June, 01, 2004-Proverbs 16:1-18:24
Proverbs 16
1 To man belong the plans of the heart,
but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.
2 All a man's ways seem innocent to him,
but motives are weighed by the Lord .
3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and your plans will succeed.
4 The Lord works out everything for his own ends-
even the wicked for a day of disaster.
5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
6 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil.
7 When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord ,
he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.
8 Better a little with righteousness
than much gain with injustice.
9 In his heart a man plans his course,
but the Lord determines his steps.
10 The lips of a king speak as an oracle,
and his mouth should not betray justice.
11 Honest scales and balances are from the Lord ;
all the weights in the bag are of his making.
12 Kings detest wrongdoing,
for a throne is established through righteousness.
13 Kings take pleasure in honest lips;
they value a man who speaks the truth.
14 A king's wrath is a messenger of death,
but a wise man will appease it.
15 When a king's face brightens, it means life;
his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.
16 How much better to get wisdom than gold,
to choose understanding rather than silver!
17 The highway of the upright avoids evil;
he who guards his way guards his life.
18 Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.
19 Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed
than to share plunder with the proud.
20 Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers,
and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord .
21 The wise in heart are called discerning,
and pleasant words promote instruction.
22 Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it,
but folly brings punishment to fools.
23 A wise man's heart guides his mouth,
and his lips promote instruction.
24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
25 There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death.
26 The laborer's appetite works for him;
his hunger drives him on.
27 A scoundrel plots evil,
and his speech is like a scorching fire.
28 A perverse man stirs up dissension,
and a gossip separates close friends.
29 A violent man entices his neighbor
and leads him down a path that is not good.
30 He who winks with his eye is plotting perversity;
he who purses his lips is bent on evil.
31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor;
it is attained by a righteous life.
32 Better a patient man than a warrior,
a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
33 The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord .
Proverbs 17
1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet
than a house full of feasting, with strife.
2 A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son,
and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.
3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but the Lord tests the heart.
4 A wicked man listens to evil lips;
a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue.
5 He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker;
whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.
6 Children's children are a crown to the aged,
and parents are the pride of their children.
7 Arrogant lips are unsuited to a fool-
how much worse lying lips to a ruler!
8 A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it;
wherever he turns, he succeeds.
9 He who covers over an offense promotes love,
but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
10 A rebuke impresses a man of discernment
more than a hundred lashes a fool.
11 An evil man is bent only on rebellion;
a merciless official will be sent against him.
12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
than a fool in his folly.
13 If a man pays back evil for good,
evil will never leave his house.
14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;
so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.
15 Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent-
the Lord detests them both.
16 Of what use is money in the hand of a fool,
since he has no desire to get wisdom?
17 A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.
18 A man lacking in judgment strikes hands in pledge
and puts up security for his neighbor.
19 He who loves a quarrel loves sin;
he who builds a high gate invites destruction.
20 A man of perverse heart does not prosper;
he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.
21 To have a fool for a son brings grief;
there is no joy for the father of a fool.
22 A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
23 A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret
to pervert the course of justice.
24 A discerning man keeps wisdom in view,
but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth.
25 A foolish son brings grief to his father
and bitterness to the one who bore him.
26 It is not good to punish an innocent man,
or to flog officials for their integrity.
27 A man of knowledge uses words with restraint,
and a man of understanding is even-tempered.
28 Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent,
and discerning if he holds his tongue.
Proverbs 18
1 An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends;
he defies all sound judgment.
2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding
but delights in airing his own opinions.
3 When wickedness comes, so does contempt,
and with shame comes disgrace.
4 The words of a man's mouth are deep waters,
but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked
or to deprive the innocent of justice.
6 A fool's lips bring him strife,
and his mouth invites a beating.
7 A fool's mouth is his undoing,
and his lips are a snare to his soul.
8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to a man's inmost parts.
9 One who is slack in his work
is brother to one who destroys.
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.
11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;
they imagine it an unscalable wall.
12 Before his downfall a man's heart is proud,
but humility comes before honor.
13 He who answers before listening-
that is his folly and his shame.
14 A man's spirit sustains him in sickness,
but a crushed spirit who can bear?
15 The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge;
the ears of the wise seek it out.
16 A gift opens the way for the giver
and ushers him into the presence of the great.
17 The first to present his case seems right,
till another comes forward and questions him.
18 Casting the lot settles disputes
and keeps strong opponents apart.
19 An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city,
and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel.
20 From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled;
with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.
21 The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.
22 He who finds a wife finds what is good
and receives favor from the Lord .
23 A poor man pleads for mercy,
but a rich man answers harshly.
24 A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
June, 02, 2004-Proverbs 19:1-21:31
Proverbs 19
1 Better a poor man whose
walk is blameless
than a fool whose lips are perverse.
2 It is not good to have zeal without knowledge,
nor to be hasty and miss the way.
3 A man's own folly ruins his life,
yet his heart rages against the Lord .
4 Wealth brings many friends,
but a poor man's friend deserts him.
5 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who pours out lies will not go free.
6 Many curry favor with a ruler,
and everyone is the friend of a man who gives gifts.
7 A poor man is shunned by all his relatives-
how much more do his friends avoid him!
Though he pursues them with pleading,
they are nowhere to be found.
8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul;
he who cherishes understanding prospers.
9 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who pours out lies will perish.
10 It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury-
how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!
11 A man's wisdom gives him patience;
it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
12 A king's rage is like the roar of a lion,
but his favor is like dew on the grass.
13 A foolish son is his father's ruin,
and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.
14 Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,
but a prudent wife is from the Lord .
15 Laziness brings on deep sleep,
and the shiftless man goes hungry.
16 He who obeys instructions guards his life,
but he who is contemptuous of his ways will die.
17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord ,
and he will reward him for what he has done.
18 Discipline your son, for in that there is hope;
do not be a willing party to his death.
19 A hot-tempered man must pay the penalty;
if you rescue him, you will have to do it again.
20 Listen to advice and accept instruction,
and in the end you will be wise.
21 Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.
22 What a man desires is unfailing love ;
better to be poor than a liar.
23 The fear of the Lord leads to life:
Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
24 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he will not even bring it back to his mouth!
25 Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence;
rebuke a discerning man, and he will gain knowledge.
26 He who robs his father and drives out his mother
is a son who brings shame and disgrace.
27 Stop listening to instruction, my son,
and you will stray from the words of knowledge.
28 A corrupt witness mocks at justice,
and the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.
29 Penalties are prepared for mockers,
and beatings for the backs of fools.
Proverbs 20
1 Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler;
whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
2 A king's wrath is like the roar of a lion;
he who angers him forfeits his life.
3 It is to a man's honor to avoid strife,
but every fool is quick to quarrel.
4 A sluggard does not plow in season;
so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
5 The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters,
but a man of understanding draws them out.
6 Many a man claims to have unfailing love,
but a faithful man who can find?
7 The righteous man leads a blameless life;
blessed are his children after him.
8 When a king sits on his throne to judge,
he winnows out all evil with his eyes.
9 Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure;
I am clean and without sin"?
10 Differing weights and differing measures-
the Lord detests them both.
11 Even a child is known by his actions,
by whether his conduct is pure and right.
12 Ears that hear and eyes that see-
the Lord has made them both.
13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor;
stay awake and you will have food to spare.
14 "It's no good, it's no good!" says the buyer;
then off he goes and boasts about his purchase.
15 Gold there is, and rubies in abundance,
but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.
16 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
hold it in pledge if he does it for a wayward woman.
17 Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man,
but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel.
18 Make plans by seeking advice;
if you wage war, obtain guidance.
19 A gossip betrays a confidence;
so avoid a man who talks too much.
20 If a man curses his father or mother,
his lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.
21 An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning
will not be blessed at the end.
22 Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!"
Wait for the Lord , and he will deliver you.
23 The Lord detests differing weights,
and dishonest scales do not please him.
24 A man's steps are directed by the Lord .
How then can anyone understand his own way?
25 It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly
and only later to consider his vows.
26 A wise king winnows out the wicked;
he drives the threshing wheel over them.
27 The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man ;
it searches out his inmost being.
28 Love and faithfulness keep a king safe;
through love his throne is made secure.
29 The glory of young men is their strength,
gray hair the splendor of the old.
30 Blows and wounds cleanse away evil,
and beatings purge the inmost being.
Proverbs 21
1 The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord ;
he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
2 All a man's ways seem right to him,
but the Lord weighs the heart.
3 To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart,
the lamp of the wicked, are sin!
5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit
as surely as haste leads to poverty.
6 A fortune made by a lying tongue
is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.
7 The violence of the wicked will drag them away,
for they refuse to do what is right.
8 The way of the guilty is devious,
but the conduct of the innocent is upright.
9 Better to live on a corner of the roof
than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
10 The wicked man craves evil;
his neighbor gets no mercy from him.
11 When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom;
when a wise man is instructed, he gets knowledge.
12 The Righteous One takes note of the house of the wicked
and brings the wicked to ruin.
13 If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor,
he too will cry out and not be answered.
14 A gift given in secret soothes anger,
and a bribe concealed in the cloak pacifies great wrath.
15 When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous
but terror to evildoers.
16 A man who strays from the path of understanding
comes to rest in the company of the dead.
17 He who loves pleasure will become poor;
whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.
18 The wicked become a ransom for the righteous,
and the unfaithful for the upright.
19 Better to live in a desert
than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.
20 In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil,
but a foolish man devours all he has.
21 He who pursues righteousness and love
finds life, prosperity and honor.
22 A wise man attacks the city of the mighty
and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.
23 He who guards his mouth and his tongue
keeps himself from calamity.
24 The proud and arrogant man-"Mocker" is his name;
he behaves with overweening pride.
25 The sluggard's craving will be the death of him,
because his hands refuse to work.
26 All day long he craves for more,
but the righteous give without sparing.
27 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable-
how much more so when brought with evil intent!
28 A false witness will perish,
and whoever listens to him will be destroyed forever.
29 A wicked man puts up a bold front,
but an upright man gives thought to his ways.
30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
that can succeed against the Lord .
31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but victory rests with the Lord .
June, 03, 2004-Proverbs 22:1-24:34
Proverbs 22
1 A good name is more desirable than great riches;
to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
2 Rich and poor have this in common:
The Lord is the Maker of them all.
3 A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
4 Humility and the fear of the Lord
bring wealth and honor and life.
5 In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares,
but he who guards his soul stays far from them.
6 Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
7 The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender.
8 He who sows wickedness reaps trouble,
and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
9 A generous man will himself be blessed,
for he shares his food with the poor.
10 Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife;
quarrels and insults are ended.
11 He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious
will have the king for his friend.
12 The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.
13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside!"
or, "I will be murdered in the streets!"
14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit;
he who is under the Lord's wrath will fall into it.
15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.
16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth
and he who gives gifts to the rich-both come to poverty.
Sayings of the Wise
17 Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise;
apply your heart to what I teach,
18 for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart
and have all of them ready on your lips.
19 So that your trust may be in the Lord ,
I teach you today, even you.
20 Have I not written thirty sayings for you,
sayings of counsel and knowledge,
21 teaching you true and reliable words,
so that you can give sound answers
to him who sent you?
22 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor
and do not crush the needy in court,
23 for the Lord will take up their case
and will plunder those who plunder them.
24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man,
do not associate with one easily angered,
25 or you may learn his ways
and get yourself ensnared.
26 Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge
or puts up security for debts;
27 if you lack the means to pay,
your very bed will be snatched from under you.
28 Do not move an ancient boundary stone
set up by your forefathers.
29 Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will serve before kings;
he will not serve before obscure men.
Proverbs 23
1 When you sit to dine with a ruler,
note well what is before you,
2 and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to gluttony.
3 Do not crave his delicacies,
for that food is deceptive.
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
have the wisdom to show restraint.
5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings
and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
6 Do not eat the food of a stingy man,
do not crave his delicacies;
7 for he is the kind of man
who is always thinking about the cost.
"Eat and drink," he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten
and will have wasted your compliments.
9 Do not speak to a fool,
for he will scorn the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone
or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their Defender is strong;
he will take up their case against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction
and your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child;
if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
14 Punish him with the rod
and save his soul from death.
15 My son, if your heart is wise,
then my heart will be glad;
16 my inmost being will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord .
18 There is surely a future hope for you,
and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise,
and keep your heart on the right path.
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine
or gorge themselves on meat,
21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor,
and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
22 Listen to your father, who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth and do not sell it;
get wisdom, discipline and understanding.
24 The father of a righteous man has great joy;
he who has a wise son delights in him.
25 May your father and mother be glad;
may she who gave you birth rejoice!
26 My son, give me your heart
and let your eyes keep to my ways,
27 for a prostitute is a deep pit
and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
28 Like a bandit she lies in wait,
and multiplies the unfaithful among men.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaints?
Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine,
who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly!
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and poisons like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange sights
and your mind imagine confusing things.
34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas,
lying on top of the rigging.
35 "They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt!
They beat me, but I don't feel it!
When will I wake up
so I can find another drink?"
Proverbs 24
1 Do not envy wicked men,
do not desire their company;
2 for their hearts plot violence,
and their lips talk about making trouble.
3 By wisdom a house is built,
and through understanding it is established;
4 through knowledge its rooms are filled
with rare and beautiful treasures.
5 A wise man has great power,
and a man of knowledge increases strength;
6 for waging war you need guidance,
and for victory many advisers.
7 Wisdom is too high for a fool;
in the assembly at the gate he has nothing to say.
8 He who plots evil
will be known as a schemer.
9 The schemes of folly are sin,
and men detest a mocker.
10 If you falter in times of trouble,
how small is your strength!
11 Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
12 If you say, "But we knew nothing about this,"
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?
13 Eat honey, my son, for it is good;
honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.
14 Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul;
if you find it, there is a future hope for you,
and your hope will not be cut off.
15 Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against a righteous man's house,
do not raid his dwelling place;
16 for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,
but the wicked are brought down by calamity.
17 Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice,
18 or the Lord will see and disapprove
and turn his wrath away from him.
19 Do not fret because of evil men
or be envious of the wicked,
20 for the evil man has no future hope,
and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.
21 Fear the Lord and the king, my son,
and do not join with the rebellious,
22 for those two will send sudden destruction upon them,
and who knows what calamities they can bring?
Further Sayings of the Wise
23 These also are sayings of the wise:
To show partiality in judging is not good:
24 Whoever says to the guilty, "You are innocent"-
peoples will curse him and nations denounce him.
25 But it will go well with those who convict the guilty,
and rich blessing will come upon them.
26 An honest answer
is like a kiss on the lips.
27 Finish your outdoor work
and get your fields ready;
after that, build your house.
28 Do not testify against your neighbor without cause,
or use your lips to deceive.
29 Do not say, "I'll do to him as he has done to me;
I'll pay that man back for what he did."
30 I went past the field of the sluggard,
past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment;
31 thorns had come up everywhere,
the ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone wall was in ruins.
32 I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:
33 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-
34 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.
June, 04, 2004-Proverbs 25:1-27:27
Proverbs 25
More Proverbs of Solomon
1 These are more proverbs of Solomon, copied by the men of Hezekiah
king of Judah:
2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
3 As the heavens are high and the earth is deep,
so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.
4 Remove the dross from the silver,
and out comes material for the silversmith;
5 remove the wicked from the king's presence,
and his throne will be established through righteousness.
6 Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence,
and do not claim a place among great men;
7 it is better for him to say to you, "Come up here,"
than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman.
What you have seen with your eyes
8 do not bring hastily to court,
for what will you do in the end
if your neighbor puts you to shame?
9 If you argue your case with a neighbor,
do not betray another man's confidence,
10 or he who hears it may shame you
and you will never lose your bad reputation.
11 A word aptly spoken
is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
12 Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold
is a wise man's rebuke to a listening ear.
13 Like the coolness of snow at harvest time
is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him;
he refreshes the spirit of his masters.
14 Like clouds and wind without rain
is a man who boasts of gifts he does not give.
15 Through patience a ruler can be persuaded,
and a gentle tongue can break a bone.
16 If you find honey, eat just enough-
too much of it, and you will vomit.
17 Seldom set foot in your neighbor's house-
too much of you, and he will hate you.
18 Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow
is the man who gives false testimony against his neighbor.
19 Like a bad tooth or a lame foot
is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble.
20 Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day,
or like vinegar poured on soda,
is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.
23 As a north wind brings rain,
so a sly tongue brings angry looks.
24 Better to live on a corner of the roof
than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
25 Like cold water to a weary soul
is good news from a distant land.
26 Like a muddied spring or a polluted well
is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.
27 It is not good to eat too much honey,
nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.
28 Like a city whose walls are broken down
is a man who lacks self-control.
Proverbs 26
1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
honor is not fitting for a fool.
2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,
an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
3 A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey,
and a rod for the backs of fools!
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
6 Like cutting off one's feet or drinking violence
is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.
7 Like a lame man's legs that hang limp
is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
8 Like tying a stone in a sling
is the giving of honor to a fool.
9 Like a thornbush in a drunkard's hand
is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
10 Like an archer who wounds at random
is he who hires a fool or any passer-by.
11 As a dog returns to its vomit,
so a fool repeats his folly.
12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road,
a fierce lion roaming the streets!"
14 As a door turns on its hinges,
so a sluggard turns on his bed.
15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
than seven men who answer discreetly.
17 Like one who seizes a dog by the ears
is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own.
18 Like a madman shooting
firebrands or deadly arrows
19 is a man who deceives his neighbor
and says, "I was only joking!"
20 Without wood a fire goes out;
without gossip a quarrel dies down.
21 As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to a man's inmost parts.
23 Like a coating of glaze over earthenware
are fervent lips with an evil heart.
24 A malicious man disguises himself with his lips,
but in his heart he harbors deceit.
25 Though his speech is charming, do not believe him,
for seven abominations fill his heart.
26 His malice may be concealed by deception,
but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
27 If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it;
if a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him.
28 A lying tongue hates those it hurts,
and a flattering mouth works ruin.
Proverbs 27
1 Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
someone else, and not your own lips.
3 Stone is heavy and sand a burden,
but provocation by a fool is heavier than both.
4 Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy?
5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
but an enemy multiplies kisses.
7 He who is full loathes honey,
but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.
8 Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.
9 Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.
10 Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father,
and do not go to your brother's house when disaster strikes you-
better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
11 Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart;
then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt.
12 The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
13 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
hold it in pledge if he does it for a wayward woman.
14 If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning,
it will be taken as a curse.
15 A quarrelsome wife is like
a constant dripping on a rainy day;
16 restraining her is like restraining the wind
or grasping oil with the hand.
17 As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.
18 He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and he who looks after his master will be honored.
19 As water reflects a face,
so a man's heart reflects the man.
20 Death and Destruction are never satisfied,
and neither are the eyes of man.
21 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but man is tested by the praise he receives.
22 Though you grind a fool in a mortar,
grinding him like grain with a pestle,
you will not remove his folly from him.
23 Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
give careful attention to your herds;
24 for riches do not endure forever,
and a crown is not secure for all generations.
25 When the hay is removed and new growth appears
and the grass from the hills is gathered in,
26 the lambs will provide you with clothing,
and the goats with the price of a field.
27 You will have plenty of goats' milk
to feed you and your family
and to nourish your servant girls.
June, 05, 2004-Proverbs 28:1-30:33
Proverbs 28
1 The wicked man flees though no one pursues,
but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
2 When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers,
but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order.
3 A ruler who oppresses the poor
is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.
4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
but those who keep the law resist them.
5 Evil men do not understand justice,
but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.
6 Better a poor man whose walk is blameless
than a rich man whose ways are perverse.
7 He who keeps the law is a discerning son,
but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.
8 He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest
amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.
9 If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law,
even his prayers are detestable.
10 He who leads the upright along an evil path
will fall into his own trap,
but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.
11 A rich man may be wise in his own eyes,
but a poor man who has discernment sees through him.
12 When the righteous triumph, there is great elation;
but when the wicked rise to power, men go into hiding.
13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper,
but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
14 Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord ,
but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
15 Like a roaring lion or a charging bear
is a wicked man ruling over a helpless people.
16 A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment,
but he who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long life.
17 A man tormented by the guilt of murder
will be a fugitive till death;
let no one support him.
18 He whose walk is blameless is kept safe,
but he whose ways are perverse will suddenly fall.
19 He who works his land will have abundant food,
but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
20 A faithful man will be richly blessed,
but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.
21 To show partiality is not good-
yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
22 A stingy man is eager to get rich
and is unaware that poverty awaits him.
23 He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor
than he who has a flattering tongue.
24 He who robs his father or mother
and says, "It's not wrong"-
he is partner to him who destroys.
25 A greedy man stirs up dissension,
but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper.
26 He who trusts in himself is a fool,
but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.
27 He who gives to the poor will lack nothing,
but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.
28 When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding;
but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive.
Proverbs 29
1 A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes
will suddenly be destroyed-without remedy.
2 When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice;
when the wicked rule, the people groan.
3 A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father,
but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
4 By justice a king gives a country stability,
but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.
5 Whoever flatters his neighbor
is spreading a net for his feet.
6 An evil man is snared by his own sin,
but a righteous one can sing and be glad.
7 The righteous care about justice for the poor,
but the wicked have no such concern.
8 Mockers stir up a city,
but wise men turn away anger.
9 If a wise man goes to court with a fool,
the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace.
10 Bloodthirsty men hate a man of integrity
and seek to kill the upright.
11 A fool gives full vent to his anger,
but a wise man keeps himself under control.
12 If a ruler listens to lies,
all his officials become wicked.
13 The poor man and the oppressor have this in common:
The Lord gives sight to the eyes of both.
14 If a king judges the poor with fairness,
his throne will always be secure.
15 The rod of correction imparts wisdom,
but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.
16 When the wicked thrive, so does sin,
but the righteous will see their downfall.
17 Discipline your son, and he will give you peace;
he will bring delight to your soul.
18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
but blessed is he who keeps the law.
19 A servant cannot be corrected by mere words;
though he understands, he will not respond.
20 Do you see a man who speaks in haste?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
21 If a man pampers his servant from youth,
he will bring grief in the end.
22 An angry man stirs up dissension,
and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.
23 A man's pride brings him low,
but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.
24 The accomplice of a thief is his own enemy;
he is put under oath and dare not testify.
25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
26 Many seek an audience with a ruler,
but it is from the Lord that man gets justice.
27 The righteous detest the dishonest;
the wicked detest the upright.
Proverbs 30
Sayings of Agur
1 The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh-an oracle :
This man declared to Ithiel,
to Ithiel and to Ucal:
2 "I am the most ignorant of men;
I do not have a man's understanding.
3 I have not learned wisdom,
nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands?
Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and the name of his son?
Tell me if you know!
5 "Every word of God is flawless;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
6 Do not add to his words,
or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.
7 "Two things I ask of you, O Lord ;
do not refuse me before I die:
8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the Lord ?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
10 "Do not slander a servant to his master,
or he will curse you, and you will pay for it.
11 "There are those who curse their fathers
and do not bless their mothers;
12 those who are pure in their own eyes
and yet are not cleansed of their filth;
13 those whose eyes are ever so haughty,
whose glances are so disdainful;
14 those whose teeth are swords
and whose jaws are set with knives
to devour the poor from the earth,
the needy from among mankind.
15 "The leech has two daughters.
'Give! Give!' they cry.
"There are three things that are never satisfied,
four that never say, 'Enough!':
16 the grave, the barren womb,
land, which is never satisfied with water,
and fire, which never says, 'Enough!'
17 "The eye that mocks a father,
that scorns obedience to a mother,
will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley,
will be eaten by the vultures.
18 "There are three things that are too amazing for me,
four that I do not understand:
19 the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a maiden.
20 "This is the way of an adulteress:
She eats and wipes her mouth
and says, 'I've done nothing wrong.'
21 "Under three things the earth trembles,
under four it cannot bear up:
22 a servant who becomes king,
a fool who is full of food,
23 an unloved woman who is married,
and a maidservant who displaces her mistress.
24 "Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:
25 Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;
26 coneys are creatures of little power,
yet they make their home in the crags;
27 locusts have no king,
yet they advance together in ranks;
28 a lizard can be caught with the hand,
yet it is found in kings' palaces.
29 "There are three things that are stately in their stride,
four that move with stately bearing:
30 a lion, mighty among beasts,
who retreats before nothing;
31 a strutting rooster, a he-goat,
and a king with his army around him.
32 "If you have played the fool and exalted yourself,
or if you have planned evil,
clap your hand over your mouth!
33 For as churning the milk produces butter,
and as twisting the nose produces blood,
so stirring up anger produces strife."
June, 06, 2004-Proverbs 31:1-31, 1 Kings 4:20-28, 10:14-21, 10:23-29
Proverbs 31
Sayings of King Lemuel
1 The sayings of King Lemuel-an oracle his mother taught him:
2 "O my son, O son of my womb,
O son of my vows,
3 do not spend your strength on women,
your vigor on those who ruin kings.
4 "It is not for kings, O Lemuel-
not for kings to drink wine,
not for rulers to crave beer,
5 lest they drink and forget what the law decrees,
and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.
6 Give beer to those who are perishing,
wine to those who are in anguish;
7 let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
8 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
9 Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy."
Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character
10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
1 Kings 4
Solomon's Daily Provisions
20 The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the
seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. 21 And Solomon
ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as
far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon's
subjects all his life.
22 Solomon's daily provisions were thirty cors of fine flour and
sixty cors of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of
pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles,
roebucks and choice fowl. 24 For he ruled over all the kingdoms west
of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. 25
During Solomon's lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in
safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree.
26 Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve
thousand horses.
27 The district officers, each in his month, supplied provisions for
King Solomon and all who came to the king's table. They saw to it that nothing
was lacking. 28 They also brought to the proper place their quotas of
barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.
1 Kings 10
Solomon's Splendor
14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666
talents, 15 not including the revenues from merchants and traders and
from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land.
16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six
hundred bekas of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made three
hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield.
The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid
with fine gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and its back had a
rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing
beside each of them. 20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at
either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other
kingdom. 21 All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the
household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold.
Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in
Solomon's days.
23 King Solomon was greater
in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The
whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his
heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift-articles
of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.
26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred
chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and
also with him in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in
Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the
foothills. 28 Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue
- the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. 29 They imported a
chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred
and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the
Arameans.
June 07, 2004-1 Kings 11:1-40, Ecclesiastes 1:1-2:26
1 Kings 11
Solomon's Wives
1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's
daughter-Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2
They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, "You must
not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their
gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had
seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives
led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart
after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as
the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the
goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6
So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord ; he did not follow the Lord
completely, as David his father had done.
7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh
the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.
8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and
offered sacrifices to their gods.
9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned
away from the Lord , the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10
Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the
Lord's command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, "Since this is your
attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded
you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of
your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your
father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of
your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will
give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of
Jerusalem, which I have chosen."
Solomon's Adversaries
14 Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the
Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. 15 Earlier when David was
fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the
dead, had struck down all the men in Edom. 16 Joab and all the
Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in
Edom. 17 But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite
officials who had served his father. 18 They set out from Midian and
went to Paran. Then taking men from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to
Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with
food.
19 Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his
own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. 20 The sister of Tahpenes bore
him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There
Genubath lived with Pharaoh's own children.
21 While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his
fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said
to Pharaoh, "Let me go, that I may return to my own country."
22 "What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own
country?" Pharaoh asked.
"Nothing," Hadad replied, "but do let me go!"
23 And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of
Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 He
gathered men around him and became the leader of a band of rebels when David
destroyed the forces of Zobah ; the rebels went to Damascus, where they settled
and took control. 25 Rezon was Israel's adversary as long as Solomon
lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was
hostile toward Israel.
Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon
26 Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one
of Solomon's officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow
named Zeruah.
27 Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon
had built the supporting terraces and had filled in the gap in the wall of the
city of David his father. 28 Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and
when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of
the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.
29 About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah
the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them
were alone out in the country, 30 and Ahijah took hold of the new
cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said
to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord , the God
of Israel, says: 'See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and
give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the
city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will
have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have forsaken me and
worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the
Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways,
nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David,
Solomon's father, did.
34 " 'But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I
have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant,
whom I chose and who observed my commands and statutes. 35 I will
take the kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes. 36 I
will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp
before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. 37
However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart
desires; you will be king over Israel. 38 If you do whatever I
command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my
statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build
you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to
you. 39 I will humble David's descendants because of this, but not
forever.' "
40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to
Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon's death.
Ecclesiastes 1
Everything Is Meaningless
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."
3 What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
11 There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.
Wisdom Is Meaningless
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I
devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven.
What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the
things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after
the wind.
15 What is twisted cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom
more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much
of wisdom and knowledge." 17 Then I applied myself to the
understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this,
too, is a chasing after the wind.
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes 2
Pleasures Are Meaningless
1 I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to
find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. 2
"Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" 3
I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly-my mind still guiding me
with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven
during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted
vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit
trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing
trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who
were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in
Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the
treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem
as well-the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far
than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.
Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless
12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
and also madness and folly.
What more can the king's successor do
than what has already been done?
13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise man has eyes in his head,
while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
that the same fate overtakes them both.
15 Then I thought in my heart,
"The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?"
I said in my heart,
"This too is meaningless."
16 For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
in days to come both will be forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise man too must die!
Toil Is Meaningless
17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was
grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18
I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them
to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a
wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have
poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20
So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21
For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must
leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless
and a great misfortune. 22 What does a man get for all the toil and
anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23 All his days
his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is
meaningless.
24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find
satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25
for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the man who
pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he
gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who
pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
June 08, 2004-Ecclesiastes 3:1-6:12
Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything
1
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen
the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful
in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot
fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there
is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13
That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-this is
the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure
forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so
that men will revere him.
15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.
16 And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment-wickedness was there,
in the place of justice-wickedness was there.
17 I thought in my heart,
"God will bring to judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time for every deed."
18 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see
that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the
animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All
have the same breath ; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is
meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to
dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and
if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his
work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen
after him?
Ecclesiastes 4
Oppression, Toil, Friendlessness
1 Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place
under the sun:
I saw the tears of the oppressed-
and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors-
and they have no comforter.
2 And I declared that the dead,
who had already died,
are happier than the living,
who are still alive.
3 But better than both
is he who has not yet been,
who has not seen the evil
that is done under the sun.
4 And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy
of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
5 The fool folds his hands
and ruins himself.
6 Better one handful with tranquility
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.
7 Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:
8 There was a man all alone;
he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
"For whom am I toiling," he asked,
"and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?"
This too is meaningless-
a miserable business!
9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
10 If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Advancement Is Meaningless
13 Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no
longer knows how to take warning. 14 The youth may have come from
prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.
15 I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the
youth, the king's successor. 16 There was no end to all the people
who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the
successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 5
Stand in Awe of God
1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen
rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
2 Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.
3 As a dream comes when there are many cares,
so the speech of a fool when there are many words.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has
no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to vow
than to make a vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead
you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a
mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your
hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore
stand in awe of God.
Riches Are Meaningless
8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights
denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher
one, and over them both are others higher still. 9 The increase from
the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
10 Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless.
11 As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them?
12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich man
permits him no sleep.
13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
14 or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when he has a son
there is nothing left for him.
15 Naked a man comes from his mother's womb,
and as he comes, so he departs.
He takes nothing from his labor
that he can carry in his hand.
16 This too is a grievous evil:
As a man comes, so he departs,
and what does he gain,
since he toils for the wind?
17 All his days he eats in darkness,
with great frustration, affliction and anger.
18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and
drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the
few days of life God has given him-for this is his lot. 19 Moreover,
when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to
accept his lot and be happy in his work-this is a gift of God. 20 He
seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with
gladness of heart.
Ecclesiastes 6
1 I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on
men: 2 God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he
lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and
a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
3 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no
matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive
proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4
It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is
shrouded. 5 Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more
rest than does that man- 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice
over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
7 All man's efforts are for his mouth,
yet his appetite is never satisfied.
8 What advantage has a wise man
over a fool?
What does a poor man gain
by knowing how to conduct himself before others?
9 Better what the eye sees
than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.
10 Whatever exists has already been named,
and what man is has been known;
no man can contend
with one who is stronger than he.
11 The more the words,
the less the meaning,
and how does that profit anyone?
12 For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and
meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will
happen under the sun after he is gone?
June 09, 2004-Ecclesiastes 7:1-10:20
Ecclesiastes 7
Wisdom
1
A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of every man;
the living should take this to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 It is better to heed a wise man's rebuke
than to listen to the song of fools.
6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot,
so is the laughter of fools.
This too is meaningless.
7 Extortion turns a wise man into a fool,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.
10 Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?"
For it is not wise to ask such questions.
11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing
and benefits those who see the sun.
12 Wisdom is a shelter
as money is a shelter,
but the advantage of knowledge is this:
that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.
13 Consider what God has done:
Who can straighten
what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, a man cannot discover
anything about his future.
15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
a righteous man perishing in his righteousness,
and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
16 Do not be over righteous,
neither be over wise-
why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be over wicked,
and do not be a fool-
why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
The man who fears God will avoid all extremes .
19 Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful
than ten rulers in a city.
20 There is not a righteous man on earth
who does what is right and never sins.
21 Do not pay attention to every word people say,
or you may hear your servant cursing you-
22 for you know in your heart
that many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,
"I am determined to be wise"-
but this was beyond me.
24 Whatever wisdom may be,
it is far off and most profound-
who can discover it?
25 So I turned my mind to understand,
to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
and the madness of folly.
26 I find more bitter than death
the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap
and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
but the sinner she will ensnare.
27 "Look," says the Teacher, "this is what I have discovered:
"Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things-
28 while I was still searching
but not finding-
I found one upright man among a thousand,
but not one upright woman among them all.
29 This only have I found:
God made mankind upright,
but men have gone in search of many schemes."
Ecclesiastes 8
1 Who is like the wise man?
Who knows the explanation of things?
Wisdom brightens a man's face
and changes its hard appearance.
Obey the King
2 Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before
God. 3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence. Do not
stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 Since
a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What are you doing?"
5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him.
7 Since no man knows the future,
who can tell him what is to come?
8 No man has power over the wind to contain it ;
so no one has power over the day of his death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
9 All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the
sun. There is a time when a man Lords it over others to his own hurt. 10
Then too, I saw the wicked buried-those who used to come and go from the holy
place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is
meaningless.
11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the
hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although
a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that
it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. 13
Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their
days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth:
righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the
righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. 15 So I commend
the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to
eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days
of the life God has given him under the sun.
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor
on earth-his eyes not seeing sleep day or night- 17 then I saw all
that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all
his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise
man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.
Ecclesiastes 9
A Common Destiny for All
1 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the
wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate
awaits him. 2 All share a common destiny-the righteous and the
wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer
sacrifices and those who do not.
As it is with the good man,
so with the sinner;
as it is with those who take oaths,
so with those who are afraid to take them.
3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same
destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there
is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.
4 Anyone who is among the living has hope -even a live dog is better
off than a dead lion!
5 For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and even the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate
and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
in anything that happens under the sun.
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful
heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. 8 Always be clothed
in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with
your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has
given you under the sun- all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life
and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds
to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there
is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
11 I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
12 Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so men are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.
Wisdom Better Than Folly
13 I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly
impressed me: 14 There was once a small city with only a few people
in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge
siegeworks against it. 15 Now there lived in that city a man poor but
wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.
16 So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength." But the poor man's
wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.
17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.
Ecclesiastes 10
1 As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
2 The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the left.
3 Even as he walks along the road,
the fool lacks sense
and shows everyone how stupid he is.
4 If a ruler's anger rises against you,
do not leave your post;
calmness can lay great errors to rest.
5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun,
the sort of error that arises from a ruler:
6 Fools are put in many high positions,
while the rich occupy the low ones.
7 I have seen slaves on horseback,
while princes go on foot like slaves.
8 Whoever digs a pit may fall into it;
whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.
9 Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them;
whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.
10 If the ax is dull
and its edge unsharpened,
more strength is needed
but skill will bring success.
11 If a snake bites before it is charmed,
there is no profit for the charmer.
12 Words from a wise man's mouth are gracious,
but a fool is consumed by his own lips.
13 At the beginning his words are folly;
at the end they are wicked madness-
14 and the fool multiplies words.
No one knows what is coming-
who can tell him what will happen after him?
15 A fool's work wearies him;
he does not know the way to town.
16 Woe to you, O land whose king was a servant
and whose princes feast in the morning.
17 Blessed are you, O land whose king is of noble birth
and whose princes eat at a proper time-
for strength and not for drunkenness.
18 If a man is lazy, the rafters sag;
if his hands are idle, the house leaks.
19 A feast is made for laughter,
and wine makes life merry,
but money is the answer for everything.
20 Do not revile the king even in your thoughts,
or curse the rich in your bedroom,
because a bird of the air may carry your words,
and a bird on the wing may report what you say.
June 10, 2004-Ecclesiastes 11:1-12:14, Psalm 73:1-28, 88:1-18, 1 Kings 11:41-43, 14:21
Ecclesiastes 11
Bread Upon the Waters
1 Cast your bread upon the waters,
for after many days you will find it again.
2 Give portions to seven, yes to eight,
for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
3 If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain upon the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there will it lie.
4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother's womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.
6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well.
Remember Your Creator While Young
7 Light is sweet,
and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
8 However many years a man may live,
let him enjoy them all.
But let him remember the days of darkness,
for they will be many.
Everything to come is meaningless.
9 Be happy, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
God will bring you to judgment.
10 So then, banish anxiety from your heart
and cast off the troubles of your body,
for youth and vigor are meaningless.
Ecclesiastes 12
1 Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
"I find no pleasure in them"-
2 before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
3 when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;
4 when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when men rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;
5 when men are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags himself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then man goes to his eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.
6 Remember him-before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher.
"Everything is meaningless!"
The Conclusion of the Matter
9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to
the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10
The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright
and true.
11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like
firmly embedded nails-given by one Shepherd. 12 Be warned, my son, of
anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
Psalm 73
BOOK III -- Psalms 73-89
1
A psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity ;
the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, "How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?"
12 This is what the wicked are like-
always carefree, they increase in wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 As a dream when one awakes,
so when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Psalm 88
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to
mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 O Lord , the God who saves me,
day and night I cry out before you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full of trouble
and my life draws near the grave.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like a man without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily upon me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
Selah
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, O Lord , every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?
Selah
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction ?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, O Lord ;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, O Lord , do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death;
I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
the darkness is my closest friend.
1 Kings 11
Solomon's Death
41 As for the other events of Solomon's reign-all he did and the
wisdom he displayed-are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon?
42 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 43
Then he rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father.
And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.
1 Kings 14
Rehoboam King of Judah
21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years
old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city
the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name.
His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.
June 11, 2004-1 Kings 12:1-13:34
1 Kings 12
Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to
make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still
in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3
So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to
Rehoboam and said to him: 4 "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but
now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve
you."
5 Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days and then come back to
me." So the people went away.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father
Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?"
he asked.
7 They replied, "If today you will be a servant to these people and
serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants."
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted
the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He
asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to
me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?"
10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these
people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our
yoke lighter'-tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.
11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier.
My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.' "
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam,
as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." 13 The king
answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders,
14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your
yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I
will scourge you with scorpions." 15 So the king did not listen to
the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord , to fulfill the word the
Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they
answered the king:
"What share do we have in David,
what part in Jesse's son?
To your tents, O Israel!
Look after your own house, O David!"
So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were
living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.
18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced
labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to
get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been
in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
20 When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they
sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the
tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of
Judah and the tribe of Benjamin-a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men-to
make war against the house of Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son
of Solomon.
22 But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: 23
"Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and
Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24 'This is what the Lord
says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home,
every one of you, for this is my doing.' " So they obeyed the word of the Lord
and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.
Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan
25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and
lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, "The kingdom will now likely revert
to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices
at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to
their Lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King
Rehoboam."
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to
the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O
Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." 29 One he set up in Bethel,
and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people went
even as far as Dan to worship the one there.
31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from
all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 He
instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the
festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in
Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed
priests at the high places he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of
the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the
altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites
and went up to the altar to make offerings.
1 Kings 13
The Man of God From Judah
1 By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as
Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2 He cried
out against the altar by the word of the Lord : "O altar, altar! This is what
the Lord says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he
will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and
human bones will be burned on you.' " 3 That same day the man of God
gave a sign: "This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split
apart and the ashes on it will be poured out."
4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the
altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!"
But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not
pull it back. 5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured
out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord .
6 Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the Lord your
God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded
with the Lord , and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before.
7 The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and have
something to eat, and I will give you a gift."
8 But the man of God answered the king, "Even if you were to give me
half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink
water here. 9 For I was commanded by the word of the Lord : 'You must
not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.' " 10 So
he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
11 Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons
came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also
told their father what he had said to the king. 12 Their father asked
them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man of God
from Judah had taken. 13 So he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey
for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 14
and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked,
"Are you the man of God who came from Judah?"
"I am," he replied.
15 So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat."
16 The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can
I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 I have been
told by the word of the Lord : 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or
return by the way you came.' "
18 The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an
angel said to me by the word of the Lord : 'Bring him back with you to your
house so that he may eat bread and drink water.' " (But he was lying to him.)
19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his
house.
20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to
the old prophet who had brought him back. 21 He cried out to the man
of God who had come from Judah, "This is what the Lord says: 'You have defied
the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.
22 You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he
told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb
of your fathers.' "
23 When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet
who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. 24 As he went on
his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was thrown down
on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25
Some people who passed by saw the body thrown down there, with the lion standing
beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet
lived.
26 When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard
of it, he said, "It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord . The Lord
has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word
of the Lord had warned him."
27 The prophet said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," and they
did so. 28 Then he went out and found the body thrown down on the
road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither
eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. 29 So the prophet picked up the
body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own
city to mourn for him and bury him. 30 Then he laid the body in his
own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, "Oh, my brother!"
31 After burying him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in
the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32
For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel
and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will
certainly come true."
33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once
more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who
wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. 34 This
was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its
destruction from the face of the earth.
June 12, 2004-1 Kings 14:1-18, 22-28, Psalm 89:1-52
1 Kings 14
Ahijah's Prophecy Against Jeroboam
1 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, 2 and
Jeroboam said to his wife, "Go, disguise yourself, so you won't be recognized as
the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there-the one who
told me I would be king over this people. 3 Take ten loaves of bread
with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what
will happen to the boy." 4 So Jeroboam's wife did what he said and
went to Ahijah's house in Shiloh.
Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age. 5
But the Lord had told Ahijah, "Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about her
son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she
arrives, she will pretend to be someone else."
6 So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he
said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you
with bad news. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord , the
God of Israel, says: 'I raised you up from among the people and made you a
leader over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the
house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David,
who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was
right in my eyes. 9 You have done more evil than all who lived before
you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have
provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back.
10 " 'Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of
Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel-slave or free.
I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone.
11 Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and
the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has
spoken!'
12 "As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy
will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the
only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in
the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord , the God of Israel, has found anything
good.
14 "The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will
cut off the family of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Yes, even now. 15
And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the
water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their
forefathers and scatter them beyond the River, because they provoked the Lord to
anger by making Asherah poles. 16 And he will give Israel up because
of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit."
17 Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon
as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 They
buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the Lord had said through his
servant the prophet Ahijah.
22 Judah did evil in the
eyes of the Lord . By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger
more than their fathers had done. 23 They also set up for themselves
high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every
spreading tree. 24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the
land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord
had driven out before the Israelites.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked
Jerusalem. 26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord
and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the
gold shields Solomon had made. 27 So King Rehoboam made bronze
shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on
duty at the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king went
to the Lord's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned
them to the guardroom.
Psalm 89
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the Lord's great love forever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.
2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
3 You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant,
4 'I will establish your line forever
and make your throne firm through all generations.' "
Selah
5 The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord ,
your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord ?
Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?
7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;
he is more awesome than all who surround him.
8 O Lord God Almighty, who is like you?
You are mighty, O Lord , and your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the surging sea;
when its waves mount up, you still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like one of the slain;
with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth;
you founded the world and all that is in it.
12 You created the north and the south;
Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm is endued with power;
your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord .
16 They rejoice in your name all day long;
they exult in your righteousness.
17 For you are their glory and strength,
and by your favor you exalt our horn.
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord ,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Once you spoke in a vision,
to your faithful people you said:
"I have bestowed strength on a warrior;
I have exalted a young man from among the people.
20 I have found David my servant;
with my sacred oil I have anointed him.
21 My hand will sustain him;
surely my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will subject him to tribute;
no wicked man will oppress him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down his adversaries.
24 My faithful love will be with him,
and through my name his horn will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.
26 He will call out to me, 'You are my Father,
my God, the Rock my Savior.'
27 I will also appoint him my firstborn,
the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
28 I will maintain my love to him forever,
and my covenant with him will never fail.
29 I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens endure.
30 "If his sons forsake my law
and do not follow my statutes,
31 if they violate my decrees
and fail to keep my commands,
32 I will punish their sin with the rod,
their iniquity with flogging;
33 but I will not take my love from him,
nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my covenant
or alter what my lips have uttered.
35 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness-
and I will not lie to David-
36 that his line will continue forever
and his throne endure before me like the sun;
37 it will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky."
Selah
38 But you have rejected, you have spurned,
you have been very angry with your anointed one.
39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant
and have defiled his crown in the dust.
40 You have broken through all his walls
and reduced his strongholds to ruins.
41 All who pass by have plundered him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You have turned back the edge of his sword
and have not supported him in battle.
44 You have put an end to his splendor
and cast his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with a mantle of shame.
Selah
46 How long, O Lord ? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how fleeting is my life.
For what futility you have created all men!
48 What man can live and not see death,
or save himself from the power of the grave ?
Selah
49 O Lord, where is your former great love,
which in your faithfulness you swore to David?
50 Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked,
how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations,
51 the taunts with which your enemies have mocked, O Lord ,
with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one.
52 Praise be to the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
June 13, 2004-1 Kings 14:29-15:11, 14:9-20, 15:25-31, 12-15
1 Kings 14
29 As for the other events of Rehoboam's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 30 There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 31 And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.
1 Kings 15
Abijah King of Judah
1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat,
Abijah became king of Judah, 2 and he reigned in Jerusalem three
years. His mother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.
3 He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart
was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather
had been. 4 Nevertheless, for David's sake the Lord his God gave him
a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem
strong. 5 For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord
and had not failed to keep any of the Lord's commands all the days of his
life-except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
6 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout Abijah's
lifetime. 7 As for the other events of Abijah's reign, and all he
did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? There
was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 8 And Abijah rested with his
fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Asa his son succeeded him as
king.
Asa King of Judah
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king
of Judah, 10 and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His
grandmother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.
11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord , as his father
David had done.
9 You have done more evil
than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made
of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back.
10 " 'Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of
Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel-slave or free.
I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone.
11 Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and
the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has
spoken!'
12 "As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy
will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the
only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in
the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord , the God of Israel, has found anything
good.
14 "The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will
cut off the family of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Yes, even now. 15
And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the
water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their
forefathers and scatter them beyond the River, because they provoked the Lord to
anger by making Asherah poles. 16 And he will give Israel up because
of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit."
17 Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon
as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 They
buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the Lord had said through his
servant the prophet Ahijah.
19 The other events of Jeroboam's reign, his wars and how he ruled,
are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel. 20 He
reigned for twenty-two years and then rested with his fathers. And Nadab his son
succeeded him as king.
1 Kings 15
Nadab King of Israel
25 Nadab son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in the second year of
Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 26 He did
evil in the eyes of the Lord , walking in the ways of his father and in his sin,
which he had caused Israel to commit.
27 Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar plotted against him,
and he struck him down at Gibbethon, a Philistine town, while Nadab and all
Israel were besieging it. 28 Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of
Asa king of Judah and succeeded him as king.
29 As soon as he began to reign, he killed Jeroboam's whole family.
He did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all,
according to the word of the Lord given through his servant Ahijah the
Shilonite- 30 because of the sins Jeroboam had committed and had
caused Israel to commit, and because he provoked the Lord , the God of Israel,
to anger.
31 As for the other events of Nadab's reign, and all he did, are they
not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made. 13 He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. 15 He brought into the temple of the Lord the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
June 14, 2004-1 Kings 15:33-34, 16, 32, 17-22, 16:1-33, 15:23-24, 22:41-46, 16:34
1 Kings 15
Baasha King of Israel
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah
became king of all Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. 34
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord , walking in the ways of Jeroboam and in his
sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.
16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.
32 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.
17 Baasha king of Israel
went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or
entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.
18 Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the
treasuries of the Lord's temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his
officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the
king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. 19 "Let there be a treaty
between me and you," he said, "as there was between my father and your father.
See, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with
Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me."
20 Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his
forces against the towns of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah and
all Kinnereth in addition to Naphtali. 21 When Baasha heard this, he
stopped building Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa
issued an order to all Judah-no one was exempt-and they carried away from Ramah
the stones and timber Baasha had been using there. With them King Asa built up
Geba in Benjamin, and also Mizpah.
1 Kings 16
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu son of Hanani against
Baasha: 2 "I lifted you up from the dust and made you leader of my
people Israel, but you walked in the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people
Israel to sin and to provoke me to anger by their sins. 3 So I am
about to consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of
Jeroboam son of Nebat. 4 Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who
die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the
country."
5 As for the other events of Baasha's reign, what he did and his
achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of
Israel? 6 Baasha rested with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah.
And Elah his son succeeded him as king.
7 Moreover, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Jehu son of
Hanani to Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the eyes
of the Lord , provoking him to anger by the things he did, and becoming like the
house of Jeroboam-and also because he destroyed it.
Elah King of Israel
8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha
became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years.
9 Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots,
plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home
of Arza, the man in charge of the palace at Tirzah. 10 Zimri came in,
struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah.
Then he succeeded him as king.
11 As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he
killed off Baasha's whole family. He did not spare a single male, whether
relative or friend. 12 So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha,
in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken against Baasha through the
prophet Jehu- 13 because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had
committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the Lord , the
God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols.
14 As for the other events of Elah's reign, and all he did, are they
not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
Zimri King of Israel
15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned in
Tirzah seven days. The army was encamped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town.
16 When the Israelites in the camp heard that Zimri had plotted against
the king and murdered him, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king
over Israel that very day there in the camp. 17 Then Omri and all the
Israelites with him withdrew from Gibbethon and laid siege to Tirzah. 18
When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal
palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died, 19 because
of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and walking in
the ways of Jeroboam and in the sin he had committed and had caused Israel to
commit.
20 As for the other events of Zimri's reign, and the rebellion he
carried out, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of
Israel?
Omri King of Israel
21 Then the people of Israel were split into two factions; half
supported Tibni son of Ginath for king, and the other half supported Omri.
22 But Omri's followers proved stronger than those of Tibni son of Ginath.
So Tibni died and Omri became king.
23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king of
Israel, and he reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah. 24 He
bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a
city on the hill, calling it Samaria, after Shemer, the name of the former owner
of the hill.
25 But Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord and sinned more than all
those before him. 26 He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of
Nebat and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit, so that they
provoked the Lord , the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols.
27 As for the other events of Omri's reign, what he did and the
things he achieved, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings
of Israel? 28 Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria.
And Ahab his son succeeded him as king.
Ahab Becomes King of Israel
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri
became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years.
30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of
those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the
sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal
king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He
set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33
Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the Lord , the God of
Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.
1 Kings 15
23 As for all the other events of Asa's reign, all his achievements, all he did and the cities he built, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? In his old age, however, his feet became diseased. 24 Then Asa rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of his father David. And Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king.
1 Kings 22
Jehoshaphat King of Judah
41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah in the fourth year of
Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother's name
was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 43 In everything he walked in the ways
of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord . The high places, however, were not removed, and the people
continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. 44 Jehoshaphat
was also at peace with the king of Israel.
45 As for the other events of Jehoshaphat's reign, the things he
achieved and his military exploits, are they not written in the book of the
annals of the kings of Judah? 46 He rid the land of the rest of the
male shrine prostitutes who remained there even after the reign of his father
Asa.
1 Kings 16
34 In Ahab's time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun.
June 15, 2004-1 Kings 17:1-19:21
1 Kings 17
Elijah Fed by Ravens
1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As
the Lord , the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor
rain in the next few years except at my word."
2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 "Leave here,
turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4
You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."
5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine,
east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread
and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the
brook.
The Widow at Zarephath
7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain
in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9
"Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in
that place to supply you with food." 10 So he went to Zarephath. When
he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her
and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?"
11 As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a
piece of bread."
12 "As surely as the Lord your God lives," she replied, "I don't have
any bread-only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am
gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that
we may eat it-and die."
13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have
said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring
it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For
this is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be
used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on
the land.' "
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food
every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar
of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the
word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became
ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She
said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind
me of my sin and kill my son?"
19 "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms,
carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.
20 Then he cried out to the Lord , "O Lord my God, have you brought
tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?"
21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the
Lord , "O Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him!"
22 The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him,
and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from
the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is
alive!"
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of
God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth."
1 Kings 18
Elijah and Obadiah
1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to
Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land."
2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severe in Samaria, 3 and Ahab had summoned
Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the
Lord . 4 While Jezebel was killing off the Lord's prophets, Obadiah
had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and
had supplied them with food and water.) 5 Ahab had said to Obadiah,
"Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some
grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our
animals." 6 So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going
in one direction and Obadiah in another.
7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized
him, bowed down to the ground, and said, "Is it really you, my Lord Elijah?"
8 "Yes," he replied. "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.' "
9 "What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah, "that you are handing your
servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the Lord
your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent
someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not
there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you
tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' 12 I don't know
where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell
Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped
the Lord since my youth. 13 Haven't you heard, my Lord, what I did
while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord ? I hid a hundred of the
Lord's prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and
water. 14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is
here.' He will kill me!"
15 Elijah said, "As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will
surely present myself to Ahab today."
Elijah on Mount Carmel
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet
Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you
troubler of Israel?"
18 "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and
your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have
followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to
meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal
and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets
on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long
will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal
is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.
22 Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the Lord's
prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get
two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into
pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other
bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call
on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord . The god who
answers by fire-he is God."
Then all the people said, "What you say is good."
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and
prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god,
but do not light the fire." 26 So they took the bull given them and
prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer
us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced
around the altar they had made.
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said.
"Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe
he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they shouted louder and
slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their
blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic
prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response,
no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came
to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord , which was in ruins. 31
Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to
whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." 32
With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord , and he dug a trench
around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the
wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them,
"Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."
34 "Do it again," he said, and they did it again.
"Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35
The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and
prayed: "O Lord , God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that
you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things
at your command. 37 Answer me, O Lord , answer me, so these people
will know that you, O Lord , are God, and that you are turning their hearts back
again."
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the
wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The
Lord -he is God! The Lord -he is God!"
40 Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let
anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the
Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.
41 And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the
sound of a heavy rain." 42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but
Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face
between his knees.
43 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up
and looked.
"There is nothing there," he said.
Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."
44 The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a
man's hand is rising from the sea."
So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the
rain stops you.' "
45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy
rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 The power of the Lord
came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all
the way to Jezreel.
1 Kings 19
Elijah Flees to Horeb
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had
killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger
to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this
time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba
in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's
journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed
that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord ," he said. "Take my life; I am no
better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell
asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He
looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals,
and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and
said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 8 So he
got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and
forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he
went into a cave and spent the night.
The Lord Appears to Elijah
And the word of the Lord came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.
The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put
your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are
trying to kill me too."
11 The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence
of the Lord , for the Lord is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks
before the Lord , but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an
earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the
earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire
came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak
over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
14 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.
The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put
your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are
trying to kill me too."
15 The Lord said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the
Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16
Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of
Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put
to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any
who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in
Israel-all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not
kissed him."
The Call of Elisha
19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was
plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair.
Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then
left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,"
he said, "and then I will come with you."
"Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"
21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and
slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it
to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his
attendant.
June 16, 2004-Psalm 104:1-35, 114:1-8, 115:1-18, 1 Kings 20:1-43
Psalm 104
1 Praise the Lord , O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 He wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.
5 He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.
10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the air nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate-
bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains his heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the pine trees.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the coneys.
19 The moon marks off the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
21 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
23 Then man goes out to his work,
to his labor until evening.
24 How many are your works, O Lord !
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number-
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27 These all look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works-
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord , O my soul.
Praise the Lord .
Psalm 114
1 When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
2 Judah became God's sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;
4 the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
6 you mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water.
Psalm 115
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
2 Why do the nations say,
"Where is their God?"
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by the hands of men.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but they cannot see;
6 they have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but they cannot smell;
7 they have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but they cannot walk;
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.
9 O house of Israel, trust in the Lord -
he is their help and shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord -
he is their help and shield.
11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord -
he is their help and shield.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us:
He will bless the house of Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron,
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord -
small and great alike.
14 May the Lord make you increase,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord ,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
16 The highest heavens belong to the Lord ,
but the earth he has given to man.
17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord ,
those who go down to silence;
18 it is we who extol the Lord ,
both now and forevermore.
Praise the Lord .
1 Kings 20
Ben-Hadad Attacks Samaria
1 Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by
thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria
and attacked it. 2 He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of
Israel, saying, "This is what Ben-Hadad says: 3 'Your silver and gold
are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.' "
4 The king of Israel answered, "Just as you say, my Lord the king. I
and all I have are yours."
5 The messengers came again and said, "This is what Ben-Hadad says:
'I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives and your children. 6
But about this time tomorrow I am going to send my officials to search your
palace and the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value
and carry it away.' "
7 The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said to
them, "See how this man is looking for trouble! When he sent for my wives and my
children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him."
8 The elders and the people all answered, "Don't listen to him or
agree to his demands."
9 So he replied to Ben-Hadad's messengers, "Tell my Lord the king,
'Your servant will do all you demanded the first time, but this demand I cannot
meet.' " They left and took the answer back to Ben-Hadad.
10 Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: "May the gods deal
with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each
of my men a handful."
11 The king of Israel answered, "Tell him: 'One who puts on his armor
should not boast like one who takes it off.' "
12 Ben-Hadad heard this message while he and the kings were drinking
in their tents, and he ordered his men: "Prepare to attack." So they prepared to
attack the city.
Ahab Defeats Ben-Hadad
13 Meanwhile a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and announced,
"This is what the Lord says: 'Do you see this vast army? I will give it into
your hand today, and then you will know that I am the Lord .' "
14 "But who will do this?" asked Ahab.
The prophet replied, "This is what the Lord says: 'The young officers of the
provincial commanders will do it.' "
"And who will start the battle?" he asked.
The prophet answered, "You will."
15 So Ahab summoned the young officers of the provincial commanders,
232 men. Then he assembled the rest of the Israelites, 7,000 in all. 16
They set out at noon while Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in
their tents getting drunk. 17 The young officers of the provincial
commanders went out first.
Now Ben-Hadad had dispatched scouts, who reported, "Men are advancing from
Samaria."
18 He said, "If they have come out for peace, take them alive; if
they have come out for war, take them alive."
19 The young officers of the provincial commanders marched out of the
city with the army behind them 20 and each one struck down his
opponent. At that, the Arameans fled, with the Israelites in pursuit. But
Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with some of his horsemen. 21
The king of Israel advanced and overpowered the horses and chariots and
inflicted heavy losses on the Arameans.
22 Afterward, the prophet came to the king of Israel and said,
"Strengthen your position and see what must be done, because next spring the
king of Aram will attack you again."
23 Meanwhile, the officials of the king of Aram advised him, "Their
gods are gods of the hills. That is why they were too strong for us. But if we
fight them on the plains, surely we will be stronger than they. 24 Do
this: Remove all the kings from their commands and replace them with other
officers. 25 You must also raise an army like the one you lost-horse
for horse and chariot for chariot-so we can fight Israel on the plains. Then
surely we will be stronger than they." He agreed with them and acted
accordingly.
26 The next spring Ben-Hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to
Aphek to fight against Israel. 27 When the Israelites were also
mustered and given provisions, they marched out to meet them. The Israelites
camped opposite them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered
the countryside.
28 The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, "This is what
the Lord says: 'Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and
not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you
will know that I am the Lord .' "
29 For seven days they camped opposite each other, and on the seventh
day the battle was joined. The Israelites inflicted a hundred thousand
casualties on the Aramean foot soldiers in one day. 30 The rest of
them escaped to the city of Aphek, where the wall collapsed on twenty-seven
thousand of them. And Ben-Hadad fled to the city and hid in an inner room.
31 His officials said to him, "Look, we have heard that the kings of
the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go to the king of Israel with sackcloth
around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life."
32 Wearing sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their
heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-Hadad says:
'Please let me live.' "
The king answered, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."
33 The men took this as a good sign and were quick to pick up his
word. "Yes, your brother Ben-Hadad!" they said.
"Go and get him," the king said. When Ben-Hadad came out, Ahab had him come up
into his chariot.
34 "I will return the cities my father took from your father,"
Ben-Hadad offered. "You may set up your own market areas in Damascus, as my
father did in Samaria."
Ahab said, "On the basis of a treaty I will set you free." So he made a treaty
with him, and let him go.
A Prophet Condemns Ahab
35 By the word of the Lord one of the sons of the prophets said to
his companion, "Strike me with your weapon," but the man refused.
36 So the prophet said, "Because you have not obeyed the Lord , as
soon as you leave me a lion will kill you." And after the man went away, a lion
found him and killed him.
37 The prophet found another man and said, "Strike me, please." So
the man struck him and wounded him. 38 Then the prophet went and
stood by the road waiting for the king. He disguised himself with his headband
down over his eyes. 39 As the king passed by, the prophet called out
to him, "Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and someone came to me
with a captive and said, 'Guard this man. If he is missing, it will be your life
for his life, or you must pay a talent of silver.' 40 While your
servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared."
"That is your sentence," the king of Israel said. "You have pronounced it
yourself."
41 Then the prophet quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and
the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. 42 He said
to the king, "This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I had
determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for
his people.' " 43 Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his
palace in Samaria.
June 17, 2004-1 Kings 21:1-29, 22:51-53, 1-35
1 Kings 21
Naboth's Vineyard
1 Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard
belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the
palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2 Ahab said to Naboth, "Let me have
your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In
exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you
whatever it is worth."
3 But Naboth replied, "The Lord forbid that I should give you the
inheritance of my fathers."
4 So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite
had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." He lay on his bed
sulking and refused to eat.
5 His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, "Why are you so sullen? Why
won't you eat?"
6 He answered her, "Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, 'Sell me
your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.'
But he said, 'I will not give you my vineyard.' "
7 Jezebel his wife said, "Is this how you act as king over Israel?
Get up and eat! Cheer up. I'll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."
8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, placed his seal on them, and
sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city with him. 9
In those letters she wrote:
"Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the
people. 10 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify
that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to
death."
11 So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city did as Jezebel
directed in the letters she had written to them. 12 They proclaimed a
fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 13 Then
two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth
before the people, saying, "Naboth has cursed both God and the king." So they
took him outside the city and stoned him to death. 14 Then they sent
word to Jezebel: "Naboth has been stoned and is dead."
15 As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she
said to Ahab, "Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the
Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead."
16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take
possession of Naboth's vineyard.
17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 18
"Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in
Naboth's vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. 19 Say
to him, 'This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his
property?' Then say to him, 'This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs
licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood-yes, yours!' "
20 Ahab said to Elijah, "So you have found me, my enemy!"
"I have found you," he answered, "because you have sold yourself to do evil in
the eyes of the Lord . 21 'I am going to bring disaster on you. I
will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in
Israel-slave or free. 22 I will make your house like that of Jeroboam
son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to
anger and have caused Israel to sin.'
23 "And also concerning Jezebel the Lord says: 'Dogs will devour
Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.'
24 "Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and
the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country."
25 (There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in
the eyes of the Lord , urged on by Jezebel his wife. 26 He behaved in
the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out
before Israel.)
27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth
and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.
28 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29
"Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled
himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his
house in the days of his son."
1 Kings 22
Ahaziah King of Israel
51 Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the
seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two
years. 52 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord , because he walked in
the ways of his father and mother and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who
caused Israel to sin. 53 He served and worshiped Baal and provoked
the Lord , the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done.
Micaiah Prophesies Against Ahab
1 For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. 2
But in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to see the king of
Israel. 3 The king of Israel had said to his officials, "Don't you
know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us and yet we are doing nothing to retake it
from the king of Aram?"
4 So he asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to fight against
Ramoth Gilead?"
Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your
people, my horses as your horses." 5 But Jehoshaphat also said to the
king of Israel, "First seek the counsel of the Lord ."
6 So the king of Israel brought together the prophets-about four
hundred men-and asked them, "Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I
refrain?"
"Go," they answered, "for the Lord will give it into the king's hand."
7 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not a prophet of the Lord here
whom we can inquire of?"
8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man
through whom we can inquire of the Lord , but I hate him because he never
prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah."
"The king should not say that," Jehoshaphat replied.
9 So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, "Bring
Micaiah son of Imlah at once."
10 Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat
king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the
entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them.
11 Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns and he declared,
"This is what the Lord says: 'With these you will gore the Arameans until they
are destroyed.' "
12 All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. "Attack
Ramoth Gilead and be victorious," they said, "for the Lord will give it into the
king's hand."
13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, "Look,
as one man the other prophets are predicting success for the king. Let your word
agree with theirs, and speak favorably."
14 But Micaiah said, "As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him
only what the Lord tells me."
15 When he arrived, the king asked him, "Micaiah, shall we go to war
against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?"
"Attack and be victorious," he answered, "for the Lord will give it into the
king's hand."
16 The king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear to
tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord ?"
17 Then Micaiah answered, "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills
like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, 'These people have no master.
Let each one go home in peace.' "
18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he
never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?"
19 Micaiah continued, "Therefore hear the word of the Lord : I saw
the Lord sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing around him
on his right and on his left. 20 And the Lord said, 'Who will entice
Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?'
"One suggested this, and another that. 21 Finally, a spirit came
forward, stood before the Lord and said, 'I will entice him.'
22 " 'By what means?' the Lord asked.
" 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he
said.
" 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the Lord . 'Go and do it.'
23 "So now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these
prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you."
24 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the
face. "Which way did the spirit from the Lord go when he went from me to speak
to you?" he asked.
25 Micaiah replied, "You will find out on the day you go to hide in
an inner room."
26 The king of Israel then ordered, "Take Micaiah and send him back
to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king's son 27 and say,
'This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but
bread and water until I return safely.' "
28 Micaiah declared, "If you ever return safely, the Lord has not
spoken through me." Then he added, "Mark my words, all you people!"
Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to
Ramoth Gilead. 30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will
enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes." So the king of
Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
31 Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot
commanders, "Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of
Israel." 32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they
thought, "Surely this is the king of Israel." So they turned to attack him, but
when Jehoshaphat cried out, 33 the chariot commanders saw that he was
not the king of Israel and stopped pursuing him.
34 But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel
between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, "Wheel
around and get me out of the fighting. I've been wounded." 35 All day
long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the
Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that
evening he died.
June 18, 2004-1 Kings 22:36-40, 2 Kings 1:1, Psalm 46:1-11, 47:1-9, 48:1-14
1 Kings 22
36 As the sun was setting, a
cry spread through the army: "Every man to his town; everyone to his land!"
37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him
there. 38 They washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria (where the
prostitutes bathed), and the dogs licked up his blood, as the word of the Lord
had declared.
39 As for the other events of Ahab's reign, including all he did, the
palace he built and inlaid with ivory, and the cities he fortified, are they not
written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 40 Ahab
rested with his fathers. And Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king.
2 Kings 1
1 After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel.
Psalm 46
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to almouth. A
song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah
8 Come and see the works of the Lord ,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.
10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah
Psalm 47
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
2 How awesome is the Lord Most High,
the great King over all the earth!
3 He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.
4 He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.
Selah
5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
8 God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.
Psalm 48
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1 Great is the Lord , and most worthy of praise,
in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
2 It is beautiful in its loftiness,
the joy of the whole earth.
Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion,
the city of the Great King.
3 God is in her citadels;
he has shown himself to be her fortress.
4 When the kings joined forces,
when they advanced together,
5 they saw her and were astounded;
they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them there,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish
shattered by an east wind.
8 As we have heard,
so have we seen
in the city of the Lord Almighty,
in the city of our God:
God makes her secure forever.
Selah
9 Within your temple, O God,
we meditate on your unfailing love.
10 Like your name, O God,
your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion rejoices,
the villages of Judah are glad
because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, go around her,
count her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts,
view her citadels,
that you may tell of them to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever;
he will be our guide even to the end.
June 19, 2004-Psalm 49:1-20, 83:1-18, 91:1-16, 1 Kings 22:47-49, 2 Kings 1:2-18, 3:1-3
Psalm 49
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Hear this, all you peoples;
listen, all who live in this world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor alike:
3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the utterance from my heart will give understanding.
4 I will turn my ear to a proverb;
with the harp I will expound my riddle:
5 Why should I fear when evil days come,
when wicked deceivers surround me-
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of their great riches?
7 No man can redeem the life of another
or give to God a ransom for him-
8 the ransom for a life is costly,
no payment is ever enough-
9 that he should live on forever
and not see decay.
10 For all can see that wise men die;
the foolish and the senseless alike perish
and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their tombs will remain their houses forever,
their dwellings for endless generations,
though they had named lands after themselves.
12 But man, despite his riches, does not endure;
he is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,
and of their followers, who approve their sayings.
Selah
14 Like sheep they are destined for the grave,
and death will feed on them.
The upright will rule over them in the morning;
their forms will decay in the grave,
far from their princely mansions.
15 But God will redeem my life from the grave;
he will surely take me to himself.
Selah
16 Do not be overawed when a man grows rich,
when the splendor of his house increases;
17 for he will take nothing with him when he dies,
his splendor will not descend with him.
18 Though while he lived he counted himself blessed-
and men praise you when you prosper-
19 he will join the generation of his fathers,
who will never see the light of life .
20 A man who has riches without understanding
is like the beasts that perish.
Psalm 83
A song. A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.
2 See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.
3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more."
5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
8 Even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Selah
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
10 who perished at Endor
and became like refuse on the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, "Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God."
13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Cover their faces with shame
so that men will seek your name, O Lord .
17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.
18 Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord -
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord , "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you make the Most High your dwelling-
even the Lord , who is my refuge-
10 then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 "Because he loves me," says the Lord , "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."
1 Kings 22
47 There was then no king in
Edom; a deputy ruled.
48 Now Jehoshaphat built a fleet of trading ships to go to Ophir for
gold, but they never set sail-they were wrecked at Ezion Geber. 49 At
that time Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my men sail with your
men," but Jehoshaphat refused.
2 Kings 1
2 Now Ahaziah had fallen
through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent
messengers, saying to them, "Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see
if I will recover from this injury."
3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and
meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is
no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of
Ekron?' 4 Therefore this is what the Lord says: 'You will not leave
the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!' " So Elijah went.
5 When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, "Why have
you come back?"
6 "A man came to meet us," they replied. "And he said to us, 'Go back
to the king who sent you and tell him, "This is what the Lord says: Is it
because there is no God in Israel that you are sending men to consult
Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying
on. You will certainly die!" ' "
7 The king asked them, "What kind of man was it who came to meet you
and told you this?"
8 They replied, "He was a man with a garment of hair and with a
leather belt around his waist."
The king said, "That was Elijah the Tishbite."
9 Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The
captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to
him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down!' "
10 Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come
down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from heaven
and consumed the captain and his men.
11 At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty
men. The captain said to him, "Man of God, this is what the king says, 'Come
down at once!' "
12 "If I am a man of God," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from
heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of God fell from
heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
13 So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third
captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged,
"please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your
servants! 14 See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first
two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!"
15 The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be
afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
16 He told the king, "This is what the Lord says: Is it because there
is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult
Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave
the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!" 17 So he died,
according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken.
Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of
Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. 18 As for all the other
events of Ahaziah's reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of
the annals of the kings of Israel?
2 Kings 3
Moab Revolts
1 Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the
eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years.
2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord , but not as his father and mother
had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made.
3 Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had
caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.
June 20, 2004-2 Kings 2:1-25, 3:4-27, 1 Kings 22:50, 2 Kings 8:16-29
2 Kings 2
Elijah Taken Up to Heaven
1 When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,
Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to
Elisha, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel."
But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave
you." So they went down to Bethel.
3 The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked,
"Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?"
"Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "but do not speak of it."
4 Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me
to Jericho."
And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave
you." So they went to Jericho.
5 The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked
him, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?"
"Yes, I know," he replied, "but do not speak of it."
6 Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the
Jordan."
And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave
you." So the two of them walked on.
7 Fifty men of the company of the prophets went and stood at a
distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan.
8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it.
The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over
on dry ground.
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I
do for you before I am taken from you?"
"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.
10 "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see
me when I am taken from you, it will be yours-otherwise not."
11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a
chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and
Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried
out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw
him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.
13 He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back
and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 Then he took the cloak that
had fallen from him and struck the water with it. "Where now is the Lord , the
God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and
to the left, and he crossed over.
15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said,
"The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha." And they went to meet him and bowed
to the ground before him. 16 "Look," they said, "we your servants
have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of
the Lord has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley."
"No," Elisha replied, "do not send them."
17 But they persisted until he was too ashamed to refuse. So he said,
"Send them." And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not
find him. 18 When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in
Jericho, he said to them, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"
Healing of the Water
19 The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our Lord, this town is
well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is
unproductive."
20 "Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." So they
brought it to him.
21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying,
"This is what the Lord says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it
cause death or make the land unproductive.' " 22 And the water has
remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.
Elisha Is Jeered
23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the
road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you
baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" 24 He turned around,
looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord . Then
two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. 25
And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.
2 Kings 3
4 Now Mesha king of Moab
raised sheep, and he had to supply the king of Israel with a hundred thousand
lambs and with the wool of a hundred thousand rams. 5 But after Ahab
died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So at
that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel. 7
He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: "The king of Moab has
rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?"
"I will go with you," he replied. "I am as you are, my people as your people, my
horses as your horses."
8 "By what route shall we attack?" he asked.
"Through the Desert of Edom," he answered.
9 So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king
of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for
themselves or for the animals with them.
10 "What!" exclaimed the king of Israel. "Has the Lord called us
three kings together only to hand us over to Moab?"
11 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of the Lord here, that
we may inquire of the Lord through him?"
An officer of the king of Israel answered, "Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He
used to pour water on the hands of Elijah. "
12 Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the Lord is with him." So the king
of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What do we have to do with
each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother."
"No," the king of Israel answered, "because it was the Lord who called us three
kings together to hand us over to Moab."
14 Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve,
if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would
not look at you or even notice you. 15 But now bring me a harpist."
While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha 16
and he said, "This is what the Lord says: Make this valley full of ditches.
17 For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet
this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other
animals will drink. 18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord
; he will also hand Moab over to you. 19 You will overthrow every
fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up
all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones."
20 The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there
it was-water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with
water.
21 Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight
against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and
stationed on the border. 22 When they got up early in the morning,
the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water
looked red-like blood. 23 "That's blood!" they said. "Those kings
must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!"
24 But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites
rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and
slaughtered the Moabites. 25 They destroyed the towns, and each man
threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the
springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones
in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it as well.
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he
took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but
they failed. 27 Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed
him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against
Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.
1 Kings 22
50 Then Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of David his father. And Jehoram his son succeeded him.
2 Kings 8
Jehoram King of Judah
16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when
Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as
king of Judah. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king,
and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 18 He walked in the ways of
the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of
Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord . 19 Nevertheless, for the
sake of his servant David, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah. He had
promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.
20 In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its
own king. 21 So Jehoram went to Zair with all his chariots. The
Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke
through by night; his army, however, fled back home. 22 To this day
Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted at the same time.
23 As for the other events of Jehoram's reign, and all he did, are
they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 24
Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David.
And Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king.
Ahaziah King of Judah
25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah
son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was
twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year.
His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. 27
He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord
, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by marriage to Ahab's
family.
28 Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of
Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; 29 so King Joram
returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him
at Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.
Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son
of Ahab, because he had been wounded.
June 21, 2004-2 Kings 9:1-37, 10:1-27, 11:1-3
2 Kings 9
Jehu Anointed King of Israel
1 The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets
and said to him, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil with
you and go to Ramoth Gilead. 2 When you get there, look for Jehu son
of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions
and take him into an inner room. 3 Then take the flask and pour the
oil on his head and declare, 'This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over
Israel.' Then open the door and run; don't delay!"
4 So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5
When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. "I have a message
for you, commander," he said.
"For which of us?" asked Jehu.
"For you, commander," he replied.
6 Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the
oil on Jehu's head and declared, "This is what the Lord , the God of Israel,
says: 'I anoint you king over the Lord's people Israel. 7 You are to
destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my
servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord's servants shed by Jezebel.
8 The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every
last male in Israel-slave or free. 9 I will make the house of Ahab
like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of
Ahijah. 10 As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground
at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.' " Then he opened the door and ran.
11 When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him,
"Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?"
"You know the man and the sort of things he says," Jehu replied.
12 "That's not true!" they said. "Tell us."
Jehu said, "Here is what he told me: 'This is what the Lord says: I anoint you
king over Israel.' "
13 They hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on
the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, "Jehu is king!"
Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah
14 So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against
Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael
king of Aram, 15 but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover
from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king
of Aram.) Jehu said, "If this is the way you feel, don't let anyone slip out of
the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel." 16 Then he got into his
chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of
Judah had gone down to see him.
17 When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu's
troops approaching, he called out, "I see some troops coming."
"Get a horseman," Joram ordered. "Send him to meet them and ask, 'Do you come in
peace?' "
18 The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, "This is what the
king says: 'Do you come in peace?' "
"What do you have to do with peace?" Jehu replied. "Fall in behind me."
The lookout reported, "The messenger has reached them, but he isn't coming
back."
19 So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he
said, "This is what the king says: 'Do you come in peace?' "
Jehu replied, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me."
20 The lookout reported, "He has reached them, but he isn't coming
back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi-he drives like a
madman."
21 "Hitch up my chariot," Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up,
Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own
chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to
Naboth the Jezreelite. 22 When Joram saw Jehu he asked, "Have you
come in peace, Jehu?"
"How can there be peace," Jehu replied, "as long as all the idolatry and
witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"
23 Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, "Treachery,
Ahaziah!"
24 Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The
arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot. 25 Jehu
said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, "Pick him up and throw him on the field
that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding
together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the Lord made this prophecy
about him: 26 'Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of
his sons, declares the Lord , and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot
of ground, declares the Lord .' Now then, pick him up and throw him on that
plot, in accordance with the word of the Lord ."
27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the
road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, "Kill him too!" They wounded him
in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and
died there. 28 His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and
buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David. 29 (In
the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)
Jezebel Killed
30 Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she
painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. 31 As
Jehu entered the gate, she asked, "Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer
of your master?"
32 He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side?
Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. 33 "Throw her down!"
Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and
the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
34 Jehu went in and ate and drank. "Take care of that cursed woman,"
he said, "and bury her, for she was a king's daughter." 35 But when
they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her
hands. 36 They went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word
of the Lord that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot
of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. 37 Jezebel's
body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one
will be able to say, 'This is Jezebel.' "
2 Kings 10
Ahab's Family Killed
1 Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab. So
Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel, to the
elders and to the guardians of Ahab's children. He said, 2 "As soon
as this letter reaches you, since your master's sons are with you and you have
chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons, 3 choose the best
and most worthy of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne. Then
fight for your master's house."
4 But they were terrified and said, "If two kings could not resist
him, how can we?"
5 So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the
guardians sent this message to Jehu: "We are your servants and we will do
anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think
best."
6 Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, "If you are on my
side and will obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me in
Jezreel by this time tomorrow."
Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city,
who were rearing them. 7 When the letter arrived, these men took the
princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and
sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. 8 When the messenger arrived, he told
Jehu, "They have brought the heads of the princes."
Then Jehu ordered, "Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until
morning."
9 The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and
said, "You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed
him, but who killed all these? 10 Know then, that not a word the Lord
has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The Lord has done what he
promised through his servant Elijah." 11 So Jehu killed everyone in
Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his
close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.
12 Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the
Shepherds, 13 he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and
asked, "Who are you?"
They said, "We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the
families of the king and of the queen mother."
14 "Take them alive!" he ordered. So they took them alive and
slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked-forty-two men. He left no survivor.
15 After he left there, he came upon Jehonadab son of Recab, who was
on his way to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, "Are you in accord with me,
as I am with you?"
"I am," Jehonadab answered.
"If so," said Jehu, "give me your hand." So he did, and Jehu helped him up into
the chariot. 16 Jehu said, "Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord
." Then he had him ride along in his chariot.
17 When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of
Ahab's family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord spoken to
Elijah.
Ministers of Baal Killed
18 Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, "Ahab
served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. 19 Now summon all the
prophets of Baal, all his ministers and all his priests. See that no one is
missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails
to come will no longer live." But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to
destroy the ministers of Baal.
20 Jehu said, "Call an assembly in honor of Baal." So they proclaimed
it. 21 Then he sent word throughout Israel, and all the ministers of
Baal came; not one stayed away. They crowded into the temple of Baal until it
was full from one end to the other. 22 And Jehu said to the keeper of
the wardrobe, "Bring robes for all the ministers of Baal." So he brought out
robes for them.
23 Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Recab went into the temple of Baal.
Jehu said to the ministers of Baal, "Look around and see that no servants of the
Lord are here with you-only ministers of Baal." 24 So they went in to
make sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had posted eighty men outside with
this warning: "If one of you lets any of the men I am placing in your hands
escape, it will be your life for his life."
25 As soon as Jehu had finished making the burnt offering, he ordered
the guards and officers: "Go in and kill them; let no one escape." So they cut
them down with the sword. The guards and officers threw the bodies out and then
entered the inner shrine of the temple of Baal. 26 They brought the
sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it. 27 They
demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people
have used it for a latrine to this day.
2 Kings 11
Athaliah and Joash
1 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she
proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. 2 But Jehosheba, the
daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and
stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She
put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not
killed. 3 He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the Lord
for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.
June 22, 2004-2 Kings 11:4-21, 12:1-16, 10:28-36, 13:1-3, 22-23
2 Kings 11
4 In the seventh year
Jehoiada sent for the commanders of units of a hundred, the Carites and the
guards and had them brought to him at the temple of the Lord . He made a
covenant with them and put them under oath at the temple of the Lord . Then he
showed them the king's son. 5 He commanded them, saying, "This is
what you are to do: You who are in the three companies that are going on duty on
the Sabbath-a third of you guarding the royal palace, 6 a third at
the Sur Gate, and a third at the gate behind the guard, who take turns guarding
the temple- 7 and you who are in the other two companies that
normally go off Sabbath duty are all to guard the temple for the king. 8
Station yourselves around the king, each man with his weapon in his hand. Anyone
who approaches your ranks must be put to death. Stay close to the king wherever
he goes."
9 The commanders of units of a hundred did just as Jehoiada the
priest ordered. Each one took his men-those who were going on duty on the
Sabbath and those who were going off duty-and came to Jehoiada the priest.
10 Then he gave the commanders the spears and shields that had belonged to
King David and that were in the temple of the Lord . 11 The guards,
each with his weapon in his hand, stationed themselves around the king-near the
altar and the temple, from the south side to the north side of the temple.
12 Jehoiada brought out the king's son and put the crown on him; he
presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed
him, and the people clapped their hands and shouted, "Long live the king!"
13 When Athaliah heard the noise made by the guards and the people,
she went to the people at the temple of the Lord . 14 She looked and
there was the king, standing by the pillar, as the custom was. The officers and
the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were
rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her robes and called out,
"Treason! Treason!"
15 Jehoiada the priest ordered the commanders of units of a hundred,
who were in charge of the troops: "Bring her out between the ranks and put to
the sword anyone who follows her." For the priest had said, "She must not be put
to death in the temple of the Lord ." 16 So they seized her as she
reached the place where the horses enter the palace grounds, and there she was
put to death.
17 Jehoiada then made a covenant between the Lord and the king and
people that they would be the Lord's people. He also made a covenant between the
king and the people. 18 All the people of the land went to the temple
of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed
Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
Then Jehoiada the priest posted guards at the temple of the Lord . 19
He took with him the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards and all the
people of the land, and together they brought the king down from the temple of
the Lord and went into the palace, entering by way of the gate of the guards.
The king then took his place on the royal throne, 20 and all the
people of the land rejoiced. And the city was quiet, because Athaliah had been
slain with the sword at the palace.
21 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign.
2 Kings 12
Joash Repairs the Temple
1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in
Jerusalem forty years. His mother's name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.
2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years
Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 The high places, however, were
not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.
4 Joash said to the priests, "Collect all the money that is brought
as sacred offerings to the temple of the Lord -the money collected in the
census, the money received from personal vows and the money brought voluntarily
to the temple. 5 Let every priest receive the money from one of the
treasurers, and let it be used to repair whatever damage is found in the
temple."
6 But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had
not repaired the temple. 7 Therefore King Joash summoned Jehoiada the
priest and the other priests and asked them, "Why aren't you repairing the
damage done to the temple? Take no more money from your treasurers, but hand it
over for repairing the temple." 8 The priests agreed that they would
not collect any more money from the people and that they would not repair the
temple themselves.
9 Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid. He
placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the temple of the
Lord . The priests who guarded the entrance put into the chest all the money
that was brought to the temple of the Lord . 10 Whenever they saw
that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal secretary and the
high priest came, counted the money that had been brought into the temple of the
Lord and put it into bags. 11 When the amount had been determined,
they gave the money to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple.
With it they paid those who worked on the temple of the Lord -the carpenters and
builders, 12 the masons and stonecutters. They purchased timber and
dressed stone for the repair of the temple of the Lord , and met all the other
expenses of restoring the temple.
13 The money brought into the temple was not spent for making silver
basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets or any other articles of gold
or silver for the temple of the Lord ; 14 it was paid to the workmen,
who used it to repair the temple. 15 They did not require an
accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because
they acted with complete honesty. 16 The money from the guilt
offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the temple of the Lord ; it
belonged to the priests.
2 Kings 10
28 So Jehu destroyed Baal
worship in Israel. 29 However, he did not turn away from the sins of
Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit-the worship of the
golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
30 The Lord said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in
accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I
had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the
fourth generation." 31 Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of
the Lord , the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the
sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.
32 In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael
overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory 33 east of the
Jordan in all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh), from
Aroer by the Arnon Gorge through Gilead to Bashan.
34 As for the other events of Jehu's reign, all he did, and all his
achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of
Israel?
35 Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And
Jehoahaz his son succeeded him as king. 36 The time that Jehu reigned
over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
2 Kings 13
Jehoahaz King of Israel
1 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah,
Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen
years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord by following the sins of
Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit, and he did not turn
away from them. 3 So the Lord's anger burned against Israel, and for
a long time he kept them under the power of Hazael king of Aram and Ben-Hadad
his son.
22 Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. 23 But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day he has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from his presence.
June 23, 2004-2 Kings 12:17-18, 4:1-44, 13:4-8, 8:1-6, 13:9-11, 12:19-21, 14:1-6
2 Kings 12
17 About this time Hazael king of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem. 18 But Joash king of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his fathers-Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah-and the gifts he himself had dedicated and all the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of the Lord and of the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, who then withdrew from Jerusalem.
2 Kings 4
The Widow's Oil
1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to
Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord
. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."
2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you
have in your house?"
"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."
3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.
Don't ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind
you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to
one side."
5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons.
They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the
jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."
But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil
and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."
The Shunammite's Son Restored to Life
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there,
who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to
eat. 9 She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes
our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let's make a small room on the roof
and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay
there whenever he comes to us."
11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down
there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So he
called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, "Tell
her, 'You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you?
Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?' "
She replied, "I have a home among my own people."
14 "What can be done for her?" Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old."
15 Then Elisha said, "Call her." So he called her, and she stood in
the doorway. 16 "About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will
hold a son in your arms."
"No, my Lord," she objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of God!"
17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same
time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was
with the reapers. 19 "My head! My head!" he said to his father.
His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother." 20 After the
servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap
until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed
of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
22 She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the
servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return."
23 "Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the
Sabbath."
"It's all right," she said.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't
slow down for me unless I tell you." 25 So she set out and came to
the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi,
"Look! There's the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, 'Are
you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?' "
"Everything is all right," she said.
27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of
his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her
alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not
told me why."
28 "Did I ask you for a son, my Lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you,
'Don't raise my hopes'?"
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my
staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone
greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."
30 But the child's mother said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as
you live, I will not leave you." So he got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but
there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him,
"The boy has not awakened."
32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his
couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to
the Lord . 34 Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to
mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the
boy's body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth
in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The
boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he
did. When she came, he said, "Take your son." 37 She came in, fell at
his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
Death in the Pot
38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region.
While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant,
"Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men."
39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a
wild vine. He gathered some of its gourds and filled the fold of his cloak. When
he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they
were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to
eat it, they cried out, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they
could not eat it.
41 Elisha said, "Get some flour." He put it into the pot and said,
"Serve it to the people to eat." And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
Feeding of a Hundred
42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty
loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of
new grain. "Give it to the people to eat," Elisha said.
43 "How can I set this before a hundred men?" his servant asked.
But Elisha answered, "Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord
says: 'They will eat and have some left over.' " 44 Then he set it
before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the
Lord .
2 Kings 13
4 Then Jehoahaz sought the
Lord's favor, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw how severely the king of
Aram was oppressing Israel. 5 The Lord provided a deliverer for
Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in
their own homes as they had before. 6 But they did not turn away from
the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit; they
continued in them. Also, the Asherah pole remained standing in Samaria.
7 Nothing had been left of the army of Jehoahaz except fifty
horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand foot soldiers, for the king of Aram had
destroyed the rest and made them like the dust at threshing time.
8 As for the other events of the reign of Jehoahaz, all he did and
his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of
Israel?
2 Kings 8
The Shunammite's Land Restored
1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life,
"Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the
Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years." 2
The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away
and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3 At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the
Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. 4 The
king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, "Tell
me about all the great things Elisha has done." 5 Just as Gehazi was
telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son
Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land.
Gehazi said, "This is the woman, my Lord the king, and this is her son whom
Elisha restored to life." 6 The king asked the woman about it, and
she told him.
Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back everything
that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she
left the country until now."
2 Kings 13
9 Jehoahaz rested with his
fathers and was buried in Samaria. And Jehoash his son succeeded him as king.
Jehoash King of Israel
10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of
Jehoahaz became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. 11
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins
of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in
them.
2 Kings 12
19 As for the other events of the reign of Joash, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 20 His officials conspired against him and assassinated him at Beth Millo, on the road down to Silla. 21 The officials who murdered him were Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer. He died and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.
2 Kings 14
Amaziah King of Judah
1 In the second year of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel,
Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was
twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem
twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin; she was from Jerusalem.
3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord , but not as his father
David had done. In everything he followed the example of his father Joash.
4 The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to
offer sacrifices and burn incense there.
5 After the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, he executed the
officials who had murdered his father the king. 6 Yet he did not put
the sons of the assassins to death, in accordance with what is written in the
Book of the Law of Moses where the Lord commanded: "Fathers shall not be put to
death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is
to die for his own sins."
June 24, 2004-2 Kings 14:7-14, 5:1-7:2
2 Kings 14
7 He was the one who
defeated ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and captured Sela in
battle, calling it Joktheel, the name it has to this day.
8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of
Jehu, king of Israel, with the challenge: "Come, meet me face to face."
9 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: "A
thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to
my son in marriage.' Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the
thistle underfoot. 10 You have indeed defeated Edom and now you are
arrogant. Glory in your victory, but stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause
your own downfall and that of Judah also?"
11 Amaziah, however, would not listen, so Jehoash king of Israel
attacked. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in
Judah. 12 Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home.
13 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of
Joash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh. Then Jehoash went to Jerusalem and
broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate-a
section about six hundred feet long. 14 He took all the gold and
silver and all the articles found in the temple of the Lord and in the
treasuries of the royal palace. He also took hostages and returned to Samaria.
2 Kings 5
Naaman Healed of Leprosy
1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a
great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him
the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had
leprosy.
2 Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl
from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her
mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would
cure him of his leprosy."
4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel
had said. 5 "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will
send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten
talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6
The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am
sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."
7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes
and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow
send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a
quarrel with me!"
8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn
his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man
come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 So
Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's
house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself
seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be
cleansed."
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would
surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave
his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana
and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel?
Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.
13 Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet
had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more,
then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" 14 So he went down
and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him,
and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He
stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world
except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant."
16 The prophet answered, "As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve,
I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.
17 "If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be
given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never
again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord .
18 But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my
master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I
bow there also-when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive
your servant for this."
19 "Go in peace," Elisha said.
After Naaman had traveled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of
Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this
Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives,
I will run after him and get something from him."
21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward
him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he
asked.
22 "Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to
say, 'Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from
the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of
clothing.' "
23 "By all means, take two talents," said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to
accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two
sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them
ahead of Gehazi. 24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things
from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they
left. 25 Then he went in and stood before his master Elisha.
"Where have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked.
"Your servant didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered.
26 But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man
got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to
accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and
maidservants? 27 Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your
descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was
leprous, as white as snow.
2 Kings 6
An Axhead Floats
1 The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where
we meet with you is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan,
where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live."
And he said, "Go."
3 Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?"
"I will," Elisha replied. 4 And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them
was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my Lord," he
cried out, "it was borrowed!"
6 The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the
place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7
"Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.
Elisha Traps Blinded Arameans
8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with
his officers, he said, "I will set up my camp in such and such a place."
9 The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing
that place, because the Arameans are going down there." 10 So the
king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again
Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and
demanded of them, "Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king
of Israel?"
12 "None of us, my Lord the king," said one of his officers, "but
Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words
you speak in your bedroom."
13 "Go, find out where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men
and capture him." The report came back: "He is in Dothan." 14 Then he
sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and
surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the
next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my
Lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked.
16 "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us
are more than those who are with them."
17 And Elisha prayed, "O Lord , open his eyes so he may see." Then
the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of
horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord ,
"Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as
Elisha had asked.
19 Elisha told them, "This is not the road and this is not the city.
Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he led them
to Samaria.
20 After they entered the city, Elisha said, "Lord , open the eyes of
these men so they can see." Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and
there they were, inside Samaria.
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill
them, my father? Shall I kill them?"
22 "Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have
captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they
may eat and drink and then go back to their master." 23 So he
prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and
drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands
from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory.
Famine in Besieged Samaria
24 Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army
and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. 25 There was a great famine
in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for eighty
shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.
26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to
him, "Help me, my Lord the king!"
27 The king replied, "If the Lord does not help you, where can I get
help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?" 28 Then
he asked her, "What's the matter?"
She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we may eat him today,
and tomorrow we'll eat my son.' 29 So we cooked my son and ate him.
The next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we may eat him,' but she had
hidden him."
30 When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his robes. As he
went along the wall, the people looked, and there, underneath, he had sackcloth
on his body. 31 He said, "May God deal with me, be it ever so
severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!"
32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting
with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to
the elders, "Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my
head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against
him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?"
33 While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to
him. And the king said, "This disaster is from the Lord . Why should I wait for
the Lord any longer?"
2 Kings 7
1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the Lord . This is what the Lord
says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two
seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."
2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of
God, "Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could
this happen?"
"You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any
of it!"
June 25, 2004-2 Kings 7:3-20, 8:7-15, 13:14-21, 24-25, 12-13, 14:15-16, 23, 17:22, 15:1-5, Amos 1:1-15
2 Kings 7
The Siege Lifted
3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city
gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? 4 If we
say, 'We'll go into the city'-the famine is there, and we will die. And if we
stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and
surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die."
5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they
reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, 6 for the Lord had
caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army,
so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the
Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" 7 So they got up and fled
in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left
the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered
one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes,
and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some
things from it and hid them also.
9 Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day
of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight,
punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal
palace."
10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them,
"We went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there-not a sound of
anyone-only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were."
11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the
palace.
12 The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I will
tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they
have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, 'They will surely come
out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.' "
13 One of his officers answered, "Have some men take five of the
horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the
Israelites left here-yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are
doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened."
14 So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent
them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, "Go and find out what has
happened." 15 They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found
the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown
away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the
king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the
Arameans. So a seah of flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for
a shekel, as the Lord had said.
17 Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge
of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as
the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. 18
It happened as the man of God had said to the king: "About this time tomorrow, a
seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the
gate of Samaria."
19 The officer had said to the man of God, "Look, even if the Lord
should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" The man of God
had replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of
it!" 20 And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people
trampled him in the gateway, and he died.
2 Kings 8
Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad
7 Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When
the king was told, "The man of God has come all the way up here," 8
he said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult
the Lord through him; ask him, 'Will I recover from this illness?' "
9 Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty
camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before
him, and said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, 'Will I
recover from this illness?' "
10 Elisha answered, "Go and say to him, 'You will certainly recover';
but the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die." 11 He
stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God
began to weep.
12 "Why is my Lord weeping?" asked Hazael.
"Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites," he answered. "You will
set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash
their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women."
13 Hazael said, "How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such
a feat?"
"The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram," answered Elisha.
14 Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad
asked, "What did Elisha say to you?" Hazael replied, "He told me that you would
certainly recover." 15 But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked
it in water and spread it over the king's face, so that he died. Then Hazael
succeeded him as king.
2 Kings 13
14 Now Elisha was suffering
from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him
and wept over him. "My father! My father!" he cried. "The chariots and horsemen
of Israel!"
15 Elisha said, "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. 16
"Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken
it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.
17 "Open the east window," he said, and he opened it. "Shoot!" Elisha
said, and he shot. "The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over
Aram!" Elisha declared. "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek."
18 Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha
told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. 19
The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground
five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed
it. But now you will defeat it only three times."
20 Elisha died and was buried.
Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 21 Once
while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders;
so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's
bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.
24 Hazael king of Aram died, and Ben-Hadad his son succeeded him as king. 25 Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-Hadad son of Hazael the towns he had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and so he recovered the Israelite towns.
12 As for the other events of the reign of Jehoash, all he did and his achievements, including his war against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 13 Jehoash rested with his fathers, and Jeroboam succeeded him on the throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
2 Kings 14
15 As for the other events of the reign of Jehoash, what he did and his achievements, including his war against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 16 Jehoash rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And Jeroboam his son succeeded him as king.
Jeroboam II King of Israel
23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah,
Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned
forty-one years.
17 Amaziah son of Joash king
of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king
of Israel. 18 As for the other events of Amaziah's reign, are they
not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
19 They conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish,
but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. 20 He
was brought back by horse and was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers, in the
City of David.
21 Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years
old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 22 He was the
one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his
fathers.
2 Kings 15
Azariah King of Judah
1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son
of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was sixteen years old
when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother's
name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 3 He did what was right in
the eyes of the Lord , just as his father Amaziah had done. 4 The
high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices
and burn incense there.
5 The Lord afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, and
he lived in a separate house. Jotham the king's son had charge of the palace and
governed the people of the land.
Amos 1
1 The words of Amos, one of
the shepherds of Tekoa-what he saw concerning Israel two years before the
earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king
of Israel.
2 He said:
"The Lord roars from Zion
and thunders from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds dry up,
and the top of Carmel withers."
Judgment on Israel's Neighbors
3 This is what the Lord says:
"For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath .
Because she threshed Gilead
with sledges having iron teeth,
4 I will send fire upon the house of Hazael
that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break down the gate of Damascus;
I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven
and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,"
says the Lord .
6 This is what the Lord says:
"For three sins of Gaza,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath .
Because she took captive whole communities
and sold them to Edom,
7 I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza
that will consume her fortresses.
8 I will destroy the king of Ashdod
and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
till the last of the Philistines is dead,"
says the Sovereign Lord .
9 This is what the Lord says:
"For three sins of Tyre,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath .
Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom,
disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,
10 I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre
that will consume her fortresses."
11 This is what the Lord says:
"For three sins of Edom,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath .
Because he pursued his brother with a sword,
stifling all compassion,
because his anger raged continually
and his fury flamed unchecked,
12 I will send fire upon Teman
that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah."
13 This is what the Lord says:
"For three sins of Ammon,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead
in order to extend his borders,
14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah
that will consume her fortresses
amid war cries on the day of battle,
amid violent winds on a stormy day.
15 Her king will go into exile,
he and his officials together,"
says the Lord .
June 26, 2004-Amos 2:1-6:14
Amos 2
1 This is what the Lord
says:
"For three sins of Moab,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
Because he burned, as if to lime,
the bones of Edom's king,
2 I will send fire upon Moab
that will consume the fortresses of Kerioth.
Moab will go down in great tumult
amid war cries and the blast of the trumpet.
3 I will destroy her ruler
and kill all her officials with him,"
says the Lord .
4 This is what the Lord says:
"For three sins of Judah,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord
and have not kept his decrees,
because they have been led astray by false gods,
the gods their ancestors followed,
5 I will send fire upon Judah
that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem."
Judgment on Israel
6 This is what the Lord says:
"For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
They sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample on the heads of the poor
as upon the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.
8 They lie down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
they drink wine taken as fines.
9 "I destroyed the Amorite before them,
though he was tall as the cedars
and strong as the oaks.
I destroyed his fruit above
and his roots below.
10 "I brought you up out of Egypt,
and I led you forty years in the desert
to give you the land of the Amorites.
11 I also raised up prophets from among your sons
and Nazirites from among your young men.
Is this not true, people of Israel?"
declares the Lord .
12 "But you made the Nazirites drink wine
and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
13 "Now then, I will crush you
as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.
14 The swift will not escape,
the strong will not muster their strength,
and the warrior will not save his life.
15 The archer will not stand his ground,
the fleet-footed soldier will not get away,
and the horseman will not save his life.
16 Even the bravest warriors
will flee naked on that day,"
declares the Lord .
Amos 3
Witnesses Summoned Against Israel
1 Hear this word the Lord has spoken against you, O people of
Israel-against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:
2 "You only have I chosen
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your sins."
3 Do two walk together
unless they have agreed to do so?
4 Does a lion roar in the thicket
when he has no prey?
Does he growl in his den
when he has caught nothing?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground
where no snare has been set?
Does a trap spring up from the earth
when there is nothing to catch?
6 When a trumpet sounds in a city,
do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city,
has not the Lord caused it?
7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared-
who will not fear?
The Sovereign Lord has spoken-
who can but prophesy?
9 Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod
and to the fortresses of Egypt:
"Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria;
see the great unrest within her
and the oppression among her people."
10 "They do not know how to do right," declares the Lord ,
"who hoard plunder and loot in their fortresses."
11 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
"An enemy will overrun the land;
he will pull down your strongholds
and plunder your fortresses."
12 This is what the Lord says:
"As a shepherd saves from the lion's mouth
only two leg bones or a piece of an ear,
so will the Israelites be saved,
those who sit in Samaria
on the edge of their beds
and in Damascus on their couches. "
13 "Hear this and testify against the house of Jacob," declares the
Lord, the Lord God Almighty.
14 "On the day I punish Israel for her sins,
I will destroy the altars of Bethel;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down the winter house
along with the summer house;
the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed
and the mansions will be demolished,"
declares the Lord .
Amos 4
Israel Has Not Returned to God
1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,
you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!"
2 The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness:
"The time will surely come
when you will be taken away with hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.
3 You will each go straight out
through breaks in the wall,
and you will be cast out toward Harmon, "
declares the Lord .
4 "Go to Bethel and sin;
go to Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three years.
5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering
and brag about your freewill offerings-
boast about them, you Israelites,
for this is what you love to do,"
declares the Sovereign Lord .
6 "I gave you empty stomachs in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the Lord .
7 "I also withheld rain from you
when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
but withheld it from another.
One field had rain;
another had none and dried up.
8 People staggered from town to town for water
but did not get enough to drink,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the Lord .
9 "Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
I struck them with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the Lord .
10 "I sent plagues among you
as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the Lord .
11 "I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the Lord .
12 "Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel."
13 He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth-
the Lord God Almighty is his name.
Amos 5
A Lament and Call to Repentance
1 Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lament I take up concerning
you:
2 "Fallen is Virgin Israel,
never to rise again,
deserted in her own land,
with no one to lift her up."
3 This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
"The city that marches out a thousand strong for Israel
will have only a hundred left;
the town that marches out a hundred strong
will have only ten left."
4 This is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:
"Seek me and live;
5 do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,
do not journey to Beersheba.
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will be reduced to nothing. "
6 Seek the Lord and live,
or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire;
it will devour,
and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
7 You who turn justice into bitterness
and cast righteousness to the ground
8 (he who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns blackness into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land-
the Lord is his name-
9 he flashes destruction on the stronghold
and brings the fortified city to ruin),
10 you hate the one who reproves in court
and despise him who tells the truth.
11 You trample on the poor
and force him to give you grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
You oppress the righteous and take bribes
and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
13 Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times,
for the times are evil.
14 Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
15 Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says:
"There will be wailing in all the streets
and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers will be summoned to weep
and the mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards,
for I will pass through your midst,"
says the Lord .
The Day of the Lord
18 Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord !
Why do you long for the day of the Lord ?
That day will be darkness, not light.
19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light-
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
21 "I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
25 "Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
the pedestal of your idols,
the star of your god -
which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,"
says the Lord , whose name is God Almighty.
Amos 6
Woe to the Complacent
1 Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,
and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you notable men of the foremost nation,
to whom the people of Israel come!
2 Go to Calneh and look at it;
go from there to great Hamath,
and then go down to Gath in Philistia.
Are they better off than your two kingdoms?
Is their land larger than yours?
3 You put off the evil day
and bring near a reign of terror.
4 You lie on beds inlaid with ivory
and lounge on your couches.
You dine on choice lambs
and fattened calves.
5 You strum away on your harps like David
and improvise on musical instruments.
6 You drink wine by the bowlful
and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7 Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;
your feasting and lounging will end.
The Lord Abhors the Pride of Israel
8 The Sovereign Lord has sworn by himself-the Lord God Almighty
declares:
"I abhor the pride of Jacob
and detest his fortresses;
I will deliver up the city
and everything in it."
9 If ten men are left in one house, they too will die. 10
And if a relative who is to burn the bodies comes to carry them out of the house
and asks anyone still hiding there, "Is anyone with you?" and he says, "No,"
then he will say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord ."
11 For the Lord has given the command,
and he will smash the great house into pieces
and the small house into bits.
12 Do horses run on the rocky crags?
Does one plow there with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness-
13 you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar
and say, "Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?"
14 For the Lord God Almighty declares,
"I will stir up a nation against you, O house of Israel,
that will oppress you all the way
from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah."
June 27, 2004-Amos 7:1-9:15, Hosea 1:1-3:5
Amos 7
Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line
1 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms
of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the second crop
was coming up. 2 When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out,
"Sovereign Lord , forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"
3 So the Lord relented.
"This will not happen," the Lord said.
4 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was
calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.
5 Then I cried out, "Sovereign Lord , I beg you, stop! How can Jacob
survive? He is so small!"
6 So the Lord relented.
"This will not happen either," the Sovereign Lord said.
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had
been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the
Lord asked me, "What do you see, Amos?"
"A plumb line," I replied.
Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I
will spare them no longer.
9 "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed
and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam."
Amos and Amaziah
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king
of Israel: "Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of
Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos
is saying:
" 'Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their native land.' "
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land
of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13
Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the
temple of the kingdom."
14 Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's
son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15
But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my
people Israel.' 16 Now then, hear the word of the Lord . You say,
" 'Do not prophesy against Israel,
and stop preaching against the house of Isaac.'
17 "Therefore this is what the Lord says:
" 'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up,
and you yourself will die in a pagan country.
And Israel will certainly go into exile,
away from their native land.' "
Amos 8
A Basket of Ripe Fruit
1 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.
2 "What do you see, Amos?" he asked.
"A basket of ripe fruit," I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, "The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare
them no longer.
3 "In that day," declares the Sovereign Lord , "the songs in the
temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies-flung everywhere! Silence!"
4 Hear this, you who trample the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,
5 saying,
"When will the New Moon be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?"-
skimping the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating with dishonest scales,
6 buying the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
7 The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget
anything they have done.
8 "Will not the land tremble for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be stirred up and then sink
like the river of Egypt.
9 "In that day," declares the Sovereign Lord ,
"I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your religious feasts into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign Lord ,
"when I will send a famine through the land-
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord .
12 Men will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord ,
but they will not find it.
13 "In that day
"the lovely young women and strong young men
will faint because of thirst.
14 They who swear by the shame of Samaria,
or say, 'As surely as your god lives, O Dan,'
or, 'As surely as the god of Beersheba lives'-
they will fall,
never to rise again."
Amos 9
Israel to Be Destroyed
1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:
"Strike the tops of the pillars
so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people;
those who are left I will kill with the sword.
Not one will get away,
none will escape.
2 Though they dig down to the depths of the grave,
from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens,
from there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
there I will hunt them down and seize them.
Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent to bite them.
4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
there I will command the sword to slay them.
I will fix my eyes upon them
for evil and not for good."
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
he who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it mourn-
the whole land rises like the Nile,
then sinks like the river of Egypt-
6 he who builds his lofty palace in the heavens
and sets its foundation on the earth,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land-
the Lord is his name.
7 "Are not you Israelites
the same to me as the Cushites ?"
declares the Lord .
"Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor
and the Arameans from Kir?
8 "Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it
from the face of the earth-
yet I will not totally destroy
the house of Jacob,"
declares the Lord .
9 "For I will give the command,
and I will shake the house of Israel
among all the nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
and not a pebble will reach the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people
will die by the sword,
all those who say,
'Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'
Israel's Restoration
11 "In that day I will restore
David's fallen tent.
I will repair its broken places,
restore its ruins,
and build it as it used to be,
12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name, "
declares the Lord , who will do these things.
13 "The days are coming," declares the Lord ,
"when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills.
14 I will bring back my exiled people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant Israel in their own land,
never again to be uprooted
from the land I have given them,"
says the Lord your God.
Hosea 1
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the
reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the
reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel:
Hosea's Wife and Children
2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him,
"Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because
the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord ." 3
So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon
punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to
the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel's bow in the
Valley of Jezreel."
6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord
said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house
of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love
to the house of Judah; and I will save them-not by bow, sword or battle, or by
horses and horsemen, but by the Lord their God."
8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. 9
Then the Lord said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not
your God.
10 "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which
cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are
not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' 11 The
people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint
one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of
Jezreel.
Hosea 2
1 "Say of your brothers, 'My people,' and of your sisters, 'My loved
one.'
Israel Punished and Restored
2 "Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 I will not show my love to her children,
because they are the children of adultery.
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, 'I will go after my lovers,
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.'
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
'I will go back to my husband as at first,
for then I was better off than now.'
8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold-
which they used for Baal.
9 "Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens,
and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her nakedness.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;
no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days-all her appointed feasts.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,"
declares the Lord .
14 "Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 "In that day," declares the Lord ,
"you will call me 'my husband';
you will no longer call me 'my master. '
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord .
21 "In that day I will respond,"
declares the Lord -
"I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one. '
I will say to those called 'Not my people, ' 'You are my people';
and they will say, 'You are my God.' "
Hosea 3
Hosea's Reconciliation With His Wife
1 The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though
she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the
Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and
a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, "You are to live with me many
days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live
with you."
4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince,
without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. 5
Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their
king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last
days.
June 28, 2004-Hosea 4:1-5:7, 2 Kings 14:24-28, Jonah 1:1-4:11, 2 Kings 14:29, 15:8-16
Hosea 4
The Charge Against Israel
1
Hear the word of the Lord , you Israelites,
because the Lord has a charge to bring
against you who live in the land:
"There is no faithfulness, no love,
no acknowledgment of God in the land.
2 There is only cursing, lying and murder,
stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Because of this the land mourns,
and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea are dying.
4 "But let no man bring a charge,
let no man accuse another,
for your people are like those
who bring charges against a priest.
5 You stumble day and night,
and the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother-
6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
"Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I also will ignore your children.
7 The more the priests increased,
the more they sinned against me;
they exchanged their Glory for something disgraceful.
8 They feed on the sins of my people
and relish their wickedness.
9 And it will be: Like people, like priests.
I will punish both of them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds.
10 "They will eat but not have enough;
they will engage in prostitution but not increase,
because they have deserted the Lord
to give themselves 11 to prostitution,
to old wine and new,
which take away the understanding 12 of my people.
They consult a wooden idol
and are answered by a stick of wood.
A spirit of prostitution leads them astray;
they are unfaithful to their God.
13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops
and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak, poplar and terebinth,
where the shade is pleasant.
Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution
and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
14 "I will not punish your daughters
when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots
and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes-
a people without understanding will come to ruin!
15 "Though you commit adultery, O Israel,
let not Judah become guilty.
"Do not go to Gilgal;
do not go up to Beth Aven.
And do not swear, 'As surely as the Lord lives!'
16 The Israelites are stubborn,
like a stubborn heifer.
How then can the Lord pasture them
like lambs in a meadow?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols;
leave him alone!
18 Even when their drinks are gone,
they continue their prostitution;
their rulers dearly love shameful ways.
19 A whirlwind will sweep them away,
and their sacrifices will bring them shame.
Hosea 5
Judgment Against Israel
1 "Hear this, you priests!
Pay attention, you Israelites!
Listen, O royal house!
This judgment is against you:
You have been a snare at Mizpah,
a net spread out on Tabor.
2 The rebels are deep in slaughter.
I will discipline all of them.
3 I know all about Ephraim;
Israel is not hidden from me.
Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution;
Israel is corrupt.
4 "Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God.
A spirit of prostitution is in their heart;
they do not acknowledge the Lord .
5 Israel's arrogance testifies against them;
the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin;
Judah also stumbles with them.
6 When they go with their flocks and herds
to seek the Lord ,
they will not find him;
he has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They are unfaithful to the Lord ;
they give birth to illegitimate children.
Now their New Moon festivals
will devour them and their fields.
2 Kings 14
24 He did evil in the eyes
of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat,
which he had caused Israel to commit. 25 He was the one who restored
the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in
accordance with the word of the Lord , the God of Israel, spoken through his
servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.
26 The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave
or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. 27 And since
the Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he
saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.
28 As for the other events of Jeroboam's reign, all he did, and his
military achievements, including how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and
Hamath, which had belonged to Yaudi, are they not written in the book of the
annals of the kings of Israel?
Jonah 1
Jonah Flees From the Lord
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go
to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has
come up before me."
3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went
down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare,
he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord .
4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent
storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors
were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the
sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and
call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to
find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell
on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this
trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country?
From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord , the God of
heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They
knew he was running away from the Lord , because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What
should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will
become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon
you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they
could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they
cried to the Lord , "O Lord , please do not let us die for taking this man's
life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord ,
have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him
overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly
feared the Lord , and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
17 But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was
inside the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2
Jonah's Prayer
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2
He said:
"In my distress I called to the Lord ,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the deep,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
4 I said, 'I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.'
5 The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit,
O Lord my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord ,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the Lord ."
10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry
land.
Jonah 3
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2
"Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh
was a very important city-a visit required three days. 4 On the first
day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh
will be overturned." 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a
fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne,
took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the
dust. 7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:
"By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat
or drink. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let
everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their
violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn
from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil
ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had
threatened.
Jonah 4
Jonah's Anger at the Lord 's Compassion
1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He
prayed to the Lord , "O Lord , is this not what I said when I was still at home?
That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious
and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents
from sending calamity. 3 Now, O Lord , take away my life, for it is
better for me to die than to live."
4 But the Lord replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he
made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to
the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up
over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very
happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm,
which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God
provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he
grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than
to live."
9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the
vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
10 But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine,
though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died
overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand
people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as
well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
2 Kings 14
29 Jeroboam rested with his fathers, the kings of Israel. And Zechariah his son succeeded him as king.
2 Kings 15
Zechariah King of Israel
8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son
of Jeroboam became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned six months. 9
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord , as his fathers had done. He did not turn
away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to
commit.
10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah. He attacked him
in front of the people, assassinated him and succeeded him as king. 11
The other events of Zechariah's reign are written in the book of the annals of
the kings of Israel. 12 So the word of the Lord spoken to Jehu was
fulfilled: "Your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth
generation."
Shallum King of Israel
13 Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of
Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned in Samaria one month. 14 Then
Menahem son of Gadi went from Tirzah up to Samaria. He attacked Shallum son of
Jabesh in Samaria, assassinated him and succeeded him as king.
15 The other events of Shallum's reign, and the conspiracy he led,
are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.
16 At that time Menahem, starting out from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah
and everyone in the city and its vicinity, because they refused to open their
gates. He sacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.
June 29, 2004-2 Kings 15:17-20, 6-7, 21-29, Isaiah 6:1-13, 2 Kings 15:32-38, 16:1-9
2 Kings 15
Menahem King of Israel
17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of
Gadi became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria ten years. 18
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord . During his entire reign he did not turn
away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to
commit.
19 Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave him a
thousand talents of silver to gain his support and strengthen his own hold on
the kingdom. 20 Menahem exacted this money from Israel. Every wealthy
man had to contribute fifty shekels of silver to be given to the king of
Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and stayed in the land no longer.
6 As for the other events of Azariah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 7 Azariah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in the City of David. And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.
21 As for the other events
of Menahem's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the
annals of the kings of Israel? 22 Menahem rested with his fathers.
And Pekahiah his son succeeded him as king.
Pekahiah King of Israel
23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of
Menahem became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years. 24
Pekahiah did evil in the eyes of the Lord . He did not turn away from the sins
of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 25
One of his chief officers, Pekah son of Remaliah, conspired against him. Taking
fifty men of Gilead with him, he assassinated Pekahiah, along with Argob and
Arieh, in the citadel of the royal palace at Samaria. So Pekah killed Pekahiah
and succeeded him as king.
26 The other events of Pekahiah's reign, and all he did, are written
in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.
Pekah King of Israel
27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of
Remaliah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twenty years. 28
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord . He did not turn away from the sins of
Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.
29 In the time of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of
Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took
Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people
to Assyria.
Isaiah 6
Isaiah's Commission
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a
throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2
Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their
faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3
And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and
the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips,
and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the
Lord Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my
mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and
your sin atoned for."
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And
who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
9 He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."
11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
And he answered:
"Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."
2 Kings 15
Jotham King of Judah
32 In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham
son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. 33 He was twenty-five
years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His
mother's name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. 34 He did what was right
in the eyes of the Lord , just as his father Uzziah had done. 35 The
high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices
and burn incense there. Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple of the Lord
.
36 As for the other events of Jotham's reign, and what he did, are
they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 37
(In those days the Lord began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of
Remaliah against Judah.) 38 Jotham rested with his fathers and was
buried with them in the City of David, the city of his father. And Ahaz his son
succeeded him as king.
2 Kings 16
Ahaz King of Judah
1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of
Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when
he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his
father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3
He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the
fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the Lord had driven out
before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at
the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel
marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not
overpower him. 6 At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for
Aram by driving out the men of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have
lived there to this day.
7 Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, "I
am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of
Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me." 8 And Ahaz
took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries
of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. 9
The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported
its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.
June 30, 2004-Isaiah 7:1-10:4, 17:1-14
Isaiah 7
The Sign of Immanuel
1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King
Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight
against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
2 Now the house of David was told, "Aram has allied itself with
Ephraim"; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the
forest are shaken by the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, "Go out, you and your son
Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the
road to the Washerman's Field. 4 Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm
and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of
firewood-because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of
Remaliah. 5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin,
saying, 6 "Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it
among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it." 7 Yet this
is what the Sovereign Lord says:
" 'It will not take place,
it will not happen,
8 for the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.
Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.' "
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask the Lord your God
for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights."
12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the
test."
13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough
to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child
and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. 15 He will
eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the
right. 16 But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and
choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
17 The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your
father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah-he will bring the
king of Assyria."
18 In that day the Lord will whistle for flies from the distant
streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. 19 They will
all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on
all the thornbushes and at all the water holes. 20 In that day the
Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River -the king of Assyria-to shave
your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also. 21
In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats. 22 And
because of the abundance of the milk they give, he will have curds to eat. All
who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. 23 In that day, in
every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels,
there will be only briers and thorns. 24 Men will go there with bow
and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. 25 As
for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for
fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned
loose and where sheep run.
Isaiah 8
Assyria, the Lord 's Instrument
1 The Lord said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an
ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 2 And I will call in Uriah the
priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me."
3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to
a son. And the Lord said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4
Before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of
Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."
5 The Lord spoke to me again:
6 "Because this people has rejected
the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoices over Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
7 therefore the Lord is about to bring against them
the mighty floodwaters of the River -
the king of Assyria with all his pomp.
It will overflow all its channels,
run over all its banks
8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,
passing through it and reaching up to the neck.
Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,
O Immanuel !"
9 Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered!
Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;
propose your plan, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.
Fear God
11 The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not
to follow the way of this people. He said:
12 "Do not call conspiracy
everything that these people call conspiracy ;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.
13 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread,
14 and he will be a sanctuary;
but for both houses of Israel he will be
a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
a trap and a snare.
15 Many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken,
they will be snared and captured."
16 Bind up the testimony
and seal up the law among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the Lord ,
who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.
I will put my trust in him.
18 Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs
and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper
and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on
behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do
not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. 21
Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished,
they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their
God. 22 Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress
and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.
Isaiah 9
To Us a Child Is Born
1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in
distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea,
along the Jordan-
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior's boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
The Lord 's Anger Against Israel
8 The Lord has sent a message against Jacob;
it will fall on Israel.
9 All the people will know it-
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria-
who say with pride
and arrogance of heart,
10 "The bricks have fallen down,
but we will rebuild with dressed stone;
the fig trees have been felled,
but we will replace them with cedars."
11 But the Lord has strengthened Rezin's foes against them
and has spurred their enemies on.
12 Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west
have devoured Israel with open mouth.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
13 But the people have not returned to him who struck them,
nor have they sought the Lord Almighty.
14 So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail,
both palm branch and reed in a single day;
15 the elders and prominent men are the head,
the prophets who teach lies are the tail.
16 Those who guide this people mislead them,
and those who are guided are led astray.
17 Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,
nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,
for everyone is ungodly and wicked,
every mouth speaks vileness.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
18 Surely wickedness burns like a fire;
it consumes briers and thorns,
it sets the forest thickets ablaze,
so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.
19 By the wrath of the Lord Almighty
the land will be scorched
and the people will be fuel for the fire;
no one will spare his brother.
20 On the right they will devour,
but still be hungry;
on the left they will eat,
but not be satisfied.
Each will feed on the flesh of his own offspring :
21 Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh;
together they will turn against Judah.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
Isaiah 10
1 Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
2 to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.
3 What will you do on the day of reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?
4 Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives
or fall among the slain.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
Isaiah 17
An Oracle Against Damascus
1 An oracle concerning Damascus:
"See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted
and left to flocks, which will lie down,
with no one to make them afraid.
3 The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory of the Israelites,"
declares the Lord Almighty.
4 "In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain
and harvests the grain with his arm-
as when a man gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,"
declares the Lord , the God of Israel.
7 In that day men will look to their Maker
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,
the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles
and the incense altars their fingers have made.
9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the
Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all
will be desolation.
10 You have forgotten God your Savior;
you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines,
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
in the day of disease and incurable pain.
12 Oh, the raging of many nations-
they rage like the raging sea!
Oh, the uproar of the peoples-
they roar like the roaring of great waters!
13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.
14 In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.