Bible Readings for February 27, 2019

Today our passages are Leviticus 20:22–22:16; Mark 9:1-29; Psalm 43:1-5; and Proverbs 10:18. The readings are the Contemporary English Version. 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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Leviticus 20:22-22:16 (Contemporary English Version)

²²Obey my laws and teachings. Or else the land I am giving you will become sick of you and throw you out. ²³The nations I am chasing out did these disgusting things, and I hated them for it, so don't follow their example. ²⁴I am the LORD your God, and I have promised you their land that is rich with milk and honey. I have chosen you to be different from other people. ²⁵That's why you must make a difference between animals and birds that I have said are clean and unclean ^] --this will keep you from becoming disgusting to me. ²⁶I am the LORD, the holy God. You have been chosen to be my people, and so you must be holy too. ²⁷If you claim to receive messages from the dead, you will be put to death by stoning, just as you deserve.

   

Leviticus 21

Instructions for Priests

 ¹The LORD gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests:

   Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative, ²except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother, ³or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her. ⁴Don't make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage. ^] 5Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning. ⁶I am the LORD your God, and I have chosen you alone to offer sacrifices of food to me on the altar. That's why you must keep yourselves holy. ⁷Don't marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy,⁸because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness. ⁹If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death.

    ¹⁰If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead. ¹¹Don't make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother. ¹²If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest.

    ¹³If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin ¹⁴from your own tribe. Don't marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute. ¹⁵In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember--I am the LORD, and I have chosen you.

    ¹⁶The LORD told Moses ^17-18to say to Aaron:

   No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face is disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other, ¹⁹if either a foot or a hand is crippled, ²⁰if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged. ²¹These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me. ²²They may eat the food offerings presented to me, ²³but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember--I am the LORD, the one who makes a priest holy.

    ²⁴Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel.

   

Leviticus 22

The Offerings Are Holy

 ¹The LORD told Moses ²to say to Aaron and his sons:

   I am the LORD God, and I demand that you honor my holy name by showing proper respect for the offerings brought to me by the people of Israel. ³If any of you are unclean when you accept an offering for me, I will no longer let you serve as a priest. ⁴None of you may take part in the sacred meals while you have a skin disease or an infected penis, or after you have been near a dead body or have had a flow of semen, ⁵or if you have touched an unclean creature of any sort, including an unclean person. ^6-7Once you are unclean, you must take a bath, but you still cannot eat any of the sacred food until evening. ⁸I command you not to eat anything that is killed by a wild animal or dies a natural death. This would make you unclean. ⁹Obey me, or you will die on duty for disgracing the place of worship. Remember--I am the LORD, the one who makes a priest holy.

    ¹⁰Only you priests and your families may eat the food offerings; these are too sacred for any of your servants. ¹¹However, any slave that you own, including those born into your household, may eat this food. ¹²If your daughter marries someone who isn't a priest, she can no longer have any of this food. ¹³But if she returns to your home, either widowed or divorced, and has no children, she may join in the meal. Only members of a priestly family can eat this food, ¹⁴and anyone else who accidentally does so, must pay for the food plus a fine of twenty percent.

    ¹⁵I warn you not to treat lightly the offerings that are brought by the people of Israel. ¹⁶Don't let them become guilty of eating this sacred food. Remember--I am the LORD, the one who makes these offerings holy.

   

Footnotes:

1. Leviticus 20:25 clean and unclean: See the note at 11.4-8.
2. Leviticus 21:4 marriage: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 4.

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Mark 9:1-29 (Contemporary English Version)

Mark 9

 ¹I can assure you that some of the people standing here will not die before they see God's kingdom come with power.

   

The True Glory of Jesus

(Matthew 17.1-13; Luke 9.28-36)

 ²Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him. They went up on a high mountain, where they could be alone. There in front of the disciples, Jesus was completely changed. ³And his clothes became much whiter than any bleach on earth could make them. ⁴Then Moses and Elijah were there talking with Jesus.

    ⁵Peter said to Jesus, "Teacher, it is good for us to be here! Let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." ⁶But Peter and the others were terribly frightened, and he did not know what he was talking about.

    ⁷The shadow of a cloud passed over and covered them. From the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, and I love him. Listen to what he says!" ⁸At once the disciples looked around, but they saw only Jesus.

    ⁹As Jesus and his disciples were coming down the mountain, he told them not to say a word about what they had seen, until the Son of Man had been raised from death. ¹⁰So they kept it to themselves. But they wondered what he meant by the words "raised from death."

    ¹¹The disciples asked Jesus, "Don't the teachers of the Law of Moses say that Elijah must come before the Messiah does?"

    ¹²Jesus answered:

   Elijah certainly will come ^] to get everything ready. But don't the Scriptures also say that the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected? ¹³I can assure you that Elijah has already come. And people treated him just as they wanted to, as the Scriptures say they would.   

Jesus Heals a Boy

(Matthew 17.14-20; Luke 9.37-43a)

 ¹⁴When Jesus and his three disciples came back down, they saw a large crowd around the other disciples. The teachers of the Law of Moses were arguing with them.

    ¹⁵The crowd was really surprised to see Jesus, and everyone hurried over to greet him.

    ¹⁶Jesus asked, "What are you arguing about?"

    ¹⁷Someone from the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought my son to you. A demon keeps him from talking. ¹⁸Whenever the demon attacks my son, it throws him to the ground and makes him foam at the mouth and grit his teeth in pain. Then he becomes stiff. I asked your disciples to force out the demon, but they couldn't do it."

    ¹⁹Jesus said, "You people don't have any faith! How much longer must I be with you? Why do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy to me."

    ²⁰They brought the boy, and as soon as the demon saw Jesus, it made the boy shake all over. He fell down and began rolling on the ground and foaming at the mouth.

    ²¹Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"

   The man answered, "Ever since he was a child. ²²The demon has often tried to kill him by throwing him into a fire or into water. Please have pity and help us if you can!"

    ²³Jesus replied, "Why do you say `if you can'? Anything is possible for someone who has faith!"

    ²⁴Right away the boy's father shouted, "I do have faith! Please help me to have even more."

    ²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd was gathering fast, he spoke sternly to the evil spirit that had kept the boy from speaking or hearing. He said, "I order you to come out of the boy! Don't ever bother him again."

    ²⁶The spirit screamed and made the boy shake all over. Then it went out of him. The boy looked dead, and almost everyone said he was. ²⁷But Jesus took hold of his hand and helped him stand up.

    ²⁸After Jesus and the disciples had gone back home and were alone, they asked him, "Why couldn't we force out that demon?"

    ²⁹Jesus answered, "Only prayer can force out that kind of demon."

   

Footnotes:

1. Mark 9:12 Elijah certainly will come: See the note at 6.15.

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Psalm 43:1-5 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 43

A Prayer in Times of Trouble

 ¹Show that I am right, God!

   Defend me against everyone

   who doesn't know you;

   rescue me from each

   of those deceitful liars.

    ²I run to you

   for protection.

   Why have you turned me away?

   Why must enemies mistreat me

   and make me sad?

    ³Send your light and your truth

   to guide me.

   Let them lead me to your house

   on your sacred mountain.

    ⁴Then I will worship

   at your altar

   because you

   make me joyful.

   You are my God,

   and I will praise you.

   Yes, I will praise you

   as I play my harp.

    ⁵Why am I discouraged?

   Why am I restless?

   I trust you!

   And I will praise you again

   because you help me,

   and you are my God.

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Proverbs 10:18 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁸You can hide your hatred

   by telling lies,

   but you are a fool

   to spread lies.

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Verse of the Day

“Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, and not merely by talking about it.” - 1 John 3:18

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American historian who taught at Harvard University, pioneering social history and urban history, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. wrote, “Expelled from individual consciousness by the rush of change, history finds its revenge by stamping the collective unconsciousness with habits and values.”

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A Joke for Today

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing his wife, looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her Birthday.

"I'd like to be six again", she replied, still looking in the mirror. On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to Six Flags theme park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Monster Roller Coaster, everything there was. Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake. Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure! Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted.

He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, "Well Dear, what was it like being six again??"

Her eyes slowly opened and her expression changed , "I meant my dress size!"

Bible Readings for July 24, 2018

Today our passages are 2 Chronicles 11:1–13:22; Romans 8:22-39; Psalm 18:37-50; and Proverbs 19:27-29. 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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2 Chronicles 11-13:22 (The Message)

2 Chronicles 11

 ¹When Rehoboam got back to Jerusalem he called up the men of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 of their best soldiers, to go to war against Israel and recover the kingdom.  ^2-4 At the same time the word of God came to Shemaiah, a holy man, "Tell this to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, along with all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin, This is God's word: Don't march out; don't fight against your brothers the Israelites. Go back home, every last one of you; I'm in charge here." And they did it; they did what God said and went home.
 ^5-12 Rehoboam continued to live in Jerusalem but built up a defense system for Judah all around: in Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron—a line of defense protecting Judah and Benjamin. He beefed up the fortifications, appointed commanders, and put in supplies of food, olive oil, and wine. He installed arms—large shields and spears—in all the forts, making them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were secure for the time.
 ^13-17 The priests and Levites from all over Israel came and made themselves available to Rehoboam. The Levites left their pastures and properties and moved to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had dismissed them from the priesthood of God and replaced them with his own priests to preside over the worship centers at which he had installed goat and calf demon-idols. Everyone from all the tribes of Israel who determined to seek the God of Israel migrated with the priests and Levites to Jerusalem to worship there, sacrificing to the God of their ancestors. That gave a tremendous boost to the kingdom of Judah. They stuck with Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, loyal to the ways of David and Solomon for this period.
 ^18-21 Rehoboam married Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth, David's son, and Abihail daughter of Eliab, Jesse's son. Mahalath bore him Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. Then he married Maacah, Absalom's daughter, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. Maacah was Rehoboam's favorite wife; he loved her more than all his other wives and concubines put together (and he had a lot—eighteen wives and sixty concubines who produced twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters!).
 ^22-23 Rehoboam designated Abijah son of Maacah as the "first son" and leader of the brothers—he intended to make him the next king. He was shrewd in deploying his sons in all the fortress cities that made up his defense system in Judah and Benjamin; he kept them happy with much food and many wives. 

2 Chronicles 12

 ¹ By the time Rehoboam had secured his kingdom and was strong again, he, and all Israel with him, had virtually abandoned God and his ways.
^2-4 In Rehoboam's fifth year, because he and the people were unfaithful to God, Shishak king of Egypt invaded as far as Jerusalem. He came with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand cavalry, and soldiers from all over—the Egyptian army included Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians. They took the fortress cities of Judah and advanced as far as Jerusalem itself.
 ⁵ Then the prophet Shemaiah, accompanied by the leaders of Judah who had retreated to Jerusalem before Shishak, came to Rehoboam and said, "God's word: You abandoned me; now I abandon you to Shishak."
 ⁶ The leaders of Israel and the king were repentant and said, "God is right."
 ^7-8 When God saw that they were humbly repentant, the word of God came to Shemaiah: "Because they are humble, I'll not destroy them—I'll give them a break; I won't use Shishak to express my wrath against Jerusalem. What I will do, though, is make them Shishak's subjects—they'll learn the difference between serving me and serving human kings."
 ⁹ Then Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He plundered the treasury of The Temple of God and the treasury of the royal palace—he took everything he could lay his hands on. He even took the gold shields that Solomon had made.
 ^10-11 King Rehoboam replaced the gold shields with bronze shields and gave them to the guards who were posted at the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to God's Temple, the guards went with him carrying the shields, but they always returned them to the guardroom.
 ¹² Because Rehoboam was repentant, God's anger was blunted, so he wasn't totally destroyed. The picture wasn't entirely bleak—there were some good things going on in Judah.
 ^13-14 King Rehoboam regrouped and reestablished his rule in Jerusalem. He was forty-one years old when he became king and continued as king for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city God chose out of all the tribes of Israel as the special presence of his Name. His mother was Naamah from Ammon. But the final verdict on Rehoboam was that he was a bad king—God was not important to him; his heart neither cared for nor sought after God.
 ^15-16 The history of Rehoboam, from start to finish, is written in the memoirs of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer that contain the family trees. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam the whole time. Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Abijah ruled after him. 

2 Chronicles 13

King Abijah

 ^1-2 In the eighteenth year of the rule of King Jeroboam, Abijah took over the throne of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem three years. His mother was Maacah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.  ^2-3 War broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam. Abijah started out with 400,000 of his best soldiers; Jeroboam countered with 800,000 of his best.
 ^4-7 Abijah took a prominent position on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and gave this speech: "Listen, Jeroboam and all Israel! Don't you realize that God, the one and only God of Israel, established David and his sons as the permanent rulers of Israel, ratified by a 'covenant of salt'—God's kingdom ruled by God's king? And what happened? Jeroboam, the son of Solomon's slave Nebat, rebelled against his master. All the riffraff joined his cause and were too much for Rehoboam, Solomon's true heir. Rehoboam didn't know his way around—besides he was a real wimp; he couldn't stand up against them.
 ^8-9 "Taking advantage of that weakness, you are asserting yourself against the very rule of God that is delegated to David's descendants—you think you are so big with your huge army backed up by the golden-calf idols that Jeroboam made for you as gods! But just look at what you've done—you threw out the priests of God, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests to suit yourselves, priests just like the pagans have. Anyone who shows up with enough money to pay for it can be a priest! A priest of No-God!
 ^10-11 "But for the rest of us in Judah, we're sticking with God. We have not traded him in for the latest model—we're keeping the tried-and-true priests of Aaron to lead us to God and the Levites to lead us in worship by sacrificing Whole-Burnt-Offerings and aromatic incense to God at the daily morning and evening prayers, setting out fresh holy bread on a clean table, and lighting the lamps on the golden Lampstand every night. We continue doing what God told us to in the way he told us to do it; but you have rid yourselves of him.
 ¹² "Can't you see the obvious? God is on our side; he's our leader. And his priests with trumpets are all ready to blow the signal to battle. O Israel—don't fight against God, the God of your ancestors. You will not win this battle."
 ^13-18 While Abijah was speaking, Jeroboam had sent men around to take them by surprise from the rear: Jeroboam in front of Judah and the ambush behind. When Judah looked back, they saw they were attacked front and back. They prayed desperately to God, the priests blew their trumpets, and the soldiers of Judah shouted their battle cry. At the battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The army of Israel scattered before Judah; God gave them the victory. Abijah and his troops slaughtered them—500,000 of Israel's best fighters were killed that day. The army of Israel fell flat on its face—a humiliating defeat. The army of Judah won hands down because they trusted God, the God of their ancestors.
 ^19-21 Abijah followed up his victory by pursuing Jeroboam, taking the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron with their surrounding villages. Jeroboam never did recover from his defeat while Abijah lived. Later on God struck him down and he died. Meanwhile Abijah flourished; he married fourteen wives and ended up with a family of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
 ²² The rest of the history of Abijah, what he did and said, is written in the study written by Iddo the prophet. 

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Romans 8:22-39 (The Message)

 ^22-25All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
 ^26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
 ^29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
 ^31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

   They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
   We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

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Psalm 18:37-50 (The Message)

 ^31-42 Is there any god like God?
      Are we not at bedrock?
   Is not this the God who armed me,
      then aimed me in the right direction?
   Now I run like a deer;
      I'm king of the mountain.
   He shows me how to fight;
      I can bend a bronze bow!
   You protect me with salvation-armor;
      you hold me up with a firm hand,
      caress me with your gentle ways.
   You cleared the ground under me
      so my footing was firm.
   When I chased my enemies I caught them;
      I didn't let go till they were dead men.
   I nailed them; they were down for good;
      then I walked all over them.
   You armed me well for this fight,
      you smashed the upstarts.
   You made my enemies turn tail,
      and I wiped out the haters.
   They cried "uncle"
      but Uncle didn't come;
   They yelled for God
      and got no for an answer.
   I ground them to dust; they gusted in the wind.
      I threw them out, like garbage in the gutter.

 ^43-45 You rescued me from a squabbling people;
      you made me a leader of nations.
   People I'd never heard of served me;
      the moment they got wind of me they listened.
   The foreign devils gave up; they came
      on their bellies, crawling from their hideouts.

 ^46-48 Live, God! Blessings from my Rock,
      my free and freeing God, towering!
   This God set things right for me
      and shut up the people who talked back.
   He rescued me from enemy anger,
      he pulled me from the grip of upstarts,
   He saved me from the bullies.

 ^49-50 That's why I'm thanking you, God,
      all over the world.
   That's why I'm singing songs
      that rhyme your name.
   God's king takes the trophy;
      God's chosen is beloved.
   I mean David and all his children—
      always.

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Proverbs 19:27-29 (The Message)

 ²⁷ If you quit listening, dear child, and strike off on your own,
   you'll soon be out of your depth.

 ²⁸ An unprincipled witness desecrates justice;
   the mouths of the wicked spew malice.

 ²⁹ The irreverent have to learn reverence the hard way;
   only a slap in the face brings fools to attention.

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Verse of the Day

“Life will go well for those who freely lend and are honest in business.” - Psalm 112:5 

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author based in Boston, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. wrote, “The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.”

Bible Readings for July 24, 2016

Today our passages are 2 Chronicles 11:1–13:22; Romans 8:22-39; Psalm 18:37-50; and Proverbs 19:27-29. 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.

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2 Chronicles 11-13:22 (The Message)

2 Chronicles 11

 ¹When Rehoboam got back to Jerusalem he called up the men of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 of their best soldiers, to go to war against Israel and recover the kingdom.  ^2-4 At the same time the word of God came to Shemaiah, a holy man, "Tell this to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, along with all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin, This is God's word: Don't march out; don't fight against your brothers the Israelites. Go back home, every last one of you; I'm in charge here." And they did it; they did what God said and went home.
 ^5-12 Rehoboam continued to live in Jerusalem but built up a defense system for Judah all around: in Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron—a line of defense protecting Judah and Benjamin. He beefed up the fortifications, appointed commanders, and put in supplies of food, olive oil, and wine. He installed arms—large shields and spears—in all the forts, making them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were secure for the time.
 ^13-17 The priests and Levites from all over Israel came and made themselves available to Rehoboam. The Levites left their pastures and properties and moved to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had dismissed them from the priesthood of God and replaced them with his own priests to preside over the worship centers at which he had installed goat and calf demon-idols. Everyone from all the tribes of Israel who determined to seek the God of Israel migrated with the priests and Levites to Jerusalem to worship there, sacrificing to the God of their ancestors. That gave a tremendous boost to the kingdom of Judah. They stuck with Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, loyal to the ways of David and Solomon for this period.
 ^18-21 Rehoboam married Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth, David's son, and Abihail daughter of Eliab, Jesse's son. Mahalath bore him Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. Then he married Maacah, Absalom's daughter, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. Maacah was Rehoboam's favorite wife; he loved her more than all his other wives and concubines put together (and he had a lot—eighteen wives and sixty concubines who produced twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters!).
 ^22-23 Rehoboam designated Abijah son of Maacah as the "first son" and leader of the brothers—he intended to make him the next king. He was shrewd in deploying his sons in all the fortress cities that made up his defense system in Judah and Benjamin; he kept them happy with much food and many wives.

2 Chronicles 12

 ¹ By the time Rehoboam had secured his kingdom and was strong again, he, and all Israel with him, had virtually abandoned God and his ways.
^2-4 In Rehoboam's fifth year, because he and the people were unfaithful to God, Shishak king of Egypt invaded as far as Jerusalem. He came with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand cavalry, and soldiers from all over—the Egyptian army included Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians. They took the fortress cities of Judah and advanced as far as Jerusalem itself.
 ⁵ Then the prophet Shemaiah, accompanied by the leaders of Judah who had retreated to Jerusalem before Shishak, came to Rehoboam and said, "God's word: You abandoned me; now I abandon you to Shishak."
 ⁶ The leaders of Israel and the king were repentant and said, "God is right."
 ^7-8 When God saw that they were humbly repentant, the word of God came to Shemaiah: "Because they are humble, I'll not destroy them—I'll give them a break; I won't use Shishak to express my wrath against Jerusalem. What I will do, though, is make them Shishak's subjects—they'll learn the difference between serving me and serving human kings."
 ⁹ Then Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He plundered the treasury of The Temple of God and the treasury of the royal palace—he took everything he could lay his hands on. He even took the gold shields that Solomon had made.
 ^10-11 King Rehoboam replaced the gold shields with bronze shields and gave them to the guards who were posted at the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to God's Temple, the guards went with him carrying the shields, but they always returned them to the guardroom.
 ¹² Because Rehoboam was repentant, God's anger was blunted, so he wasn't totally destroyed. The picture wasn't entirely bleak—there were some good things going on in Judah.
 ^13-14 King Rehoboam regrouped and reestablished his rule in Jerusalem. He was forty-one years old when he became king and continued as king for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city God chose out of all the tribes of Israel as the special presence of his Name. His mother was Naamah from Ammon. But the final verdict on Rehoboam was that he was a bad king—God was not important to him; his heart neither cared for nor sought after God.
 ^15-16 The history of Rehoboam, from start to finish, is written in the memoirs of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer that contain the family trees. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam the whole time. Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Abijah ruled after him.

2 Chronicles 13

King Abijah

 ^1-2 In the eighteenth year of the rule of King Jeroboam, Abijah took over the throne of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem three years. His mother was Maacah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.  ^2-3 War broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam. Abijah started out with 400,000 of his best soldiers; Jeroboam countered with 800,000 of his best.
 ^4-7 Abijah took a prominent position on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and gave this speech: "Listen, Jeroboam and all Israel! Don't you realize that God, the one and only God of Israel, established David and his sons as the permanent rulers of Israel, ratified by a 'covenant of salt'—God's kingdom ruled by God's king? And what happened? Jeroboam, the son of Solomon's slave Nebat, rebelled against his master. All the riffraff joined his cause and were too much for Rehoboam, Solomon's true heir. Rehoboam didn't know his way around—besides he was a real wimp; he couldn't stand up against them.
 ^8-9 "Taking advantage of that weakness, you are asserting yourself against the very rule of God that is delegated to David's descendants—you think you are so big with your huge army backed up by the golden-calf idols that Jeroboam made for you as gods! But just look at what you've done—you threw out the priests of God, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests to suit yourselves, priests just like the pagans have. Anyone who shows up with enough money to pay for it can be a priest! A priest of No-God!
 ^10-11 "But for the rest of us in Judah, we're sticking with God. We have not traded him in for the latest model—we're keeping the tried-and-true priests of Aaron to lead us to God and the Levites to lead us in worship by sacrificing Whole-Burnt-Offerings and aromatic incense to God at the daily morning and evening prayers, setting out fresh holy bread on a clean table, and lighting the lamps on the golden Lampstand every night. We continue doing what God told us to in the way he told us to do it; but you have rid yourselves of him.
 ¹² "Can't you see the obvious? God is on our side; he's our leader. And his priests with trumpets are all ready to blow the signal to battle. O Israel—don't fight against God, the God of your ancestors. You will not win this battle."
 ^13-18 While Abijah was speaking, Jeroboam had sent men around to take them by surprise from the rear: Jeroboam in front of Judah and the ambush behind. When Judah looked back, they saw they were attacked front and back. They prayed desperately to God, the priests blew their trumpets, and the soldiers of Judah shouted their battle cry. At the battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The army of Israel scattered before Judah; God gave them the victory. Abijah and his troops slaughtered them—500,000 of Israel's best fighters were killed that day. The army of Israel fell flat on its face—a humiliating defeat. The army of Judah won hands down because they trusted God, the God of their ancestors.
 ^19-21 Abijah followed up his victory by pursuing Jeroboam, taking the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron with their surrounding villages. Jeroboam never did recover from his defeat while Abijah lived. Later on God struck him down and he died. Meanwhile Abijah flourished; he married fourteen wives and ended up with a family of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
 ²² The rest of the history of Abijah, what he did and said, is written in the study written by Iddo the prophet.

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Romans 8:22-39 (The Message)

 ^22-25All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
 ^26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
 ^29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
 ^31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

   They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
   We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

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Psalm 18:37-50 (The Message)

 ^31-42 Is there any god like God?
      Are we not at bedrock?
   Is not this the God who armed me,
      then aimed me in the right direction?
   Now I run like a deer;
      I'm king of the mountain.
   He shows me how to fight;
      I can bend a bronze bow!
   You protect me with salvation-armor;
      you hold me up with a firm hand,
      caress me with your gentle ways.
   You cleared the ground under me
      so my footing was firm.
   When I chased my enemies I caught them;
      I didn't let go till they were dead men.
   I nailed them; they were down for good;
      then I walked all over them.
   You armed me well for this fight,
      you smashed the upstarts.
   You made my enemies turn tail,
      and I wiped out the haters.
   They cried "uncle"
      but Uncle didn't come;
   They yelled for God
      and got no for an answer.
   I ground them to dust; they gusted in the wind.
      I threw them out, like garbage in the gutter.

 ^43-45 You rescued me from a squabbling people;
      you made me a leader of nations.
   People I'd never heard of served me;
      the moment they got wind of me they listened.
   The foreign devils gave up; they came
      on their bellies, crawling from their hideouts.

 ^46-48 Live, God! Blessings from my Rock,
      my free and freeing God, towering!
   This God set things right for me
      and shut up the people who talked back.
   He rescued me from enemy anger,
      he pulled me from the grip of upstarts,
   He saved me from the bullies.

 ^49-50 That's why I'm thanking you, God,
      all over the world.
   That's why I'm singing songs
      that rhyme your name.
   God's king takes the trophy;
      God's chosen is beloved.
   I mean David and all his children—
      always.

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Proverbs 19:27-29 (The Message)

 ²⁷ If you quit listening, dear child, and strike off on your own,
   you'll soon be out of your depth.

 ²⁸ An unprincipled witness desecrates justice;
   the mouths of the wicked spew malice.

 ²⁹ The irreverent have to learn reverence the hard way;
   only a slap in the face brings fools to attention.

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Verse of the Day
“Life will go well for those who freely lend and are honest in business.” - Psalm 112:5

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author based in Boston, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. wrote, “The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.”

Bible Readings for March 22, 2014

Today our passages are Numbers 33:40–35:34; Luke 5:12-28; Psalm 65:1-13; and Proverbs 11:23. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

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Numbers 33:40-35:34 (The Message)

⁴⁰ The Canaanite king of Arad—he ruled in the Negev of Canaan—heard that the People of Israel had arrived.
 ^41-47 They left Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah;
   left Zalmonah and camped at Punon;
   left Punon and camped at Oboth;
   left Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim on the border of Moab;
   left Iyim and camped at Dibon Gad;
   left Dibon Gad and camped at Almon Diblathaim;
   left Almon Diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim (Across-the-River), within sight of Nebo.
 ^48-49 After they left the mountains of Abarim they camped on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho. On the Plains of Moab their camp stretched along the banks of the Jordan from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim (Acacia Meadow).
 ^50-53 God spoke to Moses on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho: "Tell the People of Israel, When you cross the Jordan into the country of Canaan, drive out the native population before you, destroy their carved idols, destroy their cast images, level their worship-mounds so that you take over the land and make yourself at home in it; I've given it to you. It's yours.
 ⁵⁴ "Divide up the land by lot according to the size of your clans: Large clans will get large tracts of land, small clans will get smaller tracts of land. However the lot falls, that's it. Divide it up according to your ancestral tribes.
 ^55-56 "But if you don't drive out the native population, everyone you let stay there will become a cinder in your eye and a splinter in your foot. They'll give you endless trouble right in your own backyards. And I'll start treating you the way I planned to treat them."

Numbers 34

Land Inheritance

 ^1-2 God spoke to Moses: "Command the People of Israel. Tell them, When you enter Canaan, these are the borders of the land you are getting as an inheritance:  ^3-5 "Your southern border will take in some of the Wilderness of Zin where it touches Edom. It starts in the east at the Dead Sea, curves south of Scorpion Pass and on to Zin, continues south of Kadesh Barnea, then to Hazar Addar and on to Azmon, where it takes a turn to the northwest to the Brook of Egypt and on to the Mediterranean Sea.
 ⁶ "Your western border will be the Mediterranean Sea.
 ^7-9 "Your northern border runs on a line from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor, and from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath, connects to Zedad, continues to Ziphron, and ends at Hazar Enan. This is your northern border.
 ^10-12 "Your eastern border runs on a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. The border goes south from Shepham to Riblah to the east of Ain, and continues along the slopes east of the Sea of Galilee. The border then follows the Jordan River and ends at the Dead Sea.
   "This is your land with its four borders."
 ^13-15 Moses then commanded the People of Israel: "This is the land: Divide up the inheritance by lot. God has ordered it to be given to the nine and a half tribes. The tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance; the two tribes and the half-tribe got their inheritance east of Jordan-Jericho, facing the sunrise."

^16-19 God spoke to Moses: "These are the men who will be in charge of distributing the inheritance of the land: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun. Assign one leader from each tribe to help them in distributing the land. Assign these:
 ^19-28 Caleb son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah;
   Shemuel son of Ammihud from the tribe of Simeon;
   Elidad son of Kislon from the tribe of Benjamin;
   Bukki son of Jogli, leader from the tribe of Dan;
   Hanniel son of Ephod, leader from the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph;
   Kemuel son of Shiphtan, leader from the tribe of Ephraim son of Joseph;
   Elizaphan son of Parnach, leader from the tribe of Zebulun;
   Paltiel son of Azzan, leader from the tribe of Issachar;
   Ahihud son of Shelomi, leader from the tribe of Asher;
   Pedahel son of Ammihud, leader from the tribe of Naphtali."
 ²⁹ These are the men God commanded to hand out the assignments of land-inheritance to the People of Israel in the country of Canaan.

Numbers 35

Cities for Levites and Asylum-Cities

 ^1-3 Then God spoke to Moses on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho: "Command the People of Israel to give the Levites as their part of the total inheritance towns to live in. Make sure there is plenty of pasture around the towns. Then they will be well taken care of with towns to live in and pastures for their cattle, flocks, and other livestock.  ^4-5 "The pasture surrounding the Levites' towns is to extend 1,500 feet in each direction from the city wall. The outside borders of the pasture are to measure three thousand feet on each of the four sides—east, south, west, and north—with the town at the center. Each city will be supplied with pasture.
 ^6-8 "Six of these towns that you give the Levites will be asylum-cities to which anyone who accidentally kills another person may flee for asylum. In addition, you will give them forty-two other towns—forty-eight towns in all, together with their pastures. The towns that you give the Levites from the common inheritance of the People of Israel are to be taken in proportion to the size of each tribe—many towns from a tribe that has many, few from a tribe that has few."
 ^9-15 God spoke to Moses: "Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you cross the River Jordan into the country of Canaan, designate your asylum-cities, towns to which a person who accidentally kills someone can flee for asylum. They will be places of refuge from the avenger so that the alleged murderer won't be killed until he can appear before the community in court. Provide six asylum-cities. Designate three of the towns to the east side of the Jordan, the other three in Canaan proper—asylum-cities for the People of Israel, for the foreigner, and for any occasional visitors or guests—six asylum-cities to run to for anyone who accidentally kills another.
 ¹⁶ "But if the killer has used an iron object, that's just plain murder; he's obviously a murderer and must be put to death.
 ¹⁷ "Or if he has a rock in his hand big enough to kill and the man dies, that's murder; he's a murderer and must be put to death.
 ¹⁸ "Or if he's carrying a wooden club heavy enough to kill and the man dies, that's murder; he's a murderer and must be put to death.
 ¹⁹ "In such cases the avenger has a right to kill the murderer when he meets him—he can kill him on the spot.
 ^20-21 "And if out of sheer hatred a man pushes another or from ambush throws something at him and he dies, or angrily hits him with his fist and kills him, that's murder—he must be put to death. The avenger has a right to kill him when he gets him.
 ^22-27 "If, however, he impulsively pushes someone and there is no history of hard feelings, or he impetuously picks up something and throws it, or he accidentally drops a stone tool—a maul or hammer, say—and it hits and kills someone he didn't even know was there, and there's no suspicion that there was bad blood between them, the community is to judge between the killer and the avenger following these guidelines. It's the task of the community to save the killer from the hand of the avenger—the community is to return him to his asylum-city to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the High Priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the murderer leaves the asylum-city to which he has fled, and the avenger finds him outside the borders of his asylum-city, the avenger has a right to kill the murderer. And he's not considered guilty of murder.
 ²⁸ "So it's important that he stay in his asylum-city until the death of the High Priest. After the death of the High Priest he is free to return to his own place.

²⁹ "These are the procedures for making judgments from now on, wherever you live.
 ³⁰ "Anyone who kills another may be executed only on the testimony of eyewitnesses. But no one can be executed on the testimony of only one witness.
 ³¹ "Don't accept bribe money in exchange for the life of a murderer. He's guilty and deserves the death penalty. Put him to death.
 ³² "And don't accept bribe money for anyone who has fled to an asylum-city so as to permit him to go back and live in his own place before the death of the High Priest.
 ³³ "Don't pollute the land in which you live. Murder pollutes the land. The land can't be cleaned up of the blood of murder except through the blood of the murderer.
 ³⁴ "Don't desecrate the land in which you live. I live here, too—I, God, live in the same neighborhood with the People of Israel."

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Luke 5:12-28 (The Message)

Invitation to a Changed Life

 ¹²One day in one of the villages there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus he fell down before him in prayer and said, "If you want to, you can cleanse me."

 ¹³Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone.

 ^14-16Jesus instructed him, "Don't talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done." But the man couldn't keep it to himself, and the word got out. Soon a large crowd of people had gathered to listen and be healed of their ailments. As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.

 ¹⁷One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there. The healing power of God was on him.

 ^18-20Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, "Friend, I forgive your sins."

 ²¹That set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. "Who does he think he is? That's blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins."

 ^22-26Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, "Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say 'I forgive your sins,' or to say 'Get up and start walking'? Well, just so it's clear that I'm the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . ." He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: "Get up. Take your bedroll and go home." Without a moment's hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, "We've never seen anything like that!"

 ^27-28After this he went out and saw a man named Levi at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, "Come along with me." And he did—walked away from everything and went with him.

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Psalm 65:1-13 (The Message)

Psalm 65

A David Psalm

 ^1-2 Silence is praise to you, Zion-dwelling God,
   And also obedience.
      You hear the prayer in it all.

 ^2-8 We all arrive at your doorstep sooner
      or later, loaded with guilt,
   Our sins too much for us—
      but you get rid of them once and for all.
   Blessed are the chosen! Blessed the guest
      at home in your place!
   We expect our fill of good things
      in your house, your heavenly manse.
   All your salvation wonders
      are on display in your trophy room.
   Earth-Tamer, Ocean-Pourer,
      Mountain-Maker, Hill-Dresser,
   Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash,
      of mobs in noisy riot—
   Far and wide they'll come to a stop,
      they'll stare in awe, in wonder.
   Dawn and dusk take turns
      calling, "Come and worship."

 ^9-13 Oh, visit the earth,
      ask her to join the dance!
   Deck her out in spring showers,
      fill the God-River with living water.
   Paint the wheat fields golden.
      Creation was made for this!
   Drench the plowed fields,
      soak the dirt clods
   With rainfall as harrow and rake
      bring her to blossom and fruit.
   Snow-crown the peaks with splendor,
      scatter rose petals down your paths,
   All through the wild meadows, rose petals.
      Set the hills to dancing,
   Dress the canyon walls with live sheep,
      a drape of flax across the valleys.
   Let them shout, and shout, and shout!
      Oh, oh, let them sing!

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Proverbs 11:23 (The Message)

 ²³ The desires of good people lead straight to the best,
   but wicked ambition ends in angry frustration.

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Verse of the Day

“[The Fight against Evil]Finally, let the mighty strength of the Lord make you strong. Put on all the armor that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil's tricks.” - Ephesians 6:10-11

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thoughts for the Day

American physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author based in Boston, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. wrote, “Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.”