the Fifth Week after Easter
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
July 20 - Bible-in-a-Year
nas
1 Kings 21
Chapter 21
Ahab Covets Naboth's Vineyard
1 Now it came about after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in (C1)Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab, the king of Samaria.2 And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "(C1)Give me your vineyard so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is close beside my house, and I will give you a better vineyard in place of it; if (F1)you prefer, I will give you what (F2)it is worth in money."3 But Naboth said to Ahab, "The LORD forbid me (C1)that I would give you the inheritance of my fathers!"4 (C1)So Ahab entered his house sullen and furious because of the (F1)answer that Naboth the Jezreelite had given to him, since he said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." And he lay down on his bed and turned his face away, and ate no (F2)food.
5 But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, "How is it that your spirit is so sullen that you are not eating (F1)food?"6 So he said to her, "It is because I was speaking to Naboth the Jezreelite and saying to him, 'Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you a vineyard in place of it.' But he said, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'"7 Jezebel his wife said to him, "(C1)Do you now (F1)reign over Israel? Arise, eat bread, and let your heart be joyful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."
8 (C1)So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to (C2)the elders and to the nobles who were living with Naboth in his city.9 Now she had written in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people;10 and seat two (C1)worthless men opposite him, and have them testify against him, saying, '(C2)You (F1)cursed God and the king.' Then take him out and (C3)stone him (F2)to death."
Jezebel's Plot
11 So the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did just as Jezebel had sent word to them, just as it was written in the letters which she had sent them.12 They (C1)proclaimed a fast, and seated Naboth at the head of the people.13 Then the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him; and the worthless men testified against him, against Naboth, before the people, saying, "Naboth (F1)cursed God and the king." (C1)So they took him outside the city and stoned him (F2)to death with stones.14 Then they sent word to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned and is dead."
15 And when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead."16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
17 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,18 "Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, (C1)who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it.19 "And you shall speak to him, saying, 'This is what the LORD says: "(C1)Have you murdered and also taken possession?"' And you shall speak to him, saying, 'The LORD says this: "(C2)In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick up your blood, yours as well."'"
20 Then Ahab said to Elijah, "(C1)Have you found me, enemy of mine?" And he (F1)answered, "I have found you, (C2)because you have given yourself over to do evil in the sight of the LORD.21 "Behold, I am bringing disaster upon you, and I (C1)will utterly sweep you away, and will eliminate from Ahab every male, both (F1)bond and free in Israel;22 and (C1)I will make your house (C2)like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and because you (C3)have misled Israel into sin.23 "The LORD has also spoken of Jezebel, saying, '(C1)The dogs will eat Jezebel in the (F1)territory of Jezreel.'24 "(C1)The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs will eat; and the one who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat."
25 (C1)There certainly was no one like Ahab who gave himself over to do evil in the sight of the LORD, (F1)because Jezebel his wife incited him.26 (C1)He also acted very despicably in following idols, (C2)conforming to everything that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD drove out from the sons of Israel.
27 Yet it came about, when Ahab heard these words, that (C1)he tore his clothes and put (F1)on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently.28 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,29 "Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; I will bring the disaster upon his house (C1)in his son's days."
Amos 5
Chapter 5
"Seek Me So That You May Live"
1 Hear this word which I am taking up for you as a (C1)song of mourning, house of Israel:
2 She has fallen, she will (C1)not rise again—
The (C2)virgin Israel.
She lies unnoticed on her land;
There is (C3)no one to raise her up.
"The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a (C1)hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have (C2)ten left to the house of Israel."
4 For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: "(C1)Seek Me (C2)so that you may live.
5 "But do not (F1)resort to (C1)Bethel
And do not come to (C2)Gilgal,
Nor cross over to (C3)Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will (F2)come to nothing.
6 "(C1)Seek the LORD so that you may live,
Or He will break through like a (C2)fire, (F1)house of Joseph,
And it will consume with no one to extinguish it for Bethel,
7 For those who turn (C1)justice into wormwood,
And (F1)throw righteousness to the earth."
8 He who made the (C1)Pleiades and Orion,
And (C2)changes deep darkness into morning,
(F1)Who also (C3)darkens day into night,
Who (C4)calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The (C5)LORD is His name.
9 It is He who (C1)makes destruction flash upon the strong,
So that (C2)destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate him who (C1)rebukes in the (F1)gate,
And they (C2)despise him who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore because you impose heavy (F1)rent on the poor
And take a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built (C1)houses of cut stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted beautiful vineyards, yet you will (C2)not drink their wine.
12 For I know your offenses are many and your sins are great,
You who are (C1)hostile to the righteous and accept bribes,
And (F1)turn away the poor from justice at the (F2)gate.
13 Therefore at (F1)such a time the prudent person (C1)keeps quiet, because it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live;
And so may the LORD God of armies be with you,
(C1)Just as you have said!
15 (C1)Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the (F1)gate!
Perhaps the LORD God of armies
(C2)Will be gracious to the (C3)remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore this is what the LORD God of armies, the Lord says: "There is (C1)mourning in all the public squares,
And in all the streets they say, 'Oh no! Oh no!'
They also call the (C2)farmer to mourning
And (F1)(C3)professional mourners to mourning rites.
17 "And in all the (C1)vineyards there is mourning,
Because I will pass through the midst of you," says the LORD.
18 Woe to you who are longing for the (C1)day of the LORD,
For what (F1)purpose will the day of the LORD be to you?
It will be (C2)darkness and not light;
19 As when a man (C1)flees from a lion
And a bear confronts him,
(F1)Or he goes home, leans with his hand against the wall,
And a snake bites him.
20 Will the day of the LORD not be (C1)darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
21 "I hate, I (C1)reject your festivals,
Nor do I (F1)(C2)delight in your festive assemblies.
22 "Even though you (C1)offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the (C2)peace offerings of your fattened oxen.
23 "Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
24 "But let (C1)justice roll out like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 "(F1)(C1)Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel?26 "(C1)You also carried along (F1)Sikkuth your king and (F2)Kiyyun, your images, (F3)the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.27 "Therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is the God of armies.
1 Corinthians 7:25-40
Chapter 7
25 Now concerning virgins, I have (C1)no command of the Lord, but I am offering direction as one who (F1)(C2)by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.26 I think, then, that this is good in view of the (F1)present (C1)distress, that (C2)it is good for a man (F2)to remain as he is.27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.28 But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such people as yourselves will have (F1)trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.29 But this I say, brothers, (C1)the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none;30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess;31 and those who use the world, as though they did not (C1)make full use of it; for (C2)the present form of this world is passing away.
32 But I want you to be free from concern. One who is (C1)unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;33 but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,34 and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.35 I say this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but (F1)to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.
36 But if anyone thinks that he is acting dishonorably toward his virgin, if she is (F1)past her youth and it ought to be so, let him do what he wishes, he is not sinning; let (F2)them marry.37 But the one who stands firm in his heart, (F1)if he is not under constraint, but has authority (F2)over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin, he will do well.38 So then, both the one who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and the one who does not give her in marriage will do better.
39 (C1)A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband (F1)dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only (C2)in the Lord.40 But (C1)in my opinion she is (F1)happier if she remains as she is; and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995,2020 by The Lockman Foundation
