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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
January 23 - Old & New Testament
csb
Job 36,37
1 Then Elihu continued, saying:
2 Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you,
for there is still more to be said on God's behalf.
3 I will get my knowledge from a distant place
and ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 For my arguments are without flaw;[a]
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.
5 Yes, God is mighty, but He despises no one;
He understands all things.[b](a)
6 He does not keep the wicked alive,(b)
but He gives justice to the afflicted.
7 He does not remove His gaze from the righteous,
but He seats them forever with enthroned kings,
and they are exalted.
8 If people are bound with chains
and trapped by the cords of affliction,
9 God tells them what they have done
and how arrogantly they have transgressed.
10 He opens their ears(c) to correction
and insists they repent from iniquity.
11 If they serve Him obediently,
they will end their days in prosperity
and their years in happiness.(d)
12 But if they do not obey,
they will cross the river of death[c]
and die without knowledge.(e)
13 Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth;
their life ends among male cult prostitutes.(f)
15 God rescues the afflicted by their affliction;
He instructs them by their torment.
16 Indeed, He lured you from the jaws[d] of distress
to a spacious and unconfined place.
Your table was spread with choice food.
17 Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have seized you.
18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches;[e]
do not let a large ransom[f] lead you astray.(g)
19 Can your wealth[g] or all your physical exertion
keep you from distress?(h)
20 Do not long for the night
when nations will disappear from their places.
21 Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity,
for that is why you have been tested by[h] affliction.
22 Look, God shows Himself exalted by His power.
Who is a teacher like Him?
23 Who has appointed His way for Him,
and who has declared, "You have done wrong"?(i)
24 Remember that you should praise His work,
which people have sung about.(j)
25 All mankind has seen it;
people have looked at it from a distance.(k)
26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge;(l)
the number of His years cannot be counted.(m)
27 For He makes waterdrops evaporate;[i]
they distill the rain into its[j] mist,(n)
28 which the clouds pour out
and shower abundantly on mankind.
29 Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
or how the thunder roars from God's pavilion?(o)
30 See how He spreads His lightning(p) around Him
and covers the depths of the sea.
31 For He judges the nations with these;
He gives food in abundance.(q)
32 He covers His hands with lightning
and commands it to hit its mark.
33 The[k] thunder declares His presence;[l]
the cattle also, the approaching storm.
1 My heart(a) pounds at this
and leaps from my chest.[a]
2 Just listen to His thunderous voice
and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky;
His lightning to the ends(b) of the earth.
4 Then there comes a roaring sound;
God thunders(c) with His majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when His rumbling voice is heard.
5 God thunders marvelously with His voice;
He does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For He says to the snow,(d) "Fall to the earth,"
and the torrential rains, His mighty torrential rains,
7 serve as His sign to all mankind,
so that all men may know His work.
8 The wild animals enter their lairs
and stay in their dens.(e)
9 The windstorm comes from its chamber,
and the cold from the driving north winds.
10 Ice is formed by the breath of God,(f)
and watery expanses are frozen.
11 He saturates clouds with moisture;(g)
He scatters His lightning through them.
12 They swirl about,
turning round and round at His direction,
accomplishing everything He commands them
over the surface of the inhabited world.
13 He causes this to happen for punishment,
for His land, or for His faithful love.
14 Listen to this, Job.
Stop and consider God's wonders.
15 Do you know how God directs His clouds
or makes their lightning flash?
16 Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonderful works of Him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You whose clothes get hot
when the south wind brings calm to the land,
18 can you help God spread out the skies
as hard as a cast metal mirror?
19 Teach us what we should say to Him;(h)
we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.
20 Should He be told that I want to speak?
Can a man speak when he is confused?
21 Now men cannot even look at the sun
when it is in the skies,
after a wind has swept through and cleared them away.
22 Yet out of the north He comes, shrouded in a golden glow;
awesome(i) majesty surrounds Him.
23 The Almighty—we cannot reach Him—
He is exalted in power!
He will not oppress justice and abundant righteousness,
24 Therefore, men fear Him.
He does not look favorably on any who are wise(j) in heart.
Matthew 15:1-20
Chapter 15
The Tradition of the Elders
1 Then(a) Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked,(b) 2 "Why do Your disciples(c) break the tradition of the elders? For they don't wash their hands when they eat!"[a](d)
3 He answered them, "And why do you break God's commandment because of your tradition? 4 For God said: [b]
Honor your father and your mother;
(e)[c]
and,
The one who speaks evil of father or mother
must be put to death.
(f)[d]
5 But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, "Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple"— 6 he does not have to honor his father.'[e] In this way, you have revoked God's word[f] because of your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:
8
These people
[g]
honor Me with their lips,
but their heart is far from Me.
9
They worship Me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commands of men.
"
(g)[h]
Defilement Is from Within
10 Summoning the crowd, He told them, "Listen and understand: 11 It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles(h) a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." (i)
12 Then the disciples came up and told Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard this statement?"
13 He replied, "Every plant that My heavenly Father didn't plant will be uprooted.(j) 14 Leave them alone! They are blind guides.[i] And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit." (k)
15 Then Peter replied to Him, "Explain this parable to us."(l)
16 "Are even you still lacking in understanding?" He[j] asked. 17 "Don't you realize[k] that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?[l] 18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a man.(m) 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies,(n) blasphemies.(o) 20 These are the things that defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a man." (p)
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