Daily Bible Reading from BibleStudyTools.com

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Today's Bible Reading

August 14

John 1:35-51; 1 Chronicles 9; Haggai 1-2 CJB

John 1:35-51

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 9

1 So all Isra'el was listed by genealogies, and these were recorded in the book of the kings of Isra'el. Then Y'hudah was carried away captive to Bavel because of their unfaithfulness.

2 The first people to return to their possessions in the cities were the Isra'elim, the cohanim, the L'vi'im and the temple servants.

3 In Yerushalayim lived some descendants of Y'hudah, some descendants of Binyamin and some descendants of Efrayim and of M'nasheh:

4 'Utai the son of 'Ammihud, the son of 'Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, from the descendants of Peretz the son of Y'hudah.

5 Of the Shiloni: 'Asayah the firstborn and his sons.

6 Of the descendants of Zerach: Ye'u'el and their kinsmen, 690.

7 Of the descendants of Binyamin: Salu the son of Meshulam the son of Hodavyah the son of Hasnu'ah,

8 Yivneyah the son of Yerocham, Elah the son of 'Uzi the son of Mikhri, Meshulam the son of Sh'fatyah the son of Re'u'el the son of Yivneyah,

9 and their kinsmen, according to their generations - altogether 956. All these men were leaders of fathers' clans.

10 Of the cohanim: Y'da'yah, Y'hoyariv, Yakhin,

11 'Azaryah the son of Hilkiyah the son of Meshulam the son of Tzadok the son of M'rayot the son of Achituv the ruler of the house of God,

12 'Adayah the son of Yerocham the son of Pash'chur the son of Malkiyah, Ma'asai the son of 'Adi'el the son of Yachzerah the son of Meshulam the son of Meshilmit the son of Immer,

13 and their kinsmen, leaders of their fathers'clans, 1,760 very competent men available for serving in the house of God.

14 Of the L'vi'im: Sh'ma'yah the son of Hashuv the son of 'Azrikam the son of Hashavyah, from the descendants of M'rari;

15 Bakbakar; Heresh; Galal; Matanyah the son of Mikha the son of Zikhri the son of Asaf;

16 'Ovadyah the son of Sh'ma'yah the son of Galal the son of Y'dutun; and Berekhyah the son of Asa the son of Elkanah, who lived in the towns of the N'tofati.

17 The gatekeepers: Shalum, 'Akuv, Talmon, Achiman and their kinsmen; Shalum was the chief.

18 Previously they had guarded the king's gate to the east; they were gatekeepers for the camp of the descendants of Levi.

19 Shalum the son of Kore the son of Evyasaf the son of Korach and his kinsmen from his father's clan the Korchim were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tent. Their ancestors had been in charge of the camp of ADONAI, keepers of the entryway.

20 Pinchas the son of El'azar had been ruler over them long before; ADONAI had been with him.

21 Z'kharyah the son of Meshelemyah guarded the entryway to the tent of meeting.

22 All these chosen to be gatekeepers numbered 212. Their genealogies were recorded in their towns; they had been appointed to their positions by David and Sh'mu'el the seer.

23 They and their descendants supervised the gates of the house of ADONAI, that is, the house of the tent, by periods of duty.

24 The gatekeepers served on the four sides, east, west, north and south.

25 From time to time their kinsmen had to come in from their towns to help them for seven days.

26 For the four chief gatekeepers were on permanent duty; they were the L'vi'im in charge of accommodations and supplies in the house of God.

27 They spent their nights in the vicinity of the house of God, because they were in charge of it; they were responsible for opening it up each morning.

28 Some of [the L'vi'im] were in charge of the articles used for the service; they had to keep records of them when bringing them in and out.

29 Others were in charge of the equipment, the holy utensils, the fine flour, the wine, the olive oil, the frankincense and the spices.

30 Some of the sons of the cohanim mixed together the ingredients for the perfumes.

31 Mattityah, one of the L'vi'im, who was the firstborn of Shalum the Korchi, was permanently in charge of baking operations.

32 Some of their kinsmen, from the descendants of the K'hati, were in charge of preparing the showbread every Shabbat.

33 Also there were the singers, heads of fathers' clans among the L'vi'im. They lived in the accommodations and were free from other kinds of service, for they were employed in their own work day and night.

34 These were heads of fathers' clans among the L'vi'im, according to their generations, and they were leaders; they lived in Yerushalayim.

35 In Giv'on lived the father of Giv'on, Ye'i'el, whose his wife's name was Ma'akhah;

36 and his firstborn son 'Avdon, Tzur, Kish, Ba'al, Ner, Nadav,

37 G'dor, Achyo, Z'kharyah and Miklot.

38 Miklot fathered Shim'am. In contrast with some of their kinsmen, they and their families lived in Yerushalayim.

39 Ner fathered Kish; Kish fathered Sha'ul; and Sha'ul fathered Y'honatan, Malkishua, Avinadav and Eshba'al.

40 The son of Y'honatan was M'riv-Ba'al, and M'riv-Ba'al fathered Mikhah.

41 The sons of Mikhah were: Piton, Melekh and Ta'rea.

42 Achaz fathered Ya'ra; Ya'ra fathered 'Alemet, 'Azmavet and Zimri; Zimri fathered Motza;

43 and Motza fathered Bin'a. His son was Rafah, his son El'asah and his son Atzel.

44 Atzel had six sons, whose names were: 'Azrikam, Bokhru, Yishma'el, Sh'aryah, 'Ovadyah and Hanan; all these were sons of Atzel.

Haggai 1

1 In the second year of Daryavesh the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the following word of ADONAI came through Hagai the prophet to Z'rubavel the son of Sh'alti'el, governor of Y'hudah, and to Y'hoshua the son of Y'hotzadak, the cohen hagadol:

2 "Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'This people is saying that now isn't the time - the time hasn't yet arrived for ADONAI's house to be rebuilt.'"

3 Then this word of ADONAI came through Hagai the prophet:

4 "So is now the time for you to be living in your own paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

5 Therefore here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'Think about your life!

6 You sow much but bring in little; you eat but aren't satisfied; you drink but never have enough; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who works for a living earns wages that are put in a bag full of holes.'"

7 "Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'Think about your life!

8 Go up into the hills, get wood, and rebuild the house. I will be pleased with that, and then I will be glorified,' says ADONAI.

9 'You looked for much, but it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?' asks ADONAI-Tzva'ot. 'Because my house lies in ruins, while every one of you runs to take care of his own house.

10 This is why the sky above you has withheld the dew, so that there is none, and the land withholds its yield.

11 In fact, I called for a drought on the land and on the hills, on the grain, the wine and the olive oil, on what the ground brings up, on men, animals and on all that hands produce.'"

12 Then Z'rubavel the son of Sh'alti'el and Y'hoshua the son of Y'hotzadak, the cohen hagadol, with all the rest of the people, paid attention to what ADONAI their God had said and to the words of Hagai the prophet; since ADONAI their God had sent him; and the people were filled with fear in the presence of ADONAI.

13 Hagai the messenger of ADONAI conveyed this message of ADONAI to the people: "'I am with you,' says ADONAI."

14 ADONAI roused the spirit of Z'rubavel the son of Sh'alti'el, governor of Y'hudah, and the spirit of Y'hoshua the son of Y'hotzadak, the cohen hagadol, and the spirits of all the rest of the people; so that they came and began to work on the house of ADONAI-Tzva'ot their God.

15 This was on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the second year of Daryavesh the king.

Haggai 2

1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, this word of ADONAI came through Hagai the prophet:

2 "Speak now to Z'rubavel the son of Sh'alti'el, governor of Y'hudah, and to Y'hoshua the son of Y'hotzadak, the cohen hagadol, and to the rest of the people; say this to them:

3 '"Who among you is left that saw this house in its former glory? And how does it look to you now? It seems like nothing to you, doesn't it?

4 Nevertheless, Z'rubavel, take courage now," says ADONAI; "and take courage, Y'hoshua the son of Y'hotzadak, the cohen hagadol; and take courage, all you people of the land," says ADONAI; "and get to work! For I am with you," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

5 "This is in keeping with the word that I promised in a covenant with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit remains with you, so don't be afraid!"

6 For this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: "It won't be long before one more time I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land;

7 and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasures of all the nations will flow in; and I will fill this house with glory," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

8 "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

9 "The glory of this new house will surpass that of the old," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "and in this place I will grant shalom," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.'"

10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Daryavesh, this word of ADONAI came through Hagai the prophet:

11 "Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'Ask the cohanim what the Torah says about this:

12 if someone carries meat that has been set aside as holy in a fold of his cloak; and then he lets his cloak touch bread, stew, wine, olive oil or any other food; does that food become holy too?'" The cohanim answered, "No."

13 Then Hagai asked, "If someone who is unclean from having had contact with a corpse touches any of these [food items], will they become unclean?" The cohanim answered, "They become unclean."

14 Hagai then said, "'That is the condition of this people, that is the condition of this nation before me,' says ADONAI, 'and that is the condition of everything their hands produce; so that anything they offer there is unclean.

15 Now, please, from this day on, keep this in mind: before you began laying stones on each other to rebuild the temple of ADONAI,

16 throughout that whole time, when someone approached a twenty-measure pile [of grain], he found only ten; and when he came to the winepress to draw out fifty measures, there were only twenty.

17 I struck you with blasting winds, mildew and hail on everything your hands produced; but you still wouldn't return to me,' says ADONAI.

18 'So please keep this in mind, from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of ADONAI's temple was laid, consider this:

19 there's no longer any seed in the barn, is there? and the vine, fig tree, pomegranate tree and olive tree have produced nothing yet, right? However, from this day on, I will bless you.'"

20 The word of ADONAI came a second time to Hagai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, as follows:

21 "Tell Z'rubavel, governor of Y'hudah, 'I will shake the heavens and the earth,

22 I will overturn the thrones of kingdoms, I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and I will overturn the chariots and the people riding in them; the horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.

23 When that day comes,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, 'I will take you, Z'rubavel, my servant, the son of Sh'alti'el,' says ADONAI, 'and wear you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot."

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Today's Bible Reading

August 15

John 2; 1 Chronicles 10-11; Zechariah1 CJB

John 2

1 On Tuesday there was a wedding at Kanah in the Galil; and the mother of Yeshua was there.

2 Yeshua too was invited to the wedding, along with his talmidim.

3 The wine ran out, and Yeshua's mother said to him, "They have no more wine."

4 Yeshua replied, "Mother, why should that concern me? -- or you? My time hasn't come yet."

5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

6 Now six stone water-jars were standing there for the Jewish ceremonial washings, each with a capacity of twenty or thirty gallons.

7 Yeshua told them, "Fill the jars with water," and they filled them to the brim.

8 He said, "Now draw some out, and take it to the man in charge of the banquet"; and they took it.

9 The man in charge tasted the water; it had now turned into wine! He did not know where it had come from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. So he called the bride groom

10 and said to him, "Everyone else serves the good wine first and the poorer wine after people have drunk freely. But you have kept the good wine until now!"

11 This, the first of Yeshua's miraculous signs, he did at Kanah in the Galil; he manifested his glory, and his talmidim came to trust in him.

12 Afterwards, he, his mother and brothers, and his talmidim went down to K'far-Nachum and stayed there a few days.

13 It was almost time for the festival of Pesach in Y'hudah, so Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim.

14 In the Temple grounds he found those who were selling cattle, sheep and pigeons, and others who were sitting at tables exchanging money.

15 He made a whip from cords and drove them all out of the Temple grounds, the sheep and cattle as well. He knocked over the money-changers' tables, scattering their coins;

16 and to the pigeon-sellers he said, "Get these things out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market?"

17 (His talmidim later recalled that the Tanakh says, "Zeal for your house will devour me." )

18 So the Judeans confronted him by asking him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove you have the right to do all this?"

19 Yeshua answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again."

20 The Judeans said, "It took 46 years to build this Temple, and you're going to raise it in three days?"

21 But the "temple" he had spoken of was his body.

22 Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his talmidim remembered that he had said this, and they trusted in the Tanakh and in what Yeshua had said.

23 Now while Yeshua was in Yerushalayim at the Pesach festival, there were many people who "believed in his name" when they saw the miracles he performed.

24 But he did not commit himself to them, for he knew what people are like --

25 that is, he didn't need anyone to inform him about a person, because he knew what was in the person's heart.

1 Chronicles 10

1 Now the P'lishtim pressed their attack on Isra'el; and the men of Isra'el fled before the P'lishtim, leaving their dead on Mount Gilboa.

2 The P'lishtim pursued Sha'ul; overtook him and his sons; and the P'lishtim killed Y'honatan, Avinadav and Malkishua, the sons of Sha'ul.

3 The fighting went hard against Sha'ul; then the archers overtook and wounded him, so that he was in agony.

4 Sha'ul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it. Otherwise, these uncircumcised men will come and make sport of me." But his armor-bearer refused; he was too frightened. So Sha'ul took his sword and fell on it.

5 When his armor-bearer saw that Sha'ul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died.

6 Thus Sha'ul, his three sons and all his household died together.

7 When all the men of Isra'el who were in the valley saw them fleeing and that Sha'ul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled; then the P'lishtim came and lived in them.

8 The following day, when the P'lishtim came to strip the dead, they found Sha'ul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa.

9 They stripped him, then took his head and his armor and sent them all over the territory of the P'lishtim to carry the news to their idols and to the people.

10 They put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his skull to the temple of Dagon.

11 When everyone in Yavesh-Gil'ad heard all that the P'lishtim had done to Sha'ul,

12 all their warriors set out, took away the body of Sha'ul and the bodies of his sons, brought them to Yavesh, buried their bones under the pistachio tree in Yavesh and fasted seven days.

13 So Sha'ul died for the transgression he committed against ADONAI, because of the word of ADONAI that he did not keep and because he sought the counsel of a spirit

14 instead of consulting ADONAI. Therefore ADONAI put him to death and turned the rulership over to David the son of Yishai.

1 Chronicles 11

1 Then all Isra'el gathered themselves to David in Hevron and said, "Here, we are your own flesh and bone.

2 In the past, even when Sha'ul was king, it was you who led Isra'el's military campaigns; and ADONAI your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Isra'el, and you will be chief over my people Isra'el.'"

3 So all the leaders of Isra'el came to the king in Hevron; and David made a covenant with them in Hevron in the presence of ADONAI. Then they anointed David king over Isra'el, as ADONAI had said through Sh'mu'el.

4 David and all Isra'el went to Yerushalayim, also known as Y'vus; and the Y'vusi, the inhabitants of that region, were there.

5 The inhabitants of Y'vus taunted David by saying, "You won't get in here!" Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Tziyon, also known now as the City of David.

6 David said, "Whoever attacks the Y'vusi first will be commander-in-chief." Yo'av the son of Tz'ruyah attacked first and was made commander.

7 David lived in the stronghold; therefore they called it the City of David.

8 David built up the city around it, starting at the Millo [earth rampart] and going on around; while Yo'av repaired the rest of the city.

9 David grew greater and greater, because ADONAI-Tzva'ot was with him.

10 These are David's chief warriors, who, under his rulership, joined forces with him and with all Isra'el to make him king, as ADONAI had said concerning Isra'el;

11 here is the list of David's warrior-heroes: Yashov'am son of a Hakhmoni, the chief officer; he is the one who raised his spear against 300 men and killed them in a single encounter.

12 After him was El'azar the son of Dodo the Achochi, one of the three warriors.

13 He was with David at Pas-Damim, where the P'lishtim had assembled for battle. There was a plot of ground full of barley; and when the people fled from the P'lishtim,

14 they stood in the middle of the plot and defended it, killing the P'lishtim; and ADONAI saved them with a great victory.

15 Three of the thirty leaders went down to the rock and came to David during harvest season at the cave of 'Adulam when the army of the P'lishtim had set up camp in the Refa'im Valley.

16 At that time David was in the fortress, and the garrison of the P'lishtim was in Beit-Lechem.

17 David had a craving and said, "I wish someone could give me water to drink from the well by the gate of Beit-Lechem!"

18 The three broke through the army of the P'lishtim, drew water from the well by the gate of Beit-Lechem, took it and brought it to David. But David would not drink it; instead, he poured it out to ADONAI

19 and said, "My God forbid that I should do such a thing! Am I to drink the blood of these men who went and put their lives in jeopardy? They risked their lives to bring it!"- and he would not consent to drink it. These are the things the three warrior-heroes did.

20 Avishai the brother of Yo'av was chief of these three. He raised his spear against 300 men and killed them; thus he had a reputation even among the three.

21 Of the three in the second rank he had the most honor and was therefore made their leader; however, he did not achieve the status of the first three.

22 B'nayah the son of Y'hoyada, the son of a valiant man of Kavtze'el, was a man of many exploits. He struck down two lion-hearted men of Mo'av. One day when it was snowing, he went down into a pit and killed a lion.

23 Here is how he killed an Egyptian, a man who was very tall, seven-and-a-half feet: the Egyptian had a spear in his hand the size of a weaver's beam; he went down to him with only a stick, seized the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.

24 These are things that B'nayah the son of Y'hoyada did that earned him a name among the three warrior-heroes.

25 He had more honor than the thirty, but he did not achieve the status of the first three. David put him in command of his personal guard.

26 There were also these warrior-heroes: 'Asah'el the brother of Yo'av, Elchanan the son of Dodo, from Beit-Lechem,

27 Shammah the Harori, Heletz the P'loni,

28 'Ira son of 'Ikesh from T'koa, Avi'ezer from 'Anatot,

29 Sibkhai the Hushati, 'Ilai the Achochi,

30 Mahrai the N'tofati, Heled the son of Ba'anah the N'tofati,

31 Ittai the son of Rivai from Giv'ah, from the descendants of Binyamin, B'nayahu from Pir'aton,

32 Hurai from the vadis of Ga'ash, Avi'el the 'Arvati,

33 'Azmavet the Bacharumi Elyachba the Sha'alvoni,

34 the sons of Hashem the Gizoni, Y'honatan the son of Shageh the Harari,

35 Achi'am the son of Sakhar the Harari, Elifal the son of Ur,

36 Hefer the M'kherati, Achiyah the P'loni,

37 Hetzro the Karmeli, Na'arai the son of Ezbai

38 Yo'el the brother of Natan, Mivchar the son of Hagri,

39 Tzelek the 'Amoni, Nachrai the Be'eroti, armor-bearer of Yo'av the son of Tz'ruyah,

40 'Ira the Yitri, Garev the Yitri,

41 Uriyah the Hitti, Zavad the son of Achlai,

42 'Adina the son of Shiza the Re'uveni, a leader among the Re'uveni, and thirty with him,

43 Hanan the son of Ma'akhah, Yoshafat the Mitni,

44 'Uziyah the 'Asht'rati Shama and Ye'i'el the sons of Hotam the 'Aro'eri,

45 Y'dia'el the son of Shimri, Yocha his brother, the Titzi,

46 Eli'el from Machavim, Yerivai and Yoshavyah the sons of Elna'am, Yitmah the Mo'avi,

47 Eli'el, 'Oved, and Ya'asi'el from M'tzovayah.

Zechariah 1

1 In the eighth month of the second year of Daryavesh, the following message from ADONAI came to Z'kharyah the son of Berekhyah, the son of 'Iddo, the prophet:

2 "ADONAI was extremely angry with your ancestors.

3 Therefore, tell them that ADONAI-Tzva'ot says this: '"Return to me," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "and I will return to you," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

4 "Don't be like your ancestors. The earlier prophets proclaimed to them, 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot says to turn back now from your evil ways and deeds'; but they didn't listen or pay attention to me," says ADONAI.

5 "Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

6 But my words and my laws, which I ordered my servants the prophets, overtook your ancestors, didn't they? Then they turned and said, 'ADONAI has dealt with us according to our ways and deeds, just as he intended to do.'"'"

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Sh'vat, in the second year of Daryavesh, this message from ADONAI came to Z'kharyah the son of Berekhyah, the son of 'Iddo, the prophet:

8 It was night, and I saw there before me a man riding on a russet-colored horse. He stood among the myrtle bushes in the valley; and behind him were other horses, russet, chestnut-colored and white.

9 I asked, "What are these, my Lord?" The angel speaking with me said to me, "I will show you what these are."

10 The man standing among the myrtles said, "These are those whom ADONAI has sent to wander throughout the earth."

11 Then they themselves answered the angel of ADONAI standing among the myrtles, "We have been wandering throughout the earth, and the whole world is quiet and at peace."

12 The angel of ADONAI said, "ADONAI-Tzva'ot, how long will you keep withholding mercy from Yerushalayim and the cities of Y'hudah? You've been angry with them for the past seventy years!"

13 ADONAI replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

14 The angel speaking with me then said to me, "Here is what ADONAITzva'ot says: 'I am extremely jealous on behalf of Yerushalayim and Tziyon;

15 and [to the same degree] I am extremely angry with the nations that are so self-satisfied; because I was only a little angry [at Yerushalayim and Tziyon], but they made the suffering worse.'

16 Therefore ADONAI says, 'I will return to Yerushalayim with merciful deeds. My house will be rebuilt there,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot; 'yes, a measuring line will be stretched out over Yerushalayim.'

17 In addition, proclaim that ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'My cities will again overflow with prosperity.' ADONAI will again comfort Tziyon, and he will again make Yerushalayim the city of his choice."

18 Then I looked up and saw four horns.

19 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, "What are these?" He answered, "These are the horns that scattered Y'hudah, Isra'el and Yerushalayim."

20 Next, ADONAI showed me four artisans.

21 I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "Those horns that scattered Y'hudah so completely that no one could even raise his head - well, these men have come to terrify them, to overthrow the nations that raised their horns against the land of Y'hudah to scatter it."

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Today's Bible Reading

August 16

John 3:1-21; 1 Chronicles 12; Zechariah 2 CJB

John 3:1-21

1 There was a man among the P'rushim, named Nakdimon, who was a ruler of the Judeans.

2 This man came to Yeshua by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know it is from God that you have come as a teacher; for no one can do these miracles you perform unless God is with him."

3 "Yes, indeed," Yeshua answered him, "I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."

4 Nakdimon said to him, "How can a grown man be `born'? Can he go back into his mother's womb and be born a second time?"

5 Yeshua answered, "Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

6 What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit. Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again

7 from above!

8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it's going. That's how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit."

9 Nakdimon replied, "How can this happen?"

10 Yeshua answered him, "You hold the office of teacher in Isra'el, and you don't know this?

11 Yes, indeed! I tell you that what we speak about, we know; and what we give evidence of, we have seen; but you people don't accept our evidence!

12 If you people don't believe me when I tell you about the things of the world, how will you believe me when I tell you about the things of heaven?

13 No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.

14 Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up;

15 so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life.

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.

17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved.

18 Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God's only and unique Son.

19 "Now this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their actions were wicked.

20 For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it, so that his actions won't be exposed.

21 But everyone who does what is true comes to the light, so that all may see that his actions are accomplished through God."

1 Chronicles 12

1 Following are the men who joined David at Ziklag while he was still being kept away from Sha'ul the son of Kish; they were among the warriors who helped him fight his battles.

2 They were archers who could use either hand to sling stones or shoot arrows from a bow; they were Sha'ul's kinsmen from Binyamin.

3 Their leader was Achi'ezer, then Yo'ash, the sons of Sh'ma'ah the Giv'ati, Y'zi'el, Pelet, the sons of 'Azmavet, B'rakhah, Yehu from 'Anatot,

4 Yishma'yah the Giv'oni, one of the strongest of the thirty and commander of the thirty,

5 (4b) Yirmeyah, Yachzi'el, Yochanan, Yozavad from G'derah,5 El'uzai, Yerimot, B'alyah, Sh'maryah, Sh'fatyah the Harufi,

6 Elkanah, Yishiyahu, 'Azar'el, Yo'ezer, Yashov'am the Korchi,

7 and Yo'elah and Z'vadyah the sons of Yerocham from G'dor.

8 From the Gadi a number of strong, brave, trained fighting men defected to David at the fortress in the desert. They could handle shield and spear, they were as fierce as lions, and they were as fast as deer on the hills:

9 'Ezer was the leader, 'Ovadyah was second, Eli'av third,

10 Mishmanah fourth, Yirmeyah fifth,

11 'Atai sixth, Eli'el seventh,

12 Yochanan eighth, Elzavad ninth,

13 Yirmeyah tenth, and Makhbanai eleventh.

14 These descendants of Gad were army commanders; the least of them was worth a hundred, and the greatest worth a thousand.

15 These are the men who crossed the Yarden during the first month, when it had overflowed all its banks, and drove out all those who lived in the valleys, both to the east and to the west.

16 From the descendants of Binyamin and Y'hudah a number came to David at the fortress.

17 When David went out to meet them, he said, "If you are coming to me in peace to help me, my heart will be bonded to yours. But if you are coming to betray me to my enemies, then, since I have done nothing wrong, may the God of our fathers see it and judge."

18 Then the Spirit covered 'Amasai the chief commander, and he said: "We are yours, David; on your side, son of Yishai! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers; for your God helps you." David welcomed them and made them senior officers.

19 From M'nasheh some defected to David when he was about to go with the P'lishtim to fight against Sha'ul; but they ended up not helping them; because the rulers of the P'lishtim, after consultation, sent David away, saying, "He will defect to his master Sha'ul at the cost of our heads."

20 As he was on his way to Ziklag, those who defected to him from M'nasheh included 'Adnach, Yozavad, Y'dia'el, Mikha'el, Yozavad, Elihu and Tziltai, commanders of thousands from M'nasheh.

21 They helped David against the raiding band, for they were all strong, brave men who were commanders in the army.

22 Indeed, reinforcements to assist David reached him daily, until there was a great army, like the army of God.

23 Following are the numbers of those who came armed for war to David in Hevron, in order to transfer to him the kingdom of Sha'ul, according to what ADONAI had said.

24 The descendants of Y'hudah bearing shields and spears numbered 6,800, armed for war.

25 Of the descendants of Shim'on, strong, brave men for war, there were 7,100.

26 Of the descendants of Levi, there were 4,600.

27 Y'hoyada was the leader of the house of Aharon, and with him were 3,700;

28 also Tzadok, a young man, strong and brave, with twenty-two commanders from his father's family.

29 Of the descendants of Binyamin the kinsmen of Sha'ul, there were 3,000; for up until then, the majority of them had remained loyal to the house of Sha'ul.

30 Of the descendants of Efrayim, there were 20,800 strong, brave men, well known in their fathers' families.

31 Of the half-tribe of M'nasheh, 18,000 were designated by name to come and make David king.

32 Of the descendants of Yissakhar, men who understood the times and knew what Isra'el ought to do, there were 200 leaders, and all their kinsmen were under their command.

33 Of Z'vulun, 50,000 men were fit for military service, experienced in war and able to use all kinds of weapons; they were brave, and none was doubleminded.

34 Of Naftali, there were 1,000 officers, and with them 37,000 troops having shields and spears.

35 Of Dan, 28,600 were experienced in war.

36 Of Asher, 40,000 men were fit for military service and experienced in war.

37 On the other side of the Yarden, from the Re'uveni, the Gadi and the half-tribe of M'nasheh, there were 120,000 with all kinds of weapons for battle.

38 All these soldiers who were experienced in war came to Hevron wholeheartedly to make David king over all Isra'el, and all the rest from Isra'el were single-hearted in wanting to make David king.

39 They remained there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen had prepared for them.

40 Moreover, those who were near them - and even those as far as Yissakhar, Z'vulun and Naftali - brought food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen: baked goods, fig cakes, clusters of raisins, wine, oil, and oxen and sheep in abundance; for there was joy in Isra'el.

1 Following are the men who joined David at Ziklag while he was still being kept away from Sha'ul the son of Kish; they were among the warriors who helped him fight his battles.

2 They were archers who could use either hand to sling stones or shoot arrows from a bow; they were Sha'ul's kinsmen from Binyamin.

3 Their leader was Achi'ezer, then Yo'ash, the sons of Sh'ma'ah the Giv'ati, Y'zi'el, Pelet, the sons of 'Azmavet, B'rakhah, Yehu from 'Anatot,

4 Yishma'yah the Giv'oni, one of the strongest of the thirty and commander of the thirty,

5 (4b) Yirmeyah, Yachzi'el, Yochanan, Yozavad from G'derah,5 El'uzai, Yerimot, B'alyah, Sh'maryah, Sh'fatyah the Harufi,

6 Elkanah, Yishiyahu, 'Azar'el, Yo'ezer, Yashov'am the Korchi,

7 and Yo'elah and Z'vadyah the sons of Yerocham from G'dor.

8 From the Gadi a number of strong, brave, trained fighting men defected to David at the fortress in the desert. They could handle shield and spear, they were as fierce as lions, and they were as fast as deer on the hills:

9 'Ezer was the leader, 'Ovadyah was second, Eli'av third,

10 Mishmanah fourth, Yirmeyah fifth,

11 'Atai sixth, Eli'el seventh,

12 Yochanan eighth, Elzavad ninth,

13 Yirmeyah tenth, and Makhbanai eleventh.

14 These descendants of Gad were army commanders; the least of them was worth a hundred, and the greatest worth a thousand.

15 These are the men who crossed the Yarden during the first month, when it had overflowed all its banks, and drove out all those who lived in the valleys, both to the east and to the west.

16 From the descendants of Binyamin and Y'hudah a number came to David at the fortress.

17 When David went out to meet them, he said, "If you are coming to me in peace to help me, my heart will be bonded to yours. But if you are coming to betray me to my enemies, then, since I have done nothing wrong, may the God of our fathers see it and judge."

18 Then the Spirit covered 'Amasai the chief commander, and he said: "We are yours, David; on your side, son of Yishai! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers; for your God helps you." David welcomed them and made them senior officers.

19 From M'nasheh some defected to David when he was about to go with the P'lishtim to fight against Sha'ul; but they ended up not helping them; because the rulers of the P'lishtim, after consultation, sent David away, saying, "He will defect to his master Sha'ul at the cost of our heads."

20 As he was on his way to Ziklag, those who defected to him from M'nasheh included 'Adnach, Yozavad, Y'dia'el, Mikha'el, Yozavad, Elihu and Tziltai, commanders of thousands from M'nasheh.

21 They helped David against the raiding band, for they were all strong, brave men who were commanders in the army.

22 Indeed, reinforcements to assist David reached him daily, until there was a great army, like the army of God.

23 Following are the numbers of those who came armed for war to David in Hevron, in order to transfer to him the kingdom of Sha'ul, according to what ADONAI had said.

24 The descendants of Y'hudah bearing shields and spears numbered 6,800, armed for war.

25 Of the descendants of Shim'on, strong, brave men for war, there were 7,100.

26 Of the descendants of Levi, there were 4,600.

27 Y'hoyada was the leader of the house of Aharon, and with him were 3,700;

28 also Tzadok, a young man, strong and brave, with twenty-two commanders from his father's family.

29 Of the descendants of Binyamin the kinsmen of Sha'ul, there were 3,000; for up until then, the majority of them had remained loyal to the house of Sha'ul.

30 Of the descendants of Efrayim, there were 20,800 strong, brave men, well known in their fathers' families.

31 Of the half-tribe of M'nasheh, 18,000 were designated by name to come and make David king.

32 Of the descendants of Yissakhar, men who understood the times and knew what Isra'el ought to do, there were 200 leaders, and all their kinsmen were under their command.

33 Of Z'vulun, 50,000 men were fit for military service, experienced in war and able to use all kinds of weapons; they were brave, and none was doubleminded.

34 Of Naftali, there were 1,000 officers, and with them 37,000 troops having shields and spears.

35 Of Dan, 28,600 were experienced in war.

36 Of Asher, 40,000 men were fit for military service and experienced in war.

37 On the other side of the Yarden, from the Re'uveni, the Gadi and the half-tribe of M'nasheh, there were 120,000 with all kinds of weapons for battle.

38 All these soldiers who were experienced in war came to Hevron wholeheartedly to make David king over all Isra'el, and all the rest from Isra'el were single-hearted in wanting to make David king.

39 They remained there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen had prepared for them.

40 Moreover, those who were near them - and even those as far as Yissakhar, Z'vulun and Naftali - brought food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen: baked goods, fig cakes, clusters of raisins, wine, oil, and oxen and sheep in abundance; for there was joy in Isra'el.

Zechariah 2

1 I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.

2 I asked, "Where are you going?" He said to me, "To measure Yerushalayim, to determine its width and length."

3 Here the angel who was speaking to me went forward, and another angel went out, met him

4 and said to him, "Run and tell this young man, 'Yerushalayim will be inhabited without walls, because there will be so many people and animals;

5 "for," says ADONAI, "I will be for her a wall of fire surrounding her; and I will be the glory within her.

6 Up!" says ADONAI, "Move! Flee the land of the north! For I scattered you like the four winds of the sky," says ADONAI.

7 "Move, Tziyon! You who are living with the daughter of Bavel, escape!"

8 For ADONAI-Tzva'ot has sent me on a glorious mission to the nations that plundered you, and this is what he says: "Anyone who injures you injures the very pupil of my eye.

9 But I will shake my hand over them, and they will be plundered by those who were formerly their slaves." Then you will know that ADONAI-Tzva'ot sent me.

10 "Sing, daughter of Tziyon;

11 Whenrejoice! For, here, I am coming; and I will live among you," says ADONAI. that time comes, many nations will join themselves to ADONAI. "They will be my people, and I will live among you." Then you will know that it was ADONAI-Tzva'ot who sent me to you.

12 ADONAI will take possession of Y'hudah as his portion in the holy land, and he will again make Yerushalayim his choice.

13 Be silent, all humanity, before ADONAI; for he has been roused from his holy dwelling.'"

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 17

John 3:22-36; 1 Chronicles 13-14; Zechariah3 CJB

John 3:22-36

22 After this, Yeshua and his talmidim went out into the countryside of Y'hudah, where he stayed awhile with them and immersed people.

23 Yochanan too was immersing at Einayim, near Shalem, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to be immersed.

24 (This was before Yochanan's imprisonment.)

25 A discussion arose between some of Yochanan's talmidim and a Judean about ceremonial washing;

26 and they came to Yochanan and said to him, "Rabbi, you know the man who was with you on the other side of the Yarden, the one you spoke about? Well, here he is, immersing; and everyone is going to him!"

27 Yochanan answered, "No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from Heaven.

28 You yourselves can confirm that I did not say I was the Messiah, but that I have been sent ahead of him.

29 The bridegroom is the one who has the bride; but the bridegroom's friend, who stands and listens to him, is overjoyed at the sound of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine is now complete.

30 He must become more important, while I become less important.

31 "He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth is from the earth and talks from an earthly point of view; he who comes from heaven is above all.

32 He testifies about what he has actually seen and heard, yet no one accepts what he says!

33 Whoever does accept what he says puts his seal on the fact that God is true,

34 because the one whom God sent speaks God's words. For God does not give him the Spirit in limited degree --

35 the Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands.

36 Whoever trusts in the Son has eternal life. But whoever disobeys the Son will not see that life but remains subject to God's wrath."

1 Chronicles 13

1 David consulted with the commanders of thousands and of hundreds - with every leader.

2 Then David said to the entire assembly of Isra'el, "If it seems good to you, and if it is the will of ADONAI our God, let's send messengers to the rest of our kinsmen in the land of Isra'el, and also to the cohanim and L'vi'im in their cities with surrounding open land, asking them to join us;

3 and let's bring back the ark of our God to ourselves, since we didn't go after it when Sha'ul was king."

4 The whole assembly said they would do this, for in the view of all the people it seemed right.

5 So David summoned all Isra'el to come together, from Shichor in Egypt all the way to the entrance of Hamat, to bring the ark of God from Kiryat-Ye'arim.

6 David went up with all Isra'el to Ba'alah, that is, Kiryat-Ye'arim, which belonged to Y'hudah, to bring up from there the ark of God, ADONAI, who is enthroned above the k'ruvim, bearing the Name.

7 They set the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Avinadav, with 'Uza and Achyo, the sons of Avinadav, driving the cart.

8 David and all Isra'el celebrated in the presence of God with all their strength, with songs, lyres, lutes, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets.

9 When they arrived at Kidon's threshing-floor, the oxen stumbled; and 'Uza put out his hand to steady the ark.

10 But ADONAI's anger blazed up against 'Uza, and he struck him down, because he had put out his hand and touched the ark, so that he died there before God.

11 It upset David that ADONAI had broken out against 'Uza; that place has been called Peretz-'Uza [breaking-out of 'Uza] ever since.

12 That day, God frightened David; he asked, "How can I bring the ark of God to me?"

13 So David didn't bring the ark into the City of David; rather, David carried it aside into the house of 'Oved-'Edom the Gitti.

14 The ark of God stayed with the family of 'Oved-'Edom the Gitti in his house for three months; and ADONAI blessed the household of 'Oved-'Edom and all he had.

1 Chronicles 14

1 Huram king of Tzor sent envoys to David with cedar logs, and with them stonemasons and carpenters, to build him a palace.

2 David then knew that ADONAI had set him up as king over Isra'el; because, for the sake of his people Isra'el, his royal power had been greatly increased.

3 David took more concubines and wives in Yerushalayim, and David became father of more sons and daughters.

4 Here are the names of the children born to him in Yerushalayim: Shamua, Shovav, Natan, Shlomo,

5 Yivchar, Elishua, Elpelet,

6 Nogah, Nefeg, Yafia,

7 Elishama, Be'elyada and Elifelet.

8 When the P'lishtim heard that David had been anointed king over all Isra'el, all the P'lishtim went up in search of David. On hearing of it, David went to attack them.

9 Now the P'lishtim came and made a raid in the Refa'im Valley.

10 David consulted God, asking, "Should I attack the P'lishtim? Will you hand them over to me?"ADONAI answered David, "Attack; I will hand them over to you."

11 So they went up to Ba'al-P'ratzim, and David defeated them there. David said, "God has broken through my enemies by my power like a river breaking through its banks."This is why they called the place Ba'al-P'ratzim [Lord of breaking through].

12 The P'lishtim had left their gods there, so David gave an order, and they were burned up completely.

13 The P'lishtim came up again and raided the valley.

14 David consulted God again, but God told him, "Don't attack them! Turn away from them, and engage them opposite the balsam trees.

15 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move out, and attack; because God has gone out ahead of you to defeat the army of the P'lishtim."

16 David did as God had ordered him to do and pursued his attack on the army of the P'lishtim from Giv'on to Gezer.

17 So David's reputation spread to all countries, and ADONAI brought the fear of him on all nations.

Zechariah 3

1 He showed me Y'hoshua the cohen hagadol standing before the angel of ADONAI, with the Accuser [Hebrew: Satan] standing at his right to accuse him.

2 ADONAI said to the Accuser, "May ADONAI rebuke you, Accuser! Indeed, may ADONAI, who has made Yerushalayim his choice, rebuke you! Isn't this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"

3 Y'hoshua was clothed in garments covered with dung; and he was standing before the angel,

4 who said to those standing in front of him, "Take those filthy garments off of him." Then to him he said, "See, I am taking your guilt away. I will clothe you in fine robes."

5 I said, "They should put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and gave him fine robes to wear, while the angel of ADONAI stood by.

6 Then the angel of ADONAI gave Y'hoshua this warning:

7 "ADONAI-Tzva'ot says this: 'If you will walk in my ways, obey my commission, judge my house and guard my courtyards; then I will give you free access among these who are standing here.

8 Listen, cohen gadol Y'hoshua, both you and your colleagues seated here before you, because these men are a sign that I am going to bring my servant Tzemach [Sprout].

9 For look at the stone I have put in front of Y'hoshua: on one stone are seven eyes; I will engrave what is to be written on it,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot; 'and I will remove the guilt of this land in one day.

10 When that time comes,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, 'you will all invite each other to join you under your vines and fig trees.'"

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 18

John 4:1-26; 1 Chronicles 15:1-16:6; Zechariah4 CJB

John 4:1-26

1 When Yeshua learned that the P'rushim had heard he was making and immersing more talmidim than Yochanan

2 (although it was not Yeshua himself who immersed but his talmidim), Y

3 eshua left Y'hudah and set out again for the Galil.

4 This meant that he had to pass through Shomron.

5 He came to a town in Shomron called Sh'khem, near the field Ya`akov had given to his son Yosef.

6 Ya`akov's Well was there; so Yeshua, exhausted from his travel, sat down by the well; it was about noon.

7 A woman from Shomron came to draw some water; and Yeshua said to her, "Give me a drink of water."

8 (His talmidim had gone into town to buy food.)

9 The woman from Shomron said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for water from me, a woman of Shomron?" (For Jews don't associate with people from Shomron.)

10 Yeshua answered her, "If you knew God's gift, that is, who it is saying to you, `Give me a drink of water,' then you would have asked him; and he would have given you living water."

11 She said to him, "Sir, you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep; so where do you get this `living water'?

12 You aren't greater than our father Ya`akov, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it, and so did his sons and his cattle."

13 Yeshua answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again,

14 but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again! On the contrary, the water I give him will become a spring of water inside him, welling up into eternal life!"

15 "Sir, give me this water," the woman said to him, "so that I won't have to be thirsty and keep coming here to draw water."

16 He said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back."

17 She answered, "I don't have a husband." Yeshua said to her, "You're right, you don't have a husband!

18 You've had five husbands in the past, and you're not married to the man you're living with now! You've spoken the truth!"

19 "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet," the woman replied.

20 "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you people say that the place where one has to worship is in Yerushalayim."

21 Yeshua said, "Lady, believe me, the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Yerushalayim.

22 You people don't know what you are worshipping; we worship what we do know, because salvation comes from the Jews.

23 But the time is coming -- indeed, it's here now -- when the true worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping him.

24 God is spirit; and worshippers must worship him spiritually and truly."

25 The woman replied, "I know that Mashiach is coming" (that is, "the one who has been anointed"). "When he comes, he will tell us everything."

26 Yeshua said to her, "I, the person speaking to you, am he."

1 Chronicles 15

1 David erected buildings for himself in the City of David, prepared a place for the ark of God, and set up a tent for it.

2 Then David said, "No one but the L'vi'im should carry the ark of God, because ADONAI chose them to carry the ark of ADONAI and to serve him forever."

3 David assembled all Isra'el in Yerushalayim to bring the ark of ADONAI up to its place, which he had prepared for it.

4 David gathered together the descendants of Aharon and the L'vi'im:

5 from the descendants of K'hat: Uri'el the chief, and 120 of his kinsmen;

6 from the descendants of M'rari: 'Asayah the chief, and 220 of his kinsmen;

7 from the descendants of Gershom: Yo'el the chief, and 130 of his kinsmen;

8 from the descendants of Elitzafan: Sh'ma'yah the chief, and 200 of his kinsmen;

9 from the descendants of Hevron: Eli'el the chief, and eighty of his kinsmen;

10 and from the descendants of 'Uzi'el: 'Amminadav the chief, and 112 of his kinsmen.

11 David called for Tzadok and Evyatar the cohanim and for the L'vi'im - Uri'el, 'Asayah, Yo'el, Sh'ma'yah, Eli'el and 'Amminadav -

12 and said to them, "You are the clan leaders of the L'vi'im. Consecrate yourselves, both you and your kinsmen, to bring the ark of ADONAI the God of Isra'el up to the place I have prepared for it.

13 It's because you weren't there the first time that ADONAI our God broke out against us. We didn't seek him out according to the rule."

14 So the cohanim and L'vi'im consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of ADONAI the God of Isra'el;

15 and the L'vi'im carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles on it, as Moshe had ordered, according to what ADONAI had said.

16 David spoke to the chief of the L'vi'im to appoint their kinsmen to be singers making use of musical instruments - lutes, lyres and cymbals - to play loudly and raise sounds of joy.

17 So the L'vi'im appointed Heman the son of Yo'el; of his kinsmen, Asaf the son of Berekhyahu; of the descendants of M'rari their kinsmen, Eitan the son of Kushayahu;

18 and with them their second-degree kinsmen Z'kharyahu, Ben, Ya'azi'el, Sh'miramot, Yechi'el, 'Uni, Eli'av, B'nayahu, Ma'aseiyahu, Mattityahu, Elif'lehu, Mikneyahu, with 'Oved-Edom and Ye'i'el the gatekeepers.

19 The singers Heman, Asaf and Eitan were appointed to sound the bronze cymbals.

20 Z'kharyahu, 'Azi'el, Sh'miramot, Yechi'el, 'Uni, Eli'av, Ma'aseiyahu and B'nayahu were to play the lutes for 'alamot [high-pitched music?].

21 Mattityahu, Elif'lehu, Mikneyahu, 'Oved-Edom, Ye'i'el and 'Azazyahu were to play lyres to lead the sh'minit [low-pitched music?].

22 K'nanyahu, chief of the L'vi'im, was in charge of the singing; he was put in charge of the singing because he was skillful at it.

23 Berekhyahu and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark.

24 Sh'vanyahu, Yoshafat, N'tan'el, 'Amasai, Z'kharyahu, B'nayahu and Eli'ezer the cohanim blew the trumpets in front of the ark of God. 'Oved-Edom and Yechiyah were gatekeepers for the ark.

25 So David, the leaders of Isra'el and the commanders over thousands went to bring up the ark for the covenant of ADONAI out from the house of 'Oved-Edom with joy.

26 Since God was helping the L'vi'im who were carrying the ark for the covenant of ADONAI, they sacrificed seven young bulls and seven rams.

27 David, all the L'vi'im bearing the ark, the singers and K'nanyah the music leader for the singers were all wearing linen cloaks; and David was also wearing a linen ritual vest.

28 So all Isra'el brought up the ark for the covenant of ADONAI with shouting; blowing on shofars and trumpets; and cymbals sounding with lutes and lyres.

29 As the ark for the covenant of ADONAI entered the City of David, Mikhal the daughter of Sha'ul, watching from the window, saw King David dancing and celebrating; and she was filled with contempt for him.

1 Chronicles 16:1-6

1 They brought the ark of God in and put it in the tent that David had set up for it; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

2 When David had finished offering the burnt offering and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of ADONAI.

3 Then he distributed to everyone in Isra'el, to everyone there, both men and women, a loaf of bread, a portion of meat and a raisin cake.

4 He appointed certain L'vi'im to serve in front of the ark of ADONAI, to celebrate, and to thank and praise ADONAI the God of Isra'el:

5 Asaf, the leader; assisting him, Z'kharyah; then Ye'i'el, Sh'miramot, Yechi'el, Mattityahu, Eli'av, B'nayahu, 'Oved-Edom and Ye'i'el playing lutes and lyres, while Asaf played cymbals.

6 B'nayah and Yachzi'el the cohanim blew the trumpets continually before the ark for the covenant of God.

Zechariah 4

1 Then the angel that had been speaking with me returned and roused me, as if he were waking someone up from being asleep,

2 and asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I've been looking at a menorah; it's all of gold, with a bowl at its top, seven lamps on it, and seven tubes leading to the lamps at its top.

3 Next to it are two olive trees, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left."

4 I then asked the angel speaking with me, "What are these, my Lord?" The angel speaking with me said,

5 "Don't you know what these are?" I said, "No, my Lord."

6 Then he answered me, "This is the word of ADONAI to Z'rubavel: 'Not by force, and not by power, but by my Spirit,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

7 'What are you, you big mountain? Before Z'rubavel you will become a plain; and he will put the capstone in place, as everyone shouts, "It's beautiful! Beautiful!"'

8 This message from ADONAI came to me:

9 'The hands of Z'rubavel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will also finish it.' Then you will know that ADONAI-Tzva'ot sent me to you.

10 For even someone who doesn't think much of a day when such minor events take place will rejoice at seeing the plumbline in the hand of Z'rubavel. So these seven are the eyes of ADONAI that range about over all the earth."

11 I replied by asking him, "What are those two olive trees on the right and left sides of the menorah?"

12 Then I asked the question again: "What are those two olive branches discharging gold[-colored oil] through the two gold spouts?"

13 He replied, "Don't you know what they are?" I answered, "No, my Lord."

14 He said, "Those are the two who have been anointed with oil; they are standing with the Lord of all the land."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 19

John 4:27-54; 1 Chronicles 16:7-43; Zechariah5 CJB

John 4:27-54

27 Just then, his talmidim arrived. They were amazed that he was talking with a woman; but none of them said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you talking with her?"

28 So the woman left her water-jar, went back to the town and said to the people there,

29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I've ever done. Could it be that this is the Messiah?"

30 They left the town and began coming toward him.

31 Meanwhile, the talmidim were urging Yeshua, "Rabbi, eat something."

32 But he answered, "I have food to eat that you don't know about."

33 At this, the talmidim asked one another, "Could someone have brought him food?"

34 Yeshua said to them, "My food is to do what the one who sent me wants and to bring his work to completion.

35 Don't you have a saying, `Four more months and then the harvest'? Well, what I say to you is: open your eyes and look at the fields! They're already ripe for harvest!

36 The one who reaps receives his wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the reaper and the sower may be glad together --

37 for in this matter, the proverb, `One sows and another reaps,' holds true.

38 I sent you to reap what you haven't worked for. Others have done the hard labor, and you have benefited from their work."

39 Many people from that town in Shomron put their trust in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all the things I did."

40 So when these people from Shomron came to him, they asked him to stay with them. He stayed two days,

41 and many more came to trust because of what he said.

42 They said to the woman, "We no longer trust because of what you said, because we have heard for ourselves. We know indeed that this man really is the Savior of the world."

43 After the two days, he went on from there toward the Galil.

44 Now Yeshua himself said, "A prophet is not respected in his own country."

45 But when he arrived in the Galil, the people there welcomed him, because they had seen all he had done at the festival in Yerushalayim; since they had been there too.

46 He went again to Kanah in the Galil, where he had turned the water into wine. An officer in the royal service was there; his son was ill in K'far-Nachum.

47 This man, on hearing that Yeshua had come from Y'hudah to the Galil, went and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

48 Yeshua answered, "Unless you people see signs and miracles, you simply will not trust!"

49 The officer said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

50 Yeshua replied, "You may go, your son is alive." The man believed what Yeshua said and left.

51 As he was going down, his servants met him with the news that his son was alive

52 So he asked them at what time he had gotten better; and they said, "The fever left him yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon."

53 The father knew that that was the very hour when Yeshua had told him, "Your son is alive"; and he and all his household trusted.

54 This was a second sign that Yeshua did; he did it after he had come from Y'hudah into the Galil.

1 Chronicles 16

7 It was on that same day that David first ordered that thanks be given to ADONAI through Asaf and his kinsmen:

8 Give thanks to ADONAI! Call on his name! Make his deeds known among the peoples.

9 Sing to him, sing praises to him! Talk about all his wonders.

10 Glory in his holy name; let those seeking ADONAI have joyful hearts.

11 Seek ADONAI and his strength; always seek his presence.

12 Remember the wonders he has done, his signs and his spoken judgments.

13 You descendants of Isra'el his servant, you offspring of Ya'akov, his chosen ones:

14 he is ADONAI our God, His judgments are everywhere on earth.

15 Remember his covenant forever, the word he commanded to a thousand generations,

16 the covenant he made with Avraham; the oath he swore to Yitz'chak

17 and established as a law for Ya'akov, for Isra'el as an everlasting covenant:

18 "To you I will give the land of Kena'an as your allotted heritage."

19 When you were but few in number, and not only few, but aliens there too,

20 wandering from nation to nation, from this kingdom to that people,

21 he allowed no one to oppress them. Yes, for their sakes he rebuked even kings:

22 "Don't touch my anointed ones or do my prophets harm!"

23 Sing to ADONAI, all the earth! Proclaim his victory day after day!

24 Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples!

25 For ADONAI is great, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared more than all gods.

26 For all the gods of the peoples are nothing, but ADONAI made the heavens.

27 In his presence are honor and majesty; in his place, strength and joy.

28 Give ADONAI his due, you families from the peoples, give ADONAI his due of glory and strength;

29 give ADONAI the glory due to his name; bring an offering, and come into his presence. Worship ADONAI in splendid, holy attire.

30 Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established, immovable.

31 Let the heavens rejoice; let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "ADONAI is king!"

32 Let the sea roar, and everything in it; let the fields exult, and all that is in them.

33 Then the trees in the forest will sing before ADONAI, because he has come to judge the earth.

34 Give thanks to ADONAI; for he is good, for his grace continues forever.

35 Say: "Save us, God who can save us! Gather and rescue us from the nations; so that we can thank your holy name and glory in praising you.

36 Blessed be ADONAI, the God of Isra'el, from eternity past to eternity future!" All the people said, "Amen!" and praised ADONAI.

37 So, there before the ark for the covenant of ADONAI, David left Asaf and his kinsmen to perform the service regularly before the ark, as each day's work required;

38 also 'Oved-Edom with their kinsmen, sixty-eight of them -'Oved-Edom the son of Y'dutun and Hosah were gatekeepers.

39 He left Tzadok the cohen with his kinsmen before the tabernacle of ADONAI at the high place in Giv'on

40 to offer burnt offerings to ADONAI every morning and evening on the altar for burnt offerings, according to everything written in the Torah of ADONAI, which he gave to Isra'el.

41 With them were Heman and Y'dutun and the rest who were chosen and assigned by name to give thanks to ADONAI, because his grace continues forever.

42 With them were Heman and Y'dutun to play trumpets and cymbals, also instruments for the songs about God; while the sons of Y'dutun were assigned to the gate.

43 Then the people all left for their homes, and David returned to bless his household.

Zechariah 5

1 Again I raised my eyes, and I saw in front of me a flying scroll.

2 He said to me, "What do you see?" I replied, "I see a flying scroll thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.

3 Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the face of all the land; for [according to what is written] on one side, everyone who steals will be swept away; and [according to what is written] on the other side, everyone who swears will be swept away.

4 'I will release it,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, 'and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name; it will stay there inside the house and consume it completely, even its timbers and stones.'"

5 Then the angel speaking with me went forward and said to me, "Now raise your eyes, and see what this thing is, passing by."

6 I asked, "What is it?" He said, "This is the eifah-measure [a one-bushel dry-measure] passing by." Then he added, "This is their eye in all the land."

7 Next I saw a lead disc lifted up to reveal a woman sitting in the eifah.

8 He said, "This is Evil." He threw her down into the eifah and pressed the lead weight over its opening.

9 I raised my eyes and saw two women coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like those of a stork. They lifted the eifah up between the earth and the sky.

10 I asked the angel speaking with me, "Where are they taking the eifah?"

11 He answered me, "To build it a shrine in the land of Shin'ar. When it's ready, [the eifah] will be set down there on its base."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 20

John 4:43-54; 1 Chronicles 17; Zechariah6 CJB

John 4:43-54

43 After the two days, he went on from there toward the Galil.

44 Now Yeshua himself said, "A prophet is not respected in his own country."

45 But when he arrived in the Galil, the people there welcomed him, because they had seen all he had done at the festival in Yerushalayim; since they had been there too.

46 He went again to Kanah in the Galil, where he had turned the water into wine. An officer in the royal service was there; his son was ill in K'far-Nachum.

47 This man, on hearing that Yeshua had come from Y'hudah to the Galil, went and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

48 Yeshua answered, "Unless you people see signs and miracles, you simply will not trust!"

49 The officer said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

50 Yeshua replied, "You may go, your son is alive." The man believed what Yeshua said and left.

51 As he was going down, his servants met him with the news that his son was alive

52 So he asked them at what time he had gotten better; and they said, "The fever left him yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon."

53 The father knew that that was the very hour when Yeshua had told him, "Your son is alive"; and he and all his household trusted.

54 This was a second sign that Yeshua did; he did it after he had come from Y'hudah into the Galil.

1 Chronicles 17

1 After David had been living in his palace awhile, he said to Natan the prophet, "Here, I'm living in a cedar-wood palace; but the ark for the covenant of ADONAI is kept under a tent!"

2 Natan said to David, "Go, do everything that is in your heart, for God is with you."

3 But that same night the word of God came to Natan:

4 "Go, and tell David my servant that this is what ADONAI says: 'You are not to build me a house to live in,

5 because from the day I brought up Isra'el until today, I never lived in a house; rather, I've gone from tent to tent and from one tabernacle to another.

6 Everywhere I traveled with all Isra'el, did I ever speak a word to any of the judges of Isra'el, whom I ordered to shepherd my people Isra'el, asking, "Why haven't you built me a cedar-wood house?"'

7 "Therefore say to my servant David that this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'I took you from the sheep-yards, from following the sheep, to make you chief over my people Isra'el.

8 I have been with you wherever you went, I have destroyed all your enemies ahead of you; and I am making your reputation like the reputations of the greatest people on earth.

9 I will assign a place to my people Isra'el; I will plant them there, so that they can live in their own place without being disturbed any more. The wicked will no longer devastate them, as they did at the beginning,

10 and as they did from the time I ordered judges to be over my people Isra'el; instead, I will subdue all your enemies. "'Moreover, I tell you that ADONAI will make you a house.

11 When your days come to an end and you go to be with your ancestors, I will establish one of your descendants to succeed you, one of your own sons; and I will set up his rulership.

12 He will build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

13 I will be a father for him, and he will be a son for me; I will not take my grace away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor.

14 Rather, I will maintain him in my house and in my kingdom forever; and his throne will be set up forever.'"

15 Natan told David all of these words and described this entire vision.

16 Then David went in, sat before ADONAI and said, "Who am I, ADONAI, God, and what is my family, that has caused you to bring me this far?

17 Yet in your view, God, even this was but a small thing; so you have said that your servant's dynasty will continue on into the distant future. You have regarded me, ADONAI, God, as a man of high rank.

18 What more can David say to you about the honor you are bestowing on your servant? For you know your servant intimately.

19 ADONAI, it is for your servant's sake and in accordance with your own heart that you have done all this greatness and revealed all these great things.

20 ADONAI, there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you - everything we have heard confirms that.

21 Who can be compared with your people Isra'el? What other nation on earth did God set out to redeem and turn into a people for himself? You made yourself a reputation by doing great and terrifying things, as you drove out the nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt.

22 For you made your people Isra'el your people forever; and you, ADONAI, became their God.

23 So now, ADONAI, let the word that you spoke concerning your servant and his house be confirmed forever; do what you have promised.

24 May your name be confirmed and magnified forever; so that it will be said, 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot is the God of Isra'el and the God for Isra'el, and the dynasty of David your servant will be set up in your presence.'

25 For you, my God, have disclosed to your servant that you will build him a house. This is why your servant has the courage to pray to you.

26 Now, ADONAI, you are God; and you have made this wonderful promise to your servant;

27 and now it has pleased you to bless the family of your servant and thereby cause it to continue forever in your presence. For you, ADONAI, have blessed, and it is blessed forever."

Zechariah 6

1 Again I raised my eyes, and I saw in front of me four chariots coming out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze.

2 The first chariot had red horses; the second chariot, black horses;

3 the third chariot, white horses; and the fourth chariot, spotted gray horses.

4 I asked the angel speaking with me, "What are these, my Lord?"

5 The angel answered me, "These are the four winds of the sky that go out, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the land.

6 The one with the black horses is going out toward the land in the north, the white [horses] have gone out after them, and the spotted have gone out toward the land in the south."

7 Then the gray ones went out and were seeking to go and wander throughout the whole earth, when he said, "Wander throughout the whole earth"; and they did wander throughout the whole earth.

8 Then he called out to me and said, "Look! The ones going to the land in the north have given my Spirit rest in the north country."

9 This message from ADONAI came to me:

10 "Take [gifts] from the exiles of Heldai, Toviyah, and Y'da'yah, who have arrived from Bavel; then you, go to the house of Yoshiyah the son of Tz'fanyah.

11 Take silver and gold; make crowns; put one on the head of Y'hoshua the son of Y'hotzadak, the cohen hagadol;

12 and tell him, 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: "There is coming a man whose name is Tzemach [Sprout]. He will sprout up from his place and rebuild the temple of ADONAI.

13 Yes, he will rebuild the temple of ADONAI; and he will take up royal splendor, sitting and ruling from his throne. There will be a cohen before his throne; and they will accept each other's advice in complete harmony.

14 The other crowns will be for Helem, Toviyah, Y'da'yah and Hen the son of Tz'fanyah; then [they are to be kept] as a memorial in the temple of ADONAI.

15 Those who are now far away will come and help rebuild the temple of ADONAI." Then you will know that it is ADONAI-Tzva'ot who sent me to you. And it will all come about, provided you heed carefully what ADONAI your God says.'"

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 21

John 5:1-18; 1 Chronicles 18-19; Zechariah7 CJB

John 5:1-18

1 After this, there was a Judean festival; and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim.

2 In Yerushalayim, by the Sheep Gate, is a pool called in Aramaic, Beit-Zata,

3 in which lay a crowd of invalids -- blind, lame, crippled.

4 Some manuscripts have verses 3b­4: . . . , waiting for the water to move; v4 for at certain times an angel of ADONAI went down into the pool and disturbed the water, and whoever stepped into the water first after it was disturbed was healed of whatever disease he had.

5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

6 Yeshua, seeing this man and knowing that he had been there a long time, said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"

7 The sick man answered, "I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I'm trying to get there, someone goes in ahead of me."

8 Yeshua said to him, "Get up, pick up your mat and walk!"

9 Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and walked. Now that day was Shabbat,

10 so the Judeans said to the man who had been healed, "It's Shabbat! It's against Torah for you to carry your mat!"

11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me -- he's the one who told me, `Pick up your mat and walk.'"

12 They asked him, "Who is the man who told you to pick it up and walk?"

13 But the man who had been healed didn't know who it was, because Yeshua had slipped away into the crowd.

14 Afterwards Yeshua found him in the Temple court and said to him, "See, you are well! Now stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you!"

15 The man went off and told the Judeans it was Yeshua who had healed him;

16 and on account of this, the Judeans began harassing Yeshua because he did these things on Shabbat.

17 But he answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I too am working."

18 This answer made the Judeans all the more intent on killing him -- not only was he breaking Shabbat; but also, by saying that God was his own Father, he was claiming equality with God.

1 Chronicles 18

1 Some time afterwards, David attacked the P'lishtim and subdued them; David took Gat and its villages out of the hands of the P'lishtim.

2 He also defeated Mo'av, so that the people of Mo'av became subjects of David and paid tribute.

3 David, on his way to establish his dominion as far as the Euphrates River, also defeated Hadar'ezer king of Tzovah near Hamat.

4 David captured 1,000 chariots, 7,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. He reserved enough horses for 100 chariots and disabled the rest.

5 When the people of Aram from Dammesek came to the aid of Hadar'ezer king of Tzovah, David killed 22,000 men of Aram.

6 Then David put [garrisons] among the people of Aram in Dammesek; Aram became subject to David and paid tribute. ADONAI gave victory to David wherever he went.

7 David took the gold shields which Hadar'ezer's servants were wearing and brought them to Yerushalayim.

8 From Tivchat and Kun, cities of Hadar'ezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze, which Shlomo used to make the bronze "Sea,"the columns and various bronze articles.

9 When To'u king of Hamat heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadar'ezer king of Tzovah,

10 he sent Hadoram his son to King David to greet and congratulate him on fighting and defeating Hadar'ezer - for Hadar'ezer had been at war with To'u - and [he sent] all kinds of articles made of silver, gold and bronze,

11 which King David dedicated to ADONAI, along with the silver and gold that he had carried off from all the nations - from Edom, Mo'av, the people of 'Amon, the P'lishtim and 'Amalek.

12 Moreover, Avishai the son of Tz'ruyah killed 18,000 men from Edom in the Salt Valley.

13 David stationed garrisons in Edom, and all the people of Edom became subject to him. ADONAI gave victory to David wherever he went.

14 David ruled over all Isra'el; he administered law and justice for all his people.

15 Yo'av the son of Tz'ruyah was commander of the army, Y'hoshafat the son of Achilud was chief adviser,

16 Tzadok the son of Achituv and Avimelekh the son of Evyatar were cohanim, Shavsha was secretary,

17 B'nayahu the son of Y'hoyada was in charge of the K'reti and P'leti [serving as the king's bodyguards], and David's sons were the king's chief personal advisers.

1 Chronicles 19

1 Some time later, when Nachash the king of the people of 'Amon died, his son became king in his place.

2 David said, "I will be kind to Hanun the son of Nachash, because his father showed grace to me." So David sent messengers to comfort him about his father. David's servants entered the territory of the people of 'Amon to go to Hanun and comfort him;

3 but the leaders of the people of 'Amon said to Hanun, "Do you really think David is honoring your father by sending people to comfort you? Haven't his servants come to you in order to look the city over, overthrow it and reconnoiter the land?"

4 So Hanun took David's servants, shaved them, cut off their clothes halfway up, at their hips, and then sent them away.

5 Some people reported to David how the men had been treated. He sent a delegation to meet them, because the men had been deeply humiliated. The king said, "Stay in Yericho until your beards have grown back, and then return."

6 Aware that they had made themselves utterly abhorrent to David, Hanun and the people of 'Amon sent thirty-three tons of silver to hire chariots and horsemen from Aram-Naharayim, Aram-Ma'akhah and Tzovah.

7 They hired 32,000 chariots, as well as the king of Ma'akhah with his people, who came and pitched their camp in front of Meidva. Then the people of 'Amon assembled themselves from their cities and went out to fight.

8 When David heard of it, he sent Yo'av with his entire army of trained soldiers.

9 The army of 'Amon came out and went into battle formation at the city gate, while the kings who had come were alone in the countryside.

10 When Yo'av saw that he would be fighting on two fronts, ahead and behind, he chose the best troops of Isra'el to deploy against Aram;

11 while the rest of the army he put under the command of Avishai his brother to deploy against the army of 'Amon.

12 He said, "If Aram is too strong for me, you help me; but if the army of 'Amon is too strong for you, then I will help you.

13 Take courage, and let's be strong for the sake of our people and the cities of our God. May ADONAI do what seems good to him."

14 So Yo'av and the people with him went to engage Aram in battle, and they fled before him.

15 When the people of 'Amon saw that Aram had fled, they likewise fled before Avishai his brother and retreated into the city. Then Yo'av went to Yerushalayim.

16 When Aram saw that Isra'el had gotten the better of them, they sent messengers and brought out the people of Aram who lived beyond the [Euphrates] River, with Shofakh the commander of Hadar'ezer's army at their head.

17 It was reported to David; so he gathered all Isra'el together and crossed the Yarden to engage them. David deployed his forces for battle against Aram; and after he had done so, fought them.

18 But Aram fled before Isra'el; David killed 7,000 chariot-drivers and 40,000 foot soldiers from Aram; and he killed Shofakh the commander of the army.

19 When all Hadar'ezer's servants saw that they had been defeated by Isra'el, they made peace with David and became his subjects; and Aram would no longer help the people of 'Amon.

Zechariah 7

1 In the fourth year of King Daryavesh, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev, a message from ADONAI came to Z'kharyah.

2 He sent Sar'etzer and Regem-Melekh with his men to Beit-El in order to ask ADONAI's favor,

3 as they inquired of the cohanim of the house of ADONAI-Tzva'ot and the prophets, "Should we go into mourning and abstain from pleasure during the fifth month, as we have been doing for all these years?"

4 It was then that this message came to me from ADONAI-Tzva'ot:

5 "Speak to all the people of the land and to the cohanim. Tell them, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months throughout these seventy years, were you really fasting for me? Was it for me?

6 Rather, when you eat and drink, it's just to please yourselves, isn't it?

7 Isn't this just what ADONAI proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Yerushalayim was inhabited and prosperous, as were the cities around her; and the Negev and the Sh'felah were inhabited?'"

8 Then this message from ADONAI came to Z'kharyah:

9 "In the past ADONAI-Tzva'ot said, 'Administer true justice. Let everyone show mercy and compassion to his brother.

10 Don't oppress widows, orphans, foreigners or poor people. Don't plot evil against each other.'

11 But they wouldn't listen, they stubbornly turned their shoulder away and stopped up their ears, so that they wouldn't have to hear it.

12 Yes, they made their hearts as hard as a diamond, so that they wouldn't hear the Torah and the messages that ADONAI-Tzva'ot had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. This is why great anger came from ADONAI-Tzva'ot;

13 and it came about that just as they hadn't listened when he called, so ADONAI-Tzva'ot said, 'I won't listen when they call;

14 but with the power of a whirlwind I will disperse them among all the nations which they have not known.' Thus the land was left desolate after them, so that no one came or went. They had turned a pleasant land into a desert."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 22

John 5:19-47; 1 Chronicles 20:1-22:1; Zechariah8 CJB

John 5:19-47

19 Therefore, Yeshua said this to them: "Yes, indeed! I tell you that the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does too.

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does; and he will show him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed.

21 Just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so too the Son makes alive anyone he wants.

22 The Father does not judge anyone but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,

23 so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever fails to honor the Son is not honoring the Father who sent him.

24 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever hears what I am saying and trusts the One who sent me has eternal life -- that is, he will not come up for judgment but has already crossed over from death to life!

25 Yes, indeed! I tell you that there is coming a time -- in fact, it's already here -- when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will come to life.

26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son life to have in himself.

27 Also he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

28 Don't be surprised at this; because the time is coming when all who are in the grave will hear his voice

29 and come out -- those who have done good to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to a resurrection of judgment.

30 I can't do a thing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is right; because I don't seek my own desire, but the desire of the one who sent me.

31 "If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not valid.

32 But there is someone else testifying on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he is making is valid --

33 you have sent to Yochanan, and he has testified to the truth.

34 Not that I collect human testimony; rather, I say these things so that you might be saved.

35 He was a lamp burning and shining, and for a little while you were willing to bask in his light.

36 "But I have a testimony that is greater than Yochanan's. For the things the Father has given me to do, the very things I am doing now, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.

37 "In addition, the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice or seen his shape;

38 moreover, his word does not stay in you, because you don't trust the one he sent.

39 You keep examining the Tanakh because you think that in it you have eternal life. Those very Scriptures bear witness to me,

40 but you won't come to me in order to have life!

41 "I don't collect praise from men,

42 but I do know you people -- I know that you have no love for God in you!

43 I have come in my Father's name, and you don't accept me; if someone else comes in his own name, him you will accept.

44 How can you trust? You're busy collecting praise from each other, instead of seeking praise from God only.

45 "But don't think that it is I who will be your accuser before the Father. Do you know who will accuse you? Moshe, the very one you have counted on!

46 For if you really believed Moshe, you would believe me; because it was about me that he wrote.

47 But if you don't believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

1 Chronicles 20

1 In the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, Yo'av led the army out in force and laid waste to the country of the people of 'Amon; then he came and laid siege to Rabbah. But David stayed in Yerushalayim, while Yo'av attacked Rabbah and destroyed it.

2 David took the crown off Malkam's head and found it to weigh sixty-six pounds, with its gold and precious stones; and it was placed on David's head. He carried off great quantities of spoil from the city.

3 In addition, he brought out the people who were in it and set them to work with saws, iron harrows and axes. This is what he did to all the cities of the people of 'Amon. Then David and all the people returned to Yerushalayim.

4 A while after this there was war at Gezer with the P'lishtim. Sibkhai the Hushati killed Sipai, one of the giants, and they were defeated.

5 There was more war with the P'lishtim; and Elchanan the son of Ya'ir killed Lachmi the brother of Golyat the Gitti, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver's beam.

6 There was again war at Gat, where there was a very tall man whose fingers and toes numbered twenty-four, six [fingers on each hand] and six [toes on each foot]; and he too was a son of the giant.

7 When he mocked Isra'el, Y'honatan the son of Shim'a David's brother killed him.

8 These were sons of the giant in Gat; they fell at the hands of David and his servants.

1 Chronicles 21

1 The Adversary [Hebrew: Satan] now rose up against Isra'el and incited David to take a census of Isra'el.

2 David said to Yo'av and the leaders of the people, "Go, take a census of Isra'el from Be'er-Sheva to Dan; then report to me, so that I can know how many of them there are."

3 Yo'av said, "May ADONAI make his people a hundred times as many as they are now! But, my lord the king, aren't they all my lord's servants in any case? Why does my lord the king require this? Why should he bring guilt upon Isra'el?"

4 Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Yo'av. So Yo'av left and went through all Isra'el, after which he came to Yerushalayim.

5 Yo'av reported the results of the census to David: in Isra'el were 1,100,000 men who could handle a sword, while Y'hudah had 470,000 men who could handle a sword.

6 But he didn't count Levi and Binyamin among them, because the king's order was hateful to Yo'av.

7 God was displeased with this and therefore punished Isra'el.

8 David said to God, "I have greatly sinned by doing this. But now, please! Put aside your servant's sin, for I have done a very foolish thing."

9 ADONAI spoke to Gad, David's seer:

10 "Go and tell David that ADONAI says, 'I am offering you a choice of three punishments: choose one of them, and I will execute it against you.'"

11 Gad came to David and said to him, "Take your choice:

12 three years of famine; or three months of being swept away by your enemies, while your enemies' sword overwhelms you; or three days of ADONAI's sword - plague in the land, with the angel of ADONAI destroying everywhere in Isra'el's territory. Now think about what answer I should give to the one who sent me."

13 David said to Gad, "This is very hard for me. Let me fall into the hand of ADONAI, because his mercies are very great, rather than have me fall into the hand of man."

14 So ADONAI sent a plague on Isra'el; 70,000 of the people of Isra'el died.

15 God also sent an angel to destroy Yerushalayim, but when he was about to carry out the destruction, ADONAI saw it and changed his mind about causing such distress; so he said to the destroying angel, "Enough! Now withdraw your hand."The angel of ADONAI was standing at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y'vusi.

16 David raised his eyes and saw the angel of ADONAI standing between the earth and the sky, and in his hand was a drawn sword stretched out over Yerushalayim. Then David and the leaders, wearing sackcloth, fell on their faces.

17 David said to God, "Wasn't it I who ordered the census of the people? Yes, I am the one who has sinned and done something very wicked. But these sheep, what have they done? Please! Let your hand be against me and my father's family, but not against your people, striking them with this plague!"

18 Then the angel of ADONAI ordered Gad to tell David to go and set up an altar to ADONAI on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y'vusi.

19 David went up at Gad's word, spoken in ADONAI's name.

20 Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. As Ornan was threshing wheat,

21 David approached Ornan. When Ornan looked and saw David, he went out from the threshing-floor and prostrated himself before David with his face to the ground.

22 Then David said to Ornan, "Let me have the parcel with this threshing-floor, so that I can build on it an altar to ADONAI - I will pay you its full value - so that the plague will be lifted from the people."

23 Ornan said to David, "Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. I'm giving you the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing-sledges for firewood and the wheat for the grain offering - I'm giving it all."

24 But King David said to Ornan, "No; I insist on buying it from you at the full price. I refuse to take what is yours for ADONAI or offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing."

25 So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 shekels of gold by weight [fifteen pounds].

26 Then David built an altar to ADONAI there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called on ADONAI, who answered him from heaven by fire on the altar for burnt offerings.

27 ADONAI gave an order to the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath.

28 When David saw that ADONAI had answered him at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y'vusi, he sacrificed there.

29 For at that time the tabernacle of ADONAI, which Moshe had made in the desert, together with the altar for burnt offerings, were in the high place at Giv'on.

30 But David could not go into its presence to consult God, because the sword of the angel of ADONAI had struck him with terror.

1 Chronicles 22:1

1 Then David said, "This is the house of ADONAI, God; and this is the altar Isra'el is to use for burnt offerings."

Zechariah 8

1 A message came from ADONAI-Tzva'ot:

2 "ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'I am extremely jealous on Tziyon's behalf, and I am jealous for her with great fury.'

3 ADONAI says, 'I am returning to Tziyon, and I will live in Yerushalayim. Then Yerushalayim will be called Truth City, ADONAI-Tzva'ot's Mountain, the Mountain of the Holy One.

4 ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'Old men and old women will once again sit in the open places of Yerushalayim, each one with his cane in his hand, because of their great age.

5 The city's open places will also be full of boys and girls playing there.'

6 ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'This may seem amazing to the survivors in those days, but must it also seem amazing to me?' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

7 ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'I will save my people from lands east and west;

8 I will bring them back, and they will live in Yerushalayim. They will be my people; and I will be their God, with faithfulness and justice.'

9 "ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'Take courage, you who are hearing only now, in these days, these words spoken by the prophets when the foundation was being laid for rebuilding the temple, the house of ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

10 For prior to that time, there were wages neither for people nor for animals; moreover, it was unsafe for anyone to go out or come in, because of the enemy; for I set all people each against the other.

11 But from now on, I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did before,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

12 'Now they will sow in peace, the vine will give its fruit, the ground will produce its yield, the sky will give its dew, and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.

13 House of Y'hudah and house of Isra'el, just as you were formerly a curse among the nations, so now I will save you; and you will be a blessing. Don't be afraid, but take courage!'

14 "For ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'Just as I resolved to do you harm when your forefathers provoked me,' ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'and I did not relent;

15 so now, I resolve to do good to Yerushalayim and to the house of Y'hudah. Don't be afraid!

16 These are the things you are to do: speak the truth to each other; in your courts, administer justice that is true and conducive to peace;

17 don't plot harm against each other; and don't love perjury; for all these are things I hate,' says ADONAI."

18 This word of ADONAI-Tzva'ot came to me:

19 "ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'The fast days of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months are to become times of joy, gladness and cheer for the house of Y'hudah. Therefore, love truth and peace.'

20 "ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'In the future, peoples and inhabitants of many cities will come;

21 the inhabitants of one city will travel to another and say, "We must go to ask ADONAI's favor and consult ADONAI-Tzva'ot. I'll go too."

22 Yes, many peoples and powerful nations will come to consult ADONAI-Tzva'ot in Yerushalayim and to ask ADONAI's favor.'

23 ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'When that time comes, ten men will take hold - speaking all the languages of the nations - will grab hold of the cloak of a Jew and say, "We want to go with you, because we have heard that God is with you."'"

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 23

John 6:1-21; 1 Chronicles 22:2-19; 1 Chronicles 23; Zechariah 9 CJB

John 6:1-21

1 Some time later, Yeshua went over to the far side of Lake Kinneret (that is, Lake Tiberias),

2 and a large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miracles he had performed on the sick.

3 Yeshua went up into the hills and sat down there with his talmidim.

4 Now the Judean festival of Pesach was coming up;

5 so when Yeshua looked up and saw that a large crowd was approaching, he said to Philip, "Where will we be able to buy bread, so that these people can eat?"

6 (Now Yeshua said this to test Philip, for Yeshua himself knew what he was about to do.)

7 Philip answered, "Half a year's wages wouldn't buy enough bread for them -- each one would get only a bite!"

8 One of the talmidim, Andrew the brother of Shim`on Kefa, said to him,

9 "There's a young fellow here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But how far will they go among so many?"

10 Yeshua said, "Have the people sit down." There was a lot of grass there, so they sat down. The number of men was about five thousand.

11 Then Yeshua took the loaves of bread, and, after making a b'rakhah, gave to all who were sitting there, and likewise with the fish, as much as they wanted.

12 After they had eaten their fill, he told his talmidim, "Gather the leftover pieces, so that nothing gets wasted."

13 They gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

14 When the people saw the miracle he had performed, they said, "This has to be `the prophet' who is supposed to come into the world."

15 Yeshua knew that they were on the point of coming and seizing him, in order to make him king; so he went back to the hills again. This time he went by himself.

16 When evening came, his talmidim went down to the lake,

17 got into a boat and set out across the lake toward K'far-Nachum. By now it was dark, Yeshua had not yet joined them,

18 and the sea was getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing.

19 They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Yeshua approaching the boat, walking on the lake! They were terrified;

20 but he said to them, "Stop being afraid, it is I."

21 Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and instantly the boat reached the land they were heading for.

1 Chronicles 22:2-19

2 David ordered that the foreigners in the land of Isra'el should be assembled, and he appointed stone-workers to shape stones for building the house of God.

3 David prepared a large store of iron from which to make nails and clamps for the gateway doors and, a quantity of bronze too great to weigh,

4 and cedar logs beyond numbering - because the Tzidonim and the people from Tzor brought cedar logs in abundance to David.

5 David said, "Shlomo my son is young and inexperienced, while the house to be built for ADONAI must be so magnificent and splendid that its fame and glory will be known in every country; so I will make preparations for him." Therefore David made extensive preparations before his death.

6 Then he summoned Shlomo his son and charged him to build a house for ADONAI, the God of Isra'el.

7 "My son,"said David to Shlomo, "my heart was set on building a house for the name of ADONAI my God.

8 But a message from ADONAI came to me, 'You have shed much blood and fought great wars. You are not to build a house for my name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth in my sight.

9 But you will have a son who will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies that surround him; for his name is to be Shlomo, and during his reign I will give peace [Hebrew: shalom] and quiet to Isra'el.

10 It is he who will build a house for my name. He will be my son and I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Isra'el forever.'

11 "Now, my son, may ADONAI be with you and give you success as you build the house of ADONAI your God, in keeping with what he said about you.

12 May ADONAI give you common sense and understanding, and may he give you his orders concerning Isra'el, so that you will observe the Torah of ADONAI your God.

13 Then you will succeed, if you take care to obey the laws and rulings that ADONAI ordered Moshe concerning Isra'el. Be strong, be bold; don't be afraid or become discouraged!

14 "Now look: despite my difficulties, I have prepared for the house of ADONAI 3,300 tons of gold, 33,000 tons of silver, and so much bronze and iron that it can't be weighed. I've also prepared timber and stone, and you can add to it.

15 Moreover, you have plenty of workers - quarrymen, stone-workers, lumbermen, and all kinds of skilled craftsmen to do whatever has to be done with

16 the gold, silver, bronze and iron-they're beyond number. So get up, and get to work! And may ADONAI be with you."

17 David also ordered all the leaders of Isra'el to help Shlomo his son:

18 "Isn't ADONAI your God with you? Hasn't he given you rest on every side? For he has put the inhabitants of the land under my power - the land has been subdued before ADONAI and his people.

19 Now set your heart and being on seeking ADONAI your God. Get up, and build the sanctuary for ADONAI, God. Then you can bring the ark for the covenant of ADONAI and the holy articles of God into the house that will be built for the name of ADONAI."

1 Chronicles 23

1 A prophecy, the word of ADONAI: In the land of Hadrakh and Dammesek is where [God] comes to rest, for the eyes of humankind are directed toward ADONAI, as are those of all the tribes of Isra'el,

2 also Hamat at its border, Tzor and Tzidon, for she is very wise.

3 Tzor built herself a fortified tower, heaping up silver as if it were dust and fine gold as if it were mud in the streets.

4 But Adonai will dispossess her and break her power at sea, while the city itself will be destroyed by fire.

5 On seeing this, Ashkelon will be terrified; 'Azah too will writhe in pain; likewise 'Ekron, as her hopes are dashed. "The king will vanish from 'Azah, Ashkelon will be without people,

6 and a mixed people will live in Ashdod, as I destroy the pride of the P'lishtim.

7 I will end their eating meat with its blood still in it, snatching the disgusting things from between their teeth." But the surviving remnant will belong to our God; it will be like a clan in Y'hudah; and 'Ekron will be like a Y'vusi.

8 "Then I will guard my house against armies, so that none will march through or return. No oppressor will ever again overrun them, for now I am watching with my own eyes.

9 Rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Tziyon! Shout out loud, daughter of Yerushalayim! Look! Your king is coming to you. He is righteous, and he is victorious. Yet he is humble - he's riding on a donkey, yes, on a lowly donkey's colt.

10 I will banish chariots from Efrayim and war-horses from Yerushalayim." The warrior's bow will be banished, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. He will rule from sea to sea, and from the [Euphrates] River to the ends of the earth.

11 "Also you, by the blood of your covenant, I release your prisoners from [the dungeon,] the cistern that has no water in it.

12 Return to the stronghold, you prisoners with hope! This day I declare to you that I will grant you double reparation.

13 For I have bent Y'hudah as my bow and made Efrayim its arrow. I will rouse your sons, Tziyon, and make you like a warrior's sword against your sons, Greece."

14 ADONAI will appear over them, and his arrow will flash like lightning. Adonai ELOHIM will blow the shofar and go out in the whirlwinds of the south.

15 ADONAI-Tzva'ot will defend them; they will devour and trample the sling-stones. They will drink and roar as if they had drunk wine; they will be filled, like basins and like the corners of the altar.

16 On that day ADONAI their God will save them as the flock of his people; for they will be like gems in a crown, sparkling over his countryside.

17 What wealth is theirs, what beauty! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women.

2 Then he assembled all the leaders of Isra'el, with the cohanim and L'vi'im.

3 A census of L'vi'im thirty years old and over was taken, and their number came to 38,000.

4 Of these, 24,000 were to oversee the work on the house of ADONAI, while 6,000 were officials and judges

5 4,000 were gatekeepers, and 4,000 sang praise to ADONAI "with the instruments I made for the purpose of singing praise."

6 David organized them into divisions named after the sons of Levi - Gershon, K'hat and M'rari.

7 For the Gershuni: La'dan and Shim'i.

8 The sons of La'dan: Yechi'el the chief, Zetam and Yo'el - three.

9 The sons of Shim'i: Shlomit, Hazi'el and Haran - three. These were the heads of the clans of La'dan.

10 The sons of Shim'i: Yachat, Zina Ye'ush and B'ri'ah. These four were the sons of Shim'i.

11 Yachat was the chief and Zizah the second, then Ye'ush and B'ri'ah, who did not have many descendants and were therefore counted as one clan.

12 The sons of K'hat: 'Amram, Yitz'har, Hevron and 'Uzi'el - four.

13 The sons of 'Amram: Aharon and Moshe. Aharon was set apart to be consecrated as especially holy, he and his sons forever; so that they might bring offerings before ADONAI, perform the service for him and bless in his name forever.

14 But as for Moshe the man of God, his sons are included with the tribe of Levi

15 The sons of Moshe: Gershom and Eli'ezer.

16 The sons of Gershom: Sh'vu'el the chief.

17 The sons of Eli'ezer were: Rechavyah the chief. Eli'ezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rechavyah were very numerous.

18 The sons of Yitz'har: Shlomit the chief.

19 The sons of Hevron: Yeriyahu the chief, Amaryah the second, Yachzi'el the third and Y'kam'am the fourth

20 The sons of 'Uzi'el: Mikhah the chief and Yishiyah the second.

21 The sons of M'rari: Machli and Mushi. The sons of Machli: El'azar and Kish

22 El'azar died without having sons, but daughters only; their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them.

23 Mushi had three sons - Machli, 'Eder and Yeremot.

24 These were the descendants of Levi, according to their clans, the heads of clans according to their listing in the register, who did the work for the service of the house of ADONAI, those twenty years old and over.

25 For David said, "ADONAI the God of Isra'el has given rest to his people, and he lives in Yerushalayim forever.

26 The L'vi'im will no longer have to carry the tabernacle and all the equipment that goes with it for its service."

27 For, according to David's last instructions, the descendants of Levi twenty years old and over were to be counted.

28 Their role was to assist the descendants of Aharon with the service of the house of ADONAI in the courtyards and rooms, and with purification of all the holy articles - in other words, with the work needed to minister in the house of God.

29 They were to assist with the showbread and the finely ground flour needed for grain offerings, no matter whether of matzah, pan-baked bread or mixed with oil, and no matter what shape or size.

30 They were to stand every morning to sing thanks and praises to ADONAI, and likewise every evening.

31 They were to be present regularly before ADONAI whenever burnt offerings were offered to ADONAI on Shabbat, at Rosh-Hodesh, and at the other designated times, in the numbers required by the rules for sacrifices.

32 Finally, for the service in the house of ADONAI they were to perform their duties in relation to the tent of meeting, the Holy Place and their kinsmen the descendants of Aharon.

Zechariah 9

1 A prophecy, the word of ADONAI: In the land of Hadrakh and Dammesek is where [God] comes to rest, for the eyes of humankind are directed toward ADONAI, as are those of all the tribes of Isra'el,

2 also Hamat at its border, Tzor and Tzidon, for she is very wise.

3 Tzor built herself a fortified tower, heaping up silver as if it were dust and fine gold as if it were mud in the streets.

4 But Adonai will dispossess her and break her power at sea, while the city itself will be destroyed by fire.

5 On seeing this, Ashkelon will be terrified; 'Azah too will writhe in pain; likewise 'Ekron, as her hopes are dashed. "The king will vanish from 'Azah, Ashkelon will be without people,

6 and a mixed people will live in Ashdod, as I destroy the pride of the P'lishtim.

7 I will end their eating meat with its blood still in it, snatching the disgusting things from between their teeth." But the surviving remnant will belong to our God; it will be like a clan in Y'hudah; and 'Ekron will be like a Y'vusi.

8 "Then I will guard my house against armies, so that none will march through or return. No oppressor will ever again overrun them, for now I am watching with my own eyes.

9 Rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Tziyon! Shout out loud, daughter of Yerushalayim! Look! Your king is coming to you. He is righteous, and he is victorious. Yet he is humble - he's riding on a donkey, yes, on a lowly donkey's colt.

10 I will banish chariots from Efrayim and war-horses from Yerushalayim." The warrior's bow will be banished, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. He will rule from sea to sea, and from the [Euphrates] River to the ends of the earth.

11 "Also you, by the blood of your covenant, I release your prisoners from [the dungeon,] the cistern that has no water in it.

12 Return to the stronghold, you prisoners with hope! This day I declare to you that I will grant you double reparation.

13 For I have bent Y'hudah as my bow and made Efrayim its arrow. I will rouse your sons, Tziyon, and make you like a warrior's sword against your sons, Greece."

14 ADONAI will appear over them, and his arrow will flash like lightning. Adonai ELOHIM will blow the shofar and go out in the whirlwinds of the south.

15 ADONAI-Tzva'ot will defend them; they will devour and trample the sling-stones. They will drink and roar as if they had drunk wine; they will be filled, like basins and like the corners of the altar.

16 On that day ADONAI their God will save them as the flock of his people; for they will be like gems in a crown, sparkling over his countryside.

17 What wealth is theirs, what beauty! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 24

John 6:22-71; 1 Chronicles 24; Zechariah10 CJB

John 6:22-71

22 The next day, the crowd which had stayed on the other side of the lake noticed that there had been only one boat there, and that Yeshua had not entered the boat with his talmidim, but that the talmidim had been alone when they sailed off.

23 Then other boats, from Tiberias, came ashore near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had made the b'rakhah.

24 Accordingly, when the crowd saw that neither Yeshua nor his talmidim were there, they themselves boarded the boats and made for K'far-Nachum in search of Yeshua.

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"

26 Yeshua answered, "Yes, indeed! I tell you, you're not looking for me because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the bread and had all you wanted!

27 Don't work for the food which passes away but for the food that stays on into eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For this is the one on whom God the Father has put his seal."

28 So they said to him, "What should we do in order to perform the works of God?"

29 Yeshua answered, "Here's what the work of God is: to trust in the one he sent!"

30 They said to him, "Nu, what miracle will you do for us, so that we may see it and trust you? What work can you perform?

31 Our fathers ate manna in the desert -- as it says in the Tanakh, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'

32 Yeshua said to them, "Yes, indeed! I tell you it wasn't Moshe who gave you the bread from heaven. But my Father is giving you the genuine bread from heaven;

33 for God's bread is the one who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world."

34 They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread from now on."

35 Yeshua answered, "I am the bread which is life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty.

36 I told you that you have seen but still don't trust.

37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will certainly not turn away.

38 For I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of the One who sent me.

39 And this is the will of the One who sent me: that I should not lose any of all those he has given me but should raise them up on the Last Day.

40 Yes, this is the will of my Father: that all who see the Son and trust in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise them up on the Last Day."

41 At this the Judeans began grumbling about him because he said, "I am the bread which has come down from heaven."

42 They said, "Isn't this Yeshua Ben-Yosef? We know his father and mother! How can he now say, `I have come down from heaven'?"

43 Yeshua answered them, "Stop grumbling to each other!

44 No one can come to me unless the Father -- the One who sent me -- draws him. And I will raise him up on the Last Day.

45 It is written in the Prophets, `They will all be taught by ADONAI. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.

46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God -- he has seen the Father.

47 Yes, indeed! I tell you, whoever trusts has eternal life:

48 I am the bread which is life.

49 Your fathers ate the manna in the desert; they died.

50 But the bread that comes down from heaven is such that a person may eat it and not die.

51 I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. Furthermore, the bread that I will give is my own flesh; and I will give it for the life of the world."

52 At this, the Judeans disputed with one another, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

53 Then Yeshua said to them, "Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves.

54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life -- that is, I will raise him up on the Last Day.

55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him.

57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live through the Father, so also who ever eats me will live through me.

58 So this is the bread that has come down from heaven -- it is not like the bread the fathers ate; they're dead, but whoever eats this bread will live forever!"

59 He said these things as he was teaching in a synagogue in K'far-Nachum.

60 On hearing it, many of his talmidim said, "This is a hard word -- who can bear to listen to it?"

61 But Yeshua, aware that his talmidim were grumbling about this, said to them, "This is a trap for you?

62 Suppose you were to see the Son of Man going back up to where he was before?

63 It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life,

64 yet some among you do not trust." (For Yeshua knew from the outset which ones would not trust him, also which one would betray him.)

65 "This," he said, "is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has made it possible for him."

66 From this time on, many of his talmidim turned back and no longer traveled around with him.

67 So Yeshua said to the Twelve, "Don't you want to leave too?"

68 Shim`on Kefa answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the word of eternal life.

69 We have trusted, and we know that you are the Holy One of God."

70 Yeshua answered them, "Didn't I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is an adversary."

71 (He was speaking of Y'hudah Ben-Shim`on, from K'riot; for this man -- one of the Twelve! -- was soon to betray him.)

1 Chronicles 24

1 The divisions of the descendants of Aharon were as follows: The sons of Aharon: Nadav, Avihu, El'azar and Itamar.

2 But Nadav and Avihu died before their father and had no children; therefore El'azar and Itamar functioned as the cohanim.

3 David, together with Tzadok from the descendants of El'azar, and Achimelekh from the descendants of Itamar, arranged them in divisions for service.

4 There were more men who were chiefs found among the descendants of El'azar than among the descendants of Itamar; therefore there were sixteen divisions of the descendants of El'azar, headed by clan leaders, and eight divisions of the descendants of Itamar, according to their clans.

5 They were assigned [periods of service] by lot, the one group equally with the other, since both the descendants of El'azar and the descendants of Itamar had officers of the sanctuary and officers of God.

6 Sh'ma'yah the son of N'tan'el the secretary, one of the L'vi'im, recorded them in the presence of the king, the officers, Tzadok the cohen, Achimelekh the son of Evyatar, and the clan leaders of the cohanim and of the L'vi'im - with two clan divisions taken from El'azar for each one from Itamar.

7 The first lot drawn was for Y'hoyariv, the second for Y'da'yah,

8 the third for Harim, the fourth for S'orim,

9 the fifth for Malkiyah, the sixth for Miyamin,

10 the seventh for Hakotz, the eighth for Aviyah,

11 the ninth for Yeshua, the tenth for Sh'khanyahu,

12 the eleventh for Elyashiv, the twelfth for Yakim,

13 the thirteenth for Hupah, the fourteenth for Yeshev'av,

14 the fifteenth for Bilgah, the sixteenth for Immer,

15 the seventeenth for Hezir, the eighteenth for HaPitzetz

16 the nineteenth for P'tachyah, the twentieth for Yechezk'el,

17 the twenty-first for Yakhin, the twenty-second for Gamul,

18 the twenty-third for D'layahu, and the twenty-fourth for Ma'azyahu.

19 These are the divisions and the sequence in which they served in the house of ADONAI, in accordance with the rule they were given through Aharon their ancestor, as ADONAI the God of Isra'el had ordered him.

20 The rest of the descendants of Levi: of the descendants of 'Amram, Shuva'el; of the descendants of Shuva'el, Yechd'yah.

21 Of Rechavyahu: of the descendants of Rechavyahu, Yishiyah the chief.

22 Of the Yitz'hari, Shlomot; of the descendants of Shlomot, Yachat.

23 Of the sons [of Hevron]: Yeriyahu, Amaryahu second, Yachzi'el third and Y'kam'am fourth.

24 The descendants of 'Uzi'el: Mikhah; of the descendants of Mikhah, Shamir.

25 The brother of Mikhah: Yishiyah; of the descendants of Yishiyah, Z'kharyahu.

26 The sons of M'rari: Machli and Mushi. The descendants of his son Ya'aziyahu,

27 that is, the descendants of M'rari through his descendant Ya'aziyahu: Shoham, Zakur and 'Ivri.

28 Of Machli: El'azar, who had no sons.

29 Of Kish: the descendants of Kish, Yerachme'el.

30 And the sons of Mushi: Machli, 'Eder and Yerimot. These were the descendants of the L'vi'im according to their clans.

31 These likewise cast lots, as had their kinsmen the descendants of Aharon, in the presence of David the king, Tzadok, Achimelekh, and the clan leaders of the cohanim and of the L'vi'im; with the senior and junior clans casting lots equally.

Zechariah 10

1 Ask ADONAI for rain in the spring, ADONAI who makes the rain clouds; and he will give them showers of rain, grass in the field to each one.

2 For the household gods talk nonsense, the diviners have seen a lie; their dreams convey delusions, and the comfort they offer is in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep in distress from lack of a shepherd.

3 "My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will vent it on the leaders of the flock." For ADONAI-Tzva'ot will care for his flock, the people of Y'hudah; he will make them like his royal war-horse.

4 From them come cornerstone and tent peg, from them the bow for battle, from them all the rulers together.

5 They will be like warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle. They will fight, because ADONAI is with them; they will rout even those on horseback.

6 "I will strengthen the house of Y'hudah and save the house of Yosef. I will bring them back in my compassion for them; they will be as if I hadn't driven them out; for I am ADONAI their God, and I will answer them.

7 Efrayim's men will be like warriors; their hearts will be cheered as if from wine. Their children will see it and rejoice, their hearts will be glad in ADONAI.

8 "I will whistle for them and gather them, because I have redeemed them; they will be as numerous as they were before;

9 and I will sow them among the peoples. In distant lands they will remember me; they will rear their children and then return.

10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them out of Ashur. I will bring them into Gil'ad and the L'vanon, until there is no more room for them.

11 "Trouble will pass over the sea and stir up waves in the sea; all the depths of the Nile will be dried up, the pride of Ashur will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will leave.

12 But I will strengthen [Isra'el] in ADONAI; they will travel here and there in his name," says ADONAI.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 25

1 Chronicles 25-26; Zechariah11 CJB

1 Chronicles 25

1 For the service, David and the army commanders selected some of the descendants of Asaf, of Heman and of Y'dutun to prophesy with lyres, lutes and cymbals. The list of those doing this work, according to the type of work performed was:

2 Of the descendants of Asaf: Zakur, Yosef, N'tanyah and Asar'elah; the sons of Asaf were with Asaf, who prophesied according to the direction of the king.

3 Of Y'dutun, the descendants of Y'dutun: G'dalyahu, Tzeri, Yesha'yahu, Hashavyahu, Mattityahu - six, with their father Y'dutun, who, accompanied by the lyre, prophesied thanks and praise to ADONAI.

4 Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukiyahu, Mattanyahu, 'Uzi'el, Sh'vu'el, Yerimot, Hananyah, Hanani, Eli'atah, Gidalti, Romamti-'ezer, Yoshb'kashah, Maloti, Hotir and Machzi'ot;

5 all these sons of Heman, the king's seer in matters pertaining to God, were there to exalt [God]. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

6 They were all with their fathers Asaf, Y'dutun and Heman to sing with cymbals, lutes and lyres in the house of ADONAI, serving in the house of God under the direction of the king.

7 Their number, together with their kinsmen who had been instructed in singing to ADONAI, was 288, all well trained.

8 Whether great or small, teacher or talmid, they cast lots for their term of duty.

9 The first lot for Asaf fell to Yosef, the second to G'dalyah; he, his brothers and his sons numbered twelve;

10 the third to Zakur, his sons and brothers, twelve;

11 the fourth to Izri, his sons and brothers, twelve;

12 the fifth to N'tanyahu, his sons and brothers, twelve;

13 the sixth to Bukiyahu, his sons and brothers, twelve;

14 the seventh to Y'sar'elah, his sons and brothers, twelve;

15 the eighth to Yesha'yahu, his sons and brothers, twelve;

16 the ninth to Mattanyahu, his sons and brothers, twelve;

17 the tenth to Shim'i, his sons and brothers, twelve;

18 the eleventh to 'Azar'el, his sons and brothers, twelve;

19 the twelfth to Hashavyah, his sons and brothers, twelve;

20 the thirteenth to Shuva'el, his sons and brothers, twelve;

21 the fourteenth to Mattityahu, his sons and brothers, twelve;

22 the fifteenth to Yeremot, his sons and brothers, twelve;

23 the sixteenth to Hananyahu, his sons and brothers, twelve;

24 the seventeenth to Yoshb'kashah, his sons and brothers, twelve;

25 the eighteenth to Hanani, his sons and brothers, twelve;

26 the nineteenth to Maloti, his sons and brothers, twelve;

27 the twentieth to Eli'atah, his sons and brothers, twelve;

28 the twenty-first to Hotir, his sons and brothers, twelve;

29 the twenty-second to Gidalti, his sons and brothers, twelve;

30 the twenty-third to Machzi'ot, his sons and brothers, twelve; and

31 the twenty-fourth to Romamti-'ezer, his sons and brothers, twelve.

1 Chronicles 26

1 The divisions of the gatekeepers: Of the Korchim: Meshelemyahu the son of Kore, of the descendants of Asaf.

2 Meshelemyahu had sons: Z'kharyahu the firstborn, Y'dia'el the second, Z'vadyahu the third, Yatni'el the fourth,

3 'Eilam the fifth, Y'hochanan the sixth and Ely'ho'einai the seventh.

4 'Oved-Edom had sons: Sh'ma'yah the firstborn, Y'hozavad the second son, Yo'ach the third, Sakhar the fourth, N'tan'el the fifth,

5 'Ammi'el the sixth, Yissakhar the seventh, and Pe'ultai the eighth; for God blessed him.

6 To his son Sh'ma'yah were born sons who ruled over their father's clan, because they were strong, brave men.

7 The sons of Sh'ma'yah: 'Otni, Refa'el and his brothers 'Oved and Elzavad, valiant men; also Elihu and S'makhyahu.

8 These were all from the sons of 'Oved-Edom, they and their sons and brothers, men of ability and strength for service, sixty-two from 'Oved-Edom.

9 Meshelemyahu had sons and brothers, valiant men, eighteen.

10 Hosah, from the descendants of M'rari, had sons: Shimri the chief, for although he was not the firstborn, nevertheless his father made him the chief;

11 Hilkiyahu the second, T'valyahu the third and Z'kharyahu the fourth; all the sons and brothers of Hosah were thirteen.

12 These divisions of the gatekeepers, under their chief men, had duties, just as their kinsmen did, serving in the house of ADONAI.

13 Great or small, they cast lots according to their clans for every gate.

14 The lot for the east gate fell to Shelemyahu. Then they cast lots for his son Z'kharyahu, a sensible adviser, and he was allotted the north gate.

15 'Oved-Edom was allotted the south gate and his sons the storehouse.

16 Shupim and Hosah were allotted the west gate and the Shallekhet Gate at the highway that goes up, with corresponding guards.

17 For the east there were six L'vi'im, for the north four a day, for the south four a day, for the Storehouse two and two,

18 while for the courtyard to the west there were four at the highway and two at the courtyard itself.

19 These were the divisions of the gatekeepers, consisting of descendants of the Korchim and descendants of M'rari.

20 Of the L'vi'im, Achiyah was responsible for the stores in the house of God and the stores of holy articles.

21 The sons of La'dan, the descendants of the Gershuni belonging to La'dan, the heads of clans belonging to La'dan the Gershuni: Yechi'eli;

22 and the sons of Yechi'eli: Zetam and Yo'el his brother, over the stores in the house of ADONAI.

23 Of the 'Amrami, of the Yitz'hari, of the Hevroni, of the 'Uzi'eli,

24 Sh'vu'el the descendant of Gershom, the son of Moshe, was in charge of the stores.

25 His kinsmen: from Eli'ezer: Rechavyahu his son, Yesha'yahu his son, Yoram his son, Zikhri his son and Shlomit his son.

26 This Shlomit and his kinsmen were in charge of all the stores of the dedicated things that David the king, the clan heads, the captains over thousands and hundreds and the commanders of the army had dedicated.

27 From the spoil won in wars they had dedicated these things to repair the house of ADONAI.

28 Also included was all that Sh'mu'el the seer, Sha'ul the son of Kish, Avner the son of Ner and Yo'av the son of Tz'ruyah had dedicated. In short, if anyone had dedicated anything, Shlomit and his brothers were in charge of it.

29 Of the Yitz'hari: K'nanyahu and his sons were assigned to be over Isra'el in regard to outside business as officers and judges.

30 Of the Hevroni: Hashavyah and his kinsmen, 1,700 valiant men, had the oversight of Isra'el west of the Yarden in regard to all the business of ADONAI and the service of the king.

31 Yeriyah was chief of the Hevroni according to their generations by clans. In the fortieth year of David's reign the Hevroni were sought out, and there were found among them strong, brave men at Ya'zer in Gil'ad.

32 King David appointed 2,700 of his kinsmen, valiant men and clan leaders, as overseers over the Re'uveni, the Gadi and the half-tribe of the M'nashi for every matter pertaining to God and for the affairs of the king.

Zechariah 11

1 Open your doors, L'vanon, so that fire can consume your cedars.

2 Wail, cypress, because the cedar has fallen, those splendid trees are ruined. Wail, oaks of Bashan, because the thick forest has been felled.

3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds, because their glory is spoiled. Listen to the roaring of young lions, because the Yarden's thickets are plundered.

4 ADONAI my God says this: "Shepherd the flock for slaughter.

5 Their buyers kill them and go unpunished; while those who sell them say, 'Barukh ADONAI! Now I'm rich!' Even their own shepherds show them no pity.

6 I will no longer show pity to the inhabitants of the land," says ADONAI. "No, I will hand every one of them over to the power of a neighbor and to the power of his king; they will crush the land; and I won't rescue them from their power."

7 So I shepherded the flock for slaughter, truly the most miserable of the sheep; and I took two staffs for myself. I called the one No'am [pleasantness], the other I called Hovalim [bound together], and I shepherded the flock.

8 "In a single month I got rid of three shepherds, because I grew impatient with them; and besides, they detested me.

9 I said, 'I'm not going to shepherd you. Whichever one is going to die, let it die; whichever is going to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and the rest can all devour each other.'"

10 I took my staff No'am and snapped it in two, "in order to break my covenant, which I made with all the peoples."

11 On that day when it was broken, the most miserable of the sheep who paid attention to me knew that this was indeed a message from ADONAI.

12 I said to them, "If it seems good to you, give me my wages; if not, don't." So they weighed out my wages, thirty silver [shekels, that is, twelve ounces].

13 Concerning that "princely sum" at which they valued me, ADONAI said, "Throw it into the treasury!" So I took the thirty silver [shekels] and threw them into the treasury in the house of ADONAI.

14 Then I snapped in two my other staff Hovalim [bound together], in order to break up the brotherhood between Y'hudah and Isra'el.

15 ADONAI said to me, "This time, take the equipment of a worthless shepherd.

16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who won't bother about the ones who have been destroyed, won't seek out the young, won't heal the broken and won't feed those standing still; on the contrary, he will eat the meat of the fat ones and break their hoofs in pieces.

17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the sheep! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye. May his arm be completely withered and his right eye totally blinded."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 26

John 7:1-24; 1 Chronicles 27-28; Zechariah12 CJB

John 7:1-24

1 After this, Yeshua traveled around in the Galil, intentionally avoiding Y'hudah because the Judeans were out to kill him.

2 But the festival of Sukkot in Y'hudah was near;

3 so his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go into Y'hudah, so that your talmidim can see the miracles you do;

4 for no one who wants to become known acts in secret. If you're doing these things, show yourself to the world!"

5 (His brothers spoke this way because they had not put their trust in him.)

6 Yeshua said to them, "My time has not yet come; but for you, any time is right.

7 The world can't hate you, but it does hate me, because I keep telling it how wicked its ways are.

8 You, go on up to the festival; as for me, I am not going up to this festival now, because the right time for me has not yet come."

9 Having said this, he stayed on in the Galil.

10 But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he too went up, not publicly but in secret.

11 At the festival, the Judeans were looking for him. "Where is he?" they asked.

12 And among the crowds there was much whispering about him. Some said, "He's a good man"; but others said, "No, he is deceiving the masses."

13 However, no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Judeans.

14 Not until the festival was half over did Yeshua go up to the Temple courts and begin to teach.

15 The Judeans were surprised: "How does this man know so much without having studied?" they asked.

16 So Yeshua gave them an answer: "My teaching is not my own, it comes from the One who sent me.

17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or I speak on my own.

18 A person who speaks on his own is trying to win praise for himself; but a person who tries to win praise for the one who sent him is honest, there is nothing false about him.

19 Didn't Moshe give you the Torah? Yet not one of you obeys the Torah! Why are you out to kill me?"

20 "You have a demon!" the crowd answered. "Who's out to kill you?"

21 Yeshua answered them, "I did one thing; and because of this, all of you are amazed.

22 Moshe gave you b'rit-milah -- not that it came from Moshe but from the Patriarchs -- and you do a boy's b'rit-milah on Shabbat.

23 If a boy is circumcised on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moshe will not be broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man's whole body well on Shabbat?

24 Stop judging by surface appearances, and judge the right way!"

1 Chronicles 27

1 The people of Isra'el, registered according to their clan leaders, were drafted for army duty under captains of thousands and of hundreds, and officers serving the king, in divisions of 24,000 each, for month-long terms of duty covering all the months of the year.

2 Over the first division, for the first month, was Yashov'am the son of Zavdi'el; there were 24,000 in his division.

3 He was from the descendants of Peretz and was in charge of all the army captains during the first month.

4 Over the division for the second month was Dodai the Achochi; Miklot was the chief officer of his division; there were 24,000 in his division.

5 The third army commander, for the third month, was B'nayah the son of Y'hoyada the chief cohen; there were 24,000 in his division.

6 This is the same B'nayah who was one of the thirty heroes and was over the thirty; his son 'Ammizavad was in his division.

7 The fourth commander, for the fourth month, was 'Asah'el the brother of Yo'av, with Z'vadyah his son after him; there were 24,000 in his division.

8 The fifth commander, for the fifth month, was Shamhut from Yizrach; there were 24,000 in his division.

9 The sixth commander, for the sixth month, was 'Ira the son of 'Ikesh from T'koa; there were 24,000 in his division.

10 The seventh commander, for the seventh month, was Heletz the P'loni, from the descendants of Efrayim; there were 24,000 in his division.

11 The eighth commander, for the eighth month, was Sibkhai the Hushati, from the Zarchi; there were 24,000 in his division.

12 The ninth commander, for the ninth month, was Avi'ezer from 'Anatot, from the Ben-Y'mini; there were 24,000 in his division.

13 The tenth commander, for the tenth month, was Mahrai, the N'tofati, from the Zarchi; there were 24,000 in his division.

14 The eleventh commander, for the eleventh month, was B'nayah from Pir'aton, from the descendants of Efrayim; there were 24,000 in his division.

15 The twelfth commander, for the twelfth month, was Heldai the N'tofati, from 'Otni'el; there were 24,000 in his division.

16 Over the the tribes of Isra'el: leader of the Re'uveni: Eli'ezer the son of Zikhri; of the Shim'oni: Sh'fatyah the son of Ma'akhah;

17 of Levi: Hashavyah the son of K'mu'el; of Aharon: Tzadok;

18 of Y'hudah: Elihu, one of David's brothers; of Yissakhar: 'Omri the son of Mikha'el;

19 of Z'vulun: Yishma'yahu the son of 'Ovadyah; of Naftali: Yerimot the son of 'Azri'el;

20 of the descendants of Efrayim: Hoshea the son of 'Azazyahu; of the half-tribe of M'nasheh: Yo'el the son of P'dayah;

21 of the half-tribe of M'nasheh in Gil'ad: Yiddo the son of Z'kharyahu; of Binyamin: Ya'asi'el the son of Avner;

22 of Dan: 'Azar'el the son of Yerocham. These were the commanders of the tribes of Isra'el.

23 But David did not include in the registration those twenty years old or less, because ADONAI had said he would increase Isra'el's numbers like the stars in the sky.

24 Yo'av the son of Tz'ruyah began a census of these, but he did not finish, and wrath came upon Isra'el because of this; moreover the number was not entered into the Annals of King David.

25 In charge of the king's supplies was 'Azmavet the son of 'Adi'el. In charge of the supplies in the countryside, the cities, the villages and the fortresses was Y'honatan the son of 'Uziyahu.

26 In charge of farmers working the land was 'Ezri the son of K'luv.

27 In charge of the vineyards was Shim'i the Ramati, while Zavdi the Shifmi was responsible for the produce from the vineyards for the wine-cellars.

28 In charge of the olive and sycamore-fig trees in the Sh'felah was Ba'al-Hanan from G'derah, while Yo'ash was put over the storehouses for olive oil.

29 In charge of the herds of livestock feeding in the Sharon was Shirtai from the Sharon, while Shafat the son of Adlai was put over herds in the valleys.

30 Ovil the Yishma'eli was put over the camels, Yechd'yahu the Meronoti over the donkeys

31 and Yaziz the Hagri over the flocks [of sheep and goats]. All of these were responsible for King David's property.

32 Y'honatan David's uncle was an adviser, a man of understanding and a secretary. Yechi'el the son of Hachmoni took care of the king's sons.

33 Achitofel was an adviser to the king. Hushai the Archi was the king's confidant;

34 and after Achitofel were Y'hoyada the son of B'nayah and Evyatar. Yo'av was commander of the king's army.

1 Chronicles 28

1 David assembled in Yerushalayim all the leaders of Isra'el - the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of the divisions serving the king, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and the supervisors over the property and livestock of the king, along with his sons, the officials, the warrior-heroes, and anyone else who was a leader.

2 Then David the king rose to his feet and said: "My kinsmen and my people! Listen to me! I set my heart on building a house where the ark for the covenant of ADONAI could remain at rest. It would have been God's footstool, and I prepared to build it.

3 But God said to me, 'You are not to build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, you have shed blood.'

4 However, ADONAI the God of Isra'el chose me out of my father's whole family to be king over Isra'el forever; for he chose Y'hudah to be the leader; and in the house of Y'hudah, in the house of my father, and among the sons of my father, it was his pleasure to make me king over all Isra'el;

5 and of all my sons - for ADONAI has given me many sons - he has chosen Shlomo my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of ADONAI over Isra'el.

6 "Moreover, he said to me, 'Shlomo your son will build my house and courtyards, for I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him.

7 I will establish his kingdom forever, if he uses his strength to obey my mitzvot and abide by my rulings, as [he is doing] currently.'

8 Now therefore, in the sight of all Isra'el, the community of ADONAI, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek out all the mitzvot of ADONAI your God, so that you may continue to possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance to your descendants after you forever.

9 "As for you, Shlomo my son, know the God of your father. Serve him wholeheartedly and with desire in your being; for ADONAI searches all hearts and understands all the inclinations of people's thoughts. If you seek him, he will let himself be found by you; but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever.

10 See now that ADONAI has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; so be strong, and do it!"

11 Then David gave Shlomo his son the designs for the hall [of the temple], its buildings, its supply areas, its upper rooms, its inside rooms, and the place for the ark-cover;

12 also the designs for everything he had been given by the Spirit - for the courtyards of the house of ADONAI, for all the rooms surrounding it, for the storehouses in the house of God, for the storehouses for the holy articles,

13 and for the areas set aside for the cohanim and the L'vi'im; [arrangements] for the work involved in the service of the house of ADONAI and for all the articles needed for the service of the house of ADONAI;

14 [lists] of the weights of gold needed for the gold items to be used for various purposes, and the weights of silver needed for the silver items to be used for various purposes -

15 the weight of the gold needed for the gold menorahs, the weight needed for each menorah and for its lamps; and for the menorahs of silver, the weight of silver needed for each menorah and for its lamps, according to the way each menorah was to be used;

16 also the gold by weight for the tables for the showbread, for each table; and silver for the tables made of silver;

17 the gold for the pure gold forks, basins and jars, and for the gold bowls by weight for each bowl; also for the silver bowls by weight for each bowl;

18 and for the incense altar, refined gold by weight; and gold for the design of the chariot and the k'ruvim with their wings spread out to cover the ark for the covenant of ADONAI.

19 "All this is in writing, as ADONAI, with his hand on me, has given me good sense in working out these detailed plans."

20 Then David said to Shlomo his son, "Be strong, be bold, and do it! Don't be afraid or become discouraged! For ADONAI, God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or abandon you until all the work for the service in the house of ADONAI has been finished.

21 See, there are the divisions of the cohanim and L'vi'im for all the service in the house of God. For every kind of work, you will have with you every man who is willing and skilled, for every kind of service. Also the captains and all the people will be completely at your disposal."

Zechariah 12

1 A prophecy, the word of ADONAI concerning Isra'el - here is the message from ADONAI, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth and formed the spirit inside human beings:

2 "I will make Yerushalayim a cup that will stagger the surrounding peoples. Even Y'hudah will be caught up in the siege against Yerushalayim.

3 When that day comes, I will make Yerushalayim a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who try to lift it will hurt themselves, and all the earth's nations will be massed against her.

4 When that day comes," says ADONAI, "I will strike all the horses with panic and their riders with madness; I will keep watch over Y'hudah, but I will strike blind all the horses of the peoples.

5 The leaders of Y'hudah will say to themselves, 'Those living in Yerushalayim are my strength through ADONAI-Tzva'ot their God.'

6 When that day comes, I will make the leaders of Y'hudah like a blazing fire pan in a pile of wood, like a fiery torch among sheaves of grain; they will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right and on the left. Yerushalayim will be inhabited in her own place, Yerushalayim.

7 ADONAI will save the tents of Y'hudah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of those living in Yerushalayim will not appear greater than that of Y'hudah.

8 When that day comes, ADONAI will defend those living in Yerushalayim. On that day, even someone who stumbles will be like David; and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of ADONAI before them.

9 "When that day comes, I will seek to destroy all nations attacking Yerushalayim;

10 and I will pour out on the house of David and on those living in Yerushalayim a spirit of grace and prayer; and they will look to me, whom they pierced." They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son; they will be in bitterness on his behalf like the bitterness for a firstborn son.

11 When that day comes, there will be great mourning in Yerushalayim, mourning like that for Hadad-Rimmon in the Megiddo Valley.

12 Then the land will mourn, each family by itself - the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Natan by itself, and their wives by themselves;

13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shim'i by itself, and their wives by themselves;

14 all the remaining families, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 27

John 7:25-52; 1 Chronicles 29; Zechariah13 CJB

John 7:25-53

25 Some of the Yerushalayim people said, "Isn't this the man they're out to kill?

26 Yet here he is, speaking openly; and they don't say anything to him. It couldn't be, could it, that the authorities have actually concluded he's the Messiah?

27 Surely not -- we know where this man comes from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from."

28 Whereupon Yeshua, continuing to teach in the Temple courts, cried out, "Indeed you do know me! And you know where I'm from! And I have not come on my own! The One who sent me is real. But him you don't know!

29 I do know him, because I am with him, and he sent me!"

30 At this, they tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him; because his time had not yet come.

31 However, many in the crowd put their trust in him and said, "When the Messiah comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?"

32 The P'rushim heard the crowd whispering these things about Yeshua; so the head cohanim and the P'rushim sent some of the Temple guards to arrest him.

33 Yeshua said, "I will be with you only a little while longer; then I will go away to the One who sent me.

34 You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come."

35 The Judeans said to themselves, "Where is this man about to go, that we won't find him? Does he intend to go to the Greek Diaspora and teach the Greek-speaking Jews?

36 And when he says, `You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come' -- what does he mean?"

37 Now on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking!

38 Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!"

39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later -- the Spirit had not yet been given, because Yeshua had not yet been glorified.)

40 On hearing his words, some people in the crowd said, "Surely this man is `the prophet'";

41 others said, "This is the Messiah." But others said, "How can the Messiah come from the Galil?

42 Doesn't the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the seed of Davidf and comes from Beit-Lechem,g the village where David lived?"

43 So the people were divided because of him.

44 Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.

45 The guards came back to the head cohanim and the P'rushim, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"

46 The guards replied, "No one ever spoke the way this man speaks!"

47 "You mean you've been taken in as well?" the P'rushim retorted.

48 "Has any of the authorities trusted him? Or any of the P'rushim? No!

49 True, these `am-ha'aretz do, but they know nothing about the Torah, they are under a curse!"

50 Nakdimon, the man who had gone to Yeshua before and was one of them, said to them,

51 "Our Torah doesn't condemn a man -- does it? -- until after hearing from him and finding out what he's doing."

52 They replied, "You aren't from the Galil too, are you? Study the Tanakh, and see for yourself that no prophet comes from the Galil!"

53 Then they all left, each one to his own home.

1 Chronicles 29

1 To the whole community, David the king said, "Shlomo my son is the only one God has chosen. But he is still young and inexperienced, whereas the work to be done is great; because the palace is not for anyone human, but for ADONAI, God.

2 Now I have used all my strength to prepare for the house of my God the gold needed for the articles of gold, the silver for the articles of silver, the bronze for the articles of bronze, the iron for the articles of iron, the wood for the articles of wood, onyx stones, gemstones to be set, brilliant stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, as well as marble in abundance.

3 In addition, because my desire is set on the house of my God, since I have my own supply of gold and silver, I herewith give it to the house of my God - over and above everything I have prepared for the holy house -

4 ninety-nine tons of gold from the gold of Ofir and 231 tons of refined silver to be used for overlaying the walls of the houses.

5 The gold is for whatever is to be made of gold, and the silver is for whatever is to be made of silver; and they may be used for anything to be made by craftsmen. Therefore, who offers willingly to consecrate himself today to ADONAI?"

6 Then the clan leaders, the leaders of the tribes of Isra'el, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, along with the supervisors over the king's work offered willingly.

7 They gave for the service of the house of God 165 tons of gold, 330 tons of silver, 594 tons of bronze and 3,300 tons of iron.

8 Those who had precious stones gave them to the storehouse of the house of ADONAI, supervised by Yechi'el the Gershuni.

9 The people were filled with joy, because they had given willingly - wholeheartedly they had given willingly to ADONAI; and David the king too was completely filled with joy,

10 as he blessed ADONAI before the entire community: "Blessed be you, ADONAI, the God of Isra'el our father, forever and ever.

11 Yours, ADONAI, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory and the majesty; for everything in heaven and on earth is yours. The kingdom is yours, ADONAI; and you are exalted as head over all.

12 Riches and honor come from you, you rule everything, in your hand is power and strength, you have the capacity to make great and to give strength to all.

13 Therefore, our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name.

14 "But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to give so willingly in this way? For all things come from you, so that we have given you what is already yours.

15 For in your presence we are temporary residents, just passing through, as all our ancestors were - our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

16 ADONAI our God, all these supplies that we have prepared in order to build you a house for your holy name come from your own hand, all of it is already yours.

17 I know also, my God, that you test the heart and take pleasure in integrity. As for myself, I have given all these things willingly, in the integrity of my heart; and now, with joy, I have seen your people who are present here give willingly to you.

18 ADONAI, God of Avraham, Yitz'chak and Isra'el our ancestors, guard forever the inclinations of the thoughts in the hearts of your people; direct their hearts to you;

19 and give to Shlomo my son wholeheartedness to obey your mitzvot, instructions and rules, to do all these things, and to build the palace for which I have made provision."

20 Then David said to all the community, "Now bless ADONAI your God." All the community blessed ADONAI, the God of their ancestors, bowing their heads and prostrating themselves before ADONAI and before the king.

21 On the following day they presented sacrifices to ADONAI and offered burnt offerings to ADONAI - a thousand bulls, a thousand rams and a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings - and sacrifices in abundance for all Isra'el.

22 They ate and drank before ADONAI that day with great joy. Then, for the second time, they made Shlomo the son of David king, anointing him before ADONAI to be king, and Tzadok to be cohen.

23 Shlomo sat on the throne of ADONAI as king in place of David his father and prospered, and all Isra'el obeyed him.

24 All the leaders, the warrior-heroes and likewise the sons of King David submitted themselves to Shlomo the king.

25 ADONAI gave Shlomo exceedingly great power, in full view of all Isra'el, and bestowed on him royal majesty such as had not been seen on any king before him in Isra'el.

26 Now David the son of Yishai ruled over all Isra'el.

27 The duration of his reign over Isra'el was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hevron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Yerushalayim.

28 Then he died, at a ripe old age, full of years, riches and honor; and Shlomo his son reigned in his place.

29 The activities of David the king, from first to last, are written in the records of Sh'mu'el the seer, Natan the prophet and Gad the seer,

30 with all his reign and his power, and the events that he, Isra'el and the kingdoms of other countries experienced.

Zechariah 13

1 When that day comes, a spring will be opened up for the house of David and the people living in Yerushalayim to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

2 "When that day comes," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "I will cut off the very names of the idols from the land, so that no one even remembers them any more. I will also expel the [false] prophets and the spirit of uncleanness from the land;

3 so that if anyone continues to prophesy, his own father and mother who brought him into the world will tell him, 'You cannot continue to live, because you are speaking lies in the name of ADONAI'; then his own father and mother who brought him into the world will stab him to death.

4 When that day comes, each one of the prophets will be shamed by his vision when he prophesies. He will stop wearing a hair cloak to deceive people;

5 and instead, he will say, 'I'm no prophet, I just work the soil; since my youth I've only wanted to be an ordinary man.'

6 If someone asks him, 'Then what are these gashes between your shoulders?' he will answer, 'I got hurt at my friends' house.'

7 "Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the young ones.

8 In time, throughout that land," says ADONAI, "two-thirds of those in it will be destroyed - they will die, but one-third will remain.

9 That third part I will bring through the fire; I will refine them as silver is refined, I will test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'This is my people' and they will say, 'ADONAI is my God.'"

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 28

John 8:1-20; 2 Chronicles 1:1-2:16; Zechariah14 CJB

John 8:1-20

1 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives.

2 At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.

3 The Torah-teachers and the P'rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group.

4 Then they said to him, "Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.

5 Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?"

6 They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger.

7 When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

8 Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again.

9 On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there.

10 Standing up, Yeshua said to her, "Where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, sir." Yeshua said, "Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don't sin any more."

12 Yeshua spoke to them again: "I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life."

13 So the P'rushim said to him, "Now you're testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid."

14 Yeshua answered them, "Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony is indeed valid; because I know where I came from and where I'm going; but you do not know where I came from or where I'm going.

15 You judge by merely human standards. As for me, I pass judgment on no one;

16 but if I were indeed to pass judgment, my judgment would be valid; because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the One who sent me.

17 And even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two people is valid.

18 I myself testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me."

19 They said to him, "Where is this `father' of yours?" Yeshua answered, "You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father too."

20 He said these things when he was teaching in the Temple treasury room; yet no one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.

2 Chronicles 1

1 Shlomo the son of David grew stronger in his rulership; ADONAI his God was with him, making him greater and greater.

2 Shlomo spoke to all Isra'el - to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges and to every leader in all Isra'el, the heads of clans.

3 Shlomo and the whole community with him went to the high place at Giv'on, because in that place was God's tent of meeting, which Moshe the servant of ADONAI had made in the desert.

4 But the ark of God David had brought up from Kiryat-Ye'arim to the place he had prepared for it - he had set up a tent for it in Yerushalayim.

5 The bronze altar crafted by B'tzal'el the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had been placed before the tabernacle of ADONAI; and there Shlomo and the community consulted him.

6 On the bronze altar at the tent of meeting Shlomo offered a thousand burnt offerings before ADONAI.

7 That night God appeared to Shlomo and said to him, "Tell me what I should give you."

8 Shlomo said to God, "You showed much grace to your servant David my father and have made me king in his place.

9 Now, ADONAI, God, you have been faithful to your promise to David my father; for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the grains of dust on the earth.

10 So now, give me wisdom and knowledge; so that I will be able to lead this people. For who is equal to judging this great people of yours?"

11 God said to Shlomo, "Because you set your heart on this - because, instead of asking for riches, wealth, honor, the death of those who hate you, or long life, you asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, so that you would be able to judge my people, over whom I made you king -

12 not only are wisdom and knowledge being given to you, but I will also give you riches, wealth and honor such as no king before you has ever had; and no king after you will have as much."

13 So Shlomo came away from the high place at Giv'on, from in front of the tent of meeting, to Yerushalayim; and he ruled over Isra'el.

14 Shlomo amassed chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen; he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Yerushalayim.

15 The king made silver and gold in Yerushalayim as common as stones, and he made cedars as abundant as sycamore-fig trees in the Sh'felah.

16 Shlomo's horses had been brought from Egypt and from Keve, with the king's agents having bought them from the dealers in Keve at the going price.

17 A chariot brought from Egypt cost fifteen pounds of silver shekels and a horse three-and-three quarters pounds [of shekels]; all the kings of the Hittim and the kings of Aram purchased them at these prices through Shlomo's agents.

2 Chronicles 2:1-16

1 Shlomo then decided to build a house for the name of ADONAI and a royal palace for himself.

2 Shlomo enlisted 70,000 men who carried loads, another 80,000 men who were stonecutters in the hills and

3 ,600 supervising them.3 Then Shlomo sent this message to Huram the king of Tzor: "[Deal with me] as you dealt with David my father when you sent him cedar logs, so that he could build himself a palace to live in.

4 Here, I am about to build a house for the name of ADONAI my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before Him incense made of sweet spices; the house will also be for the continuing showbread and for the burnt offerings presented every morning and evening, on the shabbats, at every Rosh-Hodesh, and at the designated times of ADONAI our God. This is a perpetual regulation for Isra'el.

5 The house I will build will be great, because our God is greater than all gods.

6 But who is equal to building him a house? Why, heaven itself, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain him; so who am I to build him a house, except to offer sacrifices before him?

7 "Now, therefore, send me a man skilled at working with gold, silver, bronze and iron; dealing with purple, crimson, and blue dyed materials; and capable of doing all kinds of engraving. He will be with the skilled craftsmen I have with me in Y'hudah and Yerushalayim, whom David my father provided.

8 Also send me cedar, cypress and sandalwood logs from the L'vanon; for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber in the L'vanon. I will have my servants work together with your servants

9 to prepare me an abundant supply of timber, for the house I am about to build must be magnificent and wonderful.

10 I will give your servants, the woodcutters who cut the timber, 100,000 bushels of cracked wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley, 100,000 gallons of wine, and 100,000 gallons of olive oil."

11 Huram the king of Tzor wrote this answer and sent it to Shlomo: "Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them."

12 Huram continued, "Blessed be ADONAI, the God of Isra'el, who made heaven and earth, who has given David the king a wise, knowledgeable son with common sense to build a house for ADONAI and a royal palace for himself.

13 Now I am sending a man of skill and understanding, my master craftsman Huram,

14 the son of a woman who was one of the daughters of Dan, while his father was a man from Tzor. He is skilled in working gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and timber, as well as purple and blue dyed materials, fine linen and crimson material; he can do any kind of engraving; and he can make all the equipment necessary to accomplish any task assigned to him, with the help of your craftsmen and those of my lord David your father.

15 Therefore let my lord send his servants the wheat, barley, oil and wine he has spoken of;

16 and we will cut wood from the L'vanon, as much as you need; we will float it to you as rafts by sea to Yafo, and you will take it up to Yerushalayim."

Zechariah 14

1 Look, a day is coming for ADONAI when your plunder, [Yerushalayim], will be divided right there within you.

2 "For I will gather all the nations against Yerushalayim for war. The city will be taken, the houses will be rifled, the women will be raped, and half the city will go into exile; but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city."

3 Then ADONAI will go out and fight against those nations, fighting as on a day of battle.

4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies to the east of Yerushalayim; and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, to make a huge valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

5 You will flee to the valley in the mountains, for the valley in the mountains will reach to Atzel. You will flee, just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of 'Uziyah king of Y'hudah. Then ADONAI my God will come to you with all the holy ones.

6 On that day, there will be neither bright light nor thick darkness;

7 and one day, known to ADONAI, will be neither day nor night, although by evening there will be light.

8 On that day, fresh water will flow out from Yerushalayim, half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea, both summer and winter.

9 Then ADONAI will be king over the whole world. On that day ADONAI will be the only one, and his name will be the only name.

10 All the land will be made like the 'Aravah, from Geva to Rimmon in the Negev. Yerushalayim will be raised up and inhabited where she is, from Binyamin's Gate to the place where the earlier gate stood, and on to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hanan'el to the king's winepresses.

11 People will live there, the curse will be broken, and Yerushalayim will live in safety.

12 ADONAI will strike all the peoples who made war against Yerushalayim with a plague in which their flesh rots away while they are standing on their feet, their eyes rot away in their sockets, and their tongues rot away in their mouths.

13 When that day comes, there will be among them great panic, sent by ADONAI, so that everyone lays hands on his neighbor, who in turn attacks him.

14 Y'hudah too will fight against Yerushalayim; and the wealth of all the nations will be assembled - gold, silver and clothing in great abundance.

15 A plague like this plague will also affect the horses, mules, camels, donkeys and all the other animals in those camps.

16 Finally, everyone remaining from all the nations that came to attack Yerushalayim will go up every year to worship the king, ADONAI-Tzva'ot, and to keep the festival of Sukkot.

17 If any of the families of the earth does not go up to Yerushalayim to worship the king, ADONAI-Tzva'ot, no rain will fall on them.

18 If the family of Egypt doesn't go up, if they refuse to come, they will have no [annual] overflow [from the Nile]; moreover, there will be the plague with which ADONAI will strike the nations that don't go up to keep the festival of Sukkot.

19 This will be Egypt's punishment and the punishment of all the nations that don't go up to keep the festival of Sukkot.

20 When that day comes, this will be written on the bells worn by the horses: "Consecrated to ADONAI"; and the cooking pots in the house of ADONAI will be [as holy] as the sprinkling bowls before the altar.

21 Yes, every cooking pot in Yerushalayim and Y'hudah will be consecrated to ADONAI-Tzva'ot. Everyone who offers sacrifices will come, take them and use them to stew the meat. When that day comes, there will no longer be merchants in the house of ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 29

John 8:21-59; 2 Chronicles 2:17-5:1; Malachi 1:1-2:9 CJB

John 8:21-59

21 Again he told them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin -- where I am going, you cannot come."

22 The Judeans said, "Is he going to commit suicide? Is that what he means when he says, `Where I am going, you cannot come'?"

23 Yeshua said to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.

24 This is why I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not trust that I AM [who I say I am], you will die in your sins."

25 At this, they said to him, "You? Who are you?" Yeshua answered, "Just what I've been telling you from the start.

26 There are many things I could say about you, and many judgments I could make. However, the One who sent me is true; so I say in the world only what I have heard from him."

27 They did not understand that he was talking to them about the Father.

28 So Yeshua said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM [who I say I am], and that of myself I do nothing, but say only what the Father has taught me.

29 Also, the One who sent me is still with me; he did not leave me to myself, because I always do what pleases him."

30 Many people who heard him say these things trusted in him.

31 So Yeshua said to the Judeans who had trusted him, "If you obey what I say, then you are really my talmidim,

32 you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

33 They answered, "We are the seed of Avraham and have never been slaves to anyone; so what do you mean by saying, `You will be set free'?"

34 Yeshua answered them, "Yes, indeed! I tell you that everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin.

35 Now a slave does not remain with a family forever, but a son does remain with it forever.

36 So if the Son frees you, you will really be free!

37 I know you are the seed of Avraham. Yet you are out to kill me, because what I am saying makes no headway in you.

38 I say what my Father has shown me; you do what your father has told you!"

39 They answered him, "Our father is Avraham." Yeshua replied, "If you are children of Avraham, then do the things Avraham did!

40 As it is, you are out to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Avraham did nothing like that!

41 You are doing the things your father does." "We're not illegitimate children!" they said to him. "We have only one Father -- God!"

42 Yeshua replied to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me; because I came out from God; and now I have arrived here. I did not come on my own; he sent me.

43 Why don't you understand what I'm saying? Because you can't bear to listen to my message.

44 You belong to your father, Satan, and you want to carry out your father's desires. From the start he was a murderer, and he has never stood by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is speaking in character; because he is a liar -- indeed, the inventor of the lie!

45 But as for me, because I tell the truth you don't believe me.

46 Which one of you can show me where I'm wrong? If I'm telling the truth, why don't you believe me?

47 Whoever belongs to God listens to what God says; the reason you don't listen is that you don't belong to God."

48 The Judeans answered him, "Aren't we right in saying you are from Shomron and have a demon?"

49 Yeshua replied, "Me? I have no demon. I am honoring my Father. But you dishonor me.

50 I am not seeking praise for myself. There is One who is seeking it, and he is the judge.

51 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever obeys my teaching will never see death."

52 The Judeans said to him, "Now we know for sure that you have a demon! Avraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, `Whoever obeys my teaching will never taste death.'

53 Avraham avinu died; you aren't greater than he, are you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are?"

54 Yeshua answered, "If I praise myself, my praise counts for nothing. The One who is praising me is my Father, the very one about whom you keep saying, `He is our God.'

55 Now you have not known him, but I do know him; indeed, if I were to say that I don't know him, I would be a liar like you! But I do know him, and I obey his word.

56 Avraham, your father, was glad that he would see my day; then he saw it and was overjoyed."

57 "Why, you're not yet fifty years old," the Judeans replied, "and you have seen Avraham?"

58 Yeshua said to them, "Yes, indeed! Before Avraham came into being, I AM!"

59 At this, they picked up stones to throw at him; but Yeshua was hidden and left the Temple grounds.

2 Chronicles 2:17-18

17 Shlomo took a census of all the foreigners in the land of Isra'el, following the pattern of the census of David his father; they were found to number 153,600.

18 He appointed 70,000 of them to carry loads, 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 as supervisors to assign the people their work.

2 Chronicles 3

1 Then Shlomo began to build the house of ADONAI in Yerushalayim on Mount Moriyah, where ADONAI had appeared to David his father. Provision had been made for this at the place David had chosen, the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y'vusi.

2 He began building in the fourth year of his reign, on the second day of the second month.

3 These are the foundations Shlomo laid for building the house of God: the length in old-standard cubits was sixty cubits [105 feet] and the width twenty cubits [thirty-five feet].

4 The length of the hall fronting the house was the same as the house's width, thirty-five feet and the height 210 [feet]; and he overlaid it with pure gold.

5 The larger house he covered with cypress-wood, which he overlaid with fine gold and embossed with palm trees and chains.

6 He also decorated the building with precious stones and gold from Parvayim,

7 overlaying the house and its beams, thresholds, walls and doors with gold and carving k'ruvim on the walls.

8 Then he made the Especially Holy Place; its length matched the width of the house, thirty-five feet, and its width was thirty-five feet. He overlaid it with twenty tons of fine gold.

9 The weight of the nails was one-and-a-quarter pounds of gold, and he overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

10 Inside the Especially Holy Place he made two k'ruvim of cast metal, and they overlaid them with gold.

11 The wings of the k'ruvim were thirty-five feet long - the wing of the one keruv was eight-and-three-quarters feet long and touched the wall of the house; the other wing was also eight-and-three-quarters feet long, so that it touched the wing of the other keruv.

12 The wing of the other keruv was eight-and-three-quarters feet long, touching the wall of the house; and the other wing was also eight-and-three-quarters feet long, touching the wing of the first keruv.

13 The wings of these k'ruvim spread out over thirty-five feet. They stood on their feet with their faces turned inward.

14 He made the curtain of blue, purple and crimson material and of fine linen, with a design of k'ruvim worked into it.

15 In front of the house he made two columns sixty-one-and-a-quarter feet high, with a capital of eight-and-three-quarters feet on top of each.

16 He made chains in the sanctuary and added them to the tops of the columns, and he made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains.

17 He erected the columns in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left; the one on the right he called Yakhin, and the one on the left he called Bo'az.

2 Chronicles 4

1 He made an altar of bronze thirty-five feet long, thirty-five feet wide and seventeen-and-a-half feet high.

2 He made the cast metal "Sea" circular, seventeen-and-a-half feet from rim to rim, eight-and-three quarters feet high and fifty-two-and-a-half feet in circumference.

3 Below the rim a ring of ox-like figures encircled it, ten for every twenty-one inches all the way around the Sea. The oxen were in two rows; they were cast when the Sea was cast.

4 It rested on twelve oxen, three looking north, three looking west, three looking south and three looking east, all with their hindquarters toward the center. The Sea was set on top of them.

5 It was a handbreadth thick, its rim was made like the rim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; and its capacity was 16,500 gallons.

6 He also made ten basins for washing and put five on the right and five on the left. Items needed for the burnt offerings would be cleansed in these, but the Sea was for the cohanim to wash in.

7 He made the ten menorahs of gold in accordance with their specifications and set them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left.

8 He also made ten tables and put them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold.

9 He made the courtyard for the cohanim and the great courtyard, also the doors to the courtyard, which he overlaid with bronze.

10 The Sea he placed on the right side [of the house], toward the southeast.

11 Huram made the ash pots, shovels and sprinkling basins. With that, Huram completed the work he had been doing for King Shlomo in the house of God -

12 the two columns, the two moldings, the two capitals on top of the columns, the two nettings covering the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns,

13 and the 400 pomegranates for the two nettings, two rows of pomegranates for each netting, to cover the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns.

14 He also made the trolleys, the basins on the trolleys,

15 the one Sea, the twelve oxen under it,

16 the ash pots, the shovels, the forks and all the other equipment for it. All these articles that Huram the master craftsman made for King Shlomo in the house of ADONAI were of brilliant bronze.

17 The king cast them in the plain of the Yarden, in the clay ground between Sukkot and Tz'redah.

18 Shlomo made so many of these objects that the total weight of the bronze could not be determined.

19 Shlomo made all the objects that were inside the house of God: the gold altar; the table on which the showbread was displayed;

20 the menorahs with their lamps to burn in front of the sanctuary as specified, of pure gold;

21 the flowers, lamps and tongs of gold, solid gold;

22 and the snuffers, bowls, cups and fire pans of pure gold. As for the entryway to the house, the inner doors for the Especially Holy Place and the doors of the house (that is, of the temple) were of gold.

2 Chronicles 5:1

1 Thus all the work that Shlomo did for the house of ADONAI was finished. Then Shlomo brought in the gifts which David his father had consecrated - the silver, the gold and all the utensils - and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

Malachi 1

1 A prophecy, the word of ADONAI to Isra'el through Mal'akhi:

2 "I love you," says ADONAI. But you ask, "How do you show us your love?" ADONAI answers, "'Esav was Ya'akov's brother. Yet I loved Ya'akov

3 but hated 'Esav. I made his mountains desolate and gave his territory to desert jackals."

4 Edom says, "We are beaten down now, but we will come back and rebuild the ruins." ADONAI-Tzva'ot answers, "They can build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, the people with whom ADONAI is permanently angry.

5 You will see it and say, 'ADONAI is great, even beyond the borders of Isra'el.'"

6 "A son honors his father and a servant his master. But if I'm a father, where is the honor due me? and if I'm a master, where is the respect due me? - says ADONAI-Tzva'ot to you cohanim who despise my name. You ask, 'How are we despising your name?'

7 By offering polluted food on my altar! Now you ask, 'How are we polluting you?' By saying that the table of ADONAI doesn't deserve respect;

8 so that there's nothing wrong with offering a blind animal as a sacrifice, nothing wrong with offering an animal that's lame or sick. Try offering such an animal to your governor, and see if he will be pleased with you! Would he even receive you?" asks ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

9 So if you pray now that God will show us favor, what your actions have accomplished is that ADONAI-Tzva'ot asks, "Will he receive any of you?

10 Why doesn't even one of you shut the doors and thus stop this useless lighting of fires on my altar? I take no pleasure in you," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "and I will not receive an offering from you.

11 For from farthest east to farthest west my name is great among the nations. Offerings are presented to my name everywhere, pure gifts; for my name is great among the nations," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

12 "But you profane it by saying that the table of ADONAI is polluted, so that the fruit and food offered deserve contempt.

13 You also say, 'It's all so tiresome!' and sniff scornfully at it," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "Then you bring animals that were taken by violence, or they are lame or sick. This is the sort of offering you bring. Am I supposed to accept this from you?" asks ADONAI.

14 "Moreover, cursed is the deceiver who has a male animal in his flock that is damaged, but vows and sacrifices to ADONAI anyway. For I am a great king," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "and my name is respected among the nations.

Malachi 2:1-9

1 "Now, cohanim, this command is for you.

2 If you won't listen, if you won't pay attention to honoring my name," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "then I will send the curse on you; I will turn your blessings into curses. Yes, I will curse them, because you pay no attention.

3 I will reject your seed; I will throw dung in your faces, the dung from your festival offerings; and you will be carted off with it.

4 Then you will know that I sent you this command to affirm my covenant with Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

5 "My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave him these things. It was also one of fear, and he feared me; he was in awe of my name.

6 The true Torah was in his mouth, and no dishonesty was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from sin.

7 A cohen's lips should safeguard knowledge, and people should seek Torah from his mouth, because he is the messenger of ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

8 But you turned away from the path, you caused many to fail in the Torah, you corrupted the covenant of Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

9 "Therefore I have in turn made you contemptible and vile before all the people, because you did not keep my ways but were partial in applying the Torah."

 

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 30

John 8:48-59; 2 Chronicles 5:2-14; Malachi 2:10-4:6 CJB

John 8:48-59

48 The Judeans answered him, "Aren't we right in saying you are from Shomron and have a demon?"

49 Yeshua replied, "Me? I have no demon. I am honoring my Father. But you dishonor me.

50 I am not seeking praise for myself. There is One who is seeking it, and he is the judge.

51 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever obeys my teaching will never see death."

52 The Judeans said to him, "Now we know for sure that you have a demon! Avraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, `Whoever obeys my teaching will never taste death.'

53 Avraham avinu died; you aren't greater than he, are you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are?"

54 Yeshua answered, "If I praise myself, my praise counts for nothing. The One who is praising me is my Father, the very one about whom you keep saying, `He is our God.'

55 Now you have not known him, but I do know him; indeed, if I were to say that I don't know him, I would be a liar like you! But I do know him, and I obey his word.

56 Avraham, your father, was glad that he would see my day; then he saw it and was overjoyed."

57 "Why, you're not yet fifty years old," the Judeans replied, "and you have seen Avraham?"

58 Yeshua said to them, "Yes, indeed! Before Avraham came into being, I AM!"

59 At this, they picked up stones to throw at him; but Yeshua was hidden and left the Temple grounds.

2 Chronicles 5:2-14

2 Shlomo assembled all the leaders of Isra'el and all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the paternal clans of the people of Isra'el, to Yerushalayim, to bring the ark for the covenant of ADONAI out of the City of David, also known as Tziyon.

3 All the people of Isra'el assembled before the king at the festival in the seventh month.

4 All the leaders of Isra'el came. The L'vi'im took the ark

5 and brought up the ark, the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils that were in the tent; these are what the cohanim and L'vi'im brought up.

6 King Shlomo and the whole community of Isra'el who had assembled in his presence were in front of the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen in numbers beyond counting or recording.

7 The cohanim brought the ark for the covenant of ADONAI in to its place inside the sanctuary of the house, to the Especially Holy Place, under the wings of the k'ruvim.

8 For the k'ruvim spread out their wings over the place for the ark, covering the ark and its poles from above.

9 The poles were so long that their ends could be seen [extending] from the ark into the sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day.

10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets Moshe put there at Horev, when ADONAI made the covenant with the people of Isra'el at the time of their leaving Egypt.

11 When the cohanim came out of the Holy Place (for all the cohanim who were present had consecrated themselves; they didn't keep to their divisions;

12 also the L'vi'im who were the singers, all of them - Asaf, Heman, Y'dutun and their sons and relatives - dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, lutes and lyres, stood on the east side of the altar; and with them 120 cohanim sounding trumpets),

13 then, when the trumpeters and singers were playing in concord, to be heard harmoniously praising and thanking ADONAI, and they lifted their voices together with the trumpets, cymbals and other musical instruments to praise ADONAI: "for he is good, for his grace continues forever"- then, the house, the house of ADONAI, was filled with a cloud;

14 so that because of the cloud, the cohanim could not stand up to perform their service; for the glory of ADONAI filled the house of God.

Malachi 2

10 Don't we all have the same father? Didn't one God create us all? Then why do we break faith with each other, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?

11 Y'hudah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Isra'el and Yerushalayim. For Y'hudah has profaned the sanctuary of ADONAI, which he loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.

12 If a man does this and presents an offering to ADONAI-Tzva'ot, may ADONAI cut him off from the tents of Ya'akov, whether initiator or follower.

13 Here is something else you do: you cover ADONAI's altar with tears, with weeping and with sighing, because he no longer looks at the offering or receives your gift with favor.

14 Nevertheless, you ask, "Why is this?" Because ADONAI is witness between you and the wife of your youth that you have broken faith with her, though she is your companion, your wife by covenant.

15 And hasn't he made [them] one [flesh] in order to have spiritual blood-relatives? For what the one [flesh] seeks is a seed from God. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and don't break faith with the wife of your youth.

16 "For I hate divorce," says ADONAI the God of Isra'el, "and him who covers his clothing with violence," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and don't break faith.

17 You have wearied ADONAI with your words. Yet you ask, "How have we wearied him?" By saying that anyone who does wrong is good from ADONAI's perspective, and that he is delighted with them; or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"

Malachi 3

1 "Look! I am sending my messenger to clear the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Yes, the messenger of the covenant, in whom you take such delight - look! Here he comes," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

2 But who can endure the day when he comes? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like the soapmaker's lye.

3 He will sit, testing and purifying the silver; he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold and silver, so that they can bring offerings to ADONAI uprightly.

4 Then the offering of Y'hudah and Yerushalayim will be pleasing to ADONAI, as it was in the days of old, as in years gone by.

5 "Then I will approach you for judgment; and I will be quick to witness against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers; against those who take advantage of wage-earners, widows and orphans; against those who rob the foreigner of his rights and don't fear me," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

6 "But because I, ADONAI, do not change, you sons of Ya'akov will not be destroyed.

7 Since the days of your forefathers you have turned from my laws and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "But you ask, 'In respect to what are we supposed to return?'

8 Can a person rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How have we robbed you?' In tenths and voluntary contributions.

9 A curse is on you, on your whole nation, because you rob me.

10 Bring the whole tenth into the storehouse, so that there will be food in my house, and put me to the test," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "See if I won't open for you the floodgates of heaven and pour out for you a blessing far beyond your needs.

11 For your sakes I will forbid the devourer to destroy the yield from your soil; and your vine will not lose its fruit before harvest-time," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

12 "All nations will call you happy, for you will be a land of delights," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

13 "You have spoken strongly against me," says ADONAI. "Yet you say, 'How have we spoken against you?'

14 By saying, 'There is no point in serving God. What good is it to obey his orders or to walk about as mourners before ADONAI-Tzva'ot?

15 We consider the arrogant happy; also evildoers prosper; they put God to the test; nevertheless, they escape.'"

16 Then those who feared ADONAI spoke together; and ADONAI listened and heard. A record book was written in his presence for those who feared ADONAI and had respect for his name.

17 "They will be mine," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "on the day when I compose my own special treasure. I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.

18 Then once again you will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between the person who serves God and one that doesn't serve him.

Malachi 4

1 For the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the proud and evildoers will be stubble; the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "and leave them neither root nor branch.

2 But to you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will break out leaping, like calves released from the stall.

3 You will trample the wicked, they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I take action," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

4 "Remember the Torah of Moshe my servant, which I enjoined on him at Horev, laws and rulings for all Isra'el.

5 Look, I will send to you Eliyahu the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible Day of ADONAI.

6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers; otherwise I will come and strike the land with complete destruction." [Look, I will send to you Eliyahu the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible Day of ADONAI.]

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

August 31

John 9:1-23; 2 Chronicles 6; Malachi 2:17-3:18 CJB

John 9:1-23

1 As Yeshua passed along, he saw a man blind from birth.

2 His talmidim asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned -- this man or his parents -- to cause him to be born blind?"

3 Yeshua answered, "His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that God's power might be seen at work in him.

4 As long as it is day, we must keep doing the work of the One who sent me; the night is coming, when no one can work.

5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, put the mud on the man's eyes,

7 and said to him, "Go, wash off in the Pool of Shiloach!" (The name means "sent.") So he went and washed and came away seeing.

8 His neighbors and those who previously had seen him begging said, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"

9 Some said, "Yes, he's the one"; while others said, "No, but he looks like him." However, he himself said, "I'm the one."

10 "How were your eyes opened?" they asked him.

11 He answered, "The man called Yeshua made mud, put it on my eyes, and told me, `Go to Shiloach and wash!' So I went; and as soon as I had washed, I could see."

12 They said to him, "Where is he?" and he replied, "I don't know."

13 They took the man who had been blind to the P'rushim.

14 Now the day on which Yeshua had made the mud and opened his eyes was Shabbat.

15 So the P'rushim asked him again how he had become able to see; and he told them, "He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see."

16 At this, some of the P'rushim said, "This man is not from God, because he doesn't keep Shabbat." But others said, "How could a man who is a sinner do miracles like these?" And there was a split among them.

17 So once more they spoke to the blind man: "Since you're the one whose eyes he opened, what do you say about him?" He replied: "He is a prophet."

18 The Judeans, however, were unwilling to believe that he had formerly been blind, but now could see, until they had summoned the man's parents.

19 They asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"

20 His parents answered, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind;

21 but how it is that he can see now, we don't know; nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him -- he's old enough, he can speak for himself!"

22 The parents said this because they were afraid of the Judeans, for the Judeans had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged Yeshua as the Messiah would be banned from the synagogue.

23 This is why his parents said, "He's old enough, ask him."

2 Chronicles 6

1 Shlomo said, "ADONAI said he would live in thick darkness.

2 But I have built you a magnificent house, a place where you can live forever."

3 Then the king turned around and blessed the whole community of Isra'el. The whole community of Isra'el stood

4 as he said, "Blessed be ADONAI, the God of Isra'el, who spoke to my father David with his mouth and fulfilled his promise with his hand. He said,

5 'Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I chose no city from any of the tribes of Isra'el to build a house, so that my name might be there; nor did I choose anyone to be the leader of my people Isra'el.

6 But now I have chosen Yerushalayim, so that my name can be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Isra'el.'

7 It was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of ADONAI the God of Isra'el;

8 but ADONAI said to David my father, 'Although it was in your heart to build a house for my name, and you did well that it was in your heart,

9 nevertheless you will not build the house. Rather, you will father a son, and it will be he who will build the house for my name.'

10 Now ADONAI has fulfilled this spoken word of his; for I have succeeded my father and sit on the throne of Isra'el, as ADONAI promised; and I have built the house for the name of ADONAI the God of Isra'el.

11 And there I have placed the ark containing the covenant of ADONAI, which he made with the people of Isra'el."

12 Then he stood before the altar of ADONAI in the presence of the whole community of Isra'el, spread out his hands -

13 for Shlomo had made a bronze platform eight-and-three quarters feet long, eight-and-three-quarters feet wide and five-and-a-quarter feet high and had set it up in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, then got down on his knees before the whole community, spread out his hands toward heaven,

14 and said, "ADONAI, God of Isra'el, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth. You keep covenant with your servants and show them grace, provided they live in your presence with all their heart.

15 You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father; you spoke with your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand; so it is today.

16 Now therefore, ADONAI, God of Isra'el, keep what you promised to your servant David, my father, when you said, 'You will never lack a man in my presence to sit on the throne of Isra'el, if only your children are careful about what they do, so that they live by my Torah, just as you have lived in my presence.'

17 Now therefore, ADONAI, God of Isra'el, please let your word, which you spoke to your servant David, my father, be confirmed.

18 "But can God actually live with human beings on the earth? Why, heaven itself, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain you; so how much less this house I have built?

19 Even so, ADONAI my God, pay attention to your servant's prayer and plea, listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying before you,

20 that your eyes will be open toward this house day and night - toward the place where you said you would put your name - to listen to the prayer your servant will pray toward this place.

21 Yes, listen to the pleas of your servant, and also those of your people Isra'el when they pray toward this place. Hear from where you live, from heaven; and when you hear, forgive!

22 "If a person sins against a fellow member of the community, and he is made to swear under oath, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house;

23 then hear from heaven, act and judge your servants, paying back the wicked, so that his way of life devolves on his own head, and vindicating the one who is right, giving him what his righteousness deserves.

24 "If your people Isra'el sin against you and in consequence are defeated by an enemy; then if they turn back to you, acknowledge your name, and pray and make their plea to you in this house,

25 hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Isra'el, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.

26 "When they sin against you, and in consequence the sky is shut, so that there is no rain; then if they pray toward this place, acknowledge your name and turn from their sin when you have brought them low;

27 hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Isra'el - since you keep teaching them the good way by which they should live -and send down rain on your land, which you have given your people as their inheritance.

28 "If there is famine in the land, or blight, windstorm, mildew, locusts or shearer-worms; or if their enemies besiege them in any of their cities - no matter what kind of plague or sickness it is;

29 then, regardless of what prayer or plea anyone among all your people Isra'el makes -for each individual will know his own plague and his own pain -and the person spreads out his hands toward this house;

30 then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive; also, since you know what is in each one's heart, give each person what his conduct deserves (because you, and only you, know human hearts),

31 so that they will fear you and therefore live according to your ways throughout the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.

32 "Also the foreigner who does not belong to your people Isra'el -when he comes from a distant country because of your great reputation, your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house;

33 then hear from heaven, from where you live; and act in accordance with everything about which the foreigner is calling to you; so that all the peoples of the earth will know your name and fear you, as does your people Isra'el, and so that they will know that this house which I have built bears your name.

34 "If your people go out to fight their enemies, no matter by which way you send them, and they pray to you toward the city you chose and the house I built for your name;

35 then, from heaven, hear their prayer and plea, and uphold their cause.

36 "If they sin against you - for there is no one who doesn't sin - and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, so that they carry them off captive to a land far away or nearby;

37 then, if they come to their senses in the land where they have been carried away captive, turn back and make their plea to you in the land where they are being held captive, saying, 'We sinned, we acted wrongly, we behaved wickedly,'

38 if, in the land where they were brought and are being held captive, they return to you with all their heart and being and pray to you toward their own land, which you gave to their ancestors, toward the city you chose and toward the house I have built for your name;

39 then, from heaven, from where you live, hear their prayer and pleas, uphold their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

40 "Now, my God, please, let your eyes be open, and let your ears pay attention to the prayer being made in this place.

41 "Now go up, ADONAI, God, to your place of rest, you and the ark through which you give strength. "May your cohanim, ADONAI, God, be clothed with salvation; may those loyal to you take joy in good.

42 "ADONAI, God, don't turn away the face of your anointed one; remember the mercies of your servant David."

Malachi 2

1 "Now, cohanim, this command is for you.

2 If you won't listen, if you won't pay attention to honoring my name," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "then I will send the curse on you; I will turn your blessings into curses. Yes, I will curse them, because you pay no attention.

3 I will reject your seed; I will throw dung in your faces, the dung from your festival offerings; and you will be carted off with it.

4 Then you will know that I sent you this command to affirm my covenant with Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

5 "My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave him these things. It was also one of fear, and he feared me; he was in awe of my name.

6 The true Torah was in his mouth, and no dishonesty was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from sin.

7 A cohen's lips should safeguard knowledge, and people should seek Torah from his mouth, because he is the messenger of ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

8 But you turned away from the path, you caused many to fail in the Torah, you corrupted the covenant of Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

9 "Therefore I have in turn made you contemptible and vile before all the people, because you did not keep my ways but were partial in applying the Torah."

10 Don't we all have the same father? Didn't one God create us all? Then why do we break faith with each other, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?

11 Y'hudah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Isra'el and Yerushalayim. For Y'hudah has profaned the sanctuary of ADONAI, which he loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.

12 If a man does this and presents an offering to ADONAI-Tzva'ot, may ADONAI cut him off from the tents of Ya'akov, whether initiator or follower.

13 Here is something else you do: you cover ADONAI's altar with tears, with weeping and with sighing, because he no longer looks at the offering or receives your gift with favor.

14 Nevertheless, you ask, "Why is this?" Because ADONAI is witness between you and the wife of your youth that you have broken faith with her, though she is your companion, your wife by covenant.

15 And hasn't he made [them] one [flesh] in order to have spiritual blood-relatives? For what the one [flesh] seeks is a seed from God. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and don't break faith with the wife of your youth.

16 "For I hate divorce," says ADONAI the God of Isra'el, "and him who covers his clothing with violence," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and don't break faith.

17 You have wearied ADONAI with your words. Yet you ask, "How have we wearied him?" By saying that anyone who does wrong is good from ADONAI's perspective, and that he is delighted with them; or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"

Malachi 3

1 "Look! I am sending my messenger to clear the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Yes, the messenger of the covenant, in whom you take such delight - look! Here he comes," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

2 But who can endure the day when he comes? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like the soapmaker's lye.

3 He will sit, testing and purifying the silver; he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold and silver, so that they can bring offerings to ADONAI uprightly.

4 Then the offering of Y'hudah and Yerushalayim will be pleasing to ADONAI, as it was in the days of old, as in years gone by.

5 "Then I will approach you for judgment; and I will be quick to witness against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers; against those who take advantage of wage-earners, widows and orphans; against those who rob the foreigner of his rights and don't fear me," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

6 "But because I, ADONAI, do not change, you sons of Ya'akov will not be destroyed.

7 Since the days of your forefathers you have turned from my laws and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "But you ask, 'In respect to what are we supposed to return?'

8 Can a person rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How have we robbed you?' In tenths and voluntary contributions.

9 A curse is on you, on your whole nation, because you rob me.

10 Bring the whole tenth into the storehouse, so that there will be food in my house, and put me to the test," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "See if I won't open for you the floodgates of heaven and pour out for you a blessing far beyond your needs.

11 For your sakes I will forbid the devourer to destroy the yield from your soil; and your vine will not lose its fruit before harvest-time," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

12 "All nations will call you happy, for you will be a land of delights," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

13 "You have spoken strongly against me," says ADONAI. "Yet you say, 'How have we spoken against you?'

14 By saying, 'There is no point in serving God. What good is it to obey his orders or to walk about as mourners before ADONAI-Tzva'ot?

15 We consider the arrogant happy; also evildoers prosper; they put God to the test; nevertheless, they escape.'"

16 Then those who feared ADONAI spoke together; and ADONAI listened and heard. A record book was written in his presence for those who feared ADONAI and had respect for his name.

17 "They will be mine," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "on the day when I compose my own special treasure. I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.

18 Then once again you will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between the person who serves God and one that doesn't serve him.

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Today's Bible Reading

September 1

John 9:24-41; 2 Chronicles 7; Malachi 4 CJB

John 9:24-41

24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind; and they said to him, "Swear to God that you will tell the truth! We know that this man is a sinner."

25 He answered, "Whether he's a sinner or not I don't know. One thing I do know: I was blind, now I see."

26 So they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

27 "I already told you," he answered, "and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you too want to become his talmidim?"

28 Then they railed at him. "You may be his talmid," they said, "but we are talmidim of Moshe!

29 We know that God has spoken to Moshe, but as for this fellow -- we don't know where he's from!"

30 "What a strange thing," the man answered, "that you don't know where he's from -- considering that he opened my eyes!

31 We know that God doesn't listen to sinners; but if anyone fears God and does his will, God does listen to him.

32 In all history no one has ever heard of someone's opening the eyes of a man born blind.

33 If this man were not from God, he couldn't do a thing!"

34 "Why, you mamzer!" they retorted, "Are you lecturing us?" And they threw him out.

35 Yeshua heard that they had thrown the man out. He found him and said, "Do you trust in the Son of Man?"

36 "Sir," he answered, "tell me who he is, so that I can trust in him."

37 Yeshua said to him, "You have seen him. In fact, he's the one speaking with you now."

38 "Lord, I trust!" he said, and he kneeled down in front of him.

39 Yeshua said, "It is to judge that I came into this world, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind."

40 Some of the P'rushim nearby heard this and said to him, "So we're blind too, are we?"

41 Yeshua answered them, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But since you still say, `We see,' your guilt remains.

2 Chronicles 7

1 When Shlomo had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of ADONAI filled the house,

2 so that the cohanim could not enter the house of ADONAI; because the glory of ADONAI filled ADONAI's house.

3 All the people of Isra'el saw when the fire came down, and the glory of ADONAI was on the house; they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the flooring; prostrating themselves, they gave thanks to ADONAI, "for he is good, for his grace continues forever."

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before ADONAI.

5 King Shlomo offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. Thus the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

6 The cohanim stood at their appointed stations, while the L'vi'im used the instruments that David the king had provided for making music to ADONAI in order to "give thanks to ADONAI, for his grace continues forever,"by means of the praises David had composed. Opposite them the cohanim sounded trumpets; and all Isra'el stood up.

7 Shlomo also consecrated the center of the courtyard in front of the house of ADONAI; because he had to offer the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings there. For the bronze altar which Shlomo had made could not receive the burnt offering, the grain offering and the fat.

8 So Shlomo celebrated the festival at that time for seven days, together with all Isra'el, an enormous gathering; [they had come all the way] from the entrance of Hamat to the Vadi [of Egypt].

9 On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, having observed the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days.

10 Then, on the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their tents full of joy and glad of heart for all the goodness ADONAI had shown to David, to Shlomo and to Isra'el his people.

11 Thus Shlomo finished the house of ADONAI and the royal palace. Everything that Shlomo had set his heart on making in the house of ADONAI and in his own palace he accomplished successfully.

12 ADONAI appeared to Shlomo by night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

13 If I shut up the sky, so that there is no rain; or if I order locusts to devour the land; or if I send an epidemic of sickness among my people;

14 then, if my people, who bear my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.

15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears will pay attention to the prayer made in this place.

16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house, so that my name can be there forever; my eyes and heart will always be there.

17 As for you, if you will live in my presence, as did David your father, doing everything I have ordered you to do, and keeping my laws and rulings;

18 then I will establish the throne of your rulership, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, 'You will never lack a man to be ruler in Isra'el.'

19 But if you turn away and abandon my regulations and mitzvot which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, worshipping them;

20 then I will pull them up by the roots out of the land I have given them. This house, which I consecrated for my name, I will eject from my sight; and I will make it an example to avoid and an object of scorn among all peoples.

21 This house, now so exalted - everyone passing by will be shocked at the sight of it and will ask, 'Why has ADONAI done this to this land and to this house?'

22 But the answer will be, 'It's because they abandoned ADONAI the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods, worshipping and serving them; this is why [ADONAI] brought all these calamities on them.'"

Malachi 4

1 For the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the proud and evildoers will be stubble; the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "and leave them neither root nor branch.

2 But to you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will break out leaping, like calves released from the stall.

3 You will trample the wicked, they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I take action," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

4 "Remember the Torah of Moshe my servant, which I enjoined on him at Horev, laws and rulings for all Isra'el.

5 Look, I will send to you Eliyahu the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible Day of ADONAI.

6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers; otherwise I will come and strike the land with complete destruction." [Look, I will send to you Eliyahu the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible Day of ADONAI.]

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Today's Bible Reading

September 2

John 10:1-21; 2 Chronicles 8; Psalm 73  CJB

John 10:1-21

1 "Yes, indeed! I tell you, the person who doesn't enter the sheep-pen through the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

2 But the one who goes in through the gate is the sheep's own shepherd.

3 This is the one the gate-keeper admits, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out.

4 After taking out all that are his own, he goes on ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.

5 They never follow a stranger but will run away from him, because strangers' voices are unfamiliar to them."

6 Yeshua used this indirect manner of speaking with them, but they didn't understand what he was talking to them about.

7 So Yeshua said to them again, "Yes, indeed! I tell you that I am the gate for the sheep.

8 All those who have come before me have been thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them.

9 I am the gate; if someone enters through me, he will be safe and will go in and out and find pasture.

10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

12 The hired hand, since he isn't a shepherd and the sheep aren't his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf drags them off and scatters them.

13 The hired worker behaves like this because that's all he is, a hired worker; so it doesn't matter to him what happens to the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me --

15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father -- and I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep.

16 Also I have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to bring them, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

17 "This is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life -- in order to take it up again!

18 No one takes it away from me; on the contrary, I lay it down of my own free will. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. This is what my Father commanded me to do."

19 Again there was a split among the Judeans because of what he said.

20 Many of them said, "He has a demon!" and "He's meshugga! Why do you listen to him?"

21 Others said, "These are not the deeds of a man who is demonized -- how can a demon open blind people's eyes?"

2 Chronicles 8

1 At the end of twenty years, during which time Shlomo had built the house of ADONAI and his own palace,

2 Shlomo built up the cities which Huram had given to Shlomo and had the people of Isra'el live there.

3 Then Shlomo attacked Hamat-Tzovah and defeated it.

4 He built Tadmor in the desert and all the cities for storing supplies that he built in Hamat.

5 He also built Upper Beit-Horon and Lower Beit-Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates and bars;

6 Ba'alat; and all the cities that Shlomo had for storing supplies, all the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and all the other buildings Shlomo wanted to build in Yerushalayim, in the L'vanon and throughout the land he ruled.

7 As for all the people still left from the Hitti, Emori, P'rizi, Hivi, and Y'vusi, who were not part of Isra'el,

8 from their descendants remaining after them in the land, whom the people of Isra'el did not exterminate - from them Shlomo levied [his forced laborers], as it is to this day.

9 But Shlomo did not raise any of his slaves from the people of Isra'el; rather, these were the soldiers, his chief commanders, and the officials in charge of his chariots and horsemen.

10 King Shlomo had 250 chief officers in charge of the people.

11 Shlomo brought up Pharaoh's daughter from the City of David to the house he had built for her; because he said, "No wife of mine is going to live in the house of David king of Isra'el, since the [buildings] where the ark of ADONAI has been are holy."

12 Then Shlomo offered burnt offerings to ADONAI on the altar of ADONAI that he had built in front of the vestibule,

13 as each day required, offering according to the mitzvah of Moshe on Shabbats, at Rosh-Hodesh and at the designated times three times a year - the festivals of Matzah, Shavu'ot and Sukkot.

14 As David his father had ordered, he appointed the divisions of the cohanim for their service and the L'vi'im to their tasks - to praise and to perform their service in the presence of the cohanim according to each day's requirements. He also appointed the gatekeepers by their divisions to be at every gate, for David the man of God had so ordered.

15 They did not deviate from the king's order to the cohanim and L'vi'im in any matter or in regard to the supplies.

16 All the work of Shlomo was organized in this way from the day ground was broken for the house of ADONAI until everything had been accomplished, and the house of ADONAI had been completed.

17 Shlomo went to 'Etzyon-Gever and Elot on the shore of the sea in the land of Edom.

18 Huram sent some of his servants with ships, and others that were experienced sailors who understood the sea; they went with Shlomo's servants to Ofir and took from there fifteen tons of gold, which they brought back to King Shlomo.

Psalm 73

1 A psalm of Asaf: How good God is to Isra'el, to those who are pure in heart!

2 But as for me, I lost my balance, my feet nearly slipped,

3 when I grew envious of the arrogant and saw how the wicked prosper.

4 For when their death comes, it is painless; and meanwhile, their bodies are healthy;

5 they don't have ordinary people's troubles, they aren't plagued like others.

6 So for them, pride is a necklace; and violence clothes them like a robe.

7 Their eyes peep out through folds of fat; evil thoughts overflow from their hearts.

8 They scoff and speak with malice, they loftily utter threats.

9 They set their mouths against heaven; their tongues swagger through the earth.

10 Therefore his people return here and [thoughtlessly] suck up that whole cup of water.

11 Then they ask, "How does God know? Does the Most High really have knowledge?"

12 Yes, this is what the wicked are like; those free of misfortune keep increasing their wealth.

13 It's all for nothing that I've kept my heart clean and washed my hands, staying free of guilt;

14 for all day long I am plagued; my punishment comes every morning.

15 If I had said, "I will talk like them,"I would have betrayed a generation of your children.

16 When I tried to understand all this, I found it too hard for me -

17 until I went into the sanctuaries of God and grasped what their destiny would be.

18 Indeed, you place them on a slippery slope and make them fall to their ruin.

19 How suddenly they are destroyed, swept away by terrors!

20 They are like a dream when one awakens; Adonai, when you rouse yourself, you will despise their phantoms.

21 When I had a sour attitude and felt stung by pained emotions,

22 I was too stupid to understand; I was like a brute beast with you.

23 Nevertheless, I am always with you; you hold my right hand.

24 You will guide me with your advice; and afterwards, you will receive me with honor.

25 Whom do I have in heaven but you? And with you, I lack nothing on earth.

26 My mind and body may fail; but God is the rock for my mind and my portion forever.

27 Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who adulterously leave you.

28 But for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made Adonai ELOHIM my refuge, so that I can tell of all your works.

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Today's Bible Reading

September 3

John 10:22-42; 2 Chronicles 9; Psalm 74 CJB

John 10

22 Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter,

23 and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo's Colonnade.

24 So the Judeans surrounded him and said to him, "How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us publicly!"

25 Yeshua answered them, "I have already told you, and you don't trust me. The works I do in my Father's name testify on my behalf,

26 but the reason you don't trust is that you are not included among my sheep.

27 My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me,

28 and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from my hands.

29 My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father's hands.

30 I and the Father are one."

31 Once again the Judeans picked up rocks in order to stone him.

32 Yeshua answered them, "You have seen me do many good deeds that reflect the Father's power; for which one of these deeds are you stoning me?"

33 The Judeans replied, "We are not stoning you for any good deed, but for blasphemy -- because you, who are only a man, are making yourself out to be God [Hebrew: Elohim]."

34 Yeshua answered them, "Isn't it written in your Torah, `I have said, "You people are Elohim' "?h

35 If he called `elohim' the people to whom the word of Elohim was addressed (and the Tanakh cannot be broken),

36 then are you telling the one whom the Father set apart as holy and sent into the world, `You are committing blasphemy,' just because I said, `I am a son of Elohim'?

37 "If I am not doing deeds that reflect my Father's power, don't trust me.

38 But if I am, then, even if you don't trust me, trust the deeds; so that you may understand once and for all that the Father is united with me, and I am united with the Father."

39 One more time they tried to arrest him, but he slipped out of their hands.

40 He went off again beyond the Yarden, where Yochanan had been immersing at first, and stayed there.

41 Many people came to him and said, "Yochanan performed no miracles, but everything Yochanan said about this man was true."

42 And many people there put their trust in him.

2 Chronicles 9

1 When the queen of Sh'va heard what was being said about Shlomo, she came to test him with difficult questions in Yerushalayim, accompanied by a very great retinue, including camels bearing spices and gold in abundance, and precious stones. When she appeared before Shlomo, she spoke with him about everything on her heart;

2 and Shlomo answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.

3 After the queen of Sh'va had seen Shlomo's wisdom, the palace he had built,

4 the food at his table, the manner of seating his officials, the manner in which his staff served him and how they were dressed, his personal servants and how they were dressed, and his manner of going up to the house of ADONAI, it left her breathless.

5 She said to the king, "What I heard in my own country about your deeds and your wisdom is true,

6 but I couldn't believe the report until I came and saw for myself. Actually, they didn't tell me even half of how great your wisdom is. In reality, you surpass the reports I heard.

7 How happy your people must be, how happy these servants of yours who are always here attending you and get to hear your wisdom!

8 Blessed be ADONAI your God, who took pleasure in you to put you on his throne, so that you could be king for ADONAI your God. Because of your God's love for Isra'el, to establish them forever, he has made you king over them, to administer law and judgment."

9 Then she gave the king four tons of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones; there had never been spices like those the queen of Sh'va gave to King Shlomo.

10 Huram's servants and Shlomo's servants, who had brought the gold from Ofir, now brought sandalwood and precious stones.

11 The king used the sandalwood to make walkways for the house of ADONAI and for the royal palace, also lyres and lutes for the singers. None like these had been seen before in the land of Y'hudah.

12 King Shlomo gave the queen of Sh'va everything she wanted, whatever she asked, more than what she had brought to the king. After this, she returned and went back to her own country, she and her servants.

13 The weight of the gold Shlomo received annually came to twenty-two tons,

14 besides that which came from customs duties and sales taxes; also all the Arab kings and regional governors brought gold and silver to Shlomo.

15 King Shlomo made 200 large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds of hammered gold went into one shield.

16 He made 300 more shields of hammered gold, with seven-and-a-half pounds going into one shield; the king put these in the House of the L'vanon Forest.

17 The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

18 The throne had six steps and a gold footstool; these were fastened to the throne. There were arms on either side of the seat, two lions standing beside the arms,

19 and twelve more lions standing on each side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made in any kingdom.

20 All King Shlomo's drinking vessels were of gold; and all the utensils in the House of the L'vanon Forest were of pure gold; for in Shlomo's time, silver was regarded as having little value.

21 The king had ships that could go to Tarshish with Huram's servants; once every three years the "Tarshish" ships came in, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.

22 So King Shlomo surpassed all the kings on earth in both wealth and wisdom.

23 All the kings on earth sought to have an audience with Shlomo, in order to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

24 Each one brought his present - articles of silver, articles of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses and mules; and this continued year after year.

25 Shlomo also had 4,000 stalls of horses for his chariots and his 12,000 horsemen; he assigned them to the chariot cities and to the king in Yerushalayim.

26 He ruled over all the kingdoms from the [Euphrates] River through the land of the P'lishtim to the border of Egypt.

27 The king made silver in Yerushalayim as common as stones, and he made cedars as abundant as sycamore-fig trees are in the Sh'felah.

28 They brought horses for Shlomo from Egypt and from all countries.

29 Other activities of Shlomo, from beginning to end, are written in the records of Natan the prophet, in the prophecy of Achiyah of Shiloh and in the visions of Ye'do the seer concerning Yarov'am the son of N'vat.

30 Shlomo reigned in Yerushalayim over all Isra'el for forty years.

31 Then Shlomo slept with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David his father, and Rechav'am his son became king in his place.

Psalm 74

1 A maskil of Asaf: Why have you rejected us forever, God, with your anger smoking against the sheep you once pastured?

2 Remember your community, which you acquired long ago, the tribe you redeemed to be your very own. Remember Mount Tziyon, where you came to live.

3 Hurry your steps to these endless ruins, to the sanctuary devastated by the enemy.

4 The roar of your foes filled your meeting-place; they raised their own banners as a sign of their conquest.

5 The place seemed like a thicket of trees when lumbermen hack away with their axes.

6 With hatchet and hammer they banged away, smashing all the carved woodwork.

7 They set your sanctuary on fire, tore down and profaned the abode of your name.

8 They said to themselves, "We will oppress them completely."They have burned down all God's meeting-places in the land.

9 We see no signs, there is no prophet any more; none of us knows how long it will last.

10 How much longer, God, will the foe jeer at us? Will the enemy insult your name forever?

11 Why do you hold back your hand? Draw your right hand from your coat, and finish them off!

12 God has been my king from earliest times, acting to save throughout all the earth.

13 By your strength you split the sea in two, in the water you smashed sea monsters' heads,

14 you crushed the heads of Livyatan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.

15 You cut channels for springs and streams, you dried up rivers that had never failed.

16 The day is yours, and the night is yours; it was you who established light and sun.

17 It was you who fixed all the limits of the earth, you made summer and winter.

18 Remember how the enemy scoffs at ADONAI, how a brutish people insults your name.

19 Don't hand over the soul of your dove to wild beasts, don't forget forever the life of your poor.

20 Look to the covenant, for the land's dark places are full of the haunts of violence.

21 Don't let the oppressed retreat in confusion; let the poor and needy praise your name.

22 Arise, God, and defend your cause; remember how brutish men insult you all day.

23 Don't forget what your foes are saying, the ever-rising uproar of your adversaries.

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Today's Bible Reading

September 4

John 11:1-27; 2 Chronicles 10-11; Psalm 75 CJB

John 11:1-27

1 There was a man who had fallen sick. His name was El`azar, and he came from Beit-Anyah, the village where Miryam and her sister Marta lived.

2 (This Miryam, whose brother El`azar had become sick, is the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)

3 So the sisters sent a message to Yeshua, "Lord, the man you love is sick."

4 On hearing it, he said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it."

5 Yeshua loved Marta and her sister and El`azar;

6 so when he heard he was sick, first he stayed where he was two more days;

7 then, after this, he said to the talmidim, "Let's go back to Y'hudah."

8 The talmidim replied, "Rabbi! Just a short while ago the Judeans were out to stone you -- and you want to go back there?"

9 Yeshua answered, "Aren't there twelve hours of daylight? If a person walks during daylight, he doesn't stumble; because he sees the light of this world.

10 But if a person walks at night, he does stumble; because he has no light with him."

11 Yeshua said these things, and afterwards he said to the talmidim, "Our friend El`azar has gone to sleep; but I am going in order to wake him up."

12 The talmidim said to him, "Lord, if he has gone to sleep, he will get better."

13 Now Yeshua had used the phrase to speak about El`azar's death, but they thought he had been talking literally about sleep.

14 So Yeshua told them in plain language, "El`azar has died.

15 And for your sakes, I am glad that I wasn't there, so that you may come to trust. But let's go to him."

16 Then T'oma (the name means "twin") said to his fellow talmidim, "Yes, we should go, so that we can die with him!"

17 On arrival, Yeshua found that El`azar had already been in the tomb for four days.

18 Now Beit-Anyah was about two miles from Yerushalayim,

19 and many of the Judeans had come to Marta and Miryam in order to comfort them at the loss of their brother.

20 So when Marta heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet him; but Miryam continued sitting shiv`ah in the house.

21 Marta said to Yeshua, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

22 Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you."

23 Yeshua said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

24 Marta said, "I know that he will rise again at the Resurrection on the Last Day."

25 Yeshua said to her, "I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies;

26 and everyone living and trusting in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."

2 Chronicles 10

1 Rechav'am went to Sh'khem, where all Isra'el had come in order to proclaim him king.

2 When Yarov'am the son of N'vat heard of it, he returned from Egypt, where he had fled from Shlomo.

3 They sent and summoned him, so Yarov'am and all Isra'el came and said to Rechav'am,

4 "Your father laid a harsh yoke on us. But if you will lighten the harsh service we had to render your father and ease his heavy yoke that he put on us, we will serve you."

5 He said to them, "Come back to me after three days." So the people left.

6 King Rechav'am consulted the older men who had been in attendance on Shlomo his father during his lifetime and asked, "What advice would you give me as to how to answer these people?"

7 They said to him, "If you will treat these people kindly, pleasing them and giving them favorable consideration, they will be your servants forever."

8 But he didn't take the advice the older men gave him; instead he consulted the young men he had grown up with, who were now his attendants.

9 He said to them, "What advice would you give me, so that we can give an answer to these people who said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father laid on us'?"

10 The young men he had grown up with said to him, "The people who said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter for us'- here's the answer you should give them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!

11 Yes, my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will make it heavier! My father controlled you with whips, but I [will control you] with scorpions!'"

12 So Yarov'am and all the people came to Rechav'am the third day, as the king had requested by saying, "Come to me again the third day";

13 and the king answered them harshly. Abandoning the advice of the older men, King Rechav'am

14 addressed them according to the advice of the young men and said, "I will make your yoke heavy, and I will add to it! My father controlled you with whips, but I will control you with scorpions!"

15 So the king didn't listen to the people; and that was something God brought about, so that ADONAI could fulfill his word, which he had spoken through Achiyah from Shiloh to Yarov'am the son of N'vat.

16 When all Isra'el [saw] that the king wasn't listening to them, the people answered the king, "Do we have any share in David? We have no heritage in the son of Yishai! Everyone to your tents, Isra'el! Care for your own house, David!" So all Isra'el left for their tents.

17 But as for the people of Isra'el living in the cities of Y'hudah, Rechav'am ruled over them.

18 King Rechav'am then sent Hadoram, who was in charge of forced labor; but the people of Isra'el stoned him to death. King Rechav'am managed to mount his chariot and flee to Yerushalayim.

19 Isra'el has been in rebellion against the dynasty of David to this day.

 

2 Chronicles 11

1 When Rechav'am arrived in Yerushalayim, he assembled the house of Y'hudah and Binyamin, 180,000 select soldiers, to fight Isra'el and bring the rulership back to Rechav'am.

2 But this word of ADONAI came to Sh'ma'yah the man of God:

3 "Speak to Rechav'am the son of Shlomo, king of Y'hudah, and to all Isra'el in Y'hudah and Binyamin; tell them

4 that this is what ADONAI says: 'You are not to go up and fight your brothers! Every man is to go back home, because this is my doing.'" They paid attention to the words of ADONAI and turned back from attacking Yarov'am.

5 Rechav'am lived in Yerushalayim and built cities for defense in Y'hudah -

6 he built Beit-Lechem, 'Eitam, T'koa,

7 Beit-Tzur, Sokho, 'Adulam,

8 Gat, Mareshah, Zif,

9 Adorayim, Lakhish, 'Azekah,

10 Tzor'ah, Ayalon and Hevron; these are fortified cities in Y'hudah and Binyamin.

11 He fortified the strongholds, appointed captains in charge of them and supplied them with food, olive oil and wine.

12 In every city he put shields and spears, making them very strong. Y'hudah and Binyamin stuck with him.

13 The cohanim and L'vi'im from wherever they lived throughout all Isra'el made themselves available to Rechav'am.

14 The L'vi'im left their pasture lands and property and came to Y'hudah and Yerushalayim; since Yarov'am and his sons had thrown them out, not allowing them to function as cohanim for ADONAI,

15 and had appointed for himself cohanim for the high places and for the images of goat-demons and calves that he had made.

16 Those from all the tribes of Isra'el who had set their hearts on seeking ADONAI, the God of Isra'el, followed them to Yerushalayim to sacrifice to ADONAI, the God of their fathers.

17 For three years they strengthened the kingdom of Y'hudah and made Rechav'am the son of Shlomo strong, because for three years they followed the way of life of David and Shlomo.

18 Rechav'am married Machalat the daughter of Yerimot the son of David and Avichayil the daughter of Eli'av the son of Yishai;

19 and she became the mother of his sons Ye'ush, Sh'maryah and Zaham.

20 After her, he married Ma'akhah the daughter of Avshalom; she became the mother of Aviyah, 'Atai, Ziza and Shlomit.

21 Rechav'am loved Ma'akhah more than all his other wives and concubines - for he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines and was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

22 Rechav'am appointed Aviyah the son of Ma'akhah chief, the leader of his brothers, because he intended to make him king.

23 He was wise in his treatment of his sons, sending all of them throughout the territory of Y'hudah and Binyamin, to every fortified city, providing them with plenty of supplies and seeking for them many wives.

Psalm 75

1 For the leader. Set to "Do Not Destroy!"A psalm of Asaf. A song: We give thanks to you, God, we give thanks; your name is near, people tell of your wonders.

2 "At the time of my own choice, I will dispense justice fairly.

3 When the earth quakes, with all living on it, it is I who hold its support-pillars firm."(Selah)

4 To the boastful I say, "Do not boast!"and to the wicked, "Don't flaunt your strength!

5 Don't flaunt your strength so proudly; don't speak arrogantly, with your nose in the air!

6 For you will not be raised to power by those in the east, the west or the desert;

7 since God is the judge; and it is he who puts down one and lifts up another.

8 In ADONAI's hand there is a cup of wine, foaming, richly spiced; when he pours it out, all the wicked of the earth will drain it, drinking it to the dregs."

9 But I will always speak out, singing praises to the God of Ya'akov.

10 I will break down the strength of the wicked, but the strength of the righteous will be raised up.

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Today's Bible Reading

September 5

John 11:28-57; 2 Chronicles 12-13; Psalm 76 CJB

John 11:28-57

28 After saying this, she went off and secretly called Miryam, her sister: "The Rabbi is here and is calling for you."

29 When she heard this, she jumped up and went to him.

30 Yeshua had not yet come into the village but was still where Marta had met him;

31 so when the Judeans who had been with Miryam in the house comforting her saw her get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32 When Miryam came to where Yeshua was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Yeshua saw her crying, and also the Judeans who came with her crying, he was deeply moved and also troubled.

34 He said, "Where have you buried him?" They said, "Lord, come and see."

35 Yeshua cried;

36 so the Judeans there said, "See how he loved him!"

37 But some of them said, "He opened the blind man's eyes. Couldn't he have kept this one from dying?"

38 Yeshua, again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying in front of the entrance.

39 Yeshua said, "Take the stone away!" Marta, the sister of the dead man, said to Yeshua, "By now his body must smell, for it has been four days since he died!"

40 Yeshua said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you keep trusting, you will see the glory of God?"

41 So they removed the stone. Yeshua looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

42 I myself know that you always hear me, but I say this because of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that you have sent me."

43 Having said this, he shouted, "El`azar! Come out!"

44 The man who had been dead came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen and his face covered with a cloth. Yeshua said to them, "Unwrap him, and let him go!"

45 At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam, and had seen what Yeshua had done, trusted in him.

46 But some of them went off to the P'rushim and told them what he had done.

47 So the head cohanim and the P'rushim called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? -- for this man is performing many miracles.

48 If we let him keep going on this way, everyone will trust in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation."

49 But one of them, Kayafa, who was cohen gadol that year, said to them, "You people don't know anything!

50 You don't see that it's better for you if one man dies on behalf of the people, so that the whole nation won't be destroyed."

51 Now he didn't speak this way on his own initiative; rather, since he was cohen gadol that year, he was prophesying that Yeshua was about to die on behalf of the nation,

52 and not for the nation alone, but so that he might gather into one the scattered children of God.

53 From that day on, they made plans to have him put to death.

54 Therefore Yeshua no longer walked around openly among the Judeans but went away from there into the region near the desert, to a town called Efrayim, and stayed there with his talmidim.

55 The Judean festival of Pesach was near, and many people went up from the country to Yerushalayim to perform the purification ceremony prior to Pesach.

56 They were looking for Yeshua, and as they stood in the Temple courts they said to each other, "What do you think? that he simply won't come to the festival?"

57 Moreover, the head cohanim and the P'rushim had given orders that anyone knowing Yeshua's whereabouts should inform them, so that they could have him arrested.

2 Chronicles 12

1 But in time, after Rechav'am had consolidated his rulership and had become strong, he, and with him all Isra'el, abandoned the Torah of ADONAI.

2 In the fifth year of King Rechav'am, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Yerushalayim, because they had acted faithlessly toward ADONAI.

3 He came out of Egypt with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and a numberless army including Luvim, Suki'im and Ethiopians.

4 He captured the fortified cities of Y'hudah, then went to Yerushalayim.

5 Now Sh'ma'yah the prophet came to Rechav'am and the leaders of Y'hudah who had gathered in Yerushalayim because of Shishak and said to them, "Here is what ADONAI says: 'Because you have abandoned me, I have abandoned you to the hands of Shishak.'"

6 In response, the leaders of Isra'el and the king humbled themselves; they said, "ADONAI is right."

7 When ADONAI saw that they had humbled themselves, this word of ADONAI came to Sh'ma'yah: "Because they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will grant them a measure of deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Yerushalayim through Shishak.

8 However, they will become his slaves, so that they will come to appreciate the difference between serving me and serving earthly kingdoms."

9 So Shishak king of Egypt attacked Yerushalayim. He took the treasures in the house of ADONAI and the treasures in the royal palace - he took everything, including the gold shields Shlomo had made.

10 To replace them, King Rechav'am made shields of bronze, which he entrusted to the commanders of the contingent guarding the gate to the royal palace.

11 Whenever the king went to the house of ADONAI, the guard would come and get the shields; later they would return them to the guardroom.

12 After he humbled himself, the anger of ADONAI turned away from him, so that he did not altogether destroy him; moreover, some good things were found in Y'hudah.

13 So King Rechav'am consolidated his rule in Yerushalayim. Rechav'am was forty-one years old when he began his reign; and he ruled seventeen years in Yerushalayim, the city ADONAI had chosen from all the tribes of Isra'el to bear his name; his mother's name was Na'amah the 'Amonit.

14 He did what was evil, because he had not set his heart on seeking ADONAI.

15 The activities of Rechav'am from beginning to end are written in the genealogically organized histories of Sh'ma'yah the prophet and 'Iddo the seer. But there were continual wars between Rechav'am and Yarov'am.

16 Rechav'am slept with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. Then Aviyah his son became king in his place.

2 Chronicles 13

1 It was in the eighteenth year of King Yarov'am that Aviyah began his reign over Y'hudah.

2 He ruled three years in Yerushalayim; his mother's name was Mikhayahu the daughter of Uri'el from Giv'ah. There was war between Aviyah and Yarov'am.

3 Aviyah joined the battle with an army of valiant soldiers, 400,000 select troops; while Yarov'am took the field against him with 800,000 select troops who were valiant, strong men.

4 Aviyah, standing on Mount Z'marayim, in the hills of Efrayim, cried, "Yarov'am and all Isra'el! Listen to me!

5 Don't you know that ADONAI, the God of Isra'el, gave rulership over Isra'el to David forever, to him and his descendants, by a covenant of salt [which is unbreakable]?

6 Yet Yarov'am the son of N'vat, servant to Shlomo the son of David, rose in rebellion against his lord.

7 There rallied around him worthless brutes who were too strong for Rechav'am the son of Shlomo to withstand when he was young and inexperienced.

8 Now you expect to withstand the kingdom of ADONAI in the hands of the descendants of David. Yes, there are a great number of you, and you have with you the gold calves that Yarov'am made as gods for you.

9 Yes, you drove out the cohanim of ADONAI, the descendants of Aharon, and the L'vi'im; and you made yourselves priests as do the peoples in other countries, so that anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of those non-gods.

10 "But we are different. ADONAI is our God, and we have not abandoned him. We have cohanim performing the service for ADONAI, descendants of Aharon. With the L'vi'im doing their work,

11 they burn to ADONAI every morning and evening burnt offerings and sweet incense; they arrange the showbread on the pure table, and they prepare the gold menorah with its lamps to burn every evening. For we observe the order of ADONAI our God. But you have abandoned him.

12 "So look here! God is with us, leading us and his cohanim with the battle trumpets to sound an alarm against you. People of Isra'el! Don't fight against ADONAI, the God of your ancestors; because you will not succeed."

13 But Yarov'am prepared to ambush them from behind, so that the main body was ahead of Y'hudah, while the ambush was behind them.

14 Thus when Y'hudah looked back, the battle had to be fought in front of them and behind them. They cried to ADONAI, and the cohanim sounded the trumpets.

15 Then the men of Y'hudah gave forth a shout, and as the men of Y'hudah shouted, God struck Yarov'am and all Isra'el before Aviyah and Y'hudah.

16 The people of Isra'el fled before Y'hudah, and God handed them over to them.

17 Aviyah and his army inflicted a great slaughter on them - 500,000 of Isra'el's select soldiers fell dead.

18 Thus the people of Isra'el were subdued that time, and the people of Y'hudah won the victory, because they relied on ADONAI the God of their ancestors.

19 Aviyah pursued Yarov'am, taking from him the towns of Beit-El with its villages, Y'shanah with its villages and 'Efrayin with its villages.

20 Yarov'am did not recover his strength during the time of Aviyahu. Finally ADONAI struck him, and he died.

21 But Aviyahu grew strong; he married fourteen wives and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

22 Other activities of Aviyah, together with his ways of doing things and his sayings, are recorded in the commentary of the prophet 'Iddo.

Psalm 76

1 For the leader. With string music. A psalm of Asaf. A song: In Y'hudah God is known; his name is great in Isra'el.

2 His tent is in Shalem, his place is in Tziyon.

3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. (Selah)

4 You are glorious, majestic, more so than mountains of prey.

5 The bravest have been stripped of their spoil and now are sleeping their final sleep; not one of these courageous men finds strength to raise his hands.

6 At your rebuke, God of Ya'akov, riders and horses lie stunned.

7 You are fearsome! When once you are angry, who can stand in your presence?

8 You pronounce sentence from heaven; the earth grows silent with fear

9 when God arises to judge, to save all the humble of the earth. (Selah)

10 Human wrath serves only to praise you; what remains of this wrath you wear as an ornament.

11 Make vows to ADONAI your God, and keep them; all who are around him must bring presents to the one who should be feared.

12 He curbs the spirit of princes; he is fearsome to the kings of the earth.

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Today's Bible Reading

September 6

John 12:1-26; 2 Chronicles 14-15; Psalm 77 CJB

John 12:1-26

1 Six days before Pesach, Yeshua came to Beit-Anyah, where El`azar lived, the man Yeshua had raised from the dead;

2 so they gave a dinner there in his honor. Marta served the meal, and El`azar was among those at the table with him.

3 Miryam took a whole pint of pure oil of spikenard, which is very expensive, poured it on Yeshua's feet and wiped his feet with her hair, so that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

4 But one of the talmidim, Y'hudah from K'riot, the one who was about to betray him, said,

5 "This perfume is worth a year's wages! Why wasn't it sold and the money given to the poor?"

6 Now he said this not out of concern for the poor, but because he was a thief -- he was in charge of the common purse and used to steal from it.

7 Yeshua said, "Leave her alone! She kept this for the day of my burial.

8 You always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

9 A large crowd of Judeans learned that he was there; and they came not only because of Yeshua, but also so that they could see El`azar, whom he had raised from the dead.

10 The head cohanim then decided to do away with El`azar too,

11 since it was because of him that large numbers of the Judeans were leaving their leaders and putting their trust in Yeshua.

12 The next day, the large crowd that had come for the festival heard that Yeshua was on his way into Yerushalayim.

13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Deliver us!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of ADONAI, the King of Isra'el!"

14 After finding a donkey colt, Yeshua mounted it, just as the Tanakh says --

15 "Daughter of Tziyon, don't be afraid! Look! your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."

16 His talmidim did not understand this at first; but after Yeshua had been glorified, then they remembered that the Tanakh said this about him, and that they had done this for him.

17 The group that had been with him when he called El`azar out of the tomb and raised him from the dead had been telling about it.

18 It was because of this too that the crowd came out to meet him -- they had heard that he had performed this miracle.

19 The P'rushim said to each other, "Look, you're getting nowhere! Why, the whole world has gone after him!"

20 Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greek-speaking Jews.

21 They approached Philip, the one from Beit-Tzaidah in the Galil, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Yeshua."

22 Philip came and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Yeshua.

23 Yeshua gave them this answer: "The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24 Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless a grain of wheat that falls to the ground dies, it stays just a grain; but if it dies, it produces a big harvest.

25 He who loves his life loses it, but he who hates his life in this world will keep it safe right on into eternal life!

26 If someone is serving me, let him follow me; wherever I am, my servant will be there too. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.

2 Chronicles 14

1 Aviyah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son became king in his place; during his time the land was quiet for ten years.

2 Asa did what was good and right from the perspective of ADONAI his God;

3 for he removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashing the standing-stones and chopping down the sacred poles.

4 He ordered Y'hudah to seek ADONAI, the God of their ancestors, and to obey the Torah and the mitzvah.

5 He removed the high places and pillars for sun-worship from all the cities of Y'hudah, and under him the kingdom was quiet.

6 Because the land was quiet, and he had no war during those years, since ADONAI had given him rest, he built fortified cities in Y'hudah.

7 "Let's build these cities," he said to Y'hudah; "we'll surround them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is there for us to use, because we have sought ADONAI our God; we have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side." So they built and prospered.

8 Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Y'hudah, equipped with shields and spears, and another 280,000 from Binyamin, with shields and bows; all were brave, strong men.

9 Zerach the Ethiopian came out to attack them with an army of one million and three hundred chariots. When he arrived at Mareshah,

10 Asa went out to fight him, and the forces were arranged for battle in the Tz'fat Valley at Mareshah.

11 Asa cried out to ADONAI his God, "ADONAI, there is no one besides yourself, strong or weak, who can help. Help us, ADONAI our God, because we are relying on you, and we are coming against this vast throng in your name. You are ADONAI our God; don't let human beings stop you!"

12 So ADONAI struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Y'hudah, and the Ethiopians fled.

13 Asa and the army with him pursued them to G'rar, and the Ethiopians were defeated beyond recovery; they were shattered before ADONAI and his army, who carried off much spoil.

14 Then they attacked all the cities in the vicinity of G'rar, for a panic from ADONAI had overcome them. They plundered all the cities, for they were full of spoil.

15 They also attacked the tents of those tending the livestock and carried off sheep and camels in abundance. Then they returned to Yerushalayim.

2 Chronicles 15

1 The Spirit of God came on 'Azaryah the son of 'Oded;

2 he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa, and all Y'hudah and Binyamin! ADONAI is with you, as long as you are with him; if you seek him, you will find him; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you!

3 For a long time Isra'el was without the true God, without a cohen who could teach, and without Torah.

4 But when, in their distress, they turned to ADONAI the God of Isra'el and sought him, they found him.

5 In those times people going about their business were insecure, and great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands;

6 so that they were shattered to pieces, nation against nation and city against city, as God troubled them with every kind of distress.

7 But you, be strong, and don't slack off; for your work will be rewarded."

8 When Asa heard these words prophesied by 'Oded the prophet, it gave him courage to throw the disgusting things out of the whole land of Y'hudah and Binyamin and out of the cities he had captured in the hills of Efrayim; he also renewed the altar of ADONAI which was in front of the vestibule of ADONAI.

9 Then he gathered all Y'hudah and Binyamin, along with those from Efrayim, M'nasheh and Shim'on who were staying with him (for they had defected to him in large numbers upon seeing that ADONAI his God was with him).

10 They assembled together at Yerushalayim in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign.

11 That day they sacrificed to ADONAI 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil they had brought;

12 and they entered into a covenant to seek ADONAI, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their being;

13 [they also agreed] that whoever refused to seek ADONAI the God of Isra'el should be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.

14 They swore this to ADONAI in a loud voice, with shouting and blowing of trumpets and shofars.

15 All Y'hudah was full of joy at this oath; for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with all their will; and they found him, and ADONAI gave them rest all around.

16 Asa the king also deposed Ma'akhah his [grand]mother from her position as queen mother, because she had made a disgusting image for an asherah. Asa cut down this image of hers, chopped it into tiny pieces and burned it in Vadi Kidron.

17 But the high places were not removed from Isra'el. Nevertheless, Asa was wholehearted throughout his life.

18 He brought into the house of God all the articles his father had consecrated, also the things he himself had consecrated - silver, gold and utensils.

19 There was no more war through the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.

Psalm 77

1 For the leader. For Y'dutun. A psalm of Asaf: I cry aloud to God, aloud to God; and he hears me.

2 On the day of my distress I am seeking Adonai; my hands are lifted up; my tears flow all night without ceasing; my heart refuses comfort.

3 When remembering God, I moan; when I ponder, my spirit fails. (Selah)

4 You hold my eyelids [and keep me from sleeping]; I am too troubled to speak.

5 I think about the days of old, the years of long ago;

6 in the night I remember my song, I commune with myself, my spirit inquires:

7 "Will Adonai reject forever? will he never show his favor again?

8 Has his grace permanently disappeared? Is his word to all generations done away?

9 Has God forgotten to be compassionate? Has he in anger withheld his mercy?" (Selah)

10 Then I add, "That's my weakness [supposing] the Most High's right hand could change."

11 So I will remind myself of Yah's doings; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

12 I will meditate on your work and think about what you have done.

13 God, your way is in holiness. What god is as great as God?

14 You are the God who does wonders, you revealed your strength to the peoples.

15 With your arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Ya'akov and Yosef. (Selah)

16 The water saw you, God; the water saw you and writhed in anguish, agitated to its depths.

17 The clouds poured water, the skies thundered, and your arrows flashed here and there.

18 The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind, the lightning flashes lit up the world, the earth trembled and shook.

19 Your way went through the sea, your path through the turbulent waters; but your footsteps could not be traced.

20 You led your people like a flock under the care of Moshe and Aharon.

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Today's Bible Reading

September 7

John 12:27-50; 2 Chronicles 16-17; Psalm 78:1-20 CJB

John 12

27 "Now I am in turmoil. What can I say -- `Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour. I will say this:

28 `Father, glorify your name!'" At this a bat-kol came out of heaven, "I have glorified it before, and I will glorify it again!"

29 The crowd standing there and hearing it said that it had thundered; others said, "An angel spoke to him."

30 Yeshua answered, "This bat-kol did not come for my sake but for yours.

31 Now is the time for this world to be judged, now the ruler of this world will be expelled.

32 As for me, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself."

33 He said this to indicate what kind of death he would die.

34 The crowd answered, "We have learned from the Torah that the Messiah remains forever. How is it that you say the Son of Man has to be `lifted up'? Who is this `Son of Man'?"

35 Yeshua said to them, "The light will be with you only a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, or the dark will overtake you; he who walks in the dark doesn't know where he's going.

36 While you have the light, put your trust in the light, so that you may become people of light." Yeshua said these things, then went off and kept himself hidden from them.

37 Even though he had performed so many miracles in their presence, they still did not put their trust in him,

38 in order that what Yesha`yahu the prophet had said might be fulfilled, "ADONAI, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of ADONAI been revealed?"

39 The reason they could not believe was -- as Yesha`yahu said elsewhere --

40 "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they do not see with their eyes, understand with their hearts, and do t'shuvah, so that I could heal them."

41 (Yesha`yahu said these things because he saw the Sh'khinah of Yeshua and spoke about him.)

42 Nevertheless, many of the leaders did trust in him; but because of the P'rushim they did not say so openly, out of fear of being banned from the synagogue;

43 for they loved praise from other people more than praise from God.

44 Yeshua declared publicly, "Those who put their trust in me are trusting not merely in me, but in the One who sent me.

45 Also those who see me see the One who sent me.

46 I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who trusts in me might not remain in the dark.

47 If anyone hears what I am saying and does not observe it, I don't judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

48 Those who reject me and don't accept what I say have a judge -- the word which I have spoken will judge them on the Last Day.

49 For I have not spoken on my own initiative, but the Father who sent me has given me a command, namely, what to say and how to say it.

50 And I know that his command is eternal life. So what I say is simply what the Father has told me to say."

2 Chronicles 16

1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Ba'asha king of Isra'el attacked Y'hudah, and he fortified Ramah to prevent anyone's leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Y'hudah.

2 Then Asa removed silver and gold from the treasures of the house of ADONAI and the royal palace; and sent this message to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who lived in Dammesek:

3 "There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Here, I am sending you silver and gold; go, and break your covenant with Ba'asha king of Isra'el, so that he will leave me alone."

4 Ben-Hadad did as King Asa had asked - he sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Isra'el, attacking 'Iyon, Dan, Avel-Mayim and all the storage-cities of Naftali.

5 As soon as Ba'asha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work.

6 Asa the king took all Y'hudah and carried off the stones and timber which Ba'asha had used to fortify Ramah. With them he fortified Geva and Mitzpah.

7 It was around then that Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Y'hudah and said to him, "Because you relied on the king of Aram and didn't rely on ADONAI your God, the king of Aram's army has escaped from your power.

8 The army of the Ethiopians and Luvim was huge, wasn't it? How many chariots and horsemen did they have? Yet because you relied on ADONAI, he handed them over to you.

9 For the eyes of ADONAI move here and there throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those who are wholehearted toward him. You acted foolishly in this regard; for from now on, you will have war."

10 But Asa became angry at the seer; in fact, because of his rage at him over this matter he threw him in prison. Moreover, at the same time, he mistreated some of the people.

11 The activities of Asa from beginning to end are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah and Isra'el.

12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa suffered from a disease in his legs. It was a very serious disease, yet even with this disease he did not seek out ADONAI but turned to the physicians.

13 Asa slept with his ancestors, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.

14 They buried him in his own burial cave, which he had ordered cut for himself in the City of David. They laid him in a bed filled with sweet spices of various kinds, expertly compounded; and a very great fire was kindled in his honor.

2 Chronicles 17

1 Then Y'hoshafat his son became king in his place. He strengthened his position against Isra'el

2 by placing forces in all the fortified cities of Y'hudah, and by garrisoning troops in the territory of Y'hudah and in the cities of Efrayim that Asa his father had captured.

3 ADONAI was with Y'hoshafat, because he lived according to the first ways of his ancestor David, not seeking the ba'alim,

4 but seeking the God of his father and living by his mitzvot, not by what Isra'el did.

5 Therefore ADONAI consolidated his rulership; all Y'hudah brought presents to Y'hoshafat, so that he had wealth and honor in abundance.

6 In his heart he highly regarded ADONAI's ways; moreover, he removed the high places and sacred poles from Y'hudah.

7 In the third year of his reign he sent his leading men Ben-Chayil, 'Ovadyah, Z'kharyah, N'tan'el and Mikhayahu to teach in the cities of Y'hudah;

8 with them were the L'vi'im Sh'ma'yahu, N'tanyahu, Z'vadyahu, 'Asah'el, Sh'miramot, Y'honatan, Adoniyahu, Tuviyahu and Tov-Adoniyah, the L'vi'im; and with them Elishama and Y'horam the cohanim.

9 They taught in Y'hudah, having a scroll of the Torah of ADONAI with them; they circulated through all the cities of Y'hudah, teaching among the people.

10 A panic from ADONAI seized all the kingdoms in the lands surrounding Y'hudah, so that they did not make war against Y'hoshafat.

11 Some of the P'lishtim brought Y'hoshafat gifts and silver as tribute; the Arabs too brought him flocks - 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats.

12 So Y'hoshafat grew increasingly powerful. In Y'hudah he built fortresses and storage cities.

13 He had many projects in the cities of Y'hudah; and in Yerushalayim he had warriors, strong brave men.

14 Here is a listing of them by clans: from Y'hudah, the captains of thousands: 'Adnah the leader, and with him 300,000 strong, brave men;

15 next to him Y'hochanan the leader, and with him 280,000;

16 next to him 'Amasyah the son of Zikhri, who volunteered to serve ADONAI, and with him 200,000 strong, brave men.

17 From Binyamin: Elyada, a strong, brave man, and with him 200,000 equipped with bows and shields;

18 next to him Y'hozavad, and with him 180,000 prepared for war.

19 These served the king, in addition to those the king assigned to the fortified cities throughout all Y'hudah.

Psalm 78:1-20

1 A maskil of Asaf: Listen, my people, to my teaching; turn your ears to the words from my mouth.

2 I will speak to you in parables and explain mysteries from days of old.

3 The things which we have heard and known, and which our fathers told us

4 we will not hide from their descendants; we will tell the generation to come the praises of ADONAI and his strength, the wonders that he has performed.

5 He raised up a testimony in Ya'akov and established a Torah in Isra'el. He commanded our ancestors to make this known to their children,

6 so that the next generation would know it, the children not yet born, who would themselves arise and tell their own children,

7 who could then put their confidence in God, not forgetting God's deeds, but obeying his mitzvot.

8 Then they would not be like their ancestors, a stubborn, rebellious generation, a generation with unprepared hearts, with spirits unfaithful to God.

9 The people of Efrayim, though armed with bows and arrows, turned their backs on the day of battle.

10 They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to live by his Torah.

11 They forgot what he had done, his wonders which he had shown them.

12 He had done wonderful things in the presence of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Tzo'an.

13 He split the sea and made them pass through, he made the waters stand up like a wall.

14 He also led them by day with a cloud and all night long with light from a fire.

15 He broke apart the rocks in the desert and let them drink as if from boundless depths;

16 yes, he brought streams out of the rock, making the water flow down like rivers.

17 Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High;

18 in their hearts they tested God by demanding food that would satisfy their cravings.

19 Yes, they spoke against God by asking, "Can God spread a table in the desert?

20 True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, until the vadis overflowed; but what about bread? Can he give that? Can he provide meat for his people?"