EZEKIEL 1:1-3:15
HEBREWS 3:1-19
PSALM 104:1-23
PROVERBS 26:24-26
EZEKIEL 1:1-3:15
On July 31 of my thirtieth year, while I [Ezekiel] was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened to me, and I saw visions of God. 2 This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity. 3 The LORD gave a message to me, Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, there beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians, and I felt the hand of the LORD take hold of me. 4 As I looked, I saw a great storm coming toward me from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. The fire inside the cloud glowed like gleaming amber. 5 From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human, 6 except that each had four faces and two pairs of wings. 7 Their legs were straight like human legs, but their feet were split like calves' feet and shone like burnished bronze. 8 Beneath each of their wings I could see human hands. 9 The wings of each living being touched the wings of the two beings beside it. The living beings were able to fly in any direction without turning around. 10 Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back. 11 Each had two pairs of outstretched wings--one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body. 12 They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in all directions without having to turn around. 13 The living beings looked like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and it looked as though lightning was flashing back and forth among them. 14 And the living beings darted to and fro like flashes of lightning.15 As I looked at these beings, I saw four wheels on the ground beneath them, one wheel belonging to each. 16 The wheels sparkled as if made of chrysolite. All four wheels looked the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it. 17 The beings could move forward in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved. 18 The rims of the four wheels were awesomely tall, and they were covered with eyes all around the edges. 19 When the four living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. When they flew upward, the wheels went up, too. 20 The spirit of the four living beings was in the wheels. So wherever the spirit went, the wheels and the living beings went, too. 21 When the living beings moved, the wheels moved. When the living beings stopped, the wheels stopped. When the living beings flew into the air, the wheels rose up. For the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. 22 There was a surface spread out above them like the sky. It sparkled like crystal. 23 Beneath this surface the wings of each living being stretched out to touch the others' wings, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 As they flew their wings roared like waves crashing against the shore, or like the voice of the Almighty, or like the shouting of a mighty army. When they stopped, they let down their wings. 25 As they stood with their wings lowered, a voice spoke from beyond the crystal surface above them. 26 Above the surface over their heads was what looked like a throne made of blue sapphire. And high above this throne was a figure whose appearance was like that of a man. 27 From his waist up, he looked like gleaming amber, flickering like a fire. And from his waist down, he looked like a burning flame, shining with splendor. 28 All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining through the clouds. This was the way the glory of the LORD appeared to me. When I saw it, I fell face down in the dust, and I heard someone's voice speaking to me.2:1 " STAND up, son of man," said the voice. " I want to speak with you." 2 The Spirit came into me as he spoke and set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words. 3 " Son of man," he said, " I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a nation that is rebelling against me. Their ancestors have rebelled against me from the beginning, and they are still in revolt to this very day. 4 They are a hard-hearted and stubborn people. But I am sending you to say to them, ` This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' 5 And whether they listen or not--for remember, they are rebels--at least they will know they have had a prophet among them. 6 " Son of man, do not fear them. Don't be afraid even though their threats are sharp as thorns and barbed like briers, and they sting like scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls. For remember, they are rebels! 7 You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won't listen, for they are completely rebellious! 8 Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in being a rebel. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you." 9 Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and it held a scroll. 10 He unrolled it, and I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, other words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom.3:1 THE voice said to me, " Son of man, eat what I am giving you--eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel." 2 So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. 3 " Eat it all," he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey. 4 Then he said, " Son of man, go to the people of Israel with my messages. 5 I am not sending you to some foreign people whose language you cannot understand. 6 No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen! 7 I am sending you to the people of Israel, but they won't listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn. 8 But look, I have made you as hard and stubborn as they are. 9 I have made you as hard as rock! So don't be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are such rebels." 10 Then he added, " Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. 11 Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ` This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' Do this whether they listen to you or not." 12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me. (May the glory of the LORD be praised in his place!) 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living beings as they brushed against each other and the rumbling of their wheels beneath them. 14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness and turmoil, but the LORD's hold on me was strong. 15 Then I came to the colony of Judean exiles in Tel-abib, beside the Kebar River. I sat there among them for seven days, overwhelmed.
HEBREWS 3:1-19
And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are bound for heaven, think about this Jesus whom we declare to be God's Messenger and High Priest. 2 For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully and was entrusted with God's entire house. 3 But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a fine house deserves more praise than the house itself. 4 For every house has a builder, but God is the one who made everything. 5 Moses was certainly faithful in God's house, but only as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. 6 But Christ, the faithful Son, was in charge of the entire household. And we are God's household, if we keep up our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. 7 That is why the Holy Spirit says, " Today you must listen to his voice.
8 Don't harden your hearts against him
as Israel did when they rebelled,
when they tested God's patience in the wilderness.
9 There your ancestors tried my patience,
even though they saw my miracles for forty years.
10 So I was angry with them, and I said,
` Their hearts always turn away from me.
They refuse to do what I tell them.'
11 So in my anger I made a vow:
` They will never enter my place of rest.' "
12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters.* Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, as long as it is called " today," so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 15 But never forget the warning: " Today you must listen to his voice.
Don't harden your hearts against him
as Israel did when they rebelled."
16 And who were those people who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Weren't they the ones Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when he vowed that they would never enter his place of rest? He was speaking to those who disobeyed him. 19 So we see that they were not allowed to enter his rest because of their unbelief.
PSALM 104:1-23
Praise the LORD, I tell myself;
O LORD my God, how great you are!
You are robed with honor and with majesty;
2 you are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
3 you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.
You make the clouds your chariots;
you ride upon the wings of the wind.
4 The winds are your messengers;
flames of fire are your servants.
5 You placed the world on its foundation
so it would never be moved.
6 You clothed the earth with floods of water,
water that covered even the mountains.
7 At the sound of your rebuke, the water fled;
at the sound of your thunder, it fled away.
8 Mountains rose and valleys sank
to the levels you decreed.
9 Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,
so they would never again cover the earth.
10 You make the springs pour water into ravines,
so streams gush down from the mountains.
11 They provide water for all the animals,
and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds nest beside the streams
and sing among the branches of the trees.
13 You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,
and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.
14 You cause grass to grow for the cattle.
You cause plants to grow for people to use.
You allow them to produce food from the earth--
15 wine to make them glad,
olive oil as lotion for their skin,
and bread to give them strength.
16 The trees of the LORD are well cared for--
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests,
and the storks make their homes in the firs.
18 High in the mountains are pastures for the wild goats,
and the rocks form a refuge for rock badgers.
19 You made the moon to mark the seasons
and the sun that knows when to set.
20 You send the darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals prowl about.
21 Then the young lions roar for their food,
but they are dependent on God.
22 At dawn they slink back
into their dens to rest.
23 Then people go off to their work;
they labor until the evening shadows fall again.
PROVERBS 26:24-26
People with hate in their hearts may sound pleasant enough, but don't believe them. Though they pretend to be kind, their hearts are full of all kinds of evil. While their hatred may be concealed by trickery, it will finally come to light for all to see.
