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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
September 22 - Old & New Testament
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Isaiah 30,31
Condemnation of the Egyptian Alliance
1 Woe to the rebellious children!(a)
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
They carry out a plan,(b) but not Mine;
they make an alliance,
but against My will,
piling sin on top of sin.
2 They set out to go down to Egypt(c)
without asking My advice,
in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh's protection
and take refuge in Egypt's shadow.(d)
3 But Pharaoh's protection will become your shame,
and refuge in Egypt's shadow your disgrace.(e)
4 For though his[a] princes are at Zoan(f)
and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,
5 everyone will be ashamed
because of a people who can't help.
They are of no benefit, they are no help;
they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.(g)
6 An oracle(h) about the animals of the Negev:[b]
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and lion,
of viper and flying serpent,(i)
they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people who will not help them.
7 Egypt's help is completely worthless;
therefore, I call her:
Rahab Who Just Sits.(j)
8 Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence
and inscribe it on a scroll;
it will be for the future,
forever and ever.
9 They are a rebellious people,
deceptive children,(k)
children who do not want to obey the
Lord
's instruction.
10 They say to the seers, "Do not see,"
and to the prophets,
"Do not prophesy the truth to us.
Tell us flattering things.(l)
Prophesy illusions.
11 Get out of the way!
Leave the pathway.
Rid us of the Holy One of Israel."(m)
12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:
"Because you have rejected this message
and have trusted in oppression and deceit,
and have depended on them,
13 this iniquity(n) of yours will be
like a spreading breach,
a bulge in a high wall
whose collapse will come in an instant—suddenly!
14 Its collapse will be like the shattering
of a potter's jar,(o) crushed to pieces,
so that not even a fragment of pottery
will be found among its shattered remains—
no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth
or scoop water from a cistern."
15 For the Lord
God
, the Holy One of Israel, has said:
"You will be delivered by returning and resting;
your strength will lie in quiet confidence.
But you are not willing."
16 You say, "No!
We will escape on horses"—
therefore you will escape!—
and, "We will ride on fast horses"—
but those who pursue you will be faster.(p)
17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one,(q)
at the threat of five you will flee,
until you alone remain
like a solitary pole on a mountaintop
or a banner on a hill.
The Lord's Mercy to Israel
18 Therefore the
Lord
is waiting to show you mercy,
and is rising up to show you compassion,(r)
for the
Lord
is a just God.
All who wait patiently for Him are happy.
19 For you people will live on Zion in Jerusalem and will never cry again. He will show favor to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He will answer you. 20 The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression,(s) but your Teacher[c] will not hide Himself[d] any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher,[e] 21 and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: "This is the way. Walk in it."(t) 22 Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.
23 Then He will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.(u) 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel(v) and fork. 25 Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall. 26 The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter(w)—like the light of seven days—on the day(x) that the Lord bandages His people's injuries and heals the wounds He inflicted.(y)
Annihilation of the Assyrians
27 Look, Yahweh[f] comes from far away,
His anger burning and heavy with smoke.[g]
His lips are full of fury,
and His tongue is like a consuming fire.
28 His breath is like an overflowing torrent(z)
that rises to the neck.(aa)
He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction
and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples
to lead them astray.(ab)
29 Your singing will be like that
on the night of a holy festival,
and your heart will rejoice
like one who walks to the music of a flute,
going up to the mountain of the
Lord
,
to the Rock of Israel.(ac)
30 And the
Lord
will make the splendor of His voice heard
and reveal His arm(ad) striking in angry wrath
and a flame of consuming fire,
in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.
31 Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the
Lord
.
He will strike with a rod.
32 And every stroke of the appointed[h] staff
that the
Lord
brings down on him
will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres;
He will fight against him with brandished weapons.
33 Indeed! Topheth has been ready(ae)
for the king for a long time now.
Its funeral pyre is deep and wide,
with plenty of fire and wood.
The breath of the
Lord
,(af) like a torrent of brimstone,
kindles it.
The Lord, the Only Help
1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help(a)
and who depend on horses!
They trust in the abundance of chariots
and in the large number of horsemen.(b)
They do not look(c) to the Holy One of Israel
and they do not seek the
Lord
's help.
2 But He also is wise and brings disaster.(d)
He does not go back on what He says;(e)
He will rise up against the house of wicked men
and against the allies of evildoers.
3 Egyptians are men, not God;
their horses are flesh, not spirit.
When the
Lord
raises His hand to strike,
the helper will stumble
and the one who is helped will fall;
both will perish together.
4 For this is what the Lord said to me:
As a lion or young lion growls over its prey(f)
when a band of shepherds is called out against it,
and is not terrified by their shouting
or subdued by their noise,
so the
Lord
of Hosts will come down
to fight on Mount Zion
and on its hill.(g)
5 Like hovering birds,
so the
Lord
of Hosts will protect Jerusalem(h)—
by protecting it, He will rescue it,
by sparing it, He will deliver it.
6 Return to the One the Israelites have greatly rebelled against.(i) 7 For on that day, every one of you will reject the silver and gold idols that your own hands have sinfully made.(j)
8 Then Assyria will fall,
but not by human sword;
a sword will devour him,
but not one made by man.(k)
He will flee from the sword;
his young men will be put to forced labor.(l)
9 His rock[a] will pass away because of fear,(m)
and his officers will be afraid because of the signal flag.(n)
This is the Lord 's declaration—whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.(o)
Romans 2
Chapter 2
God's Righteous Judgment
1 Therefore, any one of you[a](a) who judges is without excuse.(b) For when you judge another,(c) you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. 2 We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. 3 Do you really think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God's judgment? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His kindness,(d) restraint,(e) and patience,(f) not recognizing[b] that God's kindness(g) is intended to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath(h) for yourself in the day of wrath,(i) when God's righteous judgment is revealed. 6 He will repay each one according to his works :(j)[c] 7 eternal life(k) to those who by persistence in doing good(l) seek glory, honor,(m) and immortality;(n) 8 but wrath and indignation to those who are self-seeking(o) and disobey the truth(p) but are obeying unrighteousness; 9 affliction and distress(q) for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek;(r) 10 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 11 There is no favoritism with God.(s)
12 All those who sinned without the law(t) will also perish without the law, and all those who sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For the hearers of the law(u) are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.[d] 14 So, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, instinctively(v) do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law[e] is written on their hearts.(w) Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts will either accuse or excuse them[f] 16 on the day when God judges(x) what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.(y)
Jewish Violation of the Law
17 Now if[g] you call yourself a Jew, and rest in the law,(z) boast in God, 18 know His will, and approve the things that are superior,(aa) being instructed from the law, 19 and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness, 20 an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the full expression[h] of knowledge and truth(ab) in the law— 21 you then, who teach another,(ac) don't you teach yourself? You who preach, "You must not steal"—do you steal? 22 You who say, "You must not commit adultery"—do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob their temples?(ad) 23 You who boast in the law,(ae) do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. (af)[i]
Circumcision of the Heart
25 For circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.(ag) 26 Therefore if an uncircumcised(ah) man keeps the law's requirements,(ai) will his uncircumcision not be counted as circumcision? 27 A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who fulfills the law, will judge you(aj) who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision. 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly,(ak) and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. 29 On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly,(al) and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter.[j](am) That man's praise[k] is not from men but from God.(an)
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