July 23

2 Kings 3

1And Jehoram, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of the rule of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; and he was king for twelve years.

2He did evil in the eyes of the Lord; but not like his father and his mother, for he put away the stone pillar of Baal which his father had made.

3But still he did the same sins which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do; he went on in them.

4Now Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep-farmer; and he gave regularly to the king of Israel the wool from a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand sheep.

5But when Ahab was dead, the king of Moab got free from the authority of the king of Israel.

6At that time, King Jehoram went out from Samaria and got all Israel together in fighting order.

7And he sent to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has got free from my authority: will you go with me to make war on Moab? And he said, I will go with you: I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.

8And he said, Which way are we to go? And he said in answer, By the waste land of Edom.

9So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom by a roundabout way for seven days: and there was no water for the army or for the beasts they had with them.

10And the king of Israel said, Here is trouble: for the Lord has got these three kings together to give them into the hands of Moab.

11But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may get directions from the Lord? And one of the king of Israel’s men said in answer, Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here, who was servant to Elijah.

12And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

13But Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? go to the prophets of your father and your mother. And the king of Israel said, No; for the Lord has got these three kings together to give them up into the hands of Moab.

14Then Elisha said, By the life of the Lord of armies whose servant I am, if it was not for the respect I have for Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not give a look at you, or see you.

15But now, get me a player of music, and it will come about that while the man is playing, the hand of the Lord will come on me and I will give you the word of the Lord: and they got a player of music, and while the man was playing, the hand of the Lord was on him.

16And he said, The Lord says, I will make this valley full of water-holes.

17For the Lord says, Though you see no wind or rain, the valley will be full of water, and you and your armies and your beasts will have drink.

18And this will be only a small thing to the Lord: in addition he will give the Moabites into your hands.

19And you are to put every walled town to destruction, cutting down every good tree, and stopping up every water-spring, and making all the good land rough with stones.

20Now in the morning, about the time when the offering was made, they saw water flowing from the direction of Edom till the country was full of water.

21Now all Moab, hearing that the kings had come to make war against them, got together all who were able to take up arms and went forward to the edge of the country.

22And early in the morning they got up, when the sun was shining on the water, and they saw the water facing them as red as blood.

23Then they said, This is blood: it is clear that destruction has come on the kings; they have been fighting one another: now come, Moab, let us take their goods.

24But when they came to the tents of Israel, the Israelites came out and made a violent attack on the Moabites, so that they went in flight before them; and they went forward still attacking them;

25Pulling down the towns, covering every good field with stones, stopping up all the water-springs, and cutting down all the good trees; they went on driving Moab before them till only in Kir-hareseth were there any Moabites; and the fighting-men went round the town raining stones on it.

26And when the king of Moab saw that the fight was going against him, he took with him seven hundred men armed with swords, with the idea of forcing a way through to the king of Aram, but they were not able to do so.

27Then he took his oldest son, who would have been king after him, offering him as a burned offering on the wall. So there was great wrath against Israel; and they went away from him, back to their country.

Amos 8

1This is what the Lord God let me see: and I saw a basket of summer fruit.

2And he said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then the Lord said to me, The end has come to my people Israel; never again will my eyes be shut to their sin.

3And the songs of the king’s house will be cries of pain in that day, says the Lord God: great will be the number of the dead bodies, and everywhere they will put them out without a word.

4Give ear to this, you who are crushing the poor, and whose purpose is to put an end to those who are in need in the land,

5Saying, When will the new moon be gone, so that we may do trade in grain? and the Sabbath, so that we may put out in the market the produce of our fields? making the measure small and the price great, and trading falsely with scales of deceit;

6Getting the poor for silver, and him who is in need for the price of two shoes, and taking a price for the waste parts of the grain.

7The Lord has taken an oath by the pride of Jacob, Truly I will ever keep in mind all their works.

8Will not the land be shaking with fear because of this, and everyone in it have sorrow? and all of it will be overflowing like the River; and it will be troubled and go down again like the River of Egypt.

9And it will come about in that day, says the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down in the middle of the day, and I will make the earth dark in daylight:

10Your feasts will be turned into sorrow and all your melody into songs of grief; everyone will be clothed with haircloth, and the hair of every head will be cut; I will make the weeping like that for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.

11See, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send times of great need on the land, not need of food or desire for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.

12And they will go wandering from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, running here and there in search of the word of the Lord, and they will not get it.

13In that day the fair virgins and the young men will be feeble from need of water.

14Those who make their oaths by the sin of Samaria and say, By the life of your God, O Dan; and, By the living way of Beer-sheba; even they will go down, never again to be lifted up.

1 Corinthians 10

1For it is my desire, my brothers, that you may keep in mind how all our fathers were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea;

2And they all had baptism from Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

3And they all took the same holy food;

4And the same holy drink: for they all took of the water from the holy rock which came after them: and the rock was Christ.

5But with most of them God was not pleased: for they came to their end in the waste land.

6Now these things were for an example to us, so that our hearts might not go after evil things, as they did.

7Then do not go after false gods, as some of them did; as it is said in the holy Writings, After resting and feasting, the people got up to take their pleasure.

8Again, let us not give way to the desires of the flesh, as some of them did, of whom twenty-three thousand came to their end in one day.

9And let us not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and came to their death by snakes.

10And do not say evil things against the Lord, as some of them did, and destruction overtook them.

11Now these things were done as an example; and were put down in writing for our teaching, on whom the last days have come.

12So let him who seems to himself to be safe go in fear of a fall.

13You have been put to no test but such as is common to man: and God is true, who will not let any test come on you which you are not able to undergo; but he will make with the test a way out of it, so that you may be able to go through it.

14For this cause, my dear brothers, give no worship to false gods.

15What I am saying is for wise men, do you be the judges of it.

16The cup of blessing which we take, does it not give us a part in the blood of Christ? and is not the broken bread a taking part in the body of Christ?

17Because we, being a number of persons, are one bread, we are one body: for we all take part in the one bread.

18See Israel after the flesh: do not those who take as food the offerings of the altar take a part in the altar?

19Do I say, then, that what is offered to images is anything, or that the image is anything?

20What I say is that the things offered by the Gentiles are offered to evil spirits and not to God; and it is not my desire for you to have any part with evil spirits.

21It is not possible for you, at the same time, to take the cup of the Lord and the cup of evil spirits; you may not take part in the table of the Lord and the table of evil spirits.

22Or may we be the cause of envy to the Lord? are we stronger than he?

23We are free to do all things, but there are things which it is not wise to do. We are free to do all things, but not all things are for the common good.

24Let a man give attention not only to what is good for himself, but equally to his neighbour’s good.

25Whatever meat may be had at the public market, take as food without question of right or wrong;

26For the earth is the Lord’s and all things in it.

27If a Gentile makes a feast for you, and you are pleased to go as a guest, take whatever is put before you, without question of right or wrong.

28But if anyone says to you, This food has been used as an offering, do not take it, on account of him who said it, and on account of his sense of right and wrong:

29Right and wrong, I say, not for you, but for the other man; for the fact that I am free is not dependent on another man’s sense of right or wrong.

30But if I give praise to God for the food which I take, let no man say evil of me for that reason.

31So then, if it is a question of food or drink, or any other thing, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

32Give no cause of trouble to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God.

33Even as I give way to all men in all things, not looking for profit for myself, but for the good of others, that they may get salvation.

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