Focus On Your Call:
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. 2 Pet 1:10
2 Peter 1:
3. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4.Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5.For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6.and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7.and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
8.For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9.But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10.Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble,
11.and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable:
Romans 11:
25. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,
26. and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:“The deliverer will come from Zion;he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
28. As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
29. for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
30Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
31so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.
32For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Put On the New Self – seek the things that are above:
Colossians 3:
1. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
3. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
7. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
8. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
9. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
10. and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
11. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
13. bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
14. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
15. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
17. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Proverbs 4:
20. My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
21. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.
22. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.
23. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
24. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.
25. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.
26. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.
27. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.
Matthew 6:
25. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26. Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27. And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
28. And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29. yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31. Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32. For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Romans 8:
5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
8. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Philippians 4:
4. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
5. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
6. do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
9. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
2 Timothy 2:
14. Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.
15. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
16. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness,
17. and their talk will spread like gangrene.
20. Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.
21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
Matthew 6:
19. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20. but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
23. but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Proverbs 16:
1. The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.
3. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.
Hebrews 12:
1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2. looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Ecclesiastes 9:
9. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.
10. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
1 Peter 2:
1. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
2. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation
3. if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Matthew 24:13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
1 Peter 1:
6. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9. for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Colossians 2:
6. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
7. rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
9. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
10. and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority
James 1:
2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3. for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
6. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
7. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8. he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Straining Toward the Goal:
Philippians 3:
12. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
13. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
16. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
17. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
18. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
20. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21. who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
1 John 2:
15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16. For all that is in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world.
17. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Matthew 25: The Parable of the Ten Virgins:
1. “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
2. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
4. but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
5. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
6. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’
7. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
8. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9. But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’
10. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
11. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’
12. But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
The Parable of the Talents:
14. “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
15. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
16. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.
17. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
18. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
20. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’
21. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
22. And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’
23. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
24. He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,
25. so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’
26. But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?
27. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
28. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
29. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
30. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Luke 9:62. Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Acts 20:
22. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,
23. except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.
24. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
25. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
1 Thessalonians 5:
1. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.
2. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
3. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
5. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
6. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
7. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.
8. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
9. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10. who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.
11. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Luke 10:
38. Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
39. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
40. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
41. But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
42. but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Nehemiah 6:
1. Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),
2. Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm.
3. And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
4. And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner.
5. In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.
6. In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king.
7. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.”
8. Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.”
9. For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.
Luke 21:
34. “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.
35. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Jehu Focussed on his call:
Jehu Anointed King of Israel:
2 Kings: 9
1. The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead.
2. When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room.
3. Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run; don’t delay!”
4. So the young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead.
5. When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said.“For which of us?” asked Jehu.“For you, commander,” he replied.
6. Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel.
7. You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord’s servants shed by Jezebel.
8. The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free.
9. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.
10. As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.’” Then he opened the door and ran.
11. When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, “Is everything all right? Why did this maniac come to you?”“You know the man and the sort of things he says,” Jehu replied.
12. “That’s not true!” they said. “Tell us.”Jehu said, “Here is what he told me: ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”
13. They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”
Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah
14. So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram,
15. but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) Jehu said, “If you desire to make me king, don’t let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.”
16. Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.
17. When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, he called out, “I see some troops coming.”“Get a horseman,” Joram ordered. “Send him to meet them and ask, ‘Do you come in peace?’”
18. The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’” “What do you have to do with peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.” The lookout reported, “The messenger has reached them, but he isn’t coming back.”
19. So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’” Jehu replied, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”
20. The lookout reported, “He has reached them, but he isn’t coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a maniac.”
21. “Hitch up my chariot,” Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite.
22. When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
23. Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
24. Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot.
25 Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, “Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the Lord spoke this prophecy against him:
26 ‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the Lord, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the Lord.’ Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the Lord.”
27. When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, “Kill him too!” They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there.
28. His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his ancestors in his tomb in the City of David.
29. (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)
Jezebel Killed:
30. Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she put on eye makeup, arranged her hair and looked out of a window.
31. As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, you Zimri, you murderer of your master?”
32. He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
33. “Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
34. Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of that cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.”
35. But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands.
36. They went back and told Jehu, who said, “This is the word of the Lord that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.
37. Jezebel’s body will be like dung on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, ‘This is Jezebel.’”
Ahab’s Family Killed:
2 Kings 10:
1. Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab’s children. He said,
2. “You have your master’s sons with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons. Now as soon as this letter reaches you,
3. choose the best and most worthy of your master’s sons and set him on his father’s throne. Then fight for your master’s house.”
4. But they were terrified and said, “If two kings could not resist him, how can we?”
5. So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: “We are your servants and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best.”
6. Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow.”Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them.
7. When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel.
8. When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the princes.”Then Jehu ordered, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”
9. The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these?
10. Know, then, that not a word the Lord has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The Lord has done what he announced through his servant Elijah.”
11. So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.
12. Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the Shepherds,
13 he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?” They said, “We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the families of the king and of the queen mother.”
14. “Take them alive!” he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked—forty-two of them. He left no survivor.
15. After he left there, he came upon Jehonadab son of Rekab, who was on his way to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, “Are you in accord with me, as I am with you?”“I am,” Jehonadab answered.“If so,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he did, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot.
16 Jehu said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.” Then he had him ride along in his chariot.
17. When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab’s family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord spoken to Elijah.
Servants of Baal Killed:
18. Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.
19. Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests. See that no one is missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come will no longer live.” But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal.
20. Jehu said, “Call an assembly in honor of Baal.” So they proclaimed it.
21. Then he sent word throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; not one stayed away. They crowded into the temple of Baal until it was full from one end to the other.
22. And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, “Bring robes for all the servants of Baal.” So he brought out robes for them.
23. Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rekab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Look around and see that no one who serves the Lord is here with you—only servants of Baal.”
24. So they went in to make sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had posted eighty men outside with this warning: “If one of you lets any of the men I am placing in your hands escape, it will be your life for his life.”
25. As soon as Jehu had finished making the burnt offering, he ordered the guards and officers: “Go in and kill them; let no one escape.” So they cut them down with the sword. The guards and officers threw the bodies out and then entered the inner shrine of the temple of Baal.
26. They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it.
27. They demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day.
28. So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel.
29. However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
30. The Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
David Focused on Killing Goliath
1 Samuel 17:
16. For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
17. Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.
18. Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them.
19. They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
20. Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.
21. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.
22. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were.
23. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it.
24. Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
26. David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27. They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28. When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
29. “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?”
30. He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.
31. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
32. David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
33. Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
34. But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,
35. I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
36. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
37. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
38. Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.
39. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.
40. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
41. Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.
42. He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.
43. He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
45. David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
46. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
47. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
48. As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
49. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
50. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
51. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
52. Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
53. When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.
54. David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.
55. As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”
56. The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”
57. As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.
58. “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him. David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
