Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 14 June 2018

Thursday now.  More than a few things on the mind, but nothing much to speak of.
I am still into some things that I got last week from the public library.  Particularly the book "Fearless" .  I needed that one, it speaks quite directly to some internal issues that I have and long have had to deal with.  Not easy.




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Today, chapters 13 and 14 of 2nd Kings. 
Depressing and sad.  And by no means honoring the Lord or paying any attention to His wishes and commands.  Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it?

2nd Kings 13

1  In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.

2  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.followed: Heb. walked after

3  And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben–hadad the son of Hazael, all their days.

4  And Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.

5  (And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime.

6  Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.)

7  Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing.

8  Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

9  And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his stead.

10  In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.

11  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin: but he walked therein.

12  And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

13  And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

14  Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.

15  And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows.

16  And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands.

17  And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.

18  And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.

19  And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.

20  And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.

21  And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

22  But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

23  And the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet.

24  So Hazael king of Syria died; and Ben–hadad his son reigned in his stead.

25  And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Ben–hadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel.

 

2nd Kings 14

1  In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah.

2  He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

3  And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did.

4  Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.

5  And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father.

6  But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

7  He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Sela by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.

8  Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.

9  And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.

10  Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?

11  But Amaziah would not hear. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth–shemesh, which belongeth to Judah.

12  And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to their tents.

13  And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth–shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

14  And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

15  Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

16  And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.

17  And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.

18  And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

19  Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.

20  And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

21  And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.

22  He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

23  In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.

24  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

25  He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath–hepher.

26  For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.

27  And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

28  Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

29  And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

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Today, in the "Poetry" section here, we begin Psalm 119.  Not only is this, by far, the largest and longest of the Psalms, it's the largest single chapter of any book in the Bible.
Now, this is in the "poetry" heading.  Doesn't look much like the poetry most of us are familiar with, does it?  Doesn't rhyme, to begin with.  But there are some things going on.
First of all, it's rendered here in good 1611 English, not Hebrew.  So there's that. 
But, also, in the practices of the time, the rhyme sound was at the beginning of the line, not the end.  Big difference!
The whole psalm is divided into sections, generally 8 lines/verses long.  In the Hebrew, and probably in your Bible as well, the sections are divided with a Hebrew letter as the sub-title.  So, here, verses 1-8 are under the  heading of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, we render it as "Aleph".  
א

And so, all the lines would have as the first letter that character.  Make sense?  And don't forget that Hebrew is written right-to-left, not left-to-right as English.
This is, as I said, a VERY long piece.  So, the schedule I am using has us with  8 verses / 1 section per day, and will take until mid-July to complete. 

Psalm 119, verses 1-8

ALEPH.

 

1  Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.undefiled: or, perfect, or, sincere

2  Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

3  They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

4  Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

5  O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

6  Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

7  I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

8  I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

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Romans 2

1  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

11  For there is no respect of persons with God.

12  For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

13  (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

16  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

17  Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,

18  And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;

19  And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,

20  An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

21  Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

22  Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

23  Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

25  For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

26  Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

27  And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?

28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.