Day 190 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 106:37–48

³⁷They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. ³⁹They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds. ⁴⁰So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance. ⁴¹He delivered them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. ⁴²Their enemies oppressed them, and subdued them under their hand. ⁴³Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity. ⁴⁴Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress. ⁴⁵And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion. ⁴⁶He made them objects of compassion to all who held them captive. ⁴⁷Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name, that we may glory in Your praise. ⁴⁸Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!

New Testament·Acts 10:1–31

¹At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment. ²He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly. ³One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” ⁴Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God. ⁵Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants. ⁸He explained what had happened and sent them to Joppa. ⁹The next day at about the sixth hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹²It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air. ¹³Then a voice said to him: “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” ¹⁴“No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” ¹⁵The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” ¹⁶This happened three times, and all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven. ¹⁷While Peter was puzzling over the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house and approached the gate. ¹⁸They called out to ask if Simon called Peter was staying there. ¹⁹As Peter continued to reflect on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. ²⁰So get up! Go downstairs and accompany them without hesitation, because I have sent them.” ²¹So Peter went down to the men and said, “Here am I, the one you are looking for. Why have you come?” ²²“Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so he could hear a message from you.” ²³So Peter invited them in as his guests. And the next day he got ready and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa. ²⁴The following day he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵As Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet to worship him. ²⁶But Peter helped him up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.” ²⁷As Peter talked with him, he went inside and found many people gathered together. ²⁸He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. ²⁹So when I was invited, I came without objection. I ask, then, why have you sent for me?” ³⁰Cornelius answered: “Four days ago I was in my house praying at this, the ninth hour. Suddenly a man in radiant clothing stood before me ³¹and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been remembered before God.

Old Testament·2 Kings 25; 1 Chronicles 1

¹So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it. ²And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year. ³By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food. ⁴Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah, ⁵but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was separated from him. ⁶The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment on him. ⁷And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. ⁸On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. ⁹He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building. ¹⁰And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the population. ¹²But the captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields. ¹³Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service. ¹⁵The captain of the guard also took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—anything made of pure gold or fine silver. ¹⁶As for the two pillars, the Sea, and the movable stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure. ¹⁷Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall. The bronze capital atop one pillar was three cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its network, was similar. ¹⁸The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers. ¹⁹Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as five royal advisors. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city. ²⁰Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land. ²²Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over the people he had left behind in the land of Judah. ²³When all the commanders of the armies and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, as well as their men. ²⁴And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.” ²⁵In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶Then all the people small and great, together with the commanders of the army, arose and fled to Egypt for fear of the Chaldeans. ²⁷On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison. ²⁸And he spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹So Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life. ³⁰And the king provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life.

1Adam, Seth, Enosh, ²Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, ³Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech. ⁴The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ⁵The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ⁶The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁷And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites, and the Rodanites. ⁸The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁹The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ¹⁰Cush was the father of Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one on the earth. ¹¹Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites, ¹²the Pathrusites, the Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and the Caphtorites. ¹³And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, ¹⁴the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁵the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁶the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. ¹⁷The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech. ¹⁸Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber. ¹⁹Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan. ²⁰And Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²¹Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²²Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²³Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. ²⁴So from Shem came Arphaxad, Shelah, ²⁵Eber, Peleg, Reu, ²⁶Serug, Nahor, Terah, ²⁷and Abram (that is, Abraham). ²⁸The sons of Abraham were Isaac and Ishmael. ²⁹These are their genealogies: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ³⁰Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, ³¹Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael. ³²The sons born to Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan. ³³The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah’s sons. ³⁴Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel. ³⁵The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. ³⁶The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz; and by Timna, Amalek. ³⁷The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. ³⁸The sons of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. ³⁹The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam. Timna was Lotan’s sister. ⁴⁰The sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. ⁴¹The son of Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. ⁴²The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. ⁴³These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites: Bela son of Beor. His city was named Dinhabah. ⁴⁴When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place. ⁴⁵When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. ⁴⁶When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith. ⁴⁷When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place. ⁴⁸When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place. ⁴⁹When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place. ⁵⁰When Baal-hanan died, Hadad reigned in his place. His city was named Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab. ⁵¹Then Hadad died. Now the chiefs of Edom were Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁵²Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁵³Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁵⁴Magdiel, and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom.