Daily Readings for August 26

Daily Readings for August 26
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1Kings 21

1.It happened after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2.Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money."

3.Naboth said to Ahab, "May Yahweh forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!"

4.Ahab came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. 5.But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, "Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?"

6.He said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, 'Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.' He answered, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'"

7.Jezebel his wife said to him, "Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." 8.So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. 9.She wrote in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 10.Set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'You cursed God and the king!' Then carry him out, and stone him to death."

11.The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. 12.They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 13.The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. The base fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king!" Then they carried him out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones. 14.Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned, and is dead."

15.It happened, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead."

16.It happened, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. 17.The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18."Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. 19.You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Have you killed and also taken possession?"' You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh, "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours."'"

20.Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?"

He answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh. 21.Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall,⁹ and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. 22.I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Israel to sin." 23.Yahweh also spoke of Jezebel, saying, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. 24.The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the field."

25.But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. 26.He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel. 27.It happened, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.

28.The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29."See how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son's days will I bring the evil on his house."

Jeremiah 48

1.Of Moab. Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is disappointed, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame and broken down. 2.The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, Madmen, shall be brought to silence: the sword shall pursue you. 3.The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction! 4.Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. 5.For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction. 6.Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness. 7.For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also shall be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together. 8.The destroyer shall come on every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as Yahweh has spoken. 9.Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get her away: and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein. 10.Cursed is he who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood. 11.Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed. 12.Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will send to him those who pour off, and they shall pour him off; and they shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces. 13.Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence. 14.How do you say, We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war? 15.Moab is laid waste, and they are gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies. 16.The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast. 17.All you who are around him, bemoan him, and all you who know his name; say, How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod! 18.You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your strongholds. 19.Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch: ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, What has been done? 20.Moab is disappointed; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. 21.Judgment has come on the plain country, on Holon, and on Jahzah, and on Mephaath, 22.and on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth Diblathaim, 23.and on Kiriathaim, and on Beth Gamul, and on Beth Meon, 24.and on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. 25.The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says Yahweh. 26.Make him drunken; for he magnified himself against Yahweh: and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision. 27.For wasn't Israel a derision to you? was he found among thieves? for as often as you speak of him, you shake your head. 28.You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss. 29.We have heard of the pride of Moab, [that] he is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart. 30.I know his wrath, says Yahweh, that it is nothing; his boastings have worked nothing. 31.Therefore will I wail for Moab; yes, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir Heres shall they mourn. 32.With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you, vine of Sibmah: your branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer: on your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer is fallen. 33.Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses: none shall tread with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting. 34.From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate. 35.Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says Yahweh, him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods. 36.Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres: therefore the abundance that he has gotten is perished. 37.For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the waist sackcloth. 38.On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which none delights, says Yahweh. 39.How is it broken down! [how] do they wail! how has Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him. 40.For thus says Yahweh: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab. 41.Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. 42.Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Yahweh. 43.Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are on you, inhabitant of Moab, says Yahweh. 44.He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation, says Yahweh. 45.Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. 46.Woe to you, O Moab! the people of Chemosh is undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity. 47.Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

1Corinthians 7

1.Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2.But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3.Let the husband render to his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4.The wife doesn't have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband doesn't have authority over his own body, but the wife. 5.Don't deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn't tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6.But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment. 7.Yet I wish that all men were like me. However each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind. 8.But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am. 9.But if they don't have self-control, let them marry. For it's better to marry than to burn. 10.But to the married I command--not I, but the Lord--that the wife not leave her husband 11.(but if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband not leave his wife.

12.But to the rest I--not the Lord--say, if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her. 13.The woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is content to live with her, let her not leave her husband. 14.For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15.Yet if the unbeliever departs, let there be separation. The brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace. 16.For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? 17.Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the assemblies.

18.Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. 19.Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. 20.Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called. 21.Were you called being a bondservant? Don't let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it. 22.For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord's free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ's bondservant. 23.You were bought with a price. Don't become bondservants of men. 24.Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.

25.Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy. 26.I think that it is good therefore, because of the distress that is on us, that it is good for a man to be as he is. 27.Are you bound to a wife? Don't seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don't seek a wife. 28.But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you. 29.But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none; 30.and those who weep, as though they didn't weep; and those who rejoice, as though they didn't rejoice; and those who buy, as though they didn't possess; 31.and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away. 32.But I desire to have you to be free from cares. He who is unmarried is concerned for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; 33.but he who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. 34.There is also a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world--how she may please her husband. 35.This I say for your own profit; not that I may ensnare you, but for that which is appropriate, and that you may attend to the Lord without distraction. 36.But if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn't sin. Let them marry. 37.But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own heart, to keep his own virgin, does well. 38.So then both he who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and he who doesn't give her in marriage does better. 39.A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord. 40.But she is happier if she stays as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I also have God's Spirit.