Day 233 of 365

2 Chr 35:1–27

1 Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem: and they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

2 He set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the Lord.

3 He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the Lord, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built. There shall no more be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God, and his people Israel.

4 Prepare yourselves after your fathers' houses by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.

5 Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of your brothers the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a fathers' house of the Levites.

6 Kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses."

7 Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls: these were of the king's substance.

8 His princes gave for a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of God's house, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small livestock, and three hundred head of cattle.

9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock, and five hundred head of cattle.

10 So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king's commandment.

11 They killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received of their hand, and the Levites flayed them.

12 They removed the burnt offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of the children of the people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. So they did with the cattle.

13 They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance: and the holy offerings boiled they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people.

14 Afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busy with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night: therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.

15 The singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters were at every gate: they did not need to depart from their service; for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

17 The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

18 There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept.

20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, "What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house with which I have war. God has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it is God who is with me, that he not destroy you."

22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

23 The archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, because I am seriously wounded!"

24 So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

25 Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and behold, they are written in the lamentations.

26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of the Lord,

27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

1 John 4:1–21

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

3 and every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Anti-Christ, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.

4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.

6 We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God.

8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 By this God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.

16 We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

17 In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love, because he first loved us.

20 If a man says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

21 This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.

Job 6:8–20

8 "Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for,

9 even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

10 Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?

12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?

13 Isn't it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?

14 "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;

16 Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.

17 In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

18 The caravans that travel beside them turn aside. They go up into the waste, and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.

20 They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.