Day 183 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 105:17–26

¹⁷He sent a man before them— Joseph, sold as a slave. ¹⁸They bruised his feet with shackles and placed his neck in irons, ¹⁹until his prediction came true and the word of the LORD proved him right. ²⁰The king sent and released him; the ruler of peoples set him free. ²¹He made him master of his household, ruler over all his substance, ²²to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom. ²³Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham. ²⁴And the LORD made His people very fruitful, more numerous than their foes, ²⁵whose hearts He turned to hate His people, to conspire against His servants. ²⁶He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron, whom He had chosen.

New Testament·Acts 7:1–20

¹Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” ²And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’ ⁴So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living. ⁵He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child. ⁶God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. ⁷‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’ ⁸Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. ⁹Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him ¹⁰and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household. ¹¹Then famine and great suffering swept across Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could not find food. ¹²When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. ¹³On their second visit, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all. ¹⁵So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. ¹⁶Their bones were carried back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a price he paid in silver. ¹⁷As the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased greatly in number. ¹⁸Then another king, who knew nothing of Joseph, arose over Egypt. ¹⁹He exploited our people and oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die. ²⁰At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in the sight of God. For three months he was nurtured in his father’s house.

Old Testament·2 Kings 12–14

¹In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. ²And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days he was instructed by Jehoiada the priest. ³Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there. ⁴Then Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money brought as sacred gifts into the house of the LORD—the census money, the money from vows, and the money brought voluntarily into the house of the LORD. ⁵Let every priest receive it from his constituency, and let it be used to repair any damage found in the temple.” ⁶By the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash, however, the priests had not yet repaired the damage to the temple. ⁷So King Joash called Jehoiada and the other priests and said, “Why have you not repaired the damage to the temple? Now, therefore, take no more money from your constituency, but hand it over for the repair of the temple.” ⁸So the priests agreed that they would not receive money from the people and that they would not repair the temple themselves. ⁹Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the house of the LORD. There the priests who guarded the threshold put all the money brought into the house of the LORD. ¹⁰Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal scribe and the high priest would go up, count the money brought into the house of the LORD, and tie it up in bags. ¹¹Then they would put the counted money into the hands of those who supervised the work on the house of the LORD, who in turn would pay those doing the work—the carpenters, builders, ¹²masons, and stonecutters. They also purchased timber and dressed stone to repair the damage to the house of the LORD, and they paid the other expenses of the temple repairs. ¹³However, the money brought into the house of the LORD was not used for making silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver for the house of the LORD. ¹⁴Instead, it was paid to those doing the work, and with it they repaired the house of the LORD. ¹⁵No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay the workmen, because they acted with integrity. ¹⁶The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests. ¹⁷At that time Hazael king of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he decided to attack Jerusalem. ¹⁸So King Joash of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his fathers—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—along with his own consecrated items and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram. So Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem. ¹⁹As for the rest of the acts of Joash, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰And the servants of Joash rose up and formed a conspiracy and killed him at Beth-millo, on the road down to Silla. ²¹His servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer struck him down, and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Amaziah reigned in his place.

13In the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash son of Ahaziah over Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria seventeen years. ²And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them. ³So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them continually into the hands of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad. ⁴Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him because He saw the oppression that the king of Aram had inflicted on Israel. ⁵So the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel lived in their own homes as they had before. ⁶Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, but they continued to walk in them. The Asherah pole even remained standing in Samaria. ⁷Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. ⁸As for the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, along with all his accomplishments and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁹And Jehoahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And his son Jehoash reigned in his place. ¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Joash over Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. ¹¹And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit, but he walked in them. ¹²As for the rest of the acts of Jehoash, along with all his accomplishments and his might, including his war against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ¹³And Jehoash rested with his fathers, and Jeroboam succeeded him on the throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. ¹⁴When Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die, Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” ¹⁵Elisha told him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So Jehoash took a bow and some arrows. ¹⁶Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So the king put his hand on the bow, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷“Open the east window,” said Elisha. So he opened it and Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he shot. And Elisha declared: “This is the LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram, for you shall strike the Arameans in Aphek until you have put an end to them.” ¹⁸Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows!” So he took them, and Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground!” So he struck the ground three times and stopped. ¹⁹But the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Aram until you had put an end to it. But now you will strike down Aram only three times.” ²⁰And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring. ²¹Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet. ²²And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. ²³But the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day, the LORD has been unwilling to destroy them or cast them from His presence. ²⁴When Hazael king of Aram died, his son Ben-hadad reigned in his place. ²⁵Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz took back from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that Hazael had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben-hadad three times, and so recovered the cities of Israel.

14In the second year of the reign of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz over Israel, Amaziah son of Joash became king of Judah. ²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. ³And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not as his father David had done. He did everything as his father Joash had done. ⁴Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, and the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. ⁵As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, Amaziah executed the servants who had murdered his father the king. ⁶Yet he did not put the sons of the murderers to death, but acted according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Fathers must not be put to death for their children, and children must not be put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.” ⁷Amaziah struck down 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He took Sela in battle and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this very day. ⁸Then Amaziah sent messengers to the king of Israel Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. “Come, let us meet face to face,” he said. ⁹But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle. ¹⁰You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Glory in that and stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?” ¹¹But Amaziah would not listen, and Jehoash king of Israel advanced. He and King Amaziah of Judah faced each other at Beth-shemesh in Judah. ¹²And Judah was routed before Israel, and every man fled to his home. ¹³There at Beth-shemesh, Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah. Then Jehoash went to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section of four hundred cubits. ¹⁴He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace, as well as some hostages. Then he returned to Samaria. ¹⁵As for the rest of the acts of Jehoash, along with his accomplishments, his might, and how he waged war against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ¹⁶And Jehoash rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And his son Jeroboam reigned in his place. ¹⁷Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. ¹⁸As for the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁹And conspirators plotted against Amaziah in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But men were sent after him to Lachish, and they killed him there. ²⁰They carried him back on horses and buried him in Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David. ²¹Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. ²²Azariah was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah rested with his fathers. ²³In the fifteenth year of the reign of Amaziah son of Joash over Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria forty-one years. ²⁴And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit. ²⁵This Jeroboam restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word that the LORD, the God of Israel, had spoken through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher. ²⁶For the LORD saw that the affliction of the Israelites, both slave and free, was very bitter. There was no one to help Israel, ²⁷and since the LORD had said that He would not blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash. ²⁸As for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, along with all his accomplishments and might, and how he waged war and recovered both Damascus and Hamath for Israel from Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²⁹And Jeroboam rested with his fathers, the kings of Israel. And his son Zechariah reigned in his place.