God's Faithfulness

Sent to Shepherd: Leading in Church Planting

Boundless Love. Jesus Offers Himself for the World.

Fast 40: Practicing the Ancient Spiritual Discipline of Lent

The New Loneliness: Nurturing Connection When You Feel Isolated

Affirmations for Kingdom Writers

Ordinary Mystics: From Disciples of the Internet to Experiencing Jesus. Really. By John Eldredge

How to Be Unstoppable for God

Do Whatever He Says: A Powerful Revelation of John 2

Connect With God Through Meditation | 7 Day Devotional

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">
 <div class="book bk2CH">
 <div class="chapter ch20" data-usfm="2CH.20">
 <div class="label">20</div><div class="s1">Jehoshaphat Defeats Moab and Ammon</div><div class="p"> 1After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites#20:1 Some Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew Ammonites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat.</div><div class="p"> 2Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, &#8220;A vast army is coming against you from Edom,#20:2 One Hebrew manuscript; most Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate Aram from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar&#8221; (that is, En Gedi). 3Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.</div><div class="p"> 5Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard 6and said:</div><div class="pm">&#8220;Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. 7Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 9&#8216;If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.&#8217;</div><div class="pm"> 10&#8220;But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 14Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.</div><div class="p"> 15He said: &#8220;Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: &#8216;Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God&#8217;s. 16Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. 19Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.</div><div class="p"> 20Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, &#8220;Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.&#8221; 21After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his#20:21 Or him with the splendor of holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Give thanks to the Lord,</div><div class="q2">for his love endures forever.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.</div><div class="p"> 24When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped. 25So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing#20:25 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts corpses and also articles of value&#8212;more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it. 26On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the Valley of Berakah#20:26 Berakah means praise. to this day.</div><div class="p"> 27Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies. 28They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the Lord with harps and lyres and trumpets.</div><div class="p"> 29The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.</div><div class="s1">The End of Jehoshaphat&#8217;s Reign</div><div class="p"> 31So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother&#8217;s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 32He followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. 33The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors.</div><div class="p"> 34The other events of Jehoshaphat&#8217;s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the annals of Jehu son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.</div><div class="p"> 35Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. 36He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships.#20:36 Hebrew of ships that could go to Tarshish After these were built at Ezion Geber, 37Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, &#8220;Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.&#8221; The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade.#20:37 Hebrew sail for Tarshish</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CH">
 <div class="chapter ch21" data-usfm="2CH.21">
 <div class="label">21</div><div class="p"> 1Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. 2Jehoram&#8217;s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.#21:2 That is, Judah, as frequently in 2 Chronicles 3Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.</div><div class="s1">Jehoram King of Judah</div><div class="p"> 4When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father&#8217;s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel. 5Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 6He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 7Nevertheless, because of the covenant the Lord had made with David, the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants forever.</div><div class="p"> 8In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. 9So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night. 10To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah.</div><div class="p">Libnah revolted at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord, the God of his ancestors. 11He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.</div><div class="p"> 12Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said:</div><div class="pmo">&#8220;This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: &#8216;You have not followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah. 13But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better than you. 14So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. 15You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. 17They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king&#8217;s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah,#21:17 Hebrew Jehoahaz, a variant of Ahaziah the youngest.</div><div class="p"> 18After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. 19In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no funeral fire in his honor, as they had for his predecessors.</div><div class="p"> 20Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one&#8217;s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CH">
 <div class="chapter ch22" data-usfm="2CH.22">
 <div class="label">22</div><div class="s1">Ahaziah King of Judah</div><div class="p"> 1The people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram&#8217;s youngest son, king in his place, since the raiders, who came with the Arabs into the camp, had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.</div><div class="p"> 2Ahaziah was twenty-two#22:2 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 2 Kings 8:26); Hebrew forty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother&#8217;s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.</div><div class="p"> 3He too followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly. 4He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father&#8217;s death they became his advisers, to his undoing. 5He also followed their counsel when he went with Joram#22:5 Hebrew Jehoram, a variant of Joram; also in verses 6 and 7 son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; 6so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramoth#22:6 Hebrew Ramah, a variant of Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.</div><div class="p">Then Ahaziah#22:6 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac (see also 2 Kings 8:29); most Hebrew manuscripts Azariah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab because he had been wounded.</div><div class="p"> 7Through Ahaziah&#8217;s visit to Joram, God brought about Ahaziah&#8217;s downfall. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. 8While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah&#8217;s relatives, who had been attending Ahaziah, and he killed them. 9He then went in search of Ahaziah, and his men captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. He was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, &#8220;He was a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.&#8221; So there was no one in the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to retain the kingdom.</div><div class="s1">Athaliah and Joash</div><div class="p"> 10When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. 11But Jehosheba,#22:11 Hebrew Jehoshabeath, a variant of Jehosheba the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba,#22:11 Hebrew Jehoshabeath, a variant of Jehosheba the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah&#8217;s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. 12He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkACT">
 <div class="chapter ch20" data-usfm="ACT.20">
 <div class="label">20</div><div class="s1">Through Macedonia and Greece</div><div class="p"> 1When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. 2He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 3where he stayed three months. Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. 4He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.</div><div class="s1">Eutychus Raised From the Dead at Troas</div><div class="p"> 7On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. 8There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. 10Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. &#8220;Don&#8217;t be alarmed,&#8221; he said. &#8220;He&#8217;s alive!&#8221; 11Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders</div><div class="p"> 13We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. 14When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. 15The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Chios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. 16Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.</div><div class="p"> 17From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. 18When they arrived, he said to them: &#8220;You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. 19I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. 20You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.</div><div class="p"> 22&#8220;And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me&#8212;the task of testifying to the good news of God&#8217;s grace.</div><div class="p"> 25&#8220;Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God,#20:28 Many manuscripts of the Lord which he bought with his own blood.#20:28 Or with the blood of his own Son. 29I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.</div><div class="p"> 32&#8220;Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33I have not coveted anyone&#8217;s silver or gold or clothing. 34You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: &#8216;It is more blessed to give than to receive.&#8217; &#8221;</div><div class="p"> 36When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.</div>
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