2 Chronicles 21

• 1. When Jehoshaphat died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then his son Jehoram became the next king.
• 2. Jehoram's brothers--the other sons of Jehoshaphat--were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah.
• 3. Their father had given each of them valuable gifts of silver, gold, and costly items, and also the ownership of some of Judah's fortified cities. However, Jehoram became king because he was the oldest.
• 4. But when Jehoram had become solidly established as king, he killed all his brothers and some of the other leaders of Israel.
• 5. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.
• 6. 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.
• 7. But the LORD was not willing to destroy David's dynasty, for he had made a covenant with David and promised that his descendants would continue to rule forever.
• 8. During Jehoram's reign, the Edomites revolted against Judah and crowned their own king.
• 9. So Jehoram went to attack Edom with his full army and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his charioteers, but he escaped at night under cover of darkness.
• 10. Edom has been independent from Judah to this day. The town of Libnah revolted about that same time, because Jehoram had abandoned the LORD, the God of his ancestors.
• 11. He had built pagan shrines in the hill country of Judah and had led the people of Jerusalem and Judah to give themselves to pagan gods.
• 12. Then Elijah the prophet wrote Jehoram this letter: "This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: You have not followed the good example of your father, Jehoshaphat, or your grandfather King Asa of Judah.
• 13. Instead, you have been as evil as the kings of Israel. You have led the people of Jerusalem and Judah to worship idols, just as King Ahab did in Israel. And you have even killed your own brothers, men who were better than you.
• 14. So now the LORD is about to strike you, your people, your children, your wives, and all that is yours with a heavy blow.
• 15. You yourself will be stricken with a severe intestinal disease until it causes your bowels to come out."
• 16. Then the LORD stirred up the Philistines and the Arabs, who lived near the Ethiopians, to attack Jehoram.
• 17. They marched against Judah, broke down its defenses, and carried away everything of value in the royal palace, including his sons and his wives. Only his youngest son, Ahaziah, was spared.
• 18. It was after this that the LORD struck Jehoram with the severe intestinal disease.
• 19. In the course of time, at the end of two years, the disease caused his bowels to come out, and he died in agony. His people did not build a great fire to honor him at his funeral as they had done for his ancestors.
• 20. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. No one was sorry when he died. He was buried in the City of David, but not in the royal cemetery.

Revelation 9

• 1. Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
• 2. When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air were darkened by the smoke.
• 3. Then locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting like scorpions.
• 4. They were told not to hurt the grass or plants or trees but to attack all the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
• 5. They were told not to kill them but to torture them for five months with agony like the pain of scorpion stings.
• 6. In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee away!
• 7. The locusts looked like horses armed for battle. They had gold crowns on their heads, and they had human faces.
• 8. Their hair was long like the hair of a woman, and their teeth were like the teeth of a lion.
• 9. They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle.
• 10. They had tails that stung like scorpions, with power to torture people. This power was given to them for five months.
• 11. Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon--the Destroyer.
• 12. The first terror is past, but look, two more terrors are coming!
• 13. Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God.
• 14. And the voice spoke to the sixth angel who held the trumpet: "Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River."
• 15. And the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth.
• 16. They led an army of 200 million mounted troops--I heard an announcement of how many there were.
• 17. And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and sky blue and yellow. The horses' heads were like the heads of lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths.
• 18. One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues--by the fire and the smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses.
• 19. Their power was in their mouths, but also in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.
• 20. But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to turn from their evil deeds. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood--idols that neither see nor hear nor walk!
• 21. And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their immorality or their thefts.

Zechariah 5

• 1. I looked up again and saw a scroll flying through the air.
• 2. "What do you see?" the angel asked. "I see a flying scroll," I replied. "It appears to be about thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide. "
• 3. Then he said to me, "This scroll contains the curse that is going out over the entire land. One side says that those who steal will be banished from the land; the other side says that those who swear falsely will be banished from the land.
• 4. And this is what the LORD Almighty says: I am sending this curse into the house of every thief and into the house of everyone who swears falsely by my name. And my curse will remain in that house until it is completely destroyed--even its timbers and stones."
• 5. Then the angel who was talking with me came forward and said, "Look up! Something is appearing in the sky."
• 6. "What is it?" I asked. He replied, "It is a basket for measuring grain, and it is filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land."
• 7. When the heavy lead cover was lifted off the basket, there was a woman sitting inside it.
• 8. The angel said, "The woman's name is Wickedness," and he pushed her back into the basket and closed the heavy lid again.
• 9. Then I looked up and saw two women flying toward us, with wings gliding on the wind. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they picked up the basket and flew with it into the sky.
• 10. "Where are they taking the basket?" I asked the angel.
• 11. He replied, "To the land of Babylonia, where they will build a temple for the basket. And when the temple is ready, they will set the basket there on its pedestal."

New Living Translation: 352 of 365 days.