The Daily Audio Bible

Celebration of the Passover

35 Josi′ah kept a passover to the Lord in Jerusalem; and they killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. ³ And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; you need no longer carry it upon your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. ⁴ Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your divisions, following the directions of David king of Israel and the directions of Solomon his son. ⁵ And stand in the holy place according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of your brethren the lay people, and let there be for each a part of a father’s house of the Levites.^{[a] 6} And kill the passover lamb, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brethren, to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses.”

⁷ Then Josi′ah contributed to the lay people, as passover offerings for all that were present, lambs and kids from the flock to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls; these were from the king’s possessions. ⁸ And his princes contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilki′ah, Zechari′ah, and Jehi′el, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the passover offerings two thousand six hundred lambs and kids and three hundred bulls. ⁹ Conani′ah also, and Shemai′ah and Nethan′el his brothers, and Hashabi′ah and Je-i′el and Jo′zabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the passover offerings five thousand lambs and kids and five hundred bulls.

¹⁰ When the service had been prepared for, the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. ¹¹ And they killed the passover lamb, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from them while the Levites flayed the victims. ¹² And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of the lay people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. ¹³ And they roasted the passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people. ¹⁴ And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵ The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jedu′thun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers were at each gate; they did not need to depart from their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

¹⁶ So all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josi′ah. ¹⁷ And the people of Israel who were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. ¹⁸ No passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; none of the kings of Israel had kept such a passover as was kept by Josi′ah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josi′ah this passover was kept.

Defeat by Pharaoh Neco and Death of Josiah

²⁰ After all this, when Josi′ah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Car′chemish on the Euphra′tes and Josi′ah went out against him. ²¹ But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war; and God has commanded me to make haste. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.” ²² Nevertheless Josi′ah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but joined battle in the plain of Megid′do. ²³ And the archers shot King Josi′ah; and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” ²⁴ So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josi′ah. ²⁵ Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josi′ah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josi′ah in their laments to this day. They made these an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Josi′ah, and his good deeds according to what is written in the law of the Lord, ²⁷ and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Reign of Jehoahaz

36 The people of the land took Jeho′ahaz the son of Josi′ah and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem. ² Jeho′ahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³ Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid upon the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ⁴ And the king of Egypt made Eli′akim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoi′akim; but Neco took Jeho′ahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

Reign and Captivity of Jehoiakim

⁵ Jehoi′akim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. ⁶ Against him came up Nebuchadnez′zar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon. ⁷ Nebuchadnez′zar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. ⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoi′akim, and the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoi′achin his son reigned in his stead.

Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin

⁹ Jehoi′achin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁰ In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnez′zar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother Zedeki′ah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Reign of Zedekiah

¹¹ Zedeki′ah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. ¹³ He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnez′zar, who had made him swear by God; he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴ All the leading priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

The Fall of Jerusalem

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place; ¹⁶ but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, till the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, till there was no remedy.

¹⁷ Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chalde′ans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged; he gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸ And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. ¹⁹ And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels. ²⁰ He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, ²¹ to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.

Cyrus Proclaims Liberty for the Exiles

²² Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: ²³ “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’”

Salutation

1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sos′thenes,

² To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints^[a] together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I give thanks to God^[b] always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge— ⁶ even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chlo′e’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren. ¹² What I mean is that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apol′los,” or “I belong to Cephas,”^[c] or “I belong to Christ.” ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I am thankful^[d] that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Ga′ius; ¹⁵ lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Steph′anas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any one else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Triumphant Song of Confidence

A Psalm of David