2 Kings 12:4–21
12:4 Jehoash said to the priests, “I place at your disposal all the consecrated silver that has been brought to the Lord’s temple, including the silver collected from the census tax, the silver received from those who have made vows, and all the silver that people have voluntarily contributed to the Lord’s temple. 5The priests should receive the silver they need from the treasurers and repair any damage to the temple they discover.”
6By the twenty-third year of King Jehoash’s reign the priests had still not repaired the damage to the temple. 7So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest along with the other priests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damage to the temple? Now, take no more silver from your treasurers unless you intend to use it to repair the damage.” 8The priests agreed not to collect silver from the people and relieved themselves of personal responsibility for the temple repairs.
9Jehoiada the priest took a chest and drilled a hole in its lid. He placed it on the right side of the altar near the entrance of the Lord’s temple. The priests who guarded the entrance would put into it all the silver brought to the Lord’s temple. 10When they saw the chest was full of silver, the royal secretary and the high priest counted the silver that had been brought to the Lord’s temple and bagged it up. 11They would then hand over the silver that had been weighed to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple. They hired carpenters and builders to work on the Lord’s temple, 12as well as masons and stonecutters. They bought wood and chiseled stone to repair the damage to the Lord’s temple and also paid for all the other expenses. 13The silver brought to the Lord’s temple was not used for silver bowls, trimming shears, basins, trumpets, or any kind of gold or silver implements. 14It was handed over to the foremen who used it to repair the Lord’s temple. 15They did not audit the treasurers who disbursed the funds to the foremen, for they were honest. 16(The silver collected in conjunction with reparation offerings and sin offerings was not brought to the Lord’s temple; it belonged to the priests.)
17At that time King Hazael of Syria attacked Gath and captured it. Hazael then decided to attack Jerusalem. 18King Jehoash of Judah collected all the sacred items that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, as well as his own sacred items and all the gold that could be found in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He sent it all to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew from Jerusalem.
19The rest of the events of Joash’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 20His servants conspired against him and murdered Joash at Beth Millo, on the road that goes down to Silla. 21His servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer murdered him. He was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Amaziah replaced him as king.
(NET Bible)Ps. 41
41:1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
How blessed is the one who treats the poor properly.
When trouble comes, may the Lord deliver him.
2May the Lord protect him and save his life.
May he be blessed in the land.
Do not turn him over to his enemies.
3The Lord supports him on his sickbed;
you have healed him from his illness.
4As for me, I said:
“O Lord, have mercy on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you.
5My enemies ask this cruel question about me,
‘When will he finally die and be forgotten?’
6When someone comes to visit, he pretends to be friendly;
he thinks of ways to defame me,
and when he leaves he slanders me.
7All who hate me whisper insults about me to one another;
they plan ways to harm me.
8They say,
‘An awful disease overwhelms him,
and now that he is bedridden he will never recover.’
9Even my close friend whom I trusted,
he who shared meals with me, has turned against me.
10As for you, O Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up,
so I can pay them back!”
11By this I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy does not triumph over me.
12As for me, you uphold me because of my integrity;
you allow me permanent access to your presence.
13The Lord God of Israel deserves praise
in the future and forevermore.
We agree! We agree!
(NET Bible)Matt. 21:1–17
21:1 Now when they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Right away you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
5“Tell the people of Zion,
‘Look, your king is coming to you,
unassuming and seated on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
6So the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and those following kept shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10As he entered Jerusalem the whole city was thrown into an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” 11And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12Then Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are turning it into a den of robbers!”
14The blind and lame came to him in the temple courts, and he healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonderful things he did and heard the children crying out in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant 16and said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of children and nursing infants you have prepared praise for yourself’?” 17And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.
(NET Bible)
Here (II Samuel 23:2, ‘The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue’) it becomes too marvelous and soars too high for me. God grant that I may at least partially attain to it, for he here begins to speak of the Holy Triune essence of the divine Godhead. First he mentions the Holy Ghost; to Him he ascribes all that the prophets foretell. It is these and similar statements to which St. Peter refers in the II Epistle 1:21, ‘For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of men, etc … ’Therefore we sing in the Creed, concerning the Holy Ghost, ‘Who spake by the Prophets.’ So we refer all of Scripture to the Holy Ghost.” In the same way he refers to Dan. 7:13, 14. “So it is the Spirit who speaks through Daniel, for such secret thing no one could know if the Holy Ghost had not revealed it through the prophets as we have frequently said before, that Holy Scripture has been spoken by the Holy Ghost.” (36–37)
–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures
This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.