1 Kings 13

• 1. At the LORD's command, a man of God from Judah went to Bethel, and he arrived there just as Jeroboam was approaching the altar to offer a sacrifice.
• 2. Then at the LORD's command, he shouted, "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests from the pagan shrines who come here to burn incense, and human bones will be burned on you."
• 3. That same day the man of God gave a sign to prove his message, and he said, "The LORD has promised to give this sign: This altar will split apart, and its ashes will be poured out on the ground."
• 4. King Jeroboam was very angry with the man of God for speaking against the altar. So he pointed at the man and shouted, "Seize that man!" But instantly the king's hand became paralyzed in that position, and he couldn't pull it back.
• 5. At the same time a wide crack appeared in the altar, and the ashes poured out, just as the man of God had predicted in his message from the LORD.
• 6. The king cried out to the man of God, "Please ask the LORD your God to restore my hand again!" So the man of God prayed to the LORD, and the king's hand became normal again.
• 7. Then the king said to the man of God, "Come to the palace with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift."
• 8. But the man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I would not go with you. I would not eat any food or drink any water in this place.
• 9. For the LORD gave me this command: `You must not eat any food or drink any water while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.'"
• 10. So he left Bethel and went home another way.
• 11. As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons came home and told him what the man of God had done in Bethel that day. They also told him what he had said to the king.
• 12. The old prophet asked them, "Which way did he go?" So they told their father which road the man of God had taken.
• 13. "Quick, saddle the donkey," the old man said. And when they had saddled the donkey for him,
• 14. he rode after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. The old prophet asked him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?Yes," he replied, "I am."
• 15. Then he said to the man of God, "Come home with me and eat some food."
• 16. "No, I cannot," he replied. "I am not allowed to eat any food or drink any water here in this place.
• 17. For the LORD gave me this command: `You must not eat any food or drink any water while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.'"
• 18. But the old prophet answered, "I am a prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave me this message from the LORD: `Bring him home with you, and give him food to eat and water to drink.'" But the old man was lying to him.
• 19. So they went back together, and the man of God ate some food and drank some water at the prophet's home.
• 20. Then while they were sitting at the table, a message from the LORD came to the old prophet.
• 21. He cried out to the man of God from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: You have defied the LORD's message and have disobeyed the command the LORD your God gave you.
• 22. You came back to this place and ate food and drank water where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors."
• 23. Now after the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet saddled his own donkey for him,
• 24. and the man of God started off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion came out and killed him. His body lay there on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.
• 25. People came by and saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported it in Bethel, where the old prophet lived.
• 26. When the old prophet heard the report, he said, "It is the man of God who disobeyed the LORD's command. The LORD has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him."
• 27. Then the prophet said to his sons, "Saddle a donkey for me." So they saddled a donkey,
• 28. and he went out and found the body lying in the road. The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey.
• 29. So the prophet laid the body of the man of God on the donkey and took it back to the city to mourn over him and bury him.
• 30. He laid the body in his own grave, crying out in grief, "Oh, my brother!"
• 31. Afterward the prophet said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
• 32. For the message the LORD told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will surely come true."
• 33. But even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways. He continued to choose priests from the rank and file of the people. Anyone who wanted to could become a priest for the pagan shrines.
• 34. This became a great sin and resulted in the destruction of Jeroboam's kingdom and the death of all his family.

Philippians 4

• 1. Dear brothers and sisters, I love you and long to see you, for you are my joy and the reward for my work. So please stay true to the Lord, my dear friends.
• 2. And now I want to plead with those two women, Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement.
• 3. And I ask you, my true teammate, to help these women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. And they worked with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.
• 4. Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice!
• 5. Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
• 6. Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
• 7. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
• 8. And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
• 9. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.
• 10. How grateful I am, and how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but for a while you didn't have the chance to help me.
• 11. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little.
• 12. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.
• 13. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.
• 14. But even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.
• 15. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this.
• 16. Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once.
• 17. I don't say this because I want a gift from you. What I want is for you to receive a well-earned reward because of your kindness.
• 18. At the moment I have all I need--more than I need! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable to God and pleases him.
• 19. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
• 20. Now glory be to God our Father forever and ever. Amen.
• 21. Give my greetings to all the Christians there. The brothers who are with me here send you their greetings.
• 22. And all the other Christians send their greetings, too, especially those who work in Caesar's palace.
• 23. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Ezekiel 43

• 1. After this, the man brought me back around to the east gateway.
• 2. Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel appeared from the east. The sound of his coming was like the roar of rushing waters, and the whole landscape shone with his glory.
• 3. This vision was just like the others I had seen, first by the Kebar River and then when he came to destroy Jerusalem. And I fell down before him with my face in the dust.
• 4. And the glory of the LORD came into the Temple through the east gateway.
• 5. Then the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner courtyard, and the glory of the LORD filled the Temple.
• 6. And I heard someone speaking to me from within the Temple. (The man who had been measuring was still standing beside me.)
• 7. And the LORD said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place where I will rest my feet. I will remain here forever, living among the people of Israel. They and their kings will not defile my holy name any longer by their adulterous worship of other gods or by raising monuments in honor of their dead kings.
• 8. They put their idol altars right next to mine with only a wall between them and me. They defiled my holy name by such wickedness, so I consumed them in my anger.
• 9. Now let them put away their idols and the sacred pillars erected to honor their kings, and I will live among them forever.
• 10. "Son of man, describe to the people of Israel the Temple I have shown you. Tell them its appearance and its plan so they will be ashamed of all their sins.
• 11. And if they are ashamed of what they have done, describe to them all the specifications of its construction--including its entrances and doors--and everything else about it. Write down all these specifications and directions as they watch so they will be sure to remember them.
• 12. And this is the basic law of the Temple: absolute holiness! The entire top of the hill where the Temple is built is holy. Yes, this is the primary law of the Temple.
• 13. "These are the measurements of the altar: There is a gutter all around the altar 21 inches wide and 21 inches deep, with a curb 9 inches wide around its edge. And this is the height of the altar:
• 14. From the gutter the altar rises 3 1/2 feet to a ledge that surrounds the altar; this lower ledge is 21 inches wide. From the lower ledge the altar rises 7 feet to the upper ledge; this upper ledge is also 21 inches wide.
• 15. The top of the altar, the hearth, rises still 7 feet higher, with a horn rising up from each of the four corners.
• 16. The top of the altar is square, measuring 21 feet by 21 feet.
• 17. The upper ledge also forms a square, measuring 24 1/2 feet on each side, with a 21-inch gutter and a 10 1/2-inch curb all around the edge. There are steps going up the east side of the altar."
• 18. Then he said to me, "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for the burning of offerings and the sprinkling of blood when the altar is built.
• 19. At that time, the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who minister before me, are to be given a young bull for a sin offering, says the Sovereign LORD.
• 20. You will take some of its blood and smear it on the four horns of the altar, the four corners of the upper ledge, and the curb that runs around that ledge. This will cleanse and make atonement for the altar.
• 21. Then take the young bull for the sin offering and burn it at the appointed place outside the Temple area.
• 22. "On the second day, sacrifice as a sin offering a young male goat that has no physical defects. Then cleanse and make atonement for the altar again, just as you did with the young bull.
• 23. When you have finished the cleansing ceremony, offer another young bull that has no defects and a perfect ram from the flock.
• 24. You are to present them to the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and offer them as a burnt offering to the LORD.
• 25. "Every day for seven days a male goat, a young bull, and a ram from the flock will be sacrificed as a sin offering. None of these animals may have physical defects of any kind.
• 26. Do this each day for seven days to cleanse and make atonement for the altar, thus setting it apart for holy use.
• 27. On the eighth day, and on each day afterward, the priests will sacrifice on the altar the burnt offerings and peace offerings of the people. Then I will accept you, says the Sovereign LORD."

New Living Translation: 283 of 365 days.