Day 222 of 365

2 Chr 13:1–15:19

13:1 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

13:2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

13:3 Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, who were mighty men of valor.

13:4 Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, "Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel:

13:5 Ought you not to know that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

13:6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord.

13:7 There were gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.

13:8 "Now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods.

13:9 Haven't you driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves after the ways of the peoples of other lands? so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, the same may be a priest of those who are no gods.

13:10 "But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and we have priests ministering to the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work:

13:11 and they burn to the Lord every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense. They also set the show bread in order on the pure table; and the lampstand of gold with its lamps, to burn every evening: for we keep the instruction of the Lord our God; but you have forsaken him.

13:12 Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers; for you shall not prosper."

13:13 But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambush was behind them.

13:14 When Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them; and they cried to the Lord, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.

13:15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened, that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

13:16 The children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand.

13:17 Abijah and his people killed them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

13:18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers.

13:19 Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with its towns, and Jeshanah with its towns, and Ephron with its towns.

13:20 Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah. The Lord struck him, and he died.

13:21 But Abijah grew mighty, and took to himself fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons, and sixteen daughters.

13:22 The rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

14:1 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet ten years.

14:2 Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God:

14:3 for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and broke down the pillars, and cut down the Asherim,

14:4 and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.

14:5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.

14:6 He built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest.

14:7 For he said to Judah, "Let us build these cities, and make walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars. The land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side." So they built and prospered.

14:8 Asa had an army that bore bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred eighty thousand: all these were mighty men of valor.

14:9 There came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a million troops, and three hundred chariots; and he came to Mareshah.

14:10 Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

14:11 Asa cried to the Lord his God, and said, "Lord, there is none besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, Lord our God; for we rely on you, and in your name are we come against this multitude. Lord, you are our God. Do not let man prevail against you."

14:12 So the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

14:13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his army; and they carried away very much booty.

14:14 They struck all the cities around Gerar; for the fear of the Lord came on them: and they despoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them.

14:15 They struck also the tents of livestock, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

15:1 The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded:

15:2 and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

15:3 Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

15:4 But when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.

15:5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands.

15:6 They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God troubled them with all adversity.

15:7 But you be strong, and do not let your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded."

15:8 When Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord.

15:9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

15:10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

15:11 They sacrificed to the Lord in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.

15:12 They entered into the covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;

15:13 and that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

15:14 They swore to the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

15:15 All Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest all around.

15:16 Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

15:17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

15:18 He brought into God's house the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

15:19 There was no more war to the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

1 Pet 1:14–2:10

1:14 as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,

1:15 but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;

1:16 because it is written, "You shall be holy; for I am holy."

1:17 If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:

1:18 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,

1:19 but with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Christ;

1:20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of times for your sake,

1:21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.

1:22 Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from a pure heart fervently:

1:23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding Word of God.

1:24 For, "All flesh is like grass, and all it's glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;

1:25 but the word of the Lord endures forever." This is the word of Good News which was preached to you.

2:1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,

2:2 as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby,

2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:

2:4 coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.

2:5 You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

2:6 Because it is contained in Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed."

2:7 For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who do not believe, "The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone,"

2:8 and, "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.

2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

2:10 who in time past were no people, but now are God's people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Ps 95:1–11

1 Oh come, let's sing to the Lord. Let's shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!

2 Let's come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let's extol him with songs!

3 For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.

4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his.

5 The sea is his, and he made it. His hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let's worship and bow down. Let's kneel before the Lord, our Maker,

7 for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice!

8 Do not harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,

9 when your fathers tempted me, tested me, and saw my work.

10 Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, "It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways."

11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They won't enter into my rest."