Day 135 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

2 Chronicles 33

1 Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord destroyed from before the face of the children of Israel. 3 And he returned and built the high places, which his father Ezekias had pulled down, and set up images to Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, concerning which the Lord said, In Jerusalem shall be my name for ever. 5 And he built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 He also passed his children through the fire in the valley of Benennom; and he divined, and used auspices, and sorceries, and appointed those who had divining spirits, and enchanters, and wrought abundant wickedness before the Lord, to provoke him. 7 And he set the graven [image], the molten [statue], the idol which he made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever; 8 and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I gave to their fathers, if only they will take heed to do all things which I have commanded them, according to all the law and the ordinances and the judgments [given] by the hand of Moses. 9 So Manasses led astray Juda and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to do evil beyond all the nations which the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel. 10 And the Lord spoke to Manasses, and to his people: but they hearkened not. 11 And the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, and they took Manasses in bonds, and bound him in fetters, and brought him to Babylon. 12 And when he was afflicted, he sought the face of the Lord his God, and was greatly humbled before the face of the God of his fathers; 13 and he prayed to him: and he hearkened to him, and listened to his cry, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom: and Manasses knew that the Lord he is God. 14 And afterward he built a wall without the city of David, from the southwest southward in the valleys and at the entrance through the fish-gate, as men go out by the gate round about, even as far as Opel; and he raised it much, and set captains of the host in all the fortified cities in Juda. 15 And he removed the strange gods and the graven [image] out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars which he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and without the city. 16 And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and offered upon it a sacrifice of peace-offering and thank-offering, and he told Juda to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, only to the Lord their God. 18 And the rest of the acts of Manasses, and his prayer to God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the God of Israel, 19 behold, [they are] in the account of his prayer; and [God] hearkened to him. And all his sins, and his backslidings, and the spots on which he built the high places, and set there groves and graven images, before he repented, behold, they are written in the books of the seers. 20 And Manasses slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the garden of his house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. 21 Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasses did: and Amon sacrificed to all the idols which his father Manasses had made, and served them. 23 And he was not humbled before the Lord as his father Manasses was humbled; for his son Amon abounded in transgression. 24 And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his house. 25 And the people of the land slew the men who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josias his son king in his stead.

2 Chronicles 34

1 Josias was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 3 And in the eighth year of his reign, and he [being] yet a youth, he began to seek the Lord God of his father David: and in the twelfth year of his reign he began to purge Juda and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the ornaments for the altars, and the molten images. 4 And he pulled down the altars of Baalim that were before his face, and the high places that were above them; and he cut down the groves, and the graven images, and broke in pieces the molten images, and reduced them to powder, and cast [it] upon the surface of the tombs of those who [had] sacrificed to them. 5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon the altars, and purged Juda and Jerusalem. 6 And [he did so] in the cities of Manasse, and Ephraim, and Symeon, and Nephthali, and the places round about them. 7 And he pulled down the altars and the groves, and he cut the idols in small pieces, and cut off all the high places from all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem. 8 And in the eighteenth year of his reign, after having cleansed the land, and the house, he sent Saphan the son of Ezelias, and Maasa prefect of the city, and Juach son of Joachaz his recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. 9 And they came to Chelcias the high priest, and gave the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites who kept the gate collected of the hand of Manasse and Ephraim, and of the princes, and of every one that was left in Israel, and of the children of Juda and Benjamin, and of the dwellers in Jerusalem. 10 And they gave it into the hand of the workmen, who were appointed in the house of the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen who wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and strengthen the house. 11 They gave [it] also to the carpenters and builders, to buy squared stones, and timber for beams to cover the houses which the kings of Juda had destroyed. 12 And the men [were] faithfully [engaged] in the works: and over them were superintendents, Jeth and Abdias, Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zacharias and Mosollam, of the sons of Caath, [appointed] to oversee; and every Levite, and every one that understood [how] to play on musical instruments. 13 And [overseers were] over the burden-bearers, and over all the workmen in the respective works; and of the Levites [were appointed] scribes, and judges, and porters. 14 And when they brought forth the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, Chelcias the priest found a book of the law of the Lord [given] by the hand of Moses. 15 And Chelcias answered and said to Saphan the scribe, I have found a book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Chelcias gave the book to Saphan. 16 And Saphan brought in the book to the king, and moreover gave an account to the king, [saying, This is] all the money given into the hand of thy servants that work. 17 And they have collected the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and given it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of them that do the work. 18 And Saphan the scribe brought word to the king, saying, Chelcias the priest has given me a book. And Saphan read it before the king. 19 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the law, that he rent his garments. 20 And the king commanded Chelcias, and Achicam the son of Saphan, and Abdom the son of Michaias, and Saphan the scribe, and Asaia the servant of the king, saying, 21 Go, enquire of the Lord for me, and for every one that is left in Israel and Juda, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord [which] has been kindled amongst us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of the Lord, to do according to all the things written in this book. 22 And Chelcias went, and [the others] whom the king told, to Olda the prophetess, the wife of Sellem son of Thecoe, son of Aras, who kept the commandments; and she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second [quarter]: and they spoke to her accordingly. 23 And she said to them, Thus has the Lord God of Israel said, Tell the man who sent you to me, 24 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I bring evil upon this place, [even] all the words that are written in the book that was read before the king of Juda: 25 because they have forsaken me, and burnt incense to strange gods, that they might provoke me by all the works of their hands; and my wrath is kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched. 26 And concerning the king of Juda, who sent you to seek the Lord,—thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, [As for] the words which thou hast heard, 27 forasmuch as thy heart was ashamed, and thou wast humbled before me when thou heardest my words against this place, and against the inhabitants of it, and thou wast humbled before me, and didst rend thy garments, and didst weep before me; I also have heard, saith the Lord. 28 Behold, I [will] gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not look upon all the evils which I am bringing upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of it. And they brought back word to the king. 29 And the king sent and gathered the elders of Juda and Jerusalem. 30 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, [he] and all Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that were found in the house of the Lord. 31 And the king stood at a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk before the Lord, to keep his commandments and testimonies, and his ordinances, with all [his] heart and with all [his] soul, so as to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 32 And he caused all that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand; and the inhabitants of Jerusalem made a covenant in the house of the Lord God of their fathers. 33 And Josias removed all the abominations out of the whole land which belonged to the children of Israel, and caused all that were found in Jerusalem and in Israel, to serve the Lord their God all his days: he departed not from following the Lord God of his fathers.

2 Chronicles 35

1 And Josias kept a passover to the Lord his God; and sacrificed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 And he appointed the priests at their charges, and encouraged them for the services of the house of the Lord. 3 And he told the Levites that were able [to act] in all Israel, that they should consecrate themselves to the Lord: and they put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built: and the king said, Ye must not carry anything on your shoulders: now then minister to the Lord your God, and to his people Israel. 4 And prepare yourselves according to the houses of your families, and according to your daily courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and [the order] by the hand of his son Solomon. 5 And stand ye in the house according to the divisions of the houses of your families for your brethren the sons of the people; [so] also let there be for the Levites a division of the house of their family. 6 And kill ye the passover, and prepare [it] for your brethren, to do according to the word of the Lord, by the hand of Moses. 7 And Josias gave as an offering to the children of the people, sheep, and lambs, and kids of the young of the goats, all for the passover, [even for] all that were found, in number [amounting to] thirty thousand, and three thousand calves, these [were] of the substance of the king. 8 And his princes gave an offering to the people, and to the priests, and to the Levites: and Chelcias and Zacharias and Jeiel the chief men gave to the priests of the house of God, they even gave for the passover sheep, and lambs, and kids, two thousand six hundred, and three hundred calves. 9 And Chonenias, and Banæas, and Samæas, and Nathanael his brother, and Asabias, and Jeiel, and Jozabad, heads of the Levites, gave an offering to the Levites for the passover, of five thousand sheep and five hundred calves. 10 And the service was duly ordered, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the command of the king. 11 And they slew the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hand, and the Levites flayed [the victims]. 12 And they prepared the whole-burnt-offering to give to them, according to the division by the houses of families, [even] to the sons of the people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. 13 And thus [they did] till the morning. And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance; and boiled the holy [pieces] in copper vessels and caldrons, and [the feast] went on well, and they quickly served all the children of the people. 14 And after they had prepared for themselves and for the priests, for the priests [were engaged] in offering the whole-burnt-offerings and the fat until night, then the Levites prepared for themselves, and for their brethren the sons of Aaron. 15 And the sons of Asaph the psalm-singers [were] at their post according to the commands of David, and Asaph, and Æman, and Idithom, the prophets of the king: also the chiefs and the porters of the several gates;—it was not for them to stir from the service of the holy things, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them. 16 So all the service of the Lord was duly ordered and prepared in that day, for keeping the passover, and offering the whole-burnt-sacrifices on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of king Josias. 17 And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. 18 And there was no passover like it in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, or any king of Israel: they kept not such a passover as Josias, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Juda and Israel that were present, and the dwellers in Jerusalem, kept to the Lord. 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josias this passover was kept, after all these things that Josias did in the house. 19a And king Josias burnt those who had in them a divining spirit, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and the sodomites which were in the land of Juda and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law that were written in the book which Chelcias the priest found in the house of the Lord. 19b There was no [king] like him before him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his strength, according to all the law of Moses, and after him there rose up none like him. 19c Nevertheless the Lord turned not from the anger of his fierce wrath, wherewith the Lord was greatly angry against Juda, for all the provocations wherewith Manasses provoked him: 19d and the Lord said, I will even remove Juda also from my presence, as I have removed Israel, and I have rejected the city which I chose, [even] Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. 20 And Pharao Nechao king of Egypt went up against the king of the Assyrians to the river Euphrates, and king Josias went to meet him. 21 And he sent messengers to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, O king of Juda? I am not come to-day to war against thee; and God has told me to hasten: beware of the God that is with me, lest he destroy thee. 22 However Josias turned not his face from him, but strengthened himself to fight against him, and hearkened not to the words of Nechao by the mouth of God, and he came to fight in the plain of Mageddo. 23 And the archers shot at king Josias; and the king said to his servants, Take me away, for I am severely wounded. 24 And his servants lifted him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried with his fathers: and all Juda and Jerusalem lamented over Josias. 25 And Jeremias mourned over Josias, and all the chief men and chief women uttered a lamentation over Josias until this day: and they made it an ordinance for Israel, and, behold, it is written in the lamentations. 26 And the rest of the acts of Josias, and his hope, are written in the law of the Lord. 27 And his acts, the first and the last, behold, [they are] written in the book of the kings of Israel and Juda.

Acts 8

1 Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and lamented greatly over him. 3 But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house and dragged both men and women off to prison. 4 Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip when they heard and saw the signs which he did. 7 For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 There was great joy in that city. 9 But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one, 10 to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.” 11 They listened to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries. 12 But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning God’s Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed. 14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16 for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God. 22 Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” 24 Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.” 25 They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans. 26 Then an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.” 27 He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship. 28 He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.” 30 Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn’t open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth.” 34 The eunuch answered Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?” 35 Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus. 36 As they went on the way, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?” 37 — 38 He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.