the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Daily Bible Reading
November 24 - Bible-in-a-Year
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Jeremiah 43-44
Chapter 43
Jeremiah's Counsel Rejected
1 When Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of the Lord their God—all these words the Lord their God had sent him to give them— 2 then Azariah[a] son of Hoshaiah,(a) Johanan son of Kareah, and all the other arrogant men responded to Jeremiah, "You are speaking a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to live there for a while!' 3 Rather, Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans to put us to death or to deport us to Babylon!"
4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies did not obey the voice of the Lord to stay in the land of Judah. 5 Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took the whole remnant of Judah,(b) those who had returned from all the nations where they had been banished to live in the land of Judah for a while— 6 the men, women, children, king's daughters, and everyone whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, had allowed to remain with Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan,(c) along with Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah— 7 and they went to the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the Lord . They went as far as Tahpanhes.(d)
God's Sign to the People in Egypt
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah at Tahpanhes: 9 "Pick up some large stones and set them in the mortar of the brick pavement that is at the opening of Pharaoh's palace at Tahpanhes. Do this in the sight of the Judean men 10 and tell them: This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will place his throne on these stones that I have embedded, and he will pitch his pavilion over them. 11 He will come and strike down the land of Egypt(e)—those destined for death, to death; those destined for captivity, to captivity; and those destined for the sword,(f) to the sword. 12 I[b] will kindle a fire in the temples of Egypt's gods,(g) and he will burn them and take them prisoner. He will clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks lice off[c] his garment,(h) and he will leave there unscathed. 13 He will smash the sacred pillars of the sun temple[d][e] in the land of Egypt and burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods."
Chapter 44
God's Judgment against His People in Egypt
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt—at Migdol,(a) Tahpanhes,(b) Memphis,(c) and in the land of Pathros:(d) 2 "This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You have seen all the disaster I brought against Jerusalem and all Judah's cities; look, they are a ruin today without an inhabitant in them 3 because of their evil ways that provoked Me to anger,(e) going and burning incense to serve other gods(f) that they, you, and your fathers did not know. 4 So I sent you all My servants the prophets time and time again,[a] saying: Don't do this detestable thing that I hate. 5 But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their evil or stop burning incense to other gods. 6 So My fierce wrath poured out and burned in Judah's cities and Jerusalem's streets(g) so that they became the desolate ruin they are today.
7 "So now, this is what the Lord , the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves? You are cutting off man and woman, child and infant(h) from Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant. 8 You are provoking Me to anger by the work of your hands. You are burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live for a while. As a result, you will be cut off and become an object of cursing and insult among all the nations of earth.(i) 9 Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, the evils of Judah's kings, the evils of their wives, your own evils, and the evils of your wives that were committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not become humble to this day, and they have not feared or followed My instruction or My statutes that I set before you and your ancestors.
11 "Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn against you to bring disaster,(j) to cut off all Judah. 12 And I will take away the remnant of Judah,(k) those who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to live there for a while; they will meet their end. All of them in the land of Egypt will fall by the sword; they will meet their end by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by the sword and by famine. Then they will become an object of cursing, scorn,(l) execration, and disgrace. 13 I will punish those living in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem by sword, famine, and plague. 14 Then the remnant of Judah—those going to live for a while there in the land of Egypt—will have no fugitive or survivor to return to the land of Judah where they are longing[b] to return to live,(m) for they will not return except for a few fugitives."
The People's Stubborn Response
15 However, all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women standing by—a great assembly—and all the people who were living in the land of Egypt at Pathros answered Jeremiah, 16 "As for the word you spoke to us in the name of Yahweh, we are not going to listen to you! 17 Instead, we will do everything we said we would: burn incense to the queen of heaven[c] and offer drink offerings to her just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in Judah's cities(n) and in Jerusalem's streets. Then we had enough food and good things and saw no disaster, 18 but from the time we ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to offer her drink offerings, we have lacked everything, and through sword and famine we have met our end."
19 And the women said,[d] "When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it apart from our husbands' knowledge(o) that we made sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"
20 But Jeremiah responded to all the people—the men, women, and all the people who were answering him: 21 "As for the incense you burned in Judah's cities(p) and in Jerusalem's streets—you, your fathers, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land—did the Lord not remember them? He brought this to mind. 22 The Lord can no longer bear your evil deeds and the detestable acts you have committed, so your land has become a waste, a desolation, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as you see today. 23 Because you burned incense and sinned against the Lord and didn't obey the Lord 's voice(q) and didn't follow His instruction, His statutes, and His testimonies, this disaster has come to you, as you see today."
24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, "Hear the word of the Lord , all Judah who are in the land of Egypt.(r) 25 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘As for you and your wives, you women have spoken with your mouths, and you men fulfilled it by your deeds, saying, "We will keep our vows that we have made to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings for her." Go ahead, confirm your vows! Pay your vows!'
26 "Therefore, hear the word of the Lord , all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: ‘I have sworn by My great name,(s) says Yahweh, that My name will never again be invoked by anyone of Judah in all the land of Egypt,(t) saying, "As the Lord God lives." 27 I am watching over them for disaster and not for good,(u) and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine until they are finished off. 28 Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah only few in number,(v) and the whole remnant of Judah, the ones going to the land of Egypt to live there for a while, will know whose word stands, Mine or theirs! 29 This will be a sign to you'—this is the Lord 's declaration—‘that I am about to punish you in this place, so you may know that My words of disaster concerning you will certainly come to pass.(w) 30 This is what the Lord says: I am about to hand over Pharaoh Hophra,(x) Egypt's king, to his enemies, to those who want to take his life, just as I handed over Judah's King Zedekiah(y) to Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar, who was his enemy, the one who wanted to take his life.'"
Psalms 140
Chapter 140
Psalm 140
Prayer for Rescue
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
1 Rescue me,
Lord
, from evil men.
Keep me safe from violent men(a)
2 who plan evil in their hearts.
They stir up wars all day long.(b)
3 They make their tongues
as sharp as a snake's bite;
viper's venom is under their lips.(c)
4 Protect me,
Lord
,
from the clutches of the wicked.(d)
Keep me safe from violent men
who plan to make me stumble.[a](e)
5 The proud hide a trap with ropes for me;
they spread a net along the path
and set snares for me.(f)
6 I say to the
Lord
, "You are my God."
Listen,
Lord
, to my cry for help.(g)
7 Lord
God
, my strong Savior,
You shield my head on the day of battle.(h)
8
Lord
, do not grant the desires of the wicked;
do not let them achieve their goals.
Otherwise, they will become proud.(i)
9 When those who surround me rise up,[b]
may the trouble their lips cause overwhelm them.(j)
10 Let hot coals fall on them.
Let them be thrown into the fire,
into the abyss, never again to rise.(k)
11 Do not let a slanderer stay in the land.
Let evil relentlessly[c] hunt down a violent man.(l)
12 I[d] know that the
Lord
upholds
the just cause of the poor,
justice for the needy.(m)
13 Surely the righteous will praise Your name;
the upright will live in Your presence.(n)
2 Peter 2
Chapter 2
The Judgment of False Teachers
1 But there were also false prophets(a) among the people, just as there will be false teachers(b) among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought(c) them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their unrestrained ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed because of them.(d) 3 They will exploit(e) you in their greed(f) with deceptive words. Their condemnation,(g) pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.
4 For if God didn't spare(h) the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus[a](i) and delivered them to be kept in chains[b] of darkness until judgment;(j) 5 and if He didn't spare the ancient world, but protected Noah,(k) a preacher of righteousness, and seven others,[c](l) when He brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah(m) to ashes and condemned them to ruin,[d] making them an example to those who were going to be ungodly;[e](n) 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot,(o) distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral 8 (for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard(p))— 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue(q) the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,(r) 10 especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.(s)
Bold, arrogant people! They do not tremble when they blaspheme the glorious ones; 11 however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord.[f] 12 But these people, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed—speak blasphemies about things they don't understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed, 13 suffering harm as the payment for unrighteousness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions[g] as they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery(t) and are always looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse!(u) 15 They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path(v) and have followed the path of Balaam,(w) the son of Bosor,[h] who loved the wages of unrighteousness(x) 16 but received a rebuke for his transgression: A donkey that could not talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's irrationality.(y)
17 These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.(z) 18 For by uttering boastful, empty words,(aa) they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped[i] from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.(ab) 20 For if, having escaped the world's impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,(ac) they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.(ad) 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness(ae) than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command(af) delivered(ag) to them.(ah) 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, (ai)[j] and, "a sow, after washing itself, wallows in the mud."
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