8th September

¹ In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah.² He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.³ And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did.⁴ Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.⁵ And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father.⁶ But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.⁷ He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.⁸ Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.⁹ And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.¹⁰ Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?¹¹ But Amaziah would not hear. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Bethshemesh, which belongeth to Judah.¹² And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to their tents.¹³ And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Bethshemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits.¹⁴ And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.¹⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?¹⁶ And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.¹⁷ And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.¹⁸ And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?¹⁹ Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.²⁰ And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.²¹ And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.²² He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.²³ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.²⁴ And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.²⁵ He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.²⁶ For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.²⁷ And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?²⁹ And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

¹ Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:² And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.³ Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.⁴ Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.⁵ For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.⁶ And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.⁷ Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.⁸ And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.⁹ Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.¹⁰ And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.¹¹ Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.¹² And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.¹³ And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.¹⁴ Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.¹⁵ Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.¹⁶ Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:¹⁷ That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.

¹ It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.² I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.³ And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)⁴ How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.⁵ Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.⁶ For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.⁷ And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.⁸ For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.⁹ And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.¹¹ I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.¹² Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.¹³ For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.¹⁴ Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not your's but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.¹⁵ And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.¹⁶ But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.¹⁷ Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?¹⁸ I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?¹⁹ Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.²⁰ For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:²¹ And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.

¹ This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.² I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:³ Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.⁴ For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.⁵ Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?⁶ But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.⁷ Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.⁸ For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.⁹ For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.¹⁰ Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.¹¹ Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.¹² Greet one another with an holy kiss.¹³ All the saints salute you.¹⁴ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.