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Daily Readings for August 17
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1Kings 12
1.Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2.It happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam lived in Egypt, 3.and they sent and called him), that Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4."Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you."
5.He said to them, "Depart for three days, then come back to me."
The people departed. 6.King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, "What counsel do you give me to return answer to this people?"
7.They spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever."
8.But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9.He said to them, "What counsel do you give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, 'Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter?'"
10.The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall tell this people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter to us;' you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. 11.Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'"
12.So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king asked, saying, "Come to me again the third day." 13.The king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, 14.and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."
15.So the king didn't listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about of Yahweh, that he might establish his word, which Yahweh spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16.When all Israel saw that the king didn't listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What portion have we in David? Neither do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David." So Israel departed to their tents.
17.But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. 18.Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. 19.So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day. 20.It happened, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. 21.When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22.But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23."Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, 24.'Thus says Yahweh, "You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers, the children of Israel. Everyone return to his house; for this thing is of me."'" So they listened to the word of Yahweh, and returned and went their way, according to the word of Yahweh.
25.Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived in it; and he went out from there, and built Penuel. 26.Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. 27.If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah." 28.Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and see your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" 29.He set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. 30.This thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan. 31.He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi. 32.Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; he did so in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. 33.He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar, to burn incense.
Jeremiah 38
1.Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying, 2.Thus says Yahweh, He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he shall live. 3.Thus says Yahweh, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. 4.Then the princes said to the king, "Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn't seek the welfare of this people, but the hurt." 5.Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you. 6.Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire. 7.Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin), 8.Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying, 9.My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city. 10.Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies. 11.So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. 12.Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the cords. Jeremiah did so. 13.So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard. 14.Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of Yahweh: and the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me. 15.Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? and if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me. 16.So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, As Yahweh lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life. 17.Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel: If you will go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and you shall live, and your house. 18.But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape out of their hand. 19.Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me. 20.But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver you. Obey, I beg you, the voice of Yahweh, in that which I speak to you: so it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live. 21.But if you refuse to go forth, this is the word that Yahweh has shown me: 22.behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Your familiar friends have set you on, and have prevailed over you: [now that] your feet are sunk in the mire, they are turned away back. 23.They shall bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans; and you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and you shall cause this city to be burned with fire. 24.Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and you shall not die. 25.But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and tell you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king; don't hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you: 26.then you shall tell them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there. 27.Then came all the princes to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived. 28.So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.
Mark 12
1.He began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country. 2.When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard. 3.They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty. 4.Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 5.Again he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some. 6.Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 7.But those farmers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8.They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. 9.What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others. 10.Haven't you even read this Scripture: 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. 11.This was from the Lord, it is marvelous in our eyes'?"34
12.They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him, and went away. 13.They sent some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words. 14.When they had come, they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you are honest, and don't defer to anyone; for you aren't partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15.Shall we give, or shall we not give?"
But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it."
16.They brought it.
He said to them, "Whose is this image and inscription?"
They said to him, "Caesar's."
17.Jesus answered them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
They marveled greatly at him.
18.There came to him Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection. They asked him, saying, 19."Teacher, Moses wrote to us, 'If a man's brother dies, and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up offspring for his brother.' 20.There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and dying left no offspring. 21.The second took her, and died, leaving no children behind him. The third likewise; 22.and the seven took her and left no children. Last of all the woman also died. 23.In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife."
24.Jesus answered them, "Isn't this because you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God? 25.For when they will rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26.But about the dead, that they are raised; haven't you read in the book of Moses, about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'35? 27.He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are therefore badly mistaken."
28.One of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together. Knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the greatest of all?"
29.Jesus answered, "The greatest is, 'Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: 30.you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'36 This is the first commandment. 31.The second is like this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'37 There is no other commandment greater than these."
32.The scribe said to him, "Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he, 33.and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
34.When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
No one dared ask him any question after that. 35.Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36.For David himself said in the Holy Spirit, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet."'38
37.Therefore David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?"
The common people heard him gladly. 38.In his teaching he said to them, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces, 39.and the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts: 40.those who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation."
41.Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. 42.A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins,39 which equal a quadrans coin.40 43.He called his disciples to himself, and said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, 44.for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on."