MALACHI 1:1-2:17
REVELATION 21:1-27
PSALM 149:1-9
PROVERBS 31:10-24
MALACHI 1:1-2:17
This is the message that the LORD gave to Israel through the prophet Malachi. 2 " I have loved you deeply," says the LORD. But you retort, " Really? How have you loved us?" And the LORD replies, " I showed my love for you by loving your ancestor Jacob. Yet Esau was Jacob's brother, 3 and I rejected Esau and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau's inheritance into a desert for jackals." 4 And Esau's descendants in Edom may say, " We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins." But this is what the LORD Almighty says: " They may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again! Their country will be known as ` The Land of Wickedness,' and their people will be called ` The People with Whom the LORD Is Forever Angry.' 5 When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say, ` Truly, the LORD's great power reaches far beyond our borders!' " 6 The LORD Almighty says to the priests: " A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. I am your father and master, but where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have despised my name! " But you ask, ` How have we ever despised your name?' 7 " You have despised my name by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. " Then you ask, ` How have we defiled the sacrifices?'" You defile them by saying the altar of the LORD deserves no respect. 8 When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn't that wrong? And isn't it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!" says the LORD Almighty. 9 " Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?" asks the LORD Almighty. 10 " I wish that someone among you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not at all pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, " and I will not accept your offerings. 11 But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty. 12 " But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it's all right to defile the Lord's table. 13 You say, ` It's too hard to serve the LORD,' and you turn up your noses at his commands," says the LORD Almighty. " Think of it! Animals that are stolen and mutilated, crippled and sick--presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?" asks the LORD. 14 " Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, " and my name is feared among the nations!2:1 " LISTEN, you priests; this command is for you! 2 Listen to me and take it to heart. Honor my name," says the LORD Almighty, " or I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken my warning seriously. 3 I will rebuke your descendants and splatter your faces with the dung of your festival sacrifices, and I will add you to the dung heap. 4 Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with the Levites may continue," says the LORD Almighty. 5 " The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace, and this is what I gave them. This called for reverence from them, and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 They passed on to the people all the truth they received from me. They did not lie or cheat; they walked with me, living good and righteous lives, and they turned many from lives of sin. 7 The priests' lips should guard knowledge, and people should go to them for instruction, for the priests are the messengers of the LORD Almighty. 8 But not you! You have left God's paths. Your ` guidance' has caused many to stumble into sin. You have corrupted the covenant I made with the Levites," says the LORD Almighty. 9 " So I have made you despised and humiliated in the eyes of all the people. For you have not obeyed me but have shown partiality in your interpretation of the law." 10 Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why are we faithless to each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors? 11 In Judah, in Israel, and in Jerusalem there is treachery, for the men of Judah have defiled the LORD's beloved sanctuary by marrying women who worship idols. 12 May the LORD cut off from the nation of Israel every last man who has done this and yet brings an offering to the LORD Almighty.13 Here is another thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings, and he doesn't accept them with pleasure. 14 You cry out, " Why has the LORD abandoned us?" I'll tell you why! Because the LORD witnessed the vows you and your wife made to each other on your wedding day when you were young. But you have been disloyal to her, though she remained your faithful companion, the wife of your marriage vows. 15 Didn't the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard yourself; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. 16 " For I hate divorce!" says the LORD, the God of Israel. " It is as cruel as putting on a victim's bloodstained coat," says the LORD Almighty. " So guard yourself; always remain loyal to your wife." 17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. " Wearied him?" you ask. " How have we wearied him?" You have wearied him by suggesting that the LORD favors evildoers since he does not punish them. You have wearied him by asking, " Where is the God of justice?"
REVELATION 21:1-27
Then I [John] saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, " Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever." 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, " Look, I am making all things new!" And then he said to me, " Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true." 6 And he also said, " It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega--the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the water of life without charge! 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 But cowards who turn away from me, and unbelievers, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those who practice witchcraft, and idol worshipers, and all liars--their doom is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death." 9 Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, " Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."10 So he took me in spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11 It was filled with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious gem, crystal clear like jasper. 12 Its walls were broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on each side--east, north, south, and west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, it was in the form of a cube, for its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. 17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (the angel used a standard human measure). 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve gems: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were made of pearls--each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass. 22 No temple could be seen in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations of the earth will walk in its light, and the rulers of the world will come and bring their glory to it. 25 Its gates never close at the end of day because there is no night. 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. 27 Nothing evil will be allowed to enter--no one who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty--but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
PSALM 149:1-9
Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a new song.
Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful.
2 O Israel, rejoice in your Maker.
O people of Jerusalem, exult in your King.
3 Praise his name with dancing,
accompanied by tambourine and harp.
4 For the LORD delights in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the faithful rejoice in this honor.
Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.
6 Let the praises of God be in their mouths,
and a sharp sword in their hands--
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with shackles
and their leaders with iron chains,
9 to execute the judgment written against them.
This is the glory of his faithful ones.
Praise the LORD!
PROVERBS 31:10-24
Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is worth more than precious rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She will not hinder him but help him all her life. She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She is like a merchant's ship; she brings her food from afar. She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for her servant girls. She goes out to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She watches for bargains; her lights burn late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. She has no fear of winter for her household because all of them have warm clothes. She quilts her own bedspreads. She dresses like royalty in gowns of finest cloth. Her husband is well known, for he sits in the council meeting with the other civic leaders. She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants.
