Monday in Season after Pentecost

17Verse 17. Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels, 18Verse 18. and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan. 19Verse 19. Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. 20Verse 20. Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. 21Verse 21. So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead. 22Verse 22. On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled. 23Verse 23. So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24Verse 24. But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” 25Verse 25. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well. 26Verse 26. Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war! 27Verse 27. Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps. 28Verse 28. But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing. 29Verse 29. I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30Verse 30. Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?” 31Verse 31. “I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. 32Verse 32. If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols. 33Verse 33. So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34Verse 34. Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing. 35Verse 35. Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched but could not find the household idols.

1Verse 1. Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2Verse 2. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. 3Verse 3. In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened and repaired the doors of the house of the LORD. 4Verse 4. Then he brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the square on the east side. 5Verse 5. “Listen to me, O Levites,” he said. “Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove from the Holy Place every impurity. 6Verse 6. For our fathers were unfaithful and did evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him. 7Verse 7. They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn incense or present burnt offerings in the Holy Place of the God of Israel. 8Verse 8. Therefore, the wrath of the LORD has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, horror, and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. 9Verse 9. For behold, this is why our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives are in captivity. 10Verse 10. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that His fierce anger will turn away from us. 11Verse 11. Now, my sons, do not be negligent, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, to minister before Him, and to burn incense.” 12Verse 12. Then the Levites set to work: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohathites; Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel from the Merarites; Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah from the Gershonites; 13Verse 13. Shimri and Jeuel from the Elizaphanites; Zechariah and Mattaniah from the Asaphites; 14Verse 14. Jehiel and Shimei from the Hemanites; and Shemaiah and Uzziel from the Jeduthunites. 15Verse 15. When they had assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to cleanse the house of the LORD, according to the command of the king by the words of the LORD. 16Verse 16. So the priests went inside the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out to the courtyard all the unclean things that they found in the temple of the LORD. Then the Levites took these things and carried them out to the Kidron Valley. 17Verse 17. They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached the portico of the LORD. For eight more days they consecrated the house of the LORD itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month. 18Verse 18. Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported, “We have cleansed the entire house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the showbread with all its utensils. 19Verse 19. Moreover, we have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz in his unfaithfulness cast aside during his reign. They are now in front of the altar of the LORD.”