Day 193 of 365

2 Kgs 11:1–13:25

11:1 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family.

11:2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedroom; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain;

11:3 He was with her hidden in the house of the Lord six years. Athaliah reigned over the land.

11:4 In the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the Lord; and he made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the Lord, and showed them the king's son.

11:5 He commanded them, saying, "This is the thing that you shall do: a third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king's house;

11:6 A third part shall be at the gate Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard. So you shall keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier.

11:7 The two companies of you, even all who go out on the Sabbath, shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord around the king.

11:8 You shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes within the ranks, let him be slain. Be with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in."

11:9 The captains over hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.

11:10 The priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been king David's, which were in the house of the Lord.

11:11 The guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, around the king.

11:12 Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, "Long live the king!"

11:13 When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the house of the Lord:

11:14 and she looked, and behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the tradition was, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and cried, "Treason! Treason!"

11:15 Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, "Bring her out between the ranks. Kill him who follows her with the sword." For the priest said, "Do not let her be slain in the house of the Lord."

11:16 So they made way for her; and she went by the way of the horses' entry to the king's house. She was slain there.

11:17 Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord's people; between the king also and the people.

11:18 All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down; his altars and his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord.

11:19 He took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house. He sat on the throne of the kings.

11:20 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. Athaliah they had slain with the sword at the king's house.

11:21 Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

12:1 In the seventh year of Jehu began Jehoash to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

12:2 Jehoash did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

12:3 However the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

12:4 Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the Lord, in current money, the money of the persons for whom each man is rated, and all the money that it comes into any man's heart to bring into the house of the Lord,

12:5 let the priests take it to them, every man from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the breaches of the house, wherever any breach shall be found."

12:6 But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.

12:7 Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests, and said to them, "Why do you not repair the breaches of the house? Now therefore take no more money from your treasurers, but deliver it for the breaches of the house."

12:8 The priests consented that they should take no more money from the people, neither repair the breaches of the house.

12:9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the Lord: and the priests who kept the threshold put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.

12:10 It was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord.

12:11 They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord: and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders, who worked on the house of the Lord,

12:12 and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.

12:13 But there were not made for the house of the Lord cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord;

12:14 for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired therewith the house of the Lord.

12:15 Moreover they did not demand an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work; for they dealt faithfully.

12:16 The money for the trespass offerings, and the money for the sin offerings, was not brought into the house of the Lord: it was the priests'.

12:17 Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

12:18 Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem.

12:19 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

12:20 His servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla.

12:21 For Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

13:1 In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years.

13:2 He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

13:3 The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually.

13:4 Jehoahaz begged the Lord, and the Lord listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how that the king of Syria oppressed them.

13:5 (The Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before.

13:6 Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but walked therein: and there remained the Asherah also in Samaria.)

13:7 For he did not leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing.

13:8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

13:9 Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his place.

13:10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria for sixteen years.

13:11 He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; but he walked therein.

13:12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

13:13 Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

13:14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness of which he died: and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"

13:15 Elisha said to him, "Take bow and arrows"; and he took to him bow and arrows.

13:16 He said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow"; and he put his hand on it. Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands.

13:17 He said, "Open the window eastward"; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot!" and he shot. He said, "The Lord's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you shall strike the Syrians in Aphek, until you have consumed them."

13:18 He said, "Take the arrows"; and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground"; and he struck three times, and stopped.

13:19 The man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, whereas now you shall strike Syria just three times."

13:20 Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.

13:21 It happened, as they were burying a man, that behold, they spied a band; and they cast the man into the tomb of Elisha: and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

13:22 Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

13:23 But the Lord was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and had respect to them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet.

13:24 Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his place.

13:25 Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Joash struck him three times, and recovered the cities of Israel.

Acts 16:1–14

1 He came to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess who believed; but his father was a Greek.

2 The brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony about him.

3 Paul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts; for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.

5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

6 When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

8 Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.

9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us."

10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.

11 Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;

12 and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.

13 On the Sabbath day we went forth outside of the gate by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together.

14 A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.

Song 2:11–17

11 For, behold, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone.

12 The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree ripens her green figs. The vines are in blossom. They give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away." Lover

14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom. Beloved

16 My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies.

17 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Bether.