Saturday in Season after Pentecost

13Verse 13. So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. And the third captain went up, fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours please be precious in your sight. 14Verse 14. Behold, fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty, with all their men. But now may my life be precious in your sight.” 15Verse 15. Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king. 16Verse 16. And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.” 17Verse 17. So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. And since he had no son, Jehoram succeeded him in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah. 18Verse 18. As for the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

15Verse 15. But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation. 16Verse 16. They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations. 17Verse 17. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear. 18Verse 18. You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth. 19Verse 19. When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters. 20Verse 20. He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation— children of unfaithfulness. 21Verse 21. They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding. 22Verse 22. For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains. 23Verse 23. I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them. 24Verse 24. They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust. 25Verse 25. Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man. 26Verse 26. I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind, 27Verse 27. if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’” 39Verse 39. See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand. 40Verse 40. For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, 41Verse 41. when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me. 42Verse 42. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, while My sword devours flesh— the blood of the slain and captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.” 43Verse 43. Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him. Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children. He will take vengeance on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him; He will cleanse His land and His people.