Day 229 of 365

2 Chr 29:1–36

1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

2 He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.

4 He brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the broad place on the east,

5 and said to them, "Listen to me, you Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filthiness out of the holy place.

6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs.

7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.

8 Therefore the wrath of the Lord was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to be tossed back and forth, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your eyes.

9 For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.

10 Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us.

11 My sons, do not be negligent now; for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers, and burn incense."

12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah;

13 and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

14 and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 They gathered their brothers, and sanctified themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.

16 The priests went in to the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the Lord's temple into the court of the house of the Lord. The Levites took it, to carry it out abroad to the brook Kidron.

17 Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the Lord; and they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days: and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace, and said, "We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and the table of show bread, with all its vessels.

19 Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign threw away when he trespassed, have we prepared and sanctified; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord."

20 Then Hezekiah the king arose early, and gathered the princes of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord.

21 They brought seven bulls, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven male goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. He commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord.

22 So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: and they killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood on the altar: they killed also the lambs, and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

23 They brought near the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly; and they laid their hands on them:

24 and the priests killed them, and they made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel; for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

25 He set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was of the Lord by his prophets.

26 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

27 Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also, and the trumpets, together with the instruments of David king of Israel.

28 All the assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

29 When they had made an end of offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped.

30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.

31 Then Hezekiah answered, "Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord." The assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.

32 The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.

33 The consecrated things were six hundred head of cattle and three thousand sheep.

34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: therefore their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.

35 Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order.

36 Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of that which God had prepared for the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

2 Pet 3:1–18

1 This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you;

2 that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles:

3 knowing this first, that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking and walking after their own lusts,

4 and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."

5 For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God;

6 by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

7 But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8 But do not forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be disclosed.

11 Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness,

12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without blemish and blameless in his sight.

15 Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you;

16 as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness.

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Job 5:8–21

8 "But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,

9 who does great things that can't be fathomed, marvelous things without number;

10 who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;

11 so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.

12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can't perform their enterprise.

13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.

15 But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.

16 So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.

17 "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.

18 For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make whole.

19 He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven there shall no evil touch you.

20 In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.

21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.