December 27, 2023
Today’s Reading:
Old Testament - 2 Chronicles 27-29
New Testament - Revelation 19
Jotham Reigns in Judah
27 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and hereigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerushahthe daughter of Zadok. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORDaccording to all that his father Uzziah had done, bexcept he did not enter thetemple of the LORD. But the people still followed corrupt practices. 3 He built theupper gate of the house of the LORD and did much building on the wall of cOphel.4 Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and forts and towers onthe wooded hills. 5 He fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailedagainst them. And the Ammonites gave him that year 100 talents1 of silver, and10,000 cors2 of wheat and 10,000 of barley. The Ammonites paid him the sameamount in the second and the third years. 6 So Jotham became mighty, becausehe ordered his ways before the LORD his God. 7 dNow the rest of the acts ofJotham, and all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written in the Book of theKings of Israel and Judah. 8 He was etwenty-five years old when he began toreign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9 And Jotham slept with hisfathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Ahaz his son reigned in hisplace.
Ahaz Reigns in Judah
28 fAhaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reignedsixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in theeyes of the LORD, as his father David had done, 2 but he walked in the ways of thekings of Israel. He even made gmetal images for hthe Baals, 3 and ihe madeofferings in the jValley of the Son of Hinnom and kburned his sons as anoffering,1 according to lthe abominations of the nations whom the LORD droveout before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and imade offerings on thehigh places and on the hills and under every green tree.
Judah Defeated
5 mTherefore the LORD his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, whodefeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them toDamascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck himwith great force. 6 For nPekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah inone day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God oftheir fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’sson and Azrikam the commander of the palace and Elkanah the next in authorityto the king.
8 The men of Israel took captive 200,000 oof their relatives, women, sons, anddaughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil toSamaria. 9 But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded, and hewent out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold,because the LORD, the God of your fathers, pwas angry with Judah, he gave theminto your hand, but you have killed them in a rage qthat has reached up to heaven.10 And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male andfemale, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the LORD your God?11 Now hear me, and send back the captives ofrom your relatives whom you havetaken, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you.”
12 Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan,Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasathe son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war 13 andsaid to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bringupon us guilt against the LORD in addition to our present sins and guilt. For ourguilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” 14 So the armedmen left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. 15 Andrthe men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, andwith the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them,gave them sandals, sprovided them with food and drink, and anointed them, andcarrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to theirkinsfolk at Jericho, tthe city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.
16 uAt that time King Ahaz sent to the king2 of Assyria for help. 17 For theEdomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives.18 vAnd the Philistines had made raids on wthe cities in the Shephelah and theNegeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco xwith itsvillages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settledthere. 19 For the LORD humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he hadmade yJudah act sinfully3 and had been very unfaithful to the LORD. 20 SozTiglath-pileser4 king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead ofstrengthening him. 21 aFor Ahaz took a portion from the house of the LORD andthe house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria,but it did not help him.
Ahaz’s Idolatry
22 In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the LORD—thissame King Ahaz. 23 For bhe sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeatedhim and said, c“Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I willsacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of allIsrael. 24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and dcut inpieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house ofthe LORD, and he made himself ealtars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In everycity of Judah he made high places to fmake offerings to other gods, provoking toanger the LORD, the God of his fathers. 26 gNow the rest of his acts and all hisways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judahand Israel. 27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, inJerusalem, for hthey did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. AndHezekiah his son reigned in his place.
Hezekiah Reigns in Judah
29 jHezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and hereigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name wasAbijah1 the daughter of kZechariah. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes ofthe LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple
3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he lopened the doors of thehouse of the LORD and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levitesand assembled them in the square on the east 5 and said to them, “Hear me,Levites! Now mconsecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the LORD, theGod of your fathers, and carry out the filth2 from the Holy Place. 6 For ourfathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the LORDour God. They have forsaken him and nhave turned away their faces from thehabitation of the LORD and turned their backs. 7 They also oshut the doors of thevestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burntofferings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore pthe wrath of theLORD came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them qan object of horror,of astonishment, rand of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9 For behold,sour fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and ourwives are in captivity for this. 10 Now tit is in my heart uto make a covenant withthe LORD, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us.11 My sons, do not now be negligent, vfor the LORD has chosen you to stand in hispresence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”
12 Then the Levites arose, wMahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son ofAzariah, of the sons of xthe Kohathites; and of the sons of xMerari, Kish the sonof Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the xGershonites, Joah the sonof Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; 13 and of the sons of yElizaphan, Shimriand Jeuel; and of the sons of zAsaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 and of the sonsof aHeman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of bJeduthun, Shemaiah andUzziel. 15 They gathered their brothers and cconsecrated themselves and went inas the king had commanded, dby the words of the LORD, eto cleanse the house ofthe LORD. 16 The priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD tocleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the templeof the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it andcarried it out to fthe brook Kidron. 17 They began to consecrate gon the first dayof the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibuleof the LORD. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the LORD, and onthe sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18 Then they went in toHezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, the altarof burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread and all itsutensils. 19 All the utensils hthat King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he wasfaithless, we have made ready and consecrated, and behold, they are before thealtar of the LORD.”
Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship
20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city andwent up to the house of the LORD. 21 And they brought seven bulls, seven rams,seven lambs, and seven male goats ifor a sin offering for the kingdom and for thesanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, tooffer them on the altar of the LORD. 22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and thepriests received the blood jand threw it against the altar. And they slaughteredthe rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered thelambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. 23 Then the goats for the sinoffering were brought to the king and the assembly, kand they laid their hands onthem, 24 and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with theirblood on the altar, lto make atonement for all Israel. For the king commandedthat the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25 mAnd he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps,and lyres, naccording to the commandment of David and of Gad othe king’s seerand of pNathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the LORD throughhis prophets. 26 The Levites stood with qthe instruments of David, rand thepriests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offeringbe offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, sthe song to the LORDbegan also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king ofIsrael. 28 The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and thetrumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished.29 When the offering was finished, tthe king and all who were present with himbowed themselves and worshiped. 30 And Hezekiah the king and the officialscommanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David andof Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed downand worshiped.
31 Then Hezekiah said, u“You have now consecrated yourselves to3 the LORD.Come near; bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.” Andthe assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were vof awilling heart brought burnt offerings. 32 The number of the burnt offerings thatthe assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for aburnt offering to the LORD. 33 And the consecrated offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. 34 But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burntofferings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, wtheir brothers theLevites helped them, until the work was finished—xfor the Levites were moreupright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves. 35 Besides the greatnumber of burnt offerings, there was ythe fat of the peace offerings, and therewere zthe drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house ofthe LORD was restored. 36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because Godhad provided for the people, for the thing came about suddenly.
Revelation 19 (ESV)
Rejoicing in Heaven
19 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3 Once more they cried out,
“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And from the throne came a voice saying,
“Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
small and great.”
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
The Rider on a White Horse
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
