June 9
1Kings 20:1-22 & Acts 17
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1Kings 20:1-22

1Kings 20:1-22

20:1Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Thirty-two kings, along with horses and chariots, were with him. He marched up, besieged Samaria, and fought against it. 2He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel and said to him, "This is what Ben-hadad says: 3'Your silver and your gold are mine! And your best wives and children are mine as well!'"
4Then the king of Israel answered, "Just as you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with all that I have."
5The messengers then returned and said, "This is what Ben-hadad says: 'I have sent messengers to you, saying: You are to give me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children. 6But at this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they will search your palace and your servants' houses. They will lay their hands on and take away whatever is precious to you.'"
7Then the king of Israel called for all the elders of the land and said, "Think it over and you will see that this one is only looking for trouble, for he demanded my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, and I didn't turn him down."
8All the elders and all the people said to him, "Don't listen or agree."
9So he said to Ben-hadad's messengers, "Say to my lord the king, 'Everything you demanded of your servant the first time, I will do, but this thing I cannot do.'" So the messengers left and took word back to him.
10Then Ben-hadad sent messengers to him and said, "May the gods punish me and do so severely if Samaria's dust amounts to a handful for each of the people who follow me."
11The king of Israel answered, "Say this: 'Don't let the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.'"
12When Ben-hadad heard this response, while he and the kings were drinking in the tents, he said to his servants, "Take your positions." So they took their positions against the city.
13A prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and said, "This is what Yahweh says: 'Do you see this entire great army? Watch, I am handing it over to you today so that you may know that I am the Lord.'"
14Ahab asked, "By whom?"
And the prophet said, "This is what the Lord says: 'By the young men of the provincial leaders.'"
Then he asked, "Who is to start the battle?"
He said, "You."
15So Ahab counted the young men of the provincial leaders, and there were 232. After them he counted all the Israelite troops: 7,000. 16They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings who were helping him were getting drunk in the tents. 17The young men of the provincial leaders marched out first. Then Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, saying, "Men are marching out of Samaria."
18So he said, "If they have marched out in peace, take them alive, and if they have marched out for battle, take them alive."
19The young men of the provincial leaders and the army behind them marched out from the city, 20and each one struck down his opponent. So the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them, but Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with the cavalry. 21Then the king of Israel marched out and attacked the cavalry and the chariots. He inflicted a great slaughter on Aram.
22The prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, "Go and strengthen yourself, then consider what you should do, for in the spring the king of Aram will march against you."

Acts 17

Chapter 17

17:1Then they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2As usual, Paul went to the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead: "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah." 4Then some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a great number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.
5But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some scoundrels from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason's house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. 6When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, 7and Jason has received them as guests! They are all acting contrary to Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king-Jesus!" 8The Jews stirred up the crowd and the city officials who heard these things. 9So taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.
10As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea. On arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men. 13But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that God's message had been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and disturbing the crowds. 14Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to go to the sea, but Silas and Timothy stayed on there. 15Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.
16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18Then also, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, "What is this pseudo-intellectual trying to say?"
Others replied, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities"-because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the Resurrection.
19They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, and said, "May we learn about this new teaching you're speaking of? 20For what you say sounds strange to us, and we want to know what these ideas mean." 21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.
22Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed:

TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it-He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. 25Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. 27He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 28For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' 29Being God's offspring then, we shouldn't think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.
30"Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because He has set a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead."
32When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him. But others said, "We'd like to hear from you again about this." 33Then Paul left their presence. 34However, some men joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

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