July 14

Luke 10:17-24

The Return of the Seventy-Two

[17] The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” [18] And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. [19] Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. [20] Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus Rejoices in the Father’s Will

[21] In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. [22] All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

[23] Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! [24] For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

1 Thessalonians 3:7-13

[7] for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. [8] For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. [9] For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, [10] as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

[11] Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, [12] and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, [13] so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Psalm 139

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

    [1] O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 

    [2] You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

        you discern my thoughts from afar. 

    [3] You search out my path and my lying down

        and are acquainted with all my ways. 

    [4] Even before a word is on my tongue,

        behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. 

    [5] You hem me in, behind and before,

        and lay your hand upon me. 

    [6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

        it is high; I cannot attain it.

    [7] Where shall I go from your Spirit?

        Or where shall I flee from your presence? 

    [8] If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

        If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 

    [9] If I take the wings of the morning

        and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 

    [10] even there your hand shall lead me,

        and your right hand shall hold me. 

    [11] If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

        and the light about me be night,” 

    [12] even the darkness is not dark to you;

        the night is bright as the day,

        for darkness is as light with you.

    [13] For you formed my inward parts;

        you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 

    [14] I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

    Wonderful are your works;

        my soul knows it very well. 

    [15] My frame was not hidden from you,

    when I was being made in secret,

        intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 

    [16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

    in your book were written, every one of them,

        the days that were formed for me,

        when as yet there was none of them.

    [17] How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

        How vast is the sum of them! 

    [18] If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

        I awake, and I am still with you.

    [19] Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!

        O men of blood, depart from me! 

    [20] They speak against you with malicious intent;

        your enemies take your name in vain. 

    [21] Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?

        And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 

    [22] I hate them with complete hatred;

        I count them my enemies.

    [23] Search me, O God, and know my heart!

        Try me and know my thoughts! 

    [24] And see if there be any grievous way in me,

        and lead me in the way everlasting!

2 Chronicles 3

Solomon Builds the Temple

[1] Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. [2] He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. [3] These are Solomon’s measurements for building the house of God: the length, in cubits of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. [4] The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. [5] The nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold and made palms and chains on it. [6] He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim. [7] So he lined the house with gold—its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors—and he carved cherubim on the walls.

[8] And he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold. [9] The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

[10] In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood and overlaid them with gold. [11] The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub; [12] and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. [13] The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. The cherubim stood on their feet, facing the nave. [14] And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.

[15] In front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each. [16] He made chains like a necklace and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. [17] He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; that on the south he called Jachin, and that on the north Boaz.

2 Chronicles 4

The Temple’s Furnishings

[1] He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high. [2] Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. [3] Under it were figures of gourds, for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast. [4] It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward. [5] Its thickness was a handbreadth. And its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held 3,000 baths. [6] He also made ten basins in which to wash, and set five on the south side, and five on the north side. In these they were to rinse off what was used for the burnt offering, and the sea was for the priests to wash in.

[7] And he made ten golden lampstands as prescribed, and set them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. [8] He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. And he made a hundred basins of gold. [9] He made the court of the priests and the great court and doors for the court and overlaid their doors with bronze. [10] And he set the sea at the southeast corner of the house.

[11] Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of God: [12] the two pillars, the bowls, and the two capitals on the top of the pillars; and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; [13] and the 400 pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars. [14] He made the stands also, and the basins on the stands, [15] and the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath it. [16] The pots, the shovels, the forks, and all the equipment for these Huram-abi made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the LORD. [17] In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. [18] Solomon made all these things in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze was not sought.

[19] So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God: the golden altar, the tables for the bread of the Presence, [20] the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold to burn before the inner sanctuary, as prescribed; [21] the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of purest gold; [22] the snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold, and the sockets of the temple, for the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and for the doors of the nave of the temple were of gold.

2 Chronicles 5

[1] Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God.

The Ark Brought to the Temple

[2] Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. [3] And all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast that is in the seventh month. [4] And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. [5] And they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. [6] And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. [7] Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. [8] The cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. [9] And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. [10] There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. [11] And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, [12] and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; [13] and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, 

    “For he is good,

        for his steadfast love endures forever,”

    the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud,  [14] so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.