Podcasts about Zebulun

Morning: 1 Chronicles 6–7 1 Chronicles 6–7 (Listen) Descendants of Levi 6 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 2 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 3 The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 4 Eleazar fathered Phinehas, Phinehas fathered Abishua, 5 Abishua fathered Bukki, Bukki fathered Uzzi, 6 Uzzi fathered Zerahiah, Zerahiah fathered Meraioth, 7 Meraioth fathered Amariah, Amariah fathered Ahitub, 8 Ahitub fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Ahimaaz, 9 Ahimaaz fathered Azariah, Azariah fathered Johanan, 10 and Johanan fathered Azariah (it was he who served as priest in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem). 11 Azariah fathered Amariah, Amariah fathered Ahitub, 12 Ahitub fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Shallum, 13 Shallum fathered Hilkiah, Hilkiah fathered Azariah, 14 Azariah fathered Seraiah, Seraiah fathered Jehozadak; 15 and Jehozadak went into exile when the LORD sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. 16 1 The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari. 17 And these are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei. 18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. 19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their fathers. 20 Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son, 21 Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son. 22 The sons of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son, 23 Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son, 24 Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son. 25 The sons of Elkanah: Amasai and Ahimoth, 26 Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son, 27 Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son. 28 The sons of Samuel: Joel2 his firstborn, the second Abijah.3 29 The sons of Merari: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son, 30 Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, and Asaiah his son. 31 These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the LORD after the ark rested there. 32 They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they performed their service according to their order. 33 These are the men who served and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman the singer the son of Joel, son of Samuel, 34 son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Toah, 35 son of Zuph, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasai, 36 son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zephaniah, 37 son of Tahath, son of Assir, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, 38 son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, son of Israel; 39 and his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, namely, Asaph the son of Berechiah, son of Shimea, 40 son of Michael, son of Baaseiah, son of Malchijah, 41 son of Ethni, son of Zerah, son of Adaiah, 42 son of Ethan, son of Zimmah, son of Shimei, 43 son of Jahath, son of Gershom, son of Levi. 44 On the left hand were their brothers, the sons of Merari: Ethan the son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch, 45 son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah, 46 son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shemer, 47 son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi. 48 And their brothers the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God. 49 But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense for all the work of the Most Holy Place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. 50 These are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, 51 Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, 52 Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, 53 Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son. 54 These are their dwelling places according to their settlements within their borders: to the sons of Aaron of the clans of Kohathites, for theirs was the first lot, 55 to them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pasturelands, 56 but the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 57 To the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge: Hebron, Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, 58 Hilen with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, 59 Ashan with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands; 60 and from the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon,4 Geba with its pasturelands, Alemeth with its pasturelands, and Anathoth with its pasturelands. All their cities throughout their clans were thirteen. 61 To the rest of the Kohathites were given by lot out of the clan of the tribe, out of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh, ten cities. 62 To the Gershomites according to their clans were allotted thirteen cities out of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Manasseh in Bashan. 63 To the Merarites according to their clans were allotted twelve cities out of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. 64 So the people of Israel gave the Levites the cities with their pasturelands. 65 They gave by lot out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin these cities that are mentioned by name. 66 And some of the clans of the sons of Kohath had cities of their territory out of the tribe of Ephraim. 67 They were given the cities of refuge: Shechem with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands, 68 Jokmeam with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands, 69 Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands, 70 and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its pasturelands, and Bileam with its pasturelands, for the rest of the clans of the Kohathites. 71 To the Gershomites were given out of the clan of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands and Ashtaroth with its pasturelands; 72 and out of the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, 73 Ramoth with its pasturelands, and Anem with its pasturelands; 74 out of the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, 75 Hukok with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands; 76 and out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, Hammon with its pasturelands, and Kiriathaim with its pasturelands. 77 To the rest of the Merarites were allotted out of the tribe of Zebulun: Rimmono with its pasturelands, Tabor with its pasturelands, 78 and beyond the Jordan at Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the wilderness with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands, 79 Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands; 80 and out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, 81 Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands. Descendants of Issachar 7 The sons5 of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. 2 The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers' houses, namely of Tola, mighty warriors of their generations, their number in the days of David being 22,600. 3 The son6 of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, all five of them were chief men. 4 And along with them, by their generations, according to their fathers' houses, were units of the army for war, 36,000, for they had many wives and sons. 5 Their kinsmen belonging to all the clans of Issachar were in all 87,000 mighty warriors, enrolled by genealogy. Descendants of Benjamin 6 The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Jediael, three. 7 The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five, heads of fathers' houses, mighty warriors. And their enrollment by genealogies was 22,034. 8 The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. 9 And their enrollment by genealogies, according to their generations, as heads of their fathers' houses, mighty warriors, was 20,200. 10 The son of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. 11 All these were the sons of Jediael according to the heads of their fathers' houses, mighty warriors, 17,200, able to go to war. 12 And Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir, Hushim the son of Aher. Descendants of Naphtali 13 The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shallum, the descendants of Bilhah. Descendants of Manasseh 14 The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she bore Machir the father of Gilead. 15 And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. The name of his sister was Maacah. And the name of the second was Zelophehad, and Zelophehad had daughters. 16 And Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. 17 The son of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh. 18 And his sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. 19 The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam. Descendants of Ephraim 20 The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, 21 Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to raid their livestock. 22 And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. 23 And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Beriah, because disaster had befallen his house.7 24 His daughter was Sheerah, who built both Lower and Upper Beth-horon, and Uzzen-sheerah. 25 Rephah was his son, Resheph his son, Telah his son, Tahan his son, 26 Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, 27 Nun8 his son, Joshua his son. 28 Their possessions and settlements were Bethel and its towns, and to the east Naaran, and to the west Gezer and its towns, Shechem and its towns, and Ayyah and its towns; 29 also in possession of the Manassites, Beth-shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, Dor and its towns. In these lived the sons of Joseph the son of Israel. Descendants of Asher 30 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. 31 The sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel, who fathered Birzaith. 32 Heber fathered Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and their sister Shua. 33 The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the sons of Japhlet. 34 The sons of Shemer his brother: Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. 35 The sons of Helem his brother: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. 36 The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah. 37 Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. 38 The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara. 39 The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia. 40 All of these were men of Asher, heads of fathers' houses, approved, mighty warriors, chiefs of the princes. Their number enrolled by genealogies, for service in war, was 26,000 men. Footnotes [1] 6:16 Ch 6:1 in Hebrew [2] 6:28 Septuagint, Syriac (compare verse 33 and 1 Samuel 8:2); Hebrew lacks Joel [3] 6:28 Hebrew and Abijah [4] 6:60 Septuagint, Syriac (compare Joshua 21:17); Hebrew lacks Gibeon [5] 7:1 Syriac (compare Vulgate); Hebrew And to the sons [6] 7:3 Hebrew sons; also verses 10, 12, 17 [7] 7:23 Beriah sounds like the Hebrew for disaster [8] 7:27 Hebrew Non (ESV) Evening: John 8:21–36 John 8:21–36 (Listen) 21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come'?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him. The Truth Will Set You Free 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free'?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave1 to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Footnotes [1] 8:34 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; also verse 35 (ESV)

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 141 Psalm 141 (Listen) Give Ear to My Voice A Psalm of David. 141   O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me!    Give ear to my voice when I call to you!2   Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,    and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! 3   Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;    keep watch over the door of my lips!4   Do not let my heart incline to any evil,    to busy myself with wicked deeds  in company with men who work iniquity,    and let me not eat of their delicacies! 5   Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;    let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;    let my head not refuse it.  Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.6   When their judges are thrown over the cliff,1    then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.7   As when one plows and breaks up the earth,    so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.2 8   But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord;    in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!39   Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me    and from the snares of evildoers!10   Let the wicked fall into their own nets,    while I pass by safely. Footnotes [1] 141:6 Or When their judges fall into the hands of the Rock [2] 141:7 The meaning of the Hebrew in verses 6, 7 is uncertain [3] 141:8 Hebrew refuge; do not pour out my life! (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Numbers 26 Numbers 26 (Listen) Census of the New Generation 26 After the plague, the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest, 2 “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers' houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.” 3 And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 4 “Take a census of the people,1 from twenty years old and upward,” as the LORD commanded Moses. The people of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt were: 5 Reuben, the firstborn of Israel; the sons of Reuben: of Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites; 6 of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites. 7 These are the clans of the Reubenites, and those listed were 43,730. 8 And the sons of Pallu: Eliab. 9 The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram, chosen from the congregation, who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the LORD 10 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, and they became a warning. 11 But the sons of Korah did not die. 12 The sons of Simeon according to their clans: of Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the clan of the Jachinites; 13 of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the clan of the Shaulites. 14 These are the clans of the Simeonites, 22,200. 15 The sons of Gad according to their clans: of Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the clan of the Haggites; of Shuni, the clan of the Shunites; 16 of Ozni, the clan of the Oznites; of Eri, the clan of the Erites; 17 of Arod, the clan of the Arodites; of Areli, the clan of the Arelites. 18 These are the clans of the sons of Gad as they were listed, 40,500. 19 The sons of Judah were Er and Onan; and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. 20 And the sons of Judah according to their clans were: of Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites; of Perez, the clan of the Perezites; of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites. 21 And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites. 22 These are the clans of Judah as they were listed, 76,500. 23 The sons of Issachar according to their clans: of Tola, the clan of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the clan of the Punites; 24 of Jashub, the clan of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites. 25 These are the clans of Issachar as they were listed, 64,300. 26 The sons of Zebulun, according to their clans: of Sered, the clan of the Seredites; of Elon, the clan of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites. 27 These are the clans of the Zebulunites as they were listed, 60,500. 28 The sons of Joseph according to their clans: Manasseh and Ephraim. 29 The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the clan of the Machirites; and Machir was the father of Gilead; of Gilead, the clan of the Gileadites. 30 These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the clan of the Iezerites; of Helek, the clan of the Helekites; 31 and of Asriel, the clan of the Asrielites; and of Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites; 32 and of Shemida, the clan of the Shemidaites; and of Hepher, the clan of the Hepherites. 33 Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters. And the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 34 These are the clans of Manasseh, and those listed were 52,700. 35 These are the sons of Ephraim according to their clans: of Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the clan of the Becherites; of Tahan, the clan of the Tahanites. 36 And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the clan of the Eranites. 37 These are the clans of the sons of Ephraim as they were listed, 32,500. These are the sons of Joseph according to their clans. 38 The sons of Benjamin according to their clans: of Bela, the clan of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramites; 39 of Shephupham, the clan of the Shuphamites; of Hupham, the clan of the Huphamites. 40 And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the clan of the Ardites; of Naaman, the clan of the Naamites. 41 These are the sons of Benjamin according to their clans, and those listed were 45,600. 42 These are the sons of Dan according to their clans: of Shuham, the clan of the Shuhamites. These are the clans of Dan according to their clans. 43 All the clans of the Shuhamites, as they were listed, were 64,400. 44 The sons of Asher according to their clans: of Imnah, the clan of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the clan of the Beriites. 45 Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the clan of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the clan of the Malchielites. 46 And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah. 47 These are the clans of the sons of Asher as they were listed, 53,400. 48 The sons of Naphtali according to their clans: of Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the clan of the Gunites; 49 of Jezer, the clan of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the clan of the Shillemites. 50 These are the clans of Naphtali according to their clans, and those listed were 45,400. 51 This was the list of the people of Israel, 601,730. 52 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 53 “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. 54 To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list. 55 But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. 56 Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.” 57 This was the list of the Levites according to their clans: of Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites; of Merari, the clan of the Merarites. 58 These are the clans of Levi: the clan of the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the Mushites, the clan of the Korahites. And Kohath was the father of Amram. 59 The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister. 60 And to Aaron were born Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 61 But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD. 62 And those listed were 23,000, every male from a month old and upward. For they were not listed among the people of Israel, because there was no inheritance given to them among the people of Israel. 63 These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. 64 But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the LORD had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Footnotes [1] 26:4 Take a census of the people is implied (compare verse 2) (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 63–64 Isaiah 63–64 (Listen) The Lord's Day of Vengeance 63   Who is this who comes from Edom,    in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,  he who is splendid in his apparel,    marching in the greatness of his strength?  “It is I, speaking in righteousness,    mighty to save.” 2   Why is your apparel red,    and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? 3   “I have trodden the winepress alone,    and from the peoples no one was with me;  I trod them in my anger    and trampled them in my wrath;  their lifeblood1 spattered on my garments,    and stained all my apparel.4   For the day of vengeance was in my heart,    and my year of redemption2 had come.5   I looked, but there was no one to help;    I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;  so my own arm brought me salvation,    and my wrath upheld me.6   I trampled down the peoples in my anger;    I made them drunk in my wrath,    and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” The Lord's Mercy Remembered 7   I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD,    the praises of the LORD,  according to all that the LORD has granted us,    and the great goodness to the house of Israel  that he has granted them according to his compassion,    according to the abundance of his steadfast love.8   For he said, “Surely they are my people,    children who will not deal falsely.”    And he became their Savior.9   In all their affliction he was afflicted,3    and the angel of his presence saved them;  in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;    he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. 10   But they rebelled    and grieved his Holy Spirit;  therefore he turned to be their enemy,    and himself fought against them.11   Then he remembered the days of old,    of Moses and his people.4  Where is he who brought them up out of the sea    with the shepherds of his flock?  Where is he who put in the midst of them    his Holy Spirit,12   who caused his glorious arm    to go at the right hand of Moses,  who divided the waters before them    to make for himself an everlasting name,13     who led them through the depths?  Like a horse in the desert,    they did not stumble.14   Like livestock that go down into the valley,    the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest.  So you led your people,    to make for yourself a glorious name. Prayer for Mercy 15   Look down from heaven and see,    from your holy and beautiful5 habitation.  Where are your zeal and your might?    The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion    are held back from me.16   For you are our Father,    though Abraham does not know us,    and Israel does not acknowledge us;  you, O LORD, are our Father,    our Redeemer from of old is your name.17   O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways    and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?  Return for the sake of your servants,    the tribes of your heritage.18   Your holy people held possession for a little while;6    our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.19   We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,    like those who are not called by your name. 64   Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,    that the mountains might quake at your presence—2   7 as when fire kindles brushwood    and the fire causes water to boil—  to make your name known to your adversaries,    and that the nations might tremble at your presence!3   When you did awesome things that we did not look for,    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.4   From of old no one has heard    or perceived by the ear,  no eye has seen a God besides you,    who acts for those who wait for him.5   You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,    those who remember you in your ways.  Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?86   We have all become like one who is unclean,    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf,    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.7   There is no one who calls upon your name,    who rouses himself to take hold of you;  for you have hidden your face from us,    and have made us melt in9 the hand of our iniquities. 8   But now, O LORD, you are our Father;    we are the clay, and you are our potter;    we are all the work of your hand.9   Be not so terribly angry, O LORD,    and remember not iniquity forever.    Behold, please look, we are all your people.10   Your holy cities have become a wilderness;    Zion has become a wilderness,    Jerusalem a desolation.11   Our holy and beautiful10 house,    where our fathers praised you,  has been burned by fire,    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.12   Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD?    Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly? Footnotes [1] 63:3 Or their juice; also verse 6 [2] 63:4 Or the year of my redeemed [3] 63:9 Or he did not afflict [4] 63:11 Or Then his people remembered the days of old, of Moses [5] 63:15 Or holy and glorious [6] 63:18 Or They have dispossessed your holy people for a little while [7] 64:2 Ch 64:1 in Hebrew [8] 64:5 Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved [9] 64:7 Masoretic Text; Septuagint, Syriac, Targum have delivered us into [10] 64:11 Or holy and glorious (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 (Listen) The Man of Lawlessness 2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,1 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness2 is revealed, the son of destruction,3 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Footnotes [1] 2:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 13, 15 [2] 2:3 Some manuscripts sin [3] 2:3 Greek the son of perdition (a Hebrew idiom)

Morning: 1 Chronicles 1–2 1 Chronicles 1–2 (Listen) From Adam to Abraham 1 Adam, Seth, Enosh; 2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared; 3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech; 4 Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 5 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 6 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath,1 and Togarmah. 7 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim. 8 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 9 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 10 Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty man.2 11 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 12 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim. 13 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 14 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 15 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 16 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. 17 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. And the sons of Aram:3 Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech. 18 Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. 19 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg4 (for in his days the earth was divided), and his brother's name was Joktan. 20 Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 21 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 22 Obal,5 Abimael, Sheba, 23 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. 24 Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah; 25 Eber, Peleg, Reu; 26 Serug, Nahor, Terah; 27 Abram, that is, Abraham. From Abraham to Jacob 28 The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. 29 These are their genealogies: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 30 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, 31 Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael. 32 The sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan. 33 The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the descendants of Keturah. 34 Abraham fathered Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel. 35 The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. 36 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz, and of Timna,6 Amalek. 37 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. 38 The sons of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. 39 The sons of Lotan: Hori and Hemam;7 and Lotan's sister was Timna. 40 The sons of Shobal: Alvan,8 Manahath, Ebal, Shepho,9 and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. 41 The son10 of Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon: Hemdan,11 Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 42 The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.12 The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 43 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the people of Israel: Bela the son of Beor, the name of his city being Dinhabah. 44 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 45 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 46 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. 47 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 48 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates13 reigned in his place. 49 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan, the son of Achbor, reigned in his place. 50 Baal-hanan died, and Hadad reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pai; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab. 51 And Hadad died. The chiefs of Edom were: chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 52 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 53 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 54 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom. A Genealogy of David 2 These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 2 Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 3 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah; these three Bath-shua the Canaanite bore to him. Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death. 4 His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all. 5 The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. 6 The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all. 7 The son14 of Carmi: Achan, the troubler of Israel, who broke faith in the matter of the devoted thing; 8 and Ethan's son was Azariah. 9 The sons of Hezron that were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai. 10 Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, prince of the sons of Judah. 11 Nahshon fathered Salmon,15 Salmon fathered Boaz, 12 Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse. 13 Jesse fathered Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, 14 Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, 15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh. 16 And their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three. 17 Abigail bore Amasa, and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite. 18 Caleb the son of Hezron fathered children by his wife Azubah, and by Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon. 19 When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur. 20 Hur fathered Uri, and Uri fathered Bezalel. 21 Afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married when he was sixty years old, and she bore him Segub. 22 And Segub fathered Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. 23 But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-jair, Kenath, and its villages, sixty towns. All these were descendants of Machir, the father of Gilead. 24 After the death of Hezron, Caleb went in to Ephrathah,16 the wife of Hezron his father, and she bore him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa. 25 The sons of Jerahmeel, the firstborn of Hezron: Ram, his firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah. 26 Jerahmeel also had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam. 27 The sons of Ram, the firstborn of Jerahmeel: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker. 28 The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur. 29 The name of Abishur's wife was Abihail, and she bore him Ahban and Molid. 30 The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim; and Seled died childless. 31 The son17 of Appaim: Ishi. The son of Ishi: Sheshan. The son of Sheshan: Ahlai. 32 The sons of Jada, Shammai's brother: Jether and Jonathan; and Jether died childless. 33 The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jerahmeel. 34 Now Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, but Sheshan had an Egyptian slave whose name was Jarha. 35 So Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to Jarha his slave, and she bore him Attai. 36 Attai fathered Nathan, and Nathan fathered Zabad. 37 Zabad fathered Ephlal, and Ephlal fathered Obed. 38 Obed fathered Jehu, and Jehu fathered Azariah. 39 Azariah fathered Helez, and Helez fathered Eleasah. 40 Eleasah fathered Sismai, and Sismai fathered Shallum. 41 Shallum fathered Jekamiah, and Jekamiah fathered Elishama. 42 The sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel: Mareshah18 his firstborn, who fathered Ziph. The son19 of Mareshah: Hebron.20 43 The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem and Shema. 44 Shema fathered Raham, the father of Jorkeam; and Rekem fathered Shammai. 45 The son of Shammai: Maon; and Maon fathered Beth-zur. 46 Ephah also, Caleb's concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez; and Haran fathered Gazez. 47 The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph. 48 Maacah, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah. 49 She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbenah and the father of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. 50 These were the descendants of Caleb. The sons21 of Hur the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim, 51 Salma, the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth-gader. 52 Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had other sons: Haroeh, half of the Menuhoth. 53 And the clans of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, the Puthites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; from these came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites. 54 The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites. 55 The clans also of the scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites and the Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab. Footnotes [1] 1:6 Septuagint; Hebrew Diphath [2] 1:10 Or He began to be a mighty man on the earth [3] 1:17 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks And the sons of Aram [4] 1:19 Peleg means division [5] 1:22 Septuagint, Syriac (compare Genesis 10:28); Hebrew Ebal [6] 1:36 Septuagint (compare Genesis 36:12); Hebrew lacks and of [7] 1:39 Septuagint (compare Genesis 36:22); Hebrew Homam [8] 1:40 Septuagint (compare Genesis 36:23); Hebrew Alian [9] 1:40 Septuagint (compare Genesis 36:23); Hebrew Shephi [10] 1:41 Hebrew sons [11] 1:41 Septuagint (compare Genesis 36:26); Hebrew Hamran [12] 1:42 Septuagint (compare Genesis 36:27); Hebrew Jaakan [13] 1:48 Hebrew the River [14] 2:7 Hebrew sons [15] 2:11 Septuagint (compare Ruth 4:21); Hebrew Salma [16] 2:24 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew in Caleb Ephrathah [17] 2:31 Hebrew sons; three times in this verse [18] 2:42 Septuagint; Hebrew Mesha [19] 2:42 Hebrew sons [20] 2:42 Hebrew the father of Hebron [21] 2:50 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew son (ESV) Evening: John 7:32–53 John 7:32–53 (Listen) Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,' and, ‘Where I am you cannot come'?” Rivers of Living Water 37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as1 the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Division Among the People 40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. 45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” [The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]2 The Woman Caught in Adultery 53 [[They went each to his own house, Footnotes [1] 7:38 Or let him come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As [2] 7:53 Some manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11; others add the passage here or after 7:36 or after 21:25 or after Luke 21:38, with variations in the text (ESV)

2 Chronicles 28–31 2 Chronicles 28–31 (Listen) Ahaz Reigns in Judah 28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done, 2 but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, 3 and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering,1 according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Judah Defeated 5 Therefore the LORD his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force. 6 For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son and Azrikam the commander of the palace and Elkanah the next in authority to the king. 8 The men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven. 10 And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the LORD your God? 11 Now hear me, and send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you.” 12 Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war 13 and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the LORD in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” 14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. 15 And the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria. 16 At that time King Ahaz sent to the king2 of Assyria for help. 17 For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives. 18 And the Philistines had made raids on the cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settled there. 19 For the LORD humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made Judah act sinfully3 and had been very unfaithful to the LORD. 20 So Tiglath-pileser4 king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21 For Ahaz took a portion from the house of the LORD and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him. Ahaz's Idolatry 22 In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the LORD—this same King Ahaz. 23 For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. 24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the LORD, the God of his fathers. 26 Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place. Hezekiah Reigns in Judah 29 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah5 the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple 3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east 5 and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth6 from the Holy Place. 6 For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD and turned their backs. 7 They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore the wrath of the LORD came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own 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, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not now be negligent, for the LORD has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.” 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 consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD. 16 The priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it and carried it out to the brook Kidron. 17 They began to consecrate on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the LORD, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread and all its utensils. 19 All the utensils that King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and consecrated, and behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.” Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship 20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the LORD. 21 And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the LORD. 22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. 23 Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them, 24 and the priests slaughtered them and 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 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king's seer and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the LORD through his prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the LORD began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 When the offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. 30 And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped. 31 Then Hezekiah said, “You have now consecrated yourselves to7 the LORD. Come near; bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32 The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD. 33 And the consecrated offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. 34 But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished—for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves. 35 Besides the great number of burnt offerings, there was the fat of the peace offerings, and there were the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the LORD was restored. 36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people, for the thing came about suddenly. Passover Celebrated 30 Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. 2 For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month—3 for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem—4 and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. 5 So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. 6 So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the LORD God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. 8 Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. 9 For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.” 10 So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. 11 However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12 The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD. 13 And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly. 14 They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for burning incense they took away and threw into the brook Kidron. 15 And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the LORD. 16 They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites. 17 For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the LORD. 18 For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone 19 who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness.”8 20 And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people. 21 And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with all their might9 to the LORD. 22 And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the LORD. So they ate the food of the festival for seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the LORD, the God of their fathers. 23 Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the feast for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with gladness. 24 For Hezekiah king of Judah gave the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for offerings, and the princes gave the assembly 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. And the priests consecrated themselves in great numbers. 25 The whole assembly of Judah, and the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel, and the sojourners who lived in Judah, rejoiced. 26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. 27 Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven. Hezekiah Organizes the Priests 31 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, every man to his possession. 2 And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, each according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister in the gates of the camp of the LORD and to give thanks and praise. 3 The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed feasts, as it is written in the Law of the LORD. 4 And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the Law of the LORD. 5 As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. 6 And the people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of the dedicated things that had been dedicated to the LORD their God, and laid them in heaps. 7 In the third month they began to pile up the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. 8 When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel. 9 And Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. 10 Azariah the chief priest, who was of the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began to bring the contributions into the house of the LORD, we have eaten and had enough and have plenty left, for the LORD has blessed his people, so that we have this large amount left.” 11 Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare chambers in the house of the LORD, and they prepared them. 12 And they faithfully brought in the contributions, the tithes, and the dedicated things. The chief officer in charge of them was Conaniah the Levite, with Shimei his brother as second, 13 while Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers assisting Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the chief officer of the house of God. 14 And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the east gate, was over the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contribution reserved for the LORD and the most holy offerings. 15 Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah were faithfully assisting him in the cities of the priests, to distribute the portions to their brothers, old and young alike, by divisions, 16 except those enrolled by genealogy, males from three years old and upward—all who entered the house of the LORD as the duty of each day required—for their service according to their offices, by their divisions. 17 The enrollment of the priests was according to their fathers' houses; that of the Levites from twenty years old and upward was according to their offices, by their divisions. 18 They were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, the whole assembly, for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy. 19 And for the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were in the fields of common land belonging to their cities, there were men in the several cities who were designated by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone among the Levites who was enrolled. 20 Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. 21 And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered. Footnotes [1] 28:3 Hebrew made his sons pass through the fire [2] 28:16 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate (compare 2 Kings 16:7); Hebrew kings [3] 28:19 Or wildly [4] 28:20 Hebrew Tilgath-pilneser [5] 29:1 Spelled Abi in 2 Kings 18:2 [6] 29:5 Hebrew impurity [7] 29:31 Hebrew filled your hand for [8] 30:19 Hebrew not according to the cleanness of holiness [9] 30:21 Compare 1 Chronicles 13:8; Hebrew with instruments of might (ESV)

With family: Numbers 26; Psalm 69 Numbers 26 (Listen) Census of the New Generation 26 After the plague, the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest, 2 “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers' houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.” 3 And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 4 “Take a census of the people,1 from twenty years old and upward,” as the LORD commanded Moses. The people of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt were: 5 Reuben, the firstborn of Israel; the sons of Reuben: of Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites; 6 of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites. 7 These are the clans of the Reubenites, and those listed were 43,730. 8 And the sons of Pallu: Eliab. 9 The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram, chosen from the congregation, who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the LORD 10 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, and they became a warning. 11 But the sons of Korah did not die. 12 The sons of Simeon according to their clans: of Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the clan of the Jachinites; 13 of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the clan of the Shaulites. 14 These are the clans of the Simeonites, 22,200. 15 The sons of Gad according to their clans: of Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the clan of the Haggites; of Shuni, the clan of the Shunites; 16 of Ozni, the clan of the Oznites; of Eri, the clan of the Erites; 17 of Arod, the clan of the Arodites; of Areli, the clan of the Arelites. 18 These are the clans of the sons of Gad as they were listed, 40,500. 19 The sons of Judah were Er and Onan; and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. 20 And the sons of Judah according to their clans were: of Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites; of Perez, the clan of the Perezites; of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites. 21 And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites. 22 These are the clans of Judah as they were listed, 76,500. 23 The sons of Issachar according to their clans: of Tola, the clan of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the clan of the Punites; 24 of Jashub, the clan of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites. 25 These are the clans of Issachar as they were listed, 64,300. 26 The sons of Zebulun, according to their clans: of Sered, the clan of the Seredites; of Elon, the clan of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites. 27 These are the clans of the Zebulunites as they were listed, 60,500. 28 The sons of Joseph according to their clans: Manasseh and Ephraim. 29 The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the clan of the Machirites; and Machir was the father of Gilead; of Gilead, the clan of the Gileadites. 30 These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the clan of the Iezerites; of Helek, the clan of the Helekites; 31 and of Asriel, the clan of the Asrielites; and of Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites; 32 and of Shemida, the clan of the Shemidaites; and of Hepher, the clan of the Hepherites. 33 Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters. And the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 34 These are the clans of Manasseh, and those listed were 52,700. 35 These are the sons of Ephraim according to their clans: of Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the clan of the Becherites; of Tahan, the clan of the Tahanites. 36 And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the clan of the Eranites. 37 These are the clans of the sons of Ephraim as they were listed, 32,500. These are the sons of Joseph according to their clans. 38 The sons of Benjamin according to their clans: of Bela, the clan of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramites; 39 of Shephupham, the clan of the Shuphamites; of Hupham, the clan of the Huphamites. 40 And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the clan of the Ardites; of Naaman, the clan of the Naamites. 41 These are the sons of Benjamin according to their clans, and those listed were 45,600. 42 These are the sons of Dan according to their clans: of Shuham, the clan of the Shuhamites. These are the clans of Dan according to their clans. 43 All the clans of the Shuhamites, as they were listed, were 64,400. 44 The sons of Asher according to their clans: of Imnah, the clan of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the clan of the Beriites. 45 Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the clan of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the clan of the Malchielites. 46 And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah. 47 These are the clans of the sons of Asher as they were listed, 53,400. 48 The sons of Naphtali according to their clans: of Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the clan of the Gunites; 49 of Jezer, the clan of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the clan of the Shillemites. 50 These are the clans of Naphtali according to their clans, and those listed were 45,400. 51 This was the list of the people of Israel, 601,730. 52 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 53 “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. 54 To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list. 55 But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. 56 Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.” 57 This was the list of the Levites according to their clans: of Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites; of Merari, the clan of the Merarites. 58 These are the clans of Levi: the clan of the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the Mushites, the clan of the Korahites. And Kohath was the father of Amram. 59 The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister. 60 And to Aaron were born Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 61 But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD. 62 And those listed were 23,000, every male from a month old and upward. For they were not listed among the people of Israel, because there was no inheritance given to them among the people of Israel. 63 These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. 64 But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the LORD had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Footnotes [1] 26:4 Take a census of the people is implied (compare verse 2) (ESV) Psalm 69 (Listen) Save Me, O God To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David. 69   Save me, O God!    For the waters have come up to my neck.12   I sink in deep mire,    where there is no foothold;  I have come into deep waters,    and the flood sweeps over me.3   I am weary with my crying out;    my throat is parched.  My eyes grow dim    with waiting for my God. 4   More in number than the hairs of my head    are those who hate me without cause;  mighty are those who would destroy me,    those who attack me with lies.  What I did not steal    must I now restore?5   O God, you know my folly;    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you. 6   Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,    O Lord GOD of hosts;  let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,    O God of Israel.7   For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,    that dishonor has covered my face.8   I have become a stranger to my brothers,    an alien to my mother's sons. 9   For zeal for your house has consumed me,    and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.10   When I wept and humbled2 my soul with fasting,    it became my reproach.11   When I made sackcloth my clothing,    I became a byword to them.12   I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,    and the drunkards make songs about me. 13   But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.    At an acceptable time, O God,    in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.14   Deliver me    from sinking in the mire;  let me be delivered from my enemies    and from the deep waters.15   Let not the flood sweep over me,    or the deep swallow me up,    or the pit close its mouth over me. 16   Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;    according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.17   Hide not your face from your servant,    for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.18   Draw near to my soul, redeem me;    ransom me because of my enemies! 19   You know my reproach,    and my shame and my dishonor;    my foes are all known to you.20   Reproaches have broken my heart,    so that I am in despair.  I looked for pity, but there was none,    and for comforters, but I found none.21   They gave me poison for food,    and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. 22   Let their own table before them become a snare;    and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.323   Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,    and make their loins tremble continually.24   Pour out your indignation upon them,    and let your burning anger overtake them.25   May their camp be a desolation;    let no one dwell in their tents.26   For they persecute him whom you have struck down,    and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.27   Add to them punishment upon punishment;    may they have no acquittal from you.428   Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;    let them not be enrolled among the righteous. 29   But I am afflicted and in pain;    let your salvation, O God, set me on high! 30   I will praise the name of God with a song;    I will magnify him with thanksgiving.31   This will please the LORD more than an ox    or a bull with horns and hoofs.32   When the humble see it they will be glad;    you who seek God, let your hearts revive.33   For the LORD hears the needy    and does not despise his own people who are prisoners. 34   Let heaven and earth praise him,    the seas and everything that moves in them.35   For God will save Zion    and build up the cities of Judah,  and people shall dwell there and possess it;36     the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,    and those who love his name shall dwell in it. Footnotes [1] 69:1 Or waters threaten my life [2] 69:10 Hebrew lacks and humbled [3] 69:22 Hebrew; a slight revocalization yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome) a snare, and retribution and a trap [4] 69:27 Hebrew may they not come into your righteousness (ESV) In private: Isaiah 16; 1 Peter 4 Isaiah 16 (Listen) 16   Send the lamb to the ruler of the land,  from Sela, by way of the desert,    to the mount of the daughter of Zion.2   Like fleeing birds,    like a scattered nest,  so are the daughters of Moab    at the fords of the Arnon. 3   “Give counsel;    grant justice;  make your shade like night    at the height of noon;  shelter the outcasts;    do not reveal the fugitive;4   let the outcasts of Moab    sojourn among you;  be a shelter to them1    from the destroyer.  When the oppressor is no more,    and destruction has ceased,  and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,5   then a throne will be established in steadfast love,    and on it will sit in faithfulness    in the tent of David  one who judges and seeks justice    and is swift to do righteousness.” 6   We have heard of the pride of Moab—    how proud he is!—  of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;    in his idle boasting he is not right.7   Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,    let everyone wail.  Mourn, utterly stricken,    for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth. 8   For the fields of Heshbon languish,    and the vine of Sibmah;  the lords of the nations    have struck down its branches,  which reached to Jazer    and strayed to the desert;  its shoots spread abroad    and passed over the sea.9   Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer    for the vine of Sibmah;  I drench you with my tears,    O Heshbon and Elealeh;  for over your summer fruit and your harvest    the shout has ceased.10   And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field,  and in the vineyards no songs are sung,    no cheers are raised;  no treader treads out wine in the presses;    I have put an end to the shouting.11   Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,    and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth. 12 And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail. 13 This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in the past. 14 But now the LORD has spoken, saying, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be very few and feeble.” Footnotes [1] 16:4 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; Masoretic Text let my outcasts sojourn among you; as for Moab, be a shelter to them (ESV) 1 Peter 4 (Listen) Stewards of God's Grace 4 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,1 arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. 7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Suffering as a Christian 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory2 and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And   “If the righteous is scarcely saved,    what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”3 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. Footnotes [1] 4:1 Some manuscripts add for us; some for you [2] 4:14 Some manuscripts insert and of power [3] 4:18 Greek where will the ungodly and sinner appear? (ESV)

With family: Numbers 25; Psalm 68 Numbers 25 (Listen) Baal Worship at Peor 25 While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. 4 And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang1 them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” 5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.” 6 And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand 8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. 9 Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. The Zeal of Phinehas 10 And the LORD said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, 13 and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.'” 14 The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father's house belonging to the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of a father's house in Midian. 16 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Harass the Midianites and strike them down, 18 for they have harassed you with their wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.” Footnotes [1] 25:4 Or impale (ESV) Psalm 68 (Listen) God Shall Scatter His Enemies To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song. 68   God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;    and those who hate him shall flee before him!2   As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;    as wax melts before fire,    so the wicked shall perish before God!3   But the righteous shall be glad;    they shall exult before God;    they shall be jubilant with joy! 4   Sing to God, sing praises to his name;    lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;  his name is the LORD;    exult before him!5   Father of the fatherless and protector of widows    is God in his holy habitation.6   God settles the solitary in a home;    he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,    but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. 7   O God, when you went out before your people,    when you marched through the wilderness, Selah8   the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,    before God, the One of Sinai,    before God,1 the God of Israel.9   Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;    you restored your inheritance as it languished;10   your flock2 found a dwelling in it;    in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy. 11   The Lord gives the word;    the women who announce the news are a great host:12     “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”  The women at home divide the spoil—13     though you men lie among the sheepfolds—  the wings of a dove covered with silver,    its pinions with shimmering gold.14   When the Almighty scatters kings there,    let snow fall on Zalmon. 15   O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;    O many-peaked3 mountain, mountain of Bashan!16   Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,    at the mount that God desired for his abode,    yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?17   The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,    thousands upon thousands;    the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.18   You ascended on high,    leading a host of captives in your train    and receiving gifts among men,  even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there. 19   Blessed be the Lord,    who daily bears us up;    God is our salvation. Selah20   Our God is a God of salvation,    and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.21   But God will strike the heads of his enemies,    the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.22   The Lord said,    “I will bring them back from Bashan,  I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,23   that you may strike your feet in their blood,    that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.” 24   Your procession is4 seen, O God,    the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—25   the singers in front, the musicians last,    between them virgins playing tambourines:26   “Bless God in the great congregation,    the LORD, O you5 who are of Israel's fountain!”27   There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,    the princes of Judah in their throng,    the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. 28   Summon your power, O God,6    the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.29   Because of your temple at Jerusalem    kings shall bear gifts to you.30   Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,    the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.  Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;    scatter the peoples who delight in war.731   Nobles shall come from Egypt;    Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. 32   O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;    sing praises to the Lord, Selah33   to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;    behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.34   Ascribe power to God,    whose majesty is over Israel,    and whose power is in the skies.35   Awesome is God from his8 sanctuary;    the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.  Blessed be God! Footnotes [1] 68:8 Or before God, even Sinai before God [2] 68:10 Or your congregation [3] 68:15 Or hunch-backed; also verse 16 [4] 68:24 Or has been [5] 68:26 The Hebrew for you is plural here [6] 68:28 By revocalization (compare Septuagint); Hebrew Your God has summoned your power [7] 68:30 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain [8] 68:35 Septuagint; Hebrew your (ESV) In private: Isaiah 15; 1 Peter 3 Isaiah 15 (Listen) An Oracle Concerning Moab 15 An oracle concerning Moab.   Because Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night,    Moab is undone;  because Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night,    Moab is undone.2   He has gone up to the temple,1 and to Dibon,    to the high places2 to weep;  over Nebo and over Medeba    Moab wails.  On every head is baldness;    every beard is shorn;3   in the streets they wear sackcloth;    on the housetops and in the squares    everyone wails and melts in tears.4   Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;    their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;  therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;    his soul trembles.5   My heart cries out for Moab;    her fugitives flee to Zoar,    to Eglath-shelishiyah.  For at the ascent of Luhith    they go up weeping;  on the road to Horonaim    they raise a cry of destruction;6   the waters of Nimrim    are a desolation;  the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,    the greenery is no more.7   Therefore the abundance they have gained    and what they have laid up  they carry away    over the Brook of the Willows.8   For a cry has gone    around the land of Moab;  her wailing reaches to Eglaim;    her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.9   For the waters of Dibon3 are full of blood;    for I will bring upon Dibon even more,  a lion for those of Moab who escape,    for the remnant of the land. Footnotes [1] 15:2 Hebrew the house [2] 15:2 Or temple, even Dibon to the high places [3] 15:9 Dead Sea Scroll, Vulgate (compare Syriac); Masoretic Text Dimon; twice in this verse (ESV) 1 Peter 3 (Listen) Wives and Husbands 3 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. 7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you1 of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. Suffering for Righteousness' Sake 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For   “Whoever desires to love life    and see good days,  let him keep his tongue from evil    and his lips from speaking deceit;11   let him turn away from evil and do good;    let him seek peace and pursue it.12   For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,    and his ears are open to their prayer.  But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered2 once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which3 he went and proclaimed4 to the spirits in prison, 20 because5 they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. Footnotes [1] 3:7 Some manuscripts since you are joint heirs [2] 3:18 Some manuscripts died [3] 3:19 Or the Spirit, in whom [4] 3:19 Or preached [5] 3:20 Or when (ESV)

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 133 Psalm 133 (Listen) When Brothers Dwell in Unity A Song of Ascents. Of David. 133   Behold, how good and pleasant it is    when brothers dwell in unity!12   It is like the precious oil on the head,    running down on the beard,  on the beard of Aaron,    running down on the collar of his robes!3   It is like the dew of Hermon,    which falls on the mountains of Zion!  For there the LORD has commanded the blessing,    life forevermore. Footnotes [1] 133:1 Or dwell together (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Numbers 13–14 Numbers 13–14 (Listen) Spies Sent into Canaan 13 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel. 4 And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua. 17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, 18 and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. 21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,1 because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there. Report of the Spies 25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” The People Rebel 14 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” 10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. 11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” Moses Intercedes for the People 13 But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people. For you, O LORD, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16 ‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.' 17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.' 19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.” God Promises Judgment 20 Then the LORD said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. 25 Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.” 26 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.' 35 I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.” 36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land—37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive. Israel Defeated in Battle 39 When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. 40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised, for we have sinned.” 41 But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the LORD, when that will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the LORD is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you.” 44 But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses departed out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah. Footnotes [1] 13:24 Eshcol means cluster (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 52:13–53:12 Isaiah 52:13–53:12 (Listen) He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions 13   Behold, my servant shall act wisely;1    he shall be high and lifted up,    and shall be exalted.14   As many were astonished at you—    his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,    and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—15   so shall he sprinkle2 many nations.    Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,  for that which has not been told them they see,    and that which they have not heard they understand.53   Who has believed what he has heard from us?3    And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?2   For he grew up before him like a young plant,    and like a root out of dry ground;  he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,    and no beauty that we should desire him.3   He was despised and rejected4 by men,    a man of sorrows5 and acquainted with6 grief;7  and as one from whom men hide their faces8    he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4   Surely he has borne our griefs    and carried our sorrows;  yet we esteemed him stricken,    smitten by God, and afflicted.5   But he was pierced for our transgressions;    he was crushed for our iniquities;  upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,    and with his wounds we are healed.6   All we like sheep have gone astray;    we have turned—every one—to his own way;  and the LORD has laid on him    the iniquity of us all. 7   He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,    yet he opened not his mouth;  like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,    so he opened not his mouth.8   By oppression and judgment he was taken away;    and as for his generation, who considered  that he was cut off out of the land of the living,    stricken for the transgression of my people?9   And they made his grave with the wicked    and with a rich man in his death,  although he had done no violence,    and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10   Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;    he has put him to grief;9  when his soul makes10 an offering for guilt,    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;  the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.11   Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see11 and be satisfied;  by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,    make many to be accounted righteous,    and he shall bear their iniquities.12   Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,12    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,13  because he poured out his soul to death    and was numbered with the transgressors;  yet he bore the sin of many,    and makes intercession for the transgressors. Footnotes [1] 52:13 Or shall prosper [2] 52:15 Or startle [3] 53:1 Or Who has believed what we have heard? [4] 53:3 Or forsaken [5] 53:3 Or pains; also verse 4 [6] 53:3 Or and knowing [7] 53:3 Or sickness; also verse 4 [8] 53:3 Or as one who hides his face from us [9] 53:10 Or he has made him sick [10] 53:10 Or when you make his soul [11] 53:11 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll he shall see light [12] 53:12 Or with the great [13] 53:12 Or with the numerous (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: 1 Thessalonians 1 1 Thessalonians 1 (Listen) Greeting 1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. The Thessalonians' Faith and Example 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly1 mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers2 loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Footnotes [1] 1:2 Or without ceasing [2] 1:4 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters (ESV)

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 130 Psalm 130 (Listen) My Soul Waits for the Lord A Song of Ascents. 130   Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!2     O Lord, hear my voice!  Let your ears be attentive    to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 3   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,    O Lord, who could stand?4   But with you there is forgiveness,    that you may be feared. 5   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,    and in his word I hope;6   my soul waits for the Lord    more than watchmen for the morning,    more than watchmen for the morning. 7   O Israel, hope in the LORD!    For with the LORD there is steadfast love,    and with him is plentiful redemption.8   And he will redeem Israel    from all his iniquities. (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Numbers 10:11–36 Numbers 10:11–36 (Listen) Israel Leaves Sinai 11 In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony, 12 and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. 13 They set out for the first time at the command of the LORD by Moses. 14 The standard of the camp of the people of Judah set out first by their companies, and over their company was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 15 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. 16 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. 17 And when the tabernacle was taken down, the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who carried the tabernacle, set out. 18 And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out by their companies, and over their company was Elizur the son of Shedeur. 19 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 20 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. 21 Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things, and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival. 22 And the standard of the camp of the people of Ephraim set out by their companies, and over their company was Elishama the son of Ammihud. 23 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 24 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni. 25 Then the standard of the camp of the people of Dan, acting as the rear guard of all the camps, set out by their companies, and over their company was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 26 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ochran. 27 And over the company of the tribe of the people of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. 28 This was the order of march of the people of Israel by their companies, when they set out. 29 And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.' Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the LORD has promised good to Israel.” 30 But he said to him, “I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” 31 And he said, “Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. 32 And if you do go with us, whatever good the LORD will do to us, the same will we do to you.” 33 So they set out from the mount of the LORD three days' journey. And the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for them. 34 And the cloud of the LORD was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp. 35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” 36 And when it rested, he said, “Return, O LORD, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.” (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 48–49 Isaiah 48–49 (Listen) Israel Refined for God's Glory 48   Hear this, O house of Jacob,    who are called by the name of Israel,    and who came from the waters of Judah,  who swear by the name of the LORD    and confess the God of Israel,    but not in truth or right.2   For they call themselves after the holy city,    and stay themselves on the God of Israel;    the LORD of hosts is his name. 3   “The former things I declared of old;    they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;    then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.4   Because I know that you are obstinate,    and your neck is an iron sinew    and your forehead brass,5   I declared them to you from of old,    before they came to pass I announced them to you,  lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,    my carved image and my metal image commanded them.' 6   “You have heard; now see all this;    and will you not declare it?  From this time forth I announce to you new things,    hidden things that you have not known.7   They are created now, not long ago;    before today you have never heard of them,    lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.'8   You have never heard, you have never known,    from of old your ear has not been opened.  For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,    and that from before birth you were called a rebel. 9   “For my name's sake I defer my anger;    for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,    that I may not cut you off.10   Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;    I have tried1 you in the furnace of affliction.11   For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,    for how should my name2 be profaned?    My glory I will not give to another. The Lord's Call to Israel 12   “Listen to me, O Jacob,    and Israel, whom I called!  I am he; I am the first,    and I am the last.13   My hand laid the foundation of the earth,    and my right hand spread out the heavens;  when I call to them,    they stand forth together. 14   “Assemble, all of you, and listen!    Who among them has declared these things?  The LORD loves him;    he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,    and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.15   I, even I, have spoken and called him;    I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.16   Draw near to me, hear this:    from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,    from the time it came to be I have been there.”  And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit. 17   Thus says the LORD,    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:  “I am the LORD your God,    who teaches you to profit,    who leads you in the way you should go.18   Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!    Then your peace would have been like a river,    and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;19   your offspring would have been like the sand,    and your descendants like its grains;  their name would never be cut off    or destroyed from before me.” 20   Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,    declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,  send it out to the end of the earth;    say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”21   They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;    he made water flow for them from the rock;    he split the rock and the water gushed out. 22   “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.” The Servant of the Lord 49   Listen to me, O coastlands,    and give attention, you peoples from afar.  The LORD called me from the womb,    from the body of my mother he named my name.2   He made my mouth like a sharp sword;    in the shadow of his hand he hid me;  he made me a polished arrow;    in his quiver he hid me away.3   And he said to me, “You are my servant,    Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”34   But I said, “I have labored in vain;    I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;  yet surely my right is with the LORD,    and my recompense with my God.” 5   And now the LORD says,    he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,  to bring Jacob back to him;    and that Israel might be gathered to him—  for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,    and my God has become my strength—6   he says:  “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant    to raise up the tribes of Jacob    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;  I will make you as a light for the nations,    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” 7   Thus says the LORD,    the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,  to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,    the servant of rulers:  “Kings shall see and arise;    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;  because of the LORD, who is faithful,    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” The Restoration of Israel 8   Thus says the LORD:  “In a time of favor I have answered you;    in a day of salvation I have helped you;  I will keep you and give you    as a covenant to the people,  to establish the land,    to apportion the desolate heritages,9   saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,'    to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.'  They shall feed along the ways;    on all bare heights shall be their pasture;10   they shall not hunger or thirst,    neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,  for he who has pity on them will lead them,    and by springs of water will guide them.11   And I will make all my mountains a road,    and my highways shall be raised up.12   Behold, these shall come from afar,    and behold, these from the north and from the west,4    and these from the land of Syene.”5 13   Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;    break forth, O mountains, into singing!  For the LORD has comforted his people    and will have compassion on his afflicted. 14   But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;    my Lord has forgotten me.” 15   “Can a woman forget her nursing child,    that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget,    yet I will not forget you.16   Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;    your walls are continually before me.17   Your builders make haste;6    your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.18   Lift up your eyes around and see;    they all gather, they come to you.  As I live, declares the LORD,    you shall put them all on as an ornament;    you shall bind them on as a bride does. 19   “Surely your waste and your desolate places    and your devastated land—  surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,    and those who swallowed you up will be far away.20   The children of your bereavement    will yet say in your ears:  ‘The place is too narrow for me;    make room for me to dwell in.'21   Then you will say in your heart:    ‘Who has borne me these?  I was bereaved and barren,    exiled and put away,    but who has brought up these?  Behold, I was left alone;    from where have these come?'” 22   Thus says the Lord GOD:  “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,    and raise my signal to the peoples;  and they shall bring your sons in their arms,7    and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.23   Kings shall be your foster fathers,    and their queens your nursing mothers.  With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,    and lick the dust of your feet.  Then you will know that I am the LORD;    those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.” 24   Can the prey be taken from the mighty,    or the captives of a tyrant8 be rescued?25   For thus says the LORD:  “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,    and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,  for I will contend with those who contend with you,    and I will save your children.26   I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,    and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.  Then all flesh shall know    that I am the LORD your Savior,    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” Footnotes [1] 48:10 Or I have chosen [2] 48:11 Hebrew lacks my name [3] 49:3 Or I will display my beauty [4] 49:12 Hebrew from the sea [5] 49:12 Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Sinim [6] 49:17 Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Your children make haste [7] 49:22 Hebrew in their bosom [8] 49:24 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac, Vulgate (see also verse 25); Masoretic Text of a righteous man (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: Colossians 2:6–23 Colossians 2:6–23 (Listen) Alive in Christ 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits1 of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood agai

With family: Numbers 19; Psalms 56–57 Numbers 19 (Listen) Laws for Purification 19 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come. 3 And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. 4 And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. 9 And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them. 11 “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. 12 He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. 14 “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. 16 Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17 For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh1 water shall be added in a vessel. 18 Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. 19 And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean. 20 “If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. 21 And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. 22 And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.” Footnotes [1] 19:17 Hebrew living (ESV) Psalms 56–57 (Listen) In God I Trust To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam1 of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. 56   Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;    all day long an attacker oppresses me;2   my enemies trample on me all day long,    for many attack me proudly.3   When I am afraid,    I put my trust in you.4   In God, whose word I praise,    in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.    What can flesh do to me? 5   All day long they injure my cause;2    all their thoughts are against me for evil.6   They stir up strife, they lurk;    they watch my steps,    as they have waited for my life.7   For their crime will they escape?    In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! 8   You have kept count of my tossings;3    put my tears in your bottle.    Are they not in your book?9   Then my enemies will turn back    in the day when I call.    This I know, that4 God is for me.10   In God, whose word I praise,    in the LORD, whose word I praise,11   in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.    What can man do to me? 12   I must perform my vows to you, O God;    I will render thank offerings to you.13   For you have delivered my soul from death,    yes, my feet from falling,  that I may walk before God    in the light of life. Let Your Glory Be over All the Earth To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam5 of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave. 57   Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,    for in you my soul takes refuge;  in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,    till the storms of destruction pass by.2   I cry out to God Most High,    to God who fulfills his purpose for me.3   He will send from heaven and save me;    he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah  God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! 4   My soul is in the midst of lions;    I lie down amid fiery beasts—  the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,    whose tongues are sharp swords. 5   Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!    Let your glory be over all the earth! 6   They set a net for my steps;    my soul was bowed down.  They dug a pit in my way,    but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah7   My heart is steadfast, O God,    my heart is steadfast!  I will sing and make melody!8     Awake, my glory!6  Awake, O harp and lyre!    I will awake the dawn!9   I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;    I will sing praises to you among the nations.10   For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,    your faithfulness to the clouds. 11   Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!    Let your glory be over all the earth! Footnotes [1] 56:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 56:5 Or they twist my words [3] 56:8 Or wanderings [4] 56:9 Or because [5] 57:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [6] 57:8 Or my whole being (ESV) In private: Isaiah 8–9:7; James 2 Isaiah 8–9:7 (Listen) The Coming Assyrian Invasion 8 Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters,1 ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.'2 2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.” 3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father' or ‘My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” 5 The LORD spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River,3 mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” 9   Be broken,4 you peoples, and be shattered;5    give ear, all you far countries;  strap on your armor and be shattered;    strap on your armor and be shattered.10   Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;    speak a word, but it will not stand,    for God is with us.6 Fear God, Wait for the Lord 11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” 16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching7 among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land,8 greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against9 their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness. For to Us a Child Is Born 9 10 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.11 2   12 The people who walked in darkness    have seen a great light;  those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,    on them has light shone.3   You have multiplied the nation;    you have increased its joy;  they rejoice before you    as with joy at the harvest,    as they are glad when they divide the spoil.4   For the yoke of his burden,    and the staff for his shoulder,    the rod of his oppressor,    you have broken as on the day of Midian.5   For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult    and every garment rolled in blood    will be burned as fuel for the fire.6   For to us a child is born,    to us a son is given;  and the government shall be upon13 his shoulder,    and his name shall be called14  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.7   Of the increase of his government and of peace    there will be no end,  on the throne of David and over his kingdom,    to establish it and to uphold it  with justice and with righteousness    from this time forth and forevermore.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. Footnotes [1] 8:1 Hebrew with a man's stylus [2] 8:1 Maher-shalal-hash-baz means The spoil speeds, the prey hastens [3] 8:7 That is, the Euphrates [4] 8:9 Or Be evil [5] 8:9 Or dismayed [6] 8:10 The Hebrew for God is with us is Immanuel [7] 8:16 Or law; also verse 20 [8] 8:21 Hebrew it [9] 8:21 Or speak contemptuously by [10] 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Hebrew [11] 9:1 Or of the Gentiles [12] 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew [13] 9:6 Or is upon [14] 9:6 Or is called (ESV) James 2 (Listen) The Sin of Partiality 2 My brothers,1 show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Faith Without Works Is Dead 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good2 is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Footnotes [1] 2:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 14 [2] 2:16 Or benefit (ESV)

1 Chronicles 25–27 1 Chronicles 25–27 (Listen) David Organizes the Musicians 25 David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals. The list of those who did the work and of their duties was: 2 Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah, sons of Asaph, under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king. 3 Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei,1 Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the LORD. 4 Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. 5 All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. 6 They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. 7 The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the LORD, all who were skillful, was 288. 8 And they cast lots for their duties, small and great, teacher and pupil alike. 9 The first lot fell for Asaph to Joseph; the second to Gedaliah, to him and his brothers and his sons, twelve; 10 the third to Zaccur, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 11 the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 12 the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 13 the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 14 the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 15 the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 16 the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 17 the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 18 the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 19 the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 20 to the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 21 to the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 22 to the fifteenth, to Jeremoth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 23 to the sixteenth, to Hananiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 24 to the seventeenth, to Joshbekashah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 25 to the eighteenth, to Hanani, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 26 to the nineteenth, to Mallothi, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 27 to the twentieth, to Eliathah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 28 to the twenty-first, to Hothir, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 29 to the twenty-second, to Giddalti, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 30 to the twenty-third, to Mahazioth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 31 to the twenty-fourth, to Romamti-ezer, his sons and his brothers, twelve. Divisions of the Gatekeepers 26 As for the divisions of the gatekeepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph. 2 And Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth, 3 Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Eliehoenai the seventh. 4 And Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth, 5 Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peullethai the eighth, for God blessed him. 6 Also to his son Shemaiah were sons born who were rulers in their fathers' houses, for they were men of great ability. 7 The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad, whose brothers were able men, Elihu and Semachiah. 8 All these were of the sons of Obed-edom with their sons and brothers, able men qualified for the service; sixty-two of Obed-edom. 9 And Meshelemiah had sons and brothers, able men, eighteen. 10 And Hosah, of the sons of Merari, had sons: Shimri the chief (for though he was not the firstborn, his father made him chief), 11 Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth: all the sons and brothers of Hosah were thirteen. 12 These divisions of the gatekeepers, corresponding to their chief men, had duties, just as their brothers did, ministering in the house of the LORD. 13 And they cast lots by fathers' houses, small and great alike, for their gates. 14 The lot for the east fell to Shelemiah. They cast lots also for his son Zechariah, a shrewd counselor, and his lot came out for the north. 15 Obed-edom's came out for the south, and to his sons was allotted the gatehouse. 16 For Shuppim and Hosah it came out for the west, at the gate of Shallecheth on the road that goes up. Watch corresponded to watch. 17 On the east there were six each day,2 on the north four each day, on the south four each day, as well as two and two at the gatehouse. 18 And for the colonnade3 on the west there were four at the road and two at the colonnade. 19 These were the divisions of the gatekeepers among the Korahites and the sons of Merari. Treasurers and Other Officials 20 And of the Levites, Ahijah had charge of the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries of the dedicated gifts. 21 The sons of Ladan, the sons of the Gershonites belonging to Ladan, the heads of the fathers' houses belonging to Ladan the Gershonite: Jehieli.4 22 The sons of Jehieli, Zetham, and Joel his brother, were in charge of the treasuries of the house of the LORD. 23 Of the Amramites, the Izharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites—24 and Shebuel the son of Gershom, son of Moses, was chief officer in charge of the treasuries. 25 His brothers: from Eliezer were his son Rehabiah, and his son Jeshaiah, and his son Joram, and his son Zichri, and his son Shelomoth. 26 This Shelomoth and his brothers were in charge of all the treasuries of the dedicated gifts that David the king and the heads of the fathers' houses and the officers of the thousands and the hundreds and the commanders of the army had dedicated. 27 From spoil won in battles they dedicated gifts for the maintenance of the house of the LORD. 28 Also all that Samuel the seer and Saul the son of Kish and Abner the son of Ner and Joab the son of Zeruiah had dedicated—all dedicated gifts were in the care of Shelomoth5 and his brothers. 29 Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were appointed to external duties for Israel, as officers and judges. 30 Of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brothers, 1,700 men of ability, had the oversight of Israel westward of the Jordan for all the work of the LORD and for the service of the king. 31 Of the Hebronites, Jerijah was chief of the Hebronites of whatever genealogy or fathers' houses. (In the fortieth year of David's reign search was made and men of great ability among them were found at Jazer in Gilead.) 32 King David appointed him and his brothers, 2,700 men of ability, heads of fathers' houses, to have the oversight of the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of the Manassites for everything pertaining to God and for the affairs of the king. Military Divisions 27 This is the number of the people of Israel, the heads of fathers' houses, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and their officers who served the king in all matters concerning the divisions that came and went, month after month throughout the year, each division numbering 24,000: 2 Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel was in charge of the first division in the first month; in his division were 24,000. 3 He was a descendant of Perez and was chief of all the commanders. He served for the first month. 4 Dodai the Ahohite6 was in charge of the division of the second month; in his division were 24,000. 5 The third commander, for the third month, was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the chief priest; in his division were 24,000. 6 This is the Benaiah who was a mighty man of the thirty and in command of the thirty; Ammizabad his son was in charge of his division.7 7 Asahel the brother of Joab was fourth, for the fourth month, and his son Zebadiah after him; in his division were 24,000. 8 The fifth commander, for the fifth month, was Shamhuth the Izrahite; in his division were 24,000. 9 Sixth, for the sixth month, was Ira, the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite; in his division were 24,000. 10 Seventh, for the seventh month, was Helez the Pelonite, of the sons of Ephraim; in his division were 24,000. 11 Eighth, for the eighth month, was Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zerahites; in his division were 24,000. 12 Ninth, for the ninth month, was Abiezer of Anathoth, a Benjaminite; in his division were 24,000. 13 Tenth, for the tenth month, was Maharai of Netophah, of the Zerahites; in his division were 24,000. 14 Eleventh, for the eleventh month, was Benaiah of Pirathon, of the sons of Ephraim; in his division were 24,000. 15 Twelfth, for the twelfth month, was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel; in his division were 24,000. Leaders of Tribes 16 Over the tribes of Israel, for the Reubenites, Eliezer the son of Zichri was chief officer; for the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maacah; 17 for Levi, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel; for Aaron, Zadok; 18 for Judah, Elihu, one of David's brothers; for Issachar, Omri the son of Michael; 19 for Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah; for Naphtali, Jeremoth the son of Azriel; 20 for the Ephraimites, Hoshea the son of Azaziah; for the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joel the son of Pedaiah; 21 for the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo the son of Zechariah; for Benjamin, Jaasiel the son of Abner; 22 for Dan, Azarel the son of Jeroham. These were the leaders of the tribes of Israel. 23 David did not count those below twenty years of age, for the LORD had promised to make Israel as many as the stars of heaven. 24 Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count, but did not finish. Yet wrath came upon Israel for this, and the number was not entered in the chronicles of King David. 25 Over the king's treasuries was Azmaveth the son of Adiel; and over the treasuries in the country, in the cities, in the villages, and in the towers, was Jonathan the son of Uzziah; 26 and over those who did the work of the field for tilling the soil was Ezri the son of Chelub; 27 and over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite; and over the produce of the vineyards for the wine cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite. 28 Over the olive and sycamore trees in the Shephelah was Baal-hanan the Gederite; and over the stores of oil was Joash. 29 Over the herds that pastured in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite; over the herds in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai. 30 Over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite; and over the donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite. Over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagrite. 31 All these were stewards of King David's property. 32 Jonathan, David's uncle, was a counselor, being a man of understanding and a scribe. He and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni attended the king's sons. 33 Ahithophel was the king's counselor, and Hushai the Archite was the king's friend. 34 Ahithophel was succeeded by Jehoiada the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar. Joab was commander of the king's army. Footnotes [1] 25:3 One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts lack Shimei [2] 26:17 Septuagint; Hebrew six Levites [3] 26:18 Or court; Hebrew parbar (meaning unknown); twice in this verse [4] 26:21 The Hebrew of verse 21 is uncertain [5] 26:28 Hebrew Shelomith [6] 27:4 Septuagint; Hebrew Ahohite and his division and Mikloth the chief officer [7] 27:6 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew was his division (ESV)

5 Easter First Psalm: Psalms 61–62 Psalms 61–62 (Listen) Lead Me to the Rock To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. Of David. 61   Hear my cry, O God,    listen to my prayer;2   from the end of the earth I call to you    when my heart is faint.  Lead me to the rock    that is higher than I,3   for you have been my refuge,    a strong tower against the enemy. 4   Let me dwell in your tent forever!    Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah5   For you, O God, have heard my vows;    you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. 6   Prolong the life of the king;    may his years endure to all generations!7   May he be enthroned forever before God;    appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him! 8   So will I ever sing praises to your name,    as I perform my vows day after day. My Soul Waits for God Alone To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. 62   For God alone my soul waits in silence;    from him comes my salvation.2   He alone is my rock and my salvation,    my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. 3   How long will all of you attack a man    to batter him,    like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?4   They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.    They take pleasure in falsehood.  They bless with their mouths,    but inwardly they curse. Selah 5   For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,    for my hope is from him.6   He only is my rock and my salvation,    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.7   On God rests my salvation and my glory;    my mighty rock, my refuge is God. 8   Trust in him at all times, O people;    pour out your heart before him;    God is a refuge for us. Selah 9   Those of low estate are but a breath;    those of high estate are a delusion;  in the balances they go up;    they are together lighter than a breath.10   Put no trust in extortion;    set no vain hopes on robbery;    if riches increase, set not your heart on them. 11   Once God has spoken;    twice have I heard this:  that power belongs to God,12     and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.  For you will render to a man    according to his work. (ESV) Second Psalm: Psalm 68 Psalm 68 (Listen) God Shall Scatter His Enemies To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song. 68   God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;    and those who hate him shall flee before him!2   As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;    as wax melts before fire,    so the wicked shall perish before God!3   But the righteous shall be glad;    they shall exult before God;    they shall be jubilant with joy! 4   Sing to God, sing praises to his name;    lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;  his name is the LORD;    exult before him!5   Father of the fatherless and protector of widows    is God in his holy habitation.6   God settles the solitary in a home;    he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,    but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. 7   O God, when you went out before your people,    when you marched through the wilderness, Selah8   the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,    before God, the One of Sinai,    before God,1 the God of Israel.9   Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;    you restored your inheritance as it languished;10   your flock2 found a dwelling in it;    in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy. 11   The Lord gives the word;    the women who announce the news are a great host:12     “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”  The women at home divide the spoil—13     though you men lie among the sheepfolds—  the wings of a dove covered with silver,    its pinions with shimmering gold.14   When the Almighty scatters kings there,    let snow fall on Zalmon. 15   O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;    O many-peaked3 mountain, mountain of Bashan!16   Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,    at the mount that God desired for his abode,    yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?17   The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,    thousands upon thousands;    the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.18   You ascended on high,    leading a host of captives in your train    and receiving gifts among men,  even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there. 19   Blessed be the Lord,    who daily bears us up;    God is our salvation. Selah20   Our God is a God of salvation,    and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.21   But God will strike the heads of his enemies,    the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.22   The Lord said,    “I will bring them back from Bashan,  I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,23   that you may strike your feet in their blood,    that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.” 24   Your procession is4 seen, O God,    the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—25   the singers in front, the musicians last,    between them virgins playing tambourines:26   “Bless God in the great congregation,    the LORD, O you5 who are of Israel's fountain!”27   There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,    the princes of Judah in their throng,    the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. 28   Summon your power, O God,6    the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.29   Because of your temple at Jerusalem    kings shall bear gifts to you.30   Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,    the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.  Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;    scatter the peoples who delight in war.731   Nobles shall come from Egypt;    Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. 32   O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;    sing praises to the Lord, Selah33   to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;    behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.34   Ascribe power to God,    whose majesty is over Israel,    and whose power is in the skies.35   Awesome is God from his8 sanctuary;    the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.  Blessed be God! Footnotes [1] 68:8 Or before God, even Sinai before God [2] 68:10 Or your congregation [3] 68:15 Or hunch-backed; also verse 16 [4] 68:24 Or has been [5] 68:26 The Hebrew for you is plural here [6] 68:28 By revocalization (compare Septuagint); Hebrew Your God has summoned your power [7] 68:30 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain [8] 68:35 Septuagint; Hebrew your (ESV) Old Testament: Wisdom 10:1-4, 5-12, 13-21 New Testament: Romans 12 Romans 12 (Listen) A Living Sacrifice 12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,1 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.2 2 Do not be conformed to this world,3 but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.4 Gifts of Grace 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members,5 and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,6 with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Marks of the True Christian 9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,7 serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.8 Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it9 to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Footnotes [1] 12:1 Or brothers and sisters [2] 12:1 Or your rational service [3] 12:2 Greek age [4] 12:2 Or what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God [5] 12:4 Greek parts; also verse 5 [6] 12:8 Or gives aid [7] 12:11 Or fervent in the Spirit [8] 12:16 Or give yourselves to humble tasks [9] 12:19 Greek give place (ESV) Gospel: Luke 8:1–15 Luke 8:1–15 (Listen) Women Accompanying Jesus 8 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them1 out of their means. The Parable of the Sower 4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The Purpose of the Parables 9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. Footnotes [1] 8:3 Some manuscripts him (ESV)