July 1st

He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Then Yahweh smote the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death. And he lived in a separate house, while Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land.

Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son became king in his place.

In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months.

And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.

Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him before the people and put him to death and became king in his place.

Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

This is the word of Yahweh which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” And so it was.

Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria.

Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and put him to death and became king in his place.

Now the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah, because they did not open to him; therefore he struck it and ripped up all its pregnant women.

In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel and reigned ten years in Samaria.

And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.

Pul, king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom in his hand.

Then Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of valor, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not stay there in the land.

Now the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son became king in his place.

In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned two years.

And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.

Then Pekah son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in the castle of the king’s house with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites, and he put him to death and became king in his place.

Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned twenty years.

And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.

In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he took them away into exile to Assyria.

And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah and struck him and put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah became king.

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.

And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.

Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of Yahweh.

Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

In those days Yahweh began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.

And Jotham slept with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.

In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of Yahweh his God, as David his father had done.

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel.

He also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.

At that time Rezin king of Aram restored Elath for Aram and cleared the Judeans out of Elath entirely; and the Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day.

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.”

Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a gift to the king of Assyria.

So the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and seized it and took the people of it away into exile to Kir, and put Rezin to death.

Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria and saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the likeness of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship.

So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, thus Urijah the priest made it, before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus.

So the king came from Damascus, and the king saw the altar; then the king drew near the altar and made offerings on it,

and offered his burnt offering and his meal offering up in smoke, and poured his drink offering and splashed the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.

Now as for the bronze altar, which was before Yahweh, he drew it away from the front of the house, from between his altar and the house of Yahweh, and he put it on the north side of his altar.

Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “Upon the great altar offer up in smoke the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their grain offering and their drink offerings; and splash on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”

So Urijah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

Then King Ahaz cut off the borders of the stands and removed the laver from them; he also took down the sea from the bronze oxen which were under it and put it on a pavement of stone.

And the covered way for the sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entry of the king, he removed from the house of Yahweh because of the king of Assyria.

Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

So Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

“And after forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.

When Moses saw it, he was marveling at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord:

‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and would not dare to look.

But the Lord said to him, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.

I have surely seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them; come now, and I will send you to Egypt.’

“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

This man led them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’

This is the one who, in the congregation in the wilderness, was with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers; the one who received living oracles to pass on to you.

Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.’

At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you present Me with slain beasts and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’

“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He, who spoke to Moses, directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.

David found favor in the sight of God, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

But Solomon built a house for Him.

However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says:

“You men—stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears—are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

And which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become;

you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not observe it.”