October 8 Reading through the Bible

JEREMIAH 10:1-11:23

COLOSSIANS 3:18-4:18

PSALM 78:56-72

PROVERBS 24:28-29

JEREMIAH 10:1-11:23

Hear the word of the LORD, O Israel! 2 This is what the LORD says: " Do not act like other nations who try to read their future in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions, even though other nations are terrified by them. 3 Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree and carve an idol. 4 They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over. 5 There stands their god like a helpless scarecrow in a garden! It cannot speak, and it needs to be carried because it cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good." 6 LORD, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power. 7 Who would not fear you, O King of nations? That title belongs to you alone! Among all the wise people of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world, there is no one like you. 8 The wisest of people who worship idols are stupid and foolish. The things they worship are made of wood! 9 They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, and they give these materials to skillful craftsmen who make their idols. Then they dress these gods in royal purple robes made by expert tailors. 10 But the LORD is the only true God, the living God. He is the everlasting King! The whole earth trembles at his anger. The nations hide before his wrath. 11 Say this to those who worship other gods: " Your so-called gods, who did not make the heavens and earth, will vanish from the earth."12 But God made the earth by his power,

and he preserves it by his wisdom.

He has stretched out the heavens

by his understanding.

13 When he speaks, there is thunder in the heavens.

He causes the clouds to rise over the earth.

He sends the lightning with the rain

and releases the wind from his storehouses.

14 Compared to him, all people are foolish

and have no knowledge at all!

They make idols, but the idols will disgrace their makers,

for they are frauds.

They have no life or power in them.

15 Idols are worthless; they are lies!

The time is coming when they will all be destroyed.

16 But the God of Israel is no idol!

He is the Creator of everything that exists,

including Israel, his own special possession.

The LORD Almighty is his name!

17 " Pack your bag and prepare to leave; the siege is about to begin," 18 says the LORD. " For suddenly, I will fling you from this land and pour great troubles upon you. At last you will feel my anger." 19 My wound is desperate, and my grief is great. My sickness is incurable, but I must bear it. 20 My home is gone, and no one is left to help me rebuild it. My children have been taken away, and I will never see them again. 21 The shepherds of my people have lost their senses. They no longer follow the LORD or ask what he wants of them. Therefore, they fail completely, and their flocks are scattered. 22 Listen! Hear the terrifying roar of great armies as they roll down from the north. The towns of Judah will be destroyed and will become a haunt for jackals. 23 I know, LORD, that a person's life is not his own. No one is able to plan his own course. 24 So correct me, LORD, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die. 25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to recognize you--on nations that do not call upon your name. For they have utterly devoured your people Israel, making the land a desolate wilderness.11:1 THE LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 " Remind the people of Judah and Jerusalem about the terms of their covenant with me. 3 Say to them, ` This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is anyone who does not obey the terms of my covenant! 4 For I said to your ancestors when I brought them out of slavery in Egypt, " If you obey me and do whatever I command you, then you will be my people, and I will be your God." 5 I said this so I could keep my promise to your ancestors to give you a land flowing with milk and honey--the land you live in today.' " Then I replied, " So be it, LORD!"6 Then the LORD said, " Broadcast this message in the streets of Jerusalem. Go from town to town throughout the land and say, ` Remember the covenant your ancestors made, and do everything they promised. 7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, repeating over and over again to this day: " Obey me!" 8 But your ancestors did not pay any attention; they would not even listen. Instead, they stubbornly followed their own evil desires. And because they refused to obey, I brought upon them all the curses described in our covenant.' " 9 Again the LORD spoke to me and said, " I have discovered a conspiracy against me among the people of Judah and Jerusalem. 10 They have returned to the sins of their forefathers. They have refused to listen to me and are worshiping idols. Israel and Judah have both broken the covenant I made with their ancestors. 11 Therefore, says the LORD, I am going to bring calamity upon them, and they will not escape. Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their cries. 12 Then the people of Judah and Jerusalem will pray to their idols and offer incense before them. But the idols will not save them when disaster strikes! 13 Look now, people of Judah, you have as many gods as there are cities and towns. Your altars of shame--altars for burning incense to your god Baal--are along every street in Jerusalem. 14 " Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress. 15 What right do my beloved people have to come to my Temple, where they have done so many immoral things? Can their sacrifices avert their destruction? They actually rejoice in doing evil! 16 " I, the LORD, once called them a thriving olive tree, beautiful to see and full of good fruit. But now I have sent the fury of their enemies to burn them with fire, leaving them charred and broken. 17 I, the LORD Almighty, who planted this olive tree, have ordered it destroyed. For the people of Israel and Judah have done evil, provoking my anger by offering incense to Baal." 18 Then the LORD told me about the plots my enemies were making against me. 19 I had been as unaware as a lamb on the way to its slaughter. I had no idea that they were planning to kill me! " Let's destroy this man and all his words," they said. " Let's kill him, so his name will be forgotten forever." 20 O LORD Almighty, you are just, and you examine the deepest thoughts of hearts and minds. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you. 21 The men of Anathoth wanted me dead. They said they would kill me if I did not stop speaking in the LORD's name. 22 So this is what the LORD Almighty says about them: " I will punish them! Their young men will die in battle, and their little boys and girls will starve. 23 Not one of these plotters from Anathoth will survive, for I will bring disaster upon them when their time of punishment comes."

COLOSSIANS 3:18-4:18

You wives must submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. 19 And you husbands must love your wives and never treat them harshly. 20 You children must always obey your parents, for this is what pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, don't aggravate your children. If you do, they will become discouraged and quit trying.22 You slaves must obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Obey them willingly because of your reverent fear of the Lord. 23 Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and the Master you are serving is Christ. 25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites who can get away with evil. 4:1 YOU slave owners must be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master--in heaven. 2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. 3 Don't forget to pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to preach about his secret plan--that Christ is also for you Gentiles. That is why I am here in chains. 4 Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. 5 Live wisely among those who are not Christians, and make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be gracious and effective so that you will have the right answer for everyone. 7 Tychicus, a much loved brother, will tell you how I am getting along. He is a faithful helper who serves the Lord with me. 8 I have sent him on this special trip to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you. 9 I am also sending Onesimus, a faithful and much loved brother, one of your own people. He and Tychicus will give you all the latest news. 10 Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas's cousin. And as you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way. 11 Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish Christians among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been!12 Epaphras, from your city, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident of the whole will of God. 13 I can assure you that he has agonized for you and also for the Christians in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Dear Doctor Luke sends his greetings, and so does Demas. 15 Please give my greetings to our Christian brothers and sisters* at Laodicea, and to Nympha and those who meet in her house. 16 After you have read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it, too. And you should read the letter I wrote to them. 17 And say to Archippus, " Be sure to carry out the work the Lord gave you." 18 Here is my greeting in my own handwriting--PAUL. Remember my chains. May the grace of God be with you.

PSALM 78:56-72

Yet though he [God] did all this for them [the Israelites],

they continued to test his patience.

They rebelled against the Most High

and refused to follow his decrees.

57 They turned back and were as faithless as their parents had been.

They were as useless as a crooked bow.

58 They made God angry by building altars to other gods;

they made him jealous with their idols.

59 When God heard them, he was very angry,

and he rejected Israel completely.

60 Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,

the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.

61 He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured;

he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.

62 He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword,

because he was so angry with his own people--his special possession.

63 Their young men were killed by fire;

their young women died before singing their wedding songs.

64 Their priests were slaughtered,

and their widows could not mourn their deaths.

65 Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep,

like a mighty man aroused from a drunken stupor.

66 He routed his enemies

and sent them to eternal shame.

67 But he rejected Joseph's descendants;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he loved.

69 There he built his towering sanctuary,

as solid and enduring as the earth itself.

70 He chose his servant David,

calling him from the sheep pens.

71 He took David from tending the ewes and lambs

and made him the shepherd of Jacob's descendants--

God's own people, Israel.

72 He cared for them with a true heart

and led them with skillful hands.

PROVERBS 24:28-29

Do not testify spitefully against innocent neighbors; don't lie about them. And don't say, " Now I can pay them back for all their meanness to me! I'll get even!"  

October 7 Reading through the Bible

 

 JEREMIAH 8:8-9:26

COLOSSIANS 3:1-17

PSALM 78:32-55

PROVERBS 24:27

JEREMIAH 8:8-9:26

" ` How can you [Israelites] say, " We are wise because we have the law of the LORD," when your teachers have twisted it so badly? 9 These wise teachers will be shamed by exile for their sin, for they have rejected the word of the LORD. Are they so wise after all? 10 I will give their wives and their farms to others. From the least to the greatest, they trick others to get what does not belong to them. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that. 11 They offer superficial treatments for my people's mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when all is war. 12 Are they ashamed when they do these disgusting things? No, not at all--they don't even blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be humbled when they are punished, says the LORD. 13 I will take away their rich harvests of figs and grapes. Their fruit trees will all die. All the good things I prepared for them will soon be gone. I, the LORD, have spoken!' 14 " Then the people will say, ` Why should we wait here to die? Come, let's go to the fortified cities to die there. For the LORD our God has decreed our destruction and has given us a cup of poison to drink because we sinned against the LORD. 15 We hoped for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror. 16 The snorting of the enemies' warhorses can be heard all the way from the land of Dan in the north! The whole land trembles at the approach of the terrible army, for it is coming to devour the land and everything in it--cities and people alike.' 17 " I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes you cannot charm," says the LORD. " No matter what you do, they will bite you, and you will die." 18 My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken. 19 Listen to the weeping of my people; it can be heard all across the land. " Has the LORD abandoned Jerusalem?" the people ask. " Is her King no longer there?" " Oh, why have they angered me with their carved idols and worthless gods?" asks the LORD. 20 " The harvest is finished, and the summer is gone," the people cry, " yet we are not saved!" 21 I weep for the hurt of my people. I am stunned and silent, mute with grief. 22 Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds of my people?9:1 OH, that my eyes were a fountain of tears; I would weep forever! I would sob day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered. 2 Oh, that I could go away and forget them and live in a shack in the desert, for they are all adulterous and treacherous. 3 " My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. And they only go from bad to worse! They care nothing for me," says the LORD. 4 " Beware of your neighbor! Beware of your brother! They all take advantage of one another and spread their slanderous lies. 5 They all fool and defraud each other; no one tells the truth. With practiced tongues they tell lies; they wear themselves out with all their sinning. 6 They pile lie upon lie and utterly refuse to come to me," says the LORD. 7 Therefore, the LORD Almighty says, " See, I will melt them in a crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with them? 8 For their tongues aim lies like poisoned arrows. They promise peace to their neighbors while planning to kill them. 9 Should I not punish them for this?" asks the LORD. " Should I not avenge myself against a nation such as this?" 10 I will weep for the mountains and wail for the desert pastures. For they are desolate and empty of life; the lowing of cattle is heard no more; the birds and wild animals all have fled. 11 " I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins," says the LORD. " It will be a place haunted by jackals. The towns of Judah will be ghost towns, with no one living in them." 12 Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it to others? Why has the land been ruined so completely that no one even dares to travel through it? 13 The LORD replies, " This has happened because my people have abandoned the instructions I gave them; they have refused to obey my law. 14 Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them. 15 So now, listen to what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. 16 I will scatter them around the world, and they will be strangers in distant lands. Their enemies will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely." 17 This is what the LORD Almighty says: " Think about what is going on! Call for the mourners to come. 18 Quick! Begin your weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes. 19 Hear the people of Jerusalem crying in despair, ` We are ruined! Disaster has come upon us! We must leave our land, because our homes have been torn down.' " 20 Listen, you women, to the words of the LORD; open your ears to what he has to say. Teach your daughters to wail; teach one another how to lament. 21 For death has crept in through our windows and has entered our mansions. It has killed off the flower of our youth: Children no longer play in the streets, and young men no longer gather in the squares. 22 And the LORD says, " Bodies will be scattered across the fields like dung, or like bundles of grain after the harvest. No one will be left to bury them." 23 This is what the LORD says: " Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. 24 Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken! 25 " A time is coming," says the LORD, " when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit--26 the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in distant places, and yes, even the people of Judah. Like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts."

COLOSSIANS 3:1-17

Since you [Colossians] have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. 2 Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. 3 For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. 5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires. Don't be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry. 6 God's terrible anger will come upon those who do such things. 7 You used to do them when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you. 11 In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. 12 Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful. 16 Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.

PSALM 78:32-55

But in spite of this, the people kept on sinning.

They refused to believe in his [God's] miracles.

33 So he ended their lives in failure

and gave them years of terror.

34 When God killed some of them, the rest finally sought him.

They repented and turned to God.

35 Then they remembered that God was their rock,

that their redeemer was the Most High.

36 But they followed him only with their words;

they lied to him with their tongues.

37 Their hearts were not loyal to him.

They did not keep his covenant.

38 Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins

and didn't destroy them all.

Many a time he held back his anger

and did not unleash his fury!

39 For he remembered that they were merely mortal,

gone in a moment like a breath of wind, never to return.

40 Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the desert

and grieved his heart in the wilderness.

41 Again and again they tested God's patience

and frustrated the Holy One of Israel.

42 They forgot about his power

and how he rescued them from their enemies.

43 They forgot his miraculous signs in Egypt,

his wonders on the plain of Zoan.

44 For he turned their rivers into blood,

so no one could drink from the streams.

45 He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them

and hordes of frogs to ruin them.

46 He gave their crops to caterpillars;

their harvest was consumed by locusts.

47 He destroyed their grapevines with hail

and shattered their sycamores with sleet.

48 He abandoned their cattle to the hail,

their livestock to bolts of lightning.

49 He loosed on them his fierce anger--

all his fury, rage, and hostility.

He dispatched against them

a band of destroying angels.

50 He turned his anger against them;

he did not spare the Egyptians' lives

but handed them over to the plague.

51 He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family,

the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.

52 But he led his own people like a flock of sheep,

guiding them safely through the wilderness.

53 He kept them safe so they were not afraid;

but the sea closed in upon their enemies.

54 He brought them to the border of his holy land,

to this land of hills he had won for them.

55 He drove out the nations before them;

he gave them their inheritance by lot.

He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.

PROVERBS 24:27

Develop your business first before building your house.

October 6 Reading through the Bible

  

JEREMIAH 6:16-8:7

COLOSSIANS 2:8-23

PSALM 78:1-31

PROVERBS 24:26

JEREMIAH 6:16-8:7

So now the LORD pleads, " Stop right where you are! Look for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ` No, that's not the road we want!' 17 I set watchmen over you who said, ` Listen for the sound of the trumpet!' But you replied, ` No! We won't pay attention!' 18 " Therefore, listen to this, all you nations. Take note of my people's condition. 19 Listen, all the earth! I will bring disaster upon my people. It is the fruit of their own sin because they refuse to listen to me. They have rejected all my instructions. 20 There is no use now in offering me sweet incense from Sheba. Keep your expensive perfumes! I cannot accept your burnt offerings. Your sacrifices have no sweet fragrance for me." 21 Therefore, this is what the LORD says: " I will put obstacles in my people's path. Fathers and sons will both fall over them. Neighbors and friends will collapse together."22 This is what the LORD says: " See a great army marching from the north! A great nation is rising against you from far-off lands. 23 They are fully armed for slaughter. They are cruel and show no mercy. As they ride forward, the noise of their army is like a roaring sea. They are marching in battle formation to destroy you, Jerusalem." 24 We have heard reports about the enemy, and we are weak with fright. Fear and pain have gripped us, like that of a woman about to give birth. 25 Don't go out to the fields! Don't travel the roads! The enemy is everywhere, and they are ready to kill. We are terrorized at every turn! 26 Now my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth, and sit among the ashes. Mourn and weep bitterly, as for the loss of an only son. For suddenly, the destroying armies will be upon you! 27 " Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals, that you may determine the quality of my people. 28 Are they not the worst of rebels, full of slander? They are as insolent as bronze, as hard and cruel as iron. All of them lead others into corruption. 29 The bellows blow fiercely. The refining fire grows hotter. But it will never purify and cleanse them because there is no purity in them to refine. 30 I will label them ` Rejected Silver' because I, the LORD, am discarding them."7:1 THE LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 " Go to the entrance of the LORD's Temple, and give this message to the people: ` O Judah, listen to this message from the LORD! Listen to it, all of you who worship here! 3 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. 4 But do not be fooled by those who repeatedly promise your safety because the Temple of the LORD is here. 5 I will be merciful only if you stop your wicked thoughts and deeds and are fair to others; 6 and if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; and if you stop your murdering; and if you stop worshiping idols as you now do to your own harm. 7 Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever. 8 " ` Do you think that because the Temple is here you will never suffer? Don't fool yourselves! 9 Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship Baal and all those other new gods of yours, 10 and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, " We are safe!"--only to go right back to all those evils again? 11 Do you think this Temple, which honors my name, is a den of thieves? I see all the evil going on there, says the LORD. 12 " ` Go to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle to honor my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. 13 While you were doing these wicked things, says the LORD, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer. 14 So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that was built to honor my name, this Temple that you trust for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors. 15 And I will send you into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel.' 16 " Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don't beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they give drink offerings to their other idol gods! 19 Am I the one they are hurting?" asks the LORD. " Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame." 20 So the Sovereign LORD says: " I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger." 21 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: " Away with your burnt offerings and sacrifices! Eat them yourselves! 22 When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. 23 This is what I told them: ` Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Only do as I say, and all will be well!' 24 " But my people would not listen to me. They kept on doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward. 25 From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my prophets--day in and day out. 26 But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful--even worse than their ancestors. 27 " Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect them to respond. 28 Say to them, ` This is the nation whose people will not obey the LORD their God and who refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer heard on their lips. 29 O Jerusalem, shave your head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the LORD has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury.' 30 " The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes," says the LORD. " They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it. 31 They have built the pagan shrines of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where they sacrifice their little sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing! 32 So beware, for the time is coming," says the LORD, " when that place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury so many bodies in Topheth that there won't be room for all the graves. 33 The corpses of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them away. 34 I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land will lie in complete desolation.8:1 " IN that day," says the LORD, " the enemy will break open the graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and common people. 2 They will dig out their bones and spread them out on the ground before the sun, moon, and stars--the gods my people have loved, served, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be scattered on the ground like dung. 3 And the people of this evil nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will send them. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken! 4 " Jeremiah, say to the people, ` This is what the LORD says: When people fall down, don't they get up again? When they start down the wrong road and discover their mistake, don't they turn back? 5 Then why do these people keep going along their self-destructive path, refusing to turn back, even though I have warned them? 6 I listen to their conversations, and what do I hear? Is anyone sorry for sin? Does anyone say, " What a terrible thing I have done"? No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse rushing into battle! 7 The stork knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane. They all return at the proper time each year. But not my people! They do not know what the LORD requires of them.' "

COLOSSIANS 2:8-23

Don't let anyone lead you [Colossians] astray with empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the evil powers of this world, and not from Christ. 9 For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body, 10 and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe. 11 When you came to Christ, you were " circumcised," but not by a physical procedure. It was a spiritual procedure--the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. 15 In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ. 16 So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new-moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself. 18 Don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on self-denial. And don't let anyone say you must worship angels, even though they say they have had visions about this. These people claim to be so humble, but their sinful minds have made them proud. 19 But they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For we are joined together in his body by his strong sinews, and we grow only as we get our nourishment and strength from God. 20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the evil powers of this world. So why do you keep on following rules of the world, such as, 21 " Don't handle, don't eat, don't touch." 22 Such rules are mere human teaching about things that are gone as soon as we use them. 23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline. But they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person's evil thoughts and desires.

PSALM 78:1-31

A psalm of Asaph.

1 O my people, listen to my teaching.

Open your ears to what I am saying,

2 for I will speak to you in a parable.

I will teach you hidden lessons from our past--

3 stories we have heard and know,

stories our ancestors handed down to us.

4 We will not hide these truths from our children

but will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD.

We will tell of his power and the mighty miracles he did.

5 For he issued his decree to Jacob;

he gave his law to Israel.

He commanded our ancestors

to teach them to their children,

6 so the next generation might know them--

even the children not yet born--

that they in turn might teach their children.

7 So each generation can set its hope anew on God,

remembering his glorious miracles

and obeying his commands.

8 Then they will not be like their ancestors--

stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,

refusing to give their hearts to God.

9 The warriors of Ephraim, though fully armed,

turned their backs and fled when the day of battle came.

10 They did not keep God's covenant,

and they refused to live by his law.

11 They forgot what he had done--

the wonderful miracles he had shown them,

12 the miracles he did for their ancestors in Egypt, on the plain of Zoan.

13 For he divided the sea before them and led them through!

The water stood up like walls beside them!

14 In the daytime he led them by a cloud,

and at night by a pillar of fire.

15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness

to give them plenty of water, as from a gushing spring.

16 He made streams pour from the rock,

making the waters flow down like a river!

17 Yet they kept on with their sin,

rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18 They willfully tested God in their hearts,

demanding the foods they craved.

19 They even spoke against God himself, saying,

" God can't give us food in the desert.

20 Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,

but he can't give his people bread and meat."

21 When the LORD heard them, he was angry.

The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob.

Yes, his anger rose against Israel,

22 for they did not believe God

or trust him to care for them.

23 But he commanded the skies to open--

he opened the doors of heaven--

24 and rained down manna for them to eat.

He gave them bread from heaven.

25 They ate the food of angels!

God gave them all they could hold.

26 He released the east wind in the heavens

and guided the south wind by his mighty power.

27 He rained down meat as thick as dust--

birds as plentiful as the sands along the seashore!

28 He caused the birds to fall within their camp

and all around their tents.

29 The people ate their fill.

He gave them what they wanted.

30 But before they finished eating this food they had craved,

while the meat was yet in their mouths,

31 the anger of God rose against them,

and he killed their strongest men;

he struck down the finest of Israel's young men.

PROVERBS 24:26

It is an honor to receive an honest reply.

October 5 Reading through the Bible

  

JEREMIAH 4:19-6:15

COLOSSIANS 1:18-2:7

PSALM 77:1-20

PROVERBS 24:23-25

JEREMIAH 4:19-6:15

My heart, my heart--I [Jeremiah] writhe in pain! My heart pounds within me! I cannot be still. For I have heard the blast of enemy trumpets and the roar of their battle cries. 20 Waves of destruction roll over the land, until it lies in complete desolation. Suddenly, every tent is destroyed; in a moment, every shelter is crushed. 21 How long must this go on? How long must I be surrounded by war and death? 22 " My people are foolish and do not know me," says the LORD. " They are senseless children who have no understanding. They are clever enough at doing wrong, but they have no talent at all for doing right!"23 I looked at the earth, and it was empty and formless. I looked at the heavens, and there was no light. 24 I looked at the mountains and hills, and they trembled and shook. 25 I looked, and all the people were gone. All the birds of the sky had flown away. 26 I looked, and the fertile fields had become a wilderness. The cities lay in ruins, crushed by the LORD's fierce anger. 27 This is what the LORD says: " The whole land will be ruined, but I will not destroy it completely. 28 The earth will mourn, the heavens will be draped in black, because of my decree against my people. I have made up my mind and will not change it." 29 At the noise of marching armies, the people flee in terror from the cities. They hide in the bushes and run for the mountains. All the cities have been abandoned--not a person remains! 30 What are you doing, you who have been plundered? Why do you dress up in your most beautiful clothing and jewelry? Why do you brighten your eyes with mascara? It will do you no good! Your allies despise you and will kill you. 31 I hear a great cry, like that of a woman giving birth to her first child. It is the cry of Jerusalem's people gasping for breath, pleading for help, prostrate before their murderers.5:1 " RUN up and down every street in Jerusalem," says the LORD. " Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one person who is just and honest, I will not destroy the city. 2 Even when they are under oath, saying, ` As surely as the LORD lives,' they all tell lies!" 3 LORD, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to turn from sin. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent. 4 Then I said, " But what can we expect from the poor and ignorant? They don't know the ways of the LORD. They don't understand what God expects of them. 5 I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they will know the LORD's ways and what God requires of them." But the leaders, too, had utterly rejected their God. 6 So now a lion from the forest will attack them; a wolf from the desert will pounce on them. A leopard will lurk near their towns, tearing apart any who dare to venture out. For their rebellion is great, and their sins are many. 7 " How can I pardon you? For even your children have turned from me. They have sworn by gods that are not gods at all! I fed my people until they were fully satisfied. But they thanked me by committing adultery and lining up at the city's brothels. 8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife. 9 Should I not punish them for this?" asks the LORD. " Should I not avenge myself against a nation such as this? 10 " Go down the rows of the vineyards and destroy them, but leave a scattered few alive. Strip the branches from the vine, for they do not belong to the LORD. 11 The people of Israel and Judah are full of treachery against me," says the LORD. 12 " They have lied about the LORD and have said, ` He won't bother us! No disasters will come upon us! There will be no war or famine! 13 God's prophets are windbags full of words with no divine authority. Their predictions of disaster will fall on themselves!' " 14 Therefore, this is what the LORD God Almighty says: " Because the people are talking like this, I will give you messages that will burn them up as if they were kindling wood. 15 O Israel, I will bring a distant nation against you," says the LORD. " It is a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you cannot understand. 16 Their weapons are deadly; their warriors are mighty. 17 They will eat your harvests and your children's bread, your flocks of sheep and your herds of cattle. Yes, they will eat your grapes and figs. And they will destroy your fortified cities, which you think are so safe. 18 " Yet even in those days I will not blot you out completely," says the LORD. 19 " And when your people ask, ` Why is the LORD our God doing this to us?' you must reply, ` You rejected him and gave yourselves to foreign gods in your own land. Now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.' 20 " Make this announcement to Israel and to Judah: 21 Listen, you foolish and senseless people--who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. 22 Do you have no respect for me? Why do you not tremble in my presence? I, the LORD, am the one who defines the ocean's sandy shoreline, an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the bounds I set. 23 " But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned against me and have chosen to practice idolatry. 24 They do not say from the heart, ` Let us live in awe of the LORD our God, for he gives us rain each spring and fall, assuring us of plentiful harvests.' 25 Your wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings. Your sin has robbed you of all these good things.26 " Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait for victims like a hunter hiding in a blind. They are continually setting traps for other people. 27 Like a cage filled with birds, their homes are filled with evil plots. And the result? Now they are great and rich. 28 They are well fed and well groomed, and there is no limit to their wicked deeds. They refuse justice to orphans and deny the rights of the poor. 29 Should I not punish them for this?" asks the LORD. " Should I not avenge myself against a nation such as this? 30 " A horrible and shocking thing has happened in this land--31 the prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. And worse yet, my people like it that way! But what will you do when the end comes?6:1 " RUN for your lives, you people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the alarm in Tekoa! Send up a signal at Beth-hakkerem! Warn everyone that a powerful army is coming from the north to destroy this nation. 2 O Jerusalem, you are my beautiful and delicate daughter--but I will destroy you! 3 Enemy shepherds will surround you. They will set up camp around the city and divide your pastures for their flocks. 4 They shout, ` Prepare for battle and attack at noon! But now the day is fading, and the evening shadows are falling. 5 So let us attack by night and destroy her palaces!' " 6 This is what the LORD Almighty says: " Cut down the trees for battering rams. Build ramps against the walls of Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, for she is wicked through and through. 7 She spouts evil like a fountain! Her streets echo with the sounds of violence and destruction. Her sickness and sores are ever before me. 8 This is your last warning, Jerusalem! If you do not listen, I will empty the land." 9 This is what the LORD Almighty says: " Disaster will fall upon you. Even the few who remain in Israel will be gleaned again, as when a harvester checks each vine a second time to pick the grapes that were missed." 10 To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the LORD. They don't want to listen at all. 11 So now I am filled with the LORD's fury. Yes, I am weary of holding it in! " I will pour out my fury over Jerusalem, even on children playing in the streets, on gatherings of young men, and on husbands and wives and grandparents. 12 Their homes will be turned over to their enemies, and so will their fields and their wives. For I will punish the people of this land," says the LORD. 13 " From the least to the greatest, they trick others to get what does not belong to them. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that! 14 They offer superficial treatments for my people's mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when all is war. 15 Are they ashamed when they do these disgusting things? No, not at all--they don't even blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be humbled beneath my punishing anger," says the LORD.

COLOSSIANS 1:18-2:7

Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22 yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it. 24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am completing what remains of Christ's sufferings for his body, the church. 25 God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his message in all its fullness to you Gentiles. 26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to his own holy people. 27 For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory. 28 So everywhere we go, we tell everyone about Christ. We warn them and teach them with all the wisdom God has given us, for we want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 I work very hard at this, as I depend on Christ's mighty power that works within me.2:1 I WANT you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other friends who have never known me personally. 2 My goal is that they will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God's secret plan, which is Christ himself. 3 In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I am telling you this so that no one will be able to deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5 For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I am very happy because you are living as you should and because of your strong faith in Christ. 6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.

PSALM 77:1-20

For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of Asaph.

1 I cry out to God without holding back.

Oh, that God would listen to me!

2 When I was in deep trouble,

I searched for the Lord.

All night long I pray, with hands lifted toward heaven, pleading.

There can be no joy for me until he acts.

3 I think of God, and I moan,

overwhelmed with longing for his help.

Interlude4 You don't let me sleep.

I am too distressed even to pray!

5 I think of the good old days, long since ended,

6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs.

I search my soul and think about the difference now.

7 Has the Lord rejected me forever?

Will he never again show me favor?

8 Is his unfailing love gone forever?

Have his promises permanently failed?

9 Has God forgotten to be kind?

Has he slammed the door on his compassion?

Interlude10 And I said, " This is my fate,

that the blessings of the Most High have changed to hatred."

11 I recall all you have done, O LORD;

I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

12 They are constantly in my thoughts.

I cannot stop thinking about them.

13 O God, your ways are holy.

Is there any god as mighty as you?

14 You are the God of miracles and wonders!

You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.

15 You have redeemed your people by your strength,

the descendants of Jacob and of Joseph by your might.

Interlude16 When the Red Sea saw you, O God,

its waters looked and trembled!

The sea quaked to its very depths.

17 The clouds poured down their rain;

the thunder rolled and crackled in the sky.

Your arrows of lightning flashed.

18 Your thunder roared from the whirlwind;

the lightning lit up the world!

The earth trembled and shook.

19 Your road led through the sea,

your pathway through the mighty waters--

a pathway no one knew was there!

20 You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep,

with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.

PROVERBS 24:23-25

Here are some further sayings of the wise: It is wrong to show favoritism when passing judgment. A judge who says to the wicked, " You are innocent," will be cursed by many people and denounced by the nations. But blessings are showered on those who convict the guilty.

October 4 Reading through the Bible

  

JEREMIAH 2:31-4:18

COLOSSIANS 1:1-17

PSALM 76:1-12

PROVERBS 24:21-22

JEREMIAH 2:31-4:18

" O my people, listen to the words of the LORD! Have I been like a desert to Israel? Have I been to them a land of darkness? Why then do my people say, ` At last we are free from God! We won't have anything to do with him anymore!' 32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry? Does a bride hide her wedding dress? No! Yet for years on end my people have forgotten me. 33 " How you plot and scheme to win your lovers. The most experienced prostitute could learn from you! 34 Your clothing is stained with the blood of the innocent and the poor. You killed them even though they didn't break into your houses! 35 And yet you say, ` I haven't done anything wrong. Surely he isn't angry with me!' Now I will punish you severely because you claim you have not sinned. 36 " First here, then there--you flit from one ally to another asking for help. But your new friends in Egypt will let you down, just as Assyria did before. 37 In despair, you will be led into exile with your hands on your heads, for the LORD has rejected the nations you trust. You will not succeed despite their help.3:1 " IF a man divorces a woman and she marries someone else, he is not to take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, says the LORD. Yet I am still calling you to come back to me. 2 " Look all around you. Is there anywhere in the entire land where you have not been defiled by your adulteries? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a client. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and wickedness. 3 That is why even the spring rains have failed. For you are a prostitute and are completely unashamed. 4 Yet you say to me, ` Father, you have been my guide since the days of my youth. 5 Surely you won't be angry about such a little thing! Surely you can forget it!' So you talk, and keep right on doing all the evil you can." 6 During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, " Have you seen what fickle Israel does? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me. But she did not come back. And though her faithless sister Judah saw this, 8 she paid no attention. She saw that I had divorced faithless Israel and sent her away. But now Judah, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution. 9 Israel treated it all so lightly--she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been greatly defiled. 10 But in spite of all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry," says the LORD. 11 Then the LORD said to me, " Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! 12 Therefore, go and say these words to Israel, ` This is what the LORD says: O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. 13 Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to follow me. I, the LORD, have spoken!' " 14 " Return home, you wayward children," says the LORD, " for I am your husband. I will bring you again to the land of Israel--one from here and two from there, from wherever you are scattered. 15 And I will give you leaders after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding. 16 " And when your land is once more filled with people," says the LORD, " you will no longer wish for ` the good old days' when you possessed the Ark of the LORD's covenant. Those days will not be missed or even thought about, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark. 17 In that day Jerusalem will be known as The Throne of the LORD. All nations will come there to honor the LORD. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. 18 In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave their ancestors as an inheritance forever. 19 " I thought to myself, ` I would love to treat you as my own children!' I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land--the finest inheritance in the world. I looked forward to your calling me ` Father,' and I thought you would never turn away from me again. 20 But you have betrayed me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband," says the LORD. 21 Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, the weeping and pleading of Israel's people. For they have forgotten the LORD their God and wandered far from his ways. 22 " My wayward children," says the LORD, " come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts." " Yes, we will come," the people reply, " for you are the LORD our God. 23 Our worship of idols and our religious orgies on the hills and mountains are completely false. Only in the LORD our God will Israel ever find salvation. 24 From childhood we have watched as everything our ancestors worked for--their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters--was squandered on a delusion. 25 Let us now lie down in shame and dishonor, for we and our ancestors have always sinned against the LORD our God. We have never obeyed him."4:1 " O ISRAEL, come back to me," says the LORD. " If you will throw away your detestable idols and go astray no more, 2 and if you will swear by my name alone, and begin to live good, honest lives and uphold justice, then you will be a blessing to the nations of the world, and all people will come and praise my name." 3 This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: " Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns. 4 Cleanse your minds and hearts before the LORD, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins. 5 " Shout to Jerusalem and to all Judah! Tell them to sound the alarm throughout the land: ` Run for your lives! Flee to the fortified cities!' 6 Send a signal toward Jerusalem: ` Flee now! Do not delay!' For I am bringing terrible destruction upon you from the north." 7 A lion stalks from its den, a destroyer of nations. And it is headed for your land! Your towns will lie in ruins, empty of people. 8 So put on clothes of mourning and weep with broken hearts, for the fierce anger of the LORD is still upon us. 9 " In that day," says the LORD, " the king and the officials will tremble in fear. The priests and the prophets will be struck with horror." 10 Then I said, " O Sovereign LORD, the people have been deceived by what you said, for you promised peace for Jerusalem. Yet the sword is even now poised to strike them dead!" 11 The time is coming when the LORD will say to the people of Jerusalem, " A burning wind is blowing in from the desert. It is not a gentle breeze useful for winnowing grain. 12 It is a roaring blast sent by me! Now I will pronounce your destruction!" 13 Our enemy rushes down on us like a storm wind! His chariots are like whirlwinds; his horses are swifter than eagles. How terrible it will be! Our destruction is sure! 14 O Jerusalem, cleanse your hearts that you may be saved. How long will you harbor your evil thoughts? 15 From Dan and the hill country of Ephraim, your destruction has been announced.16 " Warn the surrounding nations and announce to Jerusalem: ` The enemy is coming from a distant land, raising a battle cry against the towns of Judah. 17 They surround Jerusalem like watchmen surrounding a field, for my people have rebelled against me,' " says the LORD. 18 " Your own actions have brought this upon you. This punishment is a bitter dose of your own medicine. It has pierced you to the heart!"

COLOSSIANS 1:1-17

This letter is from Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. 2 It is written to God's holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters* in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace. 3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard that you trust in Christ Jesus and that you love all of God's people. 5 You do this because you are looking forward to the joys of heaven--as you have been ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. 6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard and understood the truth about God's great kindness to sinners. 7 Epaphras, our much loved co-worker, was the one who brought you the Good News. He is Christ's faithful servant, and he is helping us in your place. 8 He is the one who told us about the great love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you. 9 So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better. 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. 14 God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. 16 Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see--kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. 17 He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.

PSALM 76:1-12

For the choir director: A psalm of Asaph, to be accompanied by stringed instruments. A song.

1 God is well known in Judah;

his name is great in Israel.

2 Jerusalem is where he lives;

Mount Zion is his home.

3 There he breaks the arrows of the enemy,

the shields and swords and weapons of his foes.

Interlude4 You are glorious and more majestic

than the everlasting mountains.

5 The mightiest of our enemies have been plundered.

They lie before us in the sleep of death.

No warrior could lift a hand against us.

6 When you rebuked them, O God of Jacob,

their horses and chariots stood still.

7 No wonder you are greatly feared!

Who can stand before you when your anger explodes?

8 From heaven you sentenced your enemies;

the earth trembled and stood silent before you.

9 You stand up to judge those who do evil, O God,

and to rescue the oppressed of the earth.

Interlude10 Human opposition only enhances your glory,

for you use it as a sword of judgment.

11 Make vows to the LORD your God, and fulfill them.

Let everyone bring tribute to the Awesome One.

12 For he breaks the spirit of princes

and is feared by the kings of the earth.

PROVERBS 24:21-22

My child, fear the LORD and the king, and don't associate with rebels. For you will go down with them to sudden disaster. Who knows where the punishment from the LORD and the king will end?

October 3 Reading through the Bible

  

JEREMIAH 1:1-2:30

PHILIPPIANS 4:1-23

PSALM 75:1-10

PROVERBS 24:17-20

JEREMIAH 1:1-2:30

These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests from Anathoth, a town in the land of Benjamin. 2 The LORD first gave messages to Jeremiah during the thirteenth year of King Josiah's reign in Judah. 3 He continued to give messages throughout the reign of Josiah's son, King Jehoiakim, until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah's reign in Judah. In August of that year, the people of Jerusalem were taken away as captives. 4 The LORD gave me a message. He said, 5 " I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world." 6 " O Sovereign LORD," I said, " I can't speak for you! I'm too young!" 7 " Don't say that," the LORD replied, " for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don't be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you. I, the LORD, have spoken!" 9 Then the LORD touched my mouth and said, " See, I have put my words in your mouth! 10 Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. You are to uproot some and tear them down, to destroy and overthrow them. You are to build others up and plant them." 11 Then the LORD said to me, " Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?" And I replied, " I see a branch from an almond tree." 12 And the LORD said, " That's right, and it means that I am watching, and I will surely carry out my threats of punishment." 13 Then the LORD spoke to me again and asked, " What do you see now?" And I replied, " I see a pot of boiling water, tipping from the north." 14 " Yes," the LORD said, " for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land. 15 Listen! I am calling the armies of the kingdoms of the north to come to Jerusalem. They will set their thrones at the gates of the city. They will attack its walls and all the other towns of Judah. 16 I will pronounce judgment on my people for all their evil--for deserting me and worshiping other gods. Yes, they worship idols that they themselves have made! 17 " Get up and get dressed. Go out, and tell them whatever I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them, or I will make you look foolish in front of them. 18 For see, today I have made you immune to their attacks. You are strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured, like an iron pillar or a bronze wall. None of the kings, officials, priests, or people of Judah will be able to stand against you. 19 They will try, but they will fail. For I am with you, and I will take care of you. I, the LORD, have spoken!"2:1 THE LORD gave me another message. He said, 2 " Go and shout in Jerusalem's streets: ` This is what the LORD says: I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness. 3 In those days Israel was holy to the LORD, the first of my children. All who harmed my people were considered guilty, and disaster fell upon them. I, the LORD, have spoken!' " 4 Listen to the word of the LORD, people of Jacob--all you families of Israel! 5 This is what the LORD says: " What sin did your ancestors find in me that led them to stray so far? They worshiped foolish idols, only to become foolish themselves. 6 They did not ask, ` Where is the LORD who brought us safely out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness--a land of deserts and pits, of drought and death, where no one lives or even travels?' 7 " And when I brought you into a fruitful land to enjoy its bounty and goodness, you defiled my land and corrupted the inheritance I had promised you. 8 The priests did not ask, ` Where is the LORD?' The judges ignored me, the rulers turned against me, and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal, wasting their time on nonsense. 9 Therefore, I will bring my case against you and will keep on accusing you, even against your children's children in the years to come. I, the LORD, have spoken!10 " Go west to the land of Cyprus; go east to the land of Kedar. Think about what you see there. See if anyone has ever heard of anything as strange as this. 11 Has any nation ever exchanged its gods for another god, even though its gods are nothing? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! 12 The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay, says the LORD. 13 For my people have done two evil things: They have forsaken me--the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all! 14 " Why has Israel become a nation of slaves? Why has she been carried away as plunder? 15 Lions have roared against her. The land has been destroyed, and the cities are now in ruins. No one lives in them anymore. 16 Egyptians, marching from their cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes, have utterly destroyed Israel's glory and power. 17 And you have brought this on yourselves by rebelling against the LORD your God when he wanted to lead you and show you the way! 18 " What have you gained by your alliances with Egypt and Assyria? What good to you are the waters of the Nile and the Euphrates? 19 Your own wickedness will punish you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to forsake the LORD your God, having no fear of him. I, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, have spoken! 20 Long ago I broke your yoke and tore away the chains of your slavery, but still you would not obey me. On every hill and under every green tree, you have prostituted yourselves by bowing down to idols. 21 " How could this happen? When I planted you, I chose a vine of the purest stock--the very best. How did you grow into this corrupt wild vine? 22 No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. You are stained with guilt that cannot be washed away. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken! 23 " You say, ` That's not true! We haven't worshiped the images of Baal!' But how can you say that? Go and look in any valley in the land! Face the awful sins you have done. You are like a restless female camel, desperate for a male! 24 You are like a wild donkey, sniffing the wind at mating time. Who can restrain your lust? Those who desire you do not even need to search, for you come running to them! 25 Why do you refuse to turn from all this running after other gods? But you say, ` Don't waste your breath. I have fallen in love with these foreign gods, and I can't stop loving them now!'26 " Like a thief, Israel feels shame only when she gets caught. Kings, officials, priests, and prophets--all are alike in this. 27 To an image carved from a piece of wood they say, ` You are my father.' To an idol chiseled out of stone they say, ` You are my mother.' They turn their backs on me, but in times of trouble they cry out for me to save them! 28 Why don't you call on these gods you have made? When danger comes, let them save you if they can! For you have as many gods as there are cities and towns in Judah. 29 Why do you accuse me of doing wrong? You are the ones who have rebelled, says the LORD. 30 I have punished your children, but it did them no good. They still refuse to obey. You yourselves have killed your prophets as a lion kills its prey."

PHILIPPIANS 4:1-23

Dear brothers and sisters,* I [Paul] love you and long to see you, for you are my joy and the reward for my work. So please stay true to the Lord, my dear friends. 2 And now I want to plead with those two women, Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. 3 And I ask you, my true teammate, to help these women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. And they worked with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you. 10 How grateful I am, and how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but for a while you didn't have the chance to help me. 11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. 14 But even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.15 As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. 16 Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. 17 I don't say this because I want a gift from you. What I want is for you to receive a well-earned reward because of your kindness. 18 At the moment I have all I need--more than I need! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable to God and pleases him. 19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 20 Now glory be to God our Father forever and ever. Amen. 21 Give my greetings to all the Christians there. The brothers who are with me here send you their greetings. 22 And all the other Christians send their greetings, too, especially those who work in Caesar's palace. 23 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

PSALM 75:1-10

For the choir director: A psalm of Asaph, to be sung to the tune " Do Not Destroy!" A song.

1 We thank you, O God!

We give thanks because you are near.

People everywhere tell of your mighty miracles.

2 God says, " At the time I have planned,

I will bring justice against the wicked.

3 When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil,

I am the one who keeps its foundations firm.

Interlude4 " I warned the proud, ` Stop your boasting!'

I told the wicked, ` Don't raise your fists!

5 Don't lift your fists in defiance at the heavens

or speak with rebellious arrogance.' "

6 For no one on earth--from east or west,

or even from the wilderness--

can raise another person up.

7 It is God alone who judges;

he decides who will rise and who will fall.

8 For the LORD holds a cup in his hand;

it is full of foaming wine mixed with spices.

He pours the wine out in judgment,

and all the wicked must drink it,

draining it to the dregs.

9 But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done;

I will sing praises to the God of Israel.

10 For God says, " I will cut off the strength of the wicked,

but I will increase the power of the godly."

PROVERBS 24:17-20

Do not rejoice when your enemies fall into trouble. Don't be happy when they stumble. For the LORD will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them. Do not fret because of evildoers; don't envy the wicked. For the evil have no future; their light will be snuffed out.

October 2 Reading through the Bible

 

ISAIAH 66:1-24

PHILIPPIANS 3:4-21

PSALM 74:1-23

PROVERBS 24:15-16

ISAIAH 66:1-24

This is what the LORD says: " Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you ever build me a temple as good as that? Could you build a dwelling place for me? 2 My hands have made both heaven and earth, and they are mine. I, the LORD, have spoken! " I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word. 3 But those who choose their own ways, delighting in their sins, are cursed. Their offerings will not be accepted. When such people sacrifice an ox, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb or bring an offering of grain, it is as bad as putting a dog or the blood of a pig on the altar! When they burn incense, it is as if they had blessed an idol. 4 I will send great troubles against them--all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned--before my very eyes--and chose to do what they know I despise." 5 Hear this message from the LORD, and tremble at his words: " Your close relatives hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. ` Let the LORD be honored!' they scoff. ` Be joyful in him!' But they will be put to shame. 6 What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the LORD taking vengeance against his enemies. 7 " Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son. 8 Who has ever seen or heard of anything as strange as this? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem's birth pains begin, the baby will be born; the nation will come forth. 9 Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?" asks the LORD. " No! I would never keep this nation from being born," says your God. 10 " Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and mourn for her. 11 Delight in Jerusalem! Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother's generous breasts. 12 Peace and prosperity will overflow Jerusalem like a river," says the LORD. " The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and treated with love. 13 I will comfort you there as a child is comforted by its mother."14 When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. Vigorous health will be yours! Everyone will see the good hand of the LORD on his people--and his anger against his enemies. 15 See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his swift chariots of destruction roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke. 16 The LORD will punish the world by fire and by his sword, and many will be killed by the LORD. 17 " Those who ` purify' themselves in a sacred garden, feasting on pork and rats and other forbidden meats, will come to a terrible end," says the LORD. 18 " I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory. 19 I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations--to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations. 20 They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels," says the LORD. 21 " And I will appoint some of those who return to be my priests and Levites. I, the LORD, have spoken! 22 " As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear," says the LORD. 23 " All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month. 24 And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror."

PHILIPPIANS 3:4-21

Yet I [Paul] could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! 5 For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What's more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault. 7 I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead! 12 I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. 15 I hope all of you who are mature Christians will agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. 16 But we must be sure to obey the truth we have learned already. 17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. 18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their future is eternal destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and all they think about is this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere.

PSALM 74:1-23

A psalm of Asaph.

1 O God, why have you rejected us forever?

Why is your anger so intense against the sheep of your own pasture?

2 Remember that we are the people you chose in ancient times,

the tribe you redeemed as your own special possession!

And remember Jerusalem, your home here on earth.

3 Walk through the awful ruins of the city;

see how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary.

4 There your enemies shouted their victorious battle cries;

there they set up their battle standards.

5 They chopped down the entrance

like woodcutters in a forest.

6 With axes and picks,

they smashed the carved paneling.

7 They set the sanctuary on fire, burning it to the ground.

They utterly defiled the place that bears your holy name.

8 Then they thought, " Let's destroy everything!"

So they burned down all the places where God was worshiped.

9 We see no miraculous signs

as evidence that you will save us.

All the prophets are gone;

no one can tell us when it will end.

10 How long, O God, will you allow our enemies to mock you?

Will you let them dishonor your name forever?

11 Why do you hold back your strong right hand?

Unleash your powerful fist and deliver a deathblow.

12 You, O God, are my king from ages past,

bringing salvation to the earth.

13 You split the sea by your strength

and smashed the sea monster's heads.

14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan

and let the desert animals eat him.

15 You caused the springs and streams to gush forth,

and you dried up rivers that never run dry.

16 Both day and night belong to you;

you made the starlight and the sun.

17 You set the boundaries of the earth,

and you make both summer and winter.

18 See how these enemies scoff at you, LORD.

A foolish nation has dishonored your name.

19 Don't let these wild beasts destroy your doves.

Don't forget your afflicted people forever.

20 Remember your covenant promises,

for the land is full of darkness and violence!

21 Don't let the downtrodden be constantly disgraced!

Instead, let these poor and needy ones give praise to your name.

22 Arise, O God, and defend your cause.

Remember how these fools insult you all day long.

23 Don't overlook these things your enemies have said.

Their uproar of rebellion grows ever louder.

PROVERBS 24:15-16

Do not lie in wait like an outlaw at the home of the godly. And don't raid the house where the godly live. They may trip seven times, but each time they will rise again. But one calamity is enough to lay the wicked low. 

October 1 Reading through the Bible

 

ISAIAH 62:6-65:25

PHILIPPIANS 2:19-3:3

PSALM 73:1-28

PROVERBS 24:13-14

ISAIAH 62:6-65:25

O Jerusalem, I [Isaiah] have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray to the LORD day and night for the fulfillment of his promises. Take no rest, all you who pray. 7 Give the LORD no rest until he makes Jerusalem the object of praise throughout the earth. 8 The LORD has sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength: " I will never again hand you over to your enemies. Never again will foreign warriors come and take away your grain and wine. 9 You raised it, and you will keep it, praising the LORD. Within the courtyards of the Temple, you yourselves will drink the wine that you have pressed." 10 Go out! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see. 11 The LORD has sent this message to every land: " Tell the people of Israel, ` Look, your Savior is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.' " 12 They will be called the Holy People and the People Redeemed by the LORD. And Jerusalem will be known as the Desirable Place and the City No Longer Forsaken. 63:1 WHO is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in the greatness of his strength? " It is I, the LORD, announcing your salvation! It is I, the LORD, who is mighty to save!" 2 Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes? 3 " I have trodden the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. It is their blood that has stained my clothes. 4 For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors. 5 I looked, but no one came to help my people. I was amazed and appalled at what I saw. So I executed vengeance alone; unaided, I passed down judgment. 6 I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground." 7 I will tell of the LORD's unfailing love. I will praise the LORD for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted according to his mercy and love. 8 He said, " They are my very own people. Surely they will not be false again." And he became their Savior. 9 In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.10 But they rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit. That is why he became their enemy and fought against them. 11 Then they remembered those days of old when Moses led his people out of Egypt. They cried out, " Where is the one who brought Israel through the sea, with Moses as their shepherd? Where is the one who sent his Holy Spirit to be among his people? 12 Where is the one whose power divided the sea before them, when Moses lifted up his hand, establishing his reputation forever? 13 Where is the one who led them through the bottom of the sea? They were like fine stallions racing through the desert, never stumbling. 14 As with cattle going down into a peaceful valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. You led your people, LORD, and gained a magnificent reputation." 15 LORD, look down from heaven and see us from your holy, glorious home. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now? 16 Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, LORD, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past. 17 LORD, why have you allowed us to turn from your path? Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you? Return and help us, for we are your servants and your special possession. 18 How briefly your holy people possessed the holy place, and now our enemies have destroyed it. 19 LORD, why do you treat us as though we never belonged to you? Why do you act as though we had never been known as your people?64:1 OH, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! 3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome things beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! 5 You welcome those who cheerfully do good, who follow godly ways. But we are not godly. We are constant sinners, so your anger is heavy on us. How can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. 8 And yet, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand. 9 Oh, don't be so angry with us, LORD. Please don't remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people. 10 Your holy cities are destroyed; even Jerusalem is a desolate wilderness. 11 The holy, beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. 12 After all this, LORD, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us?65:1 THE LORD says, " People who never before inquired about me are now asking about me. I am being found by people who were not looking for me. To them I have said, ` I am here!' 2 " I opened my arms to my own people all day long, but they have rebelled. They follow their own evil paths and thoughts. 3 All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on the rooftops of their homes. 4 At night they go out among the graves and secret places to worship evil spirits. They also eat pork and other forbidden foods. 5 Yet they say to each other, ` Don't come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!' They are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away. 6 " Look, my decree is written out in front of me: I will not stand silent; I will repay them in full! Yes, I will repay them--7 both for their own sins and for those of their ancestors," says the LORD. " For they also burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills. I will pay them back in full! 8 " But I will not destroy them all," says the LORD. " For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones (and someone will say, ` Don't throw them all away--there are some good grapes there!'), so I will not destroy all Israel. For I still have true servants there. 9 I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and of Judah to possess my land. Those I choose will inherit it and serve me there. 10 For my people who have searched for me, the plain of Sharon will again be filled with flocks, and the valley of Achor will be a place to pasture herds. 11 " But because the rest of you have forsaken the LORD and his Temple and worship the gods of Fate and Destiny, 12 I will ` destine' you to the sword. All of you will bow before the executioner, for when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You deliberately sinned--before my very eyes--and chose to do what you know I despise."13 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: " You will starve, but my servants will eat. You will be thirsty, but they will drink. You will be sad and ashamed, but they will rejoice. 14 You will cry in sorrow and despair, while my servants sing for joy. 15 Your name will be a curse word among my people, for the Sovereign LORD will destroy you and call his true servants by another name. 16 All who invoke a blessing or take an oath will do so by the God of truth. For I will put aside my anger and forget the evil of earlier days. 17 " Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth--so wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones anymore. 18 Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more. 20 " No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only sinners will die that young! 21 In those days, people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards. 22 It will not be like the past, when invaders took the houses and confiscated the vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees and will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains. 23 They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed. 24 I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! 25 The wolf and lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Poisonous snakes will strike no more. In those days, no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

PHILIPPIANS 2:19-3:3

If the Lord Jesus is willing, I [Paul] hope to send Timothy to you [Philippians] soon. Then when he comes back, he can cheer me up by telling me how you are getting along. 20 I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares about your welfare. 21 All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ. 22 But you know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son with his father, he has helped me in preaching the Good News. 23 I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here. 24 And I have confidence from the Lord that I myself will come to see you soon. 25 Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, a faithful worker, and a courageous soldier. And he was your messenger to help me in my need. 26 Now I am sending him home again, for he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill. 27 And he surely was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him--and also on me, so that I would not have such unbearable sorrow. 28 So I am all the more anxious to send him back to you, for I know you will be glad to see him, and that will lighten all my cares. 29 Welcome him with Christian love and with great joy, and be sure to honor people like him. 30 For he risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while trying to do for me the things you couldn't do because you were far away. 3:1 WHATEVER happens, dear brothers and sisters,* may the Lord give you joy. I never get tired of telling you this. I am doing this for your own good. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those wicked men and their evil deeds, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.

PSALM 73:1-28

A psalm of Asaph.

1 Truly God is good to Israel,

to those whose hearts are pure.

2 But as for me, I came so close to the edge of the cliff!

My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.

3 For I envied the proud

when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.

4 They seem to live such a painless life;

their bodies are so healthy and strong.

5 They aren't troubled like other people

or plagued with problems like everyone else.

6 They wear pride like a jeweled necklace,

and their clothing is woven of cruelty.

7 These fat cats have everything

their hearts could ever wish for!

8 They scoff and speak only evil;

in their pride they seek to crush others.

9 They boast against the very heavens,

and their words strut throughout the earth.

10 And so the people are dismayed and confused,

drinking in all their words.

11 " Does God realize what is going on?" they ask.

" Is the Most High even aware of what is happening?"

12 Look at these arrogant people--

enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

13 Was it for nothing that I kept my heart pure

and kept myself from doing wrong?

14 All I get is trouble all day long;

every morning brings me pain.

15 If I had really spoken this way,

I would have been a traitor to your people.

16 So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper.

But what a difficult task it is!

17 Then one day I went into your sanctuary, O God,

and I thought about the destiny of the wicked.

18 Truly, you put them on a slippery path

and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.

19 In an instant they are destroyed,

swept away by terrors.

20 Their present life is only a dream

that is gone when they awake.

When you arise, O Lord,

you will make them vanish from this life.

21 Then I realized how bitter I had become,

how pained I had been by all I had seen.

22 I was so foolish and ignorant--

I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.

23 Yet I still belong to you;

you are holding my right hand.

24 You will keep on guiding me with your counsel,

leading me to a glorious destiny.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?

I desire you more than anything on earth.

26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,

but God remains the strength of my heart;

he is mine forever.

27 But those who desert him will perish,

for you destroy those who abandon you.

28 But as for me, how good it is to be near God!

I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter,

and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

PROVERBS 24:13-14

My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to the taste. In the same way, wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, you will have a bright future, and your hopes will not be cut short.