Luke 12:13-21
[13]
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide
the inheritance with me.” [14] But he said to him, “Man, who made me a
judge or arbitrator over you?” [15] And he said to them, “Take care, and
be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not
consist in the abundance of his possessions.” [16] And he told them a
parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, [17] and
he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my
crops?’ [18] And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and
build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
[19] And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for
many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ [20] But God said to him,
‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have
prepared, whose will they be?’ [21] So is the one who lays up treasure
for himself and is not rich toward God.”
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
[13]
But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by
the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through
sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. [14] To this he
called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. [15] So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the
traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by
our letter.
[16]
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us
and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, [17] comfort
your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
Psalm 147
[1] Praise the LORD!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
[2] The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
[3] He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
[4] He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
[5] Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
[6] The LORD lifts up the humble;
he casts the wicked to the ground.
[7] Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre!
[8] He covers the heavens with clouds;
he prepares rain for the earth;
he makes grass grow on the hills.
[9] He gives to the beasts their food,
and to the young ravens that cry.
[10] His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
[11] but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
[12] Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
[13] For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.
[14] He makes peace in your borders;
he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
[15] He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
[16] He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.
[17] He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold?
[18] He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
[19] He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and rules to Israel.
[20] He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know his rules.
Praise the LORD!
2 Chronicles 25
[1]
Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan
of Jerusalem. [2] And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet
not with a whole heart. [3] And as soon as the royal power was firmly
his, he killed his servants who had struck down the king his father. [4]
But he did not put their children to death, according to what is
written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded,
“Fathers shall not die because of their children, nor children die
because of their fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.”
[5]
Then Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by fathers’ houses
under commanders of thousands and of hundreds for all Judah and
Benjamin. He mustered those twenty years old and upward, and found that
they were 300,000 choice men, fit for war, able to handle spear and
shield. [6] He hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor from Israel for
100 talents of silver. [7] But a man of God came to him and said, “O
king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not
with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. [8] But go, act, be strong for
the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before
the enemy? For God has power to help or to cast down.” [9] And Amaziah
said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents
that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The
LORD is able to give you much more than this.” [10] Then Amaziah
discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim to go home again.
And they became very angry with Judah and returned home in fierce anger.
[11] But Amaziah took courage and led out his people and went to the
Valley of Salt and struck down 10,000 men of Seir. [12] The men of Judah
captured another 10,000 alive and took them to the top of a rock and
threw them down from the top of the rock, and they were all dashed to
pieces. [13] But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, not letting
them go with him to battle, raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to
Beth-horon, and struck down 3,000 people in them and took much spoil.
[14]
After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods
of the men of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshiped them,
making offerings to them. [15] Therefore the LORD was angry with Amaziah
and sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you sought the
gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand?”
[16] But as he was speaking, the king said to him, “Have we made you a
royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” So the prophet
stopped, but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you,
because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
[17]
Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent to Joash the son of
Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one
another in the face.” [18] And Joash the king of Israel sent word to
Amaziah king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon,
saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of
Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. [19] You say, ‘See, I
have struck down Edom,’ and your heart has lifted you up in
boastfulness. But now stay at home. Why should you provoke trouble so
that you fall, you and Judah with you?”
[20]
But Amaziah would not listen, for it was of God, in order that he might
give them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought the
gods of Edom. [21] So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah
king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs
to Judah. [22] And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to
his home. [23] And Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah,
the son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to
Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for 400 cubits, from the
Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. [24] And he seized all the gold and
silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God, in the
care of Obed-edom. He seized also the treasuries of the king’s house,
also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.
[25]
Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the
death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. [26] Now the rest of
the deeds of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the
Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? [27] From the time when he turned
away from the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and
he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to
death there. [28] And they brought him upon horses, and he was buried
with his fathers in the city of David.
2 Chronicles 26
[1]
And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and
made him king instead of his father Amaziah. [2] He built Eloth and
restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. [3] Uzziah
was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two
years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. [4] And
he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that
his father Amaziah had done. [5] He set himself to seek God in the days
of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he
sought the LORD, God made him prosper.
[6]
He went out and made war against the Philistines and broke through the
wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and he built
cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.
[7] God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who
lived in Gurbaal and against the Meunites. [8] The Ammonites paid
tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for
he became very strong. [9] Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at
the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the Angle, and fortified
them. [10] And he built towers in the wilderness and cut out many
cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the
plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the
fertile lands, for he loved the soil. [11] Moreover, Uzziah had an army
of soldiers, fit for war, in divisions according to the numbers in the
muster made by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer, under the
direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders. [12] The whole
number of the heads of fathers’ houses of mighty men of valor was 2,600.
[13] Under their command was an army of 307,500, who could make war
with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. [14] And Uzziah
prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows,
and stones for slinging. [15] In Jerusalem he made machines, invented
by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows
and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously
helped, till he was strong.
[16]
But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was
unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to
burn incense on the altar of incense. [17] But Azariah the priest went
in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor,
[18] and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you,
Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of
Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for
you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God.”
[19] Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn
incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on
his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD,
by the altar of incense. [20] And Azariah the chief priest and all the
priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And
they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because
the LORD had struck him. [21] And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of
his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was
excluded from the house of the LORD. And Jotham his son was over the
king’s household, governing the people of the land.
[22]
Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, Isaiah the
prophet the son of Amoz wrote. [23] And Uzziah slept with his fathers,
and they buried him with his fathers in the burial field that belonged
to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham his son reigned
in his place.
2 Chronicles 27
[1]
Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerushah the daughter
of Zadok. [2] And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD
according to all that his father Uzziah had done, except he did not
enter the temple of the LORD. But the people still followed corrupt
practices. [3] He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD and did
much building on the wall of Ophel. [4] Moreover, he built cities in the
hill country of Judah, and forts and towers on the wooded hills. [5] He
fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. And
the Ammonites gave him that year 100 talents of silver, and 10,000 cors
of wheat and 10,000 of barley. The Ammonites paid him the same amount in
the second and the third years. [6] So Jotham became mighty, because he
ordered his ways before the LORD his God. [7] Now the rest of the acts
of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written in
the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. [8] He was twenty-five years
old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
[9] And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city
of David, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
