Daily Readings for August 23

Daily Readings for August 23
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1Kings 18

1.It happened after many days, that the word of Yahweh came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth."

2.Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria. 3.Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly: 4.for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Yahweh, that Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) 5.Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals."

6.So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. 7.As Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, "Is it you, my lord Elijah?"

8.He answered him, "It is I. Go, tell your lord, 'Behold, Elijah is here!'"

9.He said, "Wherein have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? 10.As Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom, where my lord has not sent to seek you. When they said, 'He is not here,' he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they didn't find you. 11.Now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Behold, Elijah is here."' 12.It will happen, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of Yahweh will carry you I don't know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can't find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth. 13.Wasn't it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh, how I hid one hundred men of Yahweh's prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14.Now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Behold, Elijah is here;"' and he will kill me."

15.Elijah said, "As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today." 16.So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17.It happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"

18.He answered, "I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh, and you have followed the Baals. 19.Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and four hundred fifty of the prophets of Baal, and four hundred of the prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

20.So Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to Mount Carmel. 21.Elijah came near to all the people, and said, "How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him."

The people answered him not a word.

22.Then Elijah said to the people, "I, even I only, am left a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal's prophets are four hundred fifty men. 23.Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it. 24.You call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh. The God who answers by fire, let him be God."

All the people answered, "It is well said."

25.Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it."

26.They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made. 27.It happened at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, "Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened."

28.They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29.It was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the offering; but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any who regarded.

30.Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me;" and all the people came near to him. He repaired the altar of Yahweh that was thrown down. 31.Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh came, saying, "Israel shall be your name." 32.With the stones he built an altar in the name of Yahweh. He made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. 33.He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, "Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood." 34.He said, "Do it a second time;" and they did it the second time. He said, "Do it a third time;" and they did it the third time. 35.The water ran around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.

36.It happened at the time of the offering of the offering, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, "Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37.Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again."

38.Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39.When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, "Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!"

40.Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Don't let one of them escape!"

They seized them. Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there. 41.Elijah said to Ahab, "Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain."

42.So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. 43.He said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea."

He went up, and looked, and said, "There is nothing."

He said, "Go again" seven times.

44.It happened at the seventh time, that he said, "Behold, a small cloud, like a man's hand, is rising out of the sea."

He said, "Go up, tell Ahab, 'Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn't stop you.'"

45.It happened in a little while, that the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. 46.The hand of Yahweh was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Jeremiah 44

1.The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2.Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwells therein, 3.because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, [and] to serve other gods, that they didn't know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. 4.However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Oh, don't do this abominable thing that I hate. 5.But they didn't listen, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. 6.Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day. 7.Therefore now thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel: Why do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the midst of Judah, to leave yourselves none remaining; 8.in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live; that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9.Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10.They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. 11.Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah. 12.I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an object of horror, [and] an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. 13.For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; 14.so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, shall escape or be left, to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save such as shall escape. 15.Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 16.As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of Yahweh, we will not listen to you. 17.But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil. 18.But since we left off burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 19.When we burned incense to the queen of the sky, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands? 20.Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying, 21.The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn't Yahweh remember them, and didn't it come into his mind? 22.so that Yahweh could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. 23.Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is this day. 24.Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt: 25.Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, saying, You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her: establish then your vows, and perform your vows. 26.Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says Yahweh, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the Lord Yahweh lives. 27.Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them. 28.Those who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, or theirs. 29.This shall be the sign to you, says Yahweh, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: 30.Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.

1Corinthians 3

1.Brothers, I couldn't speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. 2.I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren't yet ready. Indeed, not even now are you ready, 3.for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren't you fleshly, and don't you walk in the ways of men? 4.For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," aren't you fleshly? 5.Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him? 6.I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. 7.So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8.Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9.For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's farming, God's building. 10.According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it. 11.For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12.But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble; 13.each man's work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man's work is. 14.If any man's work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. 15.If any man's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.

16.Don't you know that you are a temple of God, and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17.If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, which you are. 18.Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. 19.For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He has taken the wise in their craftiness."⁶ 20.And again, "The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless."⁷ 21.Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22.whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, 23.and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.