2 Chronicles 25

• 1. Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Jehoaddin, from Jerusalem.
• 2. Amaziah did what was pleasing in the LORD's sight, but not wholeheartedly.
• 3. When Amaziah was well established as king, he executed the men who had assassinated his father.
• 4. However, he did not kill the children of the assassins, for he obeyed the command of the LORD written in the Book of the Law of Moses: "Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor the children for the sins of their parents. Those worthy of death must be executed for their own crimes."
• 5. Another thing Amaziah did was to organize the army, assigning leaders to each clan from Judah and Benjamin. Then he took a census and found that he had an army of 300,000 men twenty years old and older, all trained in the use of spear and shield.
• 6. He also paid about 7,500 pounds of silver to hire 100,000 experienced fighting men from Israel.
• 7. But a man of God came to the king and said, "O king, do not hire troops from Israel, for the LORD is not with Israel. He will not help those people of Ephraim!
• 8. If you let them go with your troops into battle, you will be defeated no matter how well you fight. God will overthrow you, for he has the power to help or to frustrate."
• 9. Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what should I do about the silver I paid to hire the army of Israel?" The man of God replied, "The LORD is able to give you much more than this!"
• 10. So Amaziah discharged the hired troops and sent them back to Ephraim. This made them angry with Judah, and they returned home in a great rage.
• 11. Then Amaziah summoned his courage and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where they killed ten thousand Edomite troops from Seir.
• 12. They captured another ten thousand and took them to the top of a cliff and threw them off, dashing them to pieces on the rocks below.
• 13. Meanwhile, the hired troops that Amaziah had sent home raided several of the towns of Judah between Samaria and Beth-horon, killing three thousand people and carrying off great quantities of plunder.
• 14. When King Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought with him idols taken from the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down in front of them, and presented sacrifices to them!
• 15. This made the LORD very angry, and he sent a prophet to ask, "Why have you worshiped gods who could not even save their own people from you?"
• 16. But the king interrupted him and said, "Since when have I asked your advice? Be quiet now before I have you killed!" So the prophet left with this warning: "I know that God has determined to destroy you because you have done this and have not accepted my counsel."
• 17. After consulting with his advisers, King Amaziah of Judah sent this challenge to Israel's king Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu: "Come and meet me in battle!"
• 18. But King Jehoash of Israel replied to King Amaziah of Judah with this story: "Out in the Lebanon mountains, a thistle sent a message to a mighty cedar tree: `Give your daughter in marriage to my son.' But just then a wild animal came by and stepped on the thistle, crushing it!
• 19. You may be very proud of your conquest of Edom, but my advice is to stay home. Why stir up trouble that will bring disaster on you and the people of Judah?"
• 20. But Amaziah would not listen, for God was arranging to destroy him for worshiping the gods of Edom.
• 21. So King Jehoash of Israel mobilized his army against King Amaziah of Judah. The two armies drew up their battle lines at Beth-shemesh in Judah.
• 22. Judah was routed by the army of Israel, and its army scattered and fled for home.
• 23. King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah at Beth-shemesh and brought him back to Jerusalem. Then Jehoash ordered his army to demolish six hundred feet of Jerusalem's wall, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.
• 24. He carried off all the gold and silver and all the utensils from the Temple of God that had been in the care of Obed-edom. He also seized the treasures of the royal palace, along with hostages, and then returned to Samaria.
• 25. King Amaziah of Judah lived on for fifteen years after the death of King Jehoash of Israel.
• 26. The rest of the events of Amaziah's reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
• 27. After Amaziah turned away from the LORD, there was a conspiracy against his life in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But his enemies sent assassins after him, and they killed him there.
• 28. They brought him back to Jerusalem on a horse, and he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David.

Revelation 12

• 1. Then I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
• 2. She was pregnant, and she cried out in the pain of labor as she awaited her delivery.
• 3. Suddenly, I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads.
• 4. His tail dragged down one-third of the stars, which he threw to the earth. He stood before the woman as she was about to give birth to her child, ready to devour the baby as soon as it was born.
• 5. She gave birth to a boy who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And the child was snatched away from the dragon and was caught up to God and to his throne.
• 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to give her care for 1,260 days.
• 7. Then there was war in heaven. Michael and the angels under his command fought the dragon and his angels.
• 8. And the dragon lost the battle and was forced out of heaven.
• 9. This great dragon--the ancient serpent called the Devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world--was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.
• 10. Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, "It has happened at last--the salvation and power and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ! For the Accuser has been thrown down to earth--the one who accused our brothers and sisters before our God day and night.
• 11. And they have defeated him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of their testimony. And they were not afraid to die.
• 12. Rejoice, O heavens! And you who live in the heavens, rejoice! But terror will come on the earth and the sea. For the Devil has come down to you in great anger, and he knows that he has little time."
• 13. And when the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the child.
• 14. But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle. This allowed her to fly to a place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times, and half a time.
• 15. Then the dragon tried to drown the woman with a flood of water that flowed from its mouth.
• 16. But the earth helped her by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that gushed out from the mouth of the dragon.
• 17. Then the dragon became angry at the woman, and he declared war against the rest of her children--all who keep God's commandments and confess that they belong to Jesus.

Zechariah 8

• 1. Then another message came to me from the LORD Almighty:
• 2. "This is what the LORD Almighty says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem!
• 3. And now the LORD says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.
• 4. This is what the LORD Almighty says: Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem's streets with a cane and sit together in the city squares.
• 5. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play.
• 6. "This is what the LORD Almighty says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small and discouraged remnant of God's people. But do you think this is impossible for me, the LORD Almighty?
• 7. This is what the LORD Almighty says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west.
• 8. I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
• 9. "This is what the LORD Almighty says: Take heart and finish the task! You have heard what the prophets have been saying about building the Temple of the LORD Almighty ever since the foundation was laid.
• 10. Before the work on the Temple began, there were no jobs and no wages for either people or animals. No traveler was safe from the enemy, for there were enemies on all sides. I had turned everyone against each other.
• 11. But now I will not treat the remnant of my people as I treated them before, says the LORD Almighty.
• 12. For I am planting seeds of peace and prosperity among you. The grapevines will be heavy with fruit. The earth will produce its crops, and the sky will release the dew. Once more I will make the remnant in Judah and Israel the heirs of these blessings.
• 13. Among the nations, Judah and Israel had become symbols of what it means to be cursed. But no longer! Now I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of blessing! So don't be afraid or discouraged, but instead get on with rebuilding the Temple!
• 14. "For this is what the LORD Almighty says: I did not change my mind when your ancestors angered me and I promised to punish them, says the LORD Almighty.
• 15. Neither will I change my decision to bless Jerusalem and the people of Judah. So don't be afraid.
• 16. But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace.
• 17. Do not make evil plots to harm each other. And stop this habit of swearing to things that are false. I hate all these things, says the LORD."
• 18. Here is another message that came to me from the LORD Almighty.
• 19. "This is what the LORD Almighty says: The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept in early summer, midsummer, autumn, and winter are now ended. They will become festivals of joy and celebration for the people of Judah. So love truth and peace.
• 20. "This is what the LORD Almighty says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem.
• 21. The people of one city will say to the people in another, `Let us go to Jerusalem to ask the LORD to bless us and to seek the LORD Almighty. We are planning to go ourselves.'
• 22. People from many nations, even powerful nations, will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD Almighty and to ask the LORD to bless them.
• 23. "This is what the LORD Almighty says: In those days ten people from nations and languages around the world will clutch at the hem of one Jew's robe. And they will say, `Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"

New Living Translation: 355 of 365 days.