Reflections of Faith and Justice - a Devotional by Benjamin Mays

Live Well

All Who Are Weary: God Is Faithful

Come Up Higher: A Call to Deeper Fellowship and Purpose

Philippians

3-Day Bible Plan: How to Truly Love Thy Neighbor in Today’s World

3-Day Bible Quest: Level 2: Love Unlocked – Powering Up Through Jesus

Building Wealth & Stewardship in the Church

Play-by-Play: John (3/3)

GLEANINGS - Numbers

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="2CH.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">Abijah King of Judah</div><div class="p"> 1In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, Abijah became king of Judah, 2and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother&#8217;s name was Maakah,#13:2 Most Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 11:20 and 1 Kings 15:2); Hebrew Micaiah a daughter#13:2 Or granddaughter of Uriel of Gibeah.</div><div class="p">There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3Abijah went into battle with an army of four hundred thousand able fighting men, and Jeroboam drew up a battle line against him with eight hundred thousand able troops.</div><div class="p"> 4Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, &#8220;Jeroboam and all Israel, listen to me! 5Don&#8217;t you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt? 6Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, an official of Solomon son of David, rebelled against his master. 7Some worthless scoundrels gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive and not strong enough to resist them.</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;And now you plan to resist the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hands of David&#8217;s descendants. You are indeed a vast army and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods. 9But didn&#8217;t you drive out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make priests of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods.</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them. 11Every morning and evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the Lord our God. But you have forsaken him. 12God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah the ambush was behind them. 14Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked at both front and rear. Then they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets 15and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands. 17Abijah and his troops inflicted heavy losses on them, so that there were five hundred thousand casualties among Israel&#8217;s able men. 18The Israelites were subdued on that occasion, and the people of Judah were victorious because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors.</div><div class="p"> 19Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron, with their surrounding villages. 20Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah. And the Lord struck him down and he died.</div><div class="p"> 21But Abijah grew in strength. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.</div><div class="p"> 22The other events of Abijah&#8217;s reign, what he did and what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CH">
 <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="2CH.14">
 <div class="label">14</div><div class="p"> # In Hebrew texts 14:1 is numbered 13:23, and 14:2-15 is numbered 14:1-14. 1And Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. Asa his son succeeded him as king, and in his days the country was at peace for ten years.</div><div class="s1">Asa King of Judah</div><div class="p"> 2Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.#14:3 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah; here and elsewhere in 2 Chronicles 4He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his laws and commands. 5He removed the high places and incense altars in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. 6He built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, for the Lord gave him rest.</div><div class="p"> 7&#8220;Let us build up these towns,&#8221; he said to Judah, &#8220;and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God; we sought him and he has given us rest on every side.&#8221; So they built and prospered.</div><div class="p"> 8Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men.</div><div class="p"> 9Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with an army of thousands upon thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. 10Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.</div><div class="p"> 11Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, &#8220;Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, 13and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the Lord and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. 14They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror of the Lord had fallen on them. They looted all these villages, since there was much plunder there. 15They also attacked the camps of the herders and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="2CH.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">Asa&#8217;s Reform</div><div class="p"> 1The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. 2He went out to meet Asa and said to him, &#8220;Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. 4But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. 5In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. 6One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. 7But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of#15:8 Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint and verse 1); Hebrew does not have Azariah son of. Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord&#8217;s temple.</div><div class="p"> 9Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.</div><div class="p"> 10They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa&#8217;s reign. 11At that time they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from the plunder they had brought back. 12They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul. 13All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. 14They took an oath to the Lord with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. 15All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side.</div><div class="p"> 16King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 17Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa&#8217;s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. 18He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.</div><div class="p"> 19There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa&#8217;s reign.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="2CH.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">Asa&#8217;s Last Years</div><div class="p"> 1In the thirty-sixth year of Asa&#8217;s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.</div><div class="p"> 2Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord&#8217;s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. 3&#8220;Let there be a treaty between me and you,&#8221; he said, &#8220;as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim#16:4 Also known as Abel Beth Maakah and all the store cities of Naphtali. 5When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. 6Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.</div><div class="p"> 7At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: &#8220;Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 8Were not the Cushites#16:8 That is, people from the upper Nile region and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen#16:8 Or charioteers? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. 9For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.</div><div class="p"> 11The events of Asa&#8217;s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. 13Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors. 14They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and they made a huge fire in his honor.</div>
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