Daily Readings for September 13
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2Kings 19

 

1.It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Yahweh. 2.He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3.They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. 4.It may be Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

5.So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6.Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall tell your master, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Don't be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7.Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."'"

8.So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9.When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "Behold, he has come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10.'Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, "Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11.Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered? 12.Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar? 13.Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?"'"

14.Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the house of Yahweh, and spread it before Yahweh. 15.Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sit above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16.Incline your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent to defy the living God. 17.Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18.and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. 19.Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Yahweh, are God alone."

20.Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you. 21.This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him: "The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 22.Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. 23.By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, 'With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field. 24.I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.' 25.Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now have I brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 26.Therefore their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like grain blasted before it has grown up. 27.But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging against me. 28.Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came."

29."'This shall be the sign to you: You shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit. 30.The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 31.For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of Yahweh will perform this.'

32."Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, 'He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. 33.By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come to this city,' says Yahweh. 34.'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'"

35.It happened that night, that the angel of Yahweh went out, and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36.So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh. 37.It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

 

Ezekiel 9

 

1.Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. 2.Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in their midst clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar. 3.The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side. 4.Yahweh said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in its midst. 5.To the others he said in my hearing, Go through the city after him, and strike: don't let your eye spare, neither have pity; 6.kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don't come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house. 7.He said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth! They went forth, and struck in the city. 8.It happened, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell on my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem? 9.Then he said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion: for they say, Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn't see. 10.As for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head. 11.Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.

 

Luke 5

 

1.Now it happened, while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. 2.He saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3.He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. 4.When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch."

5.Simon answered him, "Master, we worked all night, and took nothing; but at your word I will let down the net." 6.When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking. 7.They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came, and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8.But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord." 9.For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had caught; 10.and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive."

11.When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him. 12.It happened, while he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face, and begged him, saying, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean."

13.He stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be made clean."

Immediately the leprosy left him. 14.He commanded him to tell no one, "But go your way, and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing according to what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them." 15.But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. 16.But he withdrew himself into the desert, and prayed.

17.It happened on one of those days, that he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them. 18.Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before Jesus. 19.Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the midst before Jesus. 20.Seeing their faith, he said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."

21.The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?"

22.But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, "Why are you reasoning so in your hearts? 23.Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you;' or to say, 'Arise and walk?' 24.But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (he said to the paralyzed man), "I tell you, arise, and take up your cot, and go to your house."

25.Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God. 26.Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today."

27.After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, "Follow me!"

28.He left everything, and rose up and followed him. 29.Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them. 30.Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?" 31.Jesus answered them, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 32.I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

33.They said to him, "Why do John's disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?"

34.He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 35.But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days." 36.He also told a parable to them. "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. 37.No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38.But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. 39.No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"

 

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