Daily Readings

¹ And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.² And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not.³ And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,⁴ And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.⁵ And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:⁶ Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.⁷ Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.⁸ Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.⁹ And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.¹⁰ And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.¹¹ And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.¹² And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.¹³ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;¹⁴ Beside that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.¹⁵ And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target.¹⁶ And three hundred shields made he of beaten gold: three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.¹⁷ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.¹⁸ And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays:¹⁹ And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom.²⁰ And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon.²¹ For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.²² And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart.²⁴ And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.²⁵ And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.²⁶ And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.²⁷ And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance.²⁸ And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands.²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?³⁰ And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

¹ Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.² Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.³ It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.⁴ Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.⁵ And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.⁶ And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,⁷ In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.⁸ And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.⁹ Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.¹⁰ And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.¹¹ Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.¹² Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.¹³ And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.¹⁴ But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.¹⁵ But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:¹⁶ They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.¹⁷ And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.¹⁸ They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.¹⁹ And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.²⁰ Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.²¹ Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.²² Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.²³ And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.²⁴ And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.²⁵ And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.²⁶ And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days.²⁷ And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD.²⁸ And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.²⁹ They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering: and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.³⁰ And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.³¹ The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.

¹ Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.² (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)³ Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.⁴ When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.⁶ When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.⁷ Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.⁸ His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?⁹ Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.¹⁰ But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.¹¹ These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.¹² Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.¹³ Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.¹⁴ Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.¹⁵ And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.¹⁶ Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.¹⁷ Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.¹⁸ Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:¹⁹ And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.²⁰ Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.²¹ Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.²² But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.²³ Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.²⁴ Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.²⁵ Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:²⁶ And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?²⁷ She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.²⁸ And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.²⁹ As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.³⁰ Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.³¹ The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.³² Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.³³ When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.³⁴ And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.³⁵ Jesus wept.³⁶ Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!³⁷ And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?³⁸ Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.³⁹ Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.⁴⁰ Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?⁴¹ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.⁴² And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.⁴³ And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.⁴⁴ And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.⁴⁵ Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.⁴⁶ But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.⁴⁷ Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.⁴⁸ If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.⁴⁹ And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,⁵⁰ Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.⁵¹ And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;⁵² And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.⁵³ Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.⁵⁴ Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.⁵⁵ And the Jews' passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.⁵⁶ Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?⁵⁷ Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.