Bible Readings for July 30, 2019

Today our passages are 2 Chronicles 26:1–28:27; Romans 13:1-14; Psalm 23:1-6; and Proverbs 20:11. 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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2 Chronicles 26-28:27 (Contemporary English Version)

2 Chronicles 26

King Uzziah of Judah

(2 Kings 14.21,22; 15.1-7)

 ^1-3After the death of King Amaziah, the people of Judah crowned his son Uzziah ^[a] king, even though he was only sixteen at the time. Uzziah ruled fifty-two years from Jerusalem, the hometown of his mother Jecoliah. During his rule, he recaptured and rebuilt the town of Elath.    ⁴He obeyed the LORD by doing right, as his father Amaziah had done.
   ⁵Zechariah was Uzziah's advisor and taught him to obey God. And so, as long as Zechariah was alive, Uzziah was faithful to God, and God made him successful.
   ⁶While Uzziah was king, he started a war against the Philistines. He smashed the walls of the cities of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, then rebuilt towns around Ashdod and in other parts of Philistia.
   ⁷God helped him defeat the Philistines, the Arabs living in Gur-Baal, and the Meunites.
   ⁸Even the Ammonites paid taxes to Uzziah. He became very powerful, and people who lived as far away as Egypt heard about him.
   ⁹In Jerusalem, Uzziah built fortified towers at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the place where the city wall turned inward. ^[b]
   ¹⁰He also built defense towers out in the desert. He owned such a large herd of livestock in the western foothills and in the flatlands, that he had cisterns dug there to catch the rainwater. He loved farming, so he had crops and vineyards planted in the hill country wherever there was fertile soil, and he hired farmers to take care of them.
   ¹¹Uzziah's army was always ready for battle. Jeiel and Maaseiah were the officers who kept track of the number of soldiers, and these two men were under the command of Hananiah, one of Uzziah's officials.
   ^12-13There were 307,500 trained soldiers, all under the command of 2,600 clan leaders. These powerful troops protected the king against any enemy.
   ¹⁴Uzziah supplied his army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and stones used for slinging.
   ¹⁵Some of his skilled workers invented machines that could shoot arrows and sling large stones. Uzziah set these up in Jerusalem at his defense towers and at the corners of the city wall.
   God helped Uzziah become more and more powerful, and he was famous all over the world.     

Uzziah Becomes Too Proud

 ¹⁶Uzziah became proud of his power, and this led to his downfall.    One day, Uzziah disobeyed the LORD his God by going into the temple and burning incense as an offering to him. ^[c]
   ¹⁷Azariah the priest and eighty other brave priests followed Uzziah into the temple
   ¹⁸and said, "Your Majesty, this isn't right! You are not allowed to burn incense to the LORD. That must be done only by priests who are descendants of Aaron. You will have to leave! You have sinned against the LORD, and so he will no longer bless you."
   ¹⁹Uzziah, who was standing next to the incense altar at the time, was holding the incense burner, ready to offer incense to the LORD. He became very angry when he heard Azariah's warning, and leprosy ^[d] suddenly appeared on his forehead!
   ²⁰Azariah and the other priests saw it and immediately told him to leave the temple. Uzziah realized that the LORD had punished him, so he hurried to get outside.
   ²¹Uzziah had leprosy the rest of his life. He was no longer allowed in the temple or in his own palace. That's why his son Jotham lived there and ruled in his place.
   ²²Everything else Uzziah did while he was king is in the records written by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
   ²³Since Uzziah had leprosy, he could not be buried in the royal tombs. Instead, he was buried in a nearby cemetery that the kings owned. His son Jotham then became king.
    

2 Chronicles 27

King Jotham of Judah

(2 Kings 15.32-38)

 ¹Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for sixteen years. Jerushah his mother was the daughter of Zadok.    ²Jotham obeyed the LORD and did right. He followed the example of his father Uzziah, except he never burned incense in the temple as his father had done. But the people of Judah kept sinning against the LORD.
   ³Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple and did a lot of work to repair the wall near Mount Ophel.
   ⁴He built towns in the mountains of Judah and built fortresses and defense towers in the forests.
   ⁵During his rule he attacked and defeated the Ammonites. Then every year for the next three years, he forced them to pay four tons of silver, sixty thousand bushels of wheat, and sixty thousand bushels of barley.
   ⁶Jotham remained faithful to the LORD his God and became a very powerful king.
   ⁷Everything else Jotham did while he was king, including the wars he fought, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
   ⁸After he had ruled Judah sixteen years, he died at the age of forty-one.
   ⁹He was buried in Jerusalem, and his son Ahaz became king.
    

2 Chronicles 28

King Ahaz of Judah

(2 Kings 16.1-4)

 ¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for sixteen years.    Ahaz was nothing like his ancestor David. Ahaz disobeyed the LORD
   ²and was as sinful as the kings of Israel. He made idols of the god Baal,
   ³and he offered sacrifices in Hinnom Valley. Worst of all, Ahaz sacrificed his own sons, which was a disgusting custom of the nations that the LORD had forced out of Israel.
   ⁴Ahaz offered sacrifices at the local shrines, ^[e] as well as on every hill and in the shade of large trees.     

Syria and Israel Attack Judah

(2 Kings 16.5,6)

 ^5-6Ahaz and the people of Judah sinned and turned away from the LORD, the God their ancestors had worshiped. So the LORD punished them by letting their enemies defeat them.    The king of Syria attacked Judah and took many of its people to Damascus as prisoners. King Pekah ^[f] of Israel later defeated Judah and killed one hundred twenty thousand of its bravest soldiers in one day.
   ⁷During that battle, an Israelite soldier named Zichri killed three men from Judah: Maaseiah the king's son; Azrikam, the official in charge of the palace; and Elkanah, the king's second in command.
   ⁸The Israelite troops captured two hundred thousand women and children and took them back to their capital city of Samaria, along with a large amount of their possessions. They did these things even though the people of Judah were their own relatives.     

Oded the Prophet Condemns Israel

 ⁹Oded lived in Samaria and was one of the LORD's prophets. He met Israel's army on their way back from Judah and said to them:    The LORD God of your ancestors let you defeat Judah's army only because he was angry with them. But you should not have been so cruel!
   ¹⁰If you make slaves of the people of Judah and Jerusalem, you will be as guilty as they are of sinning against the LORD.
   ¹¹Send these prisoners back home--they are your own relatives. If you don't, the LORD will punish you in his anger.
   ¹²About the same time, four of Israel's leaders arrived. They were Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai. They agreed with Oded that the Israelite troops were wrong,
   ¹³and they said:
   If you bring these prisoners into Samaria, that will be one more thing we've done to sin against the LORD. And he is already angry enough at us.
   ¹⁴So in front of the leaders and the crowd, the troops handed over their prisoners and the property they had taken from Judah.
   ¹⁵The four leaders took some of the stolen clothes and gave them to the prisoners who needed something to wear. They later gave them all a new change of clothes and shoes, then fixed them something to eat and drink, and cleaned their wounds with olive oil. They gave donkeys to those who were too weak to walk, and led all of them back to Jericho, the city known for its palm trees. The leaders then returned to Samaria.     

Ahaz Asks the King of Assyria for Help

(2 Kings 16.7-9)

 ^16-18Some time later, the Edomites attacked the eastern part of Judah again and carried away prisoners. And at the same time, the Philistines raided towns in the western foothills and in the Southern Desert. They conquered the towns of Beth-Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo, including the villages around them. Then some of the Philistines went to live in these places.    Ahaz sent a message to King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria and begged for help.
   ¹⁹But God was punishing Judah with these disasters, because Ahaz had disobeyed him and refused to stop Judah from sinning.
   ²⁰So Tiglath Pileser came to Judah, but instead of helping, he made things worse.
   ²¹Ahaz gave him gifts from the LORD's temple and the king's palace, as well as from the homes of Israel's other leaders. The Assyrian king still refused to help Ahaz.     

The Final Sin of Ahaz and His Death

 ²²Even after all these terrible things happened to Ahaz, he sinned against the LORD even worse than before.    ²³He said to himself, "The Syrian gods must have helped their kings defeat me. Maybe if I offer sacrifices to those gods, they will help me." That was the sin that finally led to the downfall of Ahaz, as well as to the destruction of Judah.
   ²⁴Ahaz collected all the furnishings of the temple and smashed them to pieces. Then he locked the doors to the temple and set up altars to foreign gods on every street corner in Jerusalem.
   ²⁵In every city and town in Judah he built local shrines ^[g] to worship foreign gods. All of this made the LORD God of his ancestors very angry.
   ²⁶Everything else Ahaz did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
   ²⁷Ahaz died and was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal tombs. His son Hezekiah then became king.
   

Footnotes:

1. 2 Chronicles 26:1 Uzziah: In the parallel passages in 2 Kings, he is called "Azariah" (see also 1 Chronicles 3.10-15). He is also called "Uzziah" in 2 Kings 15.13; Isaiah 1.1; Hosea 1.1; and Amos 1.1. One of these names was probably his birth name, while the other was his name after he became king.
2. 2 Chronicles 26:9 the place where the city wall turned inward: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
3. 2 Chronicles 26:16 going into the temple and burning incense as an offering to him: This was to be done only by priests (see Exodus 30.1-10; Numbers 16.39,40).
4. 2 Chronicles 26:19 leprosy: The word translated "leprosy" was used for many different kinds of skin diseases.
5. 2 Chronicles 28:4 local shrines: See the note at 11.15.
6. 2 Chronicles 28:5 Pekah: Hebrew "Pekah son of Remaliah."
7. 2 Chronicles 28:25 local shrines: See the note at 11.15.

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Romans 13:1-14 (Contemporary English Version)

Romans 13

Obey Rulers

 ¹Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power. ²People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and they will be punished. ³Rulers are a threat to evil people, not to good people. There is no need to be afraid of the authorities. Just do right, and they will praise you for it. ⁴After all, they are God's servants, and it is their duty to help you.    If you do something wrong, you ought to be afraid, because these rulers have the right to punish you. They are God's servants who punish criminals to show how angry God is. ⁵But you should obey the rulers because you know it is the right thing to do, and not just because of God's anger.
    ⁶You must also pay your taxes. The authorities are God's servants, and it is their duty to take care of these matters. ⁷Pay all that you owe, whether it is taxes and fees or respect and honor.     

Love

 ⁸Let love be your only debt! If you love others, you have done all that the Law demands. ⁹In the Law there are many commands, such as, "Be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not want what belongs to others." But all of these are summed up in the command that says, "Love others as much as you love yourself." ¹⁰No one who loves others will harm them. So love is all that the Law demands.     

The Day When Christ Returns

 ¹¹You know what sort of times we live in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know that the day when we will be saved is nearer now than when we first put our faith in the Lord. ¹²Night is almost over, and day will soon appear. We must stop behaving as people do in the dark and be ready to live in the light. ¹³So behave properly, as people do in the day. Don't go to wild parties or get drunk or be vulgar or indecent. Don't quarrel or be jealous. ¹⁴Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear. Then you won't try to satisfy your selfish desires.

 

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Psalm 23:1-6 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 23

(A psalm by David.)

The Good Shepherd

 ¹You, LORD, are my shepherd.    I will never be in need.
    ²You let me rest in fields
   of green grass.
   You lead me to streams
   of peaceful water,
    ³and you refresh my life.
   You are true to your name,
   and you lead me
   along the right paths.
    ⁴I may walk through valleys
   as dark as death,
   but I won't be afraid.
   You are with me,
   and your shepherd's rod ^[a] makes me feel safe.
    ⁵You treat me to a feast,
   while my enemies watch.
   You honor me as your guest,
   and you fill my cup
   until it overflows.
    ⁶Your kindness and love
   will always be with me
   each day of my life,
   and I will live forever
   in your house, LORD.
    

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 23:4 shepherd's rod: The Hebrew text mentions two objects carried by the shepherd: a club to defend against wild animals and a long pole to guide and control the sheep.

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Proverbs 20:11 (Contemporary English Version)

¹¹The good or bad
   that children do
   shows what they are like. 

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Verse of the Day

“You are like light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden, Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven.” - Matthew 5:14,16 

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865, Abraham Lincoln wrote, “It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”

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A Joke for Today

The Pope just finished a tour of the East Coast and was taking a limousine to the airport. Since he'd never driven a limo, he asked the chauffeur if he could drive for a while. The reluctant chauffeur pulled over along the roadside, climbed into the back of the limo, and the Pope took the wheel. The Pope then merged onto the highway and accelerated to over 90 mph to see what the limo could do. 

Suddenly, the Pope noticed the blue light of the State Patrol in his side mirror, so he pulled over. The trooper approached the limo, peered in through the windows, then said, "Just a moment please, I need to call in." 

The trooper called in and explained to the chief that he had a very important person pulled over for speeding. "How do I handle this, chief?" asked the trooper. "Is it the Governor?" questioned the chief. "No! This guy is even more important!" 

"Is it the President?" asked the chief. 

"No! Even more important!" 

"Well, who the heck is it?" screamed the chief. 

"I don't know, sir," replied the trooper, "but he's got the Pope as his chauffeur." 

Bible Readings for October 6, 2018

Today our passages are Jeremiah 6:15–8:7; Colossians 2:8-23; Psalm 78:1-31; and Proverbs 24:26. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal by using the link below.

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Jeremiah 6:15-8:7 (The Message)

^13-15"Everyone's after the dishonest dollar,
little people and big people alike.
Prophets and priests and everyone in between
twist words and doctor truth.
My people are broken—shattered!—
and they put on Band-Aids,
Saying, 'It's not so bad. You'll be just fine.'
But things are not 'just fine'!
Do you suppose they are embarrassed
over this outrage?
No, they have no shame.
They don't even know how to blush.
There's no hope for them. They've hit bottom
and there's no getting up.
As far as I'm concerned,
they're finished."
God has spoken. 

Death Is on the Prowl

^16-20God's Message yet again: "Go stand at the crossroads and look around.
Ask for directions to the old road,
The tried-and-true road. Then take it.
Discover the right route for your souls.
But they said, 'Nothing doing.
We aren't going that way.'
I even provided watchmen for them
to warn them, to set off the alarm.
But the people said, 'It's a false alarm.
It doesn't concern us.'
And so I'm calling in the nations as witnesses:
'Watch, witnesses, what happens to them!'
And, 'Pay attention, Earth!
Don't miss these bulletins.'
I'm visiting catastrophe on this people, the end result
of the games they've been playing with me.
They've ignored everything I've said,
had nothing but contempt for my teaching.
What would I want with incense brought in from Sheba,
rare spices from exotic places?
Your burnt sacrifices in worship give me no pleasure.
Your religious rituals mean nothing to me."
²¹So listen to this. Here's God's verdict on your way of life:
"Watch out! I'm putting roadblocks and barriers
on the road you're taking.
They'll send you sprawling,
parents and children, neighbors and friends—
and that will be the end of the lot of you."
^22-23And listen to this verdict from God:
"Look out! An invasion from the north,
a mighty power on the move from a faraway place:
Armed to the teeth,
vicious and pitiless,
Booming like sea storm and thunder—tramp, tramp, tramp—
riding hard on war horses,
In battle formation
against you, dear Daughter Zion!"
^24-25We've heard the news,
and we're as limp as wet dishrags.
We're paralyzed with fear.
Terror has a death grip on our throats.
Don't dare go outdoors!
Don't leave the house!
Death is on the prowl.
Danger everywhere!
²⁶"Dear Daughter Zion: Dress in black.
Blacken your face with ashes.
Weep most bitterly,
as for an only child.
The countdown has begun...
six, five, four, three...
The Terror is on us!"
^27-30God gave me this task:
"I have made you the examiner of my people,
to examine and weigh their lives.
They're a thickheaded, hard-nosed bunch,
rotten to the core, the lot of them.
Refining fires are cranked up to white heat,
but the ore stays a lump, unchanged.
It's useless to keep trying any longer.
Nothing can refine evil out of them.
Men will give up and call them 'slag,'
thrown on the slag heap by me, their God." 

Jeremiah 7

The Nation That Wouldn't Obey God

^1-2 The Message from God to Jeremiah: "Stand in the gate of God's Temple and preach this Message. ^2-3"Say, 'Listen, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship God. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, has this to say to you: ^3-7"'Clean up your act—the way you live, the things you do—so I can make my home with you in this place. Don't for a minute believe the lies being spoken here—"This is God's Temple, God's Temple, God's Temple!" Total nonsense! Only if you clean up your act (the way you live, the things you do), only if you do a total spring cleaning on the way you live and treat your neighbors, only if you quit exploiting the street people and orphans and widows, no longer taking advantage of innocent people on this very site and no longer destroying your souls by using this Temple as a front for other gods—only then will I move into your neighborhood. Only then will this country I gave your ancestors be my permanent home, my Temple.
^8-11"'Get smart! Your leaders are handing you a pack of lies, and you're swallowing them! Use your heads! Do you think you can rob and murder, have sex with the neighborhood wives, tell lies nonstop, worship the local gods, and buy every novel religious commodity on the market—and then march into this Temple, set apart for my worship, and say, "We're safe!" thinking that the place itself gives you a license to go on with all this outrageous sacrilege? A cave full of criminals! Do you think you can turn this Temple, set apart for my worship, into something like that? Well, think again. I've got eyes in my head. I can see what's going on.'" God's Decree!
¹²"'Take a trip down to the place that was once in Shiloh, where I met my people in the early days. Take a look at those ruins, what I did to it because of the evil ways of my people Israel.
^13-15"'So now, because of the way you have lived and failed to listen, even though time and again I took you aside and talked seriously with you, and because you refused to change when I called you to repent, I'm going to do to this Temple, set aside for my worship, this place you think is going to keep you safe no matter what, this place I gave as a gift to your ancestors and you, the same as I did to Shiloh. And as for you, I'm going to get rid of you, the same as I got rid of those old relatives of yours around Shiloh, your fellow Israelites in that former kingdom to the north.'
^16-18"And you, Jeremiah, don't waste your time praying for this people. Don't offer to make petitions or intercessions. Don't bother me with them. I'm not listening. Can't you see what they're doing in all the villages of Judah and in the Jerusalem streets? Why, they've got the children gathering wood while the fathers build fires and the mothers make bread to be offered to 'the Queen of Heaven'! And as if that weren't bad enough, they go around pouring out libations to any other gods they come across, just to hurt me.
¹⁹"But is it me they're hurting?" God's Decree! "Aren't they just hurting themselves? Exposing themselves shamefully? Making themselves ridiculous?
²⁰"Here's what the Master God has to say: 'My white-hot anger is about to descend on this country and everything in it—people and animals, trees in the field and vegetables in the garden—a raging wildfire that no one can put out.'
^21-23"The Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God: 'Go ahead! Put your burnt offerings with all your other sacrificial offerings and make a good meal for yourselves. I sure don't want them! When I delivered your ancestors out of Egypt, I never said anything to them about wanting burnt offerings and sacrifices as such. But I did say this, commanded this: "Obey me. Do what I say and I will be your God and you will be my people. Live the way I tell you. Do what I command so that your lives will go well."
^24-26"'But do you think they listened? Not a word of it. They did just what they wanted to do, indulged any and every evil whim and got worse day by day. From the time your ancestors left the land of Egypt until now, I've supplied a steady stream of my servants the prophets, but do you think the people listened? Not once. Stubborn as mules and worse than their ancestors!'
^27-28"Tell them all this, but don't expect them to listen. Call out to them, but don't expect an answer. Tell them, 'You are the nation that wouldn't obey God, that refused all discipline. Truth has disappeared. There's not a trace of it left in your mouths.
²⁹"'So shave your heads.
Go bald to the hills and lament,
For God has rejected and left
this generation that has made him so angry.'
^30-31"The people of Judah have lived evil lives while I've stood by and watched." God's Decree. "In deliberate insult to me, they've set up their obscene god-images in the very Temple that was built to honor me. They've constructed Topheth altars for burning babies in prominent places all through the valley of Ben-hinnom, altars for burning their sons and daughters alive in the fire—a shocking perversion of all that I am and all I command.
^32-34"But soon, very soon"—God's Decree!—"the names Topheth and Benhinnom will no longer be used. They'll call the place what it is: Murder Meadow. Corpses will be stacked up in Topheth because there's no room left to bury them! Corpses abandoned in the open air, fed on by crows and coyotes, who have the run of the place. And I'll empty both smiles and laughter from the villages of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. No wedding songs, no holiday sounds. Dead silence." 

Jeremiah 8

^1-2 "And when the time comes"—God's Decree!—"I'll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people. They'll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they've been so infatuated with all these years, following their 'lucky stars' in doglike devotion. The bones will be left scattered and exposed, to reenter the soil as fertilizer, like manure. ³"Everyone left—all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to—will wish they were dead." Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. 

To Know Everything but God's Word

^4-7"Tell them this, God's Message: "'Do people fall down and not get up?
Or take the wrong road and then just keep going?
So why does this people go backward,
and just keep on going—backward!
They stubbornly hold on to their illusions,
refuse to change direction.
I listened carefully
but heard not so much as a whisper.
No one expressed one word of regret.
Not a single "I'm sorry" did I hear.
They just kept at it, blindly and stupidly
banging their heads against a brick wall.
Cranes know when it's time
to move south for winter.
And robins, warblers, and bluebirds
know when it's time to come back again.
But my people? My people know nothing,
not the first thing of God and his rule.

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Colossians 2:8-23 (The Message)

^8-10Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
^11-15Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
^16-17So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
^18-19Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.
^20-23So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.

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Psalm 78:1-31 (The Message)

Psalm 78

An Asaph Psalm

^1-4 Listen, dear friends, to God's truth, bend your ears to what I tell you.
I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb;
I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,
Stories we heard from our fathers,
counsel we learned at our mother's knee.
We're not keeping this to ourselves,
we're passing it along to the next generation—
God's fame and fortune,
the marvelous things he has done.

^5-8 He planted a witness in Jacob,
set his Word firmly in Israel,
Then commanded our parents
to teach it to their children
So the next generation would know,
and all the generations to come—
Know the truth and tell the stories
so their children can trust in God,
Never forget the works of God
but keep his commands to the letter.
Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,
bullheaded and bad,
A fickle and faithless bunch
who never stayed true to God.

^9-16 The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth,
ran off when the battle began.
They were cowards to God's Covenant,
refused to walk by his Word.
They forgot what he had done—
marvels he'd done right before their eyes.
He performed miracles in plain sight of their parents
in Egypt, out on the fields of Zoan.
He split the Sea and they walked right through it;
he piled the waters to the right and the left.
He led them by day with a cloud,
led them all the night long with a fiery torch.
He split rocks in the wilderness,
gave them all they could drink from underground springs;
He made creeks flow out from sheer rock,
and water pour out like a river.

^17-20 All they did was sin even more,
rebel in the desert against the High God.
They tried to get their own way with God,
clamored for favors, for special attention.
They whined like spoiled children,
"Why can't God give us a decent meal in this desert?
Sure, he struck the rock and the water flowed,
creeks cascaded from the rock.
But how about some fresh-baked bread?
How about a nice cut of meat?"

^21-31 When God heard that, he was furious—
his anger flared against Jacob,
he lost his temper with Israel.
It was clear they didn't believe God,
had no intention of trusting in his help.
But God helped them anyway, commanded the clouds
and gave orders that opened the gates of heaven.
He rained down showers of manna to eat,
he gave them the Bread of Heaven.
They ate the bread of the mighty angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.
He let East Wind break loose from the skies,
gave a strong push to South Wind.
This time it was birds that rained down—
succulent birds, an abundance of birds.
He aimed them right for the center of their camp;
all round their tents there were birds.
They ate and had their fill;
he handed them everything they craved on a platter.
But their greed knew no bounds;
they stuffed their mouths with more and more.
Finally, God was fed up, his anger erupted—
he cut down their brightest and best,
he laid low Israel's finest young men.

 

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Proverbs 24:26 (The Message)

²⁶ An honest answer
is like a warm hug.

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Verse of the Day

“So always trust the LORD because he is forever our mighty rock.” - Isaiah 26:4

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865, Abraham Lincoln wrote, “No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.”

Bible Readings for September 30, 2018

Today our passages are Isaiah 60:1–62:5; Philippians 1:27–2:18; Psalm 72:1-20; and Proverbs 24:11-12. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal by using the link below.

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Isaiah 60-62:5 (The Message)

Isaiah 60

People Returning for the Reunion

 ^1-7 "Get out of bed, Jerusalem! Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight.
   God's bright glory has risen for you.
The whole earth is wrapped in darkness,
   all people sunk in deep darkness,
But God rises on you,
   his sunrise glory breaks over you.
Nations will come to your light,
   kings to your sunburst brightness.
Look up! Look around!
   Watch as they gather, watch as they approach you:
Your sons coming from great distances,
   your daughters carried by their nannies.
When you see them coming you'll smile—big smiles!
   Your heart will swell and, yes, burst!
All those people returning by sea for the reunion,
   a rich harvest of exiles gathered in from the nations!
And then streams of camel caravans as far as the eye can see,
   young camels of nomads in Midian and Ephah,
Pouring in from the south from Sheba,
   loaded with gold and frankincense,
   preaching the praises of God.
And yes, a great roundup
   of flocks from the nomads in Kedar and Nebaioth,
Welcome gifts for worship at my altar
   as I bathe my glorious Temple in splendor.

What's That We See in the Distance?

 ^8-22"What's that we see in the distance,
   a cloud on the horizon, like doves darkening the sky?
It's ships from the distant islands,
   the famous Tarshish ships
Returning your children from faraway places,
   loaded with riches, with silver and gold,
And backed by the name of your God, The Holy of Israel,
   showering you with splendor.
Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
   and their kings assist you in the conduct of worship.
When I was angry I hit you hard.
   It's my desire now to be tender.
Your Jerusalem gates will always be open
   —open house day and night!—
Receiving deliveries of wealth from all nations,
   and their kings, the delivery boys!
Any nation or kingdom that doesn't deliver will perish;
   those nations will be totally wasted.
The rich woods of Lebanon will be delivered
   —all that cypress and oak and pine—
To give a splendid elegance to my Sanctuary,
   as I make my footstool glorious.
The descendants of your oppressor
   will come bowing and scraping to you.
All who looked down at you in contempt
   will lick your boots.
They'll confer a title on you: City of God,
   Zion of The Holy of Israel.
Not long ago you were despised refuse—
   out-of-the-way, unvisited, ignored.
But now I've put you on your feet,
   towering and grand forever, a joy to look at!
When you suck the milk of nations
   and the breasts of royalty,
You'll know that I, God, am your Savior,
   your Redeemer, Champion of Jacob.
I'll give you only the best—no more hand-me-downs!
   Gold instead of bronze, silver instead of iron,
   bronze instead of wood, iron instead of stones.
I'll install Peace to run your country,
   make Righteousness your boss.
There'll be no more stories of crime in your land,
   no more robberies, no more vandalism.
You'll name your main street Salvation Way,
   and install Praise Park at the center of town.
You'll have no more need of the sun by day
   nor the brightness of the moon at night.
God will be your eternal light,
   your God will bathe you in splendor.
Your sun will never go down,
   your moon will never fade.
I will be your eternal light.
   Your days of grieving are over.
All your people will live right and well,
   in permanent possession of the land.
They're the green shoot that I planted,
   planted with my own hands to display my glory.
The runt will become a great tribe,
   the weakling become a strong nation.
I am God.
   At the right time I'll make it happen."

Isaiah 61

Announce Freedom to All Captives

 ^1-7 The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me.
He sent me to preach good news to the poor,
   heal the heartbroken,
Announce freedom to all captives,
   pardon all prisoners.
God sent me to announce the year of his grace—
   a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies—
   and to comfort all who mourn,
To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion,
   give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,
Messages of joy instead of news of doom,
   a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.
Rename them "Oaks of Righteousness"
   planted by God to display his glory.
They'll rebuild the old ruins,
   raise a new city out of the wreckage.
They'll start over on the ruined cities,
   take the rubble left behind and make it new.
You'll hire outsiders to herd your flocks
   and foreigners to work your fields,
But you'll have the title "Priests of God,"
   honored as ministers of our God.
You'll feast on the bounty of nations,
   you'll bask in their glory.
Because you got a double dose of trouble
   and more than your share of contempt,
Your inheritance in the land will be doubled
   and your joy go on forever.  ^8-9"Because I, God, love fair dealing
   and hate thievery and crime,
I'll pay your wages on time and in full,
   and establish my eternal covenant with you.
Your descendants will become well-known all over.
   Your children in foreign countries
Will be recognized at once
   as the people I have blessed."
 ^10-11I will sing for joy in God,
   explode in praise from deep in my soul!
He dressed me up in a suit of salvation,
   he outfitted me in a robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo
   and a bride a jeweled tiara.
For as the earth bursts with spring wildflowers,
   and as a garden cascades with blossoms,
So the Master, God, brings righteousness into full bloom
   and puts praise on display before the nations. 

Isaiah 62

Look, Your Savior Comes!

 ^1-5 Regarding Zion, I can't keep my mouth shut, regarding Jerusalem, I can't hold my tongue,
Until her righteousness blazes down like the sun
   and her salvation flames up like a torch.
Foreign countries will see your righteousness,
   and world leaders your glory.
You'll get a brand-new name
   straight from the mouth of God.
You'll be a stunning crown in the palm of God's hand,
   a jeweled gold cup held high in the hand of your God.
No more will anyone call you Rejected,
   and your country will no more be called Ruined.
You'll be called Hephzibah (My Delight),
   and your land Beulah (Married),
Because God delights in you
   and your land will be like a wedding celebration.
For as a young man marries his virgin bride,
   so your builder marries you,
And as a bridegroom is happy in his bride,
   so your God is happy with you.

 

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Philippians 1:27-2:18 (The Message)

 ^27-30Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people's trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition. Your courage and unity will show them what they're up against: defeat for them, victory for you—and both because of God. There's far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There's also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting. You're involved in the same kind of struggle you saw me go through, on which you are now getting an updated report in this letter. 

Philippians 2

He Took on the Status of a Slave

 ^1-4If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.  ^5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
 ^9-11Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father. 

Rejoicing Together

 ^12-13What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.  ^14-16Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I'll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You'll be living proof that I didn't go to all this work for nothing.
 ^17-18Even if I am executed here and now, I'll rejoice in being an element in the offering of your faith that you make on Christ's altar, a part of your rejoicing. But turnabout's fair play—you must join me in my rejoicing. Whatever you do, don't feel sorry for me.

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Psalm 72:1-20 (The Message)

Psalm 72

A Solomon Psalm

 ^1-8 Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God, the gift of just rule to the crown prince.
   May he judge your people rightly,
      be honorable to your meek and lowly.
   Let the mountains give exuberant witness;
      shape the hills with the contours of right living.
   Please stand up for the poor,
      help the children of the needy,
      come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
   Outlast the sun, outlive the moon—
      age after age after age.
   Be rainfall on cut grass,
      earth-refreshing rain showers.
   Let righteousness burst into blossom
      and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.
   Rule from sea to sea,
      from the River to the Rim.

 ^9-14 Foes will fall on their knees before God,
      his enemies lick the dust.
   Kings remote and legendary will pay homage,
      kings rich and resplendent will turn over their wealth.
   All kings will fall down and worship,
      and godless nations sign up to serve him,
   Because he rescues the poor at the first sign of need,
      the destitute who have run out of luck.
   He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out,
      he restores the wretched of the earth.
   He frees them from tyranny and torture—
      when they bleed, he bleeds;
      when they die, he dies.

 ^15-17 And live! Oh, let him live!
      Deck him out in Sheba gold.
   Offer prayers unceasing to him,
      bless him from morning to night.
   Fields of golden grain in the land,
      cresting the mountains in wild exuberance,
   Cornucopias of praise, praises
      springing from the city like grass from the earth.
   May he never be forgotten,
      his fame shine on like sunshine.
   May all godless people enter his circle of blessing
      and bless the One who blessed them.

 ^18-20 Blessed God, Israel's God,
      the one and only wonder-working God!
   Blessed always his blazing glory!
      All earth brims with his glory.
   Yes and Yes and Yes.

 

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Proverbs 24:11-12 (The Message)

25

 ^11-12 Rescue the perishing;
   don't hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business,"
   will that get you off the hook?
Someone is watching you closely, you know—
   Someone not impressed with weak excuses.

 

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Verse of the Day

 

“I pray that your love will keep on growing and that you will fully know and understand how to make the right choices. Then you will still be pure and innocent when Christ returns. And until that day,” - Philippians 1:9-10 

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865, Abraham Lincoln wrote, "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

Bible Readings for July 30, 2017

Today our passages are 2 Chronicles 26:1–28:27; Romans 13:1-14; Psalm 23:1-6; and Proverbs 20:11. 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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2 Chronicles 26-28:27 (Contemporary English Version)

2 Chronicles 26

King Uzziah of Judah

(2 Kings 14.21,22; 15.1-7)

 ^1-3After the death of King Amaziah, the people of Judah crowned his son Uzziah ^[a] king, even though he was only sixteen at the time. Uzziah ruled fifty-two years from Jerusalem, the hometown of his mother Jecoliah. During his rule, he recaptured and rebuilt the town of Elath.    ⁴He obeyed the LORD by doing right, as his father Amaziah had done.
   ⁵Zechariah was Uzziah's advisor and taught him to obey God. And so, as long as Zechariah was alive, Uzziah was faithful to God, and God made him successful.
   ⁶While Uzziah was king, he started a war against the Philistines. He smashed the walls of the cities of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, then rebuilt towns around Ashdod and in other parts of Philistia.
   ⁷God helped him defeat the Philistines, the Arabs living in Gur-Baal, and the Meunites.
   ⁸Even the Ammonites paid taxes to Uzziah. He became very powerful, and people who lived as far away as Egypt heard about him.
   ⁹In Jerusalem, Uzziah built fortified towers at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the place where the city wall turned inward. ^[b]
   ¹⁰He also built defense towers out in the desert. He owned such a large herd of livestock in the western foothills and in the flatlands, that he had cisterns dug there to catch the rainwater. He loved farming, so he had crops and vineyards planted in the hill country wherever there was fertile soil, and he hired farmers to take care of them.
   ¹¹Uzziah's army was always ready for battle. Jeiel and Maaseiah were the officers who kept track of the number of soldiers, and these two men were under the command of Hananiah, one of Uzziah's officials.
   ^12-13There were 307,500 trained soldiers, all under the command of 2,600 clan leaders. These powerful troops protected the king against any enemy.
   ¹⁴Uzziah supplied his army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and stones used for slinging.
   ¹⁵Some of his skilled workers invented machines that could shoot arrows and sling large stones. Uzziah set these up in Jerusalem at his defense towers and at the corners of the city wall.
   God helped Uzziah become more and more powerful, and he was famous all over the world.
   

Uzziah Becomes Too Proud

 ¹⁶Uzziah became proud of his power, and this led to his downfall.    One day, Uzziah disobeyed the LORD his God by going into the temple and burning incense as an offering to him. ^[c]
   ¹⁷Azariah the priest and eighty other brave priests followed Uzziah into the temple
   ¹⁸and said, "Your Majesty, this isn't right! You are not allowed to burn incense to the LORD. That must be done only by priests who are descendants of Aaron. You will have to leave! You have sinned against the LORD, and so he will no longer bless you."
   ¹⁹Uzziah, who was standing next to the incense altar at the time, was holding the incense burner, ready to offer incense to the LORD. He became very angry when he heard Azariah's warning, and leprosy ^[d] suddenly appeared on his forehead!
   ²⁰Azariah and the other priests saw it and immediately told him to leave the temple. Uzziah realized that the LORD had punished him, so he hurried to get outside.
   ²¹Uzziah had leprosy the rest of his life. He was no longer allowed in the temple or in his own palace. That's why his son Jotham lived there and ruled in his place.
   ²²Everything else Uzziah did while he was king is in the records written by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
   ²³Since Uzziah had leprosy, he could not be buried in the royal tombs. Instead, he was buried in a nearby cemetery that the kings owned. His son Jotham then became king.
   

2 Chronicles 27

King Jotham of Judah

(2 Kings 15.32-38)

 ¹Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for sixteen years. Jerushah his mother was the daughter of Zadok.    ²Jotham obeyed the LORD and did right. He followed the example of his father Uzziah, except he never burned incense in the temple as his father had done. But the people of Judah kept sinning against the LORD.
   ³Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple and did a lot of work to repair the wall near Mount Ophel.
   ⁴He built towns in the mountains of Judah and built fortresses and defense towers in the forests.
   ⁵During his rule he attacked and defeated the Ammonites. Then every year for the next three years, he forced them to pay four tons of silver, sixty thousand bushels of wheat, and sixty thousand bushels of barley.
   ⁶Jotham remained faithful to the LORD his God and became a very powerful king.
   ⁷Everything else Jotham did while he was king, including the wars he fought, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
   ⁸After he had ruled Judah sixteen years, he died at the age of forty-one.
   ⁹He was buried in Jerusalem, and his son Ahaz became king.
   

2 Chronicles 28

King Ahaz of Judah

(2 Kings 16.1-4)

 ¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for sixteen years.    Ahaz was nothing like his ancestor David. Ahaz disobeyed the LORD
   ²and was as sinful as the kings of Israel. He made idols of the god Baal,
   ³and he offered sacrifices in Hinnom Valley. Worst of all, Ahaz sacrificed his own sons, which was a disgusting custom of the nations that the LORD had forced out of Israel.
   ⁴Ahaz offered sacrifices at the local shrines, ^[e] as well as on every hill and in the shade of large trees.
   

Syria and Israel Attack Judah

(2 Kings 16.5,6)

 ^5-6Ahaz and the people of Judah sinned and turned away from the LORD, the God their ancestors had worshiped. So the LORD punished them by letting their enemies defeat them.    The king of Syria attacked Judah and took many of its people to Damascus as prisoners. King Pekah ^[f] of Israel later defeated Judah and killed one hundred twenty thousand of its bravest soldiers in one day.
   ⁷During that battle, an Israelite soldier named Zichri killed three men from Judah: Maaseiah the king's son; Azrikam, the official in charge of the palace; and Elkanah, the king's second in command.
   ⁸The Israelite troops captured two hundred thousand women and children and took them back to their capital city of Samaria, along with a large amount of their possessions. They did these things even though the people of Judah were their own relatives.
   

Oded the Prophet Condemns Israel

 ⁹Oded lived in Samaria and was one of the LORD's prophets. He met Israel's army on their way back from Judah and said to them:    The LORD God of your ancestors let you defeat Judah's army only because he was angry with them. But you should not have been so cruel!
   ¹⁰If you make slaves of the people of Judah and Jerusalem, you will be as guilty as they are of sinning against the LORD.
   ¹¹Send these prisoners back home--they are your own relatives. If you don't, the LORD will punish you in his anger.
   ¹²About the same time, four of Israel's leaders arrived. They were Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai. They agreed with Oded that the Israelite troops were wrong,
   ¹³and they said:
   If you bring these prisoners into Samaria, that will be one more thing we've done to sin against the LORD. And he is already angry enough at us.
   ¹⁴So in front of the leaders and the crowd, the troops handed over their prisoners and the property they had taken from Judah.
   ¹⁵The four leaders took some of the stolen clothes and gave them to the prisoners who needed something to wear. They later gave them all a new change of clothes and shoes, then fixed them something to eat and drink, and cleaned their wounds with olive oil. They gave donkeys to those who were too weak to walk, and led all of them back to Jericho, the city known for its palm trees. The leaders then returned to Samaria.
   

Ahaz Asks the King of Assyria for Help

(2 Kings 16.7-9)

 ^16-18Some time later, the Edomites attacked the eastern part of Judah again and carried away prisoners. And at the same time, the Philistines raided towns in the western foothills and in the Southern Desert. They conquered the towns of Beth-Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo, including the villages around them. Then some of the Philistines went to live in these places.    Ahaz sent a message to King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria and begged for help.
   ¹⁹But God was punishing Judah with these disasters, because Ahaz had disobeyed him and refused to stop Judah from sinning.
   ²⁰So Tiglath Pileser came to Judah, but instead of helping, he made things worse.
   ²¹Ahaz gave him gifts from the LORD's temple and the king's palace, as well as from the homes of Israel's other leaders. The Assyrian king still refused to help Ahaz.
   

The Final Sin of Ahaz and His Death

 ²²Even after all these terrible things happened to Ahaz, he sinned against the LORD even worse than before.    ²³He said to himself, "The Syrian gods must have helped their kings defeat me. Maybe if I offer sacrifices to those gods, they will help me." That was the sin that finally led to the downfall of Ahaz, as well as to the destruction of Judah.
   ²⁴Ahaz collected all the furnishings of the temple and smashed them to pieces. Then he locked the doors to the temple and set up altars to foreign gods on every street corner in Jerusalem.
   ²⁵In every city and town in Judah he built local shrines ^[g] to worship foreign gods. All of this made the LORD God of his ancestors very angry.
   ²⁶Everything else Ahaz did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
   ²⁷Ahaz died and was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal tombs. His son Hezekiah then became king.
   

Footnotes:

1. 2 Chronicles 26:1 Uzziah: In the parallel passages in 2 Kings, he is called "Azariah" (see also 1 Chronicles 3.10-15). He is also called "Uzziah" in 2 Kings 15.13; Isaiah 1.1; Hosea 1.1; and Amos 1.1. One of these names was probably his birth name, while the other was his name after he became king.
2. 2 Chronicles 26:9 the place where the city wall turned inward: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
3. 2 Chronicles 26:16 going into the temple and burning incense as an offering to him: This was to be done only by priests (see Exodus 30.1-10; Numbers 16.39,40).
4. 2 Chronicles 26:19 leprosy: The word translated "leprosy" was used for many different kinds of skin diseases.
5. 2 Chronicles 28:4 local shrines: See the note at 11.15.
6. 2 Chronicles 28:5 Pekah: Hebrew "Pekah son of Remaliah."
7. 2 Chronicles 28:25 local shrines: See the note at 11.15.

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Romans 13:1-14 (Contemporary English Version)

Romans 13

Obey Rulers

 ¹Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power. ²People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and they will be punished. ³Rulers are a threat to evil people, not to good people. There is no need to be afraid of the authorities. Just do right, and they will praise you for it. ⁴After all, they are God's servants, and it is their duty to help you.    If you do something wrong, you ought to be afraid, because these rulers have the right to punish you. They are God's servants who punish criminals to show how angry God is. ⁵But you should obey the rulers because you know it is the right thing to do, and not just because of God's anger.
    ⁶You must also pay your taxes. The authorities are God's servants, and it is their duty to take care of these matters. ⁷Pay all that you owe, whether it is taxes and fees or respect and honor.
   

Love

 ⁸Let love be your only debt! If you love others, you have done all that the Law demands. ⁹In the Law there are many commands, such as, "Be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not want what belongs to others." But all of these are summed up in the command that says, "Love others as much as you love yourself." ¹⁰No one who loves others will harm them. So love is all that the Law demands.    

The Day When Christ Returns

 ¹¹You know what sort of times we live in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know that the day when we will be saved is nearer now than when we first put our faith in the Lord. ¹²Night is almost over, and day will soon appear. We must stop behaving as people do in the dark and be ready to live in the light. ¹³So behave properly, as people do in the day. Don't go to wild parties or get drunk or be vulgar or indecent. Don't quarrel or be jealous. ¹⁴Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear. Then you won't try to satisfy your selfish desires.

 

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Psalm 23:1-6 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 23

(A psalm by David.)

The Good Shepherd

 ¹You, LORD, are my shepherd.    I will never be in need.
    ²You let me rest in fields
   of green grass.
   You lead me to streams
   of peaceful water,
    ³and you refresh my life.
   You are true to your name,
   and you lead me
   along the right paths.
    ⁴I may walk through valleys
   as dark as death,
   but I won't be afraid.
   You are with me,
   and your shepherd's rod ^[a] makes me feel safe.
    ⁵You treat me to a feast,
   while my enemies watch.
   You honor me as your guest,
   and you fill my cup
   until it overflows.
    ⁶Your kindness and love
   will always be with me
   each day of my life,
   and I will live forever
   in your house, LORD.
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 23:4 shepherd's rod: The Hebrew text mentions two objects carried by the shepherd: a club to defend against wild animals and a long pole to guide and control the sheep.

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Proverbs 20:11 (Contemporary English Version)

¹¹The good or bad
   that children do
   shows what they are like.

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Verse of the Day

“You are like light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden, Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven.” - Matthew 5:14,16

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865, Abraham Lincoln wrote, “It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”

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A Joke for Today

The Pope just finished a tour of the East Coast and was taking a limousine to the airport. Since he'd never driven a limo, he asked the chauffeur if he could drive for a while. The reluctant chauffeur pulled over along the roadside, climbed into the back of the limo, and the Pope took the wheel. The Pope then merged onto the highway and accelerated to over 90 mph to see what the limo could do. 

Suddenly, the Pope noticed the blue light of the State Patrol in his side mirror, so he pulled over. The trooper approached the limo, peered in through the windows, then said, "Just a moment please, I need to call in." 

The trooper called in and explained to the chief that he had a very important person pulled over for speeding. "How do I handle this, chief?" asked the trooper. "Is it the Governor?" questioned the chief. "No! This guy is even more important!" 

"Is it the President?" asked the chief. 

"No! Even more important!" 

"Well, who the heck is it?" screamed the chief. 

"I don't know, sir," replied the trooper, "but he's got the Pope as his chauffeur."