the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
December 10 - Old & New Testament
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Zechariah 9,10
Judgment of Zion's Enemies
1 An Oracle
The word of the
Lord
is against the land of Hadrach,
and Damascus(a) is its resting place—
for the eyes of men
and all the tribes of Israel
are on the
Lord
[a]—
2 and also against Hamath,(b) which borders it,
as well as Tyre(c) and Sidon,(d)
though they are very shrewd.
3 Tyre has built herself a fortress;
she has heaped up silver like dust
and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4 Listen! The Lord will impoverish her
and cast her wealth into the sea;
she herself will be consumed by fire.(e)
5 Ashkelon will see it and be afraid;
Gaza too, and will writhe in great pain,
as will Ekron, for her hope will fail.
There will cease to be a king in Gaza,
and Ashkelon will become uninhabited.
6 A mongrel people will live in Ashdod,
and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.(f)
7 I will remove the blood from their mouths
and the detestable things(g)
from between their teeth.
Then they too will become a remnant for our God;
they will become like a clan in Judah
and Ekron like the Jebusites.(h)
8 I will set up camp at My house against an army,[b]
against those who march back and forth,
and no oppressor will march against them again,
for now I have seen with My own eyes.
The Coming of Zion's King
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem!
Look, your King is coming to you;
He is righteous and victorious,[c]
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.(i)
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem.
The bow of war will be removed,
and He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion will extend from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates River
to the ends of the earth.(j)
11 As for you,
because of the blood of your covenant,(k)
I will release your prisoners
from the waterless cistern.(l)
12 Return to a stronghold,
you prisoners who have hope;
today I declare that I will restore double to you.(m)
13 For I will bend Judah as My bow;
I will fill that bow with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece.[d](n)
I will make you like a warrior's sword.
14 Then the
Lord
will appear over them,
and His arrow will fly like lightning.
The Lord
God
will sound the trumpet
and advance with the southern storms.(o)
15 The
Lord
of Hosts will defend them.
They will consume and conquer with slingstones;
they will drink and be rowdy as if with wine.(p)
They will be as full as the sprinkling basin,(q)
like those at the corners of the altar.(r)
16 The
Lord
their God will save them on that day
as the flock of His people;(s)
for they are like jewels in a crown,(t)
sparkling over His land.
17 How lovely and beautiful they will be!
Grain will make the young men flourish,
and new wine, the young women.
The Lord Restores His People
1 Ask the
Lord
for rain
in the season of spring rain.
The
Lord
makes the rain clouds,
and He will give them showers of rain
and crops in the field for everyone.(a)
2 For the idols speak falsehood,
and the diviners(b) see illusions;
they relate empty dreams
and offer empty comfort.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.
3 My anger burns against the shepherds,
so I will punish the leaders.[a]
For the
Lord
of Hosts has tended His flock,
the house of Judah;
He will make them like His majestic steed in battle.
4 The cornerstone(c) will come from Judah.[b]
The tent peg(d) will come from them
and also the battle bow(e) and every[c] ruler.
Together
5 they will be like warriors in battle
trampling down the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the
Lord
is with them,
and they will put horsemen to shame.
6 I will strengthen the house of Judah
and deliver the house of Joseph.[d]
I will restore[e] them
because I have compassion on them,
and they will be
as though I had never rejected them.(f)
For I am Yahweh their God,
and I will answer them.
7 Ephraim(g) will be like a warrior,
and their hearts will be glad as if with wine.
Their children will see it and be glad;(h)
their hearts will rejoice in Yahweh.
8 I will whistle(i) and gather them
because I have redeemed(j) them;
they will be as numerous as they once were.
9 Though I sow(k) them among the nations,
they will remember(l) Me in the distant lands;
they and their children will live and return.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to the land of Gilead(m)
and to Lebanon,
but it will not be enough for them.
11 Yahweh[f] will pass through the sea of distress
and strike the waves of the sea;
all the depths of the Nile will dry up.(n)
The pride of Assyria will be brought down,
and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.
12 I will strengthen(o) them in Yahweh,
and they will march(p) in His name—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
Revelation 1
Chapter 1
Prologue
1 The revelation of[a] Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves(a) what must quickly[b] take place.(b) He sent it and signified it[c] through His angel(c) to His slave John,(d) 2 who testified to God's word and to the testimony[d] about Jesus Christ,(e) in all he saw.[e] 3 The one who reads this is blessed,(f) and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep[f] what is written in it are blessed, because the time is near!
4 John:
To the seven churches in Asia.
Grace and peace(g) to you from[g] the One who is, who was, and who is coming;(h) from the seven spirits[h](i) before His throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To Him who loves us and has set us free[i] from our sins by His blood, 6 and made us a kingdom,[j] priests[k](j) to His God and Father—the glory and dominion are His forever and ever. Amen.
7
Look! He is coming with the clouds,
(k)
and
every eye will see Him,
including those who pierced
[l]
Him.
And all the families of the earth
[m](l)[n]
will mourn over Him.
[o](m)[p]
This is certain. Amen.
8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega,"(n) says the Lord God, "the One who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty."
John's Vision of the Risen Lord
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of God's word and the testimony about Jesus.[q](o) 10 I was in the Spirit[r][s](p) on the Lord's day,[t] and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet 11 saying, "Write on a scroll[u] what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."
12 I turned to see whose voice(q) it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven gold lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man,[v](r) dressed in a long robe and with a gold sash wrapped around His chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool—white as snow—and His eyes like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of cascading[w] waters.(s) 16 He had seven stars in His right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth,(t) and His face was shining like the sun at midday.[x]
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. He laid His right hand on me and said, "Don't be afraid! I am the First and the Last,(u) 18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. 19 Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this. 20 The secret of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven gold lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels[y] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands[z] are the seven churches.
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