2 Corinthians 10; 2 Kings 23; 2 Kings 24; Habakkuk 1

2 Corinthians 10

1 Now I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ-I who am humble among you in person, but bold toward you when absent.

2 I beg you that when I am present I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain people who think we are walking in a fleshly way.

3 For although we are walking in the flesh, we do not wage war in a fleshly way,

4 since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments

5 and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

6 And we are ready to punish any disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

7 Look at what is obvious. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should remind himself of this: just as he belongs to Christ, so do we.

8 For if I boast some more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed.

9 I don't want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters.

10 For it is said, "His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking is despicable."

11 Such a person should consider this: what we are in the words of our letters when absent, we will be in actions when present.

12 For we don't dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding.

13 We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the area [of ministry] that God has assigned to us, [which] reaches even to you.

14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we had not reached you, since we have come to you with the gospel of Christ.

15 We are not bragging beyond measure about other people's labors. But we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area [of ministry] will be greatly enlarged,

16 so that we may preach the gospel to the regions beyond you, not boasting about what has already been done in someone else's area [of ministry].

17 So the one who boasts must boast in the Lord.

18 For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends.

2 Kings 23

1 So the king sent [messengers], and they gathered to him all the elders of Jerusalem and Judah.

2 Then the king went to the Lord's temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets-all the people from the youngest to the oldest. As they listened, he read all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the Lord's temple.

3 Next, the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments, His decrees, and His statutes with all his mind and with all his heart, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to the covenant.

4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord's temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole heavenly host. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel

5 Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and the whole heavenly host.

6 He brought out the Asherah pole from the Lord's temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley, beat it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.

7 He also tore down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the Lord's temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries for Asherah.

8 Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate).

9 The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10 He defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.

11 He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. [They had been] at the entrance of the Lord's temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech the court official, and he burned up the chariots of the sun.

12 The king tore down the altars that were on the roof-Ahaz's upper chamber that the kings of Judah had made-and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the Lord's temple. Then he smashed them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

13 The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the detestable idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.

14 He broke the sacred pillars into pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, then filled their places with human bones.

15 He even tore down the altar at Bethel and the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made. Then he burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah.

16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mountain. He sent [someone] to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar. He defiled it according to the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who proclaimed these things.

17 Then he said, "What is this monument I see?" The men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar at Bethel."

18 So he said, "Let him rest. Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

19 Josiah also removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [the Lord]. Josiah did the same things to them that he had done at Bethel

20 He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there, and he burned human bones on the altars. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

21 The king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover of the Lord your God as written in the book of the covenant."

22 No such Passover had ever been kept from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.

23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was observed to the Lord in Jerusalem.

24 In addition, Josiah removed the mediums, the spiritists, household idols, images, and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this in order to carry out the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the Lord's temple.

25 Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his mind and with all his heart and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.

26 In spite of all that, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath and anger, which burned against Judah because of all the provocations Manasseh had provoked Him with.

27 For the Lord had said, "I will also remove Judah from My sight just as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, 'My name will be there.' "

28 The rest of the events of Josiah's [reign], along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.

29 During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to the king of Assyria at the Euphrates river. King Josiah went to confront him, and at Megiddo when Neco saw him he killed him.

30 From Megiddo his servants carried his dead body in a chariot, brought him into Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the common people took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

31 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; [she was] from Libnah.

32 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight just as his ancestors had done.

33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and he imposed on the land a fine of 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.

34 Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.

35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but at Pharaoh's command he taxed the land to give the money. He exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, each man according to his valuation, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king; he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; [she was] from Rumah

37 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight just as his ancestors had done.

2 Kings 24

1 During his reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.

2 The Lord sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord He had spoken through His servants the prophets.

3 This happened to Judah only at the Lord's command to remove them from His sight. It was because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all he had done,

4 and also because of all the innocent blood he had shed. He had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not forgive.

5 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim's [reign], along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.

6 Jehoiakim rested with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

7 Now the king of Egypt did not march out of his land again, for the king of Babylon took everything that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

8 Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; [she was] from Jerusalem.

9 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight as his father had done.

10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

11 Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.

12 Jehoiachin king of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials, surrendered to the king of Babylon. So the king of Babylon took him [captive] in the eighth year of his reign.

13 He also carried off from there all the treasures of the Lord's temple and the treasures of the king's palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the Lord's sanctuary, just as God had predicted.

14 Then he deported all Jerusalem and all the commanders and all the fighting men, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and metalsmiths. Except for the poorest people of the land, nobody remained.

15 Nebuchadnezzar deported Jehoiachin to Babylon. Also, he took the king's mother, the king's wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16 The king of Babylon also brought captive into Babylon all 7,000 fighting men and 1,000 craftsmen and metalsmiths-all strong and fit for war.

17 Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king; he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; [she was] from Libnah.

19 Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord's sight just as Jehoiakim had done.

20 Because of the Lord's anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He finally banished them from His presence. Then, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Habakkuk 1

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 How long, Lord, must I call for help and You do not listen, or cry out to You about violence and You do not save?

3 Why do You force me to look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.

4 This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.

5 Look at the nations and observe- be utterly astounded! For something is taking place in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it.

6 Look! I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter, impetuous nation that marches across the earth's open spaces to seize territories not its own.

7 They are fierce and terrifying; their views of justice and sovereignty stem from themselves.

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards and more fierce than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead; their horsemen come from distant [lands]. They fly like an eagle, swooping to devour.

9 All of them come to do violence; their faces are set in determination. They gather prisoners like sand.

10 They mock kings, and rulers are a joke to them. They laugh at every fortress and build siege ramps to capture it.

11 Then they sweep by like the wind and pass through. They are guilty; their strength is their god.

12 Are You not from eternity, Yahweh my God? My Holy One, You will not die. Lord, You appointed them to execute judgment; [my] Rock, You destined them to punish [us].

13 [Your] eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate those who are treacherous? Why are You silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more righteous than himself?

14 You have made mankind like the fish of the sea, like marine creatures that have no ruler.

15 The Chaldeans pull them all up with a hook, catch them in their dragnet, and gather them in their fishing net; that is why they are glad and rejoice.

16 That is why they sacrifice to their dragnet and burn incense to their fishing net, for by these things their portion is rich and their food plentiful.

17 Will they therefore empty their net and continually slaughter nations without mercy?