1 Kings 19, 1 Thessalonians 2, Daniel 1, Psalm 105

1 Kings 19,

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
 
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."
 
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,
 
4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."
 
5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat."
 
6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
 
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."
 
8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
 
9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
 
10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
 
11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
 
12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
 
13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
 
14 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
 
15 The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.
 
16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.
 
17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.
 
18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel-all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."
 
19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.
 
20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you." "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"
 
21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.
 

1 Thessalonians 2,

1 You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure.
 
2 We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.
 
3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.
 
4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
 
5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed-God is our witness.
 
6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you,
 
7 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.
 
8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
 
9 Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
 
10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.
 
11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,
 
12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
 
13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
 
14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews,
 
15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men
 
16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
 
17 But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you.
 
18 For we wanted to come to you-certainly I, Paul, did, again and again-but Satan stopped us.
 
19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?
 
20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
 

Daniel 1,

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
 
2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
 
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility-
 
4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.
 
5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service.
 
6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
 
7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
 
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
 
9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel,
 
10 but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."
 
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
 
12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
 
13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see."
 
14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
 
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
 
16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
 
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
 
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
 
19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service.
 
20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
 
21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
 

Psalm 105

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