Saturday, April 24, 2021

 2 Chronicles 31

¹When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.

²Hezekiah assigned the priests and Levites to divisions--each of them according to their duties as priests or Levites--to offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, to minister, to give thanks and to sing praises at the gates of the LORD's dwelling. ³The king contributed from his own possessions for the morning and evening burnt offerings and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moons and appointed feasts as written in the Law of the LORD. ⁴He ordered the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites so they could devote themselves to the Law of the LORD. ⁵As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything. ⁶The men of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the LORD their God, and they piled them in heaps. ⁷They began doing this in the third month and finished in the seventh month. ⁸When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw the heaps, they praised the LORD and blessed his people Israel.

⁹Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the heaps; ¹⁰and Azariah the chief priest, from the family of Zadok, answered, "Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the LORD has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over."

¹¹Hezekiah gave orders to prepare storerooms in the temple of the LORD, and this was done. ¹²Then they faithfully brought in the contributions, tithes and dedicated gifts. Conaniah, a Levite, was in charge of these things, and his brother Shimei was next in rank. ¹³Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah were supervisors under Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by appointment of King Hezekiah and Azariah the official in charge of the temple of God.

¹⁴Kore son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the East Gate, was in charge of the freewill offerings given to God, distributing the contributions made to the LORD and also the consecrated gifts. ¹⁵Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah assisted him faithfully in the towns of the priests, distributing to their fellow priests according to their divisions, old and young alike.

¹⁶In addition, they distributed to the males three years old or more whose names were in the genealogical records--all who would enter the temple of the LORD to perform the daily duties of their various tasks, according to their responsibilities and their divisions. ¹⁷And they distributed to the priests enrolled by their families in the genealogical records and likewise to the Levites twenty years old or more, according to their responsibilities and their divisions. ¹⁸They included all the little ones, the wives, and the sons and daughters of the whole community listed in these genealogical records. For they were faithful in consecrating themselves.

¹⁹As for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who lived on the farm lands around their towns or in any other towns, men were designated by name to distribute portions to every male among them and to all who were recorded in the genealogies of the Levites.

²⁰This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. ²¹In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.

 

 

Psalm 105

¹Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. ²Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. ³Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. ⁴Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. ⁵Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, ⁶O descendants of Abraham his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. ⁷He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. ⁸He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, ⁹the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. ¹⁰He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: ¹¹"To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit." ¹²When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, ¹³they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. ¹⁴He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: ¹⁵"Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm." ¹⁶He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; ¹⁷and he sent a man before them-- Joseph, sold as a slave. ¹⁸They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, ¹⁹till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the LORD proved him true. ²⁰The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. ²¹He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, ²²to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom. ²³Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham. ²⁴The LORD made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes, ²⁵whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants. ²⁶He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. ²⁷They performed his miraculous signs among them, his wonders in the land of Ham. ²⁸He sent darkness and made the land dark-- for had they not rebelled against his words? ²⁹He turned their waters into blood, causing their fish to die. ³⁰Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers. ³¹He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country. ³²He turned their rain into hail, with lightning throughout their land; ³³he struck down their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country. ³⁴He spoke, and the locusts came, grasshoppers without number; ³⁵they ate up every green thing in their land, ate up the produce of their soil. ³⁶Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their manhood. ³⁷He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold, and from among their tribes no one faltered. ³⁸Egypt was glad when they left, because dread of Israel had fallen on them. ³⁹He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night. ⁴⁰They asked, and he brought them quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹He opened the rock, and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert. ⁴²For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham. ⁴³He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy; ⁴⁴he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for-- ⁴⁵that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws. Praise the LORD.

 

 

Luke 15:11–32

¹¹Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

¹³"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' ²⁰So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. '

²²"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

²⁵"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'

²⁸"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

³¹" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "