Message Bible Daily Reading - Old/New Testament (MSG)

Old/New Testament Reading for Saturday June 2, 2012 (MSG)

Posted: 01 Jun 2012 10:00 PM PDT

2 Chronicles 17

Jehoshaphat of Judah

^{1 -6} Asa's son Jehoshaphat was the next king; he started out by working on his defense system against Israel. He put troops in all the fortress cities of Judah and deployed garrisons throughout Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured. God was on Jehoshaphat's side because he stuck to the ways of his father Asa's early years. He didn't fool around with the popular Baal religion—he was a seeker and follower of the God of his father and was obedient to him; he wasn't like Israel. And God secured the kingdom under his rule, gave him a firm grip on it. And everyone in Judah showed their appreciation by bringing gifts. Jehoshaphat ended up very rich and much honored. He was single-minded in following God; and he got rid of the local sex-and-religion shrines.

^{7 -9} In the third year of his reign he sent his officials—excellent men, every one of them—Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah on a teaching mission to the cities of Judah. They were accompanied by Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah; the priests Elishama and Jehoram were also in the company. They made a circuit of the towns of Judah, teaching the people and using the Book of The Revelation of God as their text.

^{10 -12} There was a strong sense of the fear of God in all the kingdoms around Judah—they didn't dare go to war against Jehoshaphat. Some Philistines even brought gifts and a load of silver to Jehoshaphat, and the desert bedouin brought flocks—7,700 rams and 7,700 goats. So Jehoshaphat became stronger by the day, and constructed more and more forts and store-cities—an age of prosperity for Judah!

^{13 -19} He also had excellent fighting men stationed in Jerusalem. The captains of the military units of Judah, classified according to families, were: Captain Adnah with 300,000 soldiers; his associate Captain Jehohanan with 280,000; his associate Amasiah son of Zicri, a volunteer for God, with 200,000. Officer Eliada represented Benjamin with 200,000 fully equipped with bow and shield; and his associate was Jehozabad with 180,000 armed and ready for battle. These were under the direct command of the king; in addition there were the troops assigned to the fortress cities spread all over Judah.

2 Chronicles 18

^{1 -3} But even though Jehoshaphat was very rich and much honored, he made a marriage alliance with Ahab of Israel. Some time later he paid a visit to Ahab at Samaria. Ahab celebrated his visit with a feast—a huge barbecue with all the lamb and beef you could eat. But Ahab had a hidden agenda; he wanted Jehoshaphat's support in attacking Ramoth Gilead. Then Ahab brought it into the open: "Will you join me in attacking Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat said, "You bet. I'm with you all the way; you can count on me and my troops."

⁴ Then Jehoshaphat said, "But before you do anything, ask God for guidance."

⁵ The king of Israel got the prophets together—all four hundred of them —and put the question to them: "Should I attack Ramoth Gilead or should I hold back?"

"Go for it," they said. "God will hand it over to the king."

⁶ But Jehoshaphat dragged his feet, "Is there another prophet of God around here we can consult? Let's get a second opinion."

⁷ The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, "As a matter of fact, there is another. But I hate him. He never preaches anything good to me, only doom, doom, doom—Micaiah son of Imlah."

"The king shouldn't talk about a prophet like that!" said Jehoshaphat.

⁸ So the king of Israel ordered one of his men, "Quickly, get Micaiah son of Imlah."

^{9 -11} Meanwhile, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat were seated on their thrones, dressed in their royal robes, resplendent in front of the Samaria city gates. All the prophets were staging a prophecy-performance for their benefit. Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had even made a set of iron horns, and brandishing them, called out, "God's word! With these horns you'll gore Aram until there's nothing left of them!" All the prophets chimed in, "Yes! Go for Ramoth Gilead! An easy victory! God's gift to the king!"

¹² The messenger who went to get Micaiah told him, "The prophets have all said Yes to the king. Make it unanimous—vote Yes!"

¹³ But Micaiah said, "As sure as God lives, what God says, I'll say."

¹⁴ With Micaiah before him, the king asked him, "So, Micaiah—do we attack Ramoth Gilead? Or do we hold back?"

"Go ahead," he said, "an easy victory! God's gift to the king."

¹⁵ "Not so fast," said the king. "How many times have I made you promise under oath to tell me the truth and nothing but the truth?"

¹⁶ "All right," said Micaiah, "since you insist . . .
I saw all of Israel scattered over the hills,
sheep with no shepherd.
Then God spoke, 'These poor people
have no one to tell them what to do.
Let them go home and do
the best they can for themselves.'"

¹⁷ The king of Israel turned to Jehoshaphat, "See! What did I tell you? He never has a good word for me from God, only doom."

^{18 -21} Micaiah kept on, "I'm not done yet; listen to God's word:
I saw God enthroned,
and all the Angel Armies of heaven
standing at attention,
ranged on his right and his left.
And God said, "How can we seduce Ahab
into attacking Ramoth Gilead?"
Some said this,
and some said that.
Then a bold angel stepped out,
stood before God, and said,
"I'll seduce him."
"And how will you do it?" said God.
"Easy," said the angel,
"I'll get all the prophets to lie."
"That should do it," said God;
"On your way—seduce him!"

²² "And that's what has happened. God filled the mouths of your puppet prophets with seductive lies. God has pronounced your doom."

²³ Just then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah came up and slapped Micaiah in the face, saying, "Since when did the Spirit of God leave me and take up with you?"

²⁴ Micaiah said, "You'll know soon enough; you'll know it when you're frantically and futilely looking for a place to hide."

^{25 -26} The king of Israel had heard enough: "Get Micaiah out of here! Turn him over to Amon the city magistrate and to Joash the king's son with this message: 'King's orders! Lock him up in jail; keep him on bread and water until I'm back in one piece.'"

²⁷ Micaiah said,
If you ever get back in one piece,
I'm no prophet of God.

He added,
When it happens, O people,
remember where you heard it!

^{28 -29} So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went ahead and attacked Ramoth Gilead. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Wear my kingly robe; I'm going into battle disguised." So the king of Israel entered the battle in disguise.

³⁰ Meanwhile, the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders (there were thirty-two of them), "Don't bother with anyone whether small or great; go after the king of Israel and him only."

^{31 -32} When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, "There he is! The king of Israel!" and took after him. Jehoshaphat yelled out, and the chariot commanders realized they had the wrong man—it wasn't the king of Israel after all. God intervened and they let him go.

³³ Just then someone, without aiming, shot an arrow into the crowd and hit the king of Israel in the chink of his armor. The king told his charioteer, "Turn back! Get me out of here—I'm wounded."

³⁴ All day the fighting continued, hot and heavy. Propped up in his chariot, the king watched from the sidelines. He died that evening.

John 13

Washing His Disciples' Feet

^{1 -2} Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.

^{3 -6}Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, "Master, you wash my feet?"

⁷Jesus answered, "You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later."

⁸Peter persisted, "You're not going to wash my feet—ever!"

Jesus said, "If I don't wash you, you can't be part of what I'm doing."

⁹"Master!" said Peter. "Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!"

^{10 -12}Jesus said, "If you've had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you're clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you're clean. But not every one of you." (He knew who was betraying him. That's why he said, "Not every one of you.") After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.

^{12 -17}Then he said, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as 'Teacher' and 'Master,' and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other's feet. I've laid down a pattern for you. What I've done, you do. I'm only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn't give orders to the employer. If you understand what I'm telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.

The One Who Ate Bread at My Table

^{18 -20}"I'm not including all of you in this. I know precisely whom I've selected, so as not to interfere with the fulfillment of this Scripture:

The one who ate bread at my table

Turned on his heel against me. "I'm telling you all this ahead of time so that when it happens you will believe that I am who I say I am. Make sure you get this right: Receiving someone I send is the same as receiving me, just as receiving me is the same as receiving the One who sent me."