2 Kings 9

• 1. Meanwhile, Elisha the prophet had summoned a member of the group of prophets. "Get ready to go to Ramoth-gilead," he told him. "Take this vial of olive oil with you,
• 2. and find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi. Call him into a back room away from his friends,
• 3. and pour the oil over his head. Say to him, `This is what the LORD says: I anoint you to be the king over Israel.' Then open the door and run for your life!"
• 4. So the young prophet did as he was told and went to Ramoth-gilead.
• 5. When he arrived there, he found Jehu sitting in a meeting with the other army officers. "I have a message for you, Commander," he said. "For which one of us?" Jehu asked. "For you, Commander," he replied.
• 6. So Jehu left the others and went into the house. Then the young prophet poured the oil over Jehu's head and said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I anoint you king over the LORD's people, Israel.
• 7. You are to destroy the family of Ahab, your master. In this way, I will avenge the murder of my prophets and all the LORD's servants who were killed by Jezebel.
• 8. The entire family of Ahab must be wiped out--every male, slave and free alike, in Israel.
• 9. I will destroy the family of Ahab as I destroyed the families of Jeroboam son of Nebat and of Baasha son of Ahijah.
• 10. Dogs will eat Ahab's wife, Jezebel, at the plot of land in Jezreel, and no one will bury her." Then the young prophet opened the door and ran.
• 11. Jehu went back to his fellow officers, and one of them asked him, "What did that crazy fellow want? Is everything all right?You know the way such a man babbles on," Jehu replied.
• 12. "You're lying," they said. "Tell us." So Jehu told them what the man had said and that at the LORD's command he had been anointed king over Israel.
• 13. They quickly spread out their cloaks on the bare steps and blew a trumpet, shouting, "Jehu is king!"
• 14. So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi formed a conspiracy against King Joram. (Now Joram had been with the army at Ramoth-gilead, defending Israel against the forces of King Hazael of Aram.
• 15. But Joram had been wounded in the fighting and had returned to Jezreel to recover from his wounds.) So Jehu told the men with him, "Since you want me to be king, don't let anyone escape to Jezreel to report what we have done."
• 16. Then Jehu got into a chariot and rode to Jezreel to find King Joram, who was lying there wounded. King Ahaziah of Judah was there, too, for he had gone to visit him.
• 17. The watchman on the tower of Jezreel saw Jehu and his company approaching, so he shouted to Joram, "I see a company of troops coming!Send out a rider to find out if they are coming in peace," King Joram shouted back.
• 18. So a rider went out to meet Jehu and said, "The king wants to know whether you are coming in peace." Jehu replied, "What do you know about peace? Get behind me!" The watchman called out to the king, "The rider has met them, but he is not returning."
• 19. So the king sent out a second rider. He rode up to them and demanded, "The king wants to know whether you come in peace." Again Jehu answered, "What do you know about peace? Get behind me!"
• 20. The watchman exclaimed, "The rider has met them, but he isn't returning either! It must be Jehu son of Nimshi, for he is driving so recklessly."
• 21. "Quick! Get my chariot ready!" King Joram commanded. Then King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah rode out in their chariots to meet Jehu. They met him at the field that had belonged to Naboth of Jezreel.
• 22. King Joram demanded, "Do you come in peace, Jehu?" Jehu replied, "How can there be peace as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother, Jezebel, are all around us?"
• 23. Then King Joram reined the chariot horses around and fled, shouting to King Ahaziah, "Treason, Ahaziah!"
• 24. Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he sank down dead in his chariot.
• 25. Jehu said to Bidkar, his officer, "Throw him into the field of Naboth of Jezreel. Do you remember when you and I were riding along behind his father, Ahab? The LORD pronounced this message against him:
• 26. `I solemnly swear that I will repay him here on Naboth's property, says the LORD, for the murder of Naboth and his sons that I saw yesterday.' So throw him out on Naboth's field, just as the LORD said."
• 27. When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what was happening, he fled along the road to Beth-haggan. Jehu rode after him, shouting, "Shoot him, too!" So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot at the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam. He was able to go on as far as Megiddo, but he died there.
• 28. His officials took him by chariot to Jerusalem, where they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David.
• 29. Ahaziah's reign over Judah had begun in the eleventh year of King Joram's reign in Israel.
• 30. When Jezebel, the queen mother, heard that Jehu had come to Jezreel, she painted her eyelids and fixed her hair and sat at a window.
• 31. When Jehu entered the gate of the palace, she shouted at him, "Have you come in peace, you murderer? You are just like Zimri, who murdered his master!"
• 32. Jehu looked up and saw her at the window and shouted, "Who is on my side?" And two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
• 33. "Throw her down!" Jehu yelled. So they threw her out the window, and some of her blood spattered against the wall and on the horses. And Jehu trampled her body under his horses' hooves.
• 34. Then Jehu went into the palace and ate and drank. Afterward he said, "Someone go and bury this cursed woman, for she is the daughter of a king."
• 35. But when they went out to bury her, they found only her skull, her feet, and her hands.
• 36. When they returned and told Jehu, he stated, "This fulfills the message from the LORD, which he spoke through his servant Elijah from Tishbe: `At the plot of land in Jezreel, dogs will eat Jezebel's flesh.
• 37. Her body will be scattered like dung on the field of Jezreel, so that no one will be able to recognize her.'"

1 Timothy 6

• 1. Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed.
• 2. If your master is a Christian, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. You should work all the harder because you are helping another believer by your efforts. Teach these truths, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them.
• 3. Some false teachers may deny these things, but these are the sound, wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are the foundation for a godly life.
• 4. Anyone who teaches anything different is both conceited and ignorant. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, fighting, slander, and evil suspicions.
• 5. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they don't tell the truth. To them religion is just a way to get rich.
• 6. Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth.
• 7. After all, we didn't bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die.
• 8. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.
• 9. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
• 10. For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
• 11. But you, Timothy, belong to God; so run from all these evil things, and follow what is right and good. Pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
• 12. Fight the good fight for what we believe. Hold tightly to the eternal life that God has given you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.
• 13. And I command you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate,
• 14. that you obey his commands with all purity. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
• 15. For at the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
• 16. He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No one has ever seen him, nor ever will. To him be honor and power forever. Amen.
• 17. Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
• 18. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them.
• 19. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of real life.
• 20. Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge.
• 21. Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness. May God's grace be with you all.

Hosea 1

• 1. The LORD gave these messages to Hosea son of Beeri during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
• 2. When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, "Go and marry a prostitute, so some of her children will be born to you from other men. This will illustrate the way my people have been untrue to me, openly committing adultery against the LORD by worshiping other gods."
• 3. So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son.
• 4. And the LORD said, "Name the child Jezreel, for I am about to punish King Jehu's dynasty to avenge the murders he committed at Jezreel.
• 5. In fact, I will put an end to Israel's independence by breaking its military power in the Jezreel Valley."
• 6. Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to Hosea, "Name your daughter Lo-ruhamah--`Not loved'--for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them.
• 7. But I, the LORD their God, will show love to the people of Judah. I will personally free them from their enemies without any help from weapons or armies."
• 8. After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son.
• 9. And the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi--`Not my people'--for Israel is not my people, and I am not their God.
• 10. Yet the time will come when Israel will prosper and become a great nation. In that day its people will be like the sands of the seashore--too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, `You are not my people,' it will be said, `You are children of the living God.'
• 11. Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite under one leader, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be--the day of Jezreel--when God will again plant his people in his land. 1In that day you will call your brothers Ammi--`My people.' And you will call your sisters Ruhamah--`The ones I love.'

New Living Translation: 301 of 365 days.