Sunday, 08 December

11.   "And there I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with the children of Israel." 12.   Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands 13.   (for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven); 14.   and he said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. 15.   "You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. 16.   "Therefore, LORD God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ 17.   "And now, O LORD God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David. 18.   "But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 19.   "Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: 20.   "that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant prays toward this place. 21.   "And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive. 22.   "If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, 23.   "then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. 24.   "Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, 25.   "then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers. 26.   "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 27.   "then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance. 28.   "When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is ; 29.   "whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: 30.   "then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men), 31.   "that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers. 32.   "Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but who comes from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; 33.   "then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name. 34.   "When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, 35.   "then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 36.   "When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; 37.   " yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness’; 38.   "and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: 39.   "then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. 40.   "Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. 41.   "Now therefore, Arise, O LORD God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, And let Your saints rejoice in goodness. 42.   "O LORD God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed; Remember the mercies of Your servant David."

1.   Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2.   "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me." 3.   But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4.   But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. 5.   Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6.   So the captain came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish." 7.   And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8.   Then they said to him, "Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?" 9.   So he said to them, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land ." 10.   Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "Why have you done this?" For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. 11.   Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?" ––for the sea was growing more tempestuous. 12.   And he said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me." 13.   Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14.   Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, "We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You." 15.   So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16.   Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows. 17.   Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

1.   Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly. 2.   And he said: "I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. "Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. 3.   For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4.   Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5.   The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. 6.   I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God. 7.   "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8.   "Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9.   But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD." 10.   So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land .

1.   THE ELDER, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth: 2.   Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3.   For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. 4.   I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 5.   Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, 6.   who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, 7.   because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. 8.   We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth. 9.   I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10.   Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. 11.   Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. 12.   Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true. 13.   I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; 14.   but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face. Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.