Church: +64 (09) 235 2238 Op Shop: +64 (09) 235 7914
Reading Plan
Day 164 Day 165Day 166

1 Kings chapter 15

1
In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Abijah became king of Judah,
2
and he ruled three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.
3
He committed the same sins as his father and was not completely loyal to the LORD his God, as his great-grandfather David had been.
4
But for David's sake the LORD his God gave Abijah a son to rule after him in Jerusalem and to keep Jerusalem secure.
5
The LORD did this because David had done what pleased him and had never disobeyed any of his commands, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
6
The war which had begun between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued throughout Abijah's lifetime.
7
And everything else that Abijah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.
8
Abijah died and was buried in David's City, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.
9
In the twentieth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa became king of Judah,
10
and he ruled forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom.
11
Asa did what pleased the LORD, as his ancestor David had done.
12
He expelled from the country all the male and female prostitutes serving at the pagan places of worship, and he removed all the idols his predecessors had made.
13
He removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene idol of the fertility goddess Asherah. Asa cut down the idol and burned it in Kidron Valley.
14
Even though Asa did not destroy all the pagan places of worship, he remained faithful to the LORD all his life.
15
He placed in the Temple all the objects his father had dedicated to God, as well as the gold and silver objects that he himself dedicated.
16
King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.
17
Baasha invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah.
18
So King Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the Temple and the palace, and sent it by some of his officials to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, the son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion, with this message:
19
"Let us be allies, as our fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he will have to pull his troops out of my territory."
20
King Benhadad agreed to Asa's proposal and sent his commanding officers and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, the area near Lake Galilee, and the whole territory of Naphtali.
21
When King Baasha heard what had happened, he stopped fortifying Ramah and went to Tirzah.
22
Then King Asa sent out an order throughout all of Judah requiring everyone, without exception, to help carry away from Ramah the stones and timber that Baasha had been using to fortify it. With this material Asa fortified Mizpah and Geba, a city in the territory of Benjamin.
23
Everything else that King Asa did, his brave deeds and the towns he fortified, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.But in his old age he was crippled by a foot disease.
24
Asa died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.
25
In the second year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, King Jeroboam's son Nadab became king of Israel, and he ruled for two years.
26
Like his father before him, he sinned against the LORD and led Israel into sin.
27
Baasha son of Ahijah, of the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab and killed him as Nadab and his army were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia.
28
This happened during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah. And so Baasha succeeded Nadab as king of Israel.
29
At once he began killing all the members of Jeroboam's family. In accordance with what the LORD had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh, all of Jeroboam's family were killed; not one survived.
30
This happened because Jeroboam aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, by the sins that he committed and that he caused Israel to commit.
31
Everything else that Nadab did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.
32
King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.
33
In the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel, and he ruled in Tirzah for twenty-four years.
34
Like King Jeroboam before him, he sinned against the LORD and led Israel into sin.

2 Chronicles chapter 13

1
In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Abijah became king of Judah,
2
and he ruled three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Micaiah daughter of Uriel, from the city of Gibeah. War broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam.
3
Abijah raised an army of 400,000 soldiers, and Jeroboam opposed him with an army of 800,000.
4
The armies met in the hill country of Ephraim. King Abijah went up Mount Zemaraim and called out to Jeroboam and the Israelites: "Listen to me!" he said.
5
"Don't you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, made an unbreakable covenant with David, giving him and his descendants kingship over Israel forever?
6
Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against Solomon, his king.
7
Later he gathered together a group of worthless scoundrels, and they forced their will on Rehoboam son of Solomon, who was too young and inexperienced to resist them.
8
Now you propose to fight against the royal authority that the LORD gave to David's descendants. You have a huge army and have with you the gold bull-calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods.
9
You drove out the LORD's priests, the descendants of Aaron, and you drove out the Levites. In their place you appointed priests in the same way that other nations do. Anybody who comes along with a bull or seven sheep can get himself consecrated as a priest of those so-called gods of yours.
10
"But we still serve the LORD our God and have not abandoned him. Priests descended from Aaron perform their duties, and Levites assist them.
11
Every morning and every evening they offer him incense and animal sacrifices burned whole. They present the offerings of bread on a table that is ritually clean, and every evening they light the lamps on the gold lampstand. We do what the LORD has commanded, but you have abandoned him.
12
God himself is our leader and his priests are here with trumpets, ready to blow them and call us to battle against you. People of Israel, don't fight against the LORD, the God of your ancestors! You can't win!"
13
Meanwhile Jeroboam had sent some of his troops to ambush the Judean army from the rear, while the rest faced them from the front.
14
The Judeans looked around and saw that they were surrounded. They cried to the LORD for help, and the priests blew the trumpets.
15
The Judeans gave a loud shout, and led by Abijah, they attacked; God defeated Jeroboam and the Israelite army.
16
The Israelites fled from the Judeans, and God let the Judeans overpower them.
17
Abijah and his army dealt the Israelites a crushing defeat---half a million of Israel's best soldiers were killed.
18
And so the people of Judah were victorious over Israel, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their ancestors.
19
Abijah pursued Jeroboam's army and occupied some of his cities: Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, and the villages near each of these cities.
20
Jeroboam never regained his power during Abijah's reign. Finally the LORD struck him down, and he died.
21
Abijah, however, grew more powerful. He had fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22
The rest of the history of Abijah, what he said and what he did, is written in The History of Iddo the Prophet.

2 Chronicles chapter 14

1
King Abijah died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City. His son Asa succeeded him as king, and under Asa the land enjoyed peace for ten years.
2
Asa pleased the LORD, his God, by doing what was right and good.
3
He removed the foreign altars and the pagan places of worship, broke down the sacred stone columns, and cut down the symbols of the goddess Asherah.
4
He commanded the people of Judah to do the will of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his teachings and commands.
5
Because he abolished the pagan places of worship and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, the kingdom was at peace under his rule.
6
He built fortifications for the cities of Judah during this time, and for several years there was no war, because the LORD gave him peace.
7
He told the people of Judah, "Let us fortify the cities by building walls and towers, and gates that can be shut and barred. We have control of the land because we have done the will of the LORD our God. He has protected us and given us security on every side." And so they built and prospered.
8
King Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, armed with shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin, armed with shields and bows. All of them were brave, well-trained men.
9
An Ethiopian named Zerah invaded Judah with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots and advanced as far as Mareshah.
10
Asa went out to fight him, and both sides took up their positions at Zephathah Valley near Mareshah.
11
Asa prayed to the LORD his God, "O LORD, you can help a weak army as easily as a powerful one. Help us now, O LORD our God, because we are relying on you, and in your name we have come out to fight against this huge army. LORD, you are our God; no one can hope to defeat you."
12
The LORD defeated the Ethiopian army when Asa and the Judean army attacked them. They fled,
13
and Asa and his troops pursued them as far as Gerar. So many of the Ethiopians were killed that the army was unable to rally and fight. They were overpowered by the LORD and his army, and the army took large amounts of loot.
14
Then they were able to destroy the cities in the area around Gerar, because the people there were terrified of the LORD. The army plundered all those cities and captured large amounts of loot.
15
They also attacked the camps of some shepherds, capturing large numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Philippians chapter 4

1
So then, my friends, how dear you are to me and how I miss you! How happy you make me, and how proud I am of you!---this, dear friends, is how you should stand firm in your life in the Lord.
2
Euodia and Syntyche, please, I beg you, try to agree as sisters in the Lord.
3
And you too, my faithful partner, I want you to help these women; for they have worked hard with me to spread the gospel, together with Clement and all my other fellow workers, whose names are in God's book of the living.
4
May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice!
5
Show a gentle attitude toward everyone. The Lord is coming soon.
6
Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart.
7
And God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus.
8
In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.
9
Put into practice what you learned and received from me, both from my words and from my actions. And the God who gives us peace will be with you.
10
In my life in union with the Lord it is a great joy to me that after so long a time you once more had the chance of showing that you care for me. I don't mean that you had stopped caring for me---you just had no chance to show it.
11
And I am not saying this because I feel neglected, for I have learned to be satisfied with what I have.
12
I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little.
13
I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.
14
But it was very good of you to help me in my troubles.
15
You Philippians know very well that when I left Macedonia in the early days of preaching the Good News, you were the only church to help me; you were the only ones who shared my profits and losses.
16
More than once when I needed help in Thessalonica, you sent it to me.
17
It is not that I just want to receive gifts; rather, I want to see profit added to your account.
18
Here, then, is my receipt for everything you have given me---and it has been more than enough! I have all I need now that Epaphroditus has brought me all your gifts. They are like a sweet-smelling offering to God, a sacrifice which is acceptable and pleasing to him.
19
And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs.
20
To our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
21
Greetings to each one of God's people who belong to Christ Jesus. The believers here with me send you their greetings.
22
All God's people here send greetings, especially those who belong to the Emperor's palace.
23
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Translate

enzh-CNnlfrdeitjakoptrues

Subscribe To Our Newsletter