The Daily Audio Bible
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21 Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.
2 And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
3 And their father gave them great gifts of silver and gold and precious things, with fortified cities in Judah; but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.
4 Now when Jehoram had risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and slew all his brethren with the sword, and others also of the princes of Israel.
5 Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for he had the daughter of Ahab as wife; and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
7 However the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and as He promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.
8 In his days the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah, and made themselves a king.
9 Then Jehoram went forth with his princes, and all his chariots with him; and he rose up by night and smote the Edomites who compassed him about and the captains of the chariots.
10 So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. The same time also did Libnah revolt from under his hand, because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers.
11 Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto.
12 And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father: ‘Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
13 but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring like the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, who were better than thyself,
14 behold, with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people and thy children and thy wives and all thy goods.
15 And thou shalt have great sickness with a disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.’”
16 Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians.
17 And they came up into Judah and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also and his wives, so that there was not a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
18 And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.
19 And it came to pass that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness; so he died of grievous diseases. And his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers.
20 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years and departed without being desired. However they buried him in the City of David, but not in the sepulchers of the kings.
22 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead, for the band of men who came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned.
2 Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.
3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.
4 Therefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab; for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
5 He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramothgilead; and the Syrians smote Joram.
6 And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds which were given him at Ramah when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick.
7 And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by his coming to Joram; for when he had come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.
8 And it came to pass, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah who ministered to Ahaziah, that he slew them.
9 And he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him (for he had hid in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu. And when they had slain him, they buried him, “because,” said they, “he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.” So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep the kingdom still.
10 But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed of the house of Judah.
11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons who were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.
12 And he was with them hidden in the house of God six years; and Athaliah reigned over the land.
23 And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds into a covenant with him: Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri.
2 And they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem.
3 And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them, “Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons of David.
4 This is the thing that ye shall do: A third part of you entering on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be keepers of the doors;
5 and a third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the Gate of the Foundation; and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord.
6 But let none come into the house of the Lord save the priests and those who minister of the Levites. They shall go in, for they are holy, but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord.
7 And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever else cometh into the house, he shall be put to death; but be ye with the king when he cometh in and when he goeth out.”
8 So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took every man his men who were to come in on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses.
9 Moreover, Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears and bucklers and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of God.
10 And he set all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about.
11 Then they brought out the king’s son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, “God save the king.”
12 Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the Lord.
13 And she looked, and behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entrance, and the princes and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of music, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes and said, “Treason! Treason!”
14 Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the host, and said unto them, “Take her forth among the ranks. And whoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword.” For the priest said, “Slay her not in the house of the Lord.”
15 So they laid hands on her; and when she had come to the entrance of the Horse Gate by the king’s house, they slew her there.
16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between him and between all the people and between the king, that they should be the Lord’S people.
17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal and broke it down, and broke his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.
18 Also Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the Lord by the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David.
19 And he set the gatekeepers at 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 nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the Lord; and they came through the High Gate into the king’s house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.
21 And all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet after they had slain Athaliah with the sword.
13 For I speak to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my office,
14 that by any means I may provoke to emulation those who are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the whole lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree,
18 boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, “The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”
20 Thou sayest well! Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear;
21 for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness. Otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I, brethren, would not have you be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written: “There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
27 For this is My covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins.”
28 Concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake; but concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as in times past ye have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief,
31 even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
34 “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor?”
35 Or, “who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?”
36 For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
22 My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why art Thou so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season I am not silent.
3 But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto Thee and were delivered; they trusted in Thee and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.
7 All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out their lip, they shake their head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the Lord that He would deliver him; let Him deliver him, seeing He delighted in him!”
9 But Thou art He that took Me out of the womb; Thou didst make Me hope when I was upon My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon Thee from the womb; Thou art My God from My mother’s belly.
11 Be not far from Me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed Me about; strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round.
13 They gaped at Me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My body.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws; and Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed Me; they pierced My hands and My feet.
17 I can count all My bones; they look and stare upon Me.
18 They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.
7 The just man walketh in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.
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