Wednesday, 18 December

2.   He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azaryahu, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. 3.   Their father gave them great gifts of silver and gold and precious things, with fortified cities in Judah; but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn. 4.   Now when Jehoram was established over the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword, and also others of the princes of Israel. 5.   Jehoram was thirty–two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6.   And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. 7.   Yet the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever. 8.   In his days the Edomites revolted against Judah’s authority, and made a king over themselves. 9.   So Jehoram went out with his officers, and all his chariots with him. And he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots. 10.   Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah’s authority to this day. At that time Libnah revolted against his rule, because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers. 11.   Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry, and led Judah astray. 12.   And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says the LORD God of your father David: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13.   but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself, 14.   behold, the LORD will strike your people with a serious affliction––your children, your wives, and all your possessions; 15.   and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day. 16.   Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians. 17.   And they came up into Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king’s house, and also his sons and his wives, so that there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. 18.   After all this the LORD struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease. 19.   Then it happened in the course of time, after the end of two years, that his intestines came out because of his sickness; so he died in severe pain. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning for his fathers. 20.   He was thirty–two years old when he became king. He reigned in Jerusalem eight years and, to no one’s sorrow, departed. However they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

1.   The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. 2.   "I will utterly consume everything From the face of the land," Says the LORD; 3.   "I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, The fish of the sea, And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land," Says the LORD. 4.   "I will stretch out My hand against Judah, And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests–– 5.   Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; Those who worship and swear oaths by the LORD, But who also swear by Milcom; 6.   Those who have turned back from following the LORD, And have not sought the LORD, nor inquired of Him." 7.   Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; For the day of the LORD is at hand, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests. 8.   "And it shall be, In the day of the LORD’S sacrifice, That I will punish the princes and the king’s children, And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel. 9.   In the same day I will punish All those who leap over the threshold, Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit. 10.   "And there shall be on that day," says the LORD, "The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate, A wailing from the Second Quarter, And a loud crashing from the hills. 11.   Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh! For all the merchant people are cut down; All those who handle money are cut off. 12.   "And it shall come to pass at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men Who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, ‘The LORD will not do good, Nor will He do evil.’ 13.   Therefore their goods shall become booty, And their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit them ; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine." 14.   The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. 15.   That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, 16.   A day of trumpet and alarm Against the fortified cities And against the high towers. 17.   "I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse." 18.   Neither their silver nor their gold Shall be able to deliver them In the day of the LORD’S wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance Of all those who dwell in the land.

1.   Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, 2.   Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the LORD’S fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD’S anger comes upon you! 3.   Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’S anger. 4.   For Gaza shall be forsaken, And Ashkelon desolate; They shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, And Ekron shall be uprooted. 5.   Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, The nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: "I will destroy you; So there shall be no inhabitant." 6.   The seacoast shall be pastures, With shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks. 7.   The coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; They shall feed their flocks there; In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the LORD their God will intervene for them, And return their captives. 8.   "I have heard the reproach of Moab, And the insults of the people of Ammon, With which they have reproached My people, And made arrogant threats against their borders. 9.   Therefore, as I live," Says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Surely Moab shall be like Sodom, And the people of Ammon like Gomorrah––Overrun with weeds and saltpits, And a perpetual desolation. The residue of My people shall plunder them, And the remnant of My people shall possess them." 10.   This they shall have for their pride, Because they have reproached and made arrogant threats Against the people of the LORD of hosts. 11.   The LORD will be awesome to them, For He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth; People shall worship Him, Each one from his place, Indeed all the shores of the nations. 12.   "You Ethiopians also, You shall be slain by My sword." 13.   And He will stretch out His hand against the north, Destroy Assyria, And make Nineveh a desolation, As dry as the wilderness. 14.   The herds shall lie down in her midst, Every beast of the nation. Both the pelican and the bittern Shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars ; Their voice shall sing in the windows; Desolation shall be at the threshold; For He will lay bare the cedar work. 15.   This is the rejoicing city That dwelt securely, That said in her heart, "I am it , and there is none besides me." How has she become a desolation, A place for beasts to lie down! Everyone who passes by her Shall hiss and shake his fist.

1.   Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2.   And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. 3.   Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4.   They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5.   And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6.   In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. 7.   The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. 8.   They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth . 9.   And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. 10.   They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. 11.   And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. 12.   One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. 13.   Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14.   saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 15.   So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16.   Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17.   And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18.   By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed––by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. 19.   For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm. 20.   But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21.   And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.