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2
Chronicles 34
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1
¶Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and
walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to
the right hand, nor to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he
began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth
year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places,
and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and
the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves,
and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces,
and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that
had sacrificed unto them.
5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed
Judah and Jerusalem.
6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon,
even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had
beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols
throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
8 ¶Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged
the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and
Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the
recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.
9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered
the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites
that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim,
and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin;
and they returned to Jerusalem.
10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight
of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought
in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house:
11 Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn
stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the
kings of Judah had destroyed.
12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them
were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and
Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it
forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments
of musick.
13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers
of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the
Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.
14 ¶And when they brought out the money that was brought into
the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law
of the LORD given by Moses.
15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found
the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered
the book to Shaphan.
16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king
word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants,
they do it.
17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the
house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers,
and to the hand of the workmen.
18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest
hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the
law, that he rent his clothes.
20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan,
and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a
servant of the king's, saying,
21 Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in
Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found:
for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because
our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all
that is written in this book.
22 And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah
the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son
of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in
the college:) and they spake to her to that effect.
23 And she answered them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell
ye the man that sent you to me,
24 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place,
and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written
in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:
25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other
gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of
their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place,
and shall not be quenched.
26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the
LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel
concerning the words which thou hast heard;
27 Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself
before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and
against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me,
and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard
thee also, saith the LORD.
28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be
gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all
the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants
of the same. So they brought the king word again.
29 ¶Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders
of Judah and Jerusalem.
30 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the
men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests,
and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read
in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was
found in the house of the LORD.
31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the
LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and
his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with
all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written
in this book.
32 And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin
to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to
the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries
that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were
present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And
all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God
of their fathers.
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Hosea
2
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1 ¶Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither
am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of
her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was
born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children
of whoredoms.
5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them
hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that
give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and
my drink.
6 ¶Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns,
and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake
them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall
she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was
it better with me than now.
8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil,
and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof,
and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and
my flax given to cover her nakedness.
10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her
new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath
said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will
make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned
incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her
jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the
LORD.
14 ¶Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into
the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley
of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the
days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the
land of Egypt.
16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt
call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and
they shall no more be remembered by their name.
18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts
of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping
things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and
the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth
thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness,
and in mercies.
20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt
know the LORD.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the
LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil;
and they shall hear Jezreel.
23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy
upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which
were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou
art my God.
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Acts
16
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1 ¶Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain
disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman,
which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
2 Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra
and Iconium.
3 Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised
him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew
all that his father was a Greek.
4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees
for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which
were at Jerusalem.
5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased
in number daily.
6 ¶Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region
of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word
in Asia,
7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia:
but the Spirit suffered them not.
8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man
of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia,
and help us.
10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured
to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called
us for to preach the gospel unto them.
11 Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course
to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis;
12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that
part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding
certain days.
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where
prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the
women which resorted thither.
14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city
of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord
opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us,
saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into
my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
16 ¶And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel
possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her
masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are
the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of
salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and
said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to
come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone,
they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto
the rulers,
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being
Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither
to observe, being Romans.
22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates
rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them
into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner
prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 ¶And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises
unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened,
and every one's bands were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing
the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed
himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm:
for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling,
and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that
were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their
stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before
them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
35 ¶And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants,
saying, Let those men go.
36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates
have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.
37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned,
being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust
us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch
us out.
38 And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and
they feared, when they heard that they were Romans.
39 And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired
them to depart out of the city.
40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of
Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them,
and departed.
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Acts
17
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1 ¶Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia,
they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath
days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and
risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto
you, is Christ.
4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas;
and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women
not a few.
5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them
certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company,
and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason,
and sought to bring them out to the people.
6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren
unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the
world upside down are come hither also;
7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees
of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
8 And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when
they heard these things.
9 And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they
let them go.
10 ¶And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by
night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of
the Jews.
11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so.
12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which
were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word
of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and
stirred up the people.
14 And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it
were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.
15 And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving
a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all
speed, they departed.
16 ¶Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was
stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
17 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with
the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with
him.
18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks,
encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other
some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he
preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
19 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May
we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
20 For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would
know therefore what these things mean.
21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their
time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
22 ¶Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye
men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar
with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he
is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any
thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on
all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after
him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain
also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to
think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven
by art and man's device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth
all men every where to repent:
31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him
from the dead.
32 ¶And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some
mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
33 So Paul departed from among them.
34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which
was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others
with them.
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