Daily Bible reading: December 27

2 Chronicles 32. After these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to break into them for himself. Then Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he had set his face to make war on Jerusalem.

And he took counsel with his commanders and his warriors to stop up the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him. So many people gathered and stopped up all the springs in the stream which flowed in the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?

So many people gathered and stopped up all the springs in the stream which flowed in the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water? And he strengthened himself, and rebuilt all the wall that had been broken down, and erected towers on it, and built another outside wall, and strengthened the Milo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great number.

He also put military commanders over the people, and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate, and spoke to their hearts, saying, Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the multitude that is with him.

For the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is Yahweh our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people were sustained by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, while he was besieging Lachish with all his forces with him, against Hezekiah king of Judah, and against all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, On what are you trusting that you are remaining in Jerusalem under siege?

Is not Hezekiah inciting you to give yourselves over to die by hunger and by thirst, saying, Yahweh our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria? Has not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and said to Judah in Jerusalem, You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall offer offerings up in smoke?

Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands able at all to deliver their land from my hand? Who was there among all the gods of these nations, which my fathers devoted to destruction, who could deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand?

So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or incite you like this, and do not believe him. For no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers.

How much less will your God deliver you from my hand? His servants spurther against Yahweh God and against his servant Hezekiah. He also wrote letters to reproach Yahweh, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of the lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my hand.

And they called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to instill fear and terrify them so that they might capture the city. And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men's hands.

But King Hezekiah and Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven. And Yahweh sent an angel who wiped out every mighty man of valor, ruler, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria.

So he returned in shame to his own land, and he entered the house of his God, and some of his own children caused him to fall there by the sword. So Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and he guided them on every side.

And many were bringing presents to Yahweh at Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was lifted up in the sight of all nations thereafter. In those days Hezekiah became sick to the point of death, and he prayed to Yahweh, and Yahweh spoke to him and gave him a miraculous sign.

But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

Now Hezekiah had abundant riches and honor, and he made for himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of desirable articles, storehouses also for the produce of grain, wine, and oil, stalls for all kinds of cattle, and sheepfolds for the flocks.

He also made cities for himself and acquired flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him exceedingly abundant wealth. And it was Hezekiah who stopped the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them to the west side of the city of David.

And Hezekiah succeeded in all that he did. Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the miraculous sign that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him that he might know all that was in his heart.

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of lovingkindness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper section of the tombs of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, and she has become a dwelling place of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean bird, and a prison of every unclean and hateful beast.

For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the power of her sensuality.

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues. For her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Pay her back even as she paid, and give her back double according to her deeds, in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning.

For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning. For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire, for the Lord God who judges her is strong.

And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived sensuously with her, will cry and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city!

Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come. And the merchants of the earth cry and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any more, cargo of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from precious wood and bronze and iron and marble and cinnamon and amomum and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep and cargo of horses and carriages and human beings and human lives.

And the fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were splendid and shining have passed away from you, and men will no longer find them. The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, crying and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city!

She who is clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. For in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste, and every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor and as many as make their living by the sea stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What is like the great city?

And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, crying and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city! In which all who have ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste.

Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her. Then a strong angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence and will not be found any longer.

And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer, and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer, and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer, and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer, and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer, for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.

And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth. Zechariah 14. Behold, a day is coming for Yahweh when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.

Indeed, I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city will go forth in exile. But those left of the people will not be cut off from the city.

Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations as the day when he fights on a day of battle. And in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

And you will flee by the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel. Indeed, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

And it will be in that day that there will be no light, the luminaries will dwindle. And it will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh neither day nor night, but it will be that at evening time there will be light.

And it will be in that day that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea. And it will be in summer as well as in winter. And Yahweh will be king over all the earth.

In that day Yahweh will be the only one in his name one. All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Raman south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem will rise and inhabit its site from Benjamin's gate as far as the place of the first gate to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses.

And people will inhabit it. There will be no longer anything devoted to destruction, for Jerusalem will be inhabited in security. Now this will be the plague with which Yahweh will plague all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem.

Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. And it will be in that day that abundant confusion from Yahweh will fall on them, and they will take hold of one another's hand, and the hand of one will go up against the hand of another.

And Judah also will fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. And in the same way the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and all the cattle that will be in those camps will be like this plague.

Then it will be that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, and to celebrate the feast of booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, there will be no rain on them.

And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them. It will be the plague with which Yahweh plagues the nations who do not go up to celebrate the feast of booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the feast of booths.

In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, Holy to Yahweh, and the pots in the house of Yahweh will be like the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them.

And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of hosts in that day. John 17. Jesus spoke these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him he may give eternal life.

And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on the earth, having finished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they have come to know that everything you have given me is from you.

For the words which you gave me I have given to them, and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from you, and they believed that you sent me. I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

And all things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world. And I come to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.

While I was with them, I was keeping them in your name which you have given me. And I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the scripture would be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, so that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also sent them into the world. For their sake I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.

The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me.

Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known you, yet I have known you, and these have known that you sent me, and I have made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.