Sabtu, 21 Desember

1.   Amaziah was twenty–five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty–nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 2.   And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a loyal heart. 3.   Now it happened, as soon as the kingdom was established for him, that he executed his servants who had murdered his father the king. 4.   However he did not execute their children, but did as it is written in the Law in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, "The fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall die for his own sin." 5.   Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and set over them captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, according to their fathers’ houses, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men, able to go to war, who could handle spear and shield. 6.   He also hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valor from Israel for one hundred talents of silver. 7.   But a man of God came to him, saying, "O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel–– not with any of the children of Ephraim. 8.   "But if you go, be gone! Be strong in battle! Even so , God shall make you fall before the enemy; for God has power to help and to overthrow." 9.   Then Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what shall we do about the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?" And the man of God answered, "The LORD is able to give you much more than this." 10.   So Amaziah discharged the troops that had come to him from Ephraim, to go back home. Therefore their anger was greatly aroused against Judah, and they returned home in great anger. 11.   Then Amaziah strengthened himself, and leading his people, he went to the Valley of Salt and killed ten thousand of the people of Seir. 12.   Also the children of Judah took captive ten thousand alive, brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were dashed in pieces. 13.   But as for the soldiers of the army which Amaziah had discharged, so that they would not go with him to battle, they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon, killed three thousand in them, and took much spoil. 14.   Now it was so, after Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up to be his gods, and bowed down before them and burned incense to them. 15.   Therefore the anger of the LORD was aroused against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, "Why have you sought the gods of the people, which could not rescue their own people from your hand?" 16.   So it was, as he talked with him, that the king said to him, "Have we made you the king’s counselor? Cease! Why should you be killed?" Then the prophet ceased, and said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice." 17.   Now Amaziah king of Judah asked advice and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us face one another in battle ." 18.   And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife’; and a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. 19.   "Indeed you say that you have defeated the Edomites, and your heart is lifted up to boast. Stay at home now; why should you meddle with trouble, that you should fall––you and Judah with you?" 20.   But Amaziah would not heed, for it came from God, that He might give them into the hand of their enemies , because they sought the gods of Edom. 21.   So Joash king of Israel went out; and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 22.   And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his tent. 23.   Then Joash the king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth Shemesh; and he brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate––four hundred cubits. 24.   And he took all the gold and silver, all the articles that were found in the house of God with Obed–Edom, the treasures of the king’s house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria. 25.   Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 26.   Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, from first to last, indeed are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27.   After the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28.   Then they brought him on horses and buried him with his fathers in the City of Judah.

1.   In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2.   "The LORD has been very angry with your fathers. 3.   "Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Return to Me," says the LORD of hosts, "and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. 4.   "Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds."’ But they did not hear nor heed Me," says the LORD. 5.   "Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6.   Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? "So they returned and said: ‘Just as the LORD of hosts determined to do to us, According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us.’"’" 7.   On the twenty–fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet: 8.   I saw by night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white. 9.   Then I said, "My lord, what are these?" So the angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what they are ." 10.   And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, "These are the ones whom the LORD has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth." 11.   So they answered the Angel of the LORD, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, "We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is resting quietly." 12.   Then the Angel of the LORD answered and said, "O LORD of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?" 13.   And the LORD answered the angel who talked to me, with good and comforting words. 14.   So the angel who spoke with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: "I am zealous for Jerusalem And for Zion with great zeal. 15.   I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; For I was a little angry, And they helped–– but with evil intent ." 16.   ‘Therefore thus says the LORD: "I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it," says the LORD of hosts, "And a surveyor’s line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem."’ 17.   "Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: "My cities shall again spread out through prosperity; The LORD will again comfort Zion, And will again choose Jerusalem."’" 18.   Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were four horns. 19.   And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" So he answered me, "These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." 20.   Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. 21.   And I said, "What are these coming to do?" So he said, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it."

1.   Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2.   So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length." 3.   And there was the angel who talked with me, going out; and another angel was coming out to meet him, 4.   who said to him, "Run, speak to this young man, saying: ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. 5.   ‘For I,’ says the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’" 6.   "Up, up! Flee from the land of the north," says the LORD; "for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven," says the LORD. 7.   "Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon." 8.   For thus says the LORD of hosts: "He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. 9.   "For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me. 10.   "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," says the LORD. 11.   "Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. 12.   "And the LORD will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem. 13.   "Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!"

1.   Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2.   Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3.   And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4.   His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5.   She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6.   Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 7.   And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8.   but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9.   So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10.   Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11.   "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12.   "Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." 13.   Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child . 14.   But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15.   So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16.   But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17.   And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.