1 Kings 15

JUDAH’S KING ABIJAM
In the eighteenth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah,
2 and he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

3 Abijam walked in all the sins his father before him had committed, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God as his ancestor David had been. 4 But for the sake of David, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up his son after him and by preserving Jerusalem. 5 For David did what was right in the Lord’s sight, and he did not turn aside from anything he had commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hethite.

6 There had been war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Rehoboam’s life. 7 The rest of the events of Abijam’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. There was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 8 Abijam rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place.

JUDAH’S KING ASA
9 In the twentieth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Asa became king of Judah, 10 and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

11 Asa did what was right in the Lord’s sight, as his ancestor David had done. 12 He banished the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all of the idols that his ancestors had made. 13 He also removed his grandmother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 The high places were not taken away, but Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his entire life. 15 He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into the Lord’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils.

16 There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel throughout their reigns. 17 Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to keep anyone from leaving or coming to King Asa of Judah. 18 So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the treasuries of the royal palace and gave it to his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion king of Aram who lived in Damascus, saying, 19 “There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.”

20 Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, all Chinnereth, and the whole land of Naphtali. 21 When Baasha heard about it, he quit building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa gave a command to everyone without exception in Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah with them.

23 The rest of all the events of Asa’s reign, along with all his might, all his accomplishments, and the cities he built, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. But in his old age he developed a disease in his feet. 24 Then Asa rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoshaphat became king in his place.

ISRAEL’S KING NADAB
25 Nadab son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Judah’s King Asa; he reigned over Israel two years. 26 Nadab did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.

27 Then Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon. 28 In the third year of Judah’s King Asa, Baasha killed Nadab and reigned in his place.

29 When Baasha became king, he struck down the entire house of Jeroboam. He did not leave Jeroboam any survivors but destroyed his family according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite. 30 This was because Jeroboam had angered the Lord God of Israel by the sins he had committed and had caused Israel to commit.

31 The rest of the events of Nadab’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings. 32 There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel throughout their reigns.

ISRAEL’S KING BAASHA
33 In the third year of Judah’s King Asa, Baasha son of Ahijah became king over all Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah twenty-four years. 34 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of Jeroboam and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.

Colossians 2

For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person.
2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery ​— ​Christ. 3 In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

CHRIST VERSUS THE COLOSSIAN HERESY
4 I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. 5 For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

6 So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, 7 being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.

8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. 9 For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.

16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ. 18 Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind. 19 They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.

20 If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23 Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.

Ezekiel 45

THE SACRED PORTION OF THE LAND
“When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, set aside a donation to the Lord, a holy portion of the land, 8 1/3 miles long and 6 2/3 miles wide. This entire region will be holy.
2 In this area there will be a square section for the sanctuary, 875 by 875 feet, with 87 1/2 feet of open space all around it. 3 From this holy portion, you will measure off an area 8 1/3 miles long and 3 1/3 miles wide, in which the sanctuary, the most holy place, will stand. 4 It will be a holy area of the land to be used by the priests who minister in the sanctuary, who approach to serve the Lord. It will be a place for their houses, as well as a holy area for the sanctuary. 5 There will be another area 8 1/3 miles long and 3 1/3 miles wide for the Levites who minister in the temple; it will be their possession for towns to live in.

6 “As the property of the city, set aside an area 1 2/3 miles wide and 8 1/3 miles long, adjacent to the holy donation of land. It will be for the whole house of Israel. 7 And the prince will have the area on each side of the holy donation of land and the city’s property, adjacent to the holy donation and the city’s property, stretching to the west on the west side and to the east on the east side. Its length will correspond to one of the tribal portions from the western boundary to the eastern boundary. 8 This will be his land as a possession in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people but give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

9 “This is what the Lord God says: You have gone too far, princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. 10 “You are to have honest scales, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure. 11 The dry measure and the liquid measure will be uniform, with the liquid measure containing 5 1/2 gallons and the dry measure holding half a bushel. Their measurement will be a tenth of the standard larger capacity measure. 12 The shekel will weigh twenty gerahs. Your mina will equal sixty shekels.

THE PEOPLE’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE SACRIFICES
13 “This is the contribution you are to offer: Three quarts from six bushels of wheat and three quarts from six bushels of barley. 14 The quota of oil in liquid measures will be one percent of every cor. The cor equals ten liquid measures or one standard larger capacity measure, since ten liquid measures equal one standard larger capacity measure. 15 And the quota from the flock is one animal out of every two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These are for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings, to make atonement for the people.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. 16 “All the people of the land must take part in this contribution for the prince in Israel. 17 Then the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the festivals, New Moons, and Sabbaths ​— ​for all the appointed times of the house of Israel ​— ​will be the prince’s responsibility. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

18 “This is what the Lord God says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you are to take a young, unblemished bull and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest is to take some of the blood from the sin offering and apply it to the temple doorposts, the four corners of the altar’s ledge, and the doorposts of the gate of the inner court. 20 You are to do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for everyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. In this way you will make atonement for the temple.

21 “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you are to celebrate the Passover, a festival of seven days during which unleavened bread will be eaten. 22 On that day the prince will provide a bull as a sin offering on behalf of himself and all the people of the land. 23 During the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord on each of the seven days, along with a male goat each day for a sin offering. 24 He will also provide a grain offering of half a bushel per bull and half a bushel per ram, along with a gallon of oil for every half bushel. 25 At the festival that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, he will provide the same things for seven days ​— ​the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.

Psalm 36

HUMAN WICKEDNESS AND GOD’S LOVE
For the choir director. Of David, the Lord’s servant.

An oracle within my heart
concerning the transgression of the wicked person:
Dread of God has no effect on him.
2 For with his flattering opinion of himself,
he does not discover and hate his iniquity.
3 The words from his mouth are malicious and deceptive;
he has stopped acting wisely and doing good.
4 Even on his bed he makes malicious plans.
He sets himself on a path that is not good,
and he does not reject evil.
5 Lord, your faithful love reaches to heaven,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your judgments like the deepest sea.
Lord, you preserve people and animals.
7 How priceless your faithful love is, God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They are filled from the abundance of your house.
You let them drink from your refreshing stream.
9 For the wellspring of life is with you.
By means of your light we see light.
10 Spread your faithful love over those who know you,
and your righteousness over the upright in heart.
11 Do not let the foot of the arrogant come near me
or the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There! The evildoers have fallen.
They have been thrown down and cannot rise.

— 1 Kings 15, Colossians 2, Ezekiel 45, Psalm 36 (CSB)