August 8 - 2 Corinthians 9, 2 Kings 22.1-23.34 and Nahum 3

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Help for Needy Believers

2 Corinthians 9 There is really no need for me to write you about the help being sent to God's people in Judea. 2I know that you are willing to help, and I have boasted of you to the people in Macedonia. "The believers in Achaia," I said, "have been ready to help since last year." Your eagerness has stirred up most of them. 3Now I am sending these believers, so that our boasting about you in this matter may not turn out to be empty words. But, just as I said, you will be ready with your help. 4However, if the people from Macedonia should come with me and find out that you are not ready, how ashamed we would be--not to speak of your shame--for feeling so sure of you! 5So I thought it was necessary to urge these believers to go to you ahead of me and get ready in advance the gift you promised to make. Then it will be ready when I arrive, and it will show that you give because you want to, not because you have to.
6Remember that the person who plants few seeds will have a small crop; the one who plants many seeds will have a large crop. 7You should each give, then, as you have decided, not with regret or out of a sense of duty; for God loves the one who gives gladly. 8And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause. 9As the scripture says,
"He gives generously to the needy;
his kindness lasts forever."
10And God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity. 11He will always make you rich enough to be generous at all times, so that many will thank God for your gifts which they receive from us. 12For this service you perform not only meets the needs of God's people, but also produces an outpouring of gratitude to God. 13And because of the proof which this service of yours brings, many will give glory to God for your loyalty to the gospel of Christ, which you profess, and for your generosity in sharing with them and everyone else. 14And so with deep affection they will pray for you because of the extraordinary grace God has shown you. 15Let us thank God for his priceless gift!


King Josiah of Judah
(2 Chronicles 34.1, 2)

2 Kings 22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for thirty-one years. His mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah from the town of Bozkath. 2Josiah did what was pleasing to the LORD; he followed the example of his ancestor King David, strictly obeying all the laws of God.

The Book of the Law Is Discovered
(2 Chronicles 34.8-28)

3In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the court secretary Shaphan, the son of Azaliah and grandson of Meshullam, to the Temple with the order: 4"Go to the High Priest Hilkiah and get a report on the amount of money that the priests on duty at the entrance to the Temple have collected from the people. 5Tell him to give the money to the men who are in charge of the repairs in the Temple. They are to pay 6the carpenters, the builders, and the masons, and buy the timber and the stones used in the repairs. 7The men in charge of the work are thoroughly honest, so there is no need to require them to account for the funds."
8Shaphan delivered the king's order to Hilkiah, and Hilkiah told him that he had found the book of the Law in the Temple. Hilkiah gave him the book, and Shaphan read it. 9Then he went back to the king and reported: "Your servants have taken the money that was in the Temple and have handed it over to the men in charge of the repairs." 10And then he said, "I have here a book that Hilkiah gave me." And he read it aloud to the king.
11When the king heard the book being read, he tore his clothes in dismay, 12and gave the following order to Hilkiah the priest, to Ahikam son of Shaphan, to Achbor son of Micaiah, to Shaphan, the court secretary, and to Asaiah, the king's attendant: 13"Go and consult the LORD for me and for all the people of Judah about the teachings of this book. The LORD is angry with us because our ancestors have not done what this book says must be done."
14Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to consult a woman named Huldah, a prophet who lived in the newer part of Jerusalem. (Her husband Shallum, the son of Tikvah and grandson of Harhas, was in charge of the Temple robes.) They described to her what had happened, 15and she told them to go back to the king and give him 16the following message from the LORD: "I am going to punish Jerusalem and all its people, as written in the book that the king has read. 17They have rejected me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and so have stirred up my anger by all they have done. My anger is aroused against Jerusalem, and it will not die down. 18As for the king himself, this is what I, the LORD God of Israel, say: You listened to what is written in the book, 19and you repented and humbled yourself before me, tearing your clothes and weeping, when you heard how I threatened to punish Jerusalem and its people. I will make it a terrifying sight, a place whose name people will use as a curse. But I have heard your prayer, 20and the punishment which I am going to bring on Jerusalem will not come until after your death. I will let you die in peace."
The men returned to King Josiah with this message.

Josiah Does Away with Pagan Worship
(2 Chronicles 34.3-7, 29-33)

2 Kings 23 King Josiah summoned all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, 2and together they went to the Temple, accompanied by the priests and the prophets and all the rest of the people, rich and poor alike. Before them all the king read aloud the whole book of the covenant which had been found in the Temple. 3He stood by the royal column and made a covenant with the LORD to obey him, to keep his laws and commands with all his heart and soul, and to put into practice the demands attached to the covenant, as written in the book. And all the people promised to keep the covenant.
4Then Josiah ordered the High Priest Hilkiah, his assistant priests, and the guards on duty at the entrance to the Temple to bring out of the Temple all the objects used in the worship of Baal, of the goddess Asherah, and of the stars. The king burned all these objects outside the city near Kidron Valley and then had the ashes taken to Bethel. 5He removed from office the priests that the kings of Judah had ordained to offer sacrifices on the pagan altars in the cities of Judah and in places near Jerusalem--all the priests who offered sacrifices to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. 6He removed from the Temple the symbol of the goddess Asherah, took it out of the city to Kidron Valley, burned it, pounded its ashes to dust, and scattered it over the public burying ground. 7He destroyed the living quarters in the Temple occupied by the temple prostitutes. (It was there that women wove robes used in the worship of Asherah.) 8He brought to Jerusalem the priests who were in the cities of Judah, and throughout the whole country he desecrated the altars where they had offered sacrifices. He also tore down the altars dedicated to the goat demons near the gate built by Joshua, the city governor, which was to the left of the main gate as one enters the city. 9Those priests were not allowed to serve in the Temple, but they could eat the unleavened bread provided for their fellow priests.
10King Josiah also desecrated Topheth, the pagan place of worship in Hinnom Valley, so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter as a burnt offering to the god Molech. 11He also removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the worship of the sun, and he burned the chariots used in this worship. (These were kept in the temple courtyard, near the gate and not far from the living quarters of Nathan Melech, a high official.) 12The altars which the kings of Judah had built on the palace roof above King Ahaz' quarters, King Josiah tore down, along with the altars put up by King Manasseh in the two courtyards of the Temple; he smashed the altars to bits and threw them into Kidron Valley. 13Josiah desecrated the altars that King Solomon had built east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Olives, for the worship of disgusting idols--Astarte the goddess of Sidon, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Molech the god of Ammon. 14King Josiah broke the stone pillars to pieces, cut down the symbols of the goddess Asherah, and the ground where they had stood he covered with human bones.
15Josiah also tore down the place of worship in Bethel, which had been built by King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin. Josiah pulled down the altar, broke its stones into pieces, and pounded them to dust; he also burned the image of Asherah. 16Then Josiah looked around and saw some tombs there on the hill; he had the bones taken out of them and burned on the altar. In this way he desecrated the altar, doing what the prophet had predicted long before during the festival as King Jeroboam was standing by the altar. King Josiah looked around and saw the tomb of the prophet who had made this prediction. 17"Whose tomb is that?" he asked.
The people of Bethel answered, "It is the tomb of the prophet who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done to this altar."
18"Leave it as it is," Josiah ordered. "His bones are not to be moved."
So his bones were not moved, neither were those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
19In every city of Israel King Josiah tore down all the pagan places of worship which had been built by the kings of Israel, who thereby aroused the LORD's anger. He did to all those altars what he had done in Bethel. 20He killed all the pagan priests on the altars where they served, and he burned human bones on every altar. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Celebrates the Passover
(2 Chronicles 35.1-19)

21King Josiah ordered the people to celebrate the Passover in honor of the LORD their God, as written in the book of the covenant. 22No Passover like this one had ever been celebrated by any of the kings of Israel or of Judah, since the time when judges ruled the nation. 23Now at last, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, the Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem.

Other Changes Made by Josiah

24In order to enforce the laws written in the book that the High Priest Hilkiah had found in the Temple, King Josiah removed from Jerusalem and the rest of Judah all the mediums and fortunetellers, and all the household gods, idols, and all other pagan objects of worship. 25There had never been a king like him before, who served the LORD with all his heart, mind, and strength, obeying all the Law of Moses; nor has there been a king like him since.
26But the LORD's fierce anger had been aroused against Judah by what King Manasseh had done, and even now it did not die down. 27The LORD said, "I will do to Judah what I have done to Israel: I will banish the people of Judah from my sight, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and the Temple, the place I said was where I should be worshiped."

The End of Josiah's Reign
(2 Chronicles 35.20 --36.1)

28Everything else that King Josiah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. 29While Josiah was king, King Neco of Egypt led an army to the Euphrates River to help the emperor of Assyria. King Josiah tried to stop the Egyptian army at Megiddo and was killed in battle. 30His officials placed his body in a chariot and took it back to Jerusalem, where he was buried in the royal tombs.
The people of Judah chose Josiah's son Joahaz and anointed him king.

King Joahaz of Judah
(2 Chronicles 36.2 -4)

31Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from the city of Libnah. 32Following the example of his ancestors, he sinned against the LORD. 33His reign ended when King Neco of Egypt took him prisoner in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and made Judah pay 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold as tribute. 34King Neco made Josiah's son Eliakim king of Judah as successor to Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Joahaz was taken to Egypt by King Neco, and there he died.


Nahum 3 Doomed is the lying, murderous city,
full of wealth to be looted and plundered!
2Listen! The crack of the whip,
the rattle of wheels,
the gallop of horses,
the jolting of chariots!
3Cavalry troops charge,
swords flash, spears gleam!
Corpses are piled high,
dead bodies without number--
men stumble over them!
4Nineveh the whore is being punished.
Attractive and full of deadly charms,
she enchanted nations and enslaved them.

5The LORD Almighty says,
"I will punish you, Nineveh!
I will strip you naked
and let the nations see you,
see you in all your shame.
6I will treat you with contempt
and cover you with filth.
People will stare at you in horror.
7All who see you will shrink back.
They will say, 'Nineveh lies in ruins!
Who has any sympathy for her?
Who will want to comfort her?'"

8Nineveh, are you any better than Thebes, the capital of Egypt? She too had a river to protect her like a wall--the Nile was her defense. 9She ruled Ethiopia and Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally. 10Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.
11Nineveh, you too will fall into a drunken stupor! You too will try to escape from your enemies. 12All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth! 13Your soldiers are helpless, and your country stands defenseless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates. 14Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick molds ready! 15No matter what you do, you will still be burned to death or killed in battle. You will be wiped out like crops eaten up by locusts.
You multiplied like locusts! 16You produced more merchants than there are stars in the sky! But now they are gone, like locusts that spread their wings and fly away. 17Your officials are like a swarm of locusts that stay in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone!
18Emperor of Assyria, your governors are dead, and your noblemen are asleep forever! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them home again. 19There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?

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This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.


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