the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
December 5 - Bible-in-a-Year
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Ezekiel 6-7
Chapter 6
Prophecy against Israel's Idolatry
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "Son of man, turn your face toward the mountains of Israel(a) and prophesy against them. 3 You are to say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God ! This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.(b) 4 Your altars will be desolated and your incense altars smashed. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. 5 I will lay the corpses of the Israelites in front of their idols and scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated,[a] your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. 7 The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.
8 "Yet I will leave a remnant when you are scattered among the nations, for throughout the countries there will be some of you who will escape the sword.(c) 9 Then your survivors will remember Me among the nations where they are taken captive,(d) how I was crushed by their promiscuous hearts that turned away from Me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols.(e) They will loathe themselves because of the evil things they did,(f) their detestable practices of every kind. 10 And they will know that I am the Lord ; I did not threaten to bring this disaster on them without a reason.
Lament over the Fall of Jerusalem
11 "This is what the Lord God says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet,(g) and cry out over all the evil and detestable practices of the house of Israel, who will fall by the sword, famine, and plague.(h) 12 The one who is far off will die by plague; the one who is near will fall by the sword; and the one who remains and is spared[b] will die of famine. In this way I will exhaust My wrath on them.(i) 13 You will all know that I am Yahweh when their slain lie among their idols around their altars,(j) on every high hill,(k) on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and every leafy oak—the places where they offered pleasing aromas to all their idols. 14 I will stretch out My hand against them,(l) and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah.[c] Then they will know that I am Yahweh."
Chapter 7
Announcement of the End
1 And the word of the Lord came to me: 2 "Son of man, this is what the Lord God says to the land of Israel:
An end! The end has come
on the four corners of the land.(a)
3 The end is now upon you;
I will send My anger against you
and judge you according to your ways.
I will punish you for all your detestable practices.
4 I will not look on you with pity or spare you,(b)
but I will punish you for your ways(c)
and for your detestable practices within you.
Then you will know that I am Yahweh."(d)
5 This is what the Lord God says:
Look, one disaster after another is coming!(e)
6 An end has come; the end has come!
It has awakened against you.
Look, it is coming!
7 Doom[a] has come on you,(f)
inhabitants of the land.
The time has come; the day is near.
There will be panic on the mountains
and not celebration.(g)
8 I will pour out My wrath on you very soon;(h)
I will exhaust My anger against you
and judge you according to your ways.
I will punish you for all your detestable practices.
9 I will not look on you with pity or spare you.
I will punish you for your ways
and for your detestable practices within you.
Then you will know
that it is I, Yahweh, who strikes.
10 Look, the day is coming!
Doom has gone out.(i)
The rod has blossomed;(j)
arrogance has bloomed.(k)
11 Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness.(l)
None of them will remain:
none of their multitude,
none of their wealth,
and none of the eminent[b] among them.
12 The time has come; the day has arrived.
Let the buyer not rejoice(m)
and the seller not mourn,
for wrath is on all her masses.(n)
13 The seller will certainly not return
to what was sold
as long as he and the buyer remain alive.[c]
For the vision concerning all its people
will not be revoked,
and none of them will preserve
his life because of his iniquity.
14 They have blown the trumpet(o)
and prepared everything,
but no one goes to war,
for My wrath is on all her masses.
15 The sword is on the outside;(p)
plague and famine are on the inside.
Whoever is in the field will die by the sword,
and famine and plague will devour
whoever is in the city.
16 The survivors among them will escape(q)
and live on the mountains
like doves of the valley,
all of them moaning,
each over his own iniquity.
17 All their hands will become weak,(r)
and all their knees will turn to water.
18 They will put on sackcloth,
and horror will overwhelm them.
Shame will cover all their faces,
and all their heads will be bald.(s)
19 They will throw their silver into the streets,
and their gold will seem like something filthy.(t)
Their silver and gold will be unable to save them
in the day of the
Lord
's wrath.(u)
They will not satisfy their appetites
or fill their stomachs,
for these were the stumbling blocks(v)
that brought about their iniquity.
20 He appointed His beautiful ornaments for majesty,
but[d] they made their abhorrent images from them,
their detestable things.(w)
Therefore, I have made these
into something filthy for them.
21 I will hand these things over
to foreigners as plunder(x)
and to the wicked of the earth as spoil,
and they will profane them.
22 I will turn My face from the wicked
as they profane My treasured place.
Violent men will enter it and profane it.
23 Forge the chain,(y)
for the land is filled with crimes of bloodshed,
and the city is filled with violence.(z)
24 So I will bring the most evil of nations(aa)
to take possession of their houses.
I will put an end to the pride of the strong,
and their sacred places will be profaned.(ab)
25 Anguish is coming!
They will seek peace, but there will be none.
26 Disaster after disaster will come,(ac)
and there will be rumor after rumor.(ad)
Then they will seek a vision from a prophet,(ae)
but instruction will perish from the priests
and counsel from the elders.(af)
27 The king will mourn;
the prince will be clothed in grief;
and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.
I will deal with them according to their own conduct,
and I will judge them by their own standards.(ag)
Then they will know that I am Yahweh.
Isaiah 40
Chapter 40
God's People Comforted
1 "Comfort, comfort My people,"(a)
says your God.
2 "Speak tenderly to[a] Jerusalem,
and announce to her
that her time of forced labor is over,
her iniquity(b) has been pardoned,(c)
and she has received from the
Lord
's hand
double for all her sins."(d)
3 A voice of one crying out:
Prepare the way of the
Lord
in the wilderness;(e)
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.(f)
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled;
the uneven ground will become smooth
and the rough places, a plain.(g)
5 And the glory of the
Lord
will appear,(h)
and all humanity[b] together will see it,(i)
for the mouth of the
Lord
has spoken.(j)
6 A voice was saying, "Cry out!"
Another[c] said, "What should I cry out?"
"All humanity is grass,(k)
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.(l)
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath[d] of the
Lord
blows on them;[e]
indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flowers fade,(m)
but the word of our God remains forever."(n)
9 Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.(o)
Jerusalem, herald of good news,(p)
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
"Here is your God!"(q)
10 See, the Lord
God
comes with strength,
and His power establishes His rule.(r)
His reward is with Him,(s)
and His gifts accompany Him.
11 He protects His flock like a shepherd;(t)
He gathers the lambs in His arms
and carries them in the fold of His garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?(u)
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains in a balance
and the hills in the scales?
13 Who has directed[f] the Spirit of the
Lord
,
or who gave Him His counsel?(v)
14 Who did He consult with?
Who gave Him understanding(w)
and taught Him the paths of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge
and showed Him the way of understanding?
15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered as a speck of dust in the scales;
He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.(x)
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him;
they are considered by Him
as nothingness and emptiness.(y)
18 Who will you compare God with?
What likeness will you compare Him to?(z)
19 To an idol?—something that a smelter casts,
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver welds for it?(aa)
20 To one who shapes a pedestal,
choosing wood that does not rot?[g]
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.(ab)
21 Do you not know?(ac)
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?(ad)
22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.(ae)
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth(af)
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.(ag)
23 He reduces princes to nothing(ah)
and makes judges of the earth irrational.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when He blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.(ai)
25 "Who will you compare Me to,(aj)
or who is My equal?" asks the Holy One.
26 Look up[h] and see:
who created(ak) these?
He brings out the starry host by number;
He calls all of them by name.(al)
Because of His great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Jacob, why do you say,
and Israel, why do you assert:
"My way is hidden from the
Lord
,
and my claim is ignored by my God"?(am)
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Yahweh is the everlasting God,(an)
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never grows faint or weary;
there is no limit to His understanding.(ao)
29 He gives strength to the weary
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths may faint and grow weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but those who trust in the
Lord
will renew their strength;(ap)
they will soar on wings like eagles;(aq)
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.
Ephesians 2
Chapter 2
From Death to Life
1 And you were dead(a) in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world,(b) according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens,[a](c) the spirit(d) now working in the disobedient.[b] 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly(e) desires, carrying out the inclinations(f) of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath(g) as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy,(h) because of His great love(i) that He had for us,[c] 5 made us alive(j) with the Messiah even though we were dead(k) in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens,(l) 7 so that in the coming ages(m) He might display the immeasurable riches(n) of His grace through His kindness(o) to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace(p) through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are His creation, created(q) in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time(r) so that we should walk in them.
Unity in Christ
11 So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called "the uncircumcised" by those called "the circumcised,"(s) which is done in the flesh by human hands.(t) 12 At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise,(u) without hope(v) and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood(w) of the Messiah. 14 For He is our peace, who made both groups one(x) and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In His flesh, 15 He made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that He might create(y) in Himself one(z) new man from the two, resulting in peace. 16 He did this so that He might reconcile both to God in one body(aa) through the cross and put the hostility to death by it.[d] 17 When the Messiah came, He proclaimed the good news(ab) of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.(ac) 18 For through Him we both have access(ad) by one Spirit to the Father.(ae) 19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,(af) with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. 21 The whole building, being put together(ag) by Him, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord.(ah) 22 You also are being built together(ai) for God's dwelling(aj) in the Spirit.
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