24th November

¹ Now these are the priests and the Levites that went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,² Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,³ Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,⁴ Iddo, Ginnetho, Abijah,⁵ Miamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,⁶ Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah,⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chief of the priests and of their brethren in the days of Jeshua.⁸ Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, which was over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren.⁹ Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, were over against them in the watches.¹⁰ And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim also begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada,¹¹ And Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua.¹² And in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;¹³ Of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;¹⁴ Of Melicu, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;¹⁵ Of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;¹⁶ Of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;¹⁷ Of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai:¹⁸ Of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;¹⁹ And of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;²⁰ Of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;²¹ Of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethaneel.²² The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers: also the priests, to the reign of Darius the Persian.²³ The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib.²⁴ And the chief of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward.²⁵ Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the ward at the thresholds of the gates.²⁶ These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.²⁷ And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.²⁸ And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophathi;²⁹ Also from the house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem.³⁰ And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, and the gates, and the wall.³¹ Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate:³² And after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of Judah,³³ And Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam,³⁴ Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,³⁵ And certain of the priests' sons with trumpets; namely, Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph:³⁶ And his brethren, Shemaiah, and Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe before them.³⁷ And at the fountain gate, which was over against them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward.³⁸ And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them, and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall;³⁹ And from above the gate of Ephraim, and above the old gate, and above the fish gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, even unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the prison gate.⁴⁰ So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me:⁴¹ And the priests; Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;⁴² And Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer.⁴³ Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.⁴⁴ And at that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited.⁴⁵ And both the singers and the porters kept the ward of their God, and the ward of the purification, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son.⁴⁶ For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.⁴⁷ And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, every day his portion: and they sanctified holy things unto the Levites; and the Levites sanctified them unto the children of Aaron.

¹ Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.² The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.³ And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.⁴ Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:⁵ And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.⁶ And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.⁷ And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.⁸ So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.⁹ I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.¹⁰ I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.¹¹ I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.¹² Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.¹³ For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,² To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.³ I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;⁴ Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;⁵ When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.⁶ Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.⁷ For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.⁸ Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;⁹ Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,¹⁰ But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:¹¹ Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.¹³ Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.¹⁴ That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.¹⁵ This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.¹⁶ The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:¹⁷ But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me.¹⁸ The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.