The Daily Audio Bible
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Joash Repairs the Temple(A)
24 Now Joash[a] was seven years old when he started his reign, and he was king in Jerusalem for forty years. The name of his mother was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was correct in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 And Jehoiada gave Joash two wives, and he had sons and daughters.
4 And it happened after this that it was in the heart of Joash to restore the house of the Lord. 5 So he assembled the priests and Levites to speak with them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to fortify the house of your God, what is necessary each year. Now hurry with this matter.” But the Levites delayed.
6 So the king called Jehoiada, who was head over this, and said to him, “Why have you not required from the Levites that they bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, for the congregation of Israel for the tent of the testimony?”
7 For the sons of Athaliah, the wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and even used all the holy items of the house of the Lord for Baal worship.
8 Then the king spoke, and they made a chest, and put it outside the gate of the house of the Lord. 9 And they gave a report in Judah and Jerusalem to bring in to the Lord a tax levied by Moses the servant of God on Israel in the wilderness. 10 So all the officials and people rejoiced, and they brought in the money and cast it into the chest until it was full. 11 And it happened that at the time the Levites brought the chest to the guards of the king that there was a large amount of money. So the king’s scribe and head priest’s commissioner would bring it and empty the chest and then take it and return it to its place. They continued to do this every day and collected a great amount of money. 12 So the king and Jehoiada gave it to those doing a work of labor on the house of the Lord. And they hired masons and craftsmen to repair the house of the Lord, and even metal workers in iron and bronze to fortify the house of the Lord.
13 So the workmen worked, and the work was completed by them. They restored the house of God to its specifications and strengthened it. 14 When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, who made vessels for the house of the Lord, vessels for serving and for making burnt offerings, spoons and vessels of gold and silver. They continually offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada.
15 Then Jehoiada became old and full of days and died. He was one hundred and thirty years old when he died. 16 So they buried him in the City of David with the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and His house.
The Wickedness of Joash
17 After the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king. At that time the king listened to them. 18 Then they abandoned the house of the Lord and God of their fathers, and they served the Asherah poles and idols. And divine wrath was on Judah and Jerusalem because of this guilt. 19 And God sent prophets to return them to the Lord. These warned the people, but they would not listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people saying, “Thus says God: Why are you transgressing the commandments of the Lord so that you all will not be successful? Because you all have abandoned the Lord, He has abandoned you.”
21 But they plotted against him, and at the command of the king they all stoned him in the court of the house of the Lord. 22 And Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada the father of Zechariah had shown him, but killed his son. As he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!”
The Death of Joash
23 And it happened that at the turn of the year the army of Aram came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the officials of the people, and they sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus. 24 Though the Aramean army came with a few men, the Lord delivered into their hand a very great Judean army because they abandoned the Lord God of their fathers. So they enacted judgment on Joash. 25 When they left him (for they abandoned him with severe wounds) his own servants plotted against him because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest. So they killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
26 And those who conspired against him were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite. 27 Accounts of his sons and of the many oracles against him and of the rebuilding of the house of God are written in the annals of the kings. And Amaziah his son ruled in his place.
Amaziah, King of Judah(B)
25 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he was king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem. 2 He did what was correct in the eyes of the Lord, only not with a complete heart. 3 And it happened that when the kingdom was firmly his that he killed his servants, those who struck down his father King Joash. 4 But he did not put to death their children because, as it is written in the Law in the Book of Moses, as the Lord commanded, “You will not put to death the fathers for their children’s actions nor the children will you put to death for their fathers’ actions, for every man will be put to death for his own sin.”
Slaughter of the Edomites
5 Then Amaziah assembled Judah and set over them according to the house of the fathers commanders of thousands and hundreds in all Judah and Benjamin, and he appointed men who were twenty years old and above. And they found three hundred thousand choice men fit for war and able to use a long spear and large shield. 6 And he hired out from Israel one hundred thousand mighty men of war for one hundred talents[b] of silver.
7 Then a man of God came to him saying, “O king, do not let the army of Israel come with you because the Lord is not with Israel or with any of the sons of Ephraim. 8 But if you go, do it. Be strong for the battle. Yet God shall make you fall before the enemy, for God has power to help and to bring down.”
9 Then Amaziah said to the man of God, “So what should I do about the one hundred talents of silver that I gave to the military party from Israel?”
And the man of God responded, “The Lord has more to give to you than this.”
10 So Amaziah dismissed the military party that came to him from Ephraim to return to their place. And they were very angry with Judah and returned to their place in a great rage.
11 But Amaziah strengthened himself and led his people, and he journeyed to the Valley of Salt and struck down ten thousand of the people of Seir. 12 And the people of Judah took captive another ten thousand alive and brought them to the top of a cliff and threw them from the top of the rock so that they were all dashed to pieces.
13 But the men of the military party that Amaziah turned back from going with him in battle raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They struck down three thousand Judeans and took a great amount of plunder.
14 And it happened after Amaziah came back from striking down the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people from Seir and set them up as gods for himself. He worshipped them and gave them sacrifices. 15 So the Lord was greatly angry with Amaziah, and He sent a prophet to the king. And he said, “Why do you seek from the gods of the people who were not even able to deliver the people from your hand?”
16 But while the prophet was speaking, the king said, “Have we made you a counselor to the king? Stop! Why should you be struck down?”
The prophet refrained, but he said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you because you have done this and not heeded my advice.”
Israel Defeats Judah
17 Then Amaziah king of Judah received advice and sent for Jehoash[c] the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us meet together.”
18 So Jehoash king of Israel sent a message for Amaziah king of Judah saying, “A thistle in Lebanon sent for a cedar in Lebanon stating, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then an animal of the field in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. 19 You say that you have struck down Edom, and your heart lifts you up in arrogance. Now remain in your palace. Why do you provoke disaster so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”
20 But Amaziah would not listen because this was from God so that He might give them into the hand of Jehoash because Amaziah had sought after the gods of Edom. 21 So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and they faced each other, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth Shemesh, which is in Judah. 22 And Judah was struck down by Israel, and each man fled to his home. 23 So at Beth Shemesh, Jehoash king of Israel seized Amaziah king of Judah the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah. And they brought him to Jerusalem and broke through the walls of the city from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a section of four hundred cubits.[d] 24 And Jehoash took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obed-Edom, even the treasures of the palace of the king and hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.
The Death of Amaziah
25 And Amaziah, the son of Joash king of Judah, lived fifteen years more after the death of Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27 From the time when Amaziah turned aside from the Lord, they plotted a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. Then they sent for him and put him to death in Lachish. 28 They brought him on horses and buried him with his fathers in the City of David in Judah.
The New Life in Christ
12 I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sound judgment, according to the measure of faith God has distributed to every man. 4 For just as we have many parts in one body, and not all parts have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and all are parts of one another. 6 We have diverse gifts according to the grace that is given to us: if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; 7 if service, in serving; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Rules of the Christian Life
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Hate what is evil. Cleave to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another with brotherly love; prefer one another in honor, 11 do not be lazy in diligence, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord, 12 rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer, 13 contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Do not pretend to be wiser than you are.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Commend what is honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to God’s wrath, for it is written: “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him a drink;
for in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head.”[b]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
19 But do not be far from me, O Lord;
O my Help, hasten to my aid.
20 Rescue my soul from the sword,
my only life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth,
and from the horns of the wild ox, answer me!
22 I will declare Your name to my community;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise You.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him;
all you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted;
nor has He hid His face from him;
but when he cried to Him, He heard.
25 From You my praise will be in the great congregation;
I will pay my vows before those who fear Him.
26 The meek will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever.
27 All the ends of the world
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will worship before You.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and He rules among the nations.
29 All the prosperous ones of the earth will eat and worship;
all who go down to the dust will bow before Him,
even he who cannot keep his own soul alive.
30 Posterity will serve Him;
it will be told to generations about the Lord;
31 they will come and declare His righteousness
to a people yet to be born,
that He has acted.
8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment
scatters away all evil with his eyes.
9 Who can say, “I have made my heart clean,
I am pure from my sin”?
10 Diverse weights and diverse measures,
both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.