Bible Readings for July 18, 2017

Today our passages are 1 Chronicles 26:12–27:34; Romans 4:13–5:5; Psalm 14:1-7; and Proverbs 19:17. The readings are from the Contemporary English Version. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Steet, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal by using the link below.

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1 Chronicles 26:12-27:34 (Contemporary English Version)

¹²The guards were divided into groups, according to their family leaders, and they were assigned duties at the temple, just like the other Levites. ¹³Each group, no matter how large or small, was assigned a gate to guard, and they let the LORD show them what he wanted done. ^[a] ¹⁴Shelemiah ^[b] was chosen to guard the East Gate. Zechariah his son was a wise man and was chosen to guard the North Gate. ¹⁵Obed-Edom was then chosen to guard the South Gate, and his sons were chosen to guard the storerooms. ¹⁶Shuppim and Hosah were chosen to guard the West Gate and the Shallecheth Gate on the upper road. The guards were assigned the following work schedule: ¹⁷Each day six guards were on duty on the east side of the temple, four were on duty on the north side, and four were on duty on the south side. Two guards were stationed at each of the two storerooms, ¹⁸four were stationed along the road leading to the west courtyard, ^[c] and two guards stayed in the court itself. ¹⁹These were the guard duties assigned to the men from the clans of Korah and Merari.
   

Guards Are Assigned to the Treasury

 ²⁰The Levites who were relatives of the Korahites and the Merarites were ^[d] in charge of guarding the temple treasury and the gifts that had been dedicated to God. ²¹Ladan was from the Gershon clan and was the father of Jehieli. Many of his other descendants were family leaders in the clan. ^[e] ²²Jehieli was the father of Zetham and Joel, and they were responsible for guarding the treasury. ²³Other guards at the treasury were from the Kohathite clans of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.     ²⁴Shebuel was a descendant of Gershom the son of Moses. He was the chief official in charge of the temple treasury. ²⁵The descendants of Gershom's brother Eliezer included Rehabiah, Jeshaiah, Joram, Zichri, and Shelomoth.
    ²⁶Shelomoth and his relatives were in charge of all the gifts that were dedicated to the LORD. These included the gifts that King David had dedicated, as well as those dedicated by the family leaders, army officers, and army commanders. ²⁷And whenever valuable things were captured in battle, these men brought some of them to the temple. ²⁸Shelomoth and his relatives were responsible for any gifts that had been given to the temple, including those from Samuel the prophet, King Saul the son of Kish, Abner the son of Ner, ^[f] and Joab the son of Zeruiah.

Other Officers Are Assigned Their Duties

 ²⁹Chenaniah from the Izhar clan and his sons were government officials and judges. They did not work at the temple.     ³⁰Hashabiah from the Hebron clan and one thousand seven hundred of his skilled relatives were the officials in charge of all religious and government business in the Israelite territories west of the Jordan River.
    ^31-32Jerijah was the leader of the Hebron clan. David assigned him and two thousand seven hundred of his relatives, who were all respected family leaders, to be the officials in charge of all religious and government business in the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. David found out about these men during the fortieth year of his rule, when he had a list made of all the families in the Hebron clan. They were from the town of Jazer in the territory of Gilead.
   

1 Chronicles 27

David Assigns Army Commanders

 ¹Each month a group of twenty-four thousand men served as soldiers in Israel's army. These men, which included the family leaders, army commanders, and officials of the king, were under the command of the following men, arranged by the month of their service:     ²In the first month, Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel, ³a descendant of Perez;
    ⁴in the second month, Dodai the Ahohite, whose assistant was Mikloth; ^[g] ⁵in the third month, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada the priest, ⁶who was the leader of the Thirty Warriors, and whose son Ammizabad was also an army commander; ^[h] ⁷in the fourth month, Asahel the brother of Joab, whose son Zebadiah took over command after him;
    ⁸in the fifth month, Shamhuth from the Izrah clan;
    ⁹in the sixth month, Ira the son of Ikkesh from Tekoa;
    ¹⁰in the seventh month, Helez from Pelon in the territory of Ephraim;
    ¹¹in the eighth month, Sibbecai from Hushah of the Zerah clan;
    ¹²in the ninth month, Abiezer from Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin;
    ¹³in the tenth month, Maharai from Netophah of the Zerah clan;
    ¹⁴in the eleventh month, Benaiah from Pirathon in the territory of Ephraim;
    ¹⁵in the twelfth month, Heldai from Netophah, who was a descendant of Othniel.
   

David Assigns Tribal Leaders

 ^16-22Here is a list of the leaders of each tribe in Israel:    Eliezer son of Zichri was over Reuben: Shephatiah son of Maacah was over Simeon; Hashabiah son of Kemuel was over the Levites, and Zadok the priest was over the descendants of Aaron; Elihu the brother of David was over Judah; Omri son of Michael was over Issachar; Ishmaiah son of Obadiah was over Zebulun; Jerimoth son of Azriel was over Naphtali; Hoshea son of Azaziah was over Ephraim; Joel son of Pedaiah was over West Manasseh; Iddo son of Zechariah was over East Manasseh; Jaasiel son of Abner was over Benjamin; Azarel son of Jeroham was over Dan.
    ²³When David decided to count the people of Israel, he gave orders not to count anyone under twenty years of age, because the LORD had promised long ago that Israel would have as many people as there are stars in the sky. ²⁴Joab the son of Zeruiah had begun to count the people, but he stopped when the LORD began punishing Israel. So the total number was never included in David's official records.
   

Officials in Charge of the King's Property

 ²⁵Azmaveth the son of Adiel was in charge of the king's personal storage rooms. Jonathan the son of Uzziah was in charge of the king's other storerooms that were in the towns, the villages, and the defense towers in Israel.     ²⁶Ezri the son of Chelub was in charge of the workers who farmed the king's land.
    ²⁷Shimei from Ramah was in charge of the vineyards, and Zabdi from Shepham was in charge of storing the wine.
    ²⁸Baal Hanan from Geder was in charge of the olive and sycamore trees in the western foothills, and Joash was in charge of storing the olive oil.
    ²⁹Shitrai from Sharon was responsible for the cattle that were kept in Sharon Plain, and Shaphat son of Adlai was responsible for those kept in the valleys.
    ³⁰Obil the Ishmaelite was in charge of the camels, Jehdeiah from Meronoth was in charge of the donkeys, and Jaziz the Hagrite was in charge of the sheep and goats.
    ³¹These were the men in charge of David's royal property.
   

David's Personal Advisors

 ³²David's uncle Jonathan was a wise and intelligent advisor. He and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni taught David's sons.     ³³Ahithophel and Hushai the Archite were two of David's advisors. ³⁴Jehoiada the son of Benaiah was the king's advisor after Ahithophel, and later, Abiathar was his advisor.
   Joab was commander of Israel's army.
   

Footnotes:

1. 1 Chronicles 26:13 they let the LORD show them what he wanted done: The Hebrew text has "they cast lots to find out what the LORD wanted done" (see the note at 6.65).
2. 1 Chronicles 26:14 Shelemiah: Another spelling for Meshelemiah.
3. 1 Chronicles 26:18 courtyard: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
4. 1 Chronicles 26:20 The Levites. . . were: One ancient translation; Hebrew "Ahijah the Levite was."
5. 1 Chronicles 26:21 Many of his other. . . clan: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
6. 1 Chronicles 26:28 Abner the son of Ner: Abner was King Saul's uncle (see 9.39).
7. 1 Chronicles 27:4 whose. . . Mikloth: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
8. 1 Chronicles 27:6 whose son Ammizabad. . . army commander: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

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Romans 4:13-5:5 (Contemporary English Version)

The Promise Is for All Who Have Faith

 ¹³God promised Abraham and his descendants that he would give them the world. This promise wasn't made because Abraham had obeyed a law, but because his faith in God made him acceptable. ¹⁴If Abraham and his descendants were given this promise because they had obeyed a law, then faith would mean nothing, and the promise would be worthless.     ¹⁵God becomes angry when his Law is broken. But where there isn't a law, it cannot be broken. ¹⁶Everything depends on having faith in God, so that God's promise is assured by his great kindness. This promise isn't only for Abraham's descendants who have the Law. It is for all who are Abraham's descendants because they have faith, just as he did. Abraham is the ancestor of us all. ¹⁷The Scriptures say that Abraham would become the ancestor of many nations. This promise was made to Abraham because he had faith in God, who raises the dead to life and creates new things.
    ¹⁸God promised Abraham a lot of descendants. And when it all seemed hopeless, Abraham still had faith in God and became the ancestor of many nations. ¹⁹Abraham's faith never became weak, not even when he was nearly a hundred years old. He knew that he was almost dead and that his wife Sarah could not have children. ²⁰But Abraham never doubted or questioned God's promise. His faith made him strong, and he gave all the credit to God.
    ²¹Abraham was certain that God could do what he had promised. ²²So God accepted him, ²³just as we read in the Scriptures. But these words were not written only for Abraham. ²⁴They were written for us, since we will also be accepted because of our faith in God, who raised our Lord Jesus to life. ²⁵God gave Jesus to die for our sins, and he raised him to life, so that we would be made acceptable to God.
   

Romans 5

What It Means To Be Acceptable to God

 ¹By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace ^[a] with God. ²Christ has also introduced us ^[b] to God's undeserved kindness on which we take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God. ³But that's not all! We gladly suffer, ^[c] because we know that suffering helps us to endure. ⁴And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope ⁵that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love.

Footnotes:

1. Romans 5:1 we live at peace: Some manuscripts have " let us live at peace."
2. Romans 5:2 introduced us: Some manuscripts add " by faith."
3. Romans 5:3 We gladly suffer: Or " Let us gladly suffer."

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Psalm 14:1-7 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 14

(A psalm by David for the music leader.)

No One Can Ignore the LORD

 ¹Only a fool would say,    "There is no God!"
   People like that are worthless;
   they are heartless and cruel
   and never do right.
    ²From heaven the LORD
   looks down to see
   if anyone is wise enough
   to search for him.
    ³But all of them are corrupt;
   no one does right.
    ⁴Won't you evil people learn?
   You refuse to pray,
   and you gobble down
   the LORD's people.
    ⁵But you will be frightened,
   because God is on the side
   of every good person.
    ⁶You may spoil the plans
   of the poor,
   but the LORD protects them.
    ⁷I long for someone from Zion
   to come and save Israel!
   Our LORD, when you bless
   your people again,
   Jacob's family will be glad,
   and Israel will celebrate.

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Proverbs 19:17 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁷Caring for the poor
   is lending to the LORD,
   and you will be well repaid.

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Verse of the Day

“I will do right and praise you by learning to respect your perfect laws.” - Psalm 119:7

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate, Norman Cousins wrote, “History is a vast early warning system.”

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Verse of the Day

This fellow is looking to buy a saw to cut down some trees in his back yard. He goes to a chainsaw shop and asks about various chainsaws. The dealer tells him, "Look, I have a lot of models, but why don't you save yourself a lot of time and aggravation and get the top-of-the-line model. This chainsaw will cut a hundred cords of wood for you in one day." 

So, the man takes the chainsaw home and begins working on the trees. After cutting for several hours and only cutting two cords, he decides to quit. He thinks there is something wrong with the chainsaw. "How can I cut for hours and only cut two cords?" the man asks himself. "I will begin first thing in the morning and cut all day," the man tells himself. So, the next morning the man gets up at 4 am in the morning and cuts and cuts, and cuts till nightfall, and still he only manages to cut five cords. 
The man is convinced this is a bad saw. "The dealer told me it would cut one hundred cords of wood in a day, no problem. I will take this saw back to the dealer," the man says to himself. 

The very next day the man brings the saw back to the dealer and explains the problem. The dealer, baffled by the man's claim, removes the chainsaw from the case. The dealer says, "Hmm, it looks fine." 


Then the dealer starts the chainsaw, to which the man responds, "What's that noise?