Day 213 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 119:1–11

¹Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD. ²Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart. ³They do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. ⁴You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently. ⁵Oh, that my ways were committed to keeping Your statutes! ⁶Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments. ⁷I will praise You with an upright heart when I learn Your righteous judgments. ⁸I will keep Your statutes; do not utterly forsake me. ⁹How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word. ¹⁰With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments. ¹¹I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

New Testament·Acts 24

¹Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, who presented to the governor their case against Paul. ²When Paul had been called in, Tertullus opened the prosecution: “Because of you, we have enjoyed a lasting peace, and your foresight has brought improvements to this nation. ³In every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with all gratitude. ⁴But in order not to burden you any further, I beg your indulgence to hear us briefly. ⁵We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, ⁶and he even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him. ⁸By examining him yourself, you will be able to learn the truth about all our charges against him.” ⁹The Jews concurred, asserting that these charges were true. ¹⁰When the governor motioned for Paul to speak, he began his response: “Knowing that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I gladly make my defense. ¹¹You can verify for yourself that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹²Yet my accusers did not find me debating with anyone in the temple or riling up a crowd in the synagogues or in the city. ¹³Nor can they prove to you any of their charges against me. ¹⁴I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, ¹⁵and I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. ¹⁶In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man. ¹⁷After several years, then, I returned to Jerusalem to bring alms to my people and to present offerings. ¹⁸At the time they found me in the temple, I was ceremonially clean and was not inciting a crowd or an uproar. But there are some Jews from the province of Asia ¹⁹who ought to appear before you and bring charges, if they have anything against me. ²⁰Otherwise, let these men state for themselves any crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin, ²¹unless it was this one thing I called out as I stood in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’” ²²Then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing and said, “When Lysias the commander comes, I will decide your case.” ²³He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard, but to allow him some freedom and permit his friends to minister to his needs. ²⁴After several days, Felix returned with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵As Paul expounded on righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “You may go for now. When I find the time, I will call for you.” ²⁶At the same time, he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe. So he sent for Paul frequently and talked with him. ²⁷After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.

Old Testament·2 Chronicles 14–17

¹Then Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And his son Asa reigned in his place, and in his days the land was at peace for ten years. ²And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God. ³He removed the foreign altars and high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and chopped down the Asherah poles. ⁴He commanded the people of Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandments. ⁵He also removed the high places and incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and under him the kingdom was at peace. ⁶Because the land was at peace, Asa built fortified cities in Judah. In those days no one made war with him, because the LORD had given him rest. ⁷So he said to the people of Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with doors and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought Him and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin bearing small shields and drawing the bow. All these were mighty men of valor. ⁹Then Zerah the Cushite came against them with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots, and they advanced as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰So Asa marched out against him and lined up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. ¹¹Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.” ¹²So the LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled. ¹³Then Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. The Cushites fell and could not recover, for they were crushed before the LORD and His army. So the people of Judah carried off a great amount of plunder ¹⁴and attacked all the cities around Gerar, because the terror of the LORD had fallen upon them. They plundered all the cities, since there was much plunder there. ¹⁵They also attacked the tents of the herdsmen and carried off many sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

15Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. ²So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. ³For many years Israel has been without the true God, without a priest to instruct them, and without the law. ⁴But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought Him, and He was found by them. ⁵In those days there was no safety for travelers, because the residents of the lands had many conflicts. ⁶Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God afflicted them with all kinds of adversity. ⁷But as for you, be strong; do not be discouraged, for your work will be rewarded.” ⁸When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple. ⁹And he assembled all Judah and Benjamin, along with those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them, for great numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. ¹⁰So they gathered together in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹At that time they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from all the plunder they had brought back. ¹²Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. ¹³And whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, would be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. ¹⁴They took an oath to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, trumpets, and rams’ horns. ¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with all their heart. They had sought Him earnestly, and He was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side. ¹⁶King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷The high places were not removed from Israel, but Asa’s heart was fully devoted all his days. ¹⁸And he brought into the house of God the silver and gold articles that he and his father had dedicated. ¹⁹And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

16In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah. ²So Asa withdrew the silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he sent it with this message to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus: ³“Let there be a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold. Now go and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.” ⁴And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. ⁵When Baasha learned of this, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned his work. ⁶Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had used for building. And with these materials he built up Geba and Mizpah. ⁷At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and told him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. ⁹For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in this matter. From now on, therefore, you will be at war.” ¹⁰Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people. ¹¹Now the rest of the acts of Asa, from beginning to end, are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady became increasingly severe. Yet even in his illness he did not seek the LORD, but only the physicians. ¹³So in the forty-first year of his reign, Asa died and rested with his fathers. ¹⁴And he was buried in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier that was full of spices and various blended perfumes; then they made a great fire in his honor.

17Asa’s son Jehoshaphat reigned in his place, and he strengthened himself against Israel. ²He stationed troops in every fortified city of Judah and put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured. ³Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek out the Baals, ⁴but he sought the God of his father and walked by His commandments rather than the practices of Israel. ⁵So the LORD established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought him tribute, so that he had an abundance of riches and honor. ⁶And his heart took delight in the ways of the LORD; furthermore, he removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah. ⁷In the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah, ⁸accompanied by certain Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah—along with the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the LORD. They went throughout the towns of Judah and taught the people. ¹⁰And the dread of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that surrounded Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹Some Philistines also brought gifts and silver as tribute to Jehoshaphat, and the Arabs brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats from their flocks. ¹²Jehoshaphat grew stronger and stronger, and he built fortresses and store cities in Judah ¹³and kept vast supplies in the cities of Judah. He also had warriors in Jerusalem who were mighty men of valor. ¹⁴These are their numbers according to the houses of their fathers: From Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, and with him 300,000 mighty men of valor; ¹⁵next to him, Jehohanan the commander, and with him 280,000; ¹⁶and next to him, Amasiah son of Zichri, the volunteer for the LORD, and with him 200,000 mighty men of valor. ¹⁷From Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valor, and with him 200,000 armed with bows and shields; ¹⁸and next to him, Jehozabad, and with him 180,000 armed for battle. ¹⁹These were the men who served the king, besides those he stationed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.