Day 188 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 106:19–27

¹⁹At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image. ²⁰They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox. ²¹They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt, ²²wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. ²³So He said He would destroy them— had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them. ²⁴They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise. ²⁵They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD. ²⁶So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness, ²⁷to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.

New Testament·Acts 9:1–30

¹Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest ²and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” ⁵“Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied. ⁶“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” ⁷The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. ⁹For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything. ¹⁰In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered. ¹¹“Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. ¹²In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” ¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.” ¹⁵“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel. ¹⁶I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.” ¹⁷So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized, ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. ²⁰Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.” ²¹All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” ²²But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. ²³After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him, ²⁴but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him. ²⁵One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall. ²⁶When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. ²⁷Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who spoke to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly in that city in the name of Jesus. ²⁸So Saul stayed with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem and speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. ³⁰When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Old Testament·2 Kings 21–22

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ²And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. ³For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven. ⁴Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.” ⁵In both courtyards of the house of the LORD, he built altars to all the host of heaven. ⁶He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. ⁷Manasseh even took the carved Asherah pole he had made and set it up in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever. ⁸I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they are careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole Law that My servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹But the people did not listen and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites. ¹⁰And the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹“Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites who preceded him, and with his idols has caused Judah to sin, ¹²this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it. ¹³I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. And they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵because they have done evil in My sight and have provoked Me to anger from the day their fathers came out of Egypt until this day.’” ¹⁶Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the LORD. ¹⁷As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁸And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And his son Amon reigned in his place. ¹⁹Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. ²⁰And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹He walked in all the ways of his father, and he served and worshiped the idols his father had served. ²²He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD. ²³Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his palace. ²⁴But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place. ²⁵As for the rest of the acts of Amon, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah reigned in his place.

22Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. ²And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the scribe, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the house of the LORD, saying, ⁴“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him count the money that has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. ⁵And let them deliver it into the hands of the supervisors of those doing the work on the house of the LORD, who in turn are to give it to the workmen repairing the damages to the house of the LORD— ⁶to the carpenters, builders, and masons—to buy timber and dressed stone to repair the temple. ⁷But they need not account for the money put into their hands, since they work with integrity.” ⁸Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD!” And he gave it to Shaphan, who read it. ⁹And Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported, “Your servants have paid out the money that was found in the temple and have put it into the hands of the workers and supervisors of the house of the LORD.” ¹⁰Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. ¹¹When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes ¹²and commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king: ¹³“Go and inquire of the LORD for me, for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words in this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book by doing all that is written about us.” ¹⁴So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went and spoke to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the Second District. ¹⁵And Huldah said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Tell the man who sent you ¹⁶that this is what the LORD says: I am about to bring calamity on this place and on its people, according to all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read, ¹⁷because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. My wrath will be kindled against this place and will not be quenched.’ ¹⁸But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘As for the words that you heard, ¹⁹because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD. ²⁰‘Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place.’” So they brought her answer back to the king.