Monday, 09 December

1.   When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2.   And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’S house. 3.   When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying : "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever." 4.   Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5.   King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty–two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6.   And the priests attended to their services; the Levites also with instruments of the music of the LORD, which King David had made to praise the LORD, saying, "For His mercy endures forever," whenever David offered praise by their ministry. The priests sounded trumpets opposite them, while all Israel stood. 7.   Furthermore Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the LORD; for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat. 8.   At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt. 9.   And on the eighth day they held a sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10.   On the twenty–third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the LORD had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel. 11.   Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the LORD and in his own house. 12.   Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13.   "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14.   "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15.   "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16.   "For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17.   "As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 18.   "then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’ 19.   "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, 20.   "then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21.   "And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and this house?’ 22.   "Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’"

1.   It came to pass at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house, 2.   that the cities which Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them; and he settled the children of Israel there. 3.   And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. 4.   He also built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities which he built in Hamath. 5.   He built Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, 6.   also Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities and the cities of the cavalry, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 7.   All the people who were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel–– 8.   that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel did not destroy––from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. 9.   But Solomon did not make the children of Israel servants for his work. Some were men of war, captains of his officers, captains of his chariots, and his cavalry. 10.   And others were chiefs of the officials of King Solomon: two hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people. 11.   Now Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, "My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the LORD has come are holy." 12.   Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD which he had built before the vestibule, 13.   according to the daily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the three appointed yearly feasts––the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. 14.   And, according to the order of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, the Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the priests) as the duty of each day required, and the gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. 15.   They did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasuries. 16.   Now all the work of Solomon was well–ordered from the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed. 17.   Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and Elath on the seacoast, in the land of Edom. 18.   And Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

1.   Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2.   "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you." 3.   So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three–day journey in extent . 4.   And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" 5.   So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6.   Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7.   And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8.   But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9.   Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? 10.   Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

1.   But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2.   So he prayed to the LORD, and said, "Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 3.   "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!" 4.   Then the LORD said, " Is it right for you to be angry?" 5.   So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. 6.   And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. 7.   But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. 8.   And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, " It is better for me to die than to live." 9.   Then God said to Jonah, " Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?" And he said, " It is right for me to be angry, even to death!" 10.   But the LORD said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11.   "And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left––and much livestock?"

1.   Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: 2.   Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 3.   Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4.   For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. 5.   But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6.   And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7.   as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8.   Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 9.   Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10.   But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. 11.   Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12.   These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13.   raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 14.   Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15.   "to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." 16.   These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words , flattering people to gain advantage. 17.   But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18.   how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19.   These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. 20.   But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21.   keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22.   And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23.   but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. 24.   Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25.   To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.