Tagged: Ahab

September 12, 2015

September 12

2 Chronicles 21:2-20

2And he had brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel.

3And their father gave them much silver and gold and things of great value, as well as walled towns in Judah; but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, because he was the oldest.

4Now when Jehoram had taken his place over his father’s kingdom, and had made his position safe, he put all his brothers to death with the sword, as well as some of the princes of Israel.

5Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for eight years.

6He went in the ways of the kings of Israel, and did as the family of Ahab did, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

7But it was not the Lord’s purpose to send destruction on the family of David, because of the agreement he had made with David, when he said he would give to him and to his sons a light for ever.

8In his time Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah, and took a king for themselves.

9Then Jehoram went over with his captains and all his war-carriages … made an attack by night on the Edomites, whose forces were all round him … on the captains of the war-carriages.

10So Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah, to this day: and at the same time Libnah made itself free from his rule; because he was turned away from the Lord, the God of his fathers.

11And more than this, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, teaching the people of Jerusalem to go after false gods, and guiding Judah away from the true way.

12And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, The Lord, the God of your father David, says, Because you have not kept to the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or the ways of Asa, king of Judah,

13But have gone in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the people of Jerusalem go after false gods, as the family of Ahab did: and because you have put to death your father’s sons, your brothers, who were better than yourself:

14Now, truly, the Lord will send a great destruction on your people and your children and your wives and everything which is yours:

15And you yourself will undergo the cruel pains of a disease in your stomach, so that day by day your inside will be falling out because of the disease.

16Then the Philistines and the Arabians, who are by Ethiopia, were moved by the Lord to make war on Jehoram;

17And they came up against Judah, forcing a way into it, and took away all the goods in the king’s house, as well as his sons and his wives; so that he had no son but only Jehoahaz, the youngest.

18And after all this the Lord sent on him a disease of the stomach from which it was impossible for him to be made well.

19And time went on, and after two years, his inside falling out because of the disease, he came to his death in cruel pain. And his people made no burning for him like the burning made for his fathers.

20He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for eight years: and at his death he was not regretted; they put his body into the earth in the town of David, but not in the resting-place of the kings.

2 Chronicles 22

1And the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men who came with the Arabians to the army had put all the older sons to death. So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, became king.

2Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.

3He went in the ways of the family of Ahab, for his mother was his teacher in evil-doing.

4And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the family of Ahab did; for after the death of his father they were his guides to his destruction.

5Acting on their suggestion, he went with Jehoram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, to make war on Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead: and Joram was wounded by the bowmen.

6And he went back to Jezreel to get well from the wounds which they had given him at Ramah when he was fighting against Hazael, king of Aram. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to Jezreel to see Jehoram, the son of Ahab, because he was ill.

7Now by the purpose of God, Ahaziah’s journey to see Jehoram was the cause of his downfall: for when he came there, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, who had been marked out by the Lord for the destruction of the family of Ahab.

8Now when Jehu was effecting the punishment of the family of Ahab, he came to the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers, the servants of Ahaziah, and put them to death.

9And he went in search of Ahaziah; and when they came where he was, (for he was in a secret place in Samaria,) they took him to Jehu and put him to death; then they put his body to rest in the earth, for they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, whose heart was true to the Lord. So the family of Ahaziah had no power to keep the kingdom.

10Now when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she had all the rest of the seed of the kingdom of Judah put to death.

11But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, secretly took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, away from among the king’s sons who were put to death, and put him and the woman who took care of him in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, kept him safe from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death.

12And she kept him safe with her in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah was ruling the land.

Psalms 79

A Psalm. Of Asaph.

1 O God, the nations have come into your heritage; they have made your holy Temple unclean; they have made Jerusalem a mass of broken walls.

2They have given the bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, and the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.

3Their blood has been flowing like water round about Jerusalem; there was no one to put them in their last resting-place.

4We are looked down on by our neighbours, we are laughed at and made sport of by those who are round us.

5How long, O Lord? will you be angry for ever? will your wrath go on burning like fire?

6Let your wrath be on the nations who have no knowledge of you, and on the kingdoms who have not made prayer to your name.

7For they have taken Jacob for their meat, and made waste his house.

8Do not keep in mind against us the sins of our fathers; let your mercy come to us quickly, for we have been made very low.

9Give us help, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; take us out of danger and give us forgiveness for our sins, because of your name.

10Why may the nations say, Where is their God? Let payment for the blood of your servants be made openly among the nations before our eyes.

11Let the cry of the prisoner come before you; with your strong arm make free the children of death;

12And give punishment seven times over into the breast of our neighbours for the bitter words which they have said against you, O Lord.

13So we your people, and the sheep of your flock, will give you glory for ever: we will go on praising you through all generations.

John 14:15-31

15If you have love for me, you will keep my laws.

16And I will make prayer to the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you for ever,

17Even the Spirit of true knowledge. That Spirit the world is not able to take to its heart because it sees him not and has no knowledge of him: but you have knowledge of him, because he is ever with you and will be in you.

18I will not let you be without a friend: I am coming to you.

19A little time longer, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me; and you will be living because I am living.

20At that time it will be clear to you that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you.

21He who has my laws and keeps them, he it is who has love for me: and he who has love for me will be loved by my Father, and I will have love for him and will let myself be seen clearly by him.

22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, How is it that you will let yourself be seen clearly by us and not by the world?

23Jesus said to him in answer, If anyone has love for me, he will keep my words: and he will be dear to my Father; and we will come to him and make our living-place with him.

24He who has no love for me does not keep my words; and the word which you are hearing is not my word but the Father’s who sent me.

25I have said all this to you while I am still with you.

26But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will be your teacher in all things and will put you in mind of everything I have said to you.

27May peace be with you; my peace I give to you: I give it not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled; let it be without fear.

28Keep in mind how I said to you, I go away and come to you again. If you had love for me you would be glad, because I am going to the Father: for the Father is greater than I.

29And now I have given you word of it before it comes, so that, when it comes, you may have faith.

30After this I will not say much to you, because the ruler of this world comes: and he has no power over me;

31But he comes so that the world may see that I have love for the Father, and that I am doing as I am ordered by the Father. Get up, and let us go.

September 9, 2014

September 9

2 Chronicles 18

1Now Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honour, and his son was married to Ahab’s daughter.

2And after some years he went down to Samaria to see Ahab. And Ahab made a feast for him and the people who were with him, putting to death great numbers of sheep and oxen; and he got Jehoshaphat to go with him to Ramoth-gilead.

3For Ahab, king of Israel, said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he said, I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will be with you in the war.

4Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Let us now get directions from the Lord.

5So the king of Israel got together all the prophets, four hundred men, and said to them, Am I to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And they said, Go up: for God will give it into the hands of the king.

6But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no other prophet of the Lord here from whom we may get directions?

7And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, but I have no love for him, because he has never been a prophet of good to me, but only of evil: he is Micaiah, the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

8Then the king of Israel sent for one of his unsexed servants and said, Go quickly and come back with Micaiah, the son of Imla.

9Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were seated on their seats of authority, dressed in their robes, by the doorway into Samaria; and all the prophets were acting as prophets before them.

10And Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made himself iron horns and said, The Lord says, Pushing back the Aramaeans with these, you will put an end to them completely.

11And all the prophets said the same thing, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and it will go well for you, for the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.

12Now the servant who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, See now, all the prophets with one voice are saying good things to the king; so let your words be like theirs, and say good things.

13And Micaiah said, By the living Lord, whatever the Lord says to me I will say.

14When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, are we to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And he said, Go up, and it will go well for you; and they will be given up into your hands.

15And the king said to him, Have I not, again and again, put you on your oath to say nothing to me but what is true in the name of the Lord?

16Then he said, I saw all Israel wandering on the mountains like sheep without a keeper; and the Lord said, These have no master: let them go back, every man to his house in peace.

17And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not say that he would not be a prophet of good to me, but of evil?

18Then he said, Give ear now to the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord seated on his seat of power, and all the army of heaven in their places, at his right hand and at his left.

19And the Lord said, How may Ahab, king of Israel, be tricked into going up to Ramoth-gilead to his death? And one said one thing and one another.

20Then a spirit came forward and took his place before the Lord and said, I will get him to do it by a trick. And the Lord said to him, How?

21And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Your trick will have its effect on him: go out and do so.

22And now, see, the Lord has put a spirit of deceit in the mouth of these prophets of yours; and the Lord has said evil against you.

23Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, came near and gave Micaiah a blow on the side of his face, saying, Where is the spirit of the Lord whose word is in you?

24And Micaiah said, Truly, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to keep yourself safe.

25And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon, the ruler of the town, and to Joash, the king’s son;

26And say, By the king’s order this man is to be put in prison, and given prison food till I come back in peace.

27And Micaiah said, If you come back at all in peace, the Lord has not sent his word by me.

28So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead.

29And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will make a change in my clothing, so that I do not seem to be the king, and will go into the fight; but do you put on your robes. So the king of Israel made a change in his dress, and they went to the fight.

30Now the king of Aram had given orders to the captains of his war-carriages, saying, Make no attack on small or great, but only on the king of Israel.

31So when the captains of the war-carriages saw Jehoshaphat, they said, It is the king of Israel. And turning about, they came round him, but Jehoshaphat gave a cry, and the Lord came to his help, and God sent them away from him.

32Now when the captains of the war-carriages saw that he was not the king of Israel, they went back from going after him.

33And a certain man sent an arrow from his bow without thought of its direction, and gave the king of Israel a wound where his breastplate was joined to his clothing; so he said to the driver of his war-carriage, Go to one side and take me away out of the army, for I am badly wounded.

34But the fight became more violent while the day went on; and the king of Israel was supported in his war-carriage facing the Aramaeans till the evening; and by sundown he was dead.

Psalms 78:21-37

21So these things came to the Lord’s ears, and he was angry; and a fire was lighted against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel;

22Because they had no faith in God, and no hope in his salvation.

23And he gave orders to the clouds on high, and the doors of heaven were open;

24And he sent down manna like rain for their food, and gave them the grain of heaven.

25Man took part in the food of strong ones; he sent them meat in full measure.

26He sent an east wind from heaven, driving on the south wind by his power.

27He sent down meat on them like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the sea,

28And he let it come down into their resting-place, round about their tents.

29So they had food and were full; for he gave them their desire;

30But they were not turned from their desires; and while the food was still in their mouths,

31The wrath of God came on them, and put to death the fattest of them, and put an end to the young men of Israel.

32For all this they went on sinning even more, and had no faith in his great wonders.

33So their days were wasted like a breath, and their years in trouble.

34When he sent death on them, then they made search for him; turning to him and looking for him with care;

35In the memory that God was their Rock, and the Most High God their saviour.

36But their lips were false to him, and their tongues were untrue to him;

37And their hearts were not right with him, and they did not keep their agreement with him.

John 13:1-20

1Now before the feast of the Passover, it was clear to Jesus that the time had come for him to go away from this world to the Father. Having once had love for those in the world who were his, his love for them went on to the end.

2So while a meal was going on, the Evil One having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to be false to him,

3Jesus, being conscious that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he came from God and was going to God,

4Got up from table, put off his robe and took a cloth and put it round him.

5Then he put water into a basin and was washing the feet of the disciples and drying them with the cloth which was round him.

6So he came to Simon Peter. Peter said, Lord, are my feet to be washed by you?

7And Jesus, answering, said to him, What I do is not clear to you now, but it will be clear to you in time to come.

8Peter said, I will never let my feet be washed by you, never. Jesus said in answer, If I do not make you clean you have no part with me.

9Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head.

10Jesus said to him, He who is bathed has need only to have his feet washed and then he is clean all over: and you, my disciples, are clean, but not all of you.

11(He had knowledge who was false to him; that is why he said, You are not all clean.)

12Then, after washing their feet and putting on his robe again, he took his seat and said to them, Do you see what I have done to you?

13You give me the name of Master and Lord: and you are right; that is what I am.

14If then I, the Lord and the Master, have made your feet clean, it is right for you to make one another’s feet clean.

15I have given you an example, so that you may do what I have done to you.

16Truly I say to you, A servant is not greater than his lord; and he who is sent is not greater than the one who sent him.

17If these things are clear to you, happy are you if you do them.

18I am not talking of you all: I have knowledge of my true disciples, but things are as they are, so that the Writings may come true, The foot of him who takes bread with me is lifted up against me.

19From this time forward, I give you knowledge of things before they come about, so that when they come about you may have belief that I am he.

20Truly I say to you, He who takes to his heart anyone whom I send, takes me to his heart; and he who so takes me, takes him who sent me.

July 30, 2014

July 30

2 Kings 10

1Now there were in Samaria seventy of Ahab’s sons. And Jehu sent letters to Samaria, to the rulers of the town, and to the responsible men, and to those who had the care of the sons of Ahab, saying,

2Straight away, when you get this letter, seeing that your master’s sons are with you, and that you have carriages and horses and a walled town and arms;

3Take the best and most upright of your master’s sons, and make him king in his father’s place, and put up a fight for your master’s family.

4But they were full of fear, and said, The two kings have gone down before him: how may we keep our place?

5So the controller of the king’s house, with the ruler of the town, and the responsible men, and those who had the care of Ahab’s sons, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants and will do all your orders; we will not make any man king; do whatever seems best to you.

6Then he sent them a second letter, saying, If you are on my side, and if you will do my orders, come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow, with the heads of your master’s sons. Now the king’s seventy sons were with the great men of the town, who had the care of them.

7And when the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and put them to death, all the seventy, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.

8And a man came and said to him, They have come with the heads of the king’s sons. And he said, Put them down in two masses at the doorway of the town till the morning.

9And in the morning he went out and, stopping, said to all the people there, You are upright men: it is true that I made designs against my master, and put him to death; but who is responsible for the death of all these?

10You may be certain that nothing which the Lord has said about the family of Ahab will be without effect; for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah.

11So Jehu put to death all the rest of the seed of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his relations and his near friends and his priests, till there were no more of them.

12Then he got up and came to Samaria. And he was at the meeting-place of the keepers of sheep, by the way,

13When he came across the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah; we are going down to see the children of the king and of the queen.

14And he said, Take them living. So they took them living, and put them to death in the water-hole of Beth-eked; of the forty-two men he put every one to death;

15And when he had gone away from there, he came across Jehonadab, the son of Rechab: and he said good-day to him, and said to him, Is your heart true to mine, as mine is to yours? And Jehonadab in answer said, It is; and Jehu said, If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand, and he made him come up into his carriage.

16And he said, Come with me and see how I am on fire for the Lord’s cause. So he made him go with him in his carriage.

17And when he came to Samaria, he put to death all those of Ahab’s family who were still in Samaria, till there were no more of them, as the Lord had said to Elijah.

18Then Jehu got all the people together and said to them, Ahab was Baal’s servant in a small way, but Jehu will be his servant on a great scale.

19Now send for all the prophets of Baal and all his servants and all his priests, to come to me; let no one keep away: for I have a great offering to make to Baal; anyone who is not present, will be put to death. This Jehu did with deceit, his purpose being the destruction of the servants of Baal.

20And Jehu said, Let there be a special holy meeting for the worship of Baal. So a public statement was made.

21And Jehu sent out through all Israel; and all the servants of Baal came, not one kept away. And they came into the house of Baal, so that it was full from end to end.

22And Jehu said to him who kept the robes, Get out robes for all the servants of Baal. So he got out robes for them.

23And Jehu, with Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, went into the house of Baal; and he said to the servants of Baal, Make a search with care, to see that no servant of the Lord is with you, but only servants of Baal.

24Then they went in to make offerings and burned offerings. Now Jehu had put eighty men outside, and said to them, If any man whom I give into your hands gets away, the life of him who lets him go will be the price of his life.

25Then when the burned offering was ended, straight away Jehu said to the armed men and the captains, Go in and put them to death; let not one come out. So they put them to the sword; and, pulling the images to the earth, they went into the holy place of the house of Baal.

26And they took out the image of Asherah from the house of Baal, and had it burned.

27The altar of Baal was pulled down and the house of Baal was broken up and made an unclean place, as it is to this day.

28So Jehu put an end to the worship of Baal in Israel.

29But Jehu did not keep himself from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the evil he made Israel do; the gold oxen were still in Beth-el and in Dan.

30And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have done well in doing what is right in my eyes and effecting all my purpose for the family of Ahab, your sons will be kings of Israel to the fourth generation.

31But Jehu did not take care to keep the law of the Lord with all his heart: he did not keep himself from the sin which Jeroboam did and made Israel do.

32In those days the Lord was angry first with Israel; and Hazael made attacks on all the land of Israel,

33East of Jordan, in all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer by the valley of the Arnon, all Gilead and Bashan.

34Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all he did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

35And Jehu went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.

36And the time of Jehu’s rule over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Micah 1

1The word of the Lord which came to Micah the Morashtite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: his vision about Samaria and Jerusalem.

2Give ear, you peoples, all of you; give attention, O earth and everything in it: let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy Temple.

3For see, the Lord is coming out from his place, and will come down, stepping on the high places of the earth.

4And the mountains will be turned to water under him, and the deep valleys will be broken open, like wax before the fire, like waters flowing down a slope.

5All this is because of the wrongdoing of Jacob and the sins of the children of Israel. What is the wrongdoing of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

6So I will make Samaria into a field and the plantings of a vine-garden: I will send its stones falling down into the valley, uncovering its bases.

7And all her pictured images will be hammered into bits, and all the payments for her loose ways will be burned with fire, and all the images of her gods I will make waste: for with the price of a loose woman she got them together, and as the price of a loose woman will they be given back.

8For this I will be full of sorrow and give cries of grief; I will go uncovered and unclothed: I will give cries of grief like the jackals and will be in sorrow like the ostriches.

9For her wounds may not be made well: for it has come even to Judah, stretching up to the doorway of my people, even to Jerusalem.

10Give no word of it in Gath, let there be no weeping at all: at Beth-le-aphrah be rolling in the dust.

11Be uncovered and go away, you who are living in Shaphir: the one living in Zaanan has not come out of her town; Beth-ezel is taken away from its base, even from its resting-place.

12For the one living in Maroth is waiting for good: for evil has come down from the Lord to the doorways of Jerusalem.

13Let the war-carriage be yoked to the quick-running horse, you who are living in Lachish: she was the first cause of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the wrongdoings of Israel were seen in you.

14For this cause give a parting offering to Moresheth-gath: the daughter of Achzib will be a deceit to the king of Israel.

15Even now will the taker of your heritage come to you, you who are living in Mareshah: the glory of Israel will come to destruction for ever.

16Let your head be uncovered and your hair cut off in sorrow for the children of your delight: let the hair be pulled from your head like an eagle’s; for they have been taken away from you as prisoners.

1 Corinthians 15:1-34

1Now I am going to make clear to you, my brothers, what the good news was which I gave to you, and which you took, and on which your faith is based,

2By which you have salvation; that is to say, the form in which it was given to you, if it is fixed in your minds, and if your faith in it is not without effect.

3For I gave to you first of all what was handed down to me, how Christ underwent death for our sins, as it says in the Writings;

4And he was put in the place of the dead; and on the third day he came back from the dead, as it says in the Writings;

5And he was seen by Cephas; then by the twelve;

6Then by more than five hundred brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, but some are sleeping;

7Then he was seen by James; then by all the Apostles.

8And last of all, as by one whose birth was out of the right time, he was seen by me.

9For I am the least of the Apostles, having no right to be named an Apostle, because of my cruel attacks on the church of God.

10But by the grace of God, I am what I am: and his grace which was given to me has not been for nothing; for I did more work than all of them; though not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11If then it is I who am the preacher, or they, this is our word, and to this you have given your faith.

12Now if the good news says that Christ came back from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no coming back from the dead?

13But if there is no coming back from the dead, then Christ has not come back from the dead:

14And if Christ did not come again from the dead, then our good news and your faith in it are of no effect.

15Yes, and we are seen to be false witnesses of God; because we gave witness of God that by his power Christ came again from the dead: which is not true if there is no coming back from the dead.

16For if it is not possible for the dead to come to life again, then Christ has not come to life again:

17And if that is so, your faith is of no effect; you are still in your sins.

18And, in addition, the dead in Christ have gone to destruction.

19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most unhappy.

20But now Christ has truly come back from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are sleeping.

21For as by man came death, so by man there is a coming back from the dead.

22For as in Adam death comes to all, so in Christ will all come back to life.

23But every man in his right order: Christ the first-fruits; then those who are Christ’s at his coming.

24Then comes the end, when he will give up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have put an end to all rule and to all authority and power.

25For his rule will go on till he has put all those who are against him under his feet.

26The last power to come to an end is death.

27For, as it says, He has put all things under his feet. But when he says, All things are put under him, it is clear that it is not said about him who put all things under him.

28And when all things have been put under him, then will the Son himself be under him who put all things under him, so that God may be all in all.

29Again, what will they do who are given baptism for the dead? if the dead do not come back at all, why are people given baptism for them?

30And why are we in danger every hour?

31Yes, truly, by your pride in me, my brothers in Christ Jesus our Lord, my life is one long death.

32If, after the way of men, I was fighting with beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not come to life again, let us take our pleasure in feasting, for tomorrow we come to an end.

33Do not be tricked by false words: evil company does damage to good behaviour.

34Be awake to righteousness and keep yourselves from sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I say this to put you to shame.

July 29, 2014

July 29

2 Kings 9

1And Elisha the prophet sent for one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Make yourself ready for a journey, and take this bottle of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.

2And when you get there, go in search of Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi; and go in and make him get up from among his brothers, and take him to an inner room.

3Then take the bottle and put the oil on his head, and say, The Lord says, I have put the holy oil on you to make you king over Israel. Then, opening the door, go in flight, without waiting.

4So the young prophet went to Ramoth-gilead.

5And when he came, he saw the captains of the army seated together; and he said, I have something to say to you, O captain. And Jehu said, To which of us? And he said, To you, O captain.

6And he got up and went into the house; then he put the holy oil on his head and said to him, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, I have made you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.

7You are to see that the family of Ahab your master is cut off, so that I may take from Jezebel payment for the blood of my servants the prophets, and for the blood of all the servants of the Lord.

8For the family of Ahab will come to an end; every male of Ahab’s family will be cut off, he who is shut up and he who goes free in Israel.

9I will make the family of Ahab like that of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and Baasha, the son of Ahijah.

10And Jezebel will become food for the dogs in the heritage of Jezreel, and there will be no one to put her body into the earth. Then, opening the door, he went in flight.

11Then Jehu came out again to the servants of his lord, and one said to him, Is all well? why did this man, who is off his head, come to you? And he said to them, You have knowledge of the man and of his talk.

12And they said, That is not true; now give us his story. Then he said, This is what he said to me: The Lord says, I have made you king over Israel.

13Then straight away everyone took his robe and put it under him on the top of the steps, and, sounding the horn, they said, Jehu is king.

14So Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, made designs against Joram. (Now Joram and all the army of Israel were keeping watch on Ramoth-gilead because of Hazael, king of Aram:

15But King Joram had gone back to Jezreel to get well from the wounds which the Aramaeans had given him when he was fighting against Hazael, king of Aram.) And Jehu said, If this is your purpose, then let no one get away and go out of the town to give news of it in Jezreel.

16So Jehu got into his carriage and went to Jezreel, for Joram was ill in bed there; and Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come down to see Joram.

17And the watchman on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu and his band coming, and said, I see a band of people. And Joram said, Send out a horseman to them, and let him say, Is it peace?

18So a horseman went out to them and said, The king says, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? come after me. And the watchman gave them word, saying, The horseman went up to them, but has not come back.

19Then he sent out a second horseman, who came up to them and said, The king says, Is it peace? And Jehu said in answer, What have you to do with peace? come after me.

20And the watchman gave them word, saying, He went up to them and has not come back again; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu, son of Nimshi, for he is driving violently.

21Then Joram said, Make ready. So they made his carriage ready; and Joram, king of Israel, with Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out in their carriages for the purpose of meeting Jehu; and they came face to face with him at the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.

22Now when Joram saw Jehu he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he said in answer, What peace is possible while all the land is full of the disgusting sins of your mother Jezebel, and her secret arts?

23Then Joram, turning his horses in flight, said to Ahaziah, Broken faith, O Ahaziah!

24Then Jehu took his bow in his hand, and with all his strength sent an arrow, wounding Joram between the arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he went down on his face in his carriage.

25Then Jehu said to Bidkar, his captain, Take him up, and put him in the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for is not that day in your memory when you and I together on our horses were going after Ahab, his father, and the Lord put this fate on him, saying:

26I saw the blood of Naboth and of his sons yesterday; and I will give you full payment in this field, says the Lord? So now, take him and put him in this field, as the Lord said.

27Now when Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw this, he went in flight by the way of the garden house. And Jehu came after him and said, Put him to death in the same way; and they gave him a death-wound in his carriage, on the slope up to Gur, by Ibleam; and he went in flight to Megiddo, where death came to him.

28And his servants took him in a carriage to Jerusalem, and put him into the earth with his fathers in the town of David.

29(In the eleventh year of the rule of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah became king over Judah.)

30And when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel had news of it; and, painting her eyes and dressing her hair with ornaments, she put her head out of the window.

31And when Jehu was coming into the town, she said, Is all well, O Zimri, taker of your master’s life?

32Then, looking up to the window, he said, Who is on my side, who? and two or three unsexed servants put out their heads.

33And he said, Take her and put her out of the window. So they sent her down with force, and her blood went in a shower on the wall and on the horses; and she was crushed under their feet.

34And he came in, and took food and drink; then he said, Now see to this cursed woman, and put her body into the earth, for she is a king’s daughter.

35And they went out to put her body into the earth, but nothing of her was to be seen, only the bones of her head, and her feet, and parts of her hands.

36So they came back and gave him word of it. And he said, This is what the Lord said by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the heritage of Jezreel the flesh of Jezebel will become food for dogs;

37And the dead body of Jezebel will be like waste dropped on the face of the earth in the heritage of Jezreel; so that they will not be able to say, This is Jezebel.

Jonah 4

1But this seemed very wrong to Jonah, and he was angry.

2And he made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? This is why I took care to go in flight to Tarshish: for I was certain that you were a loving God, full of pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, and ready to be turned from your purpose of evil.

3So now, O Lord, give ear to my prayer and take my life from me; for death is better for me than life.

4And the Lord said, Have you any right to be angry?

5Then Jonah went out of the town, and took his seat on the east side of the town and made himself a roof of branches and took his seat under its shade till he saw what would become of the town.

6And the Lord God made a vine come up over Jonah to give him shade over his head. And Jonah was very glad because of the vine.

7But early on the morning after, God made ready a worm for the destruction of the vine, and it became dry and dead.

8Then when the sun came up, God sent a burning east wind: and so great was the heat of the sun on his head that Jonah was overcome, and, requesting death for himself, said, Death is better for me than life.

9And the Lord said to Jonah, Have you any right to be angry about the vine? And he said, I have a right to be truly angry.

10And the Lord said, You had pity on the vine, for which you did no work and for the growth of which you were not responsible; which came up in a night and came to an end in a night;

11And am I not to have mercy on Nineveh, that great town, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons without the power of judging between right and left, as well as much cattle?

1 Corinthians 14:26-40

26What is it then, my brothers? when you come together everyone has a holy song, or a revelation, or a tongue, or is giving the sense of it. Let everything be done for the common good.

27If any man makes use of a tongue, let it not be more than two, or at the most three, and in turn; and let someone give the sense:

28But if there is no one to give the sense, let him keep quiet in the church; and let his words be to himself and to God.

29And let the prophets give their words, but not more than two or three, and let the others be judges of what they say.

30But if a revelation is given to another who is seated near, let the first be quiet.

31For you may all be prophets in turn so that all may get knowledge and comfort;

32And the spirits of the prophets are controlled by the prophets;

33For God is not a God whose ways are without order, but a God of peace; as in all the churches of the saints.

34Let women keep quiet in the churches: for it is not right for them to be talking; but let them be under control, as it says in the law.

35And if they have a desire for knowledge about anything, let them put questions to their husbands privately: for talking in the church puts shame on a woman.

36What? was it from you that the word of God went out? or did it only come in to you?

37If any man seems to himself to be a prophet or to have the Spirit, let him take note of the things which I am writing to you, as being the word of the Lord.

38But if any man is without knowledge, let him be so.

39So then, my brothers, let it be your chief desire to be prophets; but let no one be stopped from using tongues.

40Let all things be done in the right and ordered way.

July 28, 2014

July 28

2 Kings 8

1Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had given back to life, Go now, with all the people of your house, and get a living-place for yourselves wherever you are able; for by the word of the Lord, there will be great need of food in the land; and this will go on for seven years.

2So the woman got up and did as the man of God said; and she and the people of her house were living in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

3And when the seven years were ended, the woman came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king with a request for her house and her land.

4Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Now, give me an account of all the great things Elisha has done.

5And while he was giving the king the story of how Elisha had given life to the dead, the woman whose son had come back to life came to the king with a request for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, My lord king, this is the woman and this is her son, whose life Elisha gave back to him.

6And in answer to the king’s questions, the woman gave him all the story. So the king gave orders to one of his unsexed servants, saying, Give her back all her property, and all the produce of her fields from the day when she went away from the land up till now.

7And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad, king of Aram, was ill; and they said to him, The man of God has come.

8Then the king said to Hazael, Take an offering with you, and go to see the man of God and get directions from the Lord by him, saying, Am I going to get better from my disease?

9So Hazael went to see him, taking with him forty camels with offerings on their backs of every sort of good thing from Damascus; and when he came before him, he said, Your son Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you, saying, Will I get better from this disease?

10And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, You will certainly get better; but the Lord has made it clear to me that only death is before him.

11And he kept his eyes fixed on him till he was shamed, and the man of God was overcome with weeping.

12And Hazael said, Why is my lord weeping? Then he said in answer, Because I see the evil which you will do to the children of Israel: burning down their strong towns, putting their young men to death with the sword, smashing their little ones against the stones, and cutting open the women who are with child.

13And Hazael said, How is it possible that your servant, who is only a dog, will do this great thing? And Elisha said, The Lord has made it clear to me that you will be king over Aram.

14Then he went away from Elisha and came in to his master, who said to him, What did Elisha say to you? And his answer was, He said that you would certainly get well.

15Now on the day after, Hazael took the bed-cover, and making it wet with water, put it over Ben-hadad’s face, causing his death: and Hazael became king in his place.

16In the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king.

17He was thirty-two years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for eight years.

18He went in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the family of Ahab did: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

19But it was not the Lord’s purpose to send destruction on Judah, because of David his servant, to whom he had given his word that he would have a light for ever.

20In his time, Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah, and took a king for themselves.

21Then Joram went over to Zair, with all his war-carriages; … made an attack by night on the Edomites, whose forces were all round him, … the captains of the war-carriages; and the people went in flight to their tents.

22So Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah to this day. And at the same time, Libnah made itself free.

23Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

24And Joram went to rest with his fathers and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David: and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

25In the twelfth year that Joram, the son of Ahab, was king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, became king;

26Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel.

27He went in the ways of the family of Ahab, and did evil in the eyes of the Lord as the family of Ahab did, for he was a son-in-law of the family of Ahab.

28He went with Joram, the son of Ahab, to make war on Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead: and Joram was wounded by the Aramaeans.

29So King Joram went back to Jezreel to get well from the wounds which the bowmen had given him at Ramah, when he was fighting against Hazael, king of Aram. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel, because he was ill.

Jonah 3

1And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying,

2Up! go to Nineveh, that great town, and give it the word which I have given you.

3So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh as the Lord had said. Now Nineveh was a very great town, three days’ journey from end to end.

4And Jonah first of all went a day’s journey into the town, and crying out said, In forty days destruction will overtake Nineveh.

5And the people of Nineveh had belief in God; and a time was fixed for going without food, and they put on haircloth, from the greatest to the least.

6And the word came to the king of Nineveh, and he got up from his seat of authority, and took off his robe, and covering himself with haircloth, took his seat in the dust.

7And he had it given out in Nineveh, By the order of the king and his great men, no man or beast, herd or flock, is to have a taste of anything; let them have no food or water:

8And let man and beast be covered with haircloth, and let them make strong prayers to God: and let everyone be turned from his evil way and the violent acts of their hands.

9Who may say that God will not be turned, changing his purpose and turning away from his burning wrath, so that destruction may not overtake us?

10And God saw what they did, how they were turned from their evil way; and God’s purpose was changed as to the evil which he said he would do to them, and he did it not.

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

1Go after love; still desiring to have the things which the Spirit gives, but most of all that you may have the prophet’s power.

2For he who makes use of tongues is not talking to men but to God; because no one has the sense of what he is saying; but in the Spirit he is talking of secret things.

3But the word of the prophet gives men knowledge and comfort and strength.

4He who makes use of tongues may do good to himself; but he who gives the prophet’s word does good to the church.

5Now though it is my desire for you all to have the power of tongues, it would give me more pleasure to be hearing the prophet’s word from you; for this is a greater thing than using tongues, if the sense is not given at the same time, for the good of the church.

6But, now, my brothers, if I come to you using tongues, what profit will it be to you, if I do not give you a revelation, or knowledge, or the word of the prophet, or teaching?

7Even things without life, having a voice, such as a music-pipe or other instrument, if they do not give out different sounds, who may be certain what is being played?

8For if the war-horn gives out an uncertain note, who will get ready for the fight?

9So if you, in using a strange tongue, say words which have no sense, how will anyone take in what you are saying? for you will be talking to the air.

10There are, it may be, a number of different voices in the world, and no voice is without sense.

11But if the sense of the voice is not clear to me, I am like a man from a strange country to him who is talking, and he will be the same to me.

12So if you are desiring the things which the Spirit gives, let your minds be turned first to the things which are for the good of the church.

13For this reason, let the man who has the power of using tongues make request that he may, at the same time, be able to give the sense.

14For if I make use of tongues in my prayers, my spirit makes the prayer, but not my mind.

15What then? let my prayer be from the spirit, and equally from the mind; let my song be from the spirit, and equally from mind.

16For if you give a blessing with the spirit, how will the man who has no knowledge say, So be it, after your prayer, seeing that he has not taken in what you are saying?

17For your giving of the blessing is certainly well done, but of no profit to the man without knowledge.

18I give praise to God that I am able to make use of tongues more than you all:

19But in the church it would be better for me to make use of five words of which the sense was clear, so that others might have profit, than ten thousand words in a strange tongue.

20My brothers, do not be children in mind: in evil be as little children, but in mind be of full growth.

21In the law it is said, By men of other tongues and by strange lips will my words come to this people; and not even so will they give ear to me, says the Lord.

22For this reason tongues are for a sign, not to those who have faith, but to those who have not: but the prophet’s word is for those who have faith, and not for the rest who have not.

23If, then, the church has come together, and all are using tongues, and there come in men without knowledge or faith, will they not say that you are unbalanced?

24But if all are teaching as prophets, and a man without faith or knowledge comes in, he is tested by all, he is judged by all;

25The secrets of his heart are made clear; and he will go down on his face and give worship to God, saying that God is truly among you.

July 21, 2014

July 21

1 Kings 22

1Now for three years there was no war between Aram and Israel.

2And it came about in the third year, that Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel.

3And the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you not see that Ramoth-gilead is ours? and we are doing nothing to get it back from the hands of the king of Aram.

4And he said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead to make war? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are: my people as your people, my horses as your horses.

5Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Let us now get directions from the Lord.

6So the king of Israel got all the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, Am I to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And they said, Go up: for the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.

7But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no other prophet of the Lord here from whom we may get directions?

8And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, Micaiah, son of Imlah; but I have no love for him, for he is a prophet of evil to me and not of good. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

9Then the king of Israel sent for one of his unsexed servants and said, Go quickly and come back with Micaiah, the son of Imlah.

10Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were seated on their seats of authority, dressed in their robes, by the doorway into Samaria; and all the prophets were acting as prophets before them.

11And Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made himself horns of iron and said, The Lord says, Pushing back the Aramaeans with these, you will put an end to them completely.

12And all the prophets said the same thing, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and it will go well for you, for the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.

13Now the servant who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, See now, all the prophets with one voice are saying good things to the king; so let your words be like theirs and say good things.

14And Micaiah said, By the living Lord, whatever the Lord says to me I will say.

15When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, are we to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And in answer he said, Go up, and it will go well for you; and the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.

16Then the king said to him, Have I not, again and again, put you on your oath to say nothing to me but what is true in the name of the Lord?

17Then he said, I saw all Israel wandering on the mountains like sheep without a keeper; and the Lord said, These have no master: let them go back, every man to his house in peace.

18And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not say that he would not be a prophet of good but of evil?

19And he said, Give ear now to the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord seated on his seat of power, with all the army of heaven in their places round him at his right hand and at his left.

20And the Lord said, How may Ahab be tricked into going up to Ramoth-gilead to his death? And one said one thing and one another.

21Then a spirit came forward and took his place before the Lord and said, I will get him to do it by a trick.

22And the Lord said, How? And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Your trick will have its effect on him: go out and do so.

23And now, see, the Lord has put a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the Lord has said evil against you.

24Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, came near and gave Micaiah a blow on the side of the face, saying, Where is the spirit of the Lord whose word is in you?

25And Micaiah said, Truly, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to keep yourself safe.

26And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon, the ruler of the town, and to Joash, the king’s son;

27And say, It is the king’s order that this man is to be put in prison and given prison food till I come again in peace.

28And Micaiah said, If you come back at all in peace, the Lord has not sent his word by me.

29So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead.

30And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will make a change in my clothing, so that I do not seem to be the king, and will go into the fight; but do you put on your robes. So the king of Israel made a change in his dress and went into the fight.

31Now the king of Aram had given orders to the thirty-two captains of his war-carriages, saying, Make no attack on small or great, but only on the king of Israel.

32So when the captains of the war-carriages saw Jehoshaphat, they said, Truly, this is the king of Israel; and turning against him, they came round him, but Jehoshaphat gave a cry.

33And when the captains of the war-carriages saw that he was not the king of Israel, they went back from going after him.

34And a certain man sent an arrow from his bow without thought of its direction, and gave the king of Israel a wound where his breastplate was joined to his clothing; so he said to the driver of his war-carriage, Go to one side and take me away out of the army, for I am badly wounded.

35But the fight became more violent while the day went on; and the king was supported in his war-carriage facing the Aramaeans, and the floor of the carriage was covered with the blood from his wound, and by evening he was dead.

36And about sundown a cry went up from all parts of the army, saying, Let every man go back to his town and his country, for the king is dead.

37And they came to Samaria, and put the king’s body to rest in Samaria.

38And the war-carriage was washed by the pool of Samaria, which was the bathing-place of the loose women, and the dogs were drinking his blood there, as the Lord had said.

39Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all he did, and his ivory house, and all the towns of which he was the builder, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

40So Ahab was put to rest with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

41And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab’s rule over Israel.

42Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he was king for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.

43He did as Asa his father had done, not turning away from it, but doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord; but the high places were not taken away: the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.

44And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

45Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his great power, and how he went to war, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

46He put an end to the rest of those who were used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods, all those who were still in the land in the time of his father Asa.

47At that time there was no king in Edom;

48And the representative of King Jehoshaphat made a Tarshish-ship to go to Ophir for gold, but it did not go, because it was broken at Ezion-geber.

49Then Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, Let my men go with yours in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not let them.

50Then Jehoshaphat went to rest with his fathers, and his body was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Jehoram his son became king in his place.

51Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of the rule of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and he was king over Israel for two years.

52He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, going in the ways of his father and his mother, and in the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel do evil.

53He was a servant and worshipper of Baal, moving the Lord, the God of Israel, to wrath, as his father had done.

Amos 6

1Sorrow to those who are resting in comfort in Zion, and to those who have no fear of danger in the mountain of Samaria, the noted men of the chief of the nations, to whom the people of Israel come!

2Go on to Calneh and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are you better than these kingdoms? or is your land wider than theirs?

3You who put far away the evil day, causing the rule of the violent to come near;

4Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house;

5Making foolish songs to the sound of corded instruments, and designing for themselves instruments of music, like David;

6Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.

7So now they will go away prisoners with the first of those who are made prisoners, and the loud cry of those who were stretched out will come to an end.

8The Lord God has taken an oath by himself, says the Lord, the God of armies: the pride of Jacob is disgusting to me, and I have hate for his great houses: so I will give up the town with everything in it.

9Then it will come about that if there are still ten men in a house, death will overtake them.

10And when a man’s relation, even the one who is responsible for burning his body, lifting him up to take his bones out of the house, says to him who is in the inmost part of the house, Is there still anyone with you? and he says, No; then he will say, Keep quiet, for the name of the Lord may not be named.

11For see, at the order of the Lord the great house will be full of cracks and the little house will be broken.

12Is it possible for horses to go running on the rock? may the sea be ploughed with oxen? for the right to be turned by you into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into a bitter plant?

13You whose joy is in a thing of no value, who say, Have we not taken for ourselves horns by the strength which is ours?

14For see, I will send against you a nation, O Israel, says the Lord, the God of armies, ruling you cruelly from the way into Hamath as far as the stream of the Arabah.

1 Corinthians 8

1Now about things offered to images: we all seem to ourselves to have knowledge. Knowledge gives pride, but love gives true strength.

2If anyone seems to himself to have knowledge, so far he has not the right sort of knowledge about anything;

3But if anyone has love for God, God has knowledge of him.

4So, then, as to the question of taking food offered to images, we are certain that an image is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.

5For though there are those who have the name of gods, in heaven or on earth, as there are a number of gods and a number of lords,

6There is for us only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we are for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we have our being through him.

7Still, all men have not that knowledge: but some, being used till now to the image, are conscious that they are taking food which has been offered to the image; and because they are not strong in the faith, their minds are troubled.

8But God’s approval of us is not based on the food we take: if we do not take it we are no worse for it; and if we take it we are no better.

9But take care that this power of yours does not give cause for trouble to the feeble.

10For if a man sees you, who have knowledge, taking food as a guest in the house of an image, will it not give him, if he is feeble, the idea that he may take food offered to images?

11And so, through your knowledge, you are the cause of destruction to your brother, for whom Christ underwent death.

12And in this way, doing evil to the brothers, and causing trouble to those whose faith is feeble, you are sinning against Christ.

13For this reason, if food is a cause of trouble to my brother, I will give up taking meat for ever, so that I may not be a cause of trouble to my brother.

July 20, 2014

July 20

1 Kings 21

1Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vine-garden in Jezreel, near the house of Ahab, king of Samaria.

2And Ahab said to Naboth, Give me your vine-garden so that I may have it for a garden of sweet plants, for it is near my house; and let me give you a better vine-garden in exchange, or, if it seems good to you, let me give you its value in money.

3But Naboth said to Ahab, By the Lord, far be it from me to give you the heritage of my fathers.

4So Ahab came into his house bitter and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, I will not give you the heritage of my fathers. And stretching himself on the bed with his face turned away, he would take no food.

5But Jezebel, his wife, came to him and said, Why is your spirit so bitter that you have no desire for food?

6And he said to her, Because I was talking to Naboth the Jezreelite, and I said to him, Let me have your vine-garden for a price, or, if it is pleasing to you, I will give you another vine-garden for it: and he said, I will not give you my vine-garden.

7Then Jezebel, his wife, said, Are you now the ruler of Israel? Get up, take food, and let your heart be glad; I will give you the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite.

8So she sent a letter in Ahab’s name, stamped with his stamp, to the responsible men and the chiefs who were in authority with Naboth.

9And in the letter she said, Let a time of public sorrow be fixed, and put Naboth at the head of the people;

10And get two good-for-nothing persons to come before him and give witness that he has been cursing God and the king. Then take him out and have him stoned to death.

11So the responsible men and the chiefs who were in authority in his town, did as Jezebel had said in the letter she sent them.

12They gave orders for a day of public sorrow, and put Naboth at the head of the people.

13And the two good-for-nothing persons came in and took their seats before him and gave witness against Naboth, in front of the people, saying, Naboth has been cursing God and the king. Then they took him outside the town and had him stoned to death.

14And they sent word to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead.

15Then Jezebel, hearing that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, said to Ahab, Get up and take as your heritage the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he would not give you for money, for Naboth is no longer living but is dead.

16So Ahab, hearing that Naboth was dead, went down to the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite to take it as his heritage.

17And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

18Go down to Ahab, king of Israel, in Samaria; see, he is in the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite, where he has gone to take it as his heritage.

19Say to him, The Lord says, Have you put a man to death and taken his heritage? Then say to him, The Lord says, In the place where dogs have been drinking the blood of Naboth, there will your blood become the drink of dogs.

20And Ahab said to Elijah, Have you come face to face with me, O my hater? And he said, I have come to you because you have given yourself up to do evil in the eyes of the Lord.

21See, I will send evil on you and put an end to you completely, cutting off from Ahab every male child, him who is shut up and him who goes free in Israel;

22And I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the family of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, because you have made me angry, and have made Israel do evil.

23And of Jezebel the Lord said, Jezebel will become food for dogs in the heritage of Jezreel.

24Any man of the family of Ahab who comes to his death in the town will become food for the dogs; and he who comes to his death in the open country will be food for the birds of the air.

25(There was no one like Ahab, who gave himself up to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moved to it by Jezebel his wife.

26He did a very disgusting thing in going after false gods, doing all the things the Amorites did, whom the Lord sent out before the children of Israel.)

27Hearing these words, Ahab, in great grief, put haircloth on his flesh and went without food, sleeping in haircloth, and going about quietly.

28Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

29Do you see how Ahab has made himself low before me? because he has made himself low before me, I will not send the evil in his life-time, but in his son’s time I will send the evil on his family.

Amos 5

1Give ear to this word, my song of sorrow over you, O children of Israel.

2The virgin of Israel has been made low, never again to be lifted up: she is stretched out by herself on her land; there is no one to put her on her feet again.

3For these are the words of the Lord God: The town which was able to send out a thousand, will have only a hundred; and that which sent out a hundred, will have only ten, in Israel.

4For these are the words of the Lord to the children of Israel: Let your hearts be turned to me, so that you may have life:

5Do not be looking for help to Beth-el, and do not go to Gilgal, or make your way to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal will certainly be taken prisoner, and Beth-el will come to nothing.

6Go to the Lord for help so that you may have life; for fear that he may come like fire bursting out in the family of Joseph, causing destruction, and there will be no one to put it out in Beth-el.

7You who make the work of judging a bitter thing, crushing down righteousness to the earth;

8Go for help to him who makes Orion and the Pleiades, by whom the deep dark is turned into morning, who makes the day black with night; whose voice goes out to the waters of the sea, sending them out over the face of the earth: the Lord is his name;

9Who sends sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the walled town.

10They have hate for him who makes protest against evil in the public place, and he whose words are upright is disgusting to them.

11So because the poor man is crushed under your feet, and you take taxes from him of grain: you have made for yourselves houses of cut stone, but you will not take your rest in them; the fair vine-gardens planted by your hands will not give you wine.

12For I have seen how your evil-doing is increased and how strong are your sins, you troublers of the upright, who take rewards and do wrong to the cause of the poor in the public place.

13So the wise will say nothing in that time; for it is an evil time.

14Go after good and not evil, so that life may be yours: and so the Lord, the God of armies, will be with you, as you say.

15Be haters of evil and lovers of good, and let right be done in the public place: it may be that the Lord, the God of armies, will have mercy on the rest of Joseph.

16So these are the words of the Lord, the God of armies, the Lord: There will be weeping in all the open spaces; and in all the streets they will say, Sorrow! sorrow! and they will get in the farmer to the weeping, and the makers of sad songs to give cries of grief.

17In all the vine-gardens there will be cries of grief: for I will go through among you, says the Lord.

18Sorrow to you who are looking for the day of the Lord! what is the day of the Lord to you? it is dark and not light.

19As if a man, running away from a lion, came face to face with a bear; or went into the house and put his hand on the wall and got a bite from a snake.

20Will not the day of the Lord be dark and not light? even very dark, with no light shining in it?

21Your feasts are disgusting to me, I will have nothing to do with them; I will take no delight in your holy meetings.

22Even if you give me your burned offerings and your meal offerings, I will not take pleasure in them: I will have nothing to do with the peace-offerings of your fat beasts.

23Take away from me the noise of your songs; my ears are shut to the melody of your instruments.

24But let the right go rolling on like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25Did you come to me with offerings of beasts and meal offerings in the waste land for forty years, O Israel?

26Truly, you will take up Saccuth your king and Kaiwan your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

27And I will send you away as prisoners farther than Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of armies.

1 Corinthians 7:25-40

25Now about virgins I have no orders from the Lord: but I give my opinion as one to whom the Lord has given mercy to be true to him.

26In my opinion then, because of the present trouble, it is good for a man to keep as he is.

27If you are married to a wife, make no attempt to get free from her: if you are free from a wife, do not take a wife.

28If you get married it is not a sin; and if an unmarried woman gets married it is not a sin. But those who do so will have trouble in the flesh. But I will not be hard on you.

29But I say this, my brothers, the time is short; and from now it will be wise for those who have wives to be as if they had them not;

30And for those who are in sorrow, to give no signs of it; and for those who are glad, to give no signs of joy; and for those who are getting property, to be as if they had nothing;

31And for those who make use of the world, not to be using it fully; for this world’s way of life will quickly come to an end.

32But it is my desire for you to be free from cares. The unmarried man gives his mind to the things of the Lord, how he may give pleasure to the Lord:

33But the married man gives his attention to the things of this world, how he may give pleasure to his wife.

34And the wife is not the same as the virgin. The virgin gives her mind to the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and in spirit: but the married woman takes thought for the things of the world, how she may give pleasure to her husband.

35Now I say this for your profit; not to make things hard for you, but because of what is right, and so that you may be able to give all your attention to the things of the Lord.

36But if, in any man’s opinion, he is not doing what is right for his virgin, if she is past her best years, and there is need for it, let him do what seems right to him; it is no sin; let them be married.

37But the man who is strong in mind and purpose, who is not forced but has control over his desires, does well if he comes to the decision to keep her a virgin.

38So then, he who gets married to his virgin does well, and he who keeps her unmarried does better.

39It is right for a wife to be with her husband as long as he is living; but when her husband is dead, she is free to be married to another; but only to a Christian.

40But it will be better for her to keep as she is, in my opinion: and it seems to me that I have the Spirit of God.

July 19, 2014

July 19

1 Kings 20

1Now Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got all his army together, and thirty-two kings with him, and horses and carriages of war; he went up and made war on Samaria, shutting it in.

2And he sent representatives into the town to Ahab, king of Israel;

3And they said to him, Ben-hadad says, Your silver and your gold are mine; and your wives and children are mine.

4And the king of Israel sent him an answer saying, As you say, my lord king, I am yours with all I have.

5Then the representatives came back again, and said, These are the words of Ben-hadad: I sent to you saying, Give up to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children;

6But I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, to make a search through your house and the houses of your people, and everything which is pleasing in your eyes they will take away in their hands.

7Then the king of Israel sent for all the responsible men of the land, and said, Now will you take note and see the evil purpose of this man: he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, and I did not keep them back.

8And all the responsible men and the people said to him, Do not give attention to him or do what he says.

9So he said to the representatives of Ben-hadad, Say to my lord the king, All the orders you sent the first time I will do; but this thing I may not do. And the representatives went back with this answer.

10Then Ben-hadad sent to him, saying, May the gods’ punishment be on me if there is enough of the dust of Samaria for all the people at my feet to take some in their hands.

11And the king of Israel said in answer, Say to him, The time for loud talk is not when a man is putting on his arms, but when he is taking them off.

12Now when this answer was given to Ben-hadad, he was drinking with the kings in the tents, and he said to his men, Take up your positions. So they put themselves in position for attacking the town.

13Then a prophet came up to Ahab, king of Israel, and said, The Lord says, Have you seen all this great army? See, I will give it into your hands today, and you will see that I am the Lord.

14And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, The Lord says, By the servants of the chiefs who are over the divisions of the land. Then he said, By whom is the fighting to be started? And he made answer, By you.

15Then he got together the servants of all the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land, two hundred and thirty-two of them; and after them, he got together all the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand.

16And in the middle of the day they went out. But Ben-hadad was drinking in the tents with the thirty-two kings who were helping him.

17And the servants of the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land went forward first; and when Ben-hadad sent out, they gave him the news, saying, Men have come out from Samaria.

18And he said, If they have come out for peace, take them living, and if they have come out for war, take them living.

19So the servants of the chiefs of the divisions of the land went out of the town, with the army coming after them.

20And every one of them put his man to death, and the Aramaeans went in flight with Israel after them; and Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got away safely on a horse with his horsemen.

21And the king of Israel went out and took the horses and the war-carriages, and made great destruction among the Aramaeans.

22Then the prophet came up to the king of Israel, and said to him, Now make yourself strong, and take care what you do, or a year from now the king of Aram will come up against you again.

23Then the king of Aram’s servants said to him, Their god is a god of the hills; that is why they were stronger than we: but if we make an attack on them in the lowlands, we will certainly be stronger than they.

24This is what you have to do: take away the kings from their positions, and put captains in their places;

25And get together another army like the one which came to destruction, horse for horse, and carriage for carriage; and let us make war on them in the lowlands, and certainly we will be stronger than they. And he gave ear to what they said, and did so.

26So, a year later, Ben-hadad got the Aramaeans together and went up to Aphek to make war on Israel.

27And the children of Israel got themselves together, and food was made ready and they went against them; the tents of the children of Israel were like two little flocks of goats before them, but all the country was full of the Aramaeans.

28And a man of God came up and said to the king of Israel, The Lord says, Because the Aramaeans have said, The Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys; I will give all this great army into your hands, and you will see that I am the Lord.

29Now the two armies kept their positions facing one another for seven days. And on the seventh day the fight was started; and the children of Israel put to the sword a hundred thousand Aramaean footmen in one day.

30But the rest went in flight to Aphek, into the town, where a wall came down on the twenty-seven thousand who were still living. And Ben-hadad went in flight into the town, into an inner room.

31Then his servants said to him, It is said that the kings of Israel are full of mercy: let us then put on haircloth, and cords on our heads, and go to the king of Israel; it may be that he will give you your life.

32So they put on haircloth, and cords on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-hadad says, Let me now keep my life. And he said, Is he still living? he is my brother.

33Now the men took it as a sign, and quickly took up his words; and they said, Ben-hadad is your brother. Then he said, Go and get him. So Ben-hadad came out to him and he made him get up into his carriage.

34And Ben-hadad said to him, The towns my father took from your father I will give back; and you may make streets for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria. And as for me, at the price of this agreement you will let me go. So he made an agreement with him and let him go.

35And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbour by the word of the Lord, Give me a wound. But the man would not.

36Then he said to him, Because you have not given ear to the voice of the Lord, straight away when you have gone from me a lion will put you to death. And when he had gone, straight away a lion came rushing at him and put him to death.

37Then he came across another man, and said, Give me a wound. And the man gave him a blow wounding him.

38So the prophet went away, and pulling his head-band over his eyes to keep his face covered, took his place by the road waiting for the king.

39And when the king went by, crying out to him he said, Your servant went out into the fight; and a man came out to me with another man and said, Keep this man: if by any chance he gets away, your life will be the price of his life, or you will have to give a talent of silver in payment.

40But while your servant was turning this way and that, he was gone. Then the king of Israel said to him, You are responsible; you have given the decision against yourself.

41Then he quickly took the head-band from his eyes; and the king of Israel saw that he was one of the prophets.

42And he said to him, These are the words of the Lord: Because you have let go from your hands the man whom I had put to the curse, your life will be taken for his life, and your people for his people.

43Then the king of Israel went back to his house, bitter and angry, and came to Samaria.

Amos 4:4-13

4Come to Beth-el and do evil; to Gilgal, increasing the number of your sins; come with your offerings every morning and your tenths every three days:

5Let that which is leavened be burned as a praise-offering, let the news of your free offerings be given out publicly; for this is pleasing to you, O children of Israel, says the Lord.

6But in all your towns I have kept food from your teeth, and in all your places there has been need of bread: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

7And I have kept back the rain from you, when it was still three months before the grain-cutting: I sent rain on one town and kept it back from another: one part was rained on, and the part where there was no rain became a waste.

8So two or three towns went wandering to one town looking for water, and did not get enough: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

9I have sent destruction on your fields by burning and disease: the increase of your gardens and your vine-gardens, your fig-trees and your olive-trees, has been food for worms: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

10I have sent disease among you, as it was in Egypt: I have put your young men to the sword, and have taken away your horses; I have made the evil smell from your tents come up to your noses: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

11And I have sent destruction among you, as when God sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick pulled out of the fire: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

12So this is what I will do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, be ready for a meeting with your God, O Israel.

13For see, he who gave form to the mountains and made the wind, giving knowledge of his purpose to man, who makes the morning dark, and is walking on the high places of the earth: the Lord, the God of armies, is his name.

1 Corinthians 7:1-24

1Now, as to the things in your letter to me: It is good for a man to have nothing to do with a woman.

2But because of the desires of the flesh, let every man have his wife, and every woman her husband.

3Let the husband give to the wife what is right; and let the wife do the same to the husband.

4The wife has not power over her body, but the husband; and in the same way the husband has not power over his body, but the wife.

5Do not keep back from one another what is right, but only for a short time, and by agreement, so that you may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again; so that Satan may not get the better of you through your loss of self-control.

6But this I say as my opinion, and not as an order of the Lord.

7It is my desire that all men might be even as I am. But every man has the power of his special way of life given him by God, one in this way and one in that.

8But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them to be even as I am.

9But if they have not self-control let them get married; for married life is better than the burning of desire.

10But to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband

11(Or if she goes away from him, let her keep unmarried, or be united to her husband again); and that the husband may not go away from his wife.

12But to the rest I say, and not the Lord; If a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and it is her desire to go on living with him, let him not go away from her.

13And if a woman has a husband who is not a Christian, and it is his desire to go on living with her, let her not go away from her husband.

14For the husband who has not faith is made holy through his Christian wife, and the wife who is not a Christian is made holy through the brother: if not, your children would be unholy, but now are they holy.

15But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God’s pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.

16For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife?

17Only, as the Lord has given to a man, and as is the purpose of God for him, so let him go on living. And these are my orders for all the churches.

18If any man who is a Christian has had circumcision, let him keep so; and if any man who is a Christian has not had circumcision, let him make no change.

19Circumcision is nothing, and its opposite is nothing, but only doing the orders of God is of value.

20Let every man keep the position in which he has been placed by God.

21If you were a servant when you became a Christian, let it not be a grief to you; but if you have a chance to become free, make use of it.

22For he who was a servant when he became a Christian is the Lord’s free man; and he who was free when he became a Christian is the Lord’s servant.

23It is the Lord who has made payment for you: be not servants of men.

24My brothers, let every man keep in that condition which is the purpose of God for him.