Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

50 The mighty God, the Lord, has summoned all mankind from east to west!

² God’s glory-light shines from the beautiful Temple^[a] on Mount Zion. ³ He comes with the noise of thunder,^[b] surrounded by devastating fire; a great storm rages round about him. ⁴ He has come to judge his people. To heaven and earth he shouts, ⁵ “Gather together my own people who by their sacrifice upon my altar have promised to obey me.”^{[c] 6} God will judge them with complete fairness, for all heaven declares that he is just.

16 A message of condemnation from the Lord was delivered to King Baasha at this time by the prophet Jehu:

² “I lifted you out of the dust,” the message said, “to make you king of my people Israel; but you have walked in the evil paths of Jeroboam. You have made my people sin, and I am angry! ³ So now I will destroy you and your family, just as I did the descendants of Jeroboam. ^4-7 Those of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the fields will be eaten by the birds.”

The message was sent to Baasha and his family because he had angered the Lord by all his evil deeds. He was as evil as Jeroboam despite the fact that the Lord had destroyed all of Jeroboam’s descendants for their sins.

The rest of Baasha’s biography—his deeds and conquests—are written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

⁴¹ But as they came closer to Jerusalem and he saw the city ahead, he began to cry. ⁴² “Eternal peace was within your reach and you turned it down,” he wept, “and now it is too late. ⁴³ Your enemies will pile up earth against your walls and encircle you and close in on you, ⁴⁴ and crush you to the ground, and your children within you; your enemies will not leave one stone upon another—for you have rejected the opportunity God offered you.”