family. ¹⁷Yet now you are doing even more; you have made promises about my descendants in the years to come, and you, LORD God, are already treating me like someone great. ¹⁸What more can I say to you! You know me well, and yet you honor me, your servant. ¹⁹It was your will and purpose to do this for me and to show me my future greatness. ²⁰LORD, there is none like you; we have always known that you alone are God. ²¹There is no other nation on earth like Israel, whom you rescued from slavery to make them your own people. The great and wonderful things you did for them spread your fame throughout the world. You rescued your people from Egypt and drove out other nations as your people advanced. ²²You have made Israel your own people forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.
²³"And now, O LORD, fulfill for all time the promise you made about me and my descendants, and do what you said you would. ²⁴Your fame will be great, and people will forever say, 'The LORD Almighty is God over Israel.' And you will preserve my dynasty for all time. ²⁵I have the courage to pray this prayer to you, my God, because you have revealed all this to me, your servant, and have told me that you will make my descendants kings. ²⁶You, LORD, are God, and you have made this wonderful promise to me. ²⁷I ask you to bless my descendants so that they will continue to enjoy your favor. You, LORD, have blessed them, and your blessing will rest on them forever."

The Vision of the Four Chariots

Zechariah 6 I had another vision. This time I saw four chariots coming out from between two bronze mountains. ²The first chariot was pulled by red horses, the second by black horses, ³the third by white horses, and the fourth by dappled horses. ⁴Then I asked the angel, "Sir, what do these chariots mean?"
⁵He answered, "These are the four winds; they have just come from the presence of the Lord of all the earth."
⁶The chariot pulled by the black horses was going north to Babylonia, the white horses were going to the west, and the dappled horses were going to the country in the south. ⁷As the dappled horses came out, they were impatient to go and inspect the earth. The angel said, "Go and inspect the earth!"--and they did. ⁸Then the angel cried out to me, "The horses that went north to Babylonia have quieted the LORD's anger."

The Command to Crown Joshua

⁹The LORD gave me this message. ¹⁰He said, "Take the gifts given by the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, and go at once to the home of Josiah son of Zephaniah. All of them have returned from exile in Babylonia. ¹¹Make a crown out of the silver and gold they have given, and put it on the head of the High Priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak. ¹²Tell him that the LORD Almighty says, 'The man who is called The Branch will flourish where he is and rebuild the LORD's Temple. ¹³He is the one who will build it and receive the honor due a king, and he will rule his people. A priest will stand by his throne, and they will work together in peace and harmony.' ¹⁴The crown will be a memorial in the LORD's Temple in honor of Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah."
¹⁵Men who live far away will come and help to rebuild the Temple of the LORD. And when it is rebuilt, you will know that the LORD Almighty sent me to you. This will all happen if you fully obey the commands of the LORD your God.