2 Kings 8

• 1. Elisha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, "Take your family and move to some other place, for the LORD has called for a famine on Israel that will last for seven years."
• 2. So the woman did as the man of God instructed. She took her family and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
• 3. After the famine ended she returned to the land of Israel, and she went to see the king about getting back her house and land.
• 4. As she came in, the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king had just said, "Tell me some stories about the great things Elisha has done."
• 5. And Gehazi was telling the king about the time Elisha had brought a boy back to life. At that very moment, the mother of the boy walked in to make her appeal to the king. "Look, my lord!" Gehazi exclaimed. "Here is the woman now, and this is her son--the very one Elisha brought back to life!"
• 6. "Is this true?" the king asked her. And she told him that it was. So he directed one of his officials to see to it that everything she had lost was restored to her, including the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence.
• 7. Now Elisha went to Damascus, the capital of Aram, where King Ben-hadad lay sick. Someone told the king that the man of God had come.
• 8. When the king heard the news, he said to Hazael, "Take a gift to the man of God. Then tell him to ask the LORD if I will get well again."
• 9. So Hazael loaded down forty camels with the finest products of Damascus as a gift for Elisha. He went in to him and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to ask you if he will recover."
• 10. And Elisha replied, "Go and tell him, `You will recover.' But the LORD has shown me that he will actually die!"
• 11. Elisha stared at Hazael with a fixed gaze until Hazael became uneasy. Then the man of God started weeping.
• 12. "What's the matter, my lord?" Hazael asked him. Elisha replied, "I know the terrible things you will do to the people of Israel. You will burn their fortified cities, kill their young men, dash their children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women!"
• 13. Then Hazael replied, "How could a nobody like me ever accomplish such a great feat?" But Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you are going to be the king of Aram."
• 14. When Hazael went back, the king asked him, "What did Elisha tell you?" And Hazael replied, "He told me that you will surely recover."
• 15. But the next day Hazael took a blanket, soaked it in water, and held it over the king's face until he died. Then Hazael became the next king of Aram.
• 16. Jehoram son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah began to rule over Judah in the fifth year of King Joram's reign in Israel. Joram was the son of Ahab.
• 17. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.
• 18. But Jehoram followed the example of the kings of Israel and was as wicked as King Ahab, for he had married one of Ahab's daughters. So Jehoram did what was evil in the LORD's sight.
• 19. But the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for he had made a covenant with David and promised that his descendants would continue to rule forever.
• 20. During Jehoram's reign, the Edomites revolted against Judah and crowned their own king.
• 21. So Jehoram went with all his chariots to attack the town of Zair. The Edomites surrounded him and his charioteers, but he escaped at night under cover of darkness. Jehoram's army, however, deserted him and fled.
• 22. Edom has been independent from Judah to this day. The town of Libnah revolted about that same time.
• 23. The rest of the events in Jehoram's reign and all his deeds are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.
• 24. When Jehoram died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then his son Ahaziah became the next king.
• 25. Ahaziah son of Jehoram began to rule over Judah in the twelfth year of King Joram's reign in Israel. King Joram was the son of Ahab.
• 26. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of King Omri of Israel.
• 27. Ahaziah followed the evil example of King Ahab's family, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight, because he was related by marriage to the family of Ahab.
• 28. Ahaziah joined King Joram of Israel in his war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. When King Joram was wounded in the battle,
• 29. he returned to Jezreel to recover from his wounds. While Joram was there, King Ahaziah of Judah went to visit him.

1 Timothy 5

• 1. Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as though he were your own father. Talk to the younger men as you would to your own brothers.
• 2. Treat the older women as you would your mother, and treat the younger women with all purity as your own sisters.
• 3. The church should care for any widow who has no one else to care for her.
• 4. But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God very much.
• 5. But a woman who is a true widow, one who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. Night and day she asks God for help and spends much time in prayer.
• 6. But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead.
• 7. Give these instructions to the church so that the widows you support will not be criticized.
• 8. But those who won't care for their own relatives, especially those living in the same household, have denied what we believe. Such people are worse than unbelievers.
• 9. A widow who is put on the list for support must be a woman who is at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband.
• 10. She must be well respected by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers? Has she served other Christians humbly? Has she helped those who are in trouble? Has she always been ready to do good?
• 11. The younger widows should not be on the list, because their physical desires will overpower their devotion to Christ and they will want to remarry.
• 12. Then they would be guilty of breaking their previous pledge.
• 13. Besides, they are likely to become lazy and spend their time gossiping from house to house, getting into other people's business and saying things they shouldn't.
• 14. So I advise these younger widows to marry again, have children, and take care of their own homes. Then the enemy will not be able to say anything against them.
• 15. For I am afraid that some of them have already gone astray and now follow Satan.
• 16. If a Christian woman has relatives who are widows, she must take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then the church can care for widows who are truly alone.
• 17. Elders who do their work well should be paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.
• 18. For the Scripture says, "Do not keep an ox from eating as it treads out the grain." And in another place, "Those who work deserve their pay!"
• 19. Do not listen to complaints against an elder unless there are two or three witnesses to accuse him.
• 20. Anyone who sins should be rebuked in front of the whole church so that others will have a proper fear of God.
• 21. I solemnly command you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the holy angels to obey these instructions without taking sides or showing special favor to anyone.
• 22. Never be in a hurry about appointing an elder. Do not participate in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
• 23. Don't drink only water. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach because you are sick so often.
• 24. Remember that some people lead sinful lives, and everyone knows they will be judged. But there are others whose sin will not be revealed until later.
• 25. In the same way, everyone knows how much good some people do, but there are others whose good deeds won't be known until later.

Daniel 12

• 1. "At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued.
• 2. Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
• 3. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like stars forever.
• 4. But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end. Many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase."
• 5. Then I, Daniel, looked and saw two others standing on opposite banks of the river.
• 6. One of them asked the man dressed in linen, who was now standing above the river, "How long will it be until these shocking events happen?"
• 7. The man dressed in linen, who was standing above the river, raised both his hands toward heaven and took this solemn oath by the one who lives forever: "It will go on for a time, times, and half a time. When the shattering of the holy people has finally come to an end, all these things will have happened."
• 8. I heard what he said, but I did not understand what he meant. So I asked, "How will all this finally end, my lord?"
• 9. But he said, "Go now, Daniel, for what I have said is for the time of the end.
• 10. Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means.
• 11. "From the time the daily sacrifice is taken away and the sacrilegious object that causes desecration is set up to be worshiped, there will be 1,290 days.
• 12. And blessed are those who wait and remain until the end of the 1,335 days!
• 13. "As for you, go your way until the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days, you will rise again to receive the inheritance set aside for you."

New Living Translation: 300 of 365 days.