the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
September 2 - Bible-in-a-Year
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2 Chronicles 7
Chapter 7
The Dedication Ceremonies
1 When Solomon finished praying,(a) fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices,(b) and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests were not able to enter the Lord 's temple because the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord . 3 All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the Lord came on the temple. They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the Lord :
For He is good,
for His faithful love endures forever.(c)
4 The king and all the people were offering sacrifices in the Lord 's presence.(d) 5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. In this manner the king and all the people dedicated God's temple. 6 The priests and the Levites were standing at their stations. The Levites had the musical instruments of the Lord , which King David had made to praise the Lord —"for His faithful love endures forever"—when he offered praise with them.(e) Across from the Levites, the priests were blowing trumpets, and all the people were standing. 7 Since the bronze altar that Solomon had made(f) could not accommodate the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings, Solomon first consecrated the middle of the courtyard(g) that was in front of the Lord 's temple and then offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings there.(h)
8 So Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly, from the entrance to Hamath[a] to the Brook of Egypt—observed the festival at that time for seven days. 9 On the eighth day[b] they held a sacred assembly,(i) for the dedication of the altar lasted seven days and the festival seven days. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, rejoicing and with happy hearts for the goodness the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.
11 So Solomon finished the Lord 's temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon's heart to do for the Lord 's temple and for his own palace succeeded.(j)
The Lord's Response
12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him:
I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a temple of sacrifice.(k) 13 If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on My people,(l) 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.(m) 15 My eyes will now be open and My ears attentive to prayer from this place.(n) 16 And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My name may be there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.(o)
17 As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man ruling in Israel.(p)
19 However, if you turn away and abandon My statutes and My commands that I have set before you and if you go and serve other gods and worship them,(q) 20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for My name I will banish from My presence;(r) I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.(s) 21 As for this temple, which was exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will say:(t) Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple? 22 Then they will say: Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and worshiped and served them. Because of this, He brought all this ruin on them.
Malachi 4
Chapter 4
The Day of the Lord
1 [a]"For indeed, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them," says the Lord of Hosts, "not leaving them root or branches. 2 But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings,(a) and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.[b] 3 You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing," says the Lord of Hosts.
A Final Warning
4 "Remember the instruction of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb(b) for all Israel. 5 Look, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet(c) before the great and awesome Day of the Lord comes.(d) 6 [c]And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.(e) Otherwise, I will come and strike the land[d] with a curse."
John 9:24-41
Chapter 9
24 So a second time they summoned the man who had been blind and told him, "Give glory(t) to God.[d](u) We know that this man is a sinner!"
25 He answered, "Whether or not He's a sinner, I don't know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!"
26 Then they asked him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?"
27 "I already told you," he said, "and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don't want to become His disciples too, do you?"
28 They ridiculed him: "You're that man's disciple, but we're Moses'(v) disciples. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we don't know where He's from!"(w)
30 "This is an amazing thing," the man told them. "You don't know where He is from, yet He opened my eyes! 31 We know that God doesn't listen to sinners,(x) but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will,(y) He listens to him.(z) 32 Throughout history[e] no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind.(aa) 33 If this man were not from God, He wouldn't be able to do anything."(ab)
34 "You were born entirely in sin,"(ac) they replied, "and are you trying to teach us?" Then they threw him out.[f](ad)
The Blind Man's Sight and the Pharisees' Blindness
35 When Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, He found him and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" [g](ae)
36 "Who is He, Sir,(af) that I may believe in Him?" he asked.
37 Jesus answered, "You have seen Him; in fact, He is the One speaking with you."
38 "I believe, Lord!" he said, and he worshiped Him.
39 Jesus said, "I came into this world(ag) for judgment,(ah) in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind." (ai)
40 Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and asked Him, "We aren't blind too, are we?"
41 "If you were blind," Jesus told them, "you wouldn't have sin. [h](aj) But now that you say, ‘We see'—your sin remains.
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