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Daily Readings for November 5
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2Chronicles 34
1.Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2.He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in the ways of David his father, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 3.For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the engraved images, and the molten images. 4.They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the incense altars that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherim, and the engraved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5.He burnt the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. 6.He did this in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, around in their ruins. 7.He broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the engraved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem. 8.Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God. 9.They came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10.They delivered it into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and the workmen who labored in the house of Yahweh gave it to mend and repair the house; 11.even to the carpenters and to the builders gave they it, to buy cut stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 12.The men did the work faithfully: and their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and others of the Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music. 13.Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and set forward all who did the work in every kind of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters. 14.When they brought out the money that was brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Yahweh given by Moses. 15.Hilkiah answered Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh." Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
16.Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to the king, saying, "All that was committed to your servants, they are doing. 17.They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Yahweh, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen." 18.Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book." Shaphan read therein before the king.
19.It happened, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he tore his clothes. 20.The king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, 21."Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of Yahweh that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do according to all that is written in this book." 22.So Hilkiah, and they whom the king had commanded, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter;) and they spoke to her to that effect. 23.She said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me, 24."Thus says Yahweh, 'Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah. 25.Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore is my wrath poured out on this place, and it shall not be quenched.'"' 26.But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall tell him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: "As touching the words which you have heard, 27.because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you," says Yahweh. 28."Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the evil that I will bring on this place, and on its inhabitants."'"
They brought back word to the king. 29.Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30.The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, both great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of Yahweh. 31.The king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 32.He caused all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 33.Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they didn't depart from following Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
Hosea 2
1."Say to your brothers, 'My people!'5 and to your sisters, 'My loved one!'6 2.Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 3.Lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst. 4.Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness; 5.For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.' 6.Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can't find her way. 7.She will follow after her lovers, but she won't overtake them; and she will seek them, but won't find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.' 8.For she did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9.Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. 10.Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand. 11.I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. 12.I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest,' and the animals of the field shall eat them. 13.I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me," says Yahweh. 14."Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15.I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16.It will be in that day," says Yahweh, "that you will call me 'my husband,' and no longer call me 'my master.' 17.For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name. 18.In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely. 19.I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. 20.I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh. 21.It will happen in that day, I will respond," says Yahweh, "I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth; 22.and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel. 23.I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, 'You are my people;' and they will say, 'My God!'"
Acts 16
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 assemblies 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 didn't 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 preach 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 city 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. 15.When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay." So she persuaded us.
16.It happened, as we were going to prayer, that a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling. 17.Following Paul and us, she cried out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!" 18.She was doing this for many days.
But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" It came out that very hour. 19.But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20.When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, "These men, being Jews, are agitating our city, 21.and set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans."
22.The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23.When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, 24.who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
25.But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26.Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were loosened. 27.The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28.But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, "Don't harm yourself, for we are all here!"
29.He called for lights and sprang in, and, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, 30.and brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31.They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32.They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.
33.He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household. 34.He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.
35.But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, "Let those men go."
36.The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out, and go in peace."
37.But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us publicly, without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!"
38.The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39.and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city. 40.They went out of the prison, and entered into Lydia's house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, and departed.
Acts 17
1.Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2.Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3.explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ."
4.Some of them were persuaded, and joined Paul and Silas, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women. 5.But the unpersuaded Jews took along64 some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. 6.When they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers65 before the rulers of the city, crying, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7.whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!" 8.The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things. 9.When they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. 10.The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
11.Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 12.Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men. 13.But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise, agitating the multitudes. 14.Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there. 15.But those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed.
16.Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols. 17.So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him. 18.Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also66 were conversing with him. Some said, "What does this babbler want to say?"
Others said, "He seems to be advocating foreign deities," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
19.They took hold of him, and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by you? 20.For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean." 21.Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
22.Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, "You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things. 23.For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you. 24.The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, 25.neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things. 26.He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27.that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28.'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.' 29.Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man. 30.The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, 31.because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead."
32.Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, "We want to hear you again concerning this."
33.Thus Paul went out from among them. 34.But certain men joined with him, and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.