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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
November 14 - Bible-in-a-Year
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Jeremiah 23-24
Chapter 23
The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch
1 "(C1)Woe to the shepherds who are causing the (C2)sheep of My pasture to (C3)perish and are scattering them!" declares the LORD.2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says concerning the shepherds who are (F1)tending My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not been concerned about them; behold, I am going to (C1)call you to account for the (C2)evil of your deeds," declares the LORD.3 "Then I Myself will (C1)gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.4 "I will also raise up (C1)shepherds over them and they will (F1)tend them; and they will (C2)not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, (C3)nor will any be missing," declares the LORD.
5 "Behold, the (C1)days are coming," declares the LORD,
"When I will raise up for David a righteous (F1)(C2)Branch;
And He will (C3)reign as king and (F2)act wisely
And (C4)do justice and righteousness in the land.
6 "In His days Judah will be saved,
And (C1)Israel will live securely;
And this is His (C2)name by which He will be called,
'The (C3)LORD Our Righteousness.'
7 "(C1)Therefore behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when they will no longer say, 'As the LORD lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt,'8 (C1)but, 'As the LORD lives, who (C2)brought up and led the descendants of the household of Israel back from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.' Then they will live on their own soil."
False Prophets Denounced
9 As for the prophets:
My (C1)heart is broken within me,
All my bones tremble;
I have become like a drunken man,
And like a man overcome by wine,
Because of the LORD
And because of His holy words.
10 For the land is full of (C1)adulterers;
For the land (C2)mourns because of the curse.
The (C3)pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
Their course is evil
And their might is not right.
11 "For (C1)both prophet and priest are defiled;
Even in My house I have found their wickedness," declares the LORD.
12 "Therefore their way will be like (C1)slippery paths to them,
They will be driven away into the (C2)gloom and fall down in it;
For I will bring (C3)disaster upon them,
The year of their punishment," declares the LORD.
13 "Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an (C1)offensive thing:
They (C2)prophesied by Baal and (C3)led My people Israel astray.
14 "Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a (C1)horrible thing:
The committing of (C2)adultery and walking in deceit;
And they strengthen the hands of (C3)evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
All of them have become to Me like (C4)Sodom,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
'Behold, I am going to (C1)feed them wormwood
And make them drink poisonous water,
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
Ungodliness has spread into all the land.'"
16 This is what the LORD of armies says:
"(C1)Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.
They are (C2)leading you into futility;
They tell a (C3)vision of their own (F1)imagination,
Not (C4)from the mouth of the LORD.
17 "They keep saying to those who (C1)despise Me,
'The LORD has said, "(C2)You will have peace"';
And as for everyone who walks in the (C3)stubbornness of his own heart,
They say, '(C4)Disaster will not come on you.'
18 "But (C1)who has stood in the council of the LORD,
That he should see and hear His word?
Who has paid (C2)attention to (F1)His word and listened?
19 "Behold, the (C1)storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath,
Even a whirling tempest;
It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.
20 "The (C1)anger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has (C2)performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;
(C3)In the last days you will clearly understand it.
21 "(C1)I did not send these prophets,
But they ran.
I did not speak to them,
But they prophesied.
22 "But if they had (C1)stood in My council,
Then they would have (C2)announced My words to My people,
And would have turned them back from their evil way
And from the evil of their deeds.
23 "Am I a God who is (C1)near," declares the LORD,
"And not a God far off?
24 "Can a person (C1)hide himself in hiding places
So that I do not see him?" declares the LORD.
"(C2)Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD.
25 "I have (C1)heard what the prophets have said who (C2)prophesy falsely in My name, saying, 'I had a (C3)dream, I had a dream!'26 "How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the (C1)deceitfulness of their own heart,27 who intend to (C1)make My people forget My name by their dreams which they report to one another, just as their fathers (C2)forgot My name because of Baal?28 "The prophet who has a dream may report his dream, but let him who has (C1)My word speak My word truthfully. (C2)What does straw have in common with grain?" declares the LORD.29 "Is My word not like (C1)fire?" declares the LORD, "and like a (C2)hammer which shatters a rock?30 "Therefore behold, (C1)I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who steal My words from each other.31 "Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who (F1)use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares!'32 "Behold, I am against those who have prophesied (C1)false dreams," declares the LORD, "and reported them and led My people astray by their lies and (C2)reckless boasting; yet (C3)I did not send them nor command them, nor do they (C4)provide this people the slightest benefit," declares the LORD.
33 "Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, 'What is the (F1)(C1)pronouncement of the LORD?' then you shall say to them, 'What (F1)pronouncement?' The LORD declares, 'I will (C2)abandon you.'34 "Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, 'The (C1)pronouncement of the LORD,' I will bring punishment upon that person and his household.35 "This is what each one of you will say to his neighbor and to his brother: '(C1)What has the LORD answered?' or, 'What has the LORD spoken?'36 "For you will no longer remember the pronouncement of the LORD, because every person's own word will become the pronouncement, and you have (C1)perverted the words of the (C2)living God, the LORD of armies, our God.37 "This is what you will say to that prophet: 'What has the LORD answered you?' and, 'What has the LORD spoken?'38 "And if you say, 'The pronouncement of the LORD!' for that reason the LORD says this: 'Because you said this word, "The pronouncement of the LORD!" I have also sent word to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The pronouncement of the LORD!'"'39 "Therefore behold, (C1)I will certainly forget you and thrust you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers.40 "I will put an everlasting (C1)disgrace on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten."
Chapter 24
Baskets of Figs and the Returnees
1 After (C1)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and metalworkers from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me: behold, two (C2)baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD.2 One basket had very good figs, like (C1)first-ripe figs, and the other basket had (C2)very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness.3 Then the LORD said to me, "(C1)What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs: the good figs are very good, and the bad ones, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness."
4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,5 "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Like these good figs, so I will regard (C1)as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.6 'For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will (C1)bring them back to this land; and I will (C2)build them up and not overthrow them, and I will (C3)plant them and not uproot them.7 'I will also give them a (C1)heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be (C2)My people, and I will be their God, for they will (C3)return to Me wholeheartedly.
8 'But like the (C1)bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness,' indeed, this is what the LORD says, 'so will I give up (C2)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the (C3)remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and the ones who live in the land of (C4)Egypt.9 'I will (C1)make them an object of terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a (C2)disgrace and a proverb, a taunt and a (C3)curse in all the places where I will scatter them.10 'And I will send the (C1)sword, the famine, and the plague upon them until they are eliminated from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.'"
Psalms 130
Chapter 130
Hope in the LORD'S Forgiving Love.
1 Out of the (C1)depths I have cried to You, LORD.
2 Lord, (C1)hear my voice!
Let (C2)Your ears be attentive
To the (C3)sound of my pleadings.
3 If You, (F1)LORD, were to keep account of guilty deeds,
Lord, who could (C1)stand?
4 But there is (C1)forgiveness with You,
So that You may be (F1)(C2)revered.
5 I wait for the LORD, my (C1)soul waits,
And I (F1)wait (C2)for His word.
6 My soul waits in hope for the Lord
More than the watchmen (C1)for the morning;
Yes, more than the watchmen for the morning.
7 Israel, (C1)wait for the LORD;
For with the LORD there is (C2)mercy,
And with Him is (C3)abundant redemption.
8 And He will (C1)redeem Israel
From all his guilty deeds.
James 2
Chapter 2
The Sin of Partiality
1 (C1)My brothers and sisters, (C2)do not hold your faith in our (C3)glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of (C4)personal favoritism.2 For if a man comes into your (F1)assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in (C1)bright clothes, and a poor man in (C2)dirty clothes also comes in,3 and you (F1)pay special attention to the one who is wearing the (C1)bright clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,"4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges (C1)with evil (F1)motives?5 Listen, (C1)my beloved brothers and sisters: did (C2)God not choose the poor (F1)of this world to be (C3)rich in faith and (C4)heirs of the kingdom which He (C5)promised to those who love Him?6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and (F1)personally (C1)drag you into (F2)court?7 (C1)Do they not blaspheme the good name (F1)by which you have been called?
8 If, however, you (C1)are fulfilling the (F1)royal law according to the Scripture, "(C2)YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," you are doing well.9 But if you (C1)show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.10 For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet (C1)stumbles in one point, has become (C2)guilty of all.11 For He who said, "(C1)DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "(C2)DO NOT MURDER." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law.12 So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by (C1)the law of freedom.13 For (C1)judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy (F1)triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Works
14 (C1)What use is it, (C2)my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can (F1)that faith save him?15 (C1)If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,16 and one of you says to them, "(C1)Go in peace, (F1)be warmed and be filled," yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?17 In the same way, (C1)faith also, if it has no works, is (F1)dead, being by itself.
18 (C1)But someone (F1)may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your (C2)faith without the works, and I will (C3)show you my faith (C4)by my works."19 You believe that (F1)(C1)God is one. (C2)You do well; (C3)the demons also believe, and shudder.20 But are you willing to acknowledge, (C1)you foolish person, that (C2)faith without works is useless?21 (C1)Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?22 You see that (C1)faith was working with his works, and (F1)as a result of the (C2)works, faith was (F2)perfected;23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "(C1)AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called a (C2)friend of God.24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.25 In the same way, was (C1)Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also (C2)when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also (C1)faith without works is dead.
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