Formation Journal Reading Plan

15:1 The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded:

15:2 and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

15:3 Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

15:4 But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.

15:5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands.

15:6 They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God troubled them with all adversity.

15:7 But you be strong, and don’t let your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded.”

15:8 When Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Yahweh, that was before the porch of Yahweh.

15:9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.

15:10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

15:11 They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.

15:12 They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;

15:13 and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

15:14 They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

15:15 All Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and Yahweh gave them rest all around.

15:16 Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

15:17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

15:18 He brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

15:19 There was no more war to the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

18:1 For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of Yahweh, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said, I love you, Yahweh, my strength.

18:2 Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

18:3 I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.

18:4 The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

18:5 The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.

18:6 In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.

18:7 Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

18:8 Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.

18:9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

18:10 He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.

18:11 He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

18:12 At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.

18:13 Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.

18:14 He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.

18:15 Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Yahweh, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

18:16 He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.

18:17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

18:18 They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh was my support.

18:19 He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

18:20 Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.

18:21 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

18:22 For all his ordinances were before me. I didn’t put away his statutes from me.

18:23 I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

18:24 Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

20:13 But we who went ahead to the ship set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for he had so arranged, intending himself to go by land.

20:14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard, and came to Mitylene.

20:15 Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus.

20:16 For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

20:17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly.

20:18 When they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time,

20:19 serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews;

20:20 how I didn’t shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house,

20:21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.

20:22 Now, behold, I go bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there;

20:23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.

20:24 But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.

20:25 “Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching the Kingdom of God, will see my face no more.

20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all men,

20:27 for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

20:28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.

20:29 For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

20:30 Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

20:31 Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.

20:32 Now, brothers, I entrust you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

20:33 I coveted no one’s silver, or gold, or clothing.

20:34 You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me.

20:35 In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

20:36 When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

20:37 They all wept a lot, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,

20:38 sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.