2 Chronicles 35

• 1. Then Josiah announced that the Passover of the LORD would be celebrated in Jerusalem on the appointed day in early spring. The Passover lambs were slaughtered at twilight of that day.
• 2. Josiah also assigned the priests to their duties and encouraged them in their work at the Temple of the LORD.
• 3. He issued this order to the Levites, who had been set apart to serve the LORD and were teachers in Israel: "Since the Ark is now in Solomon's Temple and you do not need to carry it back and forth on your shoulders, spend your time serving the LORD your God and his people Israel.
• 4. Report for duty according to the family divisions of your ancestors, following the written instructions of King David of Israel and the instructions of his son Solomon.
• 5. Then stand in your appointed holy places and help the families assigned to you as they bring their offerings to the Temple.
• 6. Slaughter the Passover lambs, purify yourselves, and prepare to help those who come. Follow all the instructions that the LORD gave through Moses."
• 7. Then Josiah contributed from his personal property thirty thousand lambs and young goats for the people's Passover offerings, and three thousand bulls.
• 8. The king's officials also made willing contributions to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the administrators of God's Temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred lambs and young goats and three hundred bulls as Passover offerings.
• 9. The Levite leaders--Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad--gave five thousand lambs and young goats and five hundred bulls to the Levites for their Passover offerings.
• 10. When everything was ready for the Passover celebration, the priests and the Levites took their places, organized by their divisions, according to the king's orders.
• 11. The Levites then slaughtered the Passover lambs and presented the blood to the priests, who sprinkled the blood on the altar while the Levites prepared the animals.
• 12. They divided the burnt offerings among the people by their family groups, so they could offer them to the LORD according to the instructions recorded in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the bulls.
• 13. Then they roasted the Passover lambs as prescribed; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and brought them out quickly so the people could eat them.
• 14. Afterward the Levites prepared a meal for themselves and for the priests, because the priests had been busy from morning till night offering the burnt offerings and the fat portions. The Levites took responsibility for all these preparations.
• 15. The musicians, descendants of Asaph, were in their assigned places, following the orders given by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king's seer. The gatekeepers guarded the gates and did not need to leave their posts of duty, for their meals were brought to them by their fellow Levites.
• 16. The entire ceremony for the LORD's Passover was completed that day. All the burnt offerings were sacrificed on the altar of the LORD, as King Josiah had ordered.
• 17. All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
• 18. Never since the time of the prophet Samuel had there been such a Passover. None of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover as Josiah did, involving all the priests and Levites, all the people of Jerusalem, and people from all over Judah and Israel.
• 19. This Passover celebration took place in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign.
• 20. After Josiah had finished restoring the Temple, King Neco of Egypt led his army up from Egypt to do battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and Josiah and his army marched out to fight him.
• 21. But King Neco sent ambassadors to Josiah with this message: "What do you want with me, king of Judah? I have no quarrel with you today! I only want to fight the nation with which I am at war. And God has told me to hurry! Do not interfere with God, who is with me, or he will destroy you."
• 22. But Josiah refused to listen to Neco, to whom God had indeed spoken, and he would not turn back. Instead, he led his army into battle on the plain of Megiddo. He laid aside his royal robes so the enemy would not recognize him.
• 23. But the enemy archers hit King Josiah with their arrows and wounded him. He cried out to his men, "Take me from the battle, for I am badly wounded!"
• 24. So they lifted Josiah out of his chariot and placed him in another chariot. Then they brought him back to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried there in the royal cemetery. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.
• 25. The prophet Jeremiah composed funeral songs for Josiah, and to this day choirs still sing these sad songs about his death. These songs of sorrow have become a tradition and are recorded in The Book of Laments.
• 26. The rest of the events of Josiah's reign and his acts of devotion done according to the written law of the LORD,
• 27. from beginning to end, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Revelation 21

• 1. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.
• 2. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband.
• 3. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.
• 4. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."
• 5. And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making all things new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true."
• 6. And he also said, "It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega--the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the water of life without charge!
• 7. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
• 8. But cowards who turn away from me, and unbelievers, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those who practice witchcraft, and idol worshipers, and all liars--their doom is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death."
• 9. Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
• 10. So he took me in spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
• 11. It was filled with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious gem, crystal clear like jasper.
• 12. Its walls were broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates.
• 13. There were three gates on each side--east, north, south, and west.
• 14. The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
• 15. The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.
• 16. When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, it was in the form of a cube, for its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles.
• 17. Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (the angel used a standard human measure).
• 18. The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.
• 19. The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve gems: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
• 20. the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
• 21. The twelve gates were made of pearls--each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
• 22. No temple could be seen in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
• 23. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.
• 24. The nations of the earth will walk in its light, and the rulers of the world will come and bring their glory to it.
• 25. Its gates never close at the end of day because there is no night.
• 26. And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.
• 27. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter--no one who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty--but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Malachi 3

• 1. "Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming," says the LORD Almighty.
• 2. "But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal or like a strong soap that whitens clothes.
• 3. He will sit and judge like a refiner of silver, watching closely as the dross is burned away. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold or silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the LORD.
• 4. Then once more the LORD will accept the offerings brought to him by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as he did in former times.
• 5. At that time I will put you on trial. I will be a ready witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.
• 6. "I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already completely destroyed.
• 7. Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my laws and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, `How can we return when we have never gone away?'
• 8. "Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! "But you ask, `What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?'"You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.
• 9. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.
• 10. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the LORD Almighty, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!
• 11. Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not shrivel before they are ripe," says the LORD Almighty.
• 12. "Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight," says the LORD Almighty.
• 13. "You have said terrible things about me," says the LORD. "But you say, `What do you mean? How have we spoken against you?'
• 14. "You have said, `What's the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the LORD Almighty that we are sorry for our sins?
• 15. From now on we will say, "Blessed are the arrogant." For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them go free of harm.'"
• 16. Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and loved to think about him.
• 17. "They will be my people," says the LORD Almighty. "On the day when I act, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient and dutiful child.
• 18. Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not."

New Living Translation: 364 of 365 days.