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Daily Readings for August 25
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1Kings 20
1.Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together; and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it. 2.He sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city, and said to him, "Thus says Ben Hadad, 3.'Your silver and your gold is mine. Your wives also and your children, even the best, are mine.'"
4.The king of Israel answered, "It is according to your saying, my lord, O king. I am yours, and all that I have."
5.The messengers came again, and said, "Ben Hadad says, 'I sent indeed to you, saying, "You shall deliver me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children; 6.but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house, and the houses of your servants; and it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away."'"
7.Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, "Please notice how this man seeks mischief; for he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I didn't deny him."
8.All the elders and all the people said to him, "Don't listen, neither consent."
9.Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, "Tell my lord the king, 'All that you sent for to your servant at the first I will do; but this thing I cannot do.'"
The messengers departed, and brought him back the message. 10.Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, "The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me."
11.The king of Israel answered, "Tell him, 'Don't let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.'"
12.It happened, when Ben Hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, that he said to his servants, "Prepare to attack!" They prepared to attack the city.
13.Behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this day; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.'"
14.Ahab said, "By whom?"
He said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'By the young men of the princes of the provinces.'"
Then he said, "Who shall begin the battle?"
He answered, "You."
15.Then he mustered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two. After them, he mustered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand. 16.They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him. 17.The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, "Men are coming out from Samaria."
18.He said, "If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive."
19.So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them. 20.They each killed his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. 21.The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter. 22.The prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, "Go, strengthen yourself, and mark, and see what you do; for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you."
23.The servants of the king of Syria said to him, "Their god is a god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. 24.Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place. 25.Muster an army, like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. We will fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than them."
He listened to their voice, and did so. 26.It happened at the return of the year, that Ben Hadad mustered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel. 27.The children of Israel were mustered, and were provisioned, and went against them. The children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of young goats; but the Syrians filled the country. 28.A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Because the Syrians have said, "Yahweh is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys;" therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.'"
29.They encamped one over against the other seven days. So it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand footmen of the Syrians in one day. 30.But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben Hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner room. 31.His servants said to him, "See now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on our bodies, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Maybe he will save your life."
32.So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, "Your servant Ben Hadad says, 'Please let me live.'"
He said, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."
33.Now the men observed diligently, and hurried to take this phrase; and they said, "Your brother Ben Hadad."
Then he said, "Go, bring him."
Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. 34.Ben Hadad said to him, "The cities which my father took from your father I will restore. You shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria."
"I," said Ahab, "will let you go with this covenant." So he made a covenant with him, and let him go.
35.A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by the word of Yahweh, "Please strike me!"
The man refused to strike him. 36.Then he said to him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, behold, as soon as you are departed from me, a lion shall kill you." As soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and killed him.
37.Then he found another man, and said, "Please strike me."
The man struck him, smiting and wounding him. 38.So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. 39.As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, "Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, 'Guard this man! If by any means he be missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.' 40.As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone."
The king of Israel said to him, "So your judgment shall be; you yourself have decided it."
41.He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized that he was of the prophets. 42.He said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'"
43.The king of Israel went to his house sullen and angry, and came to Samaria.
Jeremiah 47
1.The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before that Pharaoh struck Gaza. 2.Thus says Yahweh: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail. 3.At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don't look back to their children for feebleness of hands; 4.because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains: for Yahweh will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. 5.Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself? 6.You sword of Yahweh, how long will it be before you be quiet? Put up yourself into your scabbard; rest, and be still. 7.How can you be quiet, since Yahweh has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there has he appointed it.
1Corinthians 6
1.Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2.Don't you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3.Don't you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4.If then, you have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you set them to judge who are of no account in the assembly? 5.I say this to move you to shame. Isn't there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers? 6.But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers! 7.Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you, that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8.No, but you yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that against your brothers. 9.Or don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, 10.nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11.Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. 12."All things are lawful for me," but not all things are expedient. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be brought under the power of anything. 13."Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods," but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14.Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power. 15.Don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16.Or don't you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, "The two," says he, "will become one flesh."9 17.But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. 18.Flee sexual immorality! "Every sin that a man does is outside the body," but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19.Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own, 20.for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.