2 Kings 25, Hebrews 7, Amos 1, Psalm 144

2 Kings 25,

1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it.
 
2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
 
3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.
 
4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,
 
5 but the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,
 
6 and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him.
 
7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
 
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
 
9 He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.
 
10 The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
 
11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon.
 
12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
 
13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried the bronze to Babylon.
 
14 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.
 
15 The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls-all that were made of pure gold or silver.
 
16 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed.
 
17 Each pillar was twenty-seven feet high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was four and a half feet high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.
 
18 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.
 
19 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of his men who were found in the city.
 
20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
 
21 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
 
22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah.
 
23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, and their men.
 
24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. "Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials," he said. "Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you."
 
25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.
 
26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.
 
27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin from prison on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month.
 
28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
 
29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table.
 
30 Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.
 

Hebrews 7,

1 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him,
 
2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "king of righteousness"; then also, "king of Salem" means "king of peace."
 
3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
 
4 Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!
 
5 Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people-that is, their brothers-even though their brothers are descended from Abraham.
 
6 This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.
 
7 And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater.
 
8 In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living.
 
9 One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham,
 
10 because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.
 
11 If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the law was given to the people), why was there still need for another priest to come-one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?
 
12 For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law.
 
13 He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar.
 
14 For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
 
15 And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears,
 
16 one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.
 
17 For it is declared: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
 
18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless
 
19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
 
20 And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath,
 
21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever.' "
 
22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
 
23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office;
 
24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.
 
25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
 
26 Such a high priest meets our need-one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
 
27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
 
28 For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
 

Amos 1,

1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa-what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
 
2 He said: "The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers."
 
3 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth,
 
4 I will send fire upon the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
 
5 I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir," says the LORD.
 
6 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom,
 
7 I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses.
 
8 I will destroy the king of Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, till the last of the Philistines is dead," says the Sovereign LORD.
 
9 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,
 
10 I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre that will consume her fortresses."
 
11 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked,
 
12 I will send fire upon Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah."
 
13 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders,
 
14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day.
 
15 Her king will go into exile, he and his officials together," says the LORD.
 

Psalm 144

1 Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
 
2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.
 
3 O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him?
 
4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.
 
5 Part your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
 
6 Send forth lightning and scatter {the enemies}; shoot your arrows and rout them.
 
7 Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners
 
8 whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful.
 
9 I will sing a new song to you, O God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
 
10 to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword.
 
11 Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful.
 
12 Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.
 
13 Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields;
 
14 our oxen will draw heavy loads.There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets.
 
15 Blessed are the people of whom this is true; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.