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Sat 2023-12-16 1 Kings13 Philippians4 Ezekiel43 Psalms95 Psalms96
1 Kings 13.
13:1 By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering.
13:2 He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.'"
13:3 That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out."
13:4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.
13:5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the LORD.
13:6 Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before.
13:7 The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift."
13:8 But the man of God answered the king, "Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here.
13:9 For I was commanded by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.'"
13:10 So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
13:11 Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king.
13:12 Their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken.
13:13 So he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it
13:14 and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" "I am," he replied.
13:15 So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat."
13:16 The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.
13:17 I have been told by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.'"
13:18 The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (But he was lying to him.)
13:19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.
13:20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the old prophet who had brought him back.
13:21 He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you.
13:22 You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.'"
13:23 When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him.
13:24 As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was thrown down on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it.
13:25 Some people who passed by saw the body thrown down there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.
13:26 When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who defied the word of the LORD. The LORD has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the LORD had warned him."
13:27 The prophet said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," and they did so.
13:28 Then he went out and found the body thrown down on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey.
13:29 So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him.
13:30 Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, "Oh, my brother!"
13:31 After burying him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.
13:32 For the message he declared by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true."
13:33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places.
13:34 This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.
Philippians 4.
4:1 Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
4:2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.
4:3 Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
4:9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
4:10 I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
4:12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
4:14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.
4:15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only;
4:16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.
4:17 Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.
4:18 I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
4:20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
4:21 Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings.
4:22 All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household.
Ezekiel 43.
43:1 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east,
43:2 and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.
43:3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.
43:4 The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.
43:5 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
43:6 While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple.
43:7 He said: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name--neither they nor their kings--by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places.
43:8 When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger.
43:9 Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings, and I will live among them forever.
43:10 "Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan,
43:11 and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple--its arrangement, its exits and entrances--its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.
43:12 "This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.
43:13 "These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits, that cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth: Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span around the edge. And this is the height of the altar:
43:14 From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge it is two cubits high and a cubit wide, and from the smaller ledge up to the larger ledge it is four cubits high and a cubit wide.
43:15 The altar hearth is four cubits high, and four horns project upward from the hearth.
43:16 The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide.
43:17 The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide, with a rim of half a cubit and a gutter of a cubit all around. The steps of the altar face east."
43:18 Then he said to me, "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings and sprinkling blood upon the altar when it is built:
43:19 You are to give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, who are Levites, of the family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me, declares the Sovereign LORD.
43:20 You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the upper ledge and all around the rim, and so purify the altar and make atonement for it.
43:21 You are to take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.
43:22 "Oj the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified as it was purified with the bull.
43:23 When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.
43:24 You are to offer them before the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.
43:25 "For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.
43:26 For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it.
43:27 At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Sovereign LORD."
Psalms 95.
95:1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
95:2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
95:3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.
95:4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
95:5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
95:6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
95:7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice,
95:8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert,
95:9 where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did.
95:10 For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways."
95:11 So I declared on oath in my anger, "They shall never enter my rest."
Psalms 96.
96:1 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
96:2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
96:3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
96:4 For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
96:6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
96:7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
96:8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.
96:9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
96:10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
96:11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
96:12 let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
96:13 they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.