Daily Bible Reading from BibleStudyTools.com

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 20

1 Corinthians 8; 1 Kings 22; Amos 6 CJB

1 Corinthians 8

1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: we know that, as you say, "We all have knowledge." Yes, that is so, but "knowledge" puffs a person up with pride; whereas love builds up.

2 The person who thinks he "knows" something doesn't yet know in the way he ought to know.

3 However, if someone loves God, God knows him.

4 So, as for eating food sacrificed to idols, we "know" that, as you say, "An idol has no real existence in the world, and there is only one God."

5 For even if there are so-called "gods," either in heaven or on earth - as in fact there are "gods" and "lords" galore -

6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist; and one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, through whom were created all things and through whom we have our being.

7 But not everyone has this knowledge. Moreover, some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat food which has been sacrificed to them, they think of it as really affected by the idol; and their consciences, being weak, are thus defiled.

8 Now food will not improve our relationship with God - we will be neither poorer if we abstain nor richer if we eat.

9 However watch out that your mastery of the situation does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

10 You have this "knowledge"; but suppose someone with a weak conscience sees you sitting, eating a meal in the temple of an idol. Won't he be built up wrongly to eat this food which has been sacrificed to idols?

11 Thus by your "knowledge" this weak person is destroyed, this brother for whom the Messiah died;

12 and so, when you sin against the brothers by wounding their conscience when it is weak, you are sinning against the Messiah!

13 To sum up, if food will be a snare for my brother, I will never eat meat again, lest I cause my brother to sin.

1 Kings 22

1 For three years there was no war between Aram and Isra'el.

2 Then, in the third year, Y'hoshafat the king of Y'hudah came down to the king of Isra'el.

3 The king of Isra'el said to his servants, "Are you aware that Ramot-Gil'ad belongs to us; yet, we're doing nothing to recover it from the king of Aram?"

4 He said to Y'hoshafat, "Will you go with me to attack Ramot-Gil'ad?" Y'hoshafat answered the king of Isra'el, "I'm with you all the way; think of my troops and horses as yours."

5 But Y'hoshafat said to the king of Isra'el, "First, we should seek the word of ADONAI."

6 So the king of Isra'el assembled the prophets, about 400 men. "Should I attack Ramot-Gil'ad?" he asked them, "Or should I hold off?" They said, "Attack! Adonai will hand it over to the king."

7 But Y'hoshafat said, "Besides these, isn't there a prophet of ADONAI here that we can consult?"

8 The king of Isra'el said to Y'hoshafat, "Yes, there is still one man through whom we can consult ADONAI, Mikhay'hu the son of Yimlah; but I hate him, because he doesn't prophesy good things for me, but bad!" Y'hoshafat replied, "The king shouldn't say such a thing."

9 Then the king of Isra'el called an officer and said, "Quickly! Bring Mikhay'hu the son of Yimlah."

10 Now the king of Isra'el and Y'hoshafat the king of Y'hudah were each sitting on his throne, dressed in their royal robes, on a threshing-floor at the entrance to the gate of Shomron; and all the prophets were there, prophesying in their presence.

11 Tzidkiyah the son of Kena'anah had made himself some horns out of iron and said, "This is what ADONAI says: 'With these you will gore Aram until they are destroyed.'"

12 All the prophets prophesied the same thing: "Go up and attack Ramot-Gil'ad. You will succeed, for ADONAI will hand it over to the king."

13 The messenger who had gone to call Mikhay'hu said to him, "Here, now, the prophets are unanimously predicting success for the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them - say something good."

14 But Mikhay'hu answered, "As ADONAI lives, whatever ADONAI says to me is what I will say."

15 When he reached the king, the king asked him, "Mikhay'hu, should we go up and attack Ramot-Gil'ad; or should we hold off?" He answered, "Go up, you will succeed, ADONAI will hand it over to the king."

16 The king said to him, "How many times do I have to warn you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of ADONAI?"

17 Then he said, "I saw all Isra'el scattered over the hills like sheep without a shepherd; and ADONAI said, 'These men have no leader; let everyone go home in peace.'"

18 The king of Isra'el said to Y'hoshafat, "Didn't I tell you that he wouldn't prophesy good things about me, but bad?"

19 Mikhay'hu continued: "Therefore hear the word of ADONAI. I saw ADONAI sitting on his throne with the whole army of heaven standing by him on his right and on his left.

20 ADONAI asked, 'Who will entice Ach'av to go up to his death at Ramot-Gil'ad?' One of them said, 'Do it this way,' and another, 'Do it that way.'

21 Then a spirit stepped up, stood in front of ADONAI and said, 'I will entice him.'

22 ADONAI asked, 'How?' and he answered, 'I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.' ADONAI said, 'You will succeed in enticing him. Go, and do it.'

23 So now ADONAI has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours; meanwhile, ADONAI has ordained disaster for you."

24 Then Tzidkiyah the son of Kena'anah came up, slapped Mikhay'hu in the face and said, "And how did the Spirit of ADONAI leave me to speak to you?"

25 Mikhay'hu said, "You'll find out the day you go into an inside room, trying to hide."

26 The king of Isra'el said, "Seize Mikhay'hu, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and Yo'ash the king's son.

27 Say, 'The king says to put this man in prison; and feed him only bread and water, and not much of that, until I return in peace.'"

28 Mikhay'hu said, "If you return in peace at all, ADONAI has not spoken through me!" Then he added, "Did you hear me, you peoples, all of you?"

29 So the king of Isra'el and Y'hoshafat the king of Y'hudah went up to Ramot-Gil'ad.

30 The king of Isra'el said to Y'hoshafat, "I will disguise myself and go into battle; but you, put on your robes." So the king of Isra'el disguised himself and went into battle.

31 Now the king of Aram had ordered the thirty-two chariot commanders, "Don't attack anyone of either high or low rank, only the king of Isra'el."

32 So when the chariot commanders saw Y'hoshafat they said, "This must be the king of Isra'el," and turned to attack him. But Y'hoshafat gave a yell,

33 so that the chariot commanders saw that he wasn't the king of Isra'el and stopped pursuing him.

34 However, one soldier shot an arrow at random and struck the king of Isra'el between his lower armor and his breastplate. So the king said to his chariot-driver, "Turn the reins, and take me out of the fighting; I'm collapsing from my wounds."

35 But the fighting grew fiercer that day; and they propped the king upright in his chariot facing Aram until he died, in the evening, with the blood streaming from his wound onto the floor of the chariot.

36 Around sundown, a cry spread through the ranks: "Every man to his own town! Every man to his own land!"

37 So the king died and was brought to Shomron, and they buried the king in Shomron.

38 They washed the chariot at the Pool of Shomron where the prostitutes bathed, and the dogs licked up his blood, in keeping with the word ADONAI had spoken.

39 Other activities of Ach'av's reign, all his accomplishments, the ivory palace he built and all the cities he built are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

40 So Ach'av slept with his ancestors, and Achazyah his son became king in his place.

41 Y'hoshafat the son of Asa began his reign over Y'hudah in the fourth year of Ach'av king of Isra'el.

42 Y'hoshafat was thirty-five years old when he began to rule, and he ruled twenty-five years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was 'Azuvah the daughter of Shilchi.

43 He lived in the manner of Asa his father and did not turn away from it, doing what was right from ADONAI's perspective;

44 (43b) although the high places were not taken away - the people still sacrificed and presented offerings on the high places. Y'hoshafat made peace with the king of Isra'el.

45 Other activities of Y'hoshafat, all his power that he demonstrated and how he made war are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

46 He rid the land of the male and female cult-prostitutes remaining from the time of his father Asa.

47 There had previously been no king in Edom, but now a deputy was made king.

48 Y'hoshafat built some large "Tarshish" ships to go to Ofir for gold, but they didn't make the voyage, because they were wrecked at 'Etzyon-Gever.

49 Achazyah the son of Ach'av suggested to Y'hoshafat that his men should go to sea with Y'hoshafat's men, but Y'hoshafat would not agree.

50 So Y'hoshafat slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David his ancestor, and Y'horam his son became king in his place.

51 Achazyah the son of Ach'av began his reign over Isra'el in Shomron in the seventeenth year of Y'hoshafat king of Y'hudah, and he ruled two years over Isra'el.

52 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, living in the manner of his father, his mother and Yarov'am the son of N'vat, by which he led Isra'el into sin.

53 He also served Ba'al and worshipped him; and he made ADONAI the God of Isra'el angry, in keeping with everything his father had done.

Amos 6

1 Woe to those living at ease in Tziyon and to those who feel complacent on the hills of Shomron, renowned men in this foremost of nations, to whom the rest of Isra'el come.

2 Travel to Kalneh and see; from there go on to Hamat the great; then go down to Gat of the P'lishtim. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?

3 You put off all thought of the evil day but hasten the reign of violence.

4 You lie on beds of ivory and lounge sprawled out on your couches, dining on meat from lambs in the flock and from calves fattened in stalls.

5 You make up wild songs at your parties, playing the lute and inventing other instruments - [imagining that you're] like David!

6 You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but feel no grief at the ruin of Yosef.

7 Therefore now they will be the first to go into exile with those being exiled, and the revelry of those who lounged, sprawling, will pass away.

8 "Adonai ELOHIM swears by himself," says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot, "I detest that Ya'akov is so proud, and I hate his palaces. I will hand over the city, along with everything in it."

9 When that day comes, if ten men remain in one house, they will die.

10 And if a [dead] man's uncle, coming to bring the corpse out of the house and burn it, finds a survivor hidden in the inmost recesses of the house and asks, "Is anyone else there with you?" - then, when he receives the answer, "No," he will say, "Don't say any more, because we mustn't mention the name of ADONAI."

11 For when ADONAI gives the order, great houses will be shattered and small houses reduced to rubble.

12 Do horses run on rock? Does one plow there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitter wormwood.

13 You take pleasure in worthless things. You think your power comes from your own strength.

14 "But I will raise up a nation against you, house of Isra'el," says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot, "and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamat to the Vadi of the 'Aravah."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 21

1 Corinthians 9; 2 Kings 1-2; Amos 7 CJB

1 Corinthians 9

1 Am I not a free man? Am I not an emissary of the Messiah? Haven't I seen Yeshua our Lord? And aren't you yourselves the result of my work for the Lord?

2 Even if to others I am not an emissary, at least I am to you; for you are living proof that I am the Lord's emissary.

3 That is my defense when people put me under examination.

4 Don't we have the right to be given food and drink?

5 Don't we have the right to take along with us a believing wife, as do the other emissaries, also the Lord's brothers and Kefa?

6 Or are Bar-Nabba and I the only ones required to go on working for our living?

7 Did you ever hear of a soldier paying his own expenses? or of a farmer planting a vineyard without eating its grapes? Who shepherds a flock without drinking some of the milk?

8 What I am saying is not based merely on human authority, because the Torah says the same thing -

9 for in the Torah of Moshe it is written, "You are not to put a muzzle on an ox when it is treading out the grain."i If God is concerned about cattle,

10 all the more does he say this for our sakes. Yes, it was written for us, meaning that he who plows and he who threshes should work expecting to get a share of the crop.

11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?

12 If others are sharing in this right to be supported by you, don't we have a greater claim to it? But we don't make use of this right. Rather, we put up with all kinds of things so as not to impede in any way the Good News about the Messiah.

13 Don't you know that those who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple, and those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrifices offered there?

14 In the same way, the Lord directed that those who proclaim the Good News should get their living from the Good News.

15 But I have not made use of any of these rights. Nor am I writing now to secure them for myself, for I would rather die than be deprived of my ground for boasting!

16 For I can't boast merely because I proclaim the Good News - this I do from inner compulsion: woe is me if I don't proclaim the Good News!

17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it unwillingly, I still do it, simply because I've been entrusted with a job.

18 So then, what is my reward? Just this: that in proclaiming the Good News I can make it available free of charge, without making use of the rights to which it entitles me.

19 For although I am a free man, not bound to do anyone's bidding, I have made myself a slave to all in order to win as many people as possible.

20 That is, with Jews, what I did was put myself in the position of a Jew, in order to win Jews. With people in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah, I put myself in the position of someone under such legalism, in order to win those under this legalism, even though I myself am not in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah.

21 With those who live outside the framework of Torah, I put myself in the position of someone outside the Torah in order to win those outside the Torah - although I myself am not outside the framework of God's Torah but within the framework of Torah as upheld by the Messiah.

22 With the "weak" I became "weak," in order to win the "weak." With all kinds of people I have become all kinds of things, so that in all kinds of circumstances I might save at least some of them.

23 But I do it all because of the rewards promised by the Good News, so that I may share in them along with the others who come to trust.

24 Don't you know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one wins the prize? So then, run to win!

25 Now every athlete in training submits himself to strict discipline, and he does it just to win a laurel wreath that will soon wither away. But we do it to win a crown that will last forever.

26 Accordingly, I don't run aimlessly but straight for the finish line; I don't shadow-box but try to make every punch count.

27 I treat my body hard and make it my slave so that, after proclaiming the Good News to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

2 Kings 1

1 After Ach'av's death Mo'av rebelled against Isra'el.

2 When Achazyah fell through a latticed window of his upper room in Shomron and lay injured, he sent messengers and said to them, "Go, consult Ba'al-Z'vuv the god of 'Ekron, and ask whether I will recover from this injury."

3 But an angel of ADONAI said to Eliyahu from Tishbe, "Get up, and intercept the messengers of the king of Shomron, and ask them, 'Is it because there's no God in Isra'el that you're on your way to consult Ba'al-Z'vuv the god of 'Ekron?

4 Therefore ADONAI says, "You will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die."'" Then Eliyahu left.

5 The messengers returned to Achazyah, and he asked them, "Why have you come back?"

6 They answered him, "A man came to meet us. He told us to go and return to the king who sent us, and tell him, 'Here is what ADONAI says: "Is it because there's no God in Isra'el that you're sending to consult Ba'al-Z'vuv the god of 'Ekron? Therefore you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die."'"

7 He asked them, "The man who came to meet you and told you these things, what kind of a man was he?"

8 "He was a hairy man," they answered him, "with a leather belt around his waist." He said, "It was Eliyahu from Tishbe."

9 Then the king sent a commander of fifty to Eliyahu, together with his fifty men. Eliyahu was sitting at the top of a hill. The commander climbed up to him and said, "Man of God, the king says to come down."

10 Eliyahu answered the commander of fifty, "If I am in fact a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and burn you up, along with your fifty men." Fire came down from heaven, and it burned up him and his fifty men.

11 The king sent him another commander of fifty, together with his fifty men. He said to him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down immediately!'"

12 Eliyahu answered them, "If I am in fact a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and burn you up, along with your fifty men." Fire came down from heaven, and it burned up him and his fifty men.

13 The king sent a third commander of fifty, with his fifty men. The third commander of fifty climbed up, approached Eliyahu and fell on his knees before him. He pleaded with him: "Man of God, please! Have some regard for my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours!

14 I know that fire came down from heaven and burned up the two other commanders with their fifty men; but now, have some regard for my life."

15 The angel of ADONAI said to Eliyahu, "Go down with him; don't be afraid of him." So he got up and went down with him to the king.

16 Eliyahu said to the king, "Here is what ADONAI says: 'You sent messengers to consult Ba'al-Z'vuv the god of 'Ekron. Is it because there's no God in Isra'el you can consult? Therefore, you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die.'"

17 So he died, in keeping with the word of ADONAI spoken through Eliyahu. Y'horam began to rule in place of him during the second year of Y'horam the son of Y'hoshafat king of Y'hudah, because he had no son.

18 Other activities of Achazyah are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

2 Kings 2

1 The time came for ADONAI to take Eliyahu up into heaven in a whirlwind. Eliyahu and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal,

2 when Eliyahu said to Elisha, "Please wait here, because ADONAI has sent me all the way to Beit-El." But Elisha said, "As ADONAI lives, and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Beit-El.

3 The guild prophets of Beit-El came out to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that ADONAI is taking your master away from you today?" "Yes, I know," he answered; "say no more."

4 Eliyahu said to him, "Elisha, please wait here, because ADONAI has sent me to Yericho." He replied, "As ADONAI lives, and as you live, I will not leave you." So they came to Yericho.

5 The guild prophets of Yericho approached Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that ADONAI is taking your master away from you today?" "Yes, I know," he answered; "say no more."

6 Eliyahu said to him, "Please wait here, because ADONAI has sent me to the Yarden." He replied, "As ADONAI lives, and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them went on.

7 Fifty of the guild prophets went and stood watching them from a distance, while they stood by the Yarden.

8 Then Eliyahu took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it; and the water divided itself to the left and to the right; so that they crossed on dry ground.

9 After they had crossed, Eliyahu said to Elisha, "Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away from you." Elisha said, "Please! Let a double share of your spirit be on me!"

10 He replied, "You have requested a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, you will get what you asked for; but if not, you won't."

11 Suddenly, as they were walking on and talking, there appeared a fiery chariot with horses of fire; and as it separated the two of them from each other, Eliyahu went up into heaven in a whirlwind.

12 Elisha saw it and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Isra'el!" Then he lost sight of him. Seizing his clothes, he tore them in half.

13 Then he picked up Eliyahu's cloak, which had fallen off him. Standing on the bank of the Yarden,

14 he took the cloak that had fallen off Eliyahu, struck the water and said, "Where is ADONAI, the God of Eliyahu?" But when he actually did strike the water, it divided itself to the left and to the right; then Elisha crossed over.

15 When the guild prophets of Yericho saw him in the distance, they said, "The spirit of Eliyahu does rest on Elisha." Advancing to meet him, they prostrated themselves on the ground before him

16 and said to him, "Here now, your servants include fifty strong men. Please let them go and look for your master, in the event that the Spirit of ADONAI has taken him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley." He answered, "Don't send them."

17 But they kept pressing him until finally, embarrassed, he said to send them. So they sent fifty men. For three days they searched, but they didn't find him.

18 On returning to him where he was waiting in Yericho, he said to them, "I told you not to go, didn't I?"

19 The men of the city said to Elisha, "My lord can see that this is a pleasant city to live in; but the water is bad, so that the ground is causing miscarriages."

20 "Bring me a new jug," he said, "and put salt in it." They brought it to him.

21 He went out to the source of the water, threw salt into it and said, "This is what ADONAI says: 'I have healed this water; it will no longer cause death or miscarrying.'"

22 The water was healed and has remained healed to this day, in keeping with Elisha's spoken word.

23 Elisha left to go up to Beit-El. As he was on his way up the road, some boys came out of the town and began making fun of him. "Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!"

24 He looked behind him, saw them and put a curse on them in the name of ADONAI; whereupon two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

25 He went on from there to Mount Karmel and then returned to Shomron.

Amos 7

1 Here is what Adonai ELOHIM showed me: he was forming a swarm of locusts as the late crop was starting to come up, the late crop after the hay had been cut to pay the king's tribute.

2 While they were finishing up eating all the vegetation in the land, I said, "Adonai ELOHIM, forgive - please! How will tiny Ya'akov survive?"

3 So ADONAI changed his mind about this. "It won't happen," ADONAI said.

4 Next Adonai ELOHIM showed me this: Adonai ELOHIM was summoning a blazing fire to consume the great abyss, and it would have devoured the land too.

5 But I said, "Adonai ELOHIM, stop - please! How will tiny Ya'akov survive?"

6 ADONAI changed his mind about it. "This too won't happen," said Adonai ELOHIM.

7 Then he showed me this: Adonai was standing by a wall made with a plumbline, and he had a plumbline in his hand.

8 ADONAI asked me, "'Amos, what do you see?" I answered, "A plumbline." Then Adonai said, "I am going to put a plumbline in among my people Isra'el; I will never again overlook their offenses.

9 The high places of Yitz'chak will be desolate, Isra'el's sanctuaries will be destroyed, and I will attack the house of Yarov'am with the sword."

10 Then Amatzyah the priest of Beit-El sent this message to Yarov'am king of Isra'el, "'Amos is conspiring against you there among the people of Isra'el, and the land can't bear all that he's saying.

11 For 'Amos says: 'Yarov'am will die by the sword, and Isra'el will be led away from their land into exile.'"

12 Amatzyah also said to 'Amos, "Go away, seer! Go back to the land of Y'hudah! Earn your living there; and prophesy there;

13 but don't prophesy any more at Beit-El; for this is the king's sanctuary, a royal temple."

14 'Amos gave this answer to Amatzyah: "I am not trained as a prophet, and I'm not one of the guild prophets - I own sheep and grow figs.

15 But ADONAI took me away from following the flock, and ADONAI said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Isra'el.'

16 So now, hear what ADONAI says: 'You say, "Don't prophesy against Isra'el, don't lecture the people of Yitz'chak."'

17 Therefore ADONAI says this: 'Your wife will become a whore in the city, your sons and daughters will die by the sword, your land will be parcelled out with a measuring line, you yourself will die in an unclean land, and Isra'el will certainly be exiled from their land.'"

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 22

1 Corinthians 10; 2 Kings 3; Amos 8 CJB

1 Corinthians 10

1 For, brothers, I don't want you to miss the significance of what happened to our fathers. All of them were guided by the pillar of cloud, and they all passed through the sea,

2 and in connection with the cloud and with the sea they all immersed themselves into Moshe,

3 also they all ate the same food from the Spirit,

4 and they all drank the same drink from the Spirit - for they drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which followed them, and that Rock was the Messiah.

5 Yet with the majority of them God was not pleased, so their bodies were strewn across the desert.

6 Now these things took place as prefigurative historical events, warning us not to set our hearts on evil things as they did.

7 Don't be idolaters, as some of them were - as the Tanakh puts it, "The people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to indulge in revelry."

8 And let us not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, with the consequence that 23,000 died in a single day.

9 And let us not put the Messiah to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes.

10 And don't grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the Destroying Angel.

11 These things happened to them as prefigurative historical events, and they were written down as a warning to us who are living in the acharit-hayamim.

12 Therefore, let anyone who thinks he is standing up be careful not to fall!

13 No temptation has seized you beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure.

14 Therefore, my dear friends, run from idolatry!

15 I speak to you as sensible people; judge for yourselves what I am saying.

16 The "cup of blessing" over which we make the b'rakhah - isn't it a sharing in the bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah? The bread we break, isn't it a sharing in the body of the Messiah?

17 Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many constitute one body, since we all partake of the one loaf of bread.

18 Look at physical Isra'el: don't those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

19 So, what am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols has any significance in itself? or that an idol has significance in itself?

20 No, what I am saying is that the things which pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice not to God but to demons; and I don't want you to become sharers of the demons!

21 You can't drink both a cup of the Lord and a cup of demons, you can't partake in both a meal of the Lord and a meal of demons.

22 Or are we trying to make the Lord jealous? We aren't stronger than he is, are we?

23 "Everything is permitted," you say? Maybe, but not everything is helpful. "Everything is permitted?" Maybe, but not everything is edifying.

24 No one should be looking out for his own interests, but for those of his fellow.

25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,

26 for the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord. k

27 If some unbeliever invites you to a meal, and you want to go, eat whatever is put in front of you without raising questions of conscience.

28 But if someone says to you, "This meat was offered as a sacrifice," then don't eat it, out of consideration for the person who pointed it out and also for conscience's sake -

29 however, I don't mean your conscience but that of the other person. You say, "Why should my freedom be determined by someone else's conscience?

30 If I participate with thankfulness, why am I criticized over something for which I myself bless God?"

31 Well, whatever you do, whether it's eating or drinking or anything else, do it all so as to bring glory to God.

32 Do not be an obstacle to anyone - not to Jews, not to Gentiles, and not to God's Messianic Community.

33 Just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not looking out for my own interests but for those of the many, so that they may be saved;

2 Kings 3

1 Y'horam the son of Ach'av began his reign over Isra'el in Shomron during the eighteenth year of Y'hoshafat king of Y'hudah, and he ruled for twelve years.

2 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective; but he was not as bad as his father and mother, because he got rid of Ba'al's standing-stone which his father had made.

3 Nevertheless, he clung to the sins of Yarov'am the son of N'vat, with which he had led Isra'el into sin; he never turned away from them.

4 Mesha king of Mo'av was a sheep-breeder, and he used to send the king of Isra'el the wool of 100,000 lambs and of 100,000 rams as tribute.

5 But after Ach'av died, the king of Mo'av rebelled against the king of Isra'el.

6 Y'horam left Shomron and mustered all Isra'el.

7 He also went and sent this word to Y'hoshafat king of Y'hudah: "The king of Mo'av has rebelled against me. Will you join me in attacking Mo'av?" He answered, "I will join in the attack - I'm with you all the way; think of my people and horses as yours.

8 Which route should we take?" he added. "The road through the desert of Edom," answered Y'horam.

9 So the king of Isra'el set out, along with the king of Y'hudah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout journey of seven days, there was no water for either the army or the animals following them.

10 "This is terrible!" exclaimed the king of Isra'el. "Has ADONAI called these three kings together only to hand them over to Mo'av?"

11 But Y'hoshafat said, "Isn't there a prophet of ADONAI here through whom we can consult ADONAI?" One of the servants of the king of Isra'el answered, "Elisha the son of Shafat is here, the one who used to pour water on Eliyahu's hands."

12 Y'hoshafat said, "The word of ADONAI is with him." So the king of Isra'el, Y'hoshafat and the king of Edom went down to consult him.

13 Elisha said to the king of Isra'el, "What do you and I have in common? Go, consult your father's prophets and your mother's prophets!" But the king of Isra'el answered him, "No, because ADONAI has called these three kings together to hand them over to Mo'av."

14 Elisha said, "As ADONAI-Tzva'ot lives, before whom I stand, if I didn't respect the fact that Y'hoshafat the king of Y'hudah is here, I wouldn't even look in your direction or take notice of you.

15 But now, bring me a musician." As the musician played, the hand of ADONAI fell on Elisha;

16 and he said, "ADONAI says to dig until this valley is full of trenches.

17 For here is what ADONAI says: 'You won't see wind, and you won't see rain. Nevertheless the valley will be filled with water; and you will drink - you, your cattle and your other animals.

18 That's an easy thing to do, from ADONAI's perspective. He will also hand Mo'av over to you.

19 You will conquer every fortified city and every choice town, you will chop down every good tree, stop up every well and ruin every good field with stones."

20 The next morning, around the time for making the offering, water came from the direction of Edom, and the countryside was filled with water.

21 When all Mo'av heard that the kings had come up to attack them, every man was summoned, from the youngest capable of bearing arms to older ones, and stationed on the border.

22 They rose early in the morning, when the sun was shining on the water. Mo'av, when they saw the water in the distance looking as red as blood,

23 said, "That's blood! The kings must have quarreled, and their soldiers killed each other. Mo'av! To the plunder!"

24 When they arrived at the camp of Isra'el, Isra'el launched an attack, so that Mo'av fled before them. But they advanced on Mo'av and struck it.

25 They made ruins of the cities. Each man threw his stone on every good field, covering it. They stopped up all the wells. They chopped down all the good trees. Finally, all that remained was Kir-Hareset behind its stone wall, with the slingers surrounding and attacking it.

26 When the king of Mo'av saw that the fighting was too much for him, he took with him 700 men armed with swords and tried to break through to the king of Edom; but they couldn't do it.

27 Then he took his firstborn son, who was to have succeeded him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. Following this, such great anger came upon Isra'el that they left him and went back to their own land.

Amos 8

1 Here is what Adonai ELOHIM showed me: there in front of me was a basket of summer fruit.

2 He asked, "'Amos, what do you see?" I answered, "A basket of summer [Hebrew: kayitz] fruit." Then ADONAI said to me, "The end [Hebrew: ketz] has come for my people, I will never again overlook their offenses.

3 When that time comes, the songs in the temple will be wailings," says Adonai ELOHIM. "There will be many dead bodies; everywhere silence will reign."

4 Listen, you who swallow the needy and destroy the poor of the land!

5 You say, "When will Rosh-Hodesh be over, so we can market our grain? and Shabbat, so we can sell wheat?" You measure the grain in a small eifah, but the silver in heavy shekels, fixing the scales, so that you can cheat,

6 buying the needy for money and the poor for a pair of shoes, and sweeping up the refuse of the wheat to sell!"

7 ADONAI swears by Ya'akov's pride, "I will forget none of their deeds, ever.

8 Won't the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn, who lives in the land? It will all rise, just like the Nile, be in turmoil and subside, like the Nile in Egypt.

9 "When that time comes," says Adonai ELOHIM, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

10 I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into wailing; I will make you all put sackcloth around your waists and shave your heads bald in grief. I will make it like mourning for an only son and its end like a bitter day.

11 "The time is coming," says Adonai ELOHIM, "when I will send famine over the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of ADONAI.

12 People will stagger from sea to sea and from north to east, running back and forth, seeking the word of ADONAI; but they will not find it.

13 When that time comes, young women and men will faint from thirst.

14 Those who swear by the sin of Shomron, who say, 'As your god, Dan, lives,' and, 'As the way of Be'er-Sheva lives' - they will fall and never get up again."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 23

1 Corinthians 11:1-16; 2 Kings 4; Amos 9 CJB

1 Corinthians 11:1-16

1 try to imitate me, even as I myself try to imitate the Messiah.

2 Now I praise you because you have remembered everything I told you and observe the traditions just the way I passed them on to you.

3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is the Messiah, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of the Messiah is God.

4 Every man who prays or prophesies wearing something down over his head brings shame to his head,

5 but every woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled brings shame to her head - there is no difference between her and a woman who has had her head shaved.

6 For if a woman is not veiled, let her also have her hair cut short; but if it is shameful for a woman to wear her hair cut short or to have her head shaved, then let her be veiled.

7 For a man indeed should not have his head veiled, because he is the image and glory of God, and the woman is the glory of man.

8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man;

9 and indeed man was not created for the sake of the woman but woman for the sake of the man.

10 The reason a woman should show by veiling her head that she is under authority has to do with the angels.

11 Nevertheless, in union with the Lord neither is woman independent of man nor is man independent of woman;

12 for as the woman was made from the man, so also the man is now born through the woman. But everything is from God.

13 Decide for yourselves: is it appropriate for a woman to pray to God when she is unveiled?

14 Doesn't the nature of things itself teach you that a man who wears his hair long degrades himself?

15 But a woman who wears her hair long enhances her appearance, because her hair has been given to her as a covering.

16 However, if anyone wants to argue about it, the fact remains that we have no such custom, nor do the Messianic communities of God.

2 Kings 4

1 The wife of one of the guild prophets complained to Elisha. "Your servant my husband died," she said, "and you know that he feared ADONAI. Now a creditor has come to take my two children as his slaves."

2 Elisha asked her, "What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" She answered, "Your servant has nothing in the house but a flask of oil."

3 Then he said, "Go, and borrow containers from all your neighbors, empty containers; and don't borrow just a few!

4 Then go in; shut the door, with you and your sons inside; and pour oil into all those containers; and as they are filled, put them aside."

5 So she left him and shut the door on herself and her sons. They brought her the containers while she poured.

6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another container"; but he answered, "There isn't another container." Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 She came and told the man of God; and he said, "Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; then you and your sons can live on what's left."

8 One day Elisha visited Shunem, and a well-to-do woman living there pressed him to stay and eat a meal. After this, whenever he came through, he stopped there for a meal.

9 She said to her husband, "I can see that this is a holy man of God who keeps stopping at our place.

10 Please, let's build him a little room on the roof. We'll put a bed and a table in it for him, and a stool and a candlestick. Then, whenever he comes to visit us, he can stay there."

11 One day Elisha came to visit there, and he went into the upper room to lie down.

12 He said to Geichazi his servant, "Call this Shunamit." He called her; and when she arrived,

13 he said to him, "Tell her this: 'You have shown us so much hospitality! What can I do to show my appreciation? Do you want me to say anything to the king for you? or to the commander of the army?" She answered, "I'm happy living as I do, among my own people."

14 He said, "What, then, is to be done for her?" Geichazi answered, "There's one thing - she doesn't have a son; and her husband is old.

15 Elisha said, "Call her." After he called her, she stood in the doorway.

16 He said, "Next year, when the season comes around, you will be holding a son." "No, my lord," she answered. "Man of God, don't lie to your servant!"

17 But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son the following year when the season came around, just as Elisha had said to her.

18 When the child was old enough, he went out one day to be with his father, who was with the reapers.

19 Suddenly he cried out to his father, "My head! My head hurts!" He said to his servant, "Carry him back to his mother."

20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he lay on her lap until noon; and then he died.

21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door on him and went out.

22 She called to her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants with a donkey. I must get to the man of God as fast as I can; I'll come straight back."

23 He asked, "Why are you going to him today? It isn't Rosh-Hodesh and it isn't Shabbat." She said, "It's all right."

24 Then she saddled the donkey and ordered her servant, "Drive as fast as you can; don't slow down for me unless I say so."

25 She set out and came to the man of God on Mount Karmel. When the man of God saw her in the distance, he said to Geichazi his servant, "Look, here comes that Shunamit.

26 Run now to meet her, and ask her, "Is everything all right with you? with your husband? with the child?" She answered, "Everything is all right."

27 But when she reached the man of God on the hill, she grabbed his feet. Geichazi came up to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone. She is in great distress, but ADONAI has hidden from me what it is, he hasn't told me."

28 Then she said, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn't I say not to deceive me?"

29 Then Elisha said to Geichazi, "Get dressed for action, take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, don't greet him; if anyone greets you, don't answer; and lay my staff on the child's face."

30 The mother of the child said, "As ADONAI lives, and as you live, I will not leave you. He got up and followed her.

31 Geichazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the child's face, but there was no sound or sign of life. So he went back to Elisha and told him, "The child didn't wake up."

32 When Elisha reached the house, there the child was, dead and laid on the bed.

33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to ADONAI.

34 Then he got up on the bed and lay on top of the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands. As he stretched himself out on the child, its flesh began to grow warm.

35 Then he went down, walked around in the house awhile, went back up and stretched himself out on the child again. The child sneezed seven times, then opened his eyes.

36 Elisha called Geichazi and said, "Call this Shunamit." So he called her; and when she came in to him, he said, "Pick up your son."

37 She entered, fell at his feet and prostrated herself on the floor. Then she picked up her son and went out.

38 Elisha went back to Gilgal. At the time, there was a famine in the land. The guild prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, "Put the big pot on the fire, and boil some soup for the prophets."

39 One of them went out to the field to gather vegetables and came upon a wild vine, from which he filled the front of his cloak with wild squash. On returning he cut them up and put them into the stew; they didn't know what they were.

40 Then they poured it out for the men to eat; but on tasting it, they cried, "Man of God! There's death in that pot!" And they couldn't eat it.

41 But he said, "Bring some flour." He threw it in the pot, then said, "Pour it out for the people to eat." This time there was nothing harmful in the pot.

42 A man came from Ba'al-Shalishah bringing the man of God twenty loaves of bread made from the barley firstfruits and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, "Give this to the people to eat."

43 His servant said, "How am I to serve this to a hundred men?" But he said, "Give it to the people to eat; for ADONAI says that they will eat and have some left over."

44 So he served them, and they ate and had some left over, as ADONAI had said.

Amos 9

1 I saw Adonai standing beside the altar, and he said, "Strike the tops of the columns until the thresholds shake! Smash them to pieces on the heads of all the people! Those who remain I will kill with the sword; not one of them will succeed in fleeing, not one of them will escape.

2 If they dig down to Sh'ol, my hand will haul them out; if they climb up to heaven, I will bring them down.

3 If they hide themselves on the top of the Karmel, I will search them out and capture them there; If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will order the serpent to bite them there.

4 If their enemies herd them into exile, I will order the sword to kill them there. I will fix my gaze on them for harm and not for good."

5 For Adonai ELOHIM-Tzva'ot is the one who can melt the earth with his touch, and make all who live on it mourn. It will all rise, just like the Nile, and then subside, like the Nile in Egypt.

6 He builds his upper rooms in heaven and establishes his sky-vault over the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them out over the earth. ADONAI is his name.

7 "People of Isra'el, are you any different from the Ethiopians to me?" asks ADONAI. "True, I brought Isra'el up from Egypt, but I also brought the P'lishtim from Kaftor, and Aram from Kir.

8 Look, the eyes of Adonai ELOHIM are on the sinful kingdom. I will wipe it off the face of the earth, yet I will not completely destroy the house of Ya'akov," says ADONAI.

9 "For when I give the order, I will shake the house of Isra'el, there among all the Goyim, as one shakes with a sieve, letting no grain fall to the ground.

10 All the sinners among my people who say, 'Disaster will never overtake us or confront us,' will die by the sword.

11 "When that day comes, I will raise up the fallen sukkah of David. I will close up its gaps, raise up its ruins and rebuild it as it used to be,

12 so that Isra'el can possess what is left of Edom and of all the nations bearing my name," says ADONAI, who is doing this.

13 "The days will come," says ADONAI, "when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one treading grapes the one sowing seed. Sweet wine will drip down the mountains, and all the hills will flow with it.

14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Isra'el; they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities; they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, cultivate gardens and eat their fruit.

15 I will plant them on their own soil, no more to be uprooted from their land, which I gave them," says ADONAI your God.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 24

1 Corinthians 11:17-34; 2 Kings 5; Obadiah 1 CJB

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

17 But in giving you this next instruction I do not praise you, because when you meet together it does more harm than good!

18 For, in the first place, I hear that when you gather together as a congregation you divide up into cliques; and to a degree I believe it

19 (granted that there must be some divisions among you in order to show who are the ones in the right).

20 Thus, when you gather together, it is not to eat a meal of the Lord;

21 because as you eat your meal, each one goes ahead on his own; so that one stays hungry while another is already drunk!

22 Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or are you trying to show your contempt for God's Messianic community and embarrass those who are poor? What am I supposed to say to you? Am I supposed to praise you? Well, for this I don't praise you!

23 For what I received from the Lord is just what I passed on to you - that the Lord Yeshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread;

24 and after he had made the b'rakhah he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this as a memorial to me";

25 likewise also the cup after the meal, saying, "This cup is the New Covenant effected by my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, as a memorial to me."

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes.

27 Therefore, whoever eats the Lord's bread or drinks the Lord's cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord!

28 So let a person examine himself first, and then he may eat of the bread and drink from the cup;

29 for a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.

30 This is why many among you are weak and sick, and some have died!

31 If we would examine ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined, so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

33 So then, my brothers, when you gather together to eat, wait for one another.

34 If someone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it will not result in judgment. As for the other matters, I will instruct you about them when I come.

2 Kings 5

1 Na'aman, commander of the king of Aram's army, was highly respected and esteemed by his master; because through him ADONAI had brought victory to Aram. But although he was a brave warrior, he also suffered from tzara'at.

2 Now on one of their raids into Isra'el's territory, Aram carried away captive a little girl, who became a servant for Na'aman's wife.

3 She said to her mistress, "I wish my lord could go to the prophet in Shomron! He could heal his tzara'at."

4 Na'aman went in and told his lord, "The girl from the land of Isra'el said such-and-such."

5 The king of Aram said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Isra'el." He set out, taking with him 660 pounds of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold and ten changes of clothes.

6 He brought the king of Isra'el the letter, which said, "When this letter reaches you, you will see that I have sent my servant Na'aman to you, so that you can heal his tzara'at."

7 When the king of Isra'el finished reading the letter, he tore his clothes. "Am I God, able to kill and make alive," he asked, "so that he sends me a man to heal of tzara'at? You can see that he is only seeking an excuse to quarrel with me."

8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Isra'el had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king: "Why did you tear your clothes? Just have him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Isra'el."

9 So Na'aman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house.

10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, who said, "Go, and bathe in the Yarden seven times. Your skin will become as it was, and you will be clean."

11 But Na'aman became angry and left, saying, "Here now! I thought for certain that he would come out personally, that he would stand, call on the name of ADONAI his God and wave his hand over the diseased place and thus heal the person with tzara'at.

12 Aren't Amanah and Parpar, the rivers of Dammesek, better than all the water in Isra'el? Why can't I bathe in them and be clean?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

13 But his servants approached him and said, "My father! If the prophet had asked you to do something really difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So, doesn't it make even more sense to do what he says, when it's only, 'Bathe, and be clean'?"

14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Yarden, as the man of God had said to do; and his skin was restored and became like the skin of a child; and he became clean.

15 Then, with his whole retinue, he returned to the man of God, went and stood before him, and said, "Well, I've learned that there is no God in all the earth except in Isra'el; therefore, please accept a present from your servant."

16 But Elisha answered, "As ADONAI lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it." And despite his urging him to take it, he refused.

17 So Na'aman said, "If you won't take it, then please let your servant be given as much earth as two mules can carry; because from now on, your servant will offer neither burnt offerings nor sacrifices to other gods, but only to ADONAI.

18 Except this, and may ADONAI forgive your servant for it: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon - when I bow down, may ADONAI forgive your servant for this."

19 Elisha said to him, "Go in peace." Na'aman had gone only a short distance from him,

20 when Geichazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "Here, my master has made it easy on this Arami Na'aman by not accepting from him what he brought. As ADONAI lives, I'll run after him and get at least something from him."

21 So Geichazi hurried off after Na'aman. When Na'aman saw someone running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him and asked, "Is everything all right?"

22 "Yes," he replied. "My master sent me with this message: 'Two young men have just now come to me, guild prophets from the hills of Efrayim. Would you be kind enough to give them a talent of silver [sixty-six pounds] and two changes of clothes?"

23 "By all means, take two talents!" said Na'aman, pressing him. He tied up the two talents of silver in two bags and gave them, with the two changes of clothes, to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of Geichazi.

24 On reaching the hill, he took the bags from them and put them away in the house. Then he let the men go, and they left.

25 He went in and stood before his master. Elisha asked, "Where have you been, Geichazi?" "Your servant hasn't gone anywhere," he said.

26 Elisha said to him, "Wasn't my heart there with you when the man left his chariot to meet you? Is this a time to receive silver and clothing - and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female slaves?

27 Therefore Na'aman's tzara'at will cling to you and your descendants forever." He left Elisha's presence with tzara'at as white as snow.

Obadiah 1

1 This is the vision of 'Ovadyah. Here is what Adonai ELOHIM says about Edom. As a messenger was being sent among the nations saying, "Come on, let's attack her," we heard a message from ADONAI:

2 "I am making you the least of all nations, you will be beneath contempt.

3 Your proud heart has deceived you, you whose homes are caves in the cliffs, who live on the heights and say to yourselves, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?'

4 If you make your nest as high as an eagle's, even if you place it among the stars, I will bring you down from there." says ADONAI.

5 If thieves were to come to you, or if robbers by night (Oh, how destroyed you are!), wouldn't they stop when they'd stolen enough? If grape-pickers came to you, Wouldn't they leave some grapes for gleaning?

6 But see how 'Esav has been looted, their secret treasures searched out!

7 Your allies went with you only to the border, those at peace with you deceived and defeated you, those who ate your food set a trap for you, and you couldn't discern it.

8 "When that Day comes," says ADONAI, "won't I destroy all the wise men of Edom and leave no discernment on Mount 'Esav?

9 Your warriors, Teman, will be so distraught that everyone on Mount 'Esav will be slaughtered.

10 For the violence done to your kinsman Ya'akov, shame will cover you; and you will be forever cut off.

11 On that day you stood aside, while strangers carried off his treasure, and foreigners entered his gates to cast lots for Yerushalayim - you were no different from them.

12 You shouldn't have gloated over your kinsman on their day of disaster or rejoiced over the people of Y'hudah on their day of destruction. You shouldn't have spoken arrogantly on a day of trouble

13 or entered the gate of my people on their day of calamity - no, you shouldn't have gloated over their suffering on their day of calamity or laid hands on their treasure on their day of calamity.

14 You shouldn't have stood at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives or handed over their survivors on a day of trouble."

15 For the Day of ADONAI is near for all nations; as you did, it will be done to you; your dealings will come back on your own head.

16 For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink in turn; yes, they will drink and gulp it down and be as if they had never existed.

17 But on Mount Tziyon there will be a holy remnant who will escape, and the house of Ya'akov will repossess their rightful inheritance.

18 The house of Ya'akov will be a fire and the house of Yosef a flame, setting aflame and consuming the stubble which is the house of 'Esav. None of the house of 'Esav will remain, for ADONAI has spoken.

19 Those in the Negev will repossess the mountain of 'Esav, and those in the Sh'felah the land of the P'lishtim; they will repossess the field of Efrayim and the field of Shomron, and Binyamin will occupy Gil'ad.

20 Those from this army of the people of Isra'el exiled among the Kena'anim as far away as Tzarfat, and the exiles from Yerushalayim in S'farad, will repossess the cities in the Negev.

21 Then the victorious will ascend Mount Tziyon to rule over Mount 'Esav, but the kingship will belong to ADONAI.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 25

1 Corinthians 12; 2 Kings 6:1-7:2; Jonah 1 CJB

1 Corinthians 12

1 But, brothers, I do not want you to go on being ignorant about the things of the Spirit.

2 You know that when you were pagans, no matter how you felt you were being led, you were being led astray to idols, which can't speak at all.

3 Therefore, I want to make it clear to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, "Yeshua is cursed!" and no one can say, "Yeshua is Lord," except by the Ruach HaKodesh.

4 Now there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit gives them.

5 Also there are different ways of serving, but it is the same Lord being served.

6 And there are different modes of working, but it is the same God working them all in everyone.

7 Moreover, to each person is given the particular manifestation of the Spirit that will be for the common good.

8 To one, through the Spirit, is given a word of wisdom; to another, a word of knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit;

9 to another, faith, by the same Spirit; and to another, gifts of healing, by the one Spirit;

10 to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the ability to judge between spirits; to another, the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues; and to yet another, the ability to interpret tongues.

11 One and the same Spirit is at work in all these things, distributing to each person as he chooses.

12 For just as the body is one but has many parts; and all the parts of the body, though many, constitute one body; so it is with the Messiah.

13 For it was by one Spirit that we were all immersed into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free; and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

14 For indeed the body is not one part but many.

15 If the foot says, "I'm not a hand, so I'm not part of the body," that doesn't make it stop being part of the body.

16 And if the ear says, "I'm not an eye, so I'm not part of the body," that doesn't make it stop being part of the body.

17 If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If it were all hearing, how could it smell?

18 But as it is, God arranged each of the parts in the body exactly as he wanted them.

19 Now if they were all just one part, where would the body be?

20 But as it is, there are indeed many parts, yet just one body.

21 So the eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you"; or the head to the feet, "I don't need you."

22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be less important turn out to be all the more necessary;

23 and upon body parts which we consider less dignified we bestow greater dignity; and the parts that aren't attractive are the ones we make as attractive as we can,

24 while our attractive parts have no need for such treatment. Indeed, God has put the body together in such a way that he gives greater dignity to the parts that lack it,

25 So that there will be no disagreements within the body, but rather all the parts will be equally concerned for all the others.

26 Thus if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; and if one part is honored, all the parts share its happiness.

27 Now you together constitute the body of the Messiah, and individually you are parts of it.

28 And God has placed in the Messianic Community first, emissaries; second, prophets; third, teachers; then those who work miracles; then those with gifts of healing; those with ability to help; those skilled in administration; and those who speak in various tongues.

29 Not all are emissaries, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? or teachers? or miracle-workers?

30 Not all have gifts of healing, not all speak in tongues, not all interpret, do they?

31 Eagerly seek the better gifts. But now I will show you the best way of all.

2 Kings 6

1 The guild prophets said to Elisha, "As you can see, the place where we are living in order to be with you is too small for us.

2 Please allow us to go to the Yarden; each of us will collect a log there, and we'll build a place there for us to live." He answered, "Go ahead."

3 But one of them said, "Please, won't you come with your servants?" He answered, "All right, I will";

4 so he went with them. When they arrived at the Yarden, they cut down trees;

5 but as one was felling a tree trunk, the head of his axe fell in the water. "Oh, no!" he cried. "My master, it was a borrowed one!"

6 The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" He showed him the place. Then Elisha cut a stick, threw it in there, and the iron axe-head floated to the surface.

7 "Lift it out," he said. So he put out his hand and took it.

8 Now the king of Aram went to war against Isra'el; and in consulting his servants he said, "I'll set up my ambush camp in such-and-such a place."

9 The man of God sent this message to the king of Isra'el: "Be careful not to go past such-and-such a place, because Aram will attack there."

10 So the king of Isra'el sent men to the place the man of God had told him and warned him about, and he took special precautions there. This happened more than once or twice,

11 and it greatly upset the king of Aram. He called his servants and said to them, "Tell me which of you is betraying us to the king of Isra'el?"

12 One of his servants replied, "It's not that, my lord, king. Rather, Elisha, the prophet who is in Isra'el, tells the king of Isra'el the words you speak privately in your own bedroom!"

13 He said, "Go and see where he is, so that I can send and bring him here." They told him, "He's in Dotan."

14 So he sent horses, chariots and a large army there; they came by night and surrounded the city.

15 The servant of the man of God got up early in the morning; on going outside, he saw an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. His servant said to him, "Oh, my master, this is terrible! What are we going to do?"

16 He answered, "Don't be afraid - those who are with us outnumber those who are with them!"

17 Elisha prayed, "ADONAI, I ask you to open his eyes, so that he can see." Then ADONAI opened the young man's eyes, and he saw: there before him, all around Elisha, the mountain was covered with horses and fiery chariots.

18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to ADONAI, "Please strike these people blind"; and he struck them blind, as Elisha had asked.

19 Next, Elisha told them, "You've lost your way, and this isn't even the right city. Follow me, and I'll take you to the man you're looking for." Then he led them to Shomron.

20 On their arrival in Shomron, Elisha said, "ADONAI, open the eyes of these men, so that they can see." ADONAI opened their eyes, and they saw: there they were, in the middle of Shomron.

21 When the king of Isra'el saw them, he asked Elisha, "My father, should I attack them? Should I attack them?"

22 He answered, "Don't attack them! You wouldn't even attack prisoners you had captured with your own sword and bow, would you? So give them food to eat and water to drink, and let them return to their master."

23 So he provided well for them; and after they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away; and they returned to their master. After that, no more raiding parties entered the land of Isra'el from Aram.

24 But some time afterwards, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his army, went up and laid siege to Shomron.

25 At the time, there was a severe famine in Shomron; and they maintained their siege until a donkey's head sold for eighty pieces of silver and half a pint of doves' dung for five pieces of silver.

26 As the king of Isra'el was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, "Help, my lord, king!"

27 He said, "If ADONAI isn't helping you, how do you expect me to help you? There isn't any grain, and there isn't any wine."

28 Then the king asked her, "What's troubling you?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, so that we can eat him today; and we'll eat my son tomorrow.'

29 So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give your son, so that we can eat him,' but she has hidden her son."

30 When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. At the time, he was passing by on the wall; and when the people looked, they saw him there with sackcloth against his skin.

31 Then he said, "May God do terrible things to me, and worse ones too, if the head of Elisha the son of Shafat remains on his body by day's end."

32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the leaders were sitting there with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, "Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, close the door and keep it shut against him. You can hear his master's footsteps following right behind him!"

33 While he was still speaking, the messenger arrived with this message from the king: "Here, this evil is from ADONAI. Why should I wait for ADONAI any longer?"

2 Kings 7:1-2

1 Elisha answered, "Listen to the word of ADONAI. Here is what ADONAI says: 'Tomorrow, by this time, six quarts of fine flour will sell for only a shekel, and half a bushel of barley for a shekel [in the market] at the gate to Shomron."

2 The servant on whose arm the king was leaning answered the man of God: "Why, this couldn't happen even if ADONAI made windows in heaven!" Elisha answered, "All right, you yourself will see it with your own eyes; but you won't eat any of it!"

Jonah 1

1 The word of ADONAI came to Yonah the son of Amitai:

2 "Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it that their wickedness has come to my attention."

3 But Yonah, in order to get away from ADONAI, prepared to escape to Tarshish. He went down to Yafo, found a ship headed for Tarshish, paid the fare and went aboard, intending to travel with them to Tarshish and get away from ADONAI.

4 However, ADONAI let loose over the sea a violent wind, which created such stormy conditions that the ship threatened to break to pieces.

5 The sailors were frightened, and each cried out to his god. They threw the cargo overboard to make the ship easier for them to control. Meanwhile, Yonah had gone down below into the hold, where he lay, fast asleep.

6 The ship's captain found him and said to him, "What do you mean by sleeping? Get up! Call on your god! Maybe the god will remember us, and we won't die."

7 Then they said to each other, "Come, let's draw lots to find out who is to blame for this calamity." They drew lots, and Yonah was singled out.

8 They said to him, "Tell us now, why has this calamity come upon us? What work do you do? Where are you from? What is your country? Which is your people?"

9 He answered them, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear ADONAI, the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land."

10 At this the men grew very afraid and said to him, "What is this that you have done?" For the men knew he was trying to get away from ADONAI, since he had told them.

11 They asked him, "What should we do to you, so that the sea will be calm for us?" - for the sea was getting rougher all the time.

12 "Pick me up," he told them, "and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; because I know it's my fault that this terrible storm has come over you."

13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard, trying to reach the shore. But they couldn't, because the sea kept growing wilder against them.

14 Finally they cried to ADONAI, "Please, ADONAI, please! Don't let us perish for causing the death of this man, and don't hold us to account for shedding innocent blood; because you, ADONAI, have done what you saw fit."

15 Then they picked up Yonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.

16 Seized with great fear of ADONAI, they offered a sacrifice to ADONAI and made vows.

17 ADONAI prepared a huge fish to swallow Yonah; and Yonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 26

1 Corinthians 13; 2 Kings 7:3-20; Jonah 2 CJB

1 Corinthians 13

1 I may speak in the tongues of men, even angels; but if I lack love, I have become merely blaring brass or a cymbal clanging.

2 I may have the gift of prophecy, I may fathom all mysteries, know all things, have all faith - enough to move mountains; but if I lack love, I am nothing.

3 I may give away everything that I own, I may even hand over my body to be burned; but if I lack love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful,

5 not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.

6 Love does not gloat over other people's sins but takes its delight in the truth.

7 Love always bears up, always trusts, always hopes, always endures.

8 Love never ends; but prophecies will pass, tongues will cease, knowledge will pass.

9 For our knowledge is partial, and our prophecy partial;

10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, argued like a child; now that I have become a man, I have finished with childish ways.

12 For now we see obscurely in a mirror, but then it will be face to face. Now I know partly; then I will know fully, just as God has fully known me.

13 But for now, three things last trust, hope, love; and the greatest of these is love.

2 Kings 7:3-20

3 Now there were four men with tzara'at at the entrance to the city gate, and they said to each other, "Why should we sit here till we die?

4 If we say, 'We'll enter the city, then the city has been struck by the famine, so we'll die there. And if we sit still here, we'll also die. So let's go and surrender to the army of Aram; if they spare our lives, we will live; and if they kill us, we'll only die."

5 They got up during the twilight to go to the camp of Aram. But when they reached the outskirts of the camp of Aram, they saw no one!

6 For ADONAI had caused the army of Aram to hear the sound of chariots and horses; it sounded like a huge army; and they said to each other, "The king of Isra'el must have hired the kings of the Hitti and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us."

7 So they jumped up and fled in the twilight, leaving their tents, horses, donkeys and the whole camp just as it was, and ran for their lives.

8 When these men with tzara'at reached the outskirts of the camp, they entered one of the tents, ate and drank; then took some silver, gold and clothing; and went and hid it. Next they returned and entered another tent, took stuff from there, and went and hid it.

9 But finally they said to each other, "What we are doing is wrong. At a time of good news like this, we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. If we wait even till morning, we will earn only punishment; so come on, let's go and tell the king's household."

10 So they came and shouted to the gatekeepers of the city and told them the news: "We went to the camp of Aram, and no one was there, no human voice - just the horses and donkeys tied up, and the tents left in place."

11 The gatekeepers called and told it to the king's household inside.

12 Then the king got up in the night; he said to his servants, "I'll tell you what Aram has done to us. They know that we're hungry, so they've gone outside the camp and hidden in the countryside, saying, 'When they come out of the city, we'll take them alive and then get inside the city.'"

13 One of his servants answered, "I suggest letting some men take five of the remaining horses that are left in the city - they're like everything else in Isra'el that remains, like everything else in Isra'el, practically finished - and we'll send and see."

14 So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of Aram, saying, "Go, and see."

15 They went after them all the way to the Yarden, and found the entire distance strewn with clothing and other articles Aram had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

16 Then the people went out and ransacked the camp of Aram - with the result that six quarts of fine flour was sold for only a shekel and half a bushel of barley for a shekel, in keeping with what ADONAI had said.

17 The king put the servant on whose arm he had leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him down in the gateway, so that he died, as the man of God had said he would, who spoke when the king came to him.

18 For the man of God had said to the king, "Tomorrow by this time six quarts of barley will sell for only a shekel and half a bushel of fine flour for a shekel [in the market] at the gate of Shomron";

19 the servant had answered the man of God, "Why, this couldn't happen even if ADONAI made windows in heaven!" and Elisha had said, "All right, you yourself will see it with your own eyes; but you won't eat any of it!"

20 That is exactly what happened to him, because the people trampled him down in the gateway, so that he died.

Jonah 2

1 From the belly of the fish Yonah prayed to ADONAI his God;

2 he said, "Out of my distress I called to ADONAI, and he answered me; from the belly of Sh'ol I cried, and you heard my voice.

3 For you threw me into the deep, into the heart of the seas; and the flood enveloped me; all your surging waves passed over me.

4 I thought, 'I have been banished from your sight.' But I will again look at your holy temple.

5 The water surrounded me, threatened my life; the deep closed over me, seaweed twined around my head.

6 I was going down to the bottoms of the mountains, to a land whose bars would close me in forever; but you brought me up alive from the pit, ADONAI, my God!

7 As my life was ebbing away, I remembered ADONAI; and my prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.

8 "Those who worship vain idols give up their source of mercy;

9 but I, speaking my thanks aloud, will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed, I will pay. Salvation comes from ADONAI!"

10 Then ADONAI spoke to the fish, and it vomited Yonah out onto dry land.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 27

1 Corinthians 14:1-25; 2 Kings 8; Jonah 3 CJB

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

1 Pursue love! However, keep on eagerly seeking the things of the Spirit; and especially seek to be able to prophesy.

2 For someone speaking in a tongue is not speaking to people but to God, because no one can understand, since he is uttering mysteries in the power of the Spirit.

3 But someone prophesying is speaking to people, edifying, encouraging and comforting them.

4 A person speaking in a tongue does edify himself, but a person prophesying edifies the congregation.

5 I wish you would all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you would all prophesy. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless someone gives an interpretation, so that the congregation can be edified.

6 Brothers, suppose I come to you now speaking in tongues. How can I be of benefit to you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

7 Even with lifeless musical instruments, such as a flute or a harp, how will anyone recognize the melody if one note can't be distinguished from another?

8 And if the bugle gives an unclear sound, who will get ready for battle?

9 It's the same with you: how will anyone know what you are saying unless you use your tongue to produce intelligible speech? You will be talking to the air!

10 There are undoubtedly all kinds of sounds in the world, and none is altogether meaningless;

11 but if I don't know what a person's sounds mean, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

12 Likewise with you: since you eagerly seek the things of the Spirit, seek especially what will help in edifying the congregation.

13 Therefore someone who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret.

14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit does pray, but my mind is unproductive.

15 So, what about it? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

16 Otherwise, if you are giving thanks with your spirit, how will someone who has not yet received much instruction be able to say, "Amen," when you have finished giving thanks, since he doesn't know what you are saying?

17 For undoubtedly you are giving thanks very nicely, but the other person is not being edified.

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you,

19 but in a congregation meeting I would rather say five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue!

20 Brothers, don't be children in your thinking. In evil, be like infants; but in your thinking, be grown-up.

21 In the Torah it is written, "By other tongues, by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people. But even then they will not listen to me," says ADONAI.

22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.

23 So if the whole congregation comes together with everybody speaking in tongues, and uninstructed people or unbelievers come in, won't they say you're crazy?

24 But if you all prophesy, and some unbeliever or uninstructed person enters, he is convicted of sin by all, he is brought under judgment by all,

25 and the secrets of his heart are laid bare; so he falls on his face and worships God, saying, "God is really here among you!"

2 Kings 8

1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Move away, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; because ADONAI has called for a famine; and it will be on the land for seven years."

2 The woman acted at once and did as the man of God had said - she went with her household and stayed in the land of the P'lishtim for seven years.

3 At the end of seven years the woman returned from the land of the P'lishtim and sought an audience with the king to claim her house and land.

4 The king was talking with Geichazi the servant of the man of God. "Tell me," he said, "all the great things Elisha has done."

5 Just as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead person to life, at that very moment the woman whose son he had restored to life came to the king with her claim for her house and land. Geichazi said, "My lord, king, this is the woman; and this is her son, the one Elisha restored to life."

6 On being asked by the king, the woman verified it. At this, the king appointed a special officer and charged him, "Restore everything that belongs to her, including the income her fields have produced from the day she left them until now."

7 Elisha went to Dammesek. Ben-Hadad the king of Aram was ill; and he was told, "The man of God has come here."

8 The king said to Haza'el, "Take with you a gift, go meet the man of God and consult ADONAI through him; ask if I will recover from this illness."

9 Haza'el went to meet him, taking with him a gift that included everything good Dammesek had, forty camel-loads. He came, stood before him and said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to you; he asks, 'Will I recover from this illness?'"

10 Elisha answered, "Go and say to him, 'You will surely recover'- even though ADONAI has shown me that he will surely die."

11 Then the man of God fixed his gaze on him for so long that Haza'el became embarrassed; finally Elisha began to cry.

12 Haza'el asked, "Why is my lord crying?" He answered, "Because I know the disasters you will bring on the people of Isra'el - you will set their fortresses on fire, you will kill their young men with the sword, you will dash their little ones to pieces and rip their pregnant women apart."

13 Haza'el said, "But what is your servant? Nothing but a dog! How could he do anything of such magnitude?" Elisha answered, "ADONAI has shown me that you will be king over Aram."

14 Then he left Elisha and returned to his master, who asked him, "What did Elisha say to you?" "He told me you would surely recover."

15 The next day he took a blanket, dipped it in water and spread it on his face, so that he died; and Haza'el took his place as king.

16 It was when Yoram the son of Ach'av king of Isra'el was in the fifth year of his reign that Y'horam the son of Y'hoshafat began his rule over Y'hudah.

17 He was thirty-two years old when he began to rule, and he ruled eight years in Yerushalayim.

18 He lived after the example of the kings of Isra'el, as did the house of Ach'av; because he had married Ach'av's daughter; he did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective.

19 However, ADONAI was unwilling to destroy Y'hudah, because of his servant David; inasmuch as he had promised to give him and his children a lamp that would burn forever.

20 During his time Edom revolted against Y'hudah and set up its own king.

21 In response, Yoram crossed to Tza'ir with all his chariots. At night he and his chariot commanders set out and attacked Edom who had surrounded him; then the people fled to their tents.

22 Nevertheless, since that day Edom has remained free of Y'hudah's domination. Livnah revolted at the same time.

23 Other activities of Yoram and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

24 Yoram slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, and Achazyah his son took his place as king.

25 It was in the twelfth year of Yoram the son of Ach'av king of Isra'el that Achazyah the son of Y'horam king of Y'hudah began his reign.

26 Achazyah was twenty-two years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for one year in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was 'Atalyahu the daughter of 'Omri king of Isra'el.

27 He lived after the example of the house of Ach'av; he did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, as had the house of Ach'av; for he was a son-in-law in the house of Ach'av.

28 With Yoram the son of Ach'av he went to war against Haza'el king of Aram at Ramot-Gil'ad, and the Aramim wounded Yoram.

29 King Yoram returned to Yizre'el to be healed of the wounds which the Aramim had inflicted on him at Ramah while fighting Haza'el king of Aram. Achazyah the son of Y'horam, king of Y'hudah, went down to visit Yoram the son of Ach'av in Yizre'el, because he was not feeling well.

Jonah 3

1 The word of ADONAI came to Yonah a second time:

2 "Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it the message I will give you."

3 So Yonah set out and went to Ninveh, as ADONAI had said. Now Ninveh was such a large city that it took three days just to cross it.

4 Yonah began his entry into the city and had finished only his first day of proclaiming, 'In forty days Ninveh will be overthrown,'

5 when the people of Ninveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.

6 When the news reached the king of Ninveh, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes.

7 He then had this proclamation made throughout Ninveh: "By decree of the king and his nobles, no person or animal, herd or flock, is to put anything in his mouth; they are neither to eat nor drink water.

8 They must be covered with sackcloth, both people and animals; and they are to cry out to God with all their might - let each of them turn from his evil way and from the violence they practice.

9 Who knows? Maybe God will change his mind, relent and turn from his fierce anger; and then we won't perish."

10 When God saw by their deeds that they had turned from their evil way, he relented and did not bring on them the punishment he had threatened.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 28

1 Corinthians 14:26-40; 2 Kings 9; Jonah 4 CJB

1 Corinthians 14:26-40

26 What is our conclusion, brothers? Whenever you come together, let everyone be ready with a psalm or a teaching or a revelation, or ready to use his gift of tongues or give an interpretation; but let everything be for edification.

27 If the gift of tongues is exercised, let it be by two or at most three, and each in turn; and let someone interpret.

28 And if there is no one present who can interpret, let the people who speak in tongues keep silent when the congregation meets - they can speak to themselves and to God.

29 Let two or three prophets speak, while the others weigh what is said.

30 And if something is revealed to a prophet who is sitting down, let the first one be silent.

31 For you can all prophesy one by one, with the result that all will learn something and all will be encouraged.

32 Also, the prophets' spirits are under the prophets' control;

33 for God is not a God of unruliness but of shalom. As in all the congregations of God's people,

34 let the wives remain silent when the congregation meets; they are certainly not permitted to speak out. Rather, let them remain subordinate, as also the Torah says;

35 and if there is something they want to know, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for a woman to speak out in a congregational meeting.

36 Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?

37 If anyone thinks he is a prophet or is endowed with the Spirit, let him acknowledge that what I am writing you is a command of the Lord.

38 But if someone doesn't recognize this, then let him remain unrecognized.

39 So, my brothers, eagerly seek to prophesy; and do not forbid speaking in tongues;

40 but let all things be done in a proper and orderly way.

2 Kings 9

1 Elisha the prophet summoned one of the guild prophets and said to him, "Prepare for traveling, take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramot-Gil'ad.

2 When you get there, look for Yehu the son of Y'hoshafat, the son of Nimshi. Enter, have him step away from his companions, and take him to an inside room.

3 Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, 'This is what ADONAI says: "I have anointed you king over Isra'el."' After that, open the door; and get away from there as fast as you can."

4 So the young prophet left for Ramot-Gil'ad.

5 When he arrived, he found the senior army officers sitting there. He said, "I have a message for you, commander." Yehu asked, "For which one of us?" "For you, commander," he said.

6 Yehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on his head and said to him, "This is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'I have anointed you king over the people of ADONAI, over Isra'el.

7 You will attack the house of Ach'av your master, so that I can avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and of all the servants of ADONAI, blood shed by Izevel.

8 The entire house of Ach'av will perish; I will cut off from Ach'av every male, whether a slave or free in Isra'el.

9 I will make the house of Ach'av like the house of Yarov'am the son of N'vat and like the house of Ba'sha the son of Achiyah.

10 Moreover, the dogs will eat Izevel in the dumping-ground of Yizre'el, and there will be no one to bury her.'" Then he opened the door and fled.

11 Yehu returned to the servants of his lord, and one of them said to him, "Is everything all right? Why did this meshugga come to you?" He answered them, "You know the kind and how they babble."

12 They said, "You're being evasive. Come on, tell us the truth." Then he said, "This is exactly what he said to me and how he said it: 'Here is what ADONAI says: "I have anointed you king over Isra'el."'"

13 At this, they hurried each one to take his cloak and put it under Yehu at the top of the stairs. Then they blew the shofar and proclaimed, "Yehu is king!"

14 Yehu the son of Y'hoshafat, the son of Nimshi, formed a conspiracy against Yoram. (At the time, Yoram was guarding Ramot-Gil'ad, he and all Isra'el, because of Haza'el king of Aram;

15 but Yoram himself had returned to Yizre'el to recover from the wounds Aram had inflicted on him when fighting Haza'el king of Aram.) "If you agree," said Yehu, "then don't allow anyone to leave town and take the news to Yizre'el."

16 So Yehu, riding in a chariot, went to Yizre'el, for Yoram was laid up there. Achazyah king of Y'hudah had come down to visit Yoram.

17 The lookout standing on the watchtower in Yizre'el saw Yehu's troops approaching and said, "I see some troops coming." Yoram said, "Have a horseman go to meet him and ask, "Are you coming in peace?"

18 So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, "The king asks if you are coming in peace." Yehu answered, "Peace? What business is that of yours? Turn around, and get behind me!" The watchman reported, "The messenger reached them, but he isn't coming back."

19 So he sent out a second man on horseback, who, on coming to him, said, "The king asks if you are coming in peace." Yehu answered, "Peace? What business is that of yours? Turn around, and get behind me!"

20 The watchman reported, "He reached them, but he isn't coming back. Also, it looks like the driving of Yehu Nimshi's [grand]son - he's driving like a maniac!"

21 "Harness my chariot!" ordered Yoram. They got it ready. Then Yoram king of Isra'el and Achazyah king of Y'hudah, each in his chariot, went out to meet Yehu. They met him in the field of Navot the Yizre'eli.

22 When Yoram saw Yehu he said, "Are you coming in peace, Yehu?" He answered, "Peace? With your mother Izevel continuing all her cult prostitution and witchcraft? What a question!"

23 Yoram wheeled around and fled, shouting, "Treachery, Achazyah!"

24 Yehu drew his bow with all his strength and struck Yoram between the shoulder-blades; the arrow went through his heart, and he collapsed in his chariot.

25 "Pick him up," said Yehu to Bidkar his servant, "and throw him into the field of Navot the Yizre'eli; for remember how, when you and I were riding together after Ach'av his father, ADONAI pronounced this sentence against him:

26 'ADONAI says: "Yesterday I saw the blood of Navot and the blood of his sons." ADONAI also says: "I will pay you back in this field."' Therefore, pick him up; and throw him into the field, in keeping with what ADONAI said."

27 But when Achazyah the king of Y'hudah saw this, he fled on the road past Beit-HaGan. Yehu pursued him and ordered, "Strike him too in his chariot!" [So they struck him] at the Gur ascent, near Yivle'am. He fled to Megiddo, but there he died.

28 His servants carried him in a chariot to Yerushalayim and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the City of David.

29 It was in the eleventh year of Yoram the son of Ach'av that Achazyah had begun his rule over Y'hudah.

30 When Yehu reached Yizre'el, and Izevel heard of it, she put on eye make-up, fixed her hair and looked out the window.

31 As Yehu came through the city gate, she asked, "Are you here in peace, you Zimri, you murderer of your master?"

32 Looking up at the window he said, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three officers looked out toward him.

33 He said, "Throw her down!" So they threw her down. Some of her blood splashed onto the wall and the horses, and she was trampled underfoot.

34 He went in, ate and drank, and then said, "Deal with this accursed woman - bury her, because she's a king's daughter."

35 They went to bury her but found no more of her than her skull, feet and hands.

36 So they came back and told him. He said, "This is what ADONAI said through his servant Eliyahu from Tishbe: 'In the field of Yizre'el the dogs will eat the flesh of Izevel;

37 Izevel's corpse in the field of Yizre'el will be like dung on the ground, unrecognizable as Izevel.'"

Jonah 4

1 But this was very displeasing to Yonah, and he became angry.

2 He prayed to ADONAI, "Now, ADONAI, didn't I say this would happen, when I was still in my own country? That's why I tried to get away to Tarshish ahead of time! I knew you were a God who is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in grace, and that you relent from inflicting punishment.

3 Therefore, ADONAI, please, just take my life away from me; it's better for me to be dead than alive!"

4 ADONAI asked, "Is it right for you to be so angry?"

5 Yonah left the city and found a place east of the city, where he made himself a shelter and sat down under it, in its shade, to see what would happen to the city.

6 ADONAI, God, prepared a castor-bean plant and made it grow up over Yonah to shade his head and relieve his discomfort. So Yonah was delighted with the castor-bean plant.

7 But at dawn the next day God prepared a worm, which attacked the castor-bean plant, so that it dried up.

8 Then, when the sun rose, God prepared a scorching east wind; and the sun beat down on Yonah's head so hard that he grew faint and begged that he could die, saying, "I would be better off dead than alive."

9 God asked Yonah, "Is it right for you to be so angry about the castor-bean plant?" He answered, "Yes, it's right for me to be so angry that I could die!"

10 ADONAI said, "You're concerned over the castor-bean plant, which cost you no effort; you didn't make it grow; it came up in a night and perished in a night.

11 So shouldn't I be concerned about the great city of Ninveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who don't know their right hand from their left - not to mention all the animals?"

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 29

1 Corinthians 15:1-34; 2 Kings 10; Micah 1 CJB

1 Corinthians 15:1-34

1 Now, brothers, I must remind you of the Good News which I proclaimed to you, and which you received, and on which you have taken your stand,

2 and by which you are being saved - provided you keep holding fast to the message I proclaimed to you. For if you don't, your trust will have been in vain.

3 For among the first things I passed on to you was what I also received, namely this: the Messiah died for our sins, in accordance with what the Tanakh says;

4 and he was buried; and he was raised on the third day, in accordance with what the Tanakh says;

5 and he was seen by Kefa, then by the Twelve;

6 and afterwards he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, the majority of whom are still alive, though some have died.

7 Later he was seen by Ya'akov, then by all the emissaries;

8 and last of all he was seen by me, even though I was born at the wrong time.

9 For I am the least of all the emissaries, unfit to be called an emissary, because I persecuted the Messianic Community of God.

10 But by God's grace I am what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain; on the contrary, I have worked harder than all of them, although it was not I but the grace of God with me.

11 Anyhow, whether I or they, this is what we proclaim, and this is what you believed.

12 But if it has been proclaimed that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, how is it that some of you are saying there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead?

13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Messiah has not been raised;

14 and if the Messiah has not been raised, then what we have proclaimed is in vain; also your trust is in vain;

15 furthermore, we are shown up as false witnesses for God in having testified that God raised up the Messiah, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

16 For if the dead are not raised, then the Messiah has not been raised either;

17 and if the Messiah has not been raised, your trust is useless, and you are still in your sins.

18 Also, if this is the case, those who died in union with the Messiah are lost.

19 If it is only for this life that we have put our hope in the Messiah, we are more pitiable than anyone.

20 But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died.

21 For since death came through a man, also the resurrection of the dead has come through a man.

22 For just as in connection with Adam all die, so in connection with the Messiah all will be made alive.

23 But each in his own order: the Messiah is the firstfruits; then those who belong to the Messiah, at the time of his coming;

24 then the culmination, when he hands over the Kingdom to God the Father, after having put an end to every rulership, yes, to every authority and power.

25 For he has to rule until he puts all his enemies under his feet.

26 The last enemy to be done away with will be death,

27 for "He put everything in subjection under his feet."m But when it says that "everything" has been subjected, obviously the word does not include God, who is himself the one subjecting everything to the Messiah.

28 Now when everything has been subjected to the Son, then he will subject himself to God, who subjected everything to him; so that God may be everything in everyone.

29 Were it otherwise, what would the people accomplish who are immersed on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not actually raised, why are people immersed for them?

30 For that matter, we ourselves - why do we keep facing danger hour by hour?

31 Brothers, by the right to be proud which the Messiah Yeshua our Lord gives me, I solemnly tell you that I die every day.

32 If my fighting with "wild beasts" in Ephesus was done merely on a human basis, what do I gain by it? If dead people are not raised, we might as well live by the saying, "Let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"

33 Don't be fooled. "Bad company ruins good character."

34 Come to your senses! Live righteously and stop sinning! There are some people who lack knowledge of God - I say this to your shame.

2 Kings 10

1 There were seventy descendants of Ach'av in Shomron. Yehu wrote letters and sent them to Shomron to the rulers of Yizre'el, to the leaders, and to the guardians of Ach'av's sons. The letters said,

2 "You have with you your master's sons, also chariots and horses, as well as fortified cities and armor. So, as soon as this letter reaches you,

3 choose the best and most suitable of your master's sons, set him on his father's throne and fight for your master's dynasty."

4 They were panic-stricken and said, "If the other two kings couldn't withstand him, how will we?"

5 So the administrator of the palace, the governor of the city, the leaders and the children's guardians sent this message to Yehu: "We are your servants. We will do everything you ask us to; we won't appoint anyone king. Do as you see fit."

6 He wrote a second letter to them, which said, "If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey my orders, then bring the heads of your master's sons to me in Yizre'el by this time tomorrow." Now the seventy sons of the king were with the prominent men who had raised them.

7 When the letter reached them, they seized the king's sons and killed them, all seventy of them, put their heads in baskets and sent them to Yehu in Yizre'el.

8 A messenger came and told him, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons." He said, "Leave them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning."

9 When morning came, he went out, stood before the people and said, "You are not responsible [for the deaths of these men]. Yes, I conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these?

10 Understand, then, that no part of ADONAI's word which ADONAI spoke concerning the dynasty of Ach'av falls to the ground; because ADONAI has done what he said through his servant Eliyahu."

11 So Yehu killed everyone who remained from the house of Ach'av in Yizre'el, all his leading men, his close friends and his cohanim, until not one of them was left alive.

12 Then he set out and went to Shomron. On the way he reached a shearing shed for shepherds,

13 where he encountered relatives of Achazyah king of Y'hudah. "Who are you?" he asked. "We're relatives of Achazyah," they answered, "and we're going down to pay our respects to the families of the king and of the queen mother."

14 "Take them alive," said Yehu. They took them alive, forty-two men, slaughtered them and threw them into the shearing shed's pit; he spared not one of them.

15 On leaving there, he happened upon Y'honadav the son of Rekhav coming toward him. He greeted him and said to him, "Are you wholeheartedly with me, as I am with you?" "Yes," answered Y'honadav. "If so, give me your hand." He gave him his hand, and Yehu took him up into the chariot.

16 He said, "Come with me, and see how zealous I am for ADONAI." So they had him ride in his chariot.

17 On arriving in Shomron he put to death everyone that Ach'av still had in Shomron, until he had destroyed him, in keeping with the word of ADONAI which he had spoken to Eliyahu.

18 Next, Yehu assembled all the people and said to them, "Ach'av served Ba'al in limited measure, but Yehu will serve him with full zeal.

19 Therefore summon all the prophets of Ba'al to me, all his worshippers and all his priests. None of them is to be missing, because I am going to offer a great sacrifice to Ba'al; whoever is missing will not remain alive." But Yehu was setting a trap, in order to destroy the worshippers of Ba'al.

20 Yehu said, "Proclaim a solemn assembly for Ba'al," and they did so.

21 Yehu sent throughout all Isra'el, and all the worshippers of Ba'al came, so that there was not one man left that didn't come. They entered the temple of Ba'al, and the temple of Ba'al was filled from one end to the other.

22 To the man in charge of the wardrobe he said, "Bring out robes for all the worshippers of Ba'al"; and he brought them clothes.

23 Yehu and Y'honadav the son of Rekhav entered the house of Ba'al and said to the worshippers of Ba'al, "Search to see that none of the servants of ADONAI is here with you, only worshippers of Ba'al."

24 Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. But Yehu had chosen eighty men to remain outside. He said, "If any of the men I am about to put in your hands escapes, it will be your life for his."

25 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Yehu said to the guards and officers, "Go in, and kill them; don't let one of them get out." So they killed them with the sword; then, after the guards and officers had thrown their bodies outside, they went into the temple of Ba'al's inner shrine,

26 brought out the pillars in the temple of Ba'al and burned them.

27 Finally, they broke down Ba'al's standing-stone and demolished the temple of Ba'al, converting it into a latrine, which it still is today.

28 Thus Yehu rid Isra'el of Ba'al.

29 However, Yehu did not turn away from the sins of Yarov'am the son of N'vat, with which he had led Isra'el into sin, the gold calves that were in Beit-El and Dan.

30 ADONAI said to Yehu, "Because you did well in accomplishing what is right from my perspective, and have done to the house of Ach'av everything that was in my heart, your descendants down to the fourth generation will sit on the throne of Isra'el."

31 But Yehu made no effort to live wholeheartedly according to the Torah of ADONAI the God of Isra'el and did not turn away from the sins of Yarov'am, with which he had led Isra'el into sin.

32 It was during that period that ADONAI began to dismember Isra'el. Haza'el attacked them throughout the territory of Isra'el

33 east of the Yarden - all the land of Gil'ad, the Gadi, Re'uveni and M'nashi, from 'Aro'er by the Arnon River, including Gil'ad and Bashan.

34 Other activities of Yehu, all his accomplishments and all his power are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

35 Yehu slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in Shomron. Then Y'ho'achaz his son became king in his place.

36 Yehu ruled over Isra'el in Shomron for twenty-eight years.

Micah 1

1 This is the word of ADONAI that came to Mikhah the Morashti during the days of Yotam, Achaz and Y'chizkiyah, kings of Y'hudah, which he saw concerning Shomron and Yerushalayim:

2 Listen, peoples, all of you! Pay attention, earth, and everything in it! Adonai ELOHIM will witness against you, Adonai, from his holy temple.

3 For - look! - ADONAI is coming out of his place, coming down to tread on the high places of the land.

4 Beneath him the mountains will melt, the valleys split open like wax before fire, like water poured down a steep slope.

5 All this is because of the crime of Ya'akov and the sins of the house of Isra'el. What is the crime of Ya'akov? Isn't it Shomron? And what are the high places of Y'hudah? Aren't they Yerushalayim?

6 "So I will make Shomron a heap in the countryside, a place for planting vineyards; I will pour her stones down into the valley, laying bare her foundations.

7 All her carved images will be smashed to pieces, all she earned consumed by fire; and I will reduce her idols to rubble. She amassed them from a whore's wages, and as a whore's wages they will be spent again."

8 This is why I howl and wail, why I go barefoot and stripped, why I howl like the jackals and mourn like the ostriches.

9 For her wound cannot be healed, and now it is coming to Y'hudah as well; it reaches even to the gate of my people, to Yerushalayim itself.

10 Don't tell about it in Gat, don't shed any tears. At Beit-L'afrah [house of dust] roll yourself in the dust.

11 Inhabitants of Shafir, pass on your way in nakedness and shame. The inhabitants of Tza'anan have not left yet. The wailing of Beit-Ha'etzel will remove from you their support.

12 The inhabitants of Marot have no hope of anything good; for ADONAI has sent down disaster to the very gate of Yerushalayim.

13 Harness the chariots to the fastest horses, inhabitants of Lakhish; she was the beginning of sin for the daughter of Tziyon; for the crimes of Isra'el are traceable to you.

14 Therefore you must bestow parting gifts upon Moreshet-Gat. The houses of Akhziv will disappoint the kings of Isra'el.

15 Inhabitants of Mareshah, I have yet to bring you the one who will [invade and] possess you. The glory of Isra'el will come to 'Adulam.

16 Shave the hair from your head as you mourn for the children who were your delight; make yourselves as bald as vultures, for they have gone from you into exile.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 30

1 Corinthians 15:35-58; 2 Kings 11; Micah 2 CJB

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

35 But someone will ask, "In what manner are the dead raised? What sort of body do they have?"

36 Stupid! When you sow a seed, it doesn't come alive unless it first dies.

37 Also, what you sow is not the body that will be, but a bare seed of, say, wheat or something else;

38 but God gives it the body he intended for it; and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

39 Not all living matter is the same living matter; on the contrary, there is one kind for human beings, another kind of living matter for animals, another for birds and another for fish.

40 Further, there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the beauty of heavenly bodies is one thing, while the beauty of earthly bodies is something else.

41 The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon another, the stars yet another; indeed, each star has its own individual kind of beauty.

42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. When the body is "sown," it decays; when it is raised, it cannot decay.

43 When sown, it is without dignity; when raised, it will be beautiful. When sown, it is weak; when raised, it will be strong.

44 When sown, it is an ordinary human body; when raised, it will be a body controlled by the Spirit. If there is an ordinary human body, there is also a body controlled by the Spirit.

45 In fact, the Tanakh says so: Adam, the first man, became a living human being;o but the last "Adam" has become a life-giving Spirit.

46 Note, however, that the body from the Spirit did not come first, but the ordinary human one; the one from the Spirit comes afterwards.

47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.

48 People born of dust are like the man of dust, and people born from heaven are like the man from heaven;

49 and just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so also we will bear the image of the man from heaven.

50 Let me say this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot share in the Kingdom of God, nor can something that decays share in what does not decay.

51 Look, I will tell you a secret - not all of us will die! But we will all be changed!

52 It will take but a moment, the blink of an eye, at the final shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever, and we too will be changed.

53 For this material which can decay must be clothed with imperishability, this which is mortal must be clothed with immortality.

54 When what decays puts on imperishability and what is mortal puts on immortality, then this passage in the Tanakh will be fulfilled: "Death is swallowed up in victory.

55 "Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?"

56 The sting of death is sin; and sin draws its power from the Torah;

57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah!

58 So, my dear brothers, stand firm and immovable, always doing the Lord's work as vigorously as you can, knowing that united with the Lord your efforts are not in vain.

2 Kings 11

1 When 'Atalyah the mother of Achazyah saw that her son was dead, she set about destroying the entire royal family.

2 But Y'hosheva the daughter of King Yoram, sister of Achazyah, took Yo'ash the son of Achazyah and stole him away from among the princes who were being slaughtered. She took him and his nurse, sequestered them in a bedroom, and hid them from 'Atalyah, so that he was not killed.

3 He remained hidden with his nurse in the house of ADONAI for six years; during this time 'Atalyah ruled the land.

4 In the seventh year Y'hoyada summoned the captains of hundred-man platoons, of both the Kari and the guard. He brought them into the house of ADONAI, made an agreement with them and had them swear to it in the house of ADONAI. Then he showed them the king's son

5 and gave them this instruction: "Here is what you are to do: of you who come on duty on Shabbat, a third [normally] guards the royal palace,

6 a third is at the Sur Gate and a third is at the gate behind the guards. [The first third] is to continue guarding the palace and serve as a barrier,

7 while the other two groups of you who come on duty on Shabbat will guard the house of ADONAI, where the king is.

8 You are to surround the king, each man with his weapons in his hand. Anyone who penetrates the ranks is to be killed. Stay with the king whenever he leaves or enters."

9 The captains over hundreds did exactly as Y'hoyada the cohen ordered. Each took his men, those coming on duty on Shabbat and those going off duty on Shabbat, and came to Y'hoyada the cohen.

10 The cohen issued to the captains of hundreds the spears and shields that had been King David's and were kept in the house of ADONAI.

11 The guards then took positions, each man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, alongside the altar, alongside [the exterior of] the house and around the king.

12 Then he brought out the king's son, crowned him, gave him [a copy of] the testimony and thus made him king; they anointed him, clapped their hands and shouted, "Long live the king!"

13 When 'Atalyah heard the shouting of the guard and the people, she entered the house of ADONAI where the people were,

14 looked and saw the king standing there on the platform, in keeping with the rule, with the leaders and trumpeters next to the king. All the people of the land were celebrating and blowing the trumpets. At this 'Atalyah tore her clothes and cried, "Treason! Treason!"

15 Y'hoyada the cohen ordered the captains of hundreds, the army officers, "Escort her out past the ranks [of guards]; but anyone who follows her, kill with the sword." For the cohen had said, "She must not be put to death in the house of ADONAI."

16 So they took her by force and led her through the horses' entry to the royal palace, and there she was put to death.

17 Y'hoyada made a covenant between ADONAI, the king and the people, that they would be ADONAI's people, and [a covenant] between the king and the people.

18 Then all the people of the land went to the house of Ba'al and broke it down; they completely smashed its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Ba'al in front of the altars. Next, the cohen appointed officers over the house of ADONAI.

19 He took the captains of hundreds, the Kari, the guards and all the people of the land; and they brought the king down from the house of ADONAI, going by way of the gate of the guards to the royal palace. There he sat on the throne of the kings.

20 All the people of the land celebrated, and at last the city was quiet. That is how they killed 'Atalyah with the sword at the royal palace.

21 Y'ho'ash was seven years old when he began his reign.

Micah 2

1 Woe to those who think up evil and plan wickedness as they lie in bed. When morning comes, they do it, since they have it in their power.

2 They covet fields and seize them; they take over houses as well, doing violence to both owner and house, to people and their inherited land.

3 Therefore this is what ADONAI says: "Against this family I am planning an evil from which you will not withdraw your necks; nor will you walk with your heads held high, for it will be an evil time."

4 On that day they will take up a dirge for you; sadly lamenting, they will wail, "We are completely ruined! Our people's land has changed hands. Our fields are taken away from us; instead of restoring them, he parcels them out."

5 Therefore, you will have no one in the assembly of ADONAI to stretch out a measuring line and restore the land assigned by lot.

6 "Don't preach!" - thus they preach! "They shouldn't preach about these things. Shame will not overtake us" -

7 is this what the house of Ya'akov says? ADONAI has not grown impatient, and these things are not his doings. "Rather, my words do only good to anyone living uprightly.

8 But lately my people behave like an enemy, stripping both cloaks and tunics from travelers who thought they were secure, so that they become like war refugees.

9 You throw my people's women out of the homes they love. You deprive their children of my glory forever.

10 Get up and go! You can't stay here! Because [the land] is now unclean, it will destroy you with a grievous destruction."

11 If a man who walks in wind and falsehood tells this lie: "I will preach to you of [how good it is to drink] wine and strong liquor" - this people will accept him as their preacher!

12 "I will assemble all of you, Ya'akov; I will gather the remnant of Isra'el, I will put them together like sheep in a pen, like a herd in its pasture - it will hum with the sounds of people."

13 The one breaking through went up before them; they broke through, passed the gate and went out. Their king passed on before them; ADONAI was leading them.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

July 31

1 Corinthians 16; 2 Kings 12-13; Micah 3 CJB

1 Corinthians 16

1 Now, in regard to the collection being made for God's people: you are to do the same as I directed the congregations in Galatia to do.

2 Every week, on Motza'ei-Shabbat, each of you should set some money aside, according to his resources, and save it up; so that when I come I won't have to do fundraising.

3 And when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the people you have approved, and I will send them to carry your gift to Yerushalayim.

4 If it seems appropriate that I go too, they will go along with me.

5 I will visit you after I have gone through Macedonia, for I am intending to pass through Macedonia,

6 and I may stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me continue my travels wherever I may go.

7 For I don't want to see you now, when I am only passing through; because I am hoping to spend some time with you, if the Lord allows it.

8 But I will remain in Ephesus until Shavu'ot,

9 because a great and important door has opened for my work, and there are many people opposing me.

10 If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to be afraid of while he is with you; for he is doing the Lord's work, just as I am.

11 So let no one treat him with disrespect. Help him on his way in peace, so that he will return to me, for the brothers and I are expecting him.

12 As for brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to go and visit you along with the other brothers; and although it was not at all his desire to come at this time, he will come when he has the opportunity.

13 Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, behave like a mentsh, grow strong.

14 Let everything you do be done in love.

15 Now, brothers, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first people in Achaia to put their trust in the Messiah, and they have devoted themselves to serving God's people.

16 I urge you to submit yourselves to people like these and to everyone who works and toils with them.

17 I am glad that Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus are here, because they have helped make up for your not being here.

18 They have refreshed my spirit, just as they have yours. I want you to show appreciation for people like these.

19 The congregations in the province of Asia send greetings to you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you in union with the Lord, as does the congregation that meets in their house.

20 All the brothers send you their greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

21 Now, I Sha'ul, greet you in my own handwriting.

22 If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse on him! Marana, ta! [Our Lord, come!]

23 May the grace of the Lord Yeshua be with you.

24 My love is with you all, in union with the Messiah Yeshua.

2 Kings 12

1 It was in the seventh year of Yehu that Y'ho'ash began to rule, and he ruled forty years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Tzivyah, from Be'er-Sheva.

2 Y'ho'ash did what was right from ADONAI's perspective throughout the lifetime of Y'hoyada the cohen, who instructed him.

3 Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and presented offerings on the high places.

4 Y'ho'ash said to the cohanim, "All the funds for sacred purposes which are brought to the house of ADONAI - the half-shekel tax, the taxes on persons in a man's household, and all the offerings anyone voluntarily brings to the house of ADONAI -

5 the cohanim are to receive from whoever personally makes contributions to them; and they are to use these funds to repair the damaged parts of the house, wherever damage is found.

6 But twenty-three years into the reign of King Y'ho'ash, the cohanim had still not repaired the damaged places in the house.

7 So King Y'ho'ash summoned Y'hoyada the cohen and the other cohanim and said to them, "Why aren't you repairing the damaged places in the house? Therefore, you are no longer to take money from those who contribute it personally to you; you must hand it over to be used for repairing the damage in the house."

8 The cohanim agreed not to receive money from the people, and they would no longer be responsible for repairing the damage to the house.

9 Then Y'hoyada the cohen took a chest, drilled a hole in its lid and set it by the altar, on the right, as one enters the house of ADONAI; and the cohanim in charge of the entry put in it all the money brought into the house of ADONAI.

10 When they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king's secretary and the cohen hagadol would come up, count the money found in the house of ADONAI and put it in bags.

11 Then they would give the weighed-out money to those supervising the work in the house of ADONAI, who would use it to pay the carpenters and construction-workers doing the work in the house of ADONAI,

12 on masons, stoneworkers, timber, worked stone and everything else needed for repairing the damaged places in the house of ADONAI.

13 But none of the money brought into the house of ADONAI was used to make silver cups, snuffers, bowls, trumpets or other articles of gold or silver for the house of ADONAI;

14 because they gave the money to those doing the

15 More-work, thus restricting its use to repairing the damage in the house of ADONAI. over, they did not require an accounting from the supervisors given the money to pay the workers, because they dealt honestly.

16 Money from guilt offerings and sin offerings, however, was not brought into the house of ADONAI; it went to the cohanim.

17 Haza'el king of Aram went up and fought against Gat; and after capturing it, Haza'el made his decision to attack Yerushalayim.

18 Y'ho'ash king of Y'hudah took all the consecrated articles that Y'hoshafat, Y'horam and Achazyah, his ancestors, kings of Y'hudah, had dedicated, as well as his own consecrated articles and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of ADONAI and of the royal palace, and sent them to Haza'el king of Aram, who then withdrew from Yerushalayim.

19 Other activities of Yo'ash and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

20 Then his servants got together, formed a conspiracy and murdered Yo'ash at Beit-Millo on the way down to Sila.

21 His servants Yozakhar the son of Shim'at and Y'hozavad the son of Shomer struck him, so that he died. They buried him with his ancestors in the City of David, and Amatzyah his son took his place as king.

2 Kings 13

1 It was in the twenty-third year of Yo'ash the son of Achazyah, king of Y'hudah, that Y'ho'achaz the son of Yehu began his reign over Isra'el in Shomron; he ruled for seventeen years.

2 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective; he followed the sins of Yarov'am the son of N'vat, who made Isra'el sin; and he never ceased committing those sins.

3 ADONAI's anger burned against Isra'el, and he kept handing them over to Haza'el king of Aram and Ben-Hadad the son of Haza'el.

4 But Y'ho'achaz pleaded to ADONAI, and ADONAI listened to him, because he saw the oppression the king of Aram was inflicting on Isra'el.

5 So ADONAI gave Isra'el a savior who freed them from the grip of Aram, so that the people of Isra'el could live in their tents, as they had before.

6 Despite that, instead of turning from the sins of the house of Yarov'am, who made Isra'el sin, they continued to live in this sinful way. Moreover, the asherah continued to stand in Shomron.

7 The king of Aram destroyed Y'ho'achaz's army, making them like chaff when grain is threshed, except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers.

8 Other activities of Y'ho'achaz, all his accomplishments and his power are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

9 Y'ho'achaz slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in Shomron. Then Yo'ash his son took his place as king.

10 It was in the thirty-seventh year of Yo'ash king of Y'hudah that Yo'ash the son of Y'ho'achaz began his rule over Isra'el in Shomron; he ruled for sixteen years.

11 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective and did not turn from all the sins of Yarov'am the son of N'vat, who made Isra'el sin; on the contrary, he lived in this sinful way.

12 Other activities of Yo'ash, all his accomplishments and his power in fighting Amatzyah king of Y'hudah are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

13 Yo'ash slept with his ancestors, and Yarov'am occupied his throne. Yo'ash was buried in Shomron with the kings of Isra'el.

14 Elisha was now ill with the disease from which he would eventually die. Yo'ash the king of Isra'el came down to visit him and wept over him; he said, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Isra'el!"

15 Elisha said to him, "Bring a bow and arrows"; and he brought him a bow and arrows.

16 He said to the king of Isra'el, "Put your hand on the bow"; and he put his hand on it. Then Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands

17 and said, "Open the east window." He opened it. Elisha said, "Shoot"; and he shot. He said, "ADONAI's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory against Aram! You will defeat Aram completely at Afek!"

18 He said, "Take the arrows"; and he took them. He told the king of Isra'el, "Strike the ground." He struck three times, then stopped.

19 The man of God became angry with him; he said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram completely. As it is, you will defeat Aram only three times."

20 Elisha died, and they placed him in a burial cave. Now the raiding parties of Mo'av used to make yearly incursions into the land at the start of the year.

21 Once it happened that just as they were burying a man, they spotted a raiding party; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's burial cave; and the moment the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

22 Haza'el king of Aram oppressed Isra'el throughout the lifetime of Y'ho'achaz;

23 but ADONAI was gracious, took pity on them and looked on them with favor, because of his covenant with Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov. He was not willing to destroy them, and to this day he has not banished them from his presence.

24 Haza'el king of Aram died, and Ben-Hadad his son took his place as king.

25 Then Y'ho'ash the son of Y'ho'achaz captured from Ben-Hadad the son of Haza'el the cities which he had captured in war from Y'ho'achaz his father. Three times Yo'ash defeated him, thus recovering the cities of Isra'el.

Micah 3

1 "I said, 'Please listen, leaders of Ya'akov, rulers of the house of Isra'el: Shouldn't you know what justice is?

2 Yet you hate what is good and love what is bad. You strip off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones,

3 you eat the flesh of my people, skin them alive, break their bones; yes, they chop them in pieces, like flesh in a caldron, like meat in a pot.'"

4 Then they will call to ADONAI, but he will not answer them; when that time comes, he will hide his face from them, because their deeds were so wicked.

5 Here is what ADONAI says in regard to the prophets who cause my people to go astray, who cry, "Peace" as soon as they are given food to eat but prepare war against anyone who fails to put something in their mouths:

6 "Therefore you will have night, not vision, darkness and not divination; the sun will go down on the prophets, over them the day will be black."

7 The seers will be put to shame, the diviners will be disgraced. They will have to cover their mouths, because there will be no answer from God.

8 On the other hand, I am full of power by the Spirit of ADONAI, full of justice and full of might, to declare to Ya'akov his crime, to Isra'el his sin.

9 Hear this, please, leaders of the house of Ya'akov, rulers of the house of Isra'el, you who abhor what is just and pervert anything that is right,

10 who build up Tziyon with blood and Yerushalayim with wickedness.

11 Her leaders sell verdicts for bribes, her cohanim teach for a price, her prophets divine for money - yet they claim to rely on ADONAI! "Isn't ADONAI here with us?" they say. "No evil can come upon us."

12 Therefore, because of you, Tziyon will be plowed under like a field, Yerushalayim will become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house like a forested height.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 1

2 Corinthians 1:1-2:4; 2 Kings 14; Micah 4:1-5:1 CJB

2 Corinthians 1

1 From: Sha'ul, by God's will an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua, and brother Timothy To: God's Messianic community in Corinth, along with all God's people throughout Achaia:

2 Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

3 Praised be God, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, compassionate Father, God of all encouragement and comfort;

4 who encourages us in all our trials, so that we can encourage others in whatever trials they may be undergoing with the encouragement we ourselves have received from God.

5 For just as the Messiah's sufferings overflow into us, so through the Messiah our encouragement also overflows.

6 So if we undergo trials, it is for your encouragement and deliverance; and if we are encouraged, that should encourage you when you have to endure sufferings like those we are experiencing.

7 Moreover, our hope for you remains staunch, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, you will also share in the encouragement.

8 For, brothers, we want you to know about the trials we have undergone in the province of Asia. The burden laid on us was so far beyond what we could bear that we even despaired of living through it.

9 In our hearts we felt we were under sentence of death. However, this was to get us to rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead!

10 He rescued us from such deadly peril, and he will rescue us again! The one in whom we have placed our hope will indeed continue to rescue us.

11 And you must add your help by praying for us; for the more people there are praying, the more people there will be to give thanks when their prayer for us is answered.

12 For we take pride in this: that our conscience assures us that in our dealings with the world, and especially with you, we have conducted ourselves with frankness and godly pureness of motive - not by worldly wisdom but by God-given grace.

13 There are no hidden meanings in our letters other than what you can read and understand; and my hope is that you will understand fully,

14 as indeed you have already understood us in part; so that on the Day of our Lord Yeshua you can be as proud of us as we are of you.

15 So sure was I of this that I had planned to come and see you, so that you might have the benefit of a second visit.

16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, visit you again on my way back from Macedonia, and then have you send me on my way to Y'hudah.

17 Did I make these plans lightly? Or do I make plans the way a worldly man does, ready to say, "Yes, yes," and "No, no," in the same breath?

18 As surely as God is trustworthy, we don't say "Yes" when we mean "No."

19 For the Son of God, the Messiah Yeshua, who was proclaimed among you through us - that is, through me and Sila and Timothy - was not a yes-and-no man; on the contrary, with him it is always "Yes!"

20 For however many promises God has made, they all find their "Yes" in connection with him; that is why it is through him that we say the "Amen" when we give glory to God.

21 Moreover, it is God who sets both us and you in firm union with the Messiah; he has anointed us,

22 put his seal on us, and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee for the future.

23 I call God to witness - he knows what my life is like - that the reason I held back from coming to Corinth was out of consideration for you!

24 We are not trying to dictate how you must live out your trust in the Messiah, for in your trust you are standing firm. Rather, we are working with you for your own happiness.

2 Corinthians 2:1-4

1 So I made up my mind that I would not pay you another painful visit.

2 For if I cause you pain, who is left to make me happy except the people I have pained?

3 Indeed, this is why I wrote as I did - so that when I came, I would not have to be pained by those who ought to be making me happy; for I had enough confidence in all of you to believe that unless I could be happy, none of you could be happy either.

4 I wrote to you with a greatly distressed and anguished heart, and with many tears, not in order to cause you pain, but to get you to realize how very much I love you.

2 Kings 14

1 It was in the second year of Yo'ash son of Y'ho'achaz king of Isra'el that Amatzyah the son of Yo'ash king of Y'hudah began his reign.

2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Y'ho'adan, from Yerushalayim.

3 He did what was right from ADONAI's perspective, although not like David his ancestor; he lived the same way as his father Yo'ash.

4 However, the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and offered on the high places.

5 As soon as he had the kingdom firmly under his control, he put to death the servants of his who had murdered the king his father.

6 But he did not put the children of the murderers to death, because of what is written in the scroll of the Torah of Moshe, as ADONAI ordered when he said, "Fathers are not to be executed for the children, nor are children to be executed for the fathers; every person will be executed for his own sin."

7 He slaughtered 10,000 men of Edom in the Salt Valley and captured Sela in the war, renaming it Yokte'el, as it is today.

8 Then Amatzyah sent messengers to Y'ho'ash the son of Y'ho'achaz, son of Yehu, king of Isra'el, with this challenge: "Come on, let's have it out face-to-face."

9 Y'ho'ash the king of Isra'el sent this reply to Amatzyah king of Y'hudah: "Once, in the L'vanon, the thistle sent a message to the cedar: 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' But a wild animal passed by the thistle and squashed it.

10 True, you have defeated Edom, and now you're ambitious. So enjoy the glory, but stay home! Why provoke calamity, to your own ruin, yours and Y'hudah's too?"

11 But Amatzyah wouldn't listen. So Y'ho'ash king of Isra'el went up; and he and Amatzyah king of Y'hudah had it out face-to-face at Beit-Shemesh, which belongs to Y'hudah.

12 Y'hudah was defeated by Isra'el, and every man fled to his tent.

13 Y'ho'ash king of Isra'el took Amatzyah king of Y'hudah, the son of Y'ho'ash the son of Achazyah, prisoner at Beit-Shemesh. Then he went to Yerushalayim and demolished the wall of Yerushalayim between the Gate of Efrayim and the Corner Gate, a section 600 feet long.

14 He took all the gold and silver, all the articles he could find in the house of ADONAI and in the treasuries of the royal palace, and hostages; then he returned to Shomron.

15 Other activities of Y'ho'ash that he did, his power and how he fought Amatzyah king of Y'hudah are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

16 Y'ho'ash slept with his ancestors and was buried in Shomron with the kings of Isra'el. Then Yarov'am took his place as king.

17 Amatzyah the son of Yo'ash king of Y'hudah lived another fifteen years after the death of Y'ho'ash son of Y'ho'achaz, king of Isra'el.

18 Other activities of Amatzyah are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

19 Because of a conspiracy formed against him in Yerushalayim, Amatzyah fled to Lakhish; but they followed him to Lakhish and killed him there.

20 They brought his body back on horses, and he was buried in Yerushalayim with his ancestors in the City of David.

21 Then all the people of Y'hudah took 'Azaryah at the age of sixteen and made him king in place of his father Amatzyah.

22 'Azaryah recovered Eilat for Y'hudah and rebuilt it; after that the king [Amatzyahu] slept with his ancestors.

23 It was in the fifteenth year of Amatzyah the son of Yo'ash, king of Y'hudah, that Yarov'am the son of Yo'ash, king of Isra'el, began to reign in Shomron; and he ruled for forty-one years.

24 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective; he did not turn from all the sins of Yarov'am the son of N'vat, who made Isra'el sin.

25 He recovered the territory of Isra'el between the entrance of Hamat and the sea of the 'Aravah, in keeping with the word of ADONAI the God of Isra'el, which he spoke through his servant Yonah the son of Amitai, the prophet from Gat-Hefer.

26 For ADONAI saw how bitterly Isra'el had suffered, with no one left, either slave or free, and no one coming to Isra'el's aid.

27 ADONAI did not threaten to blot out the name of Isra'el from under heaven, but saved them through Yarov'am the son of Yo'ash.

28 Other activities of Yarov'am, all his accomplishments, all his power, how he conducted war and how he recovered Dammesek and Hamat for Y'hudah in Isra'el are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

29 Yarov'am slept with his ancestors the kings of Isra'el, and Z'kharyah took his place as king.

Micah 4

1 But in the acharit-hayamim it will come about that the mountain of ADONAI's house will be established as the most important mountain. It will be regarded more highly than the other hills, and peoples will stream there.

2 Many Gentiles will go and say, "Come, let's go up to the mountain of ADONAI, to the house of the God of Ya'akov! He will teach us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah, the word of ADONAI from Yerushalayim.

3 He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for many nations far away. Then they will hammer their swords into plow-blades and their spears into pruning-knives; nations will not raise swords at each other, and they will no longer learn war.

4 Instead, each person will sit under his vine and fig tree, with no one to upset him, for the mouth of ADONAI-Tzva'ot has spoken.

5 For all the peoples will walk, each in the name of its god; but we will walk in the name of ADONAI our God forever and ever.

6 "When that day comes," says ADONAI, "I will assemble the lame and gather those who were dispersed, along with those I afflicted.

7 I will make the lame a remnant and those who were driven off a strong nation." ADONAI will rule them on Mount Tziyon from that time forth and forever.

8 You, tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Tziyon, to you your former sovereignty will return, the royal power of the daughter of Yerushalayim.

9 Why are you now crying out? Don't you have a king? Has your counselor been destroyed, that you are seized with pain like a woman in labor?

10 Be in pain! Work to give birth like a woman in labor, daughter of Tziyon! For now you will go out of the city and live in the wilds till you reach Bavel. There you will be rescued; there ADONAI will redeem you from the power of your enemies.

11 Now many nations have gathered against you; they say, "Let her be defiled, let's gloat over Tziyon."

12 But they don't know the thoughts of ADONAI, they don't understand his plan; for he has gathered them like sheaves on the threshing-floor.

13 Get up! Start threshing, daughter of Tziyon! "For I will make your horns like iron and your hoofs like bronze." You will crush many peoples and devote their plunder to ADONAI, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Micah 5:1

1 Now gather yourself in troops, you who are accustomed to being in troops; they have laid siege to us. They are striking the judge of Isra'el on the cheek with a stick.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 2

2 Corinthians 2:5-3:18; 2 Kings 15-16; Micah 5:2-15 CJB

2 Corinthians 2

5 Now if someone has been a cause of pain, it is not I whom he has pained, but, in some measure - I don't want to overstate it - all of you.

6 For such a person the punishment already imposed on him by the majority is sufficient,

7 so that now you should do the opposite - forgive him, encourage him, comfort him. Otherwise such a person might be swallowed up in overwhelming depression.

8 So I urge you to show that you really do love him.

9 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would pass the test, to see if you would fully obey me.

10 Anyone you forgive, I forgive too. For indeed, whatever I have forgiven, if there has been anything to forgive, has been for your sake in the presence of the Messiah

11 so that we will not be taken advantage of by the Adversary - for we are quite aware of his schemes!

12 Now when I went to Troas to proclaim the Good News of the Messiah, since a door had been opened for me by the Lord,

13 I could not rest, because I failed to find my brother Titus. So I left the people there and went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God, who in the Messiah constantly leads us in a triumphal procession and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of what it means to know him!

15 For to God we are the aroma of the Messiah, both among those being saved and among those being lost;

16 to the latter, we are the smell of death leading only to more death; but to the former, we are the sweet smell of life leading to more life. Who is equal to such a task?

17 For we are not like a lot of folks who go about huckstering God's message for a fee; on the contrary, we speak out of a sincere heart, as people sent by God, standing in God's presence, living in union with the Messiah.

 

2 Corinthians 3

1 Are we starting to recommend ourselves again? Or do we, like some, need letters of recommendation either to you or from you?

2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

3 You make it clear that you are a letter from the Messiah placed in our care, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on human hearts.

4 Such is the confidence we have through the Messiah toward God.

5 It is not that we are competent in ourselves to count anything as having come from us; on the contrary, our competence is from God.

6 He has even made us competent to be workers serving a New Covenant, the essence of which is not a written text but the Spirit. For the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

7 Now if that which worked death, by means of a written text engraved on stone tablets, came with glory - such glory that the people of Isra'el could not stand to look at Moshe's face because of its brightness, even though that brightness was already fading away -

8 won't the working of the Spirit be accompanied by even greater glory?

9 For if there was glory in what worked to declare people guilty, how much more must the glory abound in what works to declare people innocent!

10 In fact, by comparison with this greater glory, what was made glorious before has no glory now.

11 For if there was glory in what faded away, how much more glory must there be in what lasts.

12 Therefore, with a hope like this, we are very open -

13 unlike Moshe, who put a veil over his face, so that the people of Isra'el would not see the fading brightness come to an end.

14 What is more, their minds were made stonelike; for to this day the same veil remains over them when they read the Old Covenant; it has not been unveiled, because only by the Messiah is the veil taken away.

15 Yes, till today, whenever Moshe is read, a veil lies over their heart.

16 "But," says the Torah, "whenever someone turns to ADONAI, the veil is taken away."a

17 Now, "ADONAI" in this text means the Spirit. And where the Spirit of ADONAI is, there is freedom.

18 So all of us, with faces unveiled, see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord; and we are being changed into his very image, from one degree of glory to the next, by ADONAI the Spirit.

2 Kings 15

1 It was in the twenty-seventh year of Yarov'am king of Isra'el that 'Azaryah the son of Amatzyah, king of Y'hudah, began his reign.

2 He was sixteen years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for fifty-two years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Y'kholyahu, from Yerushalayim.

3 He did what was right from ADONAI's perspective, following the example of everything his father Amatzyah had done.

4 However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and offered on the high places.

5 ADONAI struck the king, so that he had tzara'at until his dying day, so that he lived in a separate house, while Yotam the king's son ran the king's household and was regent over the people of the land.

6 Other activities of 'Azaryah and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

7 So 'Azaryah slept with his ancestors the kings of Isra'el, and they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. Then Yotam his son took his place as king.

8 It was in the thirty-eighth year of 'Azaryah king of Y'hudah that Z'kharyah the son of Yarov'am began his reign over Isra'el in Shomron; he ruled for six months.

9 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, just as his ancestors had done; he did not turn from all the sins of Yarov'am the son of N'vat, who made Isra'el sin.

10 Shalum the son of Yavesh formed a conspiracy against him. He struck him in the presence of the people and killed him; then he took his place as king.

11 Other activities of Z'kharyah are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

12 The word of ADONAI which he had spoken to Yehu was, "Your descendants down to the fourth generation will sit on the throne of Isra'el"; and that is exactly what happened.

13 Shalum the son of Yavesh began his reign in the thirty-ninth year of 'Uziyah king of Y'hudah; he ruled in Shomron for only a month.

14 Menachem the son of Gadi went up from Tirtzah, came to Shomron, struck Shalum the son of Yavesh in Shomron and killed him. Then he took his place as king.

15 Other activities of Shalum and the conspiracy he formed are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el

16 From Tirtzah Menachem attacked Tifsach, all the people in it and its territory, because they had not opened their gates to him. So he sacked the city and ripped apart all its pregnant women.

17 It was in the thirty-ninth year of 'Azaryah king of Y'hudah that Menachem the son of Gadi began his reign over Isra'el; he ruled ten years in Shomron.

18 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective; throughout his life he did not turn from the sins of Yarov'am the son of N'vat, who made Isra'el sin.

19 Pul the king of Ashur invaded the land. Menachem gave Pul thirty-three tons of silver, so that he would confirm Menachem's hold on the kingdom.

20 He did this by taxing the wealthy men in Isra'el; from each he required one-and-a-quarter pounds of silver to give to the king of Ashur. Then the king of Ashur turned around and left the land.

21 Other activities of Menachem and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

22 Menachem slept with his ancestors, and P'kachyah his son took his place as king.

23 It was in the fiftieth year of 'Azaryah king of Y'hudah that P'kachyah the son of Menachem began his reign over Isra'el in Shomron; he ruled for two years.

24 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective; he did not turn from the sins of Yarov'am the son of N'vat, who made Isra'el sin.

25 Pekach the son of Remalyahu, one of his commanders, conspired against him. With Argov, Aryeh and fifty men from Gil'ad, he assassinated him in the palace stronghold in Shomron. After killing him, he took his place as king.

26 Other activities of P'kachyah and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

27 It was in the fifty-second year of 'Azaryah king of Y'hudah that Pekach the son of Remalyah began to reign over Isra'el in Shomron; his reign lasted twenty years.

28 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective; he did not turn from the sins of Yarov'am the son of N'vat, who made Isra'el sin.

29 During the time of Pekach king of Isra'el, Tiglat-Pil'eser king of Ashur came and conquered 'Iyon, Avel-Beit-Ma'akhah, Yanoach, Kedesh, Hatzor, Gil'ad, and the Galil - all the land of Naftali - and took them captive to Ashur.

30 Hoshea the son of Elah conspired against Pekach the son of Remalyah, struck him, killed him and took his place as king in the twentieth year of Yotam the son of 'Uziyah.

31 Other activities of Pekach and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el.

32 It was in the second year of Pekach the son of Remalyah, king of Isra'el, that Yotam the son of 'Uziyah king of Y'hudah began his reign.

33 He was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for sixteen years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Yerusha the daughter of Tzadok.

34 He did what was right from ADONAI's perspective, following the example of everything his father 'Uziyah had done.

35 However, the high places were not taken away; and the people still sacrificed and offered on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of ADONAI.

36 Other activities of Yotam and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

37 It was during this period that ADONAI began sending against Y'hudah Retzin the king of Aram and Pekach the son of Remalyah.

38 Yotam slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David his ancestor. Then Achaz his son took his place as king.

2 Kings 16

1 It was in the seventeenth year of Pekach the son of Remalyah that Achaz the son of Yotam king of Y'hudah began his reign.

2 Achaz was twenty years old when he began to rule, and he reigned sixteen years in Yerushalayim. But he did not do what was right from the perspective of ADONAI his God, as David his ancestor had done.

3 Rather, he lived in the manner of the kings of Isra'el; he even made his son pass through fire [as a sacrifice], in keeping with the abominable practices of the pagans, whom ADONAI had thrown out ahead of the people of Isra'el.

4 He also sacrificed and offered on the high places, on the hills and under any green tree.

5 Then Retzin king of Aram and Pekach son of Remalyah, king of Isra'el, came up to fight against Yerushalayim. They put Achaz under siege, but they could not overcome him.

6 It was at that time that Retzin king of Aram recovered Eilat for Aram and drove the Judeans from Eilat; whereupon people from Edom came to Eilat to live, as they do to this day.

7 Then Achaz sent messengers to Tiglat-Pil'eser king of Ashur with this message: "I am your servant and your son. Come up, and save me from the king of Aram and the king of Isra'el, who are attacking me."

8 Achaz took the silver and gold that was in the house of ADONAI and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a present to the king of Ashur.

9 The king of Ashur heeded him- the king of Ashur attacked Dammesek and captured it; then he carried its people captive to Kir and killed Retzin.

10 When King Achaz went to Dammesek to meet Tiglat-Pil'eser king of Ashur and saw the altar that was in Dammesek, he sent a drawing and model of the altar to Uriyah the cohen, with details of its construction and decoration.

11 Then Uriyah the cohen built an altar exactly according to the design King Achaz had sent from Dammesek; Uriyah the cohen had it ready by the time King Achaz returned from Dammesek.

12 When the king arrived from Dammesek he saw the altar, and the king approached the altar and offered on it.

13 He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering and splashed the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.

14 The bronze altar, which was before ADONAI, he brought from in front of the house, from between his own altar and the house of ADONAI, and put it on the north side of his own altar.

15 Then King Achaz instructed Uriyah the cohen as follows: "Henceforth, it is on the large altar that you are to offer the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, together with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering and their drink offerings; and you are to splash all the blood of the burnt offering against it and all the blood of the sacrifice. As for the bronze altar, I will take care of that."

16 Uriyah the cohen acted in accordance with everything King Achaz ordered.

17 King Achaz removed the panels of the trolleys and took the basins off them; he took the Sea off the bronze oxen supporting it and set it on the stone pavement;

18 and, because of the king of Ashur, he removed from the house of ADONAI the colonnade used on Shabbat that had been built for it and the king's entranceway outside it.

19 Other activities of Achaz and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

20 Achaz slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then Hizkiyahu his son took his place as king.

Micah 5

2 But you, Beit-Lechem near Efrat, so small among the clans of Y'hudah, out of you will come forth to me the future ruler of Isra'el, whose origins are far in the past, back in ancient times.

3 Therefore he will give up [Isra'el] only until she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his kinsmen will return to the people of Isra'el.

4 He will stand and feed his flock in the strength of ADONAI, in the majesty of the name of ADONAI his God; and they will stay put, as he grows great to the very ends of the earth;

5 and this will be peace. If Ashur invades our land, if he overruns our fortresses, we will raise seven shepherds against him, eight leaders of men.

6 They will shepherd the land of Ashur with the sword, the land of Nimrod at its gates; and he will rescue us from Ashur when he invades our land, when he overruns our borders.

7 Then the remnant of Ya'akov, surrounded by many peoples, will be like dew from ADONAI, like showers on the grass, which doesn't wait for a man or expect anything from mortals.

8 The remnant of Ya'akov among the nations, surrounded by many peoples, will be like a lion among forest animals, like a young lion among flocks of sheep - if it passes through, tramples and tears to pieces, there is no one to rescue them.

9 Your hand will be raised over your enemies; all your adversaries will be destroyed.

10 "When that day comes," says ADONAI, "I will cut off your horses from among you and destroy your chariots.

11 I will cut off the cities of your land and lay waste your strongholds.

12 I will cut off sorceries from your land; you will no longer have soothsayers.

13 I will cut off your carved images and standing-stones from among you; no longer will you worship what your own hands have made.

14 I will pull up your sacred poles from among you and destroy your enemies.

15 I will wreak vengeance in anger and fury on the nations, because they would not listen."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 3

2 Corinthians 4:1-5:10; 2 Kings 17; Micah 6 CJB

2 Corinthians 4

1 God has shown us such mercy that we do not lose courage as we do the work he has given us.

2 Indeed, we refuse to make use of shameful underhanded methods, employing deception or distorting God's message. On the contrary, by making very clear what the truth is, we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

3 So if indeed our Good News is veiled, it is veiled only to those in the process of being lost.

4 They do not come to trust because the god of the 'olam hazeh has blinded their minds, in order to prevent them from seeing the light shining from the Good News about the glory of the Messiah, who is the image of God.

5 For what we are proclaiming is not ourselves, but the Messiah Yeshua as Lord, with ourselves as slaves for you because of Yeshua.

6 For it is the God who once said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has made his light shine in our hearts, the light of the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of the Messiah Yeshua.

7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it will be evident that such overwhelming power comes from God and not from us.

8 We have all kinds of troubles, but we are not crushed; we are perplexed, yet not in despair;

9 persecuted, yet not abandoned; knocked down, yet not destroyed.

10 We always carry in our bodies the dying of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may be manifested in our bodies too.

11 For we who are alive are always being handed over to death for Yeshua's sake, so that Yeshua's life also might be manifested in our mortal bodies.

12 Thus death is at work in us but life in you.

13 The Tanakh says, "I trusted, therefore I spoke."b Since we have that same Spirit who enables us to trust, we also trust and therefore speak;

14 because we know that he who raised the Lord Yeshua will also raise us with Yeshua and bring us along with you into his presence.

15 All this is for your sakes, so that as grace flows out to more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to overflow and bring glory to God.

16 This is why we do not lose courage. Though our outer self is heading for decay, our inner self is being renewed daily.

17 For our light and transient troubles are achieving for us an everlasting glory whose weight is beyond description.

18 We concentrate not on what is seen but on what is not seen, since things seen are temporary, but things not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

1 We know that when the tent which houses us here on earth is torn down, we have a permanent building from God, a building not made by human hands, to house us in heaven.

2 For in this tent, our earthly body, we groan with desire to have around us the home from heaven that will be ours.

3 With this around us we will not be found naked.

4 Yes, while we are in this body, we groan with the sense of being oppressed: it is not so much that we want to take something off, but rather to put something on over it; so that what must die may be swallowed up by the Life.

5 Moreover, it is God who has prepared us for this very thing, and as a pledge he has given us his Spirit.

6 So we are always confident - we know that so long as we are at home in the body, we are away from our home with the Lord;

7 for we live by trust, not by what we see.

8 We are confident, then, and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and come to our home with the Lord.

9 Therefore, whether at home or away from home, we try our utmost to please him;

10 for we must all appear before the Messiah's court of judgment, where everyone will receive the good or bad consequences of what he did while he was in the body.

2 Kings 17

1 It was in the twelfth year of Achaz king of Y'hudah that Hoshea the son of Elah began his reign over Isra'el in Shomron; he ruled for nine years.

2 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, although he wasn't as bad as the kings of Isra'el who had preceded him.

3 Shalman'eser king of Ashur advanced against Hoshea, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.

4 But the king of Ashur found that Hoshea was conspiring [against him] - he had sent messengers to So the king of Egypt and not paid his tribute to the king of Ashur, as he had previously done every year. For this the king of Ashur imprisoned him, putting him in chains.

5 Then the king of Ashur invaded all the land, advanced on Shomron and put it under siege for three years.

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Ashur captured Shomron. He carried Isra'el away captive to Ashur, resettling them in Halach, in Havor on the Gozan River and in the cities of the Medes.

7 This came about because the people of Isra'el had sinned against ADONAI their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out from under the domination of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They feared other gods

8 and lived by the customs of the nations that ADONAI had expelled ahead of the people of Isra'el and by those of the kings of Isra'el.

9 The people of Isra'el secretly did things that were not right, according to ADONAI their God. They built high places for themselves wherever they lived, from the watchtower to the fortified city.

10 They set up standing-stones and sacred poles for themselves on any high hill and under any green tree.

11 Then they would make offerings on all the high places, like the nations ADONAI had expelled ahead of them, and would do wicked things to provoke the anger of ADONAI;

12 moreover, they served idols, something ADONAI had expressly told them not to do.

13 ADONAI had warned Isra'el and Y'hudah in advance through every prophet and seer, "Turn from your evil ways; and obey my mitzvot and regulations, in accordance with the entire Torah which I ordered your ancestors to keep and which I sent to you through my servants the prophets."

14 Nevertheless, they refused to listen but made themselves as stubborn as their ancestors, who did not put their trust in ADONAI their God.

15 Thus they rejected his laws; his covenant, which he had made with their ancestors; and the solemn warnings he had given them. Instead they pursued worthless things and became worthless themselves, imitating the nations around them, whom ADONAI had ordered them not to emulate.

16 They abandoned all the mitzvot of ADONAI their God. They made cast metal images for themselves, two calves. They made an asherah. They worshipped the whole army of heaven. They served Ba'al.

17 They had their sons and daughters pass through fire [as a sacrifice]. They used divination and magic spells. And they gave themselves over to do what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, thereby provoking him;

18 so that ADONAI, by now very angry with Isra'el, removed them from his sight. None was left except the tribe of Y'hudah alone.

19 (However, neither did Y'hudah obey the mitzvot of ADONAI their God; rather they lived according to the customs of Isra'el.)

20 Yes, ADONAI came to despise all the descendants of Isra'el. He caused them trouble and handed them over to plunderers, until finally he threw them out of his sight.

21 He tore Isra'el away from the house of David. They made Yarov'am the son of N'vat king; and Yarov'am drew Isra'el away from following ADONAI and made them commit a great sin.

22 The people of Isra'el followed the example of all the sins that Yarov'am had committed and did not turn away from them,

23 until ADONAI removed Isra'el out of his sight, as he had said he would through all his servants the prophets. Thus Isra'el was carried away captive from their own land to Ashur, and it remains so to this day.

24 The king of Ashur brought people from Bavel, Kutah, 'Ava, Hamat and S'farvayim and settled them in the cities of Shomron in place of the people of Isra'el; they took possession of Shomron and lived in its cities.

25 When they first came to live there, they did not fear ADONAI. Therefore ADONAI sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

26 So they said to the king of Ashur, "The nations you carried away and settled in the cities of Shomron are not familiar with the rules for worshipping the God of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them; and they are there, killing them; because they're not familiar with the rules for worshipping the God of the land."

27 In response, the king of Ashur gave this order: "Take back one of the cohanim you brought from there. Have him go and live there, and have him teach them the rules for worshipping the God of the land."

28 So one of the cohanim they had carried away captive from Shomron came and lived in Beit-El, and he taught them how they should fear ADONAI.

29 Nevertheless, every nation made gods of their own and put them in the temples on the high places which the Shomronim had made, every nation in the cities where they lived.

30 Thus the people from Bavel made Sukkot-B'not, those from Kutah made Nergal, those from Hamat made Ashima,

31 the 'Avim made Nivchaz and Tartak, and the S'farvim burned up their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adramelekh and 'Anamelekh the gods of S'farvayim.

32 So they feared ADONAI, while at the same time they appointed for themselves priests from among themselves to preside at the high places, and they would sacrifice for them in the temples on the high places.

33 They both feared ADONAI and served their own gods in the manner customary among the nations from which they had been taken away.

34 To this day they continue to follow their former [pagan] customs. They do not fear ADONAI. They do not follow the regulations, rulings, Torah or mitzvah which ADONAI ordered the descendants of Ya'akov, to whom he gave the name Isra'el,

35 with whom ADONAI had made a covenant and charged them, "Do not fear other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.

36 On the contrary, you are to fear ADONAI, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. Worship him, and sacrifice to him.

37 You are to observe forever the laws, rulings, Torah and mitzvah which he wrote for you. You are not to fear other gods,

38 and you are not to forget the covenant I made with you. No, you must not fear other gods

39 but must fear ADONAI your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies."

40 However, they didn't listen, but followed their old [pagan] practices.

41 So these nations mixed fearing ADONAI with serving their carved idols; likewise their children; and to this day, their descendants do the same as their ancestors did.

Micah 6

1 So listen now to what ADONAI says: "Stand up and state your case to the mountains, let the hills hear what you have to say."

2 Listen, mountains, to ADONAI's case; also you enduring rocks that support the earth! ADONAI has a case against his people; he wants to argue it out with Isra'el:

3 "My people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!

4 I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I redeemed you from a life of slavery. I sent Moshe, Aharon and Miryam to lead you.

5 My people, just remember what Balak the king of Mo'av had planned, what Bil'am the son of B'or answered him, [and what happened] between Sheetim and Gilgal - so that you will understand the saving deeds of ADONAI."

6 "With what can I come before ADONAI to bow down before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings? with calves in their first year?

7 Would ADONAI take delight in thousands of rams with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Could I give my firstborn to pay for my crimes, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

8 Human being, you have already been told what is good, what ADONAI demands of you - no more than to act justly, love grace and walk in purity with your God.

9 The voice of ADONAI! He calls to the city - and it is wisdom to fear your name - "Listen to the rod and to him who commissioned it.

10 Are there still ill-gotten gains in the house of the wicked? still the detestable short eifah-measure?

11 Should I declare innocent wicked scales and a bag of fraudulent weights?

12 The rich men there are full of violence, the inhabitants tell lies, with tongues of deceit in their mouths.

13 "Therefore, I am starting to strike you down, to destroy you because of your sins.

14 You will eat but not be satisfied, with hunger gnawing inside you. You will conceive but not give birth; if you do give birth, I will give him to the sword.

15 You will sow but will not reap, you will press olives but not rub yourself with oil, likewise you will press grapes but not drink the wine.

16 For you keep the regulations of 'Omri and all the practices of the house of Ach'av, modeling yourselves on their advice. Therefore I will make you an object of horror, the inhabitants of this city a cause for contempt; you will suffer the insults aimed at my people."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 4

2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13; 2 Kings 18; Micah 7 CJB

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

11 So it is with the fear of the Lord before us that we try to persuade people. Moreover, God knows us as we really are; and I hope that in your consciences you too know us as we really are.

12 We are not recommending ourselves to you again but giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you will be able to answer those who boast about a person's appearance rather than his inner qualities.

13 If we are insane, it is for God's sake; and if we are sane, it is for your sake.

14 For the Messiah's love has hold of us, because we are convinced that one man died on behalf of all mankind (which implies that all mankind was already dead),

15 and that he died on behalf of all in order that those who live should not live any longer for themselves but for the one who on their behalf died and was raised.

16 So from now on, we do not look at anyone from a worldly viewpoint. Even if we once regarded the Messiah from a worldly viewpoint, we do so no longer.

17 Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation - the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new!

18 And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation,

19 which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

20 Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, "Be reconciled to God!

21 God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God's righteousness."

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

1 As God's fellow-workers we also urge you not to receive his grace and then do nothing with it.

2 For he says, "At the acceptable time I heard you; in the day of salvation I helped you."

3 We try not to put obstacles in anyone's path, so that no one can find fault with the work we do.

4 On the contrary, we try to commend ourselves in every way as workers for God by continually enduring troubles, hardships, calamities,

5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, overwork, lack of sleep and food.

6 We commend ourselves by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness; by the Ruach HaKodesh; by genuineness of love

7 and truthfulness of speech; and by God's power. We commend ourselves through our use of righteous weapons, whether for pressing our cause or defending it;

8 through being honored and dishonored, praised and blamed, considered deceptive and sincere,

9 unknown and famous. And we commend ourselves as God's workers headed for death, yet look! we're alive! as punished, yet not killed;

10 as having reason to be sad, yet always filled with joy; as poor, yet making many people rich; as having nothing, yet having everything!

11 Dear friends in Corinth! We have spoken frankly to you, we have opened our hearts wide.

12 Any constraint you feel has not been imposed by us, but by your own inner selves.

13 So, just to be "fair" (I am using the language of children), open wide your hearts too.

2 Kings 18

1 It was in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Isra'el, that Hizkiyahu the son of Achaz, king of Y'hudah, began his reign.

2 He was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Avi the daughter of Z'kharyah.

3 He did what was right from ADONAI's perspective, following the example of everything David his ancestor had done.

4 He removed the high places, smashed the standing-stones, cut down the asherah and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moshe had made; because in those days the people of Isra'el were making offerings to it, calling it N'chushtan.

5 He put his trust in ADONAI the God of Isra'el; after him there was no one like him among all the kings of Y'hudah, nor had there been among those before him.

6 For he clung to ADONAI and did not leave off following him, but obeyed his mitzvot, which ADONAI had given Moshe.

7 So ADONAI was with him. Wherever he went out to battle, he did well. He rebelled against the king of Ashur and refused to be his vassal.

8 He drove the P'lishtim back to 'Azah and laid waste to their territory from the watchtower to the fortified city.

9 It was in the fourth year of King Hizkiyahu, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Isra'el, that Shalman'eser king of Ashur advanced against Shomron and laid siege to it.

10 At the end of three years they captured it - that is, Shomron was captured in the sixth year of Hizkiyahu, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Isra'el.

11 The king of Ashur carried Isra'el away captive to Ashur and settled them in Halach, in Havor on the Gozan River and in the cities of the Medes.

12 This happened because they did not heed the voice of ADONAI their God, but violated his covenant, everything that Moshe the servant of ADONAI had ordered them to do, and would neither hear it nor do it.

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hizkiyahu, Sancheriv king of Ashur advanced against all the fortified cities of Y'hudah and captured them.

14 Hizkiyahu king of Y'hudah sent this message to the king of Ashur at Lakhish: "I have done wrong. If you will go away from me, I will pay whatever penalty you impose on me." The king of Ashur imposed on Hizkiyahu a penalty of ten tons of silver and a ton of gold.

15 Hizkiyahu gave him all the silver that could be found in the house of ADONAI and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

16 It was at that time that Hizkiyahu stripped the gold from the doors of the sanctuary of ADONAI and from the doorposts which Hizkiyahu king of Y'hudah himself had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Ashur.

17 From Lakhish the king of Ashur sent Tartan, Rav-Saris and Rav-Shakeh to King Hizkiyahu in Yerushalayim with a large army. They advanced and came to Yerushalayim. Upon arrival, they came and positioned themselves by the aqueduct from the Upper Pool, which is by the road to the Launderers' Field.

18 They summoned the king, but those answering the call were Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and Yo'ach the son of Asaf the foreign minister.

19 Rav-Shakeh addressed them: "Tell Hizkiyahu: 'Here is what the great king, the king of Ashur, says: "What makes you so confident?

20 Do you think that mere spoken words constitute strategy and strength for battle? In whom, then, are you trusting when you rebel against me like this?

21 Now look! Relying on Egypt is like using a broken stick as a staff - when you lean on it, it Hebrew nachash means "serpent," and n'choshet means "bronze." punctures your hand. That's what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like for anyone who puts his trust in him.

22 But if you tell me, 'We trust in ADONAI our God,' then isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hizkiyahu has removed, telling Y'hudah and Yerushalayim, 'You must worship before this altar in Yerushalayim'?

23 All right, then, make a wager with my lord the king of Ashur: I will give you two thousand horses if you can find enough riders for them.

24 How then can you repulse even one of my master's lowest-ranked army officers? Yet you are relying on Egypt for chariots and riders!

25 Do you think I have come up to this place to destroy it without ADONAI's approval? ADONAI said to me, 'Attack this land, and destroy it'!"'"

26 Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu, Shevnah and Yo'ach said to Rav-Shakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it; don't speak with us in Hebrew while the people on the wall are listening."

27 But Rav-Shakeh answered them, "Did my master send me to deliver my message just to your master and yourselves? Didn't he send me to address the men sitting on the wall, who, like you, are going to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?"

28 Then Rav-Shakeh stood up and, speaking loudly in Hebrew, said: "Hear what the great king, the king of Ashur, says!

29 This is what the king says: 'Don't let Hizkiyahu deceive you, because he won't be able to save you from the power of the king of Ashur.

30 And don't let Hizkiyahu make you trust in ADONAI by saying, "ADONAI will surely save us; this city will not be given over to the king of Ashur."

31 Don't listen to Hizkiyahu.' For this is what the king of Ashur says: 'Make peace with me, surrender to me. Then every one of you can eat from his vine and fig tree and drink the water in his own cistern;

32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land with grain and wine, a land with bread and vineyards, a land with olive trees and honey; so that you can live and not die. So don't listen to Hizkiyahu; he is only deluding you when he says, "ADONAI will save us."

33 Has any god of any nation ever saved his land from the power of the king of Ashur?

34 Where are the gods of Hamat and Arpad? Where are the gods of S'farvayim, Hena and 'Ivah? Did they save Shomron from my power?

35 Where is the god of any country that has saved its country from my power, so that ADONAI might be able to save Yerushalayim from my power?'"

36 But the people kept still and didn't answer him so much as a word; for the king's order was, "Don't answer him."

37 Then Elyakim the son of Hilkiyah, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and Yo'ach the son of Asaf the foreign minister went to Hizkiyahu with their clothes torn and reported to him what Rav-Shakeh had said.

Micah 7

1 Woe to me! for I have become like the leavings of summer fruit, like the gleanings when the vintage is finished - there isn't a cluster worth eating, no early-ripened fig that appeals to me.

2 The godly have been destroyed from the land, there is no one upright among humankind. They all lie in wait for blood, each hunts his brother with a net.

3 Their hands do evil well. The prince makes his request, the judge grants it for a price, and the great man expresses his evil desires - thus they weave it together.

4 The best of them is a briar, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The time of your watchmen - of your punishment - has come; now they will be confused.

5 Don't trust in your neighbor; don't put confidence in a close friend; shut the gates of your mouth even from [your wife], lying there with you in bed.

6 For a son insults his father, a daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a person's enemies are the members of his own household.

7 But as for me, I will look to ADONAI, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

8 Enemies of mine, don't gloat over me! Although I have fallen, I will rise; though I live in the dark, ADONAI is my light.

9 I will endure ADONAI's rage, because I sinned against him; until he pleads my cause and judges in my favor. Then he will bring me out to the light, and I will see his justice.

10 My enemies will see it too, and shame will cover those who said to me, "Where is ADONAI your God?" I will gloat over them, as they are trampled underfoot like mud in the streets.

11 That will be the day for rebuilding your walls, a day for expanding your territory,

12 a day when [your] people will come [back] to you from Ashur and from the cities of Egypt, from Egypt and from as far as the Euphrates River, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

13 The earth will be desolate for those living in it, as a result of their deeds.

14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, who live alone, like a forest in the middle of a fertile pasture. Let them feed in Bashan and Gil'ad, as they did in days of old.

15 "As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them wonders."

16 The nations will see and be put to shame, in spite of all their power. They will cover their mouths with their hands, and their ears will be deafened.

17 They will lick the dust like snakes; they will emerge from their fortresses trembling like reptiles that crawl about on the earth; they will come with fear to ADONAI our God, afraid because of you.

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning the sin and overlooking the crimes of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in grace.

19 He will again have compassion on us, he will subdue our iniquities. You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea.

20 You will show truth to Ya'akov and grace to Avraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors since days of long ago.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 5

2 Corinthians 6:14-7; 2 Kings 19; Nahum 1 CJB

2 Corinthians 6:14-17

14 Do not yoke yourselves together in a team with unbelievers. For how can righteousness and lawlessness be partners? What fellowship does light have with darkness?

15 What harmony can there be between the Messiah and B'liya'al? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

16 What agreement can there be between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God - as God said, "I will house myself in them, . . . and I will walk among you. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

17 Therefore ADONAI says, "'Go out from their midst; separate yourselves; don't even touch what is unclean. Then I myself will receive you. In fact, I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters.' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot."

2 Corinthians 7

1 Therefore, my dear friends, since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything that can defile either body or spirit, and strive to be completely holy, out of reverence for God.

2 Make room for us in your hearts - we haven't wronged anyone, we haven't corrupted anyone, we haven't exploited anyone.

3 I am not saying this to put blame on you, for I have already said that you have a place in our hearts, whether we live together or die together;

4 that I am very confident in you; that I am very proud of you; that you have filled me with encouragement; and that in spite of all our troubles, I am overflowing with joy.

5 For indeed when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. On the contrary, we faced all kinds of troubles - altercations without, apprehensions within.

6 But God, who encourages the downhearted, encouraged us with the arrival of Titus!

7 However, it was not only his arrival which encouraged us, but also how encouraged he was about you, as he told us how you long to see me, how distressed you are over my situation, how zealous you are in my defense-this news made me even happier!

8 If I caused you pain by my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did regret it before - for I do see that that letter did distress you, though only for a short time -

9 now I rejoice not because you were pained, but because the pain led you to turn back to God. For you handled the pain in God's way, so that you were not harmed by us at all.

10 Pain handled in God's way produces a turning from sin to God which leads to salvation, and there is nothing to regret in that! But pain handled in the world's way produces only death.

11 For just look at what handling the pain God's way produced in you! What earnest diligence, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what readiness to put things right! In everything you have proved yourselves blameless in the matter.

12 So even though I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of either the one who did the wrong or the one wronged, but so that before God you could see for yourselves how deep is your devotion to us.

13 This is the reason we have been encouraged. Besides our own encouragement, we had the even greater joy of seeing how happy Titus was, because all of you set his mind at rest.

14 For I had boasted somewhat about you to him, and now I have not been made to look foolish. On the contrary, just as everything we have said to you is true, so too our boasting in front of Titus has proved true.

15 And his affection for you is all the greater as he remembers how ready you were to obey and how you received him with reverence and respect.

16 I am glad that I can have such complete confidence in you.

2 Kings 19

1 On hearing it, King Hizkiyahu tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of ADONAI.

2 He sent Elyakim, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and the leading cohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Yesha'yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz.

3 They said to him, "This is what Hizkiyahu says: 'Today is a day of trouble, rebuke and disgrace. Children are ready to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth.

4 Maybe ADONAI your God will hear all the words of Rav-Shakeh, whom his master the king of Ashur has sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke the message which ADONAI your God has heard. So pray for the remnant that is left."

5 When King Hizkiyahu's servants came to Yesha'yahu,

6 he said to them, "Tell your master that this is what ADONAI says: 'Don't be afraid of the words you heard the servants of the king of Ashur use to insult me.

7 I will put a spirit in him that will make him hear a rumor and return to his own land; then I will cause him to die by the sword in his own land.'"

8 Rav-Shakeh returned and, having heard that the king of Ashur had left Lakhish, found him making war with Livnah.

9 Then, on hearing it said that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia was on his way to fight him, the king of Ashur sent messengers to Hizkiyahu, telling them,

10 "This is what you are to say to Hizkiyahu king of Y'hudah: 'Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, "Yerushalayim will not be handed over to the power of the king of Ashur."

11 You have heard what the kings of Ashur have done to all lands - they have completely destroyed them. So how will you be delivered?

12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them? No, my ancestors destroyed them - Gozan, Haran, Retzef and the people of 'Eden who were in Tel'asar.

13 Where is the king of Hamat? the king of Arpad? the king of the city of S'farvayim, of Hena and 'Ivah?'"

14 Hizkiyahu took the letter from the messengers' hands and read it. Then Hizkiyahu went up to the house of ADONAI and spread it out before ADONAI.

15 Hizkiyahu prayed as follows in the presence of ADONAI: "ADONAI God of Isra'el, who dwells above the k'ruvim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth.

16 Turn your ear, ADONAI, and hear! Open your eyes, ADONAI, and see! Hear the words that Sancheriv sent to taunt the living God.

17 It is true, ADONAI, that the kings of Ashur have laid waste the nations and their lands

18 and have thrown their gods into the fire. For those were non-gods, merely the product of people's hands, wood and stone; this is why they could destroy them.

19 Now therefore, ADONAI our God, please save us from his power - so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you are ADONAI, God - you only."

20 Then Yesha'yahu the son of Amotz sent this message to Hizkiyahu: "ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'You prayed to me against Sancheriv king of Ashur, and I have heard you.'

21 Here is ADONAI's answer concerning him: 'The virgin daughter of Tziyon despises you; she laughs you to scorn. The daughter of Yerushalayim shakes her head at you.

22 Whom have you taunted and insulted? Against whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted your eyes? The Holy One of Isra'el!

23 "'Through your messengers you taunted Adonai. You said, "With my many chariots I have ascended the mountain heights even in the far reaches of the L'vanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its best cypresses. I reached its remotest corners and its best forests.

24 I dug [wells] in foreign lands, and I drank the water. The soles of my [soldiers'] feet dried up all the rivers of Egypt."

25 "'Haven't you heard? Long ago I made it; in antiquity I produced it; and now I am making it happen: you are turning fortified cities into heaps of ruins;

26 while their inhabitants, shorn of power, are disheartened and ashamed, weak as grass, frail as plants, like grass on the rooftops or grain scorched by the east wind.

27 "'But I know when you sit, when you leave, when you enter - and when you rage against me.

28 And because of your rage against me, because of your pride that has reached my ears, I am putting my hook in your nose and my bridle on your lips; and I will make you return by the way on which you came.

29 "'This will be the sign for you: this year, you will eat the grain that grows of itself; the second year, you will eat what grows from that; but in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

30 "'Meanwhile, the remnant of the house of Y'hudah that has escaped will again take root downward and bear fruit upward;

31 for a remnant will go out from Yerushalayim, those escaping will go out from Mount Tziyon. The zeal of ADONAI-Tzva'ot will accomplish this.'

32 "Therefore this is what ADONAI says concerning the king of Ashur: 'He will not come to this city or even shoot an arrow there; he will not confront it with a shield or erect earthworks against it.

33 By the way he came he will return; he will not come to this city,' says ADONAI.

34 'For I will defend this city and save it, both for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.'"

35 That night the angel of ADONAI went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of Ashur. Early the next morning, there they were, all of them, corpses - dead.

36 So Sancheriv king of Ashur left, went and returned to live in Ninveh.

37 One day, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisrokh his god, [his sons] Adramelekh and Shar'etzer struck him with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. So his son Esar-Hadon took his place as king.

Nahum 1

1 This is a prophecy about Ninveh, the book of the vision of Nachum the Elkoshi:

2 ADONAI is a jealous and vengeful God. ADONAI avenges; he knows how to be angry. ADONAI takes vengeance on his foes and stores up wrath for his enemies.

3 ADONAI is slow to anger, but great in power; and he does not leave the guilty unpunished. ADONAI's path is in the whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4 He rebukes the sea and leaves it dry, he dries up all the rivers. Bashan and the Karmel languish; the flower of the L'vanon withers.

5 The mountains quake before him, and the hills dissolve; the earth collapses in his presence, the world and everyone living in it.

6 Who can withstand his fury? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, the rocks broken to pieces before him.

7 ADONAI is good, a stronghold in time of trouble; he takes care of those who take refuge in him.

8 But with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of [Ninveh's] place, and darkness will pursue his enemies.

9 What are you planning against ADONAI? He is making an end [of it]; trouble will not arise a second time.

10 For like men drunk with liquor, they will be burned up like tangled thorns, like straw completely dry.

11 Out of you, [Ninveh,] he came, one who plots evil against ADONAI, who counsels wickedness.

12 Here is what ADONAI says: "Though they be many and strong, they will be cut down, they will pass; and though I have made you suffer, I will make you suffer no more.

13 Now I will break his yoke from your necks and snap the chains that bind you.

14 ADONAI gave this order concerning you: you will have no descendants to bear your name; from the house of your god I will cut off carved image and cast metal image; I will prepare your grave, because you are worthless."

15 Look! On the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, proclaiming shalom. Keep your festivals, Y'hudah, fulfill your vows; for B'liya'al will never pass through you again; he has been completely destroyed.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 6

2 Corinthians 8; 2 Kings 20-21; Nahum 2 CJB

2 Corinthians 8

1 Now, brothers, we must tell you about the grace God has given the congregations in Macedonia.

2 Despite severe trials, and even though they are desperately poor, their joy has overflowed in a wealth of generosity.

3 I tell you they have not merely given according to their means, but of their own free will they have given beyond their means.

4 They begged and pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service for God's people.

5 Also, they didn't do this in the way we had expected, but first they gave themselves to the Lord, which means, by God's will, to us.

6 All this has led us to urge Titus to bring this same gracious gift to completion among you, since he has already made a beginning of it.

7 Just as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in diligence of every kind, and in your love for us - see that you excel in this gift too.

8 I am not issuing an order; rather, I am testing the genuineness of your love against the diligence of others.

9 For you know how generous our Lord Yeshua the Messiah was - for your sakes he impoverished himself, even though he was rich, so that he might make you rich by means of his poverty.

10 As I say, in regard to this matter I am only giving an opinion. A year ago you were not only the first to take action but the first to want to do so. Now it would be to your advantage

11 to finish what you started, so that your eagerness in wanting to commence the project may be matched by your eagerness to complete it, as you contribute from what you have.

12 For if the eagerness to give is there, the acceptability of the gift will be measured by what you have, not by what you don't have.

13 It is not that relief for others should cause trouble for you, but that there should be a kind of reciprocity:

14 at present your abundance can help those in need; so that when you are in need, their abundance can help you - thus there is reciprocity.

15 It is as the Tanakh says, "He who gathered much had nothing extra, and he who gathered little had nothing lacking."

16 Now I thank God for making Titus as devoted to you as we are;

17 for he not only responded to our urging, but, being so devoted, he is coming to you on his own initiative.

18 And with him we are sending the brother whose work for the Good News is praised in all the congregations;

19 not only that, he has also been appointed by the congregations to travel with us, so that the way we administer this charitable work will bring honor to the Lord and show our eagerness to help.

20 Our aim in this is to show that our conduct in dealing with these substantial sums is above reproach;

21 for we take pains to do what is right not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of other people. i

22 With these two we are sending another brother of ours, one whose diligence we have tested many times in many ways, but who is now all the more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

23 As for Titus, he is my partner who works with me on your behalf; and the other brothers with him are emissaries of the congregations and bring honor to the Messiah.

24 So the love you show these men will justify our pride in you to them, and through them to the congregations that sent them.

2 Kings 20

1 Around this time, Hizkiyahu became ill to the point of death. Yesha'yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz, came and said to him, "Here is what ADONAI says: 'Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not live.'"

2 Hizkiyahu turned his face toward the wall and prayed to ADONAI:

3 "I plead with you, ADONAI, remember now how I have lived before you truly and wholeheartedly, and how I have done what you see as good." And he cried bitter tears.

4 Before Yesha'yahu had left the city's middle courtyard, the word of ADONAI came to him:

5 "Go back, and tell Hizkiyahu the prince of my people, that this is what ADONAI, the God of David your ancestor, says: 'I have heard your prayer and seen your tears, and I will heal you. On the third day, you are to go up to the house of ADONAI.

6 I will add fifteen years to your life. Also I will rescue you and this city from the power of the king of Ashur; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.'"

7 Then Yesha'yahu said, "Prepare a fig-plaster." They brought it and laid it on the inflammation, so that he would recover.

8 Hizkiyahu said to Yesha'yahu, "What sign will there be that ADONAI will heal me and that I will be able to go up to the house of ADONAI on the third day?"

9 Yesha'yahu said, "Here is the sign for you from ADONAI that ADONAI will do what he said: do you want the shadow [of the sundial] to go forward ten intervals or backward ten intervals?

10 Hizkiyahu answered, "It's easy for the shadow to go down ten intervals. No, let the shadow return backward ten intervals."

11 Yesha'yahu called out to ADONAI, and he brought the shadow on the sundial of Achaz ten intervals backward after it had gone down that far.

12 B'rodakh-Bal'adan the son of Bal'adan, king of Bavel, heard that Hizkiyahu had been ill, so he sent a letter and a gift to him.

13 Hizkiyahu listened to [the messengers] and showed them the building where he kept his treasures, including the silver, gold, spices and precious oils; also the building where he kept his armor; and everything in his treasury - there was nothing in his palace or in his entire domain that Hizkiyahu did not show them.

14 Then Yesha'yahu the prophet came to King Hizkiyahu and asked him, "What did these men say? Where did they come from?" Hizkiyahu answered, "They came from a distant country, Bavel."

15 Yesha'yahu asked, "What have they seen in your palace?" "They have seen everything in my palace," said Hizkiyahu. "There isn't a thing among my treasures that I haven't shown them."

16 Yesha'yahu said to Hizkiyahu, "Hear what ADONAI says:

17 'The day will come when everything in your palace, along with everything your ancestors stored up until today, will be carried off to Bavel. Nothing will be left,' says ADONAI.

18 'They will carry off some of your descendants, your own offspring; and they will be made eunuchs serving in the palace of the king of Bavel.'"

19 Hizkiyahu said to Yesha'yahu, "The word of ADONAI which you have just told me is good." He thought, "Isn't it, though, if peace and truth continue at least through my lifetime?"

20 Other activities of Hizkiyahu, his power and how he built the pool and aqueduct to bring water into the city are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

21 Then Hizkiyahu slept with his ancestors, and M'nasheh his son took his place as king.

2 Kings 21

1 M'nasheh was twelve years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for fifty-five years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Heftzibah.

2 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, following the disgusting practices of the nations whom ADONAI had expelled ahead of the people of Isra'el.

3 For he rebuilt the high places Hizkiyahu his father had destroyed; he erected altars for Ba'al and made an asherah, as had Ach'av king of Isra'el; and he worshipped all the army of heaven and served them.

4 He erected altars in the house of ADONAI, about which ADONAI had said, "In Yerushalayim I will put my name."

5 He erected altars for all the army of heaven in the two courtyards of the house of ADONAI.

6 He made his son pass through the fire [as a sacrifice]. He practiced soothsaying and divination and appointed mediums and persons who used spirit guides. He did much that was evil from ADONAI's perspective, thus provoking him to anger.

7 He set the carved image for the asherah he had made in the house concerning which ADONAI had told David and Shlomo his son, "In this house and in Yerushalayim, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Isra'el, I will put my name forever.

8 Also I will not have the feet of Isra'el wander any longer out of the land which I gave their ancestors - if only they will take heed to obey every order I have given them and live in accordance with all the Torah that my servant Moshe ordered them to obey."

9 But they did not take heed; and M'nasheh misled them into doing even worse things than the nations ADONAI had destroyed ahead of the people of Isra'el.

10 ADONAI spoke this message through his servants the prophets:

11 "Because M'nasheh king of Y'hudah has done these disgusting things; because he has done things more wicked than anything the Emori, who were there before him, did; also because with his idols he made Y'hudah sin;

12 therefore here is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el, says: 'I am going to bring such calamity on Yerushalayim and Y'hudah that the ears of all who hear of it will tingle.

13 I will measure Yerushalayim with the same measuring cord that I used over Shomron, the same plumbline as for the house of Ach'av. I will scour Yerushalayim clean just as one scours a plate, scouring it and then turning it upside down.

14 I will abandon the remnant of my heritage, delivering them into the power of their enemies - they will become prey and plunder for all their enemies;

15 because they have done what is evil from my perspective and have provoked me to anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt to this very day.'"

16 Moreover, M'nasheh shed so much innocent blood that he flooded Yerushalayim from one end to the other - this in addition to his sin through which he caused Y'hudah to sin by doing what is evil from ADONAI's perspective.

17 Other activities of M'nasheh, all his accomplishments and the sin he committed are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

18 Then M'nasheh slept with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own house, the Garden of 'Uza; and Amon his son took his place as king.

19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for two years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Meshulemet the daughter of Harutz from Yotvah.

20 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, as had M'nasheh his father.

21 He followed entirely the manner of life of his father, serving the idols that his father served and worshipping them.

22 He abandoned ADONAI, the God of his ancestors, and did not live in ADONAI's way.

23 Amon's servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own palace.

24 But the people of the land put to death all those who had been part of the conspiracy against King Amon. Then the people of the land made Yoshiyahu his son king in place of him.

25 Other activities of Amon and all he acomplished are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

26 Amon was buried in his tomb in the Garden of Uza, and Yoshiyahu his son took his place as king.

Nahum 2

1 A destroyer has risen in front of your face; guard the ramparts, keep watch on the road, brace yourselves, marshall all your strength.

2 For ADONAI is restoring the pride of Ya'akov, along with the pride of Isra'el; because plunderers have plundered them and ravaged their vines.

3 The shields of [Ninveh's] warriors are [dyed] red; the soldiers are wearing scarlet. The steel of the chariots flashes like fire as they prepare for battle. The cypress [spears] are poisoned.

4 The chariots rush madly about in the streets, jostling each other in the open places; their appearance is like torches, they run here and there like lightning.

5 [The king of Ninveh] assigns his officers; they stumble as they march; they hurry to its wall and set up shields to protect the battering ram.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melts away.

7 Its mistress is stripped and carried away; her handmaids moan, they sound like doves, as they beat their breasts.

8 Ninveh is like a pool whose water ebbs away. "Stop! Stop!" But none of it goes back.

9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to the treasure, weighed down with precious things.

10 She is void, vacant; she is made bare. Hearts are melting, knees are knocking; every stomach is churning, every face is drained of color.

11 What has become of the lion's den, the cave where the young lions fed, where lion and lioness walked with their cubs, and no one made them afraid?

12 The lion would tear up food for his cubs and strangle prey for his lionesses; he used to fill his caves with prey, his lairs with torn flesh.

13 "I am against you," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "Her chariots I will send up in smoke, the sword will consume your lion cubs, I will destroy your prey from the earth, and your envoys' voices will be heard no more."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 7

2 Corinthians 9; 2 Kings 22-23; Nahum 3 CJB

2 Corinthians 9

1 There is really no need for me to write you about this offering for God's people -

2 I know how eager you are, and I boast about you to the Macedonians. I tell them, "Achaia has been ready since last year," and it was your zeal that stirred up most of them.

3 But now I am sending the brothers so that our boast about you in this regard will not prove hollow, so that you will be ready, as I said you would be.

4 For if some Macedonians were to come with me and find you unprepared, we would be humiliated at having been so confident - to say nothing of how you would feel.

5 So I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go on to you ahead of me and prepare your promised gift in plenty of time; this way it will be ready when I come and will be a genuine gift, not something extracted by pressure.

6 Here's the point: he who plants sparingly also harvests sparingly.

7 Each should give according to what he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

8 Moreover, God has the power to provide you with every gracious gift in abundance, so that always in every way you will have all you need yourselves and be able to provide abundantly for every good cause -

9 as the Tanakh says, "He gave generously to the poor; his tzedakah lasts forever."

10 He who provides both seed for the planter and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your tzedakah.

11 You will be enriched in every way, so that you can be generous in everything. And through us your generosity will cause people to thank God,

12 because rendering this holy service not only provides for the needs of God's people, but it also overflows in the many thanks people will be giving to God.

13 In offering this service you prove to these people that you glorify God by actually doing what your acknowledgement of the Good News of the Messiah requires, namely, sharing generously with them and with everyone.

14 And in their prayers for you they will feel a strong affection for you because of how gracious God has been to you.

15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

2 Kings 22

1 Yoshiyahu was eight years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for thirty-one years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Y'didah the daughter of 'Adayah from Botzkat.

2 He did what was right from ADONAI's perspective, living entirely in the manner of David his ancestor and turning away neither to the right nor to the left.

3 In the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu, the king sent Shafan the son of Atzalyahu, the son of Meshulam, the secretary, to the house of ADONAI after instructing him,

4 "Go up to Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol, and have him total the money that has been brought into the house of ADONAI, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.

5 Then have them give it to the supervisors of the work being done in the house of ADONAI; they in turn are to use it to pay the laborers in the house of ADONAI to repair damaged places in the building -

6 the carpenters, construction-workers and stonemasons - and to purchase timber and worked stone for doing the repairs on the building."

7 However, they did not require an accounting from the supervisors given the money to spend, because they dealt honestly.

8 Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol said to Shafan the secretary, "I have found the scroll of the Torah in the house of ADONAI." Hilkiyah gave the scroll to Shafan, who read it.

9 Then Shafan the secretary went back to the king and gave the king this report: "Your servants have poured out the money found in the house and handed it over to the people supervising the work in the house of ADONAI."

10 Shafan the secretary also told the king, "Hilkiyah the cohen hagadol gave me a scroll." Then Shafan read it aloud before the king.

11 After the king had heard what was written in the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes.

12 Then the king issued this order to Hilkiyah the cohen, Achikam the son of Shafan, 'Akhbor the son of Mikhayah, Shafan the secretary and 'Asayah the king's servant:

13 "Go; and consult ADONAI for me, for the people and for all Y'hudah in regard to what is written in this scroll which has been found. For ADONAI must be furious at us, since our ancestors did not listen to the words written in this scroll and didn't do everything written there that concerns us."

14 So Hilkiyahu the cohen, Achikam, Akhbor, Shafan and 'Asayah went to Huldah the prophet, the wife of Shalum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harchas, keeper of the wardrobe - she lived in the Second Quarter of Yerushalayim - and spoke with her.

15 She told them, "ADONAI the God of Isra'el says to tell the man who sent you to me

16 that ADONAI says this: 'I am going to bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, every word in the scroll the king of Y'hudah has read;

17 because they have abandoned me and offered to other gods, in order to provoke me with everything they do. Therefore my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.'

18 But you are to tell the king of Y'hudah, who sent you to consult ADONAI, that ADONAI the God of Isra'el also says this: 'In regard to the words you have heard,

19 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before ADONAI when you heard what I said against this place and its inhabitants - that they would become an object of astonishment and cursing - and have torn your clothes and cried before me, I have also heard you, says ADONAI.

20 Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, you will go to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the calamity I am going to bring on this place.'" So they brought word back to the king.

2 Kings 23

1 Then the king summoned all the leaders of Y'hudah and Yerushalayim, and they assembled with him.

2 The king went up to the house of ADONAI with all the men of Y'hudah, all those living in Yerushalayim, the cohanim, the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing everything written in the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the house of ADONAI.

3 The king stood on the platform and made a covenant in the presence of ADONAI to live following ADONAI, observing his mitzvot, instructions and regulations wholeheartedly and with all his being, so as to confirm the words of the covenant written in this scroll. All the people stood, pledging themselves to keep the covenant.

4 Then the king ordered Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol, the cohanim of the second rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the sanctuary of ADONAI all the articles that had been made for Ba'al, for the asherah and for the entire army of heaven; and he burned them up outside Yerushalayim in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Beit-El

5 He deposed the idolatrous priests the kings of Y'hudah had ordained to offer on the high places by the cities of Y'hudah and in the places surrounding Yerushalayim; he also deposed those who offered to Ba'al, the sun, the moon, the constellations and the whole army of heaven.

6 He took the asherah from the house of ADONAI to Vadi Kidron outside Yerushalayim and burned it in Vadi Kidron, stamped the ashes to powder and threw the powder onto the burial-ground for the common people.

7 He smashed the houses of the cult prostitutes that were in the house of ADONAI, where the women also wove garments for the asherah.

8 He removed the cohanim from the cities of Y'hudah; then, from Geva to Be'er-Sheva, he desecrated the high places where the cohanim had been making offerings. He also smashed the High Places of the Gates that were at the entrance of the Gate of Y'hoshua the governor of the city, on the left as one enters the city.

9 But although the cohanim who had been at the high places did not come up to the altar of ADONAI in Yerushalayim, nevertheless they did share matzah with their kinsmen.

10 He desecrated the Tofet fire pit in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, so that no one could cause his son or daughter to pass through fire [as a sacrifice] to Molekh.

11 He confiscated the horses which the kings of Y'hudah had given to the sun, at the entrance to the house of ADONAI near the room of the officer N'tan-Melekh, in the side-courtyard; and he burned up the chariots of the sun.

12 The king smashed the altars on the roof of the upper room of Achaz, which the kings of Y'hudah had made, and the altars which M'nasheh had made in the two courtyards of the house of ADONAI. He broke them into pieces and threw the rubble into Vadi Kidron.

13 The king desecrated the high places facing Yerushalayim south of the Mount of Destruction, which Shlomo the king of Isra'el had built for 'Ashtoret the abomination of the Tzidonim, K'mosh the abomination of Mo'av and Milkom the abomination of the people of 'Amon.

14 He smashed the standing-stones, chopped down the sacred poles and covered their remains with human bones

15 He smashed the altar that was at Beit-El and the high place made by Yarov'am the son of N'vat, who caused Isra'el to sin. Yes, he smashed that altar and the high place; he burned the high place, stamped the ashes to powder, and burned up the asherah.

16 Then, as Yoshiyahu was turning around, he noticed the burial caves that were there on the mountain; so he sent and had the bones taken out of the burial caves and burned them on the altar, thus desecrating it, in keeping with the word of ADONAI which the man of God had proclaimed, foretelling that these things would happen.

17 Then he asked, "This monument here that I'm looking at, what is it?" The men of the city told him, "It marks the burial cave of the man of God who came from Y'hudah and foretold the very things you have done to the altar of Beit-El."

18 He replied, "Let him be; no one is to move his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Shomron.

19 Yoshiyahu also removed all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Shomron, which the kings of Isra'el had made in order to provoke [ADONAI] to anger, and treated them the same as in Beit-El

20 He put to death all the priests of those high places on the altars there, then burned human bones on them. Finally he returned to Yerushalayim.

21 The king issued this order to all the people: "Observe Pesach to ADONAI your God, as written in this scroll of the covenant.

22 For Pesach had not been so observed since the days when the judges ruled Isra'el - not during the times of any of the kings of Isra'el or of the kings of Y'hudah.

23 But in the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu this Pesach was observed to ADONAI in Yerushalayim.

24 Yoshiyahu got rid of the mediums and the people using spirit guides, as well as the household gods, the idols and all the disgusting things spotted anywhere in Y'hudah and Yerushalayim. He did this in order to establish the words of the Torah written in the scroll Hilkiyahu the cohen had found in the house of ADONAI.

25 No previous king was like him; because he turned to ADONAI with all his heart, with all his being and with all his power, in accordance with all the Torah of Moshe; nor did any king like him arise afterwards.

26 Nevertheless, ADONAI did not turn away from his fiercely raging, furious anger that burned against Y'hudah because of all the things M'nasheh had done to provoke him.

27 ADONAI said, "Just as I removed Isra'el, I will also remove Y'hudah out of my sight; and I will reject this city, which I chose, Yerushalayim, and the house concerning which I said, 'My name will be there.'"

28 Other activities of Yoshiyahu and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

29 During his time Pharaoh N'khoh king of Egypt went up toward the Euphrates River to attack the king of Ashur. King Yoshiyahu went out to oppose him; but at Megiddo, Pharaoh spotted Yoshiyahu and killed him.

30 His servants carried his dead body from Megiddo to Yerushalayim in a chariot and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Y'ho'achaz the son of Yoshiyahu, anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.

31 Y'ho'achaz was twenty-three years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for three months in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu from Livnah.

32 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, following the example of everything his ancestors had done.

33 Pharaoh N'khoh imprisoned him at Rivlah in the land of Hamat, so that he would not be able to rule in Yerushalayim. He also imposed a penalty on the land of three-and-a-quarter tons of silver and sixty-six pounds of gold.

34 Then Pharaoh N'khoh made Elyakim the son of Yoshiyahu king in place of Yoshiyahu his father and changed his name to Y'hoyakim. He also carried Y'ho'achaz off to Egypt, where he died.

35 Y'hoyakim remitted the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but in order to pay the money Pharaoh demanded, he had to levy a tax on the land. He taxed the people of the land, each according to his means, to pay the silver and gold to Pharaoh N'khoh.

36 Y'hoyakim was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Z'vudah the daughter of P'dayah, from Rumah

37 He did what was evil from the perspective of ADONAI, following the example of everything his ancestors had done.

Nahum 3

1 Woe to the city of blood, steeped in lies, full of prey, with no end to the plunder!

2 The crack of the whip! The rattle of wheels! Galloping horses, jolting chariots,

3 cavalry charging, swords flashing, spears glittering - and hosts of slain, heaps of bodies; there is no end to the corpses; they stumble over their corpses.

4 "Because of the continual whoring of this whore, this alluring mistress of sorcery, who sells nations with her whoring and families with her sorcery;

5 I am against you," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "I will uncover your skirts on your face; I will show the nations your private parts and the kingdoms your shame.

6 I will pelt you with disgusting filth, disgrace you and make a spectacle of you.

7 Then all who see you will recoil from you; they will say, 'Ninveh is destroyed!' Who will mourn for her? Where can I find people to comfort you?"

8 Are you any better than No-Amon, located among the streams of the Nile, with water all around her, the flood her wall of defense?

9 Ethiopia and Egypt gave her boundless strength, Put and Luvim were there to help you.

10 Still she went captive into exile, her infants torn to pieces at every streetcorner. Lots were drawn for her nobles, and all her great men were bound in chains.

11 You too, [Ninveh,] will be drunk; your senses completely overcome. You too will seek a refuge from the enemy.

12 All your fortifications will be like fig trees with early ripening figs; the moment they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Look at your troops! They behave like women! Your country's gates are wide open to your foes; fire has consumed their bars.

14 Draw water for the siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go down in the clay, tread the mortar, Take hold of the mold for bricks!

15 There the fire will burn you up; and the sword will cut you down; it will devour you like grasshoppers. Make yourselves as many as grasshoppers, Make yourselves as many as locusts!

16 You had more merchants than stars in the sky. The locust sheds its skin and flies away.

17 Your guards are like grasshoppers, your marshals like swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun rises they fly away; they vanish to no one knows where.

18 Your shepherds are slumbering, king of Ashur. Your leaders are asleep. Your people are scattered all over the mountains, with no one to round them up.

19 Your wound cannot be healed. Your injury is fatal. Everyone hearing the news about you claps his hands in joy over you. For who has not been overwhelmed by your relentless cruelty?

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 8

2 Corinthians 10; 2 Kings 24; Habakkuk 1 CJB

2 Corinthians 10

1 Now it is I myself, Sha'ul, making an appeal to you with the meekness and forbearance that come from the Messiah, I who am considered timid when face-to-face with you but intimidating from a distance.

2 But I beg you not to force me to be intimidating when I am with you, as I expect to be toward some who regard us as living in a worldly way.

3 For although we do live in the world, we do not wage war in a worldly way;

4 because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary, they have God's power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments

5 and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey the Messiah.

6 And when you have become completely obedient, then we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience.

7 You are looking at the surface of things. If anyone is convinced that he belongs to the Messiah, he should remind himself that we belong to the Messiah as much as he does.

8 For even if I boast a little too much about the authority the Lord has given us - authority to build you up, not tear you down - I am not ashamed.

9 My object is not to seem as if I were trying to frighten you with these letters.

10 Someone says, "His letters are weighty and powerful, but when he appears in person he is weak, and as a speaker he is nothing."

11 Such a person should realize that what we say in our letters when absent, we will do when present.

12 We don't dare class or compare ourselves with some of the people who advertise themselves. In measuring themselves against each other and comparing themselves with each other, they are simply stupid.

13 We will not boast about what lies outside the area of work which God has given us; rather, we will boast within our assigned area, and that area does reach as far as you.

14 We are not overextending our boasting as if we had not reached as far as you; for we did come all the way to you with the Good News of the Messiah.

15 We do not boast about the area in which others labor; but our hope is that as your trust grows, we will be magnified in your midst in relation to our own area of work, so that we can go on to do even more,

16 namely, to proclaim the Good News in regions beyond you. Our hope is not to boast about the work already done by someone else.

17 So, let anyone who wants to boast, boast about ADONAI;l

18 because it is not the one who recommends himself who is worthy of approval, but the one whom the Lord recommends.

2 Kings 24

 

1 It was in Y'hoyakim's time that N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel invaded. Y'hoyakim became his vassal for three years, but then he turned against him and rebelled.

2 ADONAI sent against him raiding parties from the Kasdim, Aram, Mo'av and the people of 'Amon; he sent them against Y'hudah to destroy it, in keeping with the word of ADONAI which he had spoken through his servants the prophets.

3 Yes, it was at ADONAI's order that this happened to Y'hudah, in order to remove them from his sight because of the sins of M'nasheh and all he had done,

4 and also because of the innocent blood he had shed - for he had flooded Yerushalayim with innocent blood, and ADONAI was unwilling to forgive.

5 Other activities of Y'hoyakim and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

6 Then Y'hoyakim slept with his ancestors, and Y'hoyakhin his son took his place as king.

7 The king of Egypt did not leave his own land any more, because the king of Bavel had captured all the territory of the king of Egypt between the Vadi of Egypt and the Euphrates River.

8 Y'hoyakhin was eighteen years old when he began his reign, and he ruled in Yerushalayim for three months. His mother's name was N'chushta the daughter of Elnatan, from Yerushalayim.

9 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, following the example of everything his father had done.

10 It was then that the officers of N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel marched on Yerushalayim and laid siege to the city.

11 N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel himself went to the city while it was under siege;

12 and Y'hoyakhin king of Y'hudah went out to meet the king of Bavel - he, his mother, and his servants, princes and officers; and the king of Bavel took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.

13 He also carried away from there all the treasures in the house of ADONAI and the treasures in the royal palace. He cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Shlomo king of Isra'el had made in the temple of ADONAI, as ADONAI had said would happen.

14 He carried all Yerushalayim away captive - all the princes, all the bravest soldiers- 10,000 captives; also all the craftsmen and metalworkers. No one was left but the poorest people of the land.

15 Y'hoyakhin he carried off to Bavel; likewise he carried off the king's mother, the king's wives, his officers and the main leaders of the land from Yerushalayim into captivity in Bavel.

16 All the strong men - 7,000 of them, as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metalsmiths, all of them strong and trained for war - the king of Bavel brought captive to Bavel.

17 The king of Bavel made Matanyah, Y'hoyakhin's father's brother, king in place of Y'hoyakhin and changed his name to Tzidkiyahu.

18 Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu, from Livnah.

19 He did what was evil from the perspective of ADONAI, following the example of everything Y'hoyakim had done.

20 And it was because of ADONAI's anger that all these things happened to Yerushalayim and Y'hudah, until he had thrown them out of his presence. Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel;

Habakkuk 1

1 This is the prophecy which Havakuk the prophet saw:

2 ADONAI, how long must I cry without your hearing? "Violence!" I cry to you, but you don't save.

3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing, why do you permit oppression? Pillage and cruelty confront me, so that strife and discord prevail.

4 Therefore Torah is not followed; justice never gets rendered, because the wicked fence in the righteous. This is why justice comes out perverted.

5 "Look around among the nations! What you see will completely astound you! For what is going to be done in your days you will not believe, even when you are told.

6 I am raising up the Kasdim, that bitter and impetuous nation, who march far and wide over the earth to seize homes that are not their own.

7 Fearsome and dreadful they are; their rules and strength come from themselves.

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at night. Their cavalry gallop in from afar, flying like vultures rushing to feed.

9 All of them come for violence, their faces set eagerly forward, scooping up captives like sand.

10 They scoff at kings; princes they deride. They laugh at any fortress; they pile up earth and take it.

11 Then they sweep on like the wind, but they become guilty, because they make their strength their god."

12 ADONAI, haven't you existed forever? My God, my holy one, we will not die. ADONAI, you appointed them to execute judgment. Rock, you commissioned them to correct us.

13 Your eyes are too pure to see evil, you cannot countenance oppression. So why do you countenance traitors? Why are you silent when evil people swallow up those more righteous than they?

14 You make people like fish in the sea, like reptiles that have no ruler.

15 The evil haul them all up with their hooks, catch them in their fish net, or gather them in their dragnet. Then they rejoice and make merry,

16 offering sacrifices to their fishnet and burning incense to their dragnet; because through them they live in luxury, with plenty of food to eat.

17 Should they, therefore, keep emptying their nets? Should they keep slaughtering the nations without pity?

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 9

2 Corinthians 11; 2 Kings 25; Habakkuk 2 CJB

2 Corinthians 11

1 I would like you to bear with me in a little foolishness - please do bear with me!

2 For I am jealous for you with God's kind of jealousy; since I promised to present you as a pure virgin in marriage to your one husband, the Messiah;

3 and I fear that somehow your minds may be seduced away from simple and pure devotion to the Messiah, just as Havah was deceived by the serpent and his craftiness.

4 For if someone comes and tells you about some other Yeshua than the one we told you about, or if you receive a spirit different from the one you received or accept some so-called "good news" different from the Good News you already accepted, you bear with him well enough!

5 For I don't consider myself in any way inferior to these "super-emissaries."

6 I may not be a skilled speaker, but I do have the knowledge; anyhow, we have made this clear to you in every way and in every circumstance.

7 Or did I sin in humbling myself so that you could be exalted, in proclaiming God's Good News to you free of charge?

8 I robbed other congregations by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

9 And when I was with you and had needs, I did not burden anyone: my needs were met by the brothers who came from Macedonia. In nothing have I been a burden to you, nor will I be.

10 The truthfulness of the Messiah is in me, so that this boast concerning me is not going to be silenced anywhere in Achaia.

11 Why won't I ever accept your support? Is it that I don't love you? God knows I do!

12 No, I do it - and will go on doing it - in order to cut the ground from under those who want an excuse to boast that they work the same way we do.

13 The fact is that such men are pseudo-emissaries: they tell lies about their work and masquerade as emissaries of the Messiah.

14 There is nothing surprising in that, for the Adversary himself masquerades as an angel of light;

15 so it's no great thing if his workers masquerade as servants of righteousness. They will meet the end their deeds deserve.

16 I repeat: don't let anyone think I am a fool. But even if you do, at least receive me as a fool; so that I too may do a little boasting!

17 What I am saying is not in accordance with the Lord; rather, this conceited boasting is spoken as a fool would speak.

18 Since many people boast in a worldly way, I too will boast this way.

19 For since you yourselves are so wise, you gladly put up with fools!

20 You put up with it if someone makes slaves of you, exploits you, takes you in, puffs himself up, slaps you in the face.

21 To my shame, I must admit that we have been too "weak" to do such things! But if anyone dares to boast about something - I'm talking like a fool! - I am just as daring.

22 Are they Hebrew-speakers? So am I. Are they of the people of Isra'el? So am I. Are they descendants of Avraham? So am I.

23 Are they servants of the Messiah? (I'm talking like a madman!) I'm a better one! I've worked much harder, been imprisoned more often, suffered more beatings, been near death over and over.

24 Five times I received "forty lashes less one" from the Jews.

25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

26 In my many travels I have been exposed to danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the desert, danger at sea, danger from false brothers.

27 I have toiled and endured hardship, often not had enough sleep, been hungry and thirsty, frequently gone without food, been cold and naked.

28 And besides these external matters, there is the daily pressure of my anxious concern for all the congregations.

29 Who is weak without my sharing his weakness? Who falls into sin without my burning inside?

30 If I must boast, I will boast about things that show how weak I am.

31 God the Father of the Lord Yeshua - blessed be he forever - knows that I am not lying!

32 When I was in Dalmanuta, the governor under King Aretas had the city of Dalmanuta guarded in order to arrest me;

33 but I was lowered in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped his clutches.

2 Kings 25

1 so in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army. He set up camp against it and built siege towers against it on every side.

2 The city remained under siege into the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu.

3 On the ninth day of the [fourth] month, when the famine in the city was so severe that there was no food for the people of the land,

4 they broke through into the city. All the soldiers [fled] by night through the gate between the two walls, near the king's garden. Because the Kasdim were surrounding the city, the king took the route through the 'Aravah.

5 But the army of the Kasdim went in pursuit of the king and overtook him on the plains near Yericho; all his troops deserted him.

6 Then they took the king and brought him up to the king of Bavel in Rivlah, where they passed judgment on him.

7 They slaughtered his sons before his eyes. Then they put out Tzidkiyahu's eyes, bound him in chains and carried him off to Bavel.

8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was also the nineteenth year of King N'vukhadnetzar, king of Bavel, N'vuzar'adan, the commander of the guard and an officer of the king of Bavel, entered Yerushalayim.

9 He burned down the house of ADONAI, the royal palace and all the houses in Yerushalayim - every notable person's house he burned to the ground.

10 The whole army of the Kasdim, who were with the commander of the guard, broke down the walls of Yerushalayim on every side.

11 N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard then deported the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Bavel and the rest of the common people.

12 But the commander of the guard left behind some of the poor people of the land to be vineyard-workers and farmers.

13 The Kasdim smashed the bronze columns in the house of ADONAI, also the trolleys and bronze Sea that were in the house of ADONAI, and carried their bronze to Bavel.

14 They also took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, pans, and all the bronze articles that had been used for worship.

15 The commander of the guard took the censers, the sprinkling bowls, everything made of gold and everything made of silver.

16 The bronze in the two columns, the one Sea and the bases, all of which Shlomo had made for the house of ADONAI, was more than could be weighed.

17 The height of one column was thirty-one-and-a-half feet; on it was a capital of bronze five-and-a-quarter feet high, with netting and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze; the second column was similar, also with netting.

18 The commander of the guard took [prisoner] S'rayah the chief cohen, Z'kharyah the second-ranking cohen and three doorkeepers.

19 From the city he took an official in charge of the soldiers, five close associates of the king who had been found in the city, the army commander's secretary in charge of military conscription, and sixty of the common people found in the city.

20 N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Bavel in Rivlah.

21 There in Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, the king of Bavel had them put to death. Thus Y'hudah was carried away captive out of his land.

22 N'vukhadnetzar king of Babylon appointed G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, governor over the people remaining behind in the land of Y'hudah after he left.

23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Bavel had made G'dalyahu governor, they came to G'dalyahu in Mitzpah - Yishma'el the son of N'tanyah, Yochanan the son of Kareach, S'rayah the son of Tanchumet the N'tofati and Ya'azanyahu the son of the Ma'akhati - they and their men.

24 Taking an oath, G'dalyahu said to them, "Don't be afraid of the servants of the Kasdim. Just live in the land and serve the king of Bavel, and things will go well for you."

25 But in the seventh month Yishma'el the son of N'tanyah, the son of Elishama, of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated G'dalyah and the Judeans and Kasdim who were with him in Mitzpah.

26 In the wake of this, all kinds of people, great and small, as well as the army officers, set out and went to Egypt; because they were afraid of the Kasdim.

27 In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Y'hoyakhin king of Y'hudah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Eveel-M'rodakh began his reign as king of Bavel; and in his first year he commuted the sentence of Y'hoyakhin king of Y'hudah and released him from prison.

28 He treated him with kindness and gave him a throne higher than those of the other kings there with him in Bavel.

29 So Y'hoyakhin no longer had to wear prison clothes; moreover, he was provided with food as long as he lived;

30 and he was granted a daily allowance by the king to spend on his other needs for as long as he lived.

Habakkuk 2

1 I will stand at my watchpost; I will station myself on the rampart. I will look to see what [God] will say through me and what I will answer when I am reproved.

2 Then ADONAI answered me; he said, "Write down the vision clearly on tablets, so that even a runner can read it.

3 For the vision is meant for its appointed time; it speaks of the end, and it does not lie. It may take a while, but wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.

4 "Look at the proud: he is inwardly not upright; but the righteous will attain life through trusting faithfulness.

5 Truly, wine is treacherous; the arrogant will not live at peace but keeps expanding his desires like Sh'ol; like death, he can never be satisfied; he keeps collecting all the nations for himself, rallying to himself all the peoples.

6 Won't all these take up taunting him and say about him, in mocking riddles, 'Woe to him who amasses other people's wealth! how long must it go on? and to him who adds to himself the weight of goods taken in pledge!

7 Won't your own creditors suddenly stand, won't those who make you tremble wake up? You will become their spoil.

8 Because you plundered many nations, all the rest of the peoples will plunder you; because of the bloodshed and violence done to the land, the city and all who live there.

9 "'Woe to him who seeks unjust gain for his household, putting his nest on the heights, in order to be safe from the reach of harm.

10 By scheming to destroy many peoples, you have brought shame to your house and forfeited your life.

11 For the very stones will cry out from the wall, and a beam in the framework will answer them.

12 "'Woe to him who builds a city with blood and founds a town on injustice,

13 so that people toil for what will be burned up, and nations exhaust themselves to no purpose. Isn't all this from ADONAI-Tzva'ot?

14 For the earth will be as full of the knowledge of ADONAI's glory as water covering the sea.

15 "'Woe to him who has his neighbor drink, adds his own poison and makes him drunk, in order to see him naked.

16 You are filled with shame, not glory. You, drink too, and stagger! The cup of ADONAI's right hand will be turned against you; your shame will exceed your glory.

17 For the violence done to the L'vanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the wild animals will terrify you; because of the bloodshed and violence done to the land, the city and all who live there.'"

18 What good is an idol, once its maker has shaped it, a cast metal image and a teacher of lies, that its maker puts his trust in it, and goes on making non-gods, unable to talk?

19 Woe to him who tells a piece of wood, "Wake up!" or a speechless stone, "Rouse yourself!" Can this thing teach? Why, it's covered with gold and silver, without the slightest breath in it!

20 But ADONAI is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 10

2 Corinthians 12; 1 Chronicles 1-2; Habakkuk 3 CJB

2 Corinthians 12

1 I have to boast. There is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

2 I know a man in union with the Messiah who fourteen years ago was snatched up to the third heaven; whether he was in the body or outside the body I don't know, God knows.

3 And I know that such a man - whether in the body or apart from the body I don't know, God knows -

4 was snatched into Gan-'Eden and heard things that cannot be put into words, things unlawful for a human being to utter.

5 About such a man I will boast; but about myself I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses.

6 If I did want to boast, I would not be foolish; because I would be speaking the truth. But, because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, I refrain, so that no one will think more of me than what my words or deeds may warrant.

7 Therefore, to keep me from becoming overly proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from the Adversary to pound away at me, so that I wouldn't grow conceited.

8 Three times I begged the Lord to take this thing away from me;

9 but he told me, "My grace is enough for you, for my power is brought to perfection in weakness." Therefore, I am very happy to boast about my weaknesses, in order that the Messiah's power will rest upon me.

10 Yes, I am well pleased with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties endured on behalf of the Messiah; for it is when I am weak that I am strong.

11 I have behaved like a fool, but you forced me to do it - you who should have been commending me. For I am in no way inferior to the "super-emissaries," even if I am nothing.

12 The things that prove I am an emissary - signs, wonders and miracles - were done in your presence, despite what I had to endure.

13 Is there any way in which you have been behind any of the other congregations, other than in my not having been a burden to you? For this unfairness, please forgive me!

14 Look, I am ready this third time to come and visit you; and I will not be a burden to you; for it is not what you own that I want, but you! Children are not supposed to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

15 And as for me, I will most gladly spend everything I have and be spent myself too for your sakes. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

16 Let it be granted, then, that I was not a burden to you; but, crafty fellow that I am, I took you with trickery!

17 Was it perhaps through someone I sent you

18 that I took advantage of you? I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him; Titus didn't take advantage of you, did he? Didn't we live by the same Spirit and show you the same path?

19 Perhaps you think that all this time we have been defending ourselves before you. No, we have been speaking in the sight of God, as those united with the Messiah should; and, my dear friends, it is all for your upbuilding.

20 For I am afraid of coming and finding you not the way I want you to be, and also of not being found the way you want me to be. I am afraid of finding quarreling and jealousy, anger and rivalry, slander and gossip, arrogance and disorder.

21 I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me in your presence, and that I will be grieved over many of those who sinned in the past and have not repented of the impurity, fornication and debauchery that they have engaged in.

1 Chronicles 1

1 Adam, Shet, Enosh,

2 Keinan, Mahalal'el, Yered,

3 Hanokh, Metushelach, Lemekh,

4 Noach; Shem, Ham and Yefet.

5 The sons of Yefet: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tuval, Meshekh and Tiras.

6 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Difat and Togarmah.

7 The sons of Yavan: Elishah, Tarshishah, Kittim and Rodanim.

8 The sons of Ham: Kush, Mitzrayim, Put and Kena'an.

9 The sons of Kush: S'va, Havilah, Savta, Ra'ma and Savt'kha. The sons of Ra'ma: Sh'va and D'dan.

10 Kush fathered Nimrod, who was the first powerful ruler on earth.

11 Mitzrayim fathered Ludim, 'Anamim, L'havim, Naftuchim,

12 Patrusim, Kasluchim (from whom came the P'lishtim) and Kaftorim.

13 Kena'an was the father of Tzidon his firstborn, and also of Het,

14 the Y'vusi, the Emori, the Girgashi,

15 the Hivi, the 'Arki, the Sini,

16 the Arvadi, the Tz'mari and the Hamati.

17 The sons of Shem: 'Elam, Ashur, Arpakhshad, Lud, Aram, 'Utz, Hul, Geter and Meshekh.

18 Arpakhshad fathered Shelach, Shelach fathered 'Ever,

19 and to 'Ever were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg [division], because it was during his lifetime that the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Yoktan.

20 Yoktan fathered Almodad, Shelef, Hatzar-Mavet, Yerach,

21 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

22 'Eival, Avima'el, Sh'va,

23 Ofir, Havilah and Yovav; these were all sons of Yoktan.

24 Shem, Arpakhshad, Shelach,

25 'Ever, Peleg, Re'u,

26 S'rug, Nachor, Terach,

27 Avram (also called Avraham).

28 The sons of Avraham: Yitz'chak and Yishma'el.

29 Here are their descendants: Yishma'el's firstborn N'vayot; then Kedar, Adbe'el, Mivsam,

30 Mishma, Dumah, Masa, Hadad, Teima,

31 Y'tur, Nafish and Kedem. These are the sons of Yishma'el.

32 The sons of K'turah Avraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, Yokshan, Medan, Midyan, Yishbak and Shuach. The sons of Yokshan: Sh'va and D'dan.

33 The sons of Midyan: 'Eifah, 'Efer, Hanokh, Avida and Elda'ah. These were all descendants of K'turah.

34 Avraham fathered Yitz'chak. The sons of Yitz'chak: 'Esav and Isra'el.

35 The sons of 'Esav: Elifaz, Re'u'el, Ye'ush, Ya'lam and Korach.

36 The sons of Elifaz: Teman, Omar, Tzefi, Ga'tam, K'naz, Timna and 'Amalek.

37 The sons of Re'u'el: Nachat, Zerach, Shamah and Mizah.

38 The sons of Se'ir: Lotan, Shoval, Tziv'on, 'Anah, Dishon, Etzer and Dishan.

39 The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam; the sister of Lotan was Timna.

40 The sons of Shoval: 'Alyan, Manachat, 'Eival, Sh'fi and Onam. The sons of Tziv'on: Ayah and 'Anah.

41 The son of 'Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon: Hamran, Eshban, Yitran and K'ran.

42 The sons of Etzer: Bilhan, Za'avan and Ya'akan. The sons of Dishan: 'Utz and Aran.

43 Following are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the people of Isra'el: Bela the son of B'or; the name of his city was Dinhavah.

44 After Bela died, Yovav the son of Zerach from Botzrah took his place as king.

45 After Yovav died, Husham from the land of the Temani took his place as king.

46 After Husham died, Hadad the son of B'dad, who attacked Midyan on the plains of Mo'av, took his place as king; the name of his city was 'Avit.

47 After Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah took his place as king.

48 After Samlah died, Sha'ul from Rechovot-by-the-River took his place as king.

49 After Sha'ul died, Ba'al-Hanan the son of 'Akhbor took his place as king.

50 After Ba'al-Hanan died, Hadad took his place as king; the name of his city was Pa'i; his wife's name was M'heitav'el the daughter of Matred the daughter of Mei-Zahav.

51 Then Hadad died. The chieftains of Edom were: the chieftains of Timnah, 'Alvah, Y'tet,

52 Oholivamah, Elah, Pinon,

53 Kenaz, Teman, Mivtzar,

54 Magdi'el and 'Iram. These were the chieftains of Edom.

1 Chronicles 2

1 These are the sons of Isra'el: Re'uven, Shim'on, Levi, Y'hudah, Yissakhar, Z'vulun,

2 Dan, Yosef, Binyamin, Naftali, Gad and Asher.

3 The sons of Y'hudah: 'Er, Onan and Shelah; the mother of these three was Bat-Shua the Kena'anit. 'Er, Y'hudah's firstborn, was wicked from ADONAI's perspective, so he killed him.

4 Tamar his daughter-in-law bore him Peretz and Zerach; thus Y'hudah had five sons altogether.

5 The sons of Peretz: Hetzron and Hamul.

6 The sons of Zerach: Zimri, Eitan, Heiman, Kalkol and Dara - five of them altogether.

7 The sons of Karmi: 'Akhar [troubler], who troubled Isra'el by violating the rule concerning things set aside to be destroyed.

8 The son of Eitan: 'Azaryah.

9 The sons born to Hetzron: Yerachme'el, Ram and K'luvai.

10 Ram fathered 'Amminadav; 'Amminadav fathered Nachshon prince of the descendants of Y'hudah;

11 Nachshon fathered Salma; Salma fathered Bo'az;

12 Bo'az fathered 'Oved; 'Oved fathered Yishai;

13 and Yishai fathered Eli'av his firstborn, Avinadav second, Shim'a third,

14 N'tan'el fourth, Radai fifth,

15 Otzem sixth, David seventh,

16 and their sisters Tz'ruyah and Avigayil. The sons of Tz'ruyah: Avshai, Yo'av and 'Asah'el, three of them.

17 Avigayil was the mother of 'Amasa; the father of 'Amasa was Yeter the Yishma'eli.

18 Kalev the son of Hetzron fathered sons with 'Azuvah his wife (and with Yeri'ot); these were her sons: Yesher, Shovav and Ardon.

19 After 'Azuvah died, Kalev married Efrat, who bore him Hur.

20 Hur fathered Uri, and Uri fathered B'tzal'el.

21 Afterwards, Hetzron had sexual relations with the daughter of Machir the father of Gil'ad; he married her when he was sixty years old, and she bore him S'guv.

22 S'guv fathered Ya'ir, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gil'ad.

23 (But G'shur and Aram took Havot-Ya'ir away from them, along with K'nat and its villages - sixty cities.) All these were descendants of Machir the father of Gil'ad.

24 After Hetzron died in Kalev-Efratah, Aviyah Hetzron's wife bore him Ash'chur the father of T'koa.

25 The sons of Yerachme'el Hetzron's firstborn: Ram the firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Otzem and Achiyah.

26 Yerachme'el had another wife, whose name was 'Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.

27 The sons of Ram the firstborn son of Yerachme'el: Ma'atz, Yamin and 'Eker.

28 The sons of Onam: Shamai and Yada. The sons of Shamai: Nadav and Avishur.

29 Avishur's wife was named Avichayil, and she bore him Achban and Molid.

30 The sons of Nadav: Seled and Apayim. Seled died without having any children.

31 The son of Apayim: Yish'i. The son of Yish'i: Sheshan. The son of Sheshan: Achlai.

32 The sons of Yada the brother of Shamai: Yeter and Yonatan. Yeter died without having any children.

33 The sons of Yonatan: Pelet and Zaza. These were the descendants of Yerachme'el.

34 Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Yarcha;

35 Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to Yarcha his servant, and she bore him 'Atai.

36 'Atai fathered Natan, Natan fathered Zavad,

37 Zavad fathered Eflal, Eflal fathered 'Oved,

38 'Oved fathered Yehu, Yehu fathered 'Azaryah,

39 'Azaryah fathered Heletz, Heletz fathered El'asah,

40 El'asah fathered Sismai, Sismai fathered Shalum,

41 Shalum fathered Y'kamyah and Y'kamyah fathered Elishama.

42 The sons of Kalev the brother of Yerachme'el: Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Zif; and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hevron.

43 The sons of Hevron: Korach, Tapuach, Rekem and Shema.

44 Shema fathered Racham the father of Yorke'am, and Rekem fathered Shamai.

45 The son of Shamai was Ma'on, and Ma'on was the father of Beit-Tzur.

46 'Eifah, Kalev's concubine, bore Haran, Motza and Gazez; and Haran fathered Gazez.

47 The sons of Yahdai: Regem, Yotam, Geshan, Pelet, 'Eifah and Sha'af.

48 Ma'akhah, Kalev's concubine, bore Shever and Tirchanah.

49 [The wife of] Sha'af the father of Madmanah bore Sh'va the father of Machbenah and the father of Giv'a. The daughter of Kalev was 'Akhsah.

50 These were the descendants of Kalev. The sons of Hur the firstborn of Efratah: Shoval the father of Kiryat-Ye'arim,

51 Salma the father of Beit-Lechem and Haref the father of Beit-Gader.

52 Shoval the father of Kiryat-Ye'arim had sons: HaRo'eh and half of the [inhabitants of] M'nuchot.

53 The families of Kiryat-Ye'arim: the Yitri, the Puti, the Shumati and the Mishra'i; from them came the Tzor'ati and the Eshta'uli.

54 The sons of Salma: Beit-Lechem, the N'tofati, 'Atrot-Beit-Yo'av, half of the Manachati, the Tzor'i,

55 the families of scribes that lived in Ya'betz, the Tir'atim, the Shim'atim and the Sukhatim. These are the Kinim, who came from Hamat, father of the house of Rekhav.

Habakkuk 3

1 This is a prayer of Havakuk the prophet about mistakes:

2 ADONAI, I have heard the report about you. ADONAI, I am awed by your deeds. Bring your work to life in our own age, make it known in our own time; but in anger, remember compassion.

3 God comes from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Pa'ran. His splendor covers the sky, and his praise fills the earth.

4 His brightness is like the sun, rays come forth from his hand - that is where his power is concealed.

5 Before him goes pestilence, and close behind, the plague.

6 When he stands up, the earth shakes; when he looks, the nations tremble, (Selah) the eternal mountains are smashed to pieces, the ancient hills sink down; the ancient paths are his.

7 I saw trouble in the tents of Kushan and the tent hangings shaking in the land of Midyan.

8 ADONAI, is it against the rivers, against the rivers that your anger is inflamed? Is your fury directed at the sea? Is that why you ride on your horses, and drive your chariots to victory?

9 You brandish your naked bow and order it filled with arrows. (Selah) You split the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains see you and tremble; a torrent of water streams by; the deep thunders forth, as it raises enormous waves.

11 The sun and moon stand still in the sky at the light of your arrows speeding by, at the gleam of your glittering spear.

12 In fury you stride across the land, in anger you trample the nations.

13 You come out to save your people, to save your anointed one; you crush the head of the house of the wicked, uncovering its foundation all the way to the neck.

14 With their own rods you pierce the head of their warriors, who come like a whirlwind to scatter us, who rejoice at the prospect of devouring the poor in secret.

15 You tread down the sea with your horses, churning up the mighty waters.

16 When I heard, my whole body trembled, my lips shook at the sound; weakness overcame my limbs, my legs gave way beneath me. But I wait calmly for the day of trouble, when it comes upon our assailants.

17 For even if the fig tree doesn't blossom, and no fruit is on the vines, even if the olive tree fails to produce, and the fields yield no food at all, even if the sheep vanish from the sheep pen, and there are no cows in the stalls;

18 still, I will rejoice in ADONAI, I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19 ELOHIM Adonai is my strength! He makes me swift and sure-footed as a deer and enables me to stride over my high places. For the leader. With my stringed instruments.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 11

2 Corinthians 13; 1 Chronicles 3-4; Zephaniah 1 CJB

2 Corinthians 13

1 This will be the third time that I have come to visit you. Any charge must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.m

2 To those who sinned in the past and to the rest I say beforehand while absent the same thing I said when I was with you the second time: if I come again I will not spare you -

3 since you are looking for proof of the Messiah speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but he is powerful among you.

4 For although he was executed on a stake in weakness, now he lives by God's power. And we too are weak in union with him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by God's power.

5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of trust. Test yourselves. Don't you realize that Yeshua the Messiah is in you? - unless you fail to pass the test.

6 But I hope you will realize that we are not failures.

7 And we pray to God that you will do nothing wrong. We are not concerned with our appearing successful, but with your doing what is right, even if we appear to be failures.

8 For we cannot act against the truth, only for it.

9 So we rejoice whenever we are weak and you are strong; indeed, what we pray for is that you become perfect.

10 I write these things while away from you, so that when I am with you I will not have to use my authority to deal sharply with you, for the Lord gave it to me for building up and not for tearing down.

11 And now, brothers, shalom! Put yourselves in order, pay attention to my advice, be of one mind, live in shalom - and the God of love and shalom will be with you.

12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

13 All God's people send greetings to you. The grace of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the love of God and the fellowship of the Ruach HaKodesh be with you all.

1 Chronicles 3

1 These were the sons born to David in Hevron: the firstborn was Amnon, whose mother was Achino'am from Yizre'el; the second, Dani'el, whose mother was Avigayil from Karmel;

2 the third, Avshalom, the son of Ma'akhah the daughter of Talmai king of G'shur; the fourth, Adoniyah the son of Haggit;

3 the fifth, Sh'fatyah, whose mother was Avital; and the sixth, Yitre'am, whose mother was his wife 'Eglah.

4 Six were born to David in Hevron. He ruled there seven years and six months; then he ruled in Yerushalayim thirty-three years.

5 These were born to him in Yerushalayim: Shim'a, Shovav, Natan, Shlomo, four whose mother was Bat-Shua the daughter of 'Ammi'el;

6 and nine others -Yivchar, Elishama, Elifelet,

7 Nogah, Nefeg, Yafia,

8 Elishama, Elyada and Elifelet.

9 All these were sons of David, apart from the sons of the concubines; Tamar was their sister.

10 Shlomo's son was Rechav'am, his son Aviyah, his son Asa, his son Y'hoshafat,

11 his son Yoram, his son Achazyah, his son Yo'ash,

12 his son Amatzyah, his son 'Azaryah, his son Yotam,

13 his son Achaz, his son Hizkiyahu, his son M'nasheh,

14 his son Amon and his son Yoshiyahu.

15 The sons of Yoshiyahu: Yochanan the firstborn, Y'hoyakim the second, Tzedekyah the third, and Shalum the fourth.

16 The sons of Y'hoyakim: Y'khonyah his son, and Tzedekyah his son.

17 The sons of Y'khonyah, also called Asir: Sh'alti'el his son;

18 also Malkiram, P'dayah, Shen'atzar, Y'kamyah, Hoshama and N'davyah.

19 The sons of P'dayah: Z'rubavel and Shim'i. The children of Z'rubavel: Meshulam, Hananyah and Shlomit their sister;

20 also Hashuvah, Ohel, Berekhyah, Hasadyah and Yushav-Hesed - five.

21 The sons of Hananyah: P'latyah and Yesha'yah. His son was Refayah. His son was Arnan. His son was 'Ovadyah. And his son was Sh'khanyah.

22 The sons of Sh'khanyah: Sh'ma'yah and the sons of Sh'ma'yah - Hatush, Yig'al, Bariach, Ne'aryah and Shafat - six.

23 The sons of Ne'aryah: Elyo'einai, Hizkiyah and 'Azrikam - three.

24 The sons of Elyo'einai: Hodavyahu, Elyashiv, P'layah, 'Akuv, Yochanan, D'layah and 'Anani - seven.

1 Chronicles 4

1 The descendants of Y'hudah: Peretz, Hetzron, Karmi, Hur and Shoval.

2 Re'ayah the son of Shoval fathered Yachat; Yachat fathered Achumai and Lahad. These are the families of the Tzor'ati.

3 These are [the sons] of the father of 'Eitam: Yizre'el, Yishma and Yidbash; their sister's name was Hatzlelponi.

4 P'nu'el fathered Geder, and 'Ezer fathered Hushah. These are the sons of Hur the firstborn of Efratah, the father of Beit-Lechem.

5 Ashur the father of T'koa had two wives, Hel'ah and Na'arah.

6 Na'arah bore him Achuzam, Hefer, Teimni and Achashtari; these were the sons of Na'arah.

7 The sons of Hel'ah were Tzeret, Tzochar and Etnan.

8 Kotz fathered 'Anuv, Tzovevah and the families of Acharchel the son of Harum.

9 Ya'betz was honored more than his brothers; his mother called him Ya'betz, she explained, "because I bore him in pain [Hebrew: 'otzev]."

10 Ya'betz called on the God of Isra'el: "Please bless me by enlarging my territory. May your hand be with me! Keep me from harm, so that it will not cause me pain [Hebrew: 'atzbi]." God granted his request.

11 K'luv the brother of Shuchah fathered M'chir, who fathered Eshton.

12 Eshton fathered Beit-Rafa, Paseach and T'chinah the father of 'Ir-Nachash. These are the men of Rekhah.

13 The sons of K'naz: 'Otni'el and S'rayah. The son of 'Otni'el: Hatat.

14 M'onotai fathered 'Ofrah, and S'rayah fathered Yo'av the father of Gei-Harashim; for they were craftsmen [Hebrew: harashim].

15 The sons of Kalev the son of Y'funeh: 'Iru, Elah and Na'am. The son of Elah: K'naz.

16 The sons of Yehallel'el: Zif, Zifah, Tirya and Asar'el.

17 The sons of 'Ezrah: Yeter, Mered, 'Efer and Yalon. These are the sons of Bityah the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took as his wife: she conceived Miryam, Shamai and Yishbach the father of Esht'moa; while his Jewish wife bore Yered the father of G'dor, Hever the father of Sokho and Y'kuti'el the father of Zanoach.

18

19 The sons of the wife of Hodiyah the sister of Nacham were the father of Ke'ilah the Garmi and Esht'moa the Ma'akhati.

20 The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinah, Ben-Hanan and Tilon. The sons of Yish'i: Zochet and Ben-Zochet.

21 The sons of Shelah the son of Y'hudah: 'Er the father of Lekha, La'adah the father of Mareshah and the clans of fine-linen-workers at Beit-Ashbea,

22 Yokim, the men of Kozeva, Saraf the ruler in Mo'av, and Yashuvi-Lechem (the records are ancient).

23 These were potters and inhabitants of N'ta'im and G'derah; they lived there, occupied with the king's work.

24 The sons of Shim'on: N'mu'el, Yamin, Yariv, Zerach and Sha'ul.

25 His son was Shalum, his son was Mivsam, and his son was Mishma.

26 The descendants of Mishma: his son Hamu'el, his son Zakur, his son Shim'i.

27 Shim'i had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, so their clans did not increase like those of Y'hudah.

28 They lived at Be'er-Sheva, Moladah, Hatzar-Shu'al,

29 Bilhah, 'Etzem, Tolad,

30 B'tu'el, Hormah, Ziklag,

31 Beit-Markavot, Hatzar-Susim, Beit-Bir'i and Sha'arayim. These were their cities until the reign of David.

32 Their villages were 'Eitam, 'Ayin, Rimmon, Tokhen and 'Ashan, five cities,

33 along with all the villages surrounding these cities, as far as Ba'al. These are the places where they lived, and they have their official genealogy.

34 Meshovav, Yamlekh, Yoshah the son of Amatzyah,

35 Yo'el, Yehu the son of Yoshivyah the son of S'rayah the son of 'Asi'el,

36 Elyo'einai, Ya'akovah, Y'shochayah,'Asayah, 'Adi'el, Y'simi'el, B'nayah,

37 Ziza the son of Shif'i the son of Alon the son of Y'da'yah the son of Shimri the son of Sh'ma'yah -

38 these mentioned by name were princes in their clans, and their fathers' houses increased greatly.

39 Seeking pasture for their flocks they went to the entrance of Geder, as far as the east side of the valley.

40 They found rich, good pastures; and the land was spacious, quiet and peaceful. Those who had lived there previously belonged to Ham.

41 Those whose names are written above came during the time of Hizkiyahu king of Y'hudah; they attacked their tents and the Me'unim who were found there, destroyed them completely, and have lived there in place of them to this day; because there was pasture there for their flocks.

42 Some 500 of them who were descendants of Shim'on went to Mount Se'ir under the leadership of P'latyah, Ne'aryah, Refayah and Uzi'el the sons of Yish'i.

43 They attacked the remnant of 'Amalek who had escaped and have lived there to this day.

Zephaniah 1

1 This is the word of ADONAI that came to Tz'fanyah the son of Kushi, the son of G'dalyah, the son of Amaryah, the son of Hizkiyah, during the reign of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Y'hudah:

2 "I will completely sweep away everything off the face of the land," says ADONAI.

3 "I will sweep away humans and animals, the birds in the air and the fish in the sea, also the wicked and what makes them stumble; I will wipe humanity off the land," says ADONAI.

4 "I will stretch out my hand over Y'hudah and all those living in Yerushalayim. I will wipe every remnant of Ba'al from this place, the idol-serving priests and even their names,

5 those worshipping heaven's army on the roofs, also those who worship and swear by ADONAI but swear by Malkam as well,

6 those who turned away from following ADONAI, and those who haven't sought ADONAI or consulted him at all."

7 Keep silent before Adonai ELOHIM, for the Day of ADONAI is near. ADONAI has prepared a sacrifice; he has set apart those he invited.

8 When the time comes for ADONAI's sacrifice - "I will punish the leaders and the sons of the king, also those who dress in foreign clothes.

9 On the same day I will also punish all who jump over the threshold to fill the house of their master with violence and deceit.

10 Also on that day," says ADONAI, "a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, wailing from the city's Second Quarter and a loud crash from the hills.

11 Wail, you who live down in the hollow, because all the merchants are destroyed, all who trade with silver are ruined.

12 When that time comes, I will search Yerushalayim with lamps and punish those who are [smug and thick, like wine] left too long on its dregs, who say to themselves, 'ADONAI will do nothing - neither good nor bad.'

13 For this, their wealth will be plundered; and their houses will be destroyed. Yes, they will build houses but not live in them; they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine."

14 The great Day of ADONAI is near, near and coming very quickly; Hear the sound of the Day of ADONAI! When it's here, even a warrior will cry bitterly.

15 That Day is a Day of fury, a Day of trouble and distress, a Day of waste and desolation, a Day of darkness and gloom, a Day of clouds and thick fog,

16 a Day of the shofar and battle-cry against the fortified cities and against the high towers [on the city walls].

17 "I will bring such distress on people that they will grope their way like the blind, because they have sinned against ADONAI. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their bowels like dung.

18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them. On the day of ADONAI's fury, the whole land will be destroyed in the fire of his jealousy. For he will make an end, a horrible end, of all those living in the land."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 12

John 1:1-18; 1 Chronicles 5-6; Zephaniah 2 CJB

John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was Yochanan.

7 He came to be a testimony, to bear witness concerning the light; so that through him, everyone might put his trust in God and be faithful to him.

8 He himself was not that light; no, he came to bear witness concerning the light.

9 This was the true light, which gives light to everyone entering the world.

10 He was in the world -- the world came to be through him -- yet the world did not know him.

11 He came to his own homeland, yet his own people did not receive him.

12 But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God,

13 not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God.

14 The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Sh'khinah, the Sh'khinah of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.

15 Yochanan witnessed concerning him when he cried out, "This is the man I was talking about when I said, `The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of me, because he existed before me.'"

16 We have all received from his fullness, yes, grace upon grace.

17 For the Torah was given through Moshe; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.

18 No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father's side -- he has made him known.

1 Chronicles 5

1 The sons of Re'uven the firstborn of Isra'el - he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Yosef the son of Isra'el, though not in such a way as for him to be regarded in the genealogy as the firstborn.

2 For Y'hudah became greater than his brothers, inasmuch as the ruler came from him; nevertheless, the birthright went to Yosef.

3 So these are the sons of Re'uven the firstborn of Isra'el: Hanokh, Pallu, Hetzron and Karmi.

4 The descendants of Yo'el: his son Sh'ma'yah, his son Gog, his son Shim'i,

5 his son Mikhah, his son Re'ayah, his son Ba'al,

6 and his son Be'erah. Tilgat-Piln'eser king of Ashur carried him away captive; he was leader of the Re'uveni.

7 His brothers, by their clans, as listed in their genealogical records were: Ye'i'el the leader, Z'kharyah

8 and Bela the son of 'Azaz the son of Sh'ma the son of Yo'el. He lived in 'Aro'er, with territory extending to N'vo and Ba'al-M'on;

9 while to the east he occupied territory that extended to the beginning of the desert as one comes from the Euphrates River; because their cattle multiplied in the land of Gil'ad.

10 In the time of Sha'ul they went to war with the Hagri'im; after defeating them they occupied their tents throughout all the territory east of Gil'ad.

11 The descendants of Gad lived across from them, in the territory from Bashan to Salkhah:

12 Yo'el was the leader, Shafam second, then Yanai and Shafat in Bashan.

13 The houses of their fathers' brothers were: Mikha'el, Meshulam, Sheva, Yorai, Ya'kan, Zia and 'Ever - seven altogether.

14 These are the sons of Avichayil the son of Huri the son of Yaroach the son of Gil'ad the son of Mikha'el the son of Yeshishai the son of Yachdo the son of Buz;

15 Achi the son of 'Avdi'el the son of Guni was leader of their fathers' house.

16 They lived in Gil'ad, in Bashan, in its towns and in all the pasture lands of the plain as far as their borders.

17 All these were listed in genealogies during the times of Yotam king of Y'hudah and Yarov'am king of Isra'el.

18 The descendants of Re'uven, the Gadi and the half-tribe of M'nasheh included 44,760 brave men who were available for warfare, able to take up shield and sword, shoot with the bow, or make use of other war skills.

19 These made war with the Hagri'im, Y'tur, Nafish and Nodav.

20 They received help against them, so that the Hagri'im and all who were allied with them suffered defeat at their hands; because they cried out to God while they were fighting, and he did as they requested, because they put their trust in him.

21 From their livestock they carried off 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep and 2,000 donkeys; they also took captive 100,000 persons.

22 Many were slaughtered, because the war was of God, and they lived in their territory until the captivity.

23 The descendants of the half-tribe of M'nasheh lived and increased in the territory from Bashan to Ba'al-Hermon, S'nir and Mount Hermon.

24 The leaders of their fathers' houses were: 'Efer, Yish'i, Eli'el, 'Azri'el, Yirmeyah, Hodavyah and Yachdi'el, strong, brave, famous men, leaders of their fathers' houses.

25 But they broke faith with the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed ahead of them.

26 So the God of Isra'el stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Ashur and the spirit of Tilgat-Piln'eser king of Ashur; and he carried them away as captives - the Re'uveni, the Gadi and the half-tribe of M'nasheh - and brought them to Halach, Havor, Hara and to the Gozan River, where they are to this day.

1 Chronicles 6

1 The sons of Levi: Gershon, K'hat and M'rari.

2 The sons of K'hat: 'Amram, Yitz'har, Hevron and 'Uzi'el.

3 The children of 'Amram: Aharon, Moshe and Miryam. The sons of Aharon: Nadav, Avihu, El'azar and Itamar.

4 El'azar fathered Pinchas, Pinchas fathered Avishua,

5 Avishua fathered Buki, Buki fathered

6 'Uzi fathered Z'rachyah, Z'rachyah fathered M'rayot,

7 M'rayot fathered Amaryah, Amaryah fathered Achituv,

8 Achituv fathered Tzadok, Tzadok fathered Achima'atz,

9 Achima'atz fathered 'Azaryah, 'Azaryah fathered Yochanan,

10 and Yochanan fathered 'Azaryah. He functioned as cohen in the house that Shlomo built in Yerushalayim.

11 'Azaryah fathered Amaryah, Amaryah fathered Achituv,

12 Achituv fathered Tzadok, Tzadok fathered Shalum,

13 Shalum fathered Hilkiyah, Hilkiyah fathered 'Azaryah,

14 'Azaryah fathered S'rayah, S'rayah fathered Y'hotzadak,

15 and Y'hotzadak went into captivity when ADONAI carried Y'hudah and Yerushalayim away at the hands of N'vukhadnetzar.

16 The sons of Levi: Gershom, K'hat and M'rari.

17 These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Livni and Shim'i.

18 The sons of K'hat:'Amram, Yitz'har, Hevron and 'Uzi'el.

19 The sons of M'rari: Machli and Mushi. These are the families of the L'vi'im according to father's clans:

20 [The descendants] of Gershom: his son Livni, his son Yachat, his son Zimah,

21 his son Yo'ach, his son 'Iddo, his son Zerach, his son Ye'atrai.

22 The descendants of K'hat: his son 'Amminadav, his son Korach, his son Asir,

23 his son Elkanah, his son Evyasaf, his son Asir,

24 his son Tachat, his son Uri'el, his son 'Uziyah and his son Sha'ul.

25 The sons of Elkanah: 'Amasai and Achimot.

26 As for Elkanah, the sons of Elkanah: his son Tzofai, his son Nachat,

27 his son Eli'av, his son Yerocham and his son Elkanah.

28 The sons of Sh'mu'el: Vashni the firstborn, then Aviyah.

29 The descendants of M'rari: Machli, his son Livni, his son Shim'i, his son 'Uzah,

30 his son Shim'a, his son Hagiyah and his son 'Asayah.

31 David appointed them to be in charge of the service of song in the house of ADONAI after the ark had found a permanent resting place.

32 They served as singers before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, until Shlomo had built the house of ADONAI in Yerushalayim; and they carried out their tasks in a prescribed order.

33 Those who carried out these tasks and their descendants were - starting with descendants of the K'hati - Heman the singer, the son of Yo'el the son of Sh'mu'el,

34 the son of Elkanah, the son of Yerocham, the son of Eli'el, the son of Toach,

35 the son of Tzuf, the son of Elkanah, the son of Machat, the son of 'Amasai,

36 the son of Elkanah, the son of Yo'el, the son of 'Azaryah, the son of Tz'fanyah,

37 the son of Tachat, the son of Asir, the son of Evyasaf, the son of Korach,

38 the son of Yitz'har, the son of K'hat, the son of Levi, the son of Isra'el.

39 His brother Asaf, who stood on his right, was Asaf the son of Berekhyah, the son of Shim'a,

40 the son of Mikha'el, the son of Ba'aseyah, the son of Malkiyah,

41 the son of Etni, the son of Zerach the son of 'Adayah,

42 the son of Eitan, the son of Zimah, the son of Shim'i,

43 the son of Yachat, the son of Gershom, the son of Levi.

44 On the left were their kinsmen the descendants of M'rari: Eitan the son of Kishi, the son of 'Avdi, the son of Malukh,

45 the son of Hashavyah, the son of Amatzyah, the son of Hilkiyah,

46 the son of Amtzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemer,

47 the son of Machli, the son of Mushi, the son of M'rari, the son of Levi.

48 Their kinsmen the L'vi'im were put in charge of all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

49 But Aharon and his sons were the ones who offered on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense for all the service of the Especially Holy Place and to make atonement for Isra'el, in keeping with all that Moshe the servant of God had ordered to be done.

50 These are the descendants of Aharon: his son El'azar, his son Pinchas, his son Avishua,

51 his son Buki, his son 'Uzi, his son Z'rachyah,

52 his son M'rayot, his son Amaryah, his son Achituv,

53 his son Tzadok and his son Achima'atz.

54 These were the settlements of the descendants of Aharon according to the territories assigned them: to the descendants of Aharon, of the clans of the K'hati -for the first lot fell to them -

55 they gave Hevron in the land of Y'hudah with the open land surrounding it,

56 but the fields and the dependent villages of the city they gave to Kalev the son of Y'funeh.

57 To the descendants of Aharon they gave the city of refuge Hevron, also Livnah with its surrounding open land, Yatir, Esht'moa with its surrounding open land,

58 Hilen with its surrounding open land, D'vir with its surrounding open land,

59 'Ashan with its surrounding open land, Beit-Shemesh with its surrounding open land;

60 and out of the tribe of Binyamin: Geva with its surrounding open land, 'Alemet with its surrounding open land and 'Anatot with its surrounding open land. All the cities for all their clans amounted to thirteen cities.

61 The rest of the descendants of K'hat were assigned by lot, clan by clan, ten cities from the half-tribe of M'nasheh.

62 The descendants of Gershom were assigned, clan by clan, thirteen cities from the tribes of Yissakhar, Asher, Naftali and M'nasheh in Bashan.

63 To the descendants of M'rari were assigned by lot, clan by clan, twelve cities from the tribes of Re'uven, Gad and Z'vulun.

64 So the people of Isra'el gave the L'vi'im these cities with the surrounding open land.

65 From the tribes of the descendants of Y'hudah, Shim'on and Binyamin they assigned these cities mentioned by name.

66 Some of the clans of the descendants of K'hat were given cities in territory from the tribe of Efrayim.

67 They gave them the city of refuge Sh'khem in the hills of Efrayim with the surrounding open land, also Gezer with the surrounding open land,

68 Yokme'am with the surrounding open land, Beit-Horon with the surrounding open land,

69 Ayalon with the surrounding open land, and Gat-Rimmon with the surrounding open land;

70 and out of the half-tribe of M'nasheh: 'Aner with the surrounding open land and Bil'am with the surrounding open land, for the rest of the clans of the descendants of K'hat.

71 The descendants of Gershom were given, from the clans of the half-tribe of M'nasheh: Golan in Bashan with the surrounding open land and 'Ashtarot with the surrounding open land;

72 and from the tribe of Yissakhar: Kedesh with the surrounding open land, Davrat with the surrounding open land,

73 Ramot with the surrounding open land and 'Anem with the surrounding open land;

74 and from the tribe of Asher: Mashal with the surrounding open land, 'Avdon with the surrounding open land,

75 Hukok with the surrounding open land and Rechov with the surrounding open land;

76 and from the tribe of Naftali: Kedesh in the Galil with the surrounding open land, Hamon with the surrounding open land and Kiryatayim with the surrounding open land.

77 To the rest [of the L'vi'im], the descendants of M'rari, were given, from the tribe of Z'vulun: Rimmono with the surrounding open land and Tavor with the surrounding open land;

78 and beyond the Yarden at Yericho, on the east side of the Yarden, they were given, from the tribe of Re'uven: Betzer in the desert with the surrounding open land, Yahatz with the surrounding open land,

79 K'demot with the surrounding open land and Mefa'at with the surrounding open land;

80 and from the tribe of Gad: Ramot in Gil'ad with the surrounding open land, Machanayim with the surrounding open land,

81 Heshbon with the surrounding open land and Ya'zer with the surrounding open land.

Zephaniah 2

1 Gather together, gather yourselves, nation devoid of shame;

2 before the decree takes effect, and the day comes when one passes like chaff; before ADONAI's fierce anger comes on you, before the day of ADONAI's anger comes on you.

3 Seek ADONAI, all you humble in the land, you who exercise his justice; seek righteousness, seek humility - you might be hidden on the day of ADONAI's anger.

4 For 'Azah will be abandoned, Ashkelon will be desolate, they will evacuate Ashdod at noon, and 'Ekron will be uprooted.

5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the K'reti! The word of ADONAI is against you, Kena'an, land of the P'lishtim: "I will destroy you; no one will be left."

6 The seacoast will be reduced to pastures, meadows for shepherds, pens for sheep;

7 and the coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Y'hudah. They will pasture their flocks there and in the evening lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. For ADONAI their God will remember them and restore their fortunes.

8 "I have heard the insults of Mo'av and the taunts of the people of 'Amon, how they reviled my people and boasted of expanding their territory.

9 Therefore, as I live," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, "Mo'av will become like S'dom and the people of 'Amon like 'Amora, a land covered with nettles and salt pits, desolate forever. The remnant of my people will plunder them, the survivors in my nation will inherit them."

10 This is what they will earn for their pride, for having reviled and boasted against the people of ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

11 ADONAI will be fearsome against them, for he will make all the earth's gods waste away. Then all the coasts and islands of the nations will worship him, each from its place.

12 "You too, Ethiopians, will be put to death by my sword."

13 He will stretch out his hand against the north; he will destroy Ashur; he will make Ninveh desolate, as dry as the desert.

14 Herds will lie down in it, and all kinds of wild animals too - jackdaws and owls will roost on her columns, voices screeching in the windows, desolation on the doorsteps, for its cedarwork is stripped bare.

15 This is the city, once so joyful, whose people felt themselves secure, who used to say to herself, "I am [the greatest]! I have no rival." What a ruin she has become a place for wild animals to lie down! Everyone passing by her hisses and shakes his fist!

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 13

John 1:19-51; 1 Chronicles 7-8; Zephaniah 3 CJB

John 1:19-51

19 Here is Yochanan's testimony: when the Judeans sent cohanim and L'vi'im from Yerushalayim to ask him, "Who are you?"

20 he was very straightforward and stated clearly, "I am not the Messiah."

21 "Then who are you?" they asked him. "Are you Eliyahu?" "No, I am not," he said. "Are you `the prophet,' the one we're expecting?" "No," he replied.

22 So they said to him, "Who are you? -- so that we can give an answer to the people who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?"

23 He answered in the words of Yesha`yahu the prophet, "I am The voice of someone crying out: `In the desert make the way of ADONAI straight!'"

24 Some of those who had been sent were P'rushim.

25 They asked him, "If you are neither the Messiah nor Eliyahu nor `the prophet,' then why are you immersing people?"

26 To them Yochanan replied, "I am immersing people in water, but among you is standing someone whom you don't know.

27 He is the one coming after me -- I'm not good enough even to untie his sandal!"

28 All this took place in Beit-Anyah, east of the Yarden, where Yochanan was immersing.

29 The next day, Yochanan saw Yeshua coming toward him and said, "Look! God's lamb! The one who is taking away the sin of the world!

30 This is the man I was talking about when I said, `After me is coming someone who has come to rank above me, because he existed before me.'

31 I myself did not know who he was, but the reason I came immersing with water was so that he might be made known to Isra'el."

32 Then Yochanan gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and remaining on him.

33 I myself did not know who he was, but the one who sent me to immerse in water said to me, `The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the one who immerses in the Ruach HaKodesh.'

34 And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God."

35 The next day, Yochanan was again standing with two of his talmidim.

36 On seeing Yeshua walking by, he said, "Look! God's lamb!"

37 His two talmidim heard him speaking, and they followed Yeshua.

38 Yeshua turned and saw them following him, and he asked them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi!" (which means "Teacher!") "Where are you staying?"

39 He said to them, "Come and see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and remained with him the rest of the day -- it was about four o'clock in the afternoon.

40 One of the two who had heard Yochanan and had followed Yeshua was Andrew the brother of Shim`on Kefa.

41 The first thing he did was to find his brother Shim`on and tell him, "We've found the Mashiach!" (The word means "one who has been anointed.")

42 He took him to Yeshua. Looking at him, Yeshua said, "You are Shim`on Bar-Yochanan; you will be known as Kefa." (The name means "rock.")

43 The next day, having decided to leave for the Galil, Yeshua found Philip and said, "Follow me!"

44 Philip was from Beit-Tzaidah, the town where Andrew and Kefa lived.

45 Philip found Natan'el and told him, "We've found the one that Moshe wrote about in the Torah, also the Prophets -- it's Yeshua Ben-Yosef from Natzeret!"

46 Natan'el answered him, "Natzeret? Can anything good come from there?" "Come and see," Philip said to him.

47 Yeshua saw Natan'el coming toward him and remarked about him, "Here's a true son of Isra'el -- nothing false in him!"

48 Natan'el said to him, "How do you know me?" Yeshua answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

49 Natan'el said, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Isra'el!"

50 Yeshua answered him, "you believe all this just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that!"

51 Then he said to him, "Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down on the Son of Man!"

1 Chronicles 7

1 The sons of Yissakhar were: Tola, Pu'ah, Yashuv and Shimron - four.

2 The sons of Tola were: 'Uzi, Refayah, Yeri'el, Yachmai, Yivsam and Sh'mu'el. They were heads of their fathers' clans, descended from Tola; they were strong, brave men in their generations. In the time of David they numbered 22,600.

3 The son of 'Uzi was Yizrachyah, and the sons of Yizrachyah were: Mikha'el, 'Ovadyah, Yo'el and Yishiyah - five, all of them leaders.

4 With them, by their generations, in their fathers' clans, were army troops organized for war, 36,000 of them, because they had many women and children.

5 Their kinsmen among all the clans of Yissakhar, strong, brave men, numbered 87,000, listed in genealogical records.

6 [The sons of] Binyamin were: Bela, Bekher and Y'dia'el - three.

7 The sons of Bela were: Etzbon, 'Uzi, 'Uzi'el, Yerimot and 'Iri - five; they were leaders of fathers' clans, strong, brave men. They numbered 22,034, listed in genealogical records.

8 The sons of Bekher were: Z'mirah, Yo'ash, Eli'ezer, Elyo'enai, 'Omri, Yeremot, Aviyah, 'Anatot and 'Alemet; all these were sons of Bekher.

9 Listed in genealogical records by generations under leaders of fathers' clans, who were strong, brave men, were 20,200.

10 The son of Y'dia'el was Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan were: Ye'ush, Binyamin, Ehud, Kena'anah, Zeitan, Tarshish and Achishachar.

11 All these were descendants of Y'dia'el, leaders of their fathers' clans, who were brave, strong men; they numbered 17,200, all fit to fight with the army.

12 [More descendants of Binyamin:] Shupim, Hupim, the sons of 'Ir. Hushim, the son of another [of Isra'el's sons, namely, Dan].

13 The sons of Naftali were: Yachtzi'el, Guni, Yetzer, Shalum, the sons of Bilhah.

14 The descendants of M'nasheh: his concubine the woman from Aram bore Makhir the father of Gil'ad; Asri'el [Gil'ad's son] was descended from her.

15 Makhir's wife was from the families of Hupim and Shupim, and his sister's name was Ma'akhah. M'nasheh's second son was Tz'lof'chad, and Tz'lof'chad had daughters.

16 Ma'akhah the wife of Makhir bore a son whom she named Peresh, the name of his brother was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rekem.

17 The son of Ulam was B'dan. These were the descendants of Gil'ad the son of Makhir the son of M'nasheh.

18 His sister Hammolekhet [the governor] bore Ish-Hod, Avi'ezer and Machlah.

19 The sons of Sh'mida were Achyan, Sh'khem, Lik'chi and Ani'am.

20 The descendants of Efrayim were: Shutelach, his son Bered, his son Tachat, his son El'adah, his son Tachat,

21 his son Zavad and his son Shutelach; also 'Ezer and El'ad, whom the men of Gat born in the land killed when they came down to raid their cattle.

22 Efrayim their father mourned for a long time, and his kinsmen came to comfort him.

23 Then he had sexual relations with his wife, and she conceived and bore a son whom he called B'ri'ah [in calamity], because his household had suffered a calamity.

24 His daughter was She'erah, who built upper and lower Beit-Horon and Uzen-She'erah.

25 Refach was his son, and Reshef, then his son Telach, his son Tachan

26 his son La'dan, his son 'Ammihud, his son Elishama,

27 his son Nun and his son Y'hoshua.

28 Their possessions and settlements were Beit-El with its towns; Na'aran to the east; and to the west, Gezer with its towns; also Sh'khem with its towns, as far as 'Ayah and its towns;

29 and, near the territory of the descendants of M'nasheh, Beit-Sh'an with its towns, Ta'nakh with its towns, Megiddo with its towns and Dor with its towns. In these places lived the descendants of Yosef the son of Isra'el.

30 The children of Asher were: Yimnah, Yishvah, Yishvi, B'ri'ah and their sister Serach.

31 The sons of B'ri'ah were: Hever and Malki'el, who fathered Birzayit.

32 Hever fathered Yaflet, Shomer, Hotam and their sister Shua.

33 The sons of Yaflet were: Pasakh, Bimhal and 'Ashvat; these were the sons of Yaflet.

34 The sons of Shemer were: Achi, Rohgah, Hubah and Aram.

35 The sons of his brother Helem were: Zofach, Yimnah, Shelesh and 'Amal.

36 The sons of Zofach were: Suach, Harnefer, Shu'al, Beri, Yimrah,

37 Betzer, Hod, Shama, Shilshah, Yitran and Be'era.

38 The sons of Yeter were: Y'funeh, Pispah and Ara.

39 The sons of 'Ula were: Arach, Hani'el and Ritzya.

40 All these were descendants of Asher, leaders of their fathers'clans, elite, strong, brave men, the most important of the princes. Those fit for battle service, listed in genealogies, numbered 26,000 men.

1 Chronicles 8

1 Binyamin fathered Bela his firstborn son; his second, Ashbel; his third, Achrach;

2 his fourth, Nochah; and his fifth, Rafa.

3 Bela had sons: Adar, Gera, Avihud,

4 Avishua, Na'aman, Achoach,

5 Gera, Sh'fufan and Huram.

6 These are the sons of Ehud, the heads of fathers' clans among the inhabitants of Geva (they were carried away captive to Manachat;

7 those who carried them off were Na'aman, Achiyah and Gera): he fathered 'Uzah and Achichud.

8 Shacharayim fathered children on the plains of Mo'av; after sending away his wives Hushim and Ba'ara,

9 it was through his wife Hodesh that he fathered: Yovav, Tzivya, Mesha, Malkam,

10 Ye'utz, Sokhya and Mirmah. These were his sons, heads of clans.

11 Through Hushim he fathered Avituv and Elpa'al.

12 The sons of Elpa'al: 'Ever, Mish'am, Shemed - he built Ono and Lod with its towns -

13 and B'ri'ah and Shema - they were heads of fathers' clans among the inhabitants of Ayalon, who drove away the people living in Gat.

14 Achyo, Shashak, Yeremot,

15 Z'vadyah, 'Arad, 'Eder,

16 Mikha'el, Yishpah and Yocha were the sons of B'ri'ah.

17 Z'vadyah, Meshulam, Hizki, Hever,

18 Yishm'rai, Yizli'ah and Yovav were the sons of Elpa'al.

19 Yakim, Zikhri, Zavdi,

20 Eli'einai, Tziltai, Eli'el,

21 'Adayah, B'rayah and Shimrat were the sons of Shim'i.

22 Yishpan, 'Eved, Eli'el,

23 'Avdon, Zikhri, Hanan,

24 Hananyah, 'Eilam, 'Anatotyah,

25 Yifdeyah and P'nu'el were the sons of Shashak.

26 Shamsh'rai, Sh'charyah,'Atalyah,

27 Ya'areshyah, Eliyah and Zikhri were the sons of Yerocham.

28 These were leaders of fathers' houses through all their generations, leading men who lived in Yerushalayim.

29 In Giv'on lived the father of Giv'on, whose wife's name was Ma'akhah;

30 and his firstborn son 'Avdon, Tzur, Kish, Ba'al, Nadav,

31 G'dor, Achyo and Zekher.

32 Miklot fathered Shim'ah. In contrast with some of their kinsmen, they and their families lived in Yerushalayim.

33 Ner fathered Kish; Kish fathered Sha'ul; and Sha'ul fathered Y'honatan, Malkishua, Avinadav and Eshba'al.

34 The son of Y'honatan was M'riv-Ba'al, and M'riv-Ba'al fathered Mikhah.

35 The sons of Mikhah: Piton, Melekh, Ta'rea and Achaz.

36 Achaz fathered Y'ho'adah; Y'ho'adah fathered 'Alemet, 'Azmavet and Zimri; Zimri fathered Motza;

37 and Motza fathered Bin'a. His son was Rafah, his son was El'asah and his son was Atzel.

38 Atzel had six sons, whose names were: 'Azrikam, Bokhru, Yishma'el, Sh'aryah, 'Ovadyah and Hanan; all these were sons of Atzel.

39 The sons of his brother 'Eshek: Ulam his firstborn, Ye'ush the second and Elifelet the third.

40 The sons of Ulam were strong, brave men, archers; they had many children and grandchildren, a hundred and fifty. All these were descendants of Binyamin.

Zephaniah 3

1 Woe to her who is filthy, defiled; woe to the tyrant city!

2 She wouldn't listen to the voice, wouldn't receive correction; she didn't trust in ADONAI, didn't draw close to her God.

3 Her leaders there with her are roaring lions, her judges desert wolves, who don't leave even a bone for tomorrow.

4 Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men; her cohanim profane the holy and do violence to Torah.

5 ADONAI, who is righteous, is there among them; he never does anything wrong. Every morning he renders his judgment, every morning, without fail; yet the wrongdoer knows no shame.

6 "I have cut off nations, their battlements are ruined; I have made their streets ruins, no one walks in them. Their cities are destroyed, abandoned, unpeopled.

7 I said, 'Surely now you will fear me, you will receive correction'; so that her place will not be cut off by all the punishments I brought on her. But no, they only grew all the more eager to be corrupt in all that they do.

8 Therefore, wait for me," says ADONAI, "for the day when I rise to witness against you, when I decide to assemble nations, to gather kingdoms together, to pour on them my indignation, all my furious anger; for all the earth will be consumed in the fire of my passion.

9 For then I will change the peoples, so that they will have pure lips, to call on the name of ADONAI, all of them, and serve him with one accord.

10 Even from beyond Ethiopia's rivers they will bring those who petition me, the daughter of my dispersed as my offering.

11 When that day comes, you will not be ashamed of everything you have done, committing wrongs against me; for then I will remove from among you those of you who take joy in arrogance; you will no longer be full of pride on my holy mountain.

12 I will leave among you a poor and afflicted people, who will find their refuge in the name of ADONAI."

13 The remnant of Isra'el will not do wrong, nor will they speak lies, nor will there be found in their mouths a tongue given over to deceit; for they will be able to graze and lie down, with no one to disturb them.

14 Sing, daughter of Tziyon! Shout, Isra'el! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Yerushalayim!

15 ADONAI has removed the judgments against you, he has expelled your enemy; the king of Isra'el, ADONAI, is right there with you. You no longer need to fear that anything bad will happen.

16 On that day, it will be said to Yerushalayim, "Do not fear, Tziyon! don't let your hands droop down.

17 ADONAI your God is right there with you, as a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you and be glad, he will be silent in his love, he will shout over you with joy."

18 "I will gather those of yours who grieve over the appointed feasts and bear the burden of reproach [because they cannot keep them].

19 When that time comes, I will deal with all those who oppress you. I will save her who is lame, gather her who was driven away, and make them whose shame spread over the earth the object of praise and renown.

20 When that time comes, I will bring you in; when that time comes, I will gather you and make you the object of fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth - when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes," says ADONAI.