July 15

2 Chronicles 6

Solomon Blesses the People

[1] Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. [2] But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” [3] Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. [4] And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, [5] ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; [6] but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ [7] Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. [8] But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. [9] Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ [10] Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. [11] And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the people of Israel.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

[12] Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. [13] Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, [14] and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, [15] who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. [16] Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ [17] Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.

[18] “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! [19] Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, [20] that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. [21] And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

[22] “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, [23] then hear from heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

[24] “If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, [25] then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.

[26] “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, [27] then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

[28] “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, [29] whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, [30] then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind, [31] that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

[32] “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, [33] hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

[34] “If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, [35] then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

[36] “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, [37] yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ [38] if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, [39] then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. [40] Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

    [41] “And now arise, O LORD God, and go to your resting place,

        you and the ark of your might.

    Let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation,

        and let your saints rejoice in your goodness. 

    [42] O LORD God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one!

        Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.”

2 Chronicles 7

Fire from Heaven

[1] As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. [2] And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house. [3] When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

The Dedication of the Temple

[4] Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD. [5] King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. [6] The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the LORD that King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry; opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.

[7] And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.

[8] At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. [9] And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. [10] On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity that the LORD had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.

If My People Pray

[11] Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house he successfully accomplished. [12] Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. [13] When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, [14] if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. [15] Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. [16] For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. [17] And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, [18] then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

[19] “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, [20] then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. [21] And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ [22] Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Psalm 140

Deliver Me, O LORD, from Evil Men

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

    [1] Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men;

        preserve me from violent men, 

    [2] who plan evil things in their heart

        and stir up wars continually. 

    [3] They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s,

        and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah

    [4] Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;

        preserve me from violent men,

        who have planned to trip up my feet. 

    [5] The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,

        and with cords they have spread a net;

        beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah

    [6] I say to the LORD, You are my God;

        give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O LORD! 

    [7] O LORD, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,

        you have covered my head in the day of battle. 

    [8] Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked;

        do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted! Selah

    [9] As for the head of those who surround me,

        let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them! 

    [10] Let burning coals fall upon them!

        Let them be cast into fire,

        into miry pits, no more to rise! 

    [11] Let not the slanderer be established in the land;

        let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!

    [12] I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted,

        and will execute justice for the needy. 

    [13] Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;

        the upright shall dwell in your presence.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-10

A Life Pleasing to God

[1] Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. [2] For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. [3] For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; [4] that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, [5] not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; [6] that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. [7] For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. [8] Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

[9] Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, [10] for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more,

Luke 10:25-37

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

[25] And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” [26] He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” [27] And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” [28] And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

[29] But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” [30] Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. [31] Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. [32] So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. [33] But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. [34] He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. [35] And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ [36] Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” [37] He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”