Day 178 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 104:6–15

⁶You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. ⁷At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away— ⁸the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You assigned for them— ⁹You set a boundary they cannot cross, that they may never again cover the earth. ¹⁰He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains. ¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. ¹²The birds of the air nest beside the springs; they sing among the branches. ¹³He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works. ¹⁴He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth: ¹⁵wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

New Testament·Acts 3:11–26

¹¹While the man clung to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and ran to them in the walkway called Solomon’s Colonnade. ¹²And when Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you surprised by this? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him. ¹⁴You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. ¹⁵You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of the fact. ¹⁶By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know has been made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has given him this complete healing in your presence. ¹⁷And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. ¹⁸But in this way God has fulfilled what He foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer. ¹⁹Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, ²⁰that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you. ²¹Heaven must take Him in until the time comes for the restoration of all things, which God announced long ago through His holy prophets. ²²For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He tells you. ²³Everyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from among his people.’ ²⁴Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have proclaimed these days. ²⁵And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’ ²⁶When God raised up His Servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

Old Testament·2 Kings 3–4

¹In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah, Jehoram son of Ahab became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria twelve years. ²And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as his father and mother had done. He removed the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made. ³Nevertheless, he clung to the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them. ⁴Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he would render to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. ⁵But after the death of Ahab, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶So at that time King Jehoram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel. ⁷And he sent a message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” “I will go,” replied Jehoshaphat. “I am like you, my people are your people, and my horses are your horses.” ⁸Then he asked, “Which way shall we go up?” “By way of the Desert of Edom,” replied Joram. ⁹So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out, and after they had traveled a roundabout route for seven days, they had no water for their army or for their animals. ¹⁰“Alas,” said the king of Israel, “for the LORD has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab!” ¹¹But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here? Let us inquire of the LORD through him.” And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.” ¹²Jehoshaphat affirmed, “The word of the LORD is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. ¹³Elisha, however, said to the king of Israel, “What have we to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and of your mother!” “No,” replied the king of Israel, “for it is the LORD who has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab.” ¹⁴Then Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not for my regard for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or acknowledge you. ¹⁵But now, bring me a harpist.” And while the harpist played, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha ¹⁶and he said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Dig this valley full of ditches.’ ¹⁷For the LORD says, ‘You will not see wind or rain, but the valley will be filled with water, and you will drink—you and your cattle and your animals.’ ¹⁸This is a simple matter in the sight of the LORD, and He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. ¹⁹And you shall attack every fortified city and every city of importance. You shall cut down every good tree, stop up every spring, and ruin every good field with stones.” ²⁰The next morning, at the time of the morning sacrifice, water suddenly flowed from the direction of Edom and filled the land. ²¹Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. So all who could bear arms, young and old, were summoned and stationed at the border. ²²When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water, and it looked as red as blood to the Moabites across the way. ²³“This is blood!” they exclaimed. “The kings have clashed swords and slaughtered one another. Now to the plunder, Moab!” ²⁴But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked them, and they fled before them. So the Israelites invaded their land and struck down the Moabites. ²⁵They destroyed the cities, and each man threw stones on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up every spring and cut down every good tree. Only Kir-haraseth was left with stones in place, but men with slings surrounded it and attacked it as well. ²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not prevail. ²⁷So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. And there was great fury against the Israelites, so they withdrew and returned to their own land.

4Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!” ²“How can I help you?” asked Elisha. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” ³“Go,” said Elisha, “borrow jars, even empty ones, from all your neighbors. Do not gather just a few. ⁴Then go inside, shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these jars, setting the full ones aside.” ⁵So she left him, and after she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing jars to her, and she kept pouring. ⁶When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another.” But he replied, “There are no more jars.” Then the oil stopped flowing. ⁷She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the remainder.” ⁸One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to have a meal. So whenever he would pass by, he would stop there to eat. ⁹Then the woman said to her husband, “Behold, now I know that the one who often comes our way is a holy man of God. ¹⁰Please let us make a small room upstairs and put in it a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there.” ¹¹One day Elisha came to visit and went to his upper room to lie down. ¹²And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call the Shunammite woman.” And when he had called her, she stood before him, ¹³and Elisha said to Gehazi, “Now tell her, ‘Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’” “I have a home among my own people,” she replied. ¹⁴So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?” “Well, she has no son,” Gehazi replied, “and her husband is old.” ¹⁵“Call her,” said Elisha. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶And Elisha declared, “At this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she said. “Do not lie to your maidservant, O man of God.” ¹⁷But the woman did conceive, and at that time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her. ¹⁸And the child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the harvesters. ¹⁹“My head! My head!” he complained to his father. So his father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰After the servant had picked him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. ²¹And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut the door and went out. ²²And the woman called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and return.” ²³“Why would you go to him today?” he replied. “It is not a New Moon or a Sabbath.” “Everything is all right,” she said. ²⁴Then she saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Drive onward; do not slow the pace for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman. ²⁶Please run out now to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’” And she answered, “Everything is all right.” ²⁷When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.” ²⁸Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’” ²⁹So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.” ³⁰And the mother of the boy said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her. ³¹Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.” ³²When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed. ³³So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. ³⁴Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand. As he stretched himself out over him, the boy’s body became warm. ³⁵Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. ³⁶Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out. ³⁸When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.” ³⁹One of them went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment could hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. ⁴⁰And they poured it out for the men to eat, but when they tasted the stew they cried out, “There is death in the pot, O man of God!” And they could not eat it. ⁴¹Then Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot. ⁴²Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha. ⁴³But his servant asked, “How am I to set twenty loaves before a hundred men?” “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha, “for this is what the LORD says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” ⁴⁴So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.