Day 180 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 104:25–35

²⁵Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both great and small. ²⁶There the ships pass, and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there. ²⁷All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season. ²⁸When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things. ²⁹When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust. ³⁰When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth. ³¹May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in His works. ³²He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder. ³³I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. ³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD. ³⁵May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah!

New Testament·Acts 5:1–12

¹Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. ²With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds for himself, but brought a portion and laid it at the apostles’ feet. ³Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land? ⁴Did it not belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How could you conceive such a deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God!” ⁵On hearing these words, Ananias fell down and died. And great fear came over all who heard what had happened. ⁶Then the young men stepped forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. ⁷About three hours later his wife also came in, unaware of what had happened. ⁸“Tell me,” said Peter, “is this the price you and your husband got for the land?” “Yes,” she answered, “that is the price.” ⁹“How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter replied. “Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” ¹⁰At that instant she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events. ¹²The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people, and with one accord the believers gathered together in Solomon’s Colonnade.

Old Testament·2 Kings 7–8

¹Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel.’” ²But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.” ³Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die? ⁴If we say, ‘Let us go into the city,’ we will die there from the famine in the city; but if we sit here, we will also die. So come now, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.” ⁵So they arose at twilight and went to the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the outskirts of the camp, there was not a man to be found. ⁶For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.” ⁷Thus the Arameans had arisen and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents and horses and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had run for their lives. ⁸When the lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they carried off the silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. On returning, they entered another tent, carried off some items from there, and hid them. ⁹Finally, they said to one another, “We are not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our sin will overtake us. Now, therefore, let us go and tell the king’s household.” ¹⁰So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city, saying, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a trace—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.” ¹¹The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported to the king’s household. ¹²So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and enter the city.’” ¹³But one of his servants replied, “Please, have scouts take five of the horses that remain in the city. Their plight will be no worse than all the Israelites who are left here. You can see that all the Israelites here are doomed. So let us send them and find out.” ¹⁴Then the scouts took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵And they tracked them as far as the Jordan, and indeed, the whole way was littered with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in haste. So the scouts returned and told the king. ¹⁶Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. It was then that a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. ¹⁷Now the king had appointed the officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king had come to him. ¹⁸It happened just as the man of God had told the king: “About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel.” ¹⁹And the officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” So Elisha had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” ²⁰And that is just what happened to him. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

8Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine, and it has already come to the land.” ²So the woman had proceeded to do as the man of God had instructed. And she and her household lived as foreigners for seven years in the land of the Philistines. ³At the end of seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to the king to appeal for her house and her land. ⁴Now the king had been speaking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please relate to me all the great things Elisha has done.” ⁵And Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had revived came to appeal to the king for her house and her land. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha restored to life.” ⁶When the king asked the woman, she confirmed it. So the king appointed for her an officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the country until now.” ⁷Then Elisha came to Damascus while Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and the king was told, “The man of God has come here.” ⁸So the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand, go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” ⁹So Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift of forty camel loads of every good thing from Damascus. And he went in and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” ¹⁰Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that in fact he will die.” ¹¹Elisha fixed his gaze steadily on him until Hazael became uncomfortable. Then the man of God began to weep. ¹²“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.” ¹³“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” ¹⁴So Hazael left Elisha and went to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he replied, “He told me that you would surely recover.” ¹⁵But the next day Hazael took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face. So Ben-hadad died, and Hazael reigned in his place. ¹⁶In the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat succeeded his father as king of Judah. ¹⁷Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. ¹⁸And Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For he married a daughter of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD. ¹⁹Yet for the sake of His servant David, the LORD was unwilling to destroy Judah, since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever. ²⁰In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king. ²¹So Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. When the Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, he rose up and attacked by night. His troops, however, fled to their homes. ²²So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled at the same time. ²³As for the rest of the acts of Jehoram, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁴And Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Ahaziah reigned in his place. ²⁵In the twelfth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah. ²⁶Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷And Ahaziah walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab. ²⁸Then Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram. ²⁹So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.