Daily Readings

¹ And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem.² Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:³ But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood.⁴ Howbeit the LORD God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel:⁵ And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.⁶ And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.⁷ Moreover I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments, as at this day.⁸ Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the congregation of the LORD, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek for all the commandments of the LORD your God: that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever.⁹ And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.¹⁰ Take heed now; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.¹¹ Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat,¹² And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things:¹³ Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the LORD.¹⁴ He gave of gold by weight for things of gold, for all instruments of all manner of service; silver also for all instruments of silver by weight, for all instruments of every kind of service:¹⁵ Even the weight for the candlesticks of gold, and for their lamps of gold, by weight for every candlestick, and for the lamps thereof: and for the candlesticks of silver by weight, both for the candlestick, and also for the lamps thereof, according to the use of every candlestick.¹⁶ And by weight he gave gold for the tables of shewbread, for every table; and likewise silver for the tables of silver:¹⁷ Also pure gold for the fleshhooks, and the bowls, and the cups: and for the golden basons he gave gold by weight for every bason; and likewise silver by weight for every bason of silver:¹⁸ And for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubims, that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD.¹⁹ All this, said David, the LORD made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.²⁰ And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.²¹ And, behold, the courses of the priests and the Levites, even they shall be with thee for all the service of the house of God: and there shall be with thee for all manner of workmanship every willing skilful man, for any manner of service: also the princes and all the people will be wholly at thy commandment.

¹ The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,² And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.³ And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.⁴ Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.⁵ Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:⁶ And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.⁸ And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.⁹ Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.¹¹ Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.¹² Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.¹³ And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,¹⁴ And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.¹⁵ The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,¹⁶ Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions:¹⁷ And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.¹⁸ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?¹⁹ Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.²⁰ And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.²¹ And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:²² And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.²³ Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.²⁴ And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.²⁵ And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.²⁶ Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.²⁷ My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.²⁸ And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

¹ And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:² And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.³ And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.⁴ Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.⁵ His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.⁶ And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.⁷ Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.⁸ And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.⁹ When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,¹⁰ And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.¹¹ This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.¹² After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.¹³ And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.¹⁴ And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:¹⁵ And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;¹⁶ And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.¹⁷ And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.¹⁸ Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?¹⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.²⁰ Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?²¹ But he spake of the temple of his body.²² When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.²³ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.²⁴ But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,²⁵ And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

¹ There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:² The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.³ Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.⁴ Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?⁵ Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.⁷ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.⁸ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.⁹ Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?¹⁰ Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?¹¹ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.¹² If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?¹³ And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:¹⁵ That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.²¹ But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.²² After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.²³ And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.²⁴ For John was not yet cast into prison.²⁵ Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.²⁶ And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.²⁷ John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.²⁸ Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.²⁹ He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.³¹ He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.³² And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.³³ He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.³⁴ For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.³⁵ The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.³⁶ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.