Day 214 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 119:12–20

¹²Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes. ¹³With my lips I proclaim all the judgments of Your mouth. ¹⁴I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches. ¹⁵I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. ¹⁶I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. ¹⁷Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word. ¹⁸Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law. ¹⁹I am a stranger on the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me. ²⁰My soul is consumed with longing for Your judgments at all times.

New Testament·Acts 25

¹Three days after his arrival in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, ²where the chief priests and Jewish leaders presented their case against Paul. They urged Festus ³to grant them a concession against Paul by summoning him to Jerusalem, because they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. ⁴But Festus replied, “Paul is being held in Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. ⁵So if this man has done anything wrong, let some of your leaders come down with me and accuse him there.” ⁶After spending no more than eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered that Paul be brought in. ⁷When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they could not prove. ⁸Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” ⁹But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to stand trial before me on these charges?” ¹⁰Paul replied, “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. ¹¹If, however, I am guilty of anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no truth to their accusations against me, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!” ¹²Then Festus conferred with his council and replied, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!” ¹³After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice came down to Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. ¹⁴Since they were staying several days, Festus laid out Paul’s case before the king: “There is a certain man whom Felix left in prison. ¹⁵While I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews presented their case and requested a judgment against him. ¹⁶I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand a man over before he has had an opportunity to face his accusers and defend himself against their charges. ¹⁷So when they came here with me, I did not delay. The next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered that the man be brought in. ¹⁸But when his accusers rose to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. ¹⁹They only had some contentions with him regarding their own religion and a certain Jesus who had died, but whom Paul affirmed to be alive. ²⁰Since I was at a loss as to how to investigate these matters, I asked if he was willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges. ²¹But when Paul appealed to be held over for the decision of the Emperor, I ordered that he be held until I could send him to Caesar.” ²²Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.” “Tomorrow you will hear him,” Festus declared. ²³The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the auditorium, along with the commanders and leading men of the city. And Festus ordered that Paul be brought in. ²⁴Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man. The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him, both here and in Jerusalem, crying out that he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵But I found he had done nothing worthy of death, and since he has now appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶I have nothing definite to write to our sovereign one about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this inquiry I may have something to write. ²⁷For it seems unreasonable to me to send on a prisoner without specifying the charges against him.”

Old Testament·2 Chronicles 18–19

¹Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage. ²And some years later he went down to visit Ahab in Samaria, where Ahab sacrificed many sheep and cattle for him and the people with him, and urged him to march up to Ramoth-gilead. ³Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat replied, “I am like you, and my people are your people; we will join you in the war.” ⁴But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the word of the LORD.” ⁵So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should we refrain?” “Go up,” they replied, “and God will deliver it into the hand of the king.” ⁶But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here of whom we can inquire?” ⁷The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man who can ask the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied. ⁸So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.” ⁹Dressed in royal attire, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. ¹⁰Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself iron horns and declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are finished off.’” ¹¹And all the prophets were prophesying the same, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, for the LORD will deliver it into the hand of the king.” ¹²Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah instructed him, “Behold, with one accord the words of the prophets are favorable to the king. So please let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably.” ¹³But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will speak whatever my God tells me.” ¹⁴When Micaiah arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should we refrain?” “Go up and triumph,” Micaiah replied, “for they will be given into your hand.” ¹⁵But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the LORD?” ¹⁶So Micaiah declared: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.’” ¹⁷Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he never prophesies good for me, but only bad?” ¹⁸Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right and on His left. ¹⁹And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one suggested this, and another that. ²⁰Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ asked the LORD. ²¹And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’ ²²So you see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours, and the LORD has pronounced disaster against you.” ²³Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah went up, struck Micaiah in the face, and demanded, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go when He departed from me to speak with you?” ²⁴Micaiah replied, “You will soon see, on that day when you go and hide in an inner room.” ²⁵And the king of Israel declared, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son, ²⁶and tell them that this is what the king says: ‘Put this man in prison and feed him only bread and water until I return safely.’” ²⁷But Micaiah replied, “If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Take heed, all you people!” ²⁸So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. ²⁹And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. ³⁰Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.” ³¹When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “This is the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him. God drew them away from him. ³²And when the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. ³³However, a certain man drew his bow without taking special aim, and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So the king said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!” ³⁴The battle raged throughout that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. And at sunset he died.

19When Jehoshaphat king of Judah had returned safely to his home in Jerusalem, ²Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you. ³However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart on seeking God.” ⁴Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and once again he went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers. ⁵He appointed judges in the land, in each of the fortified cities of Judah. ⁶Then he said to the judges, “Consider carefully what you do, for you are not judging for man, but for the LORD, who is with you when you render judgment. ⁷And now, may the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.” ⁸Moreover, Jehoshaphat appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites, priests, and heads of the Israelite families to judge on behalf of the LORD and to settle disputes. And they lived in Jerusalem. ⁹He commanded them, saying, “You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the LORD. ¹⁰For every dispute that comes before you from your brothers who dwell in their cities—whether it regards bloodshed or some other violation of law, commandments, statutes, or ordinances—you are to warn them, so that they will not incur guilt before the LORD and wrath will not come upon you and your brothers. Do this, and you will not incur guilt. ¹¹Note that Amariah, the chief priest, will be over you in all that pertains to the LORD, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in all that pertains to the king. And the Levites will serve as officers before you. Act resolutely; may the LORD be with the upright!”