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• June 1

  At Dan, a town Aramean armies attacked, pieces of an Aramaic victory stone were found in 1993 and 1994. It speaks of a “king of Israel” and the “House of David” — the first clear mention of David outside the Bible.

  1 Kgs 15:20And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and the whole land of Naphtali, including the region of Chinnereth.
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• June 2

  As Jeremiah’s scroll was read to King Jehoiakim, he cut it off piece by piece with a scribe’s knife and burned it, until the whole scroll was gone.

  Jer 36:23And as soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire.
• June 3

  When the quail came, the Hebrew text says no one gathered less than 10 homers. A homer held 10 ephahs, so even the smallest heap was roughly 2,000 liters.

  Num 11:32All that day and night, and all the next day, the people stayed up gathering the quail. No one gathered less than ten homers, and they spread them out all around the camp.
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• June 4

  Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, served in the priestly division of Abijah, the eighth of 24, and was chosen by lot to burn incense in the temple.

  Luke 1:8–9One day while Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
• June 5

  King Omri bought the hill of Samaria from a man named Shemer, built his capital on it and named the city after the hill’s former owner.

  1 Kgs 16:24He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city there, calling it Samaria after the name of Shemer, who had owned the hill.
• June 6

  Proverbs points to the ant, which gathers its food at harvest with no ruler over it. Harvester ants in Israel still carry seeds into underground granaries.

  Prov 6:6–8Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise. Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler, it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.
• June 7

  A Nazirite was to avoid everything that comes from the grapevine: wine, wine vinegar, grape juice, fresh grapes and raisins — even the seeds.

  Num 6:3–4he is to abstain from wine and strong drink. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or strong drink, and he must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins. All the days of his separation, he is not to eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.
  Topic: Nazirites and their vow
• June 8

  Two of Judah’s last kings got their names from foreign rulers: Pharaoh Neco renamed Eliakim as Jehoiakim, and the king of Babylon renamed Mattaniah as Zedekiah.

  2 Kgs 24:17Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
• June 9

  The Ten Commandments are given twice, in Exodus and Deuteronomy. The reason for the Sabbath differs: God’s rest after creation in one, freedom from slavery in Egypt in the other.

  Deut 5:15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
• June 10

  Kings of Judah had a winter house: there King Jehoiakim sat in the cold season with a fire burning in a brazier before him.

  Jer 36:22Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning before him.
  Topic: Summer and winter
• June 11

  The instrument David played for Saul, the kinnor, was most likely a lyre: a wooden sound box with two arms and a crossbar, strung with sheep gut.

  1 Sam 16:23And whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would pick up his harp and play, and Saul would become well, and the spirit of distress would depart from him.
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• June 12

  At Gibeon archaeologists found a round shaft about 11 meters across, cut into the rock, with steps spiraling down toward the water. Jar handles found there bear the city’s name.

  2 Sam 2:13So Joab son of Zeruiah, along with the servants of David, marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. And the two camps took up positions on opposite sides of the pool.
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• June 13

  Under Nehemiah, the rebuilt wall of Jerusalem was finished in just 52 days.

  Neh 6:15So the wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.
• June 14

  The perfume poured on Jesus at Bethany was pure nard in an alabaster jar. Nard comes from the roots of a plant of the high Himalayas and probably reached the Mediterranean from India.

  Mark 14:3While Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured it on Jesus’ head.
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• June 15

  Pharaoh gave Joseph an Egyptian name, Zaphenath-paneah, and an Egyptian wife, Asenath, the daughter of a priest of On.

  Gen 41:45Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph took charge of all the land of Egypt.
• June 16

  Hazor, once the leading city of the kingdoms of northern Canaan, was the largest city in the land: its mound north of the Sea of Galilee covers about 80 hectares.

  Josh 11:10At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword, because Hazor was formerly the head of all these kingdoms.
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• June 17

  The spies cut a single cluster of grapes so big that they carried it on a pole. The valley was named after it: Eshcol means “cluster.”

  Num 13:23–24When they came to the Valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs. Because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there, that place was called the Valley of Eshcol.
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• June 18

  In Corinth Paul stayed and worked with Aquila and Priscilla, because they were tentmakers by trade, as he was; tents were usually made of goat-hair cloth.

  Acts 18:3and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.
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• June 19

  The Ethiopian official whom Philip met on the desert road was in charge of the whole treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.

  Acts 8:27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
• June 20

  Jude quotes a prophecy of Enoch, “the seventh from Adam.” Very similar words are found in the Book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish writing preserved complete in the Ethiopic language.

  Jude 1:14–15Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”
• June 21

  The silver for the tabernacle came from a half shekel paid by each of the 603,550 men counted in the census.

  Exod 38:26a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.
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• June 22

  The ark of the covenant was a wooden chest overlaid with gold, 2.5 cubits long and 1.5 wide and high — about 111 by 67 by 67 centimeters.

  Exod 25:10And they are to construct an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.
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• June 23

  Jonah was sent to Nineveh, about 900 km east of Joppa in a straight line, but boarded a ship for Tarshish, often placed in southern Spain — some 3,800 km to the west.

  Jonah 1:3Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
• June 24

  Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue was 60 cubits high — about 27 meters, as tall as a nine-story building.

  Dan 3:1King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
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• June 25

  Phylacteries were small leather cases holding passages of Scripture, worn at prayer. Actual examples were found in the caves of Qumran with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

  Matt 23:5All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
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• June 26

  Saul, Israel’s first king, stood head and shoulders above everyone else among the people.

  1 Sam 9:2And he had a son named Saul, choice and handsome, without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the people.
• June 27

  At the fords of the Jordan, the men of Gilead told Ephraimites apart by one word, “Shibboleth”: a man who could not pronounce it properly gave himself away.

  Judg 12:5–6The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim would say, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites would ask him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered, “No,” they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. So at that time 42,000 Ephraimites were killed.
• June 28

  The plant that shaded Jonah grew up in a night and withered the next day. Its Hebrew name, qiqayon, is often taken as the castor-oil plant, which grows fast and has broad leaves.

  Jonah 4:6–7So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.
• June 29

  David’s army served in 12 divisions of 24,000 men, each on duty for one month of the year — 288,000 men in all.

  1 Chr 27:1This is the list of the Israelites—the heads of families, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and their officers who served the king in every matter concerning the divisions on rotating military duty each month throughout the year. There were 24,000 men in each division:
• June 30

  In 1947 Bedouin shepherds found a scroll of the whole Book of Isaiah in a cave near Qumran by the Dead Sea. About 7 meters long, it is some 1,000 years older than any Hebrew copy of Isaiah known before.

  Isa 1:1This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.