THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - April 13 - Full Text - Shabbat Shalom!

Genesis 1:1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

APRIL 13

PSALMS: 13, 43, 73, 103, 133

PROVERBS: 13

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 KINGS 22:2 - 23:30

NEW TESTAMENT: ACTS 21:37 - 22:16

PSALMS: 13

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³ Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

⁴ my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"

and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

⁶ I will sing to the LORD,

for he has been good to me. ¹

PSALMS: 43

¹ Vindicate ^A me, O God,

and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;

rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

² You are God my stronghold.

Why have you rejected me?

Why must I go about mourning,

oppressed by the enemy?

³ Send forth your light and your truth,

let them guide me;

let them bring me to your holy mountain,

to the place where you dwell.

⁴ Then will I go to the altar of God,

to God, my joy and my delight.

I will praise you with the harp,

O God, my God.

⁵ Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God. ²

PSALMS: 73

A psalm of Asaph.

¹ Surely God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;

I had nearly lost my foothold.

³ For I envied the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ They have no struggles;

their bodies are healthy and strong. ^A

⁵ They are free from the burdens common to man;

they are not plagued by human ills.

⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;

they clothe themselves with violence.

⁷ From their callous hearts comes iniquity ^B;

the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.

⁸ They scoff, and speak with malice;

in their arrogance they threaten oppression.

⁹ Their mouths lay claim to heaven,

and their tongues take possession of the earth.

¹⁰ Therefore their people turn to them

and drink up waters in abundance. ^C

¹¹ They say, "How can God know?

Does the Most High have knowledge?"

¹² This is what the wicked are like--

always carefree, they increase in wealth. ³

A psalm of Asaph.

¹³ Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;

in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴ All day long I have been plagued;

I have been punished every morning.

¹⁵ If I had said, "I will speak thus,"

I would have betrayed your children.

¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,

it was oppressive to me

¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;

then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;

you cast them down to ruin.

¹⁹ How suddenly are they destroyed,

completely swept away by terrors!

²⁰ As a dream when one awakes,

so when you arise, O Lord,

you will despise them as fantasies.

²¹ When my heart was grieved

and my spirit embittered,

²² I was senseless and ignorant;

I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever. ⁴

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;

you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;

I will tell of all your deeds. ⁵

PSALMS: 103

Of David.

¹ Praise the LORD, O my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

² Praise the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits--

³ who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

⁴ who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

⁶ The LORD works righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel:

⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

⁹ He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

¹² as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed, ⁶

he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass,

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting

the LORD's love is with those who fear him,

and his righteousness with their children's children--

¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant

and remember to obey his precepts.

¹⁹ The LORD has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ Praise the LORD, you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his bidding,

who obey his word.

²¹ Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,

you his servants who do his will.

²² Praise the LORD, all his works

everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the LORD, O my soul. ⁷

PSALMS: 133

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹ How good and pleasant it is

when brothers live together in unity!

² It is like precious oil poured on the head,

running down on the beard,

running down on Aaron's beard,

down upon the collar of his robes.

³ It is as if the dew of Hermon

were falling on Mount Zion.

For there the LORD bestows his blessing,

even life forevermore. ⁸

PROVERBS: 13

13 ¹ A wise son heeds his father's instruction,

but a mocker does not listen to rebuke.

² From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things,

but the unfaithful have a craving for violence.

³ He who guards his lips guards his life,

but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

⁴ The sluggard craves and gets nothing,

but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

⁵ The righteous hate what is false,

but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.

⁶ Righteousness guards the man of integrity,

but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

⁷ One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

⁸ A man's riches may ransom his life,

but a poor man hears no threat.

⁹ The light of the righteous shines brightly,

but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.

¹⁰ Pride only breeds quarrels,

but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

¹¹ Dishonest money dwindles away,

but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow. ⁹

¹² Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³ He who scorns instruction will pay for it,

but he who respects a command is rewarded.

¹⁴ The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,

turning a man from the snares of death.

¹⁵ Good understanding wins favor,

but the way of the unfaithful is hard. ^A

¹⁶ Every prudent man acts out of knowledge,

but a fool exposes his folly.

¹⁷ A wicked messenger falls into trouble,

but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.

¹⁸ He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame,

but whoever heeds correction is honored.

¹⁹ A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,

but fools detest turning from evil.

²⁰ He who walks with the wise grows wise,

but a companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹ Misfortune pursues the sinner,

but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.

²² A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children,

but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. ¹⁰

²³ A poor man's field may produce abundant food,

but injustice sweeps it away.

²⁴ He who spares the rod hates his son,

but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

²⁵ The righteous eat to their hearts' content,

but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry. ¹¹

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 KINGS 22:3 - 23:30

³ In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD. He said: ⁴ "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. ⁵ Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD—⁶ the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple. ⁷ But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are acting faithfully."

⁸ Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD." He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. ⁹ Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: "Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple." ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. ¹² He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's attendant: ¹³ "Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD's anger that burns ¹² against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us."

¹⁴ Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophetess Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the Second District.

¹⁵ She said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ `This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read. <sup>17</sup> Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and provoked me to anger by all the idols their hands have made, <sup>A</sup> my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.' <sup>18</sup> Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, `This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: ¹⁹ Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD.

²⁰ Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.'"

So they took her answer back to the king. ¹³

23 ¹ Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ² He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets--all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. ³ The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD--to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

⁴ The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He did away with the pagan priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem--those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. ⁶ He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. ⁷ He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the LORD and where women did weaving for Asherah.

⁸ Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the ¹⁴ priests had burned incense. He broke down the shrines ^A at the gates--at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which is on the left of the city gate. ⁹ Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

¹⁰ He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in ^B the fire to Molech. ¹¹ He removed from the entrance to the temple of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melech. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.

¹² He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the LORD. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. ¹³ The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption--the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech ^C the detestable god of the people of Ammon. ¹⁴ Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.

¹⁵ Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin--even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to ¹⁵ powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. ¹⁶ Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.

¹⁷ The king asked, "What is that tombstone I see?"

The men of the city said, "It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it."

¹⁸ "Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

¹⁹ Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria that had provoked the LORD to anger. ²⁰ Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

²¹ The king gave this order to all the people: "Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." ²² Not since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, had any such Passover been observed. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the ¹⁶ law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD. ²⁵ Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did--with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

²⁶ Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger. ²⁷ So the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, `There shall my Name be.' ^D"

²⁸ As for the other events of Josiah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

²⁹ While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Neco faced him and killed him at Megiddo. ³⁰ Josiah's servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father. ¹⁷

NEW TESTAMENT: ACTS 21:37 - 22:16

³⁷ As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, "May I say something to you?"

"Do you speak Greek?" he replied. ³⁸ "Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?"

³⁹ Paul answered, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people."

⁴⁰ Having received the commander's permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic ^A:

22 ¹ "Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense."

² When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.

Then Paul said: ³ "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, ⁵ as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶ "About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a ¹⁸ voice say to me, `Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?'

⁸ "`Who are you, Lord?' I asked.

"`I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. ⁹ My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

¹⁰ "`What shall I do, Lord?' I asked.

"`Get up,' the Lord said, `and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.' ¹¹ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

¹² "A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. ¹³ He stood beside me and said, `Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very moment I was able to see him.

¹⁴ "Then he said: `The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. ¹⁵ You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.' ¹⁹

1^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

2^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

3^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

4^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

5^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

6^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

7^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

8^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

9^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

10^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

11^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

12^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

13^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

14^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

15^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

16^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

17^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

18^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

19^ Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

 John 3:16-21 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, F that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.G 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." H