Bible in a Year.

On day 179, 2 Kings 11-12 presents the reign of Joash, including the restoration of the temple and divine guidance. Amos 4-6 denounces Israel's carelessness and injustice, calling for reflection and a return to obedience. Psalm 122 invites us to celebrate Jerusalem, remembering the importance of peace and God's presence among His people.

Chapter 11

1. And Athalia the mother of Ochozias seeing that her son was dead, arose, and slew all the royal seed.

2. But Josaba the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ochozias, took Joas the son of Ochozias, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, out of the bedchamber with his nurse: and hid him from the face of Athalia, so that he was not slain.

3. And he was with her six years hid in the house of the Lord. And Athalia reigned over the land.

4. And in the seventh year Joiada seat, and taking the centurions and the soldiers, brought them in to him into the temple of the Lord, and made a covenant with them: and taking an oath of them in the house of the Lord, shewed them the king's son:

5. And he commanded them, saying: This is the thing that you must do:

6. Let a third part of you go in on the sabbath, and keep the watch of the king's house. And let a third part be at the gate of Sur: and let a third part be at the gate behind the dwelling of the shieldbearers: and you shall keep the watch of the house of Messa.

7. But let two parts of you, all that go forth on the sabbath, keep the watch of the house of the Lord about the king.

8. And you shall compass him round about, having weapons in your hands: and if any man shall enter the precinct of the temple, let him be slain: and you shall be with the king coming in and going out.

9. And the centurions did according to all things that Joiada the priest had commanded them: and taking every one their men, that went in on the sabbath, with them that went out on the sabbath, came to Joiada the priest.

10. And he gave them the spears, and the arms of king David, which were in the house of the Lord.

11. And they stood having every one their weapons in their hands, from the right side of the temple, unto the left side of the altar, and of the temple, about the king.

12. And he brought forth the king's son, and put the diadem upon him, and the testimony: and they made him king, and anointed him: and clapping their hands. they said, God save the king.

13. And Athalia heard the noise of the people running: and going in to the people into the temple of the Lord,

14. She saw the king standing upon a tribunal, as the manner was, and the singers, and the trumpets near him, and all the people of the land rejoicing, and sounding the trumpets: and she rent her garments, and cried: A conspiracy, a conspiracy.

15. But Joiada commended the centurions that were over the army, and said to them: Have her forth without the precinct of the temple, and whosoever shall follow her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest had said: Let her not be slain in the temple of the Lord.

16. And they laid hands on her: and thrust her out by the way by which the horses go in, by the palace, and she was slain there.

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

18. And all the people of the land went into the temple of Baal, and broke down his altars, and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly: they slew also Mathan the priest of Baal before the altar. And the priest set guards in the house of the Lord.

19. And he took the centurions, and the bands of the Cerethi and the Phelethi, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the house of the Lord: and they came by the way of the gate of the shieldbearers into the palace. and he sat on the throne of the kings.

20. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet: but Athalia was slain with the sword in the king's house.

21. Now Joas was seven years old, when he began to reign.

Chapter 12

1. In the seventh year of Jehu Joas began to reign: and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Sebia of Bersabee.

2. And Joas did that which was right before the Lord all the days that Joiada the priest taught him.

3. But yet he took not away the high places: for the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

4. And Joas said to the priests: O All the money of the sanctified things, which is brought into the temple of the Lord by those that pass, which is offered for the price of a soul, and which of their own accord, and of their own free heart they bring into the temple of the Lord:

5. Let the priests take it according to their order, and repair the house, wheresoever they shall see any thing that wanteth repairing.

6. Now till the three and twentieth year of king Joas, the priests did not make the repairs of the temple.

7. And king Joas called Joiada the high priest and the priests, saying to them: Why do you not repair the temple? Take you therefore money no more according to your order, but restore it for the repairing of the temple.

8. And the priests were forbidden to take any more money of the people, and to make the repairs of the house.

9. And Joiada the high priest took a chest and bored a hole in the top, and set it by the altar at the right hand of them that came into the house of the Lord, and the priests that kept the doors put therein all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord.

10. And when they saw that there was very much money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and poured it out, and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord:

11. And they gave it out by number and measure into the hands of them that were over the builders of the house of the Lord: and they laid it out to the carpenters, and the masons that wrought in the house of the Lord,

12. And made the repairs: and to them that cut stones, and to buy timber, and stones, to be hewed, that the repairs of the house of the Lord might be completely finished, and wheresoever there was need of expenses to uphold the house

13. But there were not made of the same money for the temple of the Lord, bowls, or fleshhooks, or censers, or trumpets, or any vessel of gold and silver, of the money that was brought into the temple of the Lord.

14. For it was given to them that did the work, that the temple of the Lord might be repaired.

15. And they reckoned not with the men that received the money to distribute it to the workmen, but they bestowed it faithfully.

16. But the money for trespass, and the money for sine, they brought not into the temple of the Lord, because it was for the priests.

17. Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Geth, and took it and set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

18. Wherefore Joas king of Juda took all the sanctified things, which Josaphat, and Joram, and Ochozias his fathers the kings of Juda had dedicated to holy uses, and which he himself had offered: and all the silver that could be found in the treasures of the temple of the Lord, and in the king's palace: and sent it to Hazael king of Syria, and he went off from Jerusalem.

19. And the rest of the acts of Joas, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

20. And his servants arose, and conspired among themselves, and slew Joas in the house of Mello in the descent of Sella.

21. For Josachar the son of Semaath, and Jozabad the son of Somer his servant struck him, and he died: and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amasias his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 4

1. Hear this word, ye fat kine that are in the mountains of Samaria: you that oppress the needy, and crush the poor: that say to your masters: Bring, and we will drink.

2. The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the days shall come upon you, when they shall lift you up on pikes, and what shall remain of you in boiling pots.

3. And you shall go out at the breaches one over against the other, and you shall be cast forth into Armon, saith the Lord.

4. Come ye to Bethel, and do wickedly: to Galgal, and multiply transgressions: and bring in the morning your victims, your tithes in three days.

5. And offer a sacrifice of praise with leaven: and call free offerings, and proclaim it: for so you would do, O children of Israel, saith the Lord God.

6. Whereupon I also have given you dulness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet you have not returned to me, saith the Lord.

7. I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon: and the piece whereupon I rained not, withered.

8. And two and three cities went to one city to drink water, and were not filled: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.

9. I struck you with a burning wind, and with mildew, the palmerworm hath eaten up your many gardens, and your vineyards: your olive groves, and fig groves: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.

10. I sent death upon you in the way of Egypt, I slew your young men with the sword, even to the captivity of your horses: and I made the stench of your camp to come up into your nostrils: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.

11. I destroyed some of you, as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, and you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.

12. Therefore I will do these things to thee, O Israel: and after I shall have done these things to thee, be prepared to meet thy God, O Israel.

13. For behold he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind, and declareth his word to man, he that maketh the morning mist, and walketh upon the high places of the earth: the Lord the God of hosts is his name.

Chapter 5

1. Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more.

2. The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.

3. For thus saith the Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a thousand, there shall be left in it a hundred: and out of which there came a hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in the house of Israel.

4. For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and you shall live.

5. But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgal, neither shall you pass over to Bersabee: for Galgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall be unprofitable.

6. Seek ye the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burnt with fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel.

7. You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land,

8. Seek him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

9. He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and waste upon the mighty.

10. They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly.

11. Therefore because you robbed the poor, and took the choice prey from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.

12. Because I know your manifold crimes, and your grievous sine: enemies of the just, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the gate.

13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence at that time, for it is an evil time.

14. Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord the God of hosts will be with you, as you have said.

15. Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be the Lord the God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

16. Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of hosts the sovereign Lord: In every street there shall be wailing: and in all places that are without, they shall say: Alas, alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to lament.

17. And in all vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.

18. Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.

19. As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.

20. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?

21. I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.

22. And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts.

23. Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.

24. But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent.

25. Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel?

26. But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.

27. And I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the God of hosts is his name.

Chapter 6

1. Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion, and to you that have confidence in the mountain of Samaria: ye great men, heads of the people, that go in with state into the house of Israel.

2. Pass ye over to Chalane, and see, and go from thence into Emath the great: and go down into Geth of the Philistines, and to all the best kingdoms of these: if their border be larger than your border.

3. You that are separated unto the evil day: and that approach to the throne of iniquity;

4. You that sleep upon beds of ivory, and are wanton on your couches: that eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd;

5. You that sing to the sound of the psaltery: they have thought themselves to have instruments of music like David;

6. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments: and they are not concerned for the affliction of Joseph.

7. Wherefore now they shall go captive at the head of them that go into captivity: and the faction of the luxurious ones shall be taken away.

8. The Lord God hath sworn by his own soul, saith the Lord the God of hosts: I detest the pride of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will deliver up the city with the inhabitants thereof.

9. And if there remain ten men in one house, they also shall die.

10. And a man's kinsman shall take him up, and shall burn him, that he may carry the bones out of the house; and he shall say to him that is in the inner rooms of the house: Is there yet any with thee?

11. And he shall answer: There is an end. And he shall any to him: Hold thy peace, and mention not the name of the Lord.

12. For behold the Lord hath commanded, and he will strike the greater house with breaches, and the lesser house with clefts.

13. Can horses run upon the rocks, or can any one plough with buffles? for you have turned judgment into bitterness, and the fruit of justice into wormwood.

14. You that rejoice in a thing of nought: you that say: Have we not taken unto us horns by our own strength?

15. But behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall destroy you from the entrance of Emath, even to the torrent of the desert.

1. I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.

2. Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem.

3. Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together.

4. For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.

5. Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David.

6. Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance for them that love thee.

7. Let peace be in thy strength: and abundance in thy towers.

8. For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, I spoke peace of thee.

9. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for thee.