the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
December 30 - Old & New Testament
csb
Malachi 1,2
The Lord's Love for Israel
1 An oracle:(a) The word of the Lord (b) to Israel through(c) Malachi.[a]
2 "I have loved you,"(d) says the Lord .
But you ask: "How have You loved us?"
"Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?"(e) This is the Lord 's declaration. "Even so, I loved Jacob, 3 but I hated Esau.(f) I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals."(g)
4 Though Edom says: "We have been devastated, but we will rebuild[b] the ruins," the Lord of Hosts says this: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country(h) and the people the Lord has cursed[c] forever.(i) 5 Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, ‘The Lord is great, even beyond[d] the borders of Israel.'(j)
Disobedience of the Priests
6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?(k) says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name."
Yet you ask: "How have we despised Your name?"
7 "By presenting defiled food on My altar."
You ask: "How have we defiled You?"(l)
When you say: "The Lord 's table is contemptible."(m)
8 "When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong?(n) Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?" asks the Lord of Hosts. 9 "And now ask for God's favor. Will He be gracious to us?(o) Since this has come from your hands, will He show any of you favor?"(p) asks the Lord of Hosts. 10 "I wish one of you would shut the temple doors,(q) so you would no longer kindle a useless fire on My altar!(r) I am not pleased with you," says the Lord of Hosts, "and I will accept(s) no offering from your hands.(t)
11 "For My name will be great among the nations,(u) from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense[e] and pure offerings will be presented in My name in every place because My name will be great among the nations,"[f] says Yahweh of Hosts.
12 But you are profaning it(v) when you say: "The Lord's table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible." 13 You also say: "Look, what a nuisance!" "And you scorn[g] it,"[h](w) says the Lord of Hosts. "You bring stolen,[i](x) lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?" asks the Lord .
14 "The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord.(y) For I am a great King," says Yahweh of Hosts, "and My name[j] will be feared among the nations.
Warning to the Priests
1 "Therefore, this decree(a) is for you priests: 2 If you don't listen, and if you don't take it to heart(b) to honor My name," says Yahweh of Hosts, "I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.(c) In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.
3 "Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants,(d) and I will spread animal waste[a] over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices,(e) and you will be taken away with it. 4 Then you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levi(f) may continue," says the Lord of Hosts. 5 "My covenant with him was one of life and peace,(g) and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.(h) 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me(i) in peace and fairness and turned many from sin.(j) 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.(k)
8 "You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.(l) You have caused many to stumble(m) by your instruction. You have violated[b] the covenant of Levi," says the Lord of Hosts. 9 "So I in turn have made you despised(n) and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in your instruction."(o)
Judah's Marital Unfaithfulness
10 Don't all of us have one Father?(p) Didn't one God create us?(q) Why then do we act treacherously against one another,(r) profaning(s) the covenant of our fathers?(t) 11 Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable(u) thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned(v) the Lord 's sanctuary,[c](w) which He loves,(x) and has married the daughter of a foreign god.[d](y) 12 To the man who does this, may the Lord cut off(z) any descendants[e][f](aa) from the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to the Lord of Hosts.
13 And this is another thing you do: you cover the Lord 's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning,(ab) because He no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.(ac)
14 Yet you ask, "For what reason?" Because the Lord has been a witness(ad) between you and the wife of your youth.(ae) You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partner(af) and your wife by covenant.(ag) 15 Didn't the one God make us with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek?[g] A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully,[h](ah) and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth.
16 "If he hates(ai) and divorces his wife,(aj)" says the Lord God of Israel, "he[i] covers his garment with injustice,"(ak) says the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully,[j] and do not act treacherously.
Judgment at the Lord's Coming
17 You have wearied the Lord (al) with your words.
Yet you ask, "How have we wearied Him?"
When you say, "Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord 's sight, and He is pleased with them,"(am) or "Where is the God of justice?"(an)
Revelation 21
Chapter 21
The New Creation
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,(a) for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed.(b) 2 I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,(c) prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.(d)
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:[a]
Look! God's dwelling[b] is with humanity,
and He will live with them.
They will be His people,(e)
and God Himself will be with them
and be their God.[c]
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.(f)
Death will no longer exist;(g)
grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer,(h)
because the previous things[d] have passed away.(i)
5 Then the One seated on the throne said, "Look! I am making everything new." He also said, "Write, because these words[e] are faithful and true."(j) 6 And He said to me, "It is done!(k) I am the Alpha and the Omega,(l) the Beginning and the End.(m) I will give water as a gift to the thirsty(n) from the spring of life.(o) 7 The victor(p) will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.(q) 8 But the cowards, unbelievers,[f] vile, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,(r) which is the second death."
The New Jerusalem
9 Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues,(s) came and spoke with me: "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10 He then carried me away in the Spirit[g](t) to a great and high mountain(u) and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11 arrayed with God's glory.(v) Her radiance was like a very precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal. 12 The city had a massive high wall, with 12 gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the 12 tribes of Israel's sons were inscribed on the gates. 13 There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.(w) 14 The city wall had 12 foundations, and the 12 names of the Lamb's 12 apostles were on the foundations.
15 The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod(x) to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.(y) 16 The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia.[h] Its length, width, and height are equal. 17 Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used. 18 The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold like clear glass.
19 The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone:(z)
the first foundation jasper,
the second sapphire,
the third chalcedony,
the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth sardonyx,
the sixth carnelian,
the seventh chrysolite,
the eighth beryl,
the ninth topaz,
the tenth chrysoprase,
the eleventh jacinth,
the twelfth amethyst.
21 The 12 gates are 12 pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The broad street[i] of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 I did not see a sanctuary in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its sanctuary. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God's glory illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.(aa) 24 The nations[j] will walk in its light,(ab) and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.[k](ac) 25 Each day its gates will never close because it will never be night there. 26 They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.[l](ad) 27 Nothing profane will ever enter it:(ae) no one who does what is vile or false, but only those written in the Lamb's book of life.(af)
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