Meditate

2 Kings 16

16. Ahaz King of Judah

Ahaz Reigns over Judah

16

In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, King Ahaz son of Jotham of Judah began to reign.²Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had done,³but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even made his son pass through fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.⁴He sacrificed and made offerings on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel came up to wage war on Jerusalem; they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.⁶At that time the king of Edom recovered Elath for Edom, and drove the Judeans from Elath; and the Edomites came to Elath, where they live to this day.⁷Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up, and rescue me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”⁸Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.⁹The king of Assyria listened to him; the king of Assyria marched up against Damascus, and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir; then he killed Rezin.

¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. King Ahaz sent to the priest Uriah a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.¹¹The priest Uriah built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, just so did the priest Uriah build it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.¹²When the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar, went up on it,¹³and offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured his drink offering, and dashed the blood of his offerings of well-being against the altar.¹⁴The bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.¹⁵King Ahaz commanded the priest Uriah, saying, “Upon the great altar offer the morning burnt offering, and the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering, and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offering; then dash against it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”¹⁶The priest Uriah did everything that King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷ Then King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands, and removed the laver from them; he removed the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pediment of stone.¹⁸The covered portal for use on the sabbath that had been built inside the palace, and the outer entrance for the king he removed from the house of the Lord. He did this because of the king of Assyria.¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?²⁰Ahaz slept with his ancestors, and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David; his son Hezekiah succeeded him.

2 Thessalonians 3:11-18

3. Warning Against Idleness

¹¹For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.¹²Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.¹³Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

¹⁴ Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed.¹⁵Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers.

Final Greetings and Benediction

¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you.

¹⁷ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.¹⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

Psalm 132

132. Psalm 132

Psalm 132

The Eternal Dwelling of God in Zion

A Song of Ascents.

1

O Lord, remember in David’s favor

all the hardships he endured;

2

how he swore to the Lord

and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,

3

“I will not enter my house

or get into my bed;

4

I will not give sleep to my eyes

or slumber to my eyelids,

5

until I find a place for the Lord,

a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

 

6

We heard of it in Ephrathah;

we found it in the fields of Jaar.

7

“Let us go to his dwelling place;

let us worship at his footstool.”

 

8

Rise up, O Lord, and go to your resting place,

you and the ark of your might.

9

Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,

and let your faithful shout for joy.

10

For your servant David’s sake

do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

 

11

The Lord swore to David a sure oath

from which he will not turn back:

“One of the sons of your body

I will set on your throne.

12

If your sons keep my covenant

and my decrees that I shall teach them,

their sons also, forevermore,

shall sit on your throne.”

 

13

For the Lord has chosen Zion;

he has desired it for his habitation:

14

“This is my resting place forever;

here I will reside, for I have desired it.

15

I will abundantly bless its provisions;

I will satisfy its poor with bread.

16

Its priests I will clothe with salvation,

and its faithful will shout for joy.

17

There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;

I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.

18

His enemies I will clothe with disgrace,

but on him, his crown will gleam.”