Day 157 – June 6, 2022

2 Chronicles 24:15-26:23

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who watched over the people, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Since you forsook the Lord, He shall forsake you.’ ” ²¹ So they conspired against Zechariah, and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. ²² Thus Joash the king did not remember the mercy Jehoiada his father had shown him, but killed his son. As he died, he said, “May the Lord see and judge!”
Death of Joash
²³ So after the end of the year, the army of Syria came up against him. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, but the Lord delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. They executed judgment against Joash. ²⁵ When Syria withdrew, they had left him severely wounded. Then his own servants conspired against him, because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. He died, and they buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. ²⁶ Those who conspired against him were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite. ²⁷ He had five sons. Everything else that is written about him is in the annals of the Book of the Kings. Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
Amaziah Is King of Judah
​¹ Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ² And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart. ³ As soon as the kingdom was established for him, he executed his servants who murdered his father the king. ⁴ However, he did not execute their children, for as it is written in the Law in the Book of Moses where the Lord commands, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall the sons be put to death for their fathers, but each person shall die for his own sin.”
War against Edom
⁵ Amaziah gathered the house of Judah then according to their fathers’ houses throughout Judah and Jerusalem, and set over them captains of thousands and captains of hundreds. He numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found there were three hundred thousand mighty men who could go to war with spear and shield. ⁶ And from Israel for one hundred talents of silver he hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valor. ⁷ But a man of God came to him, saying, “King, the army of Israel will not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, nor with any of the sons of Ephraim; ⁸ and if you try to be strong in battle, the Lord will cast you down before the enemy, for the Lord has power to strengthen and to overthrow.” ⁹ Then Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents I gave the army of Israel?” And the man of God answered, “The Lord can give you more than this.” ¹⁰ So Amaziah discharged the troops that had come to him from Ephraim and sent them back home. Therefore their anger was greatly aroused against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.
¹¹ And Amaziah strengthened himself and led his people and went to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand of the sons of Seir. ¹² The sons of Judah took ten thousand men captive, brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from there. They were all dashed to pieces. ¹³ As for the sons of the army Amaziah discharged so they would not go to war with him, they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon and killed three thousand in them, and took a great deal of spoil. ¹⁴ After Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, set them up to be his gods, and bowed down before them and burned incense to them. ¹⁵ Therefore the anger of the Lord was aroused against Amaziah, and He sent prophets who said to him, “Why did you seek the gods of the people who could not rescue their own people from your hand?” ¹⁶ As he talked with him, the king said to him, “Have we made you the king’s counselor? Be careful so that you are not scourged!” Then the prophet ceased, and said, “I know that God determines to destroy you, because you did not heed my advice and you did this thing.”
  Judah Defeated by Israel
¹⁷ Now Amaziah king of Judah sought advice and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu the king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another in battle.” ¹⁸ And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife,’ and the beasts of the field will come in Lebanon, and the beasts came and trampled the thistle. ¹⁹ Indeed, you say you defeated the Edomites, and your heart is lifted up to boast. Stay at home now. Why should you meddle with trouble and fall, you and Judah with you?”
²⁰ But Amaziah did not listen, as it came from God for him to be given into the hands of his enemies, since he sought the gods of Edom. ²¹ So Joash king of Israel went out, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ²² And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his tent. ²³ Then Joash the king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, at Beth Shemesh. And Joash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the walls of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate—four hundred cubits. ²⁴ And he took all the gold and silver, all the articles that were found in the house of the Lord with Obed-Edom, the treasures of the king’s house, and the sons of mixed marriages, and returned to Samaria.
²⁵ Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷ When Amaziah turned from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they went after him to Lachish and killed him there. ²⁸ Then they brought him on horses and buried him with his fathers in the City of David.
Uzziah Is King of Judah
​¹ Now all the people of the land took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. ² He built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king rested with his fathers. ³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. ⁴ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to everything his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He sought the Lord in the days of Zechariah, who was wise in the fear of the Lord. And as long as he sought the Lord, the Lord made him prosper.
⁶ Now he went out and made war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. And he built cities around Ashdod and among the Philistines. ⁷ God strengthened him against the foreigners, against the Arabs who lived in the rock, and against the Meunites. ⁸ And the Meunites brought tribute to Uzziah. His fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he became exceedingly strong. ⁹ And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress of the wall, and he fortified them. ¹⁰ He also built towers in the desert. He dug many wells, for he had a great deal of livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains. He had vine-dressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved the soil.
¹¹ Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by companies, according to the number on their roll as prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains. ¹² The total number of chief officers of the mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred. ¹³ And the power of an expert military force, equal to three hundred seven thousand five hundred, was with them to help the king against the enemy. ¹⁴ And for each of them in the army, Uzziah prepared shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slings for stones. ¹⁵ And in Jerusalem, he built devices invented by skilled men for the launching of javelins and large stones, and placed them on the towers and corners of the devices. And the fame of his preparing for war was heard far and wide, for he was helped marvelously till he became strong.
  The Pride and Downfall of Uzziah
¹⁶ But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction; for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the incense altar. ¹⁷ So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty valiant priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ And they challenged King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have rebelled against the Lord! You shall have no honor from the Lord God.”
¹⁹ Then Uzziah became furious with the priests while holding a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, next to the incense altar. ²⁰ And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked on, for he was leprous on his forehead. So they thrust him out of the place. And indeed he hurried, because the Lord reproached him.
²¹ King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death, and because he was a leper he dwelt in an isolated house and was excluded from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, are written by the prophet Isaiah. ²³ So Uzziah rested with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial that belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” Then Jotham his son reigned in his place.
Psalm 121

​¹ An ode of ascents.

I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go into the house of the Lord.”

² Our feet stand in your courts, O Jerusalem.

³ Jerusalem is built as a city

Whose compactness is complete.

⁴ There the tribes went up,

The tribes of the Lord, a testimony to Israel,

  To give thanks to the name of the Lord.

⁵ For thrones sat there for judgment,

Thrones over the house of David.

⁶ Ask now for things regarding the peace of Jerusalem,

And there is prosperity for those who love you;

⁷ Let there now be peace in your power

And prosperity in your citadels.

⁸ For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors,

I indeed spoke peace concerning you;

⁹ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I sought good things for you.

Psalm 122

​¹ An ode of ascents.

I lift my eyes to You,

Who dwell in heaven.

² Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters,

As the eyes of the maidservant look to the hands of her mistress,

So our eyes look to the Lord our God

Until He shall have compassion on us.

³ Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us,

For we are greatly filled with contempt;

⁴ Our soul is greatly filled with it.

We are a disgrace to those who prosper,

And a contempt to the arrogant.

Proverbs 27:19–24¹⁹ As faces are not like other faces,

So neither are the hearts of men.

²⁰ Hades and destruction are not satiated;

In like manner the eyes of men are also insatiable.

²¹ He whose eye is fixed is an abomination to the Lord,

And the uninstructed are intemperate with the tongue.

²² Proving by fire is a way of testing for silver and gold,

But a man is tested by the mouth of those who praise him.

²³ A lawless heart seeks evil things,

But an upright heart seeks knowledge.

²⁴ If you should whip a man without discernment in the midst of the council and dishonor him,

You would not remove his lack of discernment.

John 15

​¹ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
² “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
³ “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
⁴ “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
⁶ “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
⁷ “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
⁸ “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Love and Joy Perfected
⁹ “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
¹⁰ “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
¹² “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
¹³ “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
¹⁴ “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
¹⁵ “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
¹⁶ “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
¹⁷ “These things I command you, that you love one another.
The World’s Hatred
¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
¹⁹ “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
²⁰ “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
²¹ “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
²² “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
²³ “He who hates Me hates My Father also.
²⁴ “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
  ²⁵ “But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
The Coming Rejection
²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
²⁷ “And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.