Bible in a Year.

On day 169, 1 Kings 22 recounts Israel's battle against Aram and God's provisions to protect his people. 2 Chronicles 23 highlights the rise of Joash and the spiritual reforms in Judah, emphasizing faithfulness to God's law. Song of Solomon 8 closes this section with poetic expressions of love, recalling the beauty of human relationships as a reflection of divine love.

1. And there passed three years without war between Syria and Israel.

2. And in the third year, Josaphat king of Juda came down to the king of Israel.

3. (And the king of Israel said to his servants: Know ye not-that Ramoth Galaad is ours, and we neglect to take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?)

4. And he said to Josaphat: Wilt thou come with me to battle to Ramoth Galaad ?

5. And Josaphat said to the king of Israel: As I am, so art thou: my people and thy people are one: and my horsemen, thy horsemen. And Josaphat said to the king of Israel: Inquire, I beseech thee, this day, the word of the Lord.

6. Then the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and he said to them: Shall I go to Ramoth Galaad to fight, or shall I forbear? They answered: Go up, and the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.

7. And Josaphat said: Is there not here some prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire by him?

8. And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: There is one man left, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: Micheas the son of Jemla; but I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good to me, but evil. And Josaphat said: Speak not so, O king.

9. Then the king of Israel called an eunuch, and said to him: Make haste, and bring hither Micheas the son of Jemla.

10. Then the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda, sat each on his throne clothed with royal robes, in a court by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them.

11. And Sedecias the son of Chanaana made himself horns of iron, and said: Thus saith the Lord: With these shalt thou push Syria, till thou destroy it.

12. And all the prophets prophesied in like manner, saying: Go up to Ramoth Galaad, and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king's hands.

13. And the messenger, that went to call Micheas, spoke to him, saying: Behold the words of the prophets with one month declare good things to the king: let thy word therefore be like to theirs, and speak that which is good.

14. But Micheas said to him: As the Lord liveth, whatsoever the Lord shall say to me, that will I speak.

15. So he came to the king, and the king said to him: Micheas, shall we go to Ramoth Galaad to battle, or shall we forbear? He answered him: Go up, and prosper, and the Lord shall deliver it into the king's hands.

16. But the king said to him: I adjure thee again and again, that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord.

17. And he said: I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd: and the Lord said: These have no master: let every man of them return to his house in peace.

18. (Then the king of Israel said to Josaphat: Did I not tell thee, that he prophesieth no good to me, but always evil ?)

19. And he added and said: Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on the right hand and on the left:

20. And the Lord said: Who shall deceive Achab king of Israel, that he may go up, and fall at Ramoth Galaad? And one spoke words of this manner, and another otherwise.

21. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will deceive him. And the Lord said to him: By what means?

22. And he said: I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said: Thou shalt deceive him, and shalt prevail: a go forth, and do so.

23. Now therefore behold the Lord hath given a lying spirit in the mouth of all thy prophets that are here, and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee.

24. And Sedecias the son of Chanaana came, and struck Micheas on the cheek, and said: Hath then the spirit of the Lord left me, and spoken to thee?

25. And Micheas said: Thou shalt see in the day when thou shalt go into a chamber within a chamber to hide thyself.

26. And the king of Israel said: Take Micheas, and let him abide with Ammon the governor of the city, and with Joas the son of Amalech.

27. And tell them: Thus saith the king: Put this man in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction, and water of distress, till I return in peace.

28. And Micheas said: If thou return in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said: Hear, all ye people.

29. So the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda went up to Ramoth Galaad.

30. And the king of Israel said to Josaphat: Take armour, and go into the battle, and put on thy own garments. But the king of Israel changed his dress, and went into the battle.

31. And the king of Syria had commanded the two and thirty captains of the chariots, saying: You shall not fight against any, small or great, but against the king of Israel only.

32. So when the captains of the chariots saw Josaphat, they suspected that he was the king of Israel, and making a violent assault they fought against him: and Josaphat cried out.

33. And the captains of the chariots perceived that he was not the king of and they turned away from him.

34. And a certain man bent his bow, shooting at a venture, and chanced to strike the king of Israel between the lungs and the stomach. But he said to the driver of his chariot: Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the army, for I am grievously wounded.

35. And the battle was fought that day, and the king of Israel stood in his chariot against the Syrians, and he died in the evening: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.

36. And the herald proclaimed through all the army before the sun set, saying: Let every man return to his own city, and to his own country.

37. And the king died, b and was carried into Samaria: and they buried the king in Samaria.

38. And they washed his chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed the reins, according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken.

39. But the rest of the acts of Achab, and all that he did, and the house of ivory that he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

40. So Achab slept with his fathers, and Ochozias his son reigned in his stead.

41. But Josaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Juda in the fourth year of Achab king of Israel.

42. He was five and thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned five and twenty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Azuba the daughter of Salai.

43. And he walked in all the way of Asa his father, and he declined not from it: and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.

44. Nevertheless he took not away the high places: for as Set the people offered sacrifices and burnt incense in the high places.

45. And Josaphat had peace with the king of Israel.

46. But the rest of the acts of Josaphat, and his works which he did, and his bat- ties, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

47. And the remnant also of the effeminate, who remained in the days of Asa his father, he took out of the land.

48. And there was then no king appointed in Edom.

49. But king Josaphat made navies on the sea, to sail into Ophir for gold: but they could not go, for the ships were broken in Asiongaber.

50. Then Ochozias the ton of Achab said to Josaphat: Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. And Josaphat would not.

51. And Josaphat slept with his fathers. and was buried with them in the city of David his father: and Joram his son reigned in his stead.

52. And Ochozias the son of Achab began to reign over Israel in Samaria, in the seventeenth gear of Josaphat king of Juda, and he reigned over Israel two years,

53. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father and his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.

54. He served also Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked the Lord the God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

1. And in the seventh year Joiada being encouraged, took the captains of hundreds, to wit, Azarias the son of Jeroham, and Ismahel the son of Johanan, and Azarias the son of Obed, and Maasias the son of Adaias, and Elisaphat the son of Zechri: and made a covenant with them.

2. And they went about Juda, and gathered together the Levites out of all the cities of Juda, and the chiefs of the families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.

3. And all the multitude made a covenant with the king in the house of God: and Joiada said to them: Behold the king's son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons of David.

4. And this is the thing that you shall do:

5. A third part of you that come to the sabbath, of the priests, and of the Levites, and of the porters, shall be at the gates: and a third part at the king's house: and a third at the gate that is called the Foundation: but let all the rest of the people be in the courts of the house of the Lord.

6. And let no one come into the house of the Lord, but the priests, and they that minister of the Levites: let them only come in, because they are sanctified : and let all the rest of the people keep the watches of the Lord.

7. And let the Levites be round about the king, every man with his arms; (and if any other come into the temple, let him be slain;) and let them be with the king, both coming in, and going out.

8. So the Levites, and all Juda did according to all that Joiada the high priest bad commanded: and they took every one his men that were under him, and that came in by the course of the sabbath, with those who had fulfilled the sabbath, and were to go out. For Joiada the high priest permitted not the companies to depart, which were accustomed to succeed one another every week.

9. And Joiada the priest gave to the captains the spears, and the shields, and targets of king David, which he had dedicated in the house of the Lord.

10. And he set all the people with swords in their hands from the right side of the temple, to the left side of the temple, before the altar, and the temple, round about the king.

11. And they brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and the testimony, and gave him the law to hold in his hand, and they made him king: and Joiada the high priest and his sons anointed him: and they prayed for him, and said: God save the king.

12. Now when Athalia heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came in to the people, into the temple of the Lord.

13. And when she saw the king standing upon the step in the entrance, and the princes, and the companies about him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding with trumpets, and playing on instruments of divers kinds, and the voice of those that praised, she rent her garments, and said: Treason, treason.

14. And Joiada the high priest going out to the captains, and the chiefs of the army, said to them: Take her forth without the precinct of the temple, and when she is without let her be killed with the sword. For the priest commanded that she should not be killed in the house of the Lord.

15. And they laid hold on her by the neck: and when she was come within the horse gate of the palace, they killed her there.

16. And Joiada made a covenant between himself and all the people, and the king, that they should be the people of the Lord.

17. And all the people went into the house of Baal, and destroyed it: and they broke down his altars and his idols: and they slew Mathan the priest of Baal before the altars.

18. And Joiada appointed overseers in the house of the Lord, under the hands of the priests, and the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord: to offer holocausts to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with joy and singing, according to the disposition of David.

19. He appointed also porters in the gates of the house of the Lord, that none who was unclean in any thing should enter in.

20. And he took the captains of hundreds, and the most valiant men, and the chiefs of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and brought him through the upper gate into the king's house, and set him on the royal throne.

21. 21And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet: but Athalia was slain with the sword.

1. Who shall give thee to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother, that I may find thee without, and kiss thee, and now no man may despise me?

2. I will take hold of thee, and bring thee Into my mother's house: there thou shalt teach me, and I will give thee a cup of spiced wine and new wine of my pomegranates.

3. His left hand under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

4. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up, nor awake my love till she please.

5. Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I raised thee up: there thy mother was corrupted, there she was defloured that bore thee.

6. Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames.

7. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing.

8. Our sister is little, and hath no breasts. What shall we do to our sister in the day when she is to be spoken to?

9. If she be a wall: let us build upon it bulwarks of silver: if she be a door, let us join it together with boards or cedar.

10. I am a wall: and my breasts are as a tower since I am become in his presence as one finding peace.

11. The peaceable had a vineyard, in that which hath people: he let out the same to keepers, every man bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver.

12. My vineyard is before me. A thousand are for thee, the peaceable, and two hundred for them that keep the fruit thereof.

13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the friends hearken: make me hear thy voice.

14. Flee away, O my beloved, and be like to the roe, and to the young hart upon the mountains of aromatical spices.