1 Kings 15, Colossians 2, Ezekiel 45, Psalm 99, 100, 101

1 Kings 15,

1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king of Judah,
 
2 and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.
 
3 He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been.
 
4 Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong.
 
5 For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD's commands all the days of his life-except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
 
6 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout Abijah's lifetime.
 
7 As for the other events of Abijah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
 
8 And Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Asa his son succeeded him as king.
 
9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah,
 
10 and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.
 
11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done.
 
12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made.
 
13 He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
 
14 Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life.
 
15 He brought into the temple of the LORD the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
 
16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.
 
17 Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.
 
18 Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the LORD's temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.
 
19 "Let there be a treaty between me and you," he said, "as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me."
 
20 Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah and all Kinnereth in addition to Naphtali.
 
21 When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah.
 
22 Then King Asa issued an order to all Judah-no one was exempt-and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using there. With them King Asa built up Geba in Benjamin, and also Mizpah.
 
23 As for all the other events of Asa's reign, all his achievements, all he did and the cities he built, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? In his old age, however, his feet became diseased.
 
24 Then Asa rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of his father David. And Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king.
 
25 Nadab son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.
 
26 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, walking in the ways of his father and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.
 
27 Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar plotted against him, and he struck him down at Gibbethon, a Philistine town, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging it.
 
28 Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of Asa king of Judah and succeeded him as king.
 
29 As soon as he began to reign, he killed Jeroboam's whole family. He did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all, according to the word of the LORD given through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite-
 
30 because of the sins Jeroboam had committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.
 
31 As for the other events of Nadab's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
 
32 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.
 
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years.
 
34 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, walking in the ways of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.
 

Colossians 2,

1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.
 
2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
 
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
 
4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
 
5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
 
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,
 
7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
 
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
 
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
 
10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
 
11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
 
12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
 
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
 
14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
 
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
 
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
 
17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
 
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
 
19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
 
20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
 
21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?
 
22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
 
23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
 

Ezekiel 45,

1 " 'When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide; the entire area will be holy.
 
2 Of this, a section 500 cubits square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits around it for open land.
 
3 In the sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
 
4 It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the LORD. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary.
 
5 An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in.
 
6 " 'You are to give the city as its property an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred portion; it will belong to the whole house of Israel.
 
7 " 'The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions.
 
8 This land will be his possession in Israel. And my princes will no longer oppress my people but will allow the house of Israel to possess the land according to their tribes.
 
9 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have gone far enough, O princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign LORD.
 
10 You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephah and an accurate bath.
 
11 The ephah and the bath are to be the same size, the bath containing a tenth of a homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer is to be the standard measure for both.
 
12 The shekel is to consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels equal one mina.
 
13 " 'This is the special gift you are to offer: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat and a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley.
 
14 The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (which consists of ten baths or one homer, for ten baths are equivalent to a homer).
 
15 Also one sheep is to be taken from every flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the people, declares the Sovereign LORD.
 
16 All the people of the land will participate in this special gift for the use of the prince in Israel.
 
17 It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths-at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.
 
18 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary.
 
19 The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court.
 
20 You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple.
 
21 " 'In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a feast lasting seven days, during which you shall eat bread made without yeast.
 
22 On that day the prince is to provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land.
 
23 Every day during the seven days of the Feast he is to provide seven bulls and seven rams without defect as a burnt offering to the LORD, and a male goat for a sin offering.
 
24 He is to provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, along with a hin of oil for each ephah.
 
25 " 'During the seven days of the Feast, which begins in the seventh month on the fifteenth day, he is to make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings and oil.
 

Psalm 99, 100, 101

1 The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake.
 
2 Great is the LORD in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations.
 
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name-he is holy.
 
4 The King is mighty, he loves justice-you have established equity; in Jacob you have done what is just and right.
 
5 Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.
 
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the LORD and he answered them.
 
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.
 
8 O LORD our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds.
 
9 Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.
 

    
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
 
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
 
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
 
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
 

    
1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.
 
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life-when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart.
 
3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.
 
4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil.
 
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.
 
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.
 
7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.
 
8 Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.