ESV: Digging Deep into the Bible

ESV: Digging Deep into the Bible

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ESV: Digging Deep into the Bible episodes

  • August 24: Psalm 22; 1 Samuel 10:17–11:15; Lamentations 2; 1 Peter 3:13–4:19
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 22
    Psalm 22 (Listen)
    Why Have You Forsaken Me?
    To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

    22   My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
        Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
    2   O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
        and by night, but I find no rest.
    3   Yet you are holy,
        enthroned on the praisesOr dwelling in the praises">1 of Israel.
    4   In you our fathers trusted;
        they trusted, and you delivered them.
    5   To you they cried and were rescued;
        in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
    6   But I am a worm and not a man,
        scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
    7   All who see me mock me;
        they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
    8   “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
        let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
    9   Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
        you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
    10   On you was I cast from my birth,
        and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
    11   Be not far from me,
        for trouble is near,
        and there is none to help.
    12   Many bulls encompass me;
        strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
    13   they open wide their mouths at me,
        like a ravening and roaring lion.
    14   I am poured out like water,
        and all my bones are out of joint;
      my heart is like wax;
        it is melted within my breast;
    15   my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
        and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
        you lay me in the dust of death.
    16   For dogs encompass me;
        a company of evildoers encircles me;
      they have pierced my hands and feetSome Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts like a lion [they are at] my hands and feet">2—
    17   I can count all my bones—
      they stare and gloat over me;
    18   they divide my garments among them,
        and for my clothing they cast lots.
    19   But you, O LORD, do not be far off!
        O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
    20   Deliver my soul from the sword,
        my precious life from the power of the dog!
    21     Save me from the mouth of the lion!
      You have rescuedHebrew answered">3 me from the horns of the wild oxen!
    22   I will tell of your name to my brothers;
        in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
    23   You who fear the LORD, praise him!
        All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
        and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
    24   For he has not despised or abhorred
        the affliction of the afflicted,
      and he has not hidden his face from him,
        but has heard, when he cried to him.
    25   From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
        my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
    26   The afflictedOr The meek">4 shall eat and be satisfied;
        those who seek him shall praise the LORD!
        May your hearts live forever!
    27   All the ends of the earth shall remember
        and turn to the LORD,
      and all the families of the nations
        shall worship before you.
    28   For kingship belongs to the LORD,
        and he rules over the nations.
    29   All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
        before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
        even the one who could not keep himself alive.
    30   Posterity shall serve him;
        it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
    31   they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
        that he has done it.

    Footnotes

    [1] 22:3 Or dwelling in the praises


    [2] 22:16 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts like a lion [they are at] my hands and feet

    [3] 22:21 Hebrew answered

    [4] 22:26 Or The meek

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    1 Samuel 10:17–11:15
    1 Samuel 10:17–11:15 (Listen)
    Saul Proclaimed King

    17 Now Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpah. 18 And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your thousands.”

    20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot;Septuagint adds finally he brought the family of the Matrites near, man by man">1 and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 So they inquired again of the LORD, “Is there a man still to come?” and the LORD said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23 Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

    25 Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. 26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

    Saul Defeats the Ammonites

    11 Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.” 2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.” 3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days’ respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you.” 4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the ears of the people, and all the people wept aloud.

    5 Now, behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. And Saul said, “What is wrong with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the news of the men of Jabesh. 6 And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled. 7 He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the LORD fell upon the people, and they came out as one man. 8 When he mustered them at Bezek, the people of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. 9 And they said to the messengers who had come, “Thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have salvation.’” When the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, they were glad. 10 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.” 11 And the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

    The Kingdom Is Renewed

    12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” 13 But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.” 14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

    Footnotes

    [1] 10:21 Septuagint adds finally he brought the family of the Matrites near, man by man

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Lamentations 2
    Lamentations 2 (Listen)
    The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

    2   How the Lord in his anger
        has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!
      He has cast down from heaven to earth
        the splendor of Israel;
      he has not remembered his footstool
        in the day of his anger.
    2   The Lord has swallowed up without mercy
        all the habitations of Jacob;
      in his wrath he has broken down
        the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
      he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
        the kingdom and its rulers.
    3   He has cut down in fierce anger
        all the might of Israel;
      he has withdrawn from them his right hand
        in the face of the enemy;
      he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
        consuming all around.
    4   He has bent his bow like an enemy,
        with his right hand set like a foe;
      and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
        in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
      he has poured out his fury like fire.
    5   The Lord has become like an enemy;
        he has swallowed up Israel;
      he has swallowed up all its palaces;
        he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
      and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
        mourning and lamentation.
    6   He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
        laid in ruins his meeting place;
      the LORD has made Zion forget
        festival and Sabbath,
      and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
    7   The Lord has scorned his altar,
        disowned his sanctuary;
      he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
        the walls of her palaces;
      they raised a clamor in the house of the LORD
        as on the day of festival.
    8   The LORD determined to lay in ruins
        the wall of the daughter of Zion;
      he stretched out the measuring line;
        he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
      he caused rampart and wall to lament;
        they languished together.
    9   Her gates have sunk into the ground;
        he has ruined and broken her bars;
      her king and princes are among the nations;
        the law is no more,
      and her prophets find
        no vision from the LORD.
    10   The elders of the daughter of Zion
        sit on the ground in silence;
      they have thrown dust on their heads
        and put on sackcloth;
      the young women of Jerusalem
        have bowed their heads to the ground.
    11   My eyes are spent with weeping;
        my stomach churns;
      my bile is poured out to the ground
        because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
      because infants and babies faint
        in the streets of the city.
    12   They cry to their mothers,
        “Where is bread and wine?”
      as they faint like a wounded man
        in the streets of the city,
      as their life is poured out
        on their mothers’ bosom.
    13   What can I say for you, to what compare you,
        O daughter of Jerusalem?
      What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
        O virgin daughter of Zion?
      For your ruin is vast as the sea;
        who can heal you?
    14   Your prophets have seen for you
        false and deceptive visions;
      they have not exposed your iniquity
        to restore your fortunes,
      but have seen for you oracles
        that are false and misleading.
    15   All who pass along the way
        clap their hands at you;
      they hiss and wag their heads
        at the daughter of Jerusalem:
      “Is this the city that was called
        the perfection of beauty,
        the joy of all the earth?”
    16   All your enemies
        rail against you;
      they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
        they cry: “We have swallowed her!
      Ah, this is the day we longed for;
        now we have it; we see it!”
    17   The LORD has done what he purposed;
        he has carried out his word,
      which he commanded long ago;
        he has thrown down without pity;
      he has made the enemy rejoice over you
        and exalted the might of your foes.
    18   Their heart cried to the Lord.
        O wall of the daughter of Zion,
      let tears stream down like a torrent
        day and night!
      Give yourself no rest,
        your eyes no respite!
    19   “Arise, cry out in the night,
        at the beginning of the night watches!
      Pour out your heart like water
        before the presence of the Lord!
      Lift your hands to him
        for the lives of your children,
      who faint for hunger
        at the head of every street.”
    20   Look, O LORD, and see!
        With whom have you dealt thus?
      Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
        the children of their tender care?
      Should priest and prophet be killed
        in the sanctuary of the Lord?
    21   In the dust of the streets
        lie the young and the old;
      my young women and my young men
        have fallen by the sword;
      you have killed them in the day of your anger,
        slaughtering without pity.
    22   You summoned as if to a festival day
        my terrors on every side,
      and on the day of the anger of the LORD
        no one escaped or survived;
      those whom I held and raised
        my enemy destroyed.

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 Peter 3:13–4:19
    1 Peter 3:13–4:19 (Listen)

    13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

    18 For Christ also sufferedSome manuscripts died">1 once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in whichOr the Spirit, in whom">2 he went and proclaimedOr preached">3 to the spirits in prison, 20 becauseOr when">4 they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

    Stewards of God’s Grace

    4 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,Some manuscripts add for us; some for you">5 arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

    7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

    Suffering as a Christian

    12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glorySome manuscripts insert and of power">6 and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And

      “If the righteous is scarcely saved,
        what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”Greek where will the ungodly and sinner appear?">7

    19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

    Footnotes

    [1] 3:18 Some manuscripts died


    [2] 3:19 Or the Spirit, in whom

    [3] 3:19 Or preached

    [4] 3:20 Or when

    [5] 4:1 Some manuscripts add for us; some for you

    [6] 4:14 Some manuscripts insert and of power

    [7] 4:18 Greek where will the ungodly and sinner appear?

    (ESV)

    17 min
  • August 23: Psalm 21; 1 Samuel 9–10:16; Lamentations 1; 1 Peter 2:11–3:12
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 21
    Psalm 21 (Listen)
    The King Rejoices in the Lord’s Strength
    To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

    21   O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices,
        and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
    2   You have given him his heart’s desire
        and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
    3   For you meet him with rich blessings;
        you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
    4   He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
        length of days forever and ever.
    5   His glory is great through your salvation;
        splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
    6   For you make him most blessed forever;Or make him a source of blessing forever">1
        you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
    7   For the king trusts in the LORD,
        and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
    8   Your hand will find out all your enemies;
        your right hand will find out those who hate you.
    9   You will make them as a blazing oven
        when you appear.
      The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath,
        and fire will consume them.
    10   You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
        and their offspring from among the children of man.
    11   Though they plan evil against you,
        though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
    12   For you will put them to flight;
        you will aim at their faces with your bows.
    13   Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength!
        We will sing and praise your power.

    Footnotes

    [1] 21:6 Or make him a source of blessing forever

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    1 Samuel 9–10:16
    1 Samuel 9–10:16 (Listen)
    Saul Chosen to Be King

    9 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

    3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” 4 And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.

    5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servantHebrew young man; also verses 7, 8, 10, 27">1 who was with him, “Come, let us go back, lest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us.” 6 But he said to him, “Behold, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; all that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go.” 7 Then Saul said to his servant, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” 8 The servant answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter of a shekelA shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams">2 of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way.” 9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for today’s “prophet” was formerly called a seer.) 10 And Saul said to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

    11 As they went up the hill to the city, they met young women coming out to draw water and said to them, “Is the seer here?” 12 They answered, “He is; behold, he is just ahead of you. Hurry. He has come just now to the city, because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place. 13 As soon as you enter the city you will find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat till he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.” 14 So they went up to the city. As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the high place.

    15 Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be princeOr leader">3 over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seenSeptuagint adds the affliction of">4 my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” 18 Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, “Tell me where is the house of the seer?” 19 Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. 20 As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?” 21 Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”

    22 Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about thirty persons. 23 And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Put it aside.’” 24 So the cook took up the leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.”Hebrew appointed, saying, ‘I have invited the people’">5

    So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25 And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.Septuagint; Hebrew city, he spoke with Saul on the roof">6 26 Then at the break of dawnSeptuagint; Hebrew And they arose early, and at the break of dawn">7 Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Up, that I may send you on your way.” So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.

    27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”

    Saul Anointed King

    10 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you to be princeOr leader">8 over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be princeSeptuagint; Hebrew lacks over his people Israel? And you shall. . . . to be prince">9 over his heritage. 2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ 3 Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4 And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. 5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim,Gibeath-elohim means the hill of God">10 where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

    9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. 10 When they came to Gibeah,Gibeah means the hill">11 behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11 And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12 And a man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

    14 Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15 And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.

    Footnotes

    [1] 9:5 Hebrew young man; also verses 7, 8, 10, 27


    [2] 9:8 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams

    [3] 9:16 Or leader

    [4] 9:16 Septuagint adds the affliction of

    [5] 9:24 Hebrew appointed, saying, ‘I have invited the people’

    [6] 9:25 Septuagint; Hebrew city, he spoke with Saul on the roof

    [7] 9:26 Septuagint; Hebrew And they arose early, and at the break of dawn

    [8] 10:1 Or leader

    [9] 10:1 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks over his people Israel? And you shall. . . . to be prince

    [10] 10:5 Gibeath-elohim means the hill of God

    [11] 10:10 Gibeah means the hill

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Lamentations 1
    Lamentations 1 (Listen)
    How Lonely Sits the City

    1   How lonely sits the city
        that was full of people!
      How like a widow has she become,
        she who was great among the nations!
      She who was a princess among the provinces
        has become a slave.
    2   She weeps bitterly in the night,
        with tears on her cheeks;
      among all her lovers
        she has none to comfort her;
      all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
        they have become her enemies.
    3   Judah has gone into exile because of afflictionOr under affliction">1
        and hard servitude;
      she dwells now among the nations,
        but finds no resting place;
      her pursuers have all overtaken her
        in the midst of her distress.Or in the narrow passes">2
    4   The roads to Zion mourn,
        for none come to the festival;
      all her gates are desolate;
        her priests groan;
      her virgins have been afflicted,Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away">3
        and she herself suffers bitterly.
    5   Her foes have become the head;
        her enemies prosper,
      because the LORD has afflicted her
        for the multitude of her transgressions;
      her children have gone away,
        captives before the foe.
    6   From the daughter of Zion
        all her majesty has departed.
      Her princes have become like deer
        that find no pasture;
      they fled without strength
        before the pursuer.
    7   Jerusalem remembers
        in the days of her affliction and wandering
      all the precious things
        that were hers from days of old.
      When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
        and there was none to help her,
      her foes gloated over her;
        they mocked at her downfall.
    8   Jerusalem sinned grievously;
        therefore she became filthy;
      all who honored her despise her,
        for they have seen her nakedness;
      she herself groans
        and turns her face away.
    9   Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
        she took no thought of her future;Or end">4
      therefore her fall is terrible;
        she has no comforter.
      “O LORD, behold my affliction,
        for the enemy has triumphed!”
    10   The enemy has stretched out his hands
        over all her precious things;
      for she has seen the nations
        enter her sanctuary,
      those whom you forbade
        to enter your congregation.
    11   All her people groan
        as they search for bread;
      they trade their treasures for food
        to revive their strength.
      “Look, O LORD, and see,
        for I am despised.”
    12   “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
        Look and see
      if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
        which was brought upon me,
      which the LORD inflicted
        on the day of his fierce anger.
    13   “From on high he sent fire;
        into my bonesSeptuagint; Hebrew bones and">5 he made it descend;
      he spread a net for my feet;
        he turned me back;
      he has left me stunned,
        faint all the day long.
    14   “My transgressions were boundThe meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain">6 into a yoke;
        by his hand they were fastened together;
      they were set upon my neck;
        he caused my strength to fail;
      the Lord gave me into the hands
        of those whom I cannot withstand.
    15   “The Lord rejected
        all my mighty men in my midst;
      he summoned an assembly against me
        to crush my young men;
      the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
        the virgin daughter of Judah.
    16   “For these things I weep;
        my eyes flow with tears;
      for a comforter is far from me,
        one to revive my spirit;
      my children are desolate,
        for the enemy has prevailed.”
    17   Zion stretches out her hands,
        but there is none to comfort her;
      the LORD has commanded against Jacob
        that his neighbors should be his foes;
      Jerusalem has become
        a filthy thing among them.
    18   “The LORD is in the right,
        for I have rebelled against his word;
      but hear, all you peoples,
        and see my suffering;
      my young women and my young men
        have gone into captivity.
    19   “I called to my lovers,
        but they deceived me;
      my priests and elders
        perished in the city,
      while they sought food
        to revive their strength.
    20   “Look, O LORD, for I am in distress;
        my stomach churns;
      my heart is wrung within me,
        because I have been very rebellious.
      In the street the sword bereaves;
        in the house it is like death.
    21   “They heardSeptuagint, Syriac Hear">7 my groaning,
        yet there is no one to comfort me.
      All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
        they are glad that you have done it.
      You have broughtSyriac Bring">8 the day you announced;
        now let them be as I am.
    22   “Let all their evildoing come before you,
        and deal with them
      as you have dealt with me
        because of all my transgressions;
      for my groans are many,
        and my heart is faint.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 1:3 Or under affliction


    [2] 1:3 Or in the narrow passes

    [3] 1:4 Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away

    [4] 1:9 Or end

    [5] 1:13 Septuagint; Hebrew bones and

    [6] 1:14 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

    [7] 1:21 Septuagint, Syriac Hear

    [8] 1:21 Syriac Bring

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 Peter 2:11–3:12
    1 Peter 2:11–3:12 (Listen)

    11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

    Submission to Authority

    13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,Or every institution ordained for people">1 whether it be to the emperorOr king; also verse 17">2 as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servantsFor the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface">3 of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

    18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

    Wives and Husbands

    3 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

    7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with youSome manuscripts since you are joint heirs">4 of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

    Suffering for Righteousness’ Sake

    8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For

      “Whoever desires to love life
        and see good days,
      let him keep his tongue from evil
        and his lips from speaking deceit;
    11   let him turn away from evil and do good;
        let him seek peace and pursue it.
    12   For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
        and his ears are open to their prayer.
      But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 2:13 Or every institution ordained for people


    [2] 2:13 Or king; also verse 17

    [3] 2:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface

    [4] 3:7 Some manuscripts since you are joint heirs

    (ESV)

    18 min
  • August 22: Psalm 20; 1 Samuel 8; Jeremiah 52; 1 Peter 2:4–10
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 20
    Psalm 20 (Listen)
    Trust in the Name of the Lord Our God
    To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

    20   May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
        May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
    2   May he send you help from the sanctuary
        and give you support from Zion!
    3   May he remember all your offerings
        and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah
    4   May he grant you your heart’s desire
        and fulfill all your plans!
    5   May we shout for joy over your salvation,
        and in the name of our God set up our banners!
      May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!
    6   Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
        he will answer him from his holy heaven
        with the saving might of his right hand.
    7   Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
        but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
    8   They collapse and fall,
        but we rise and stand upright.
    9   O LORD, save the king!
        May he answer us when we call.

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    1 Samuel 8
    1 Samuel 8 (Listen)
    Israel Demands a King

    8 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.

    4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

    Samuel’s Warning Against Kings

    10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young menSeptuagint cattle">1 and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

    The Lord Grants Israel’s Request

    19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. 22 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 8:16 Septuagint cattle

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Jeremiah 52
    Jeremiah 52 (Listen)
    The Fall of Jerusalem Recounted

    52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 For because of the anger of the LORD it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

    And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. 5 So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. 10 The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. 11 He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

    The Temple Burned

    12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 13 And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

    17 And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all the bronze to Babylon. 18 And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the basins and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service; 19 also the small bowls and the fire pans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the dishes for incense and the bowls for drink offerings. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. 20 As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea,Hebrew lacks the sea">1 and the stands, which Solomon the king had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. 21 As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters">2 its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. 22 On it was a capital of bronze. The height of the one capital was five cubits. A network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network all around.

    The People Exiled to Babylon

    24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold; 25 and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and seven men of the king’s council, who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city. 26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.

    28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans; 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600.

    Jehoiachin Released from Prison

    31 And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freedHebrew reign, lifted up the head of">3 Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. 32 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table, 34 and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, until the day of his death, as long as he lived.

    Footnotes

    [1] 52:20 Hebrew lacks the sea


    [2] 52:21 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

    [3] 52:31 Hebrew reign, lifted up the head of

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 Peter 2:4–10
    1 Peter 2:4–10 (Listen)

    4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:

      “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
        a cornerstone chosen and precious,
      and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

    7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

      “The stone that the builders rejected
        has become the cornerstone,”Greek the head of the corner">1

    8 and

      “A stone of stumbling,
        and a rock of offense.”

    They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

    9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

    Footnotes

    [1] 2:7 Greek the head of the corner

    (ESV)

    11 min
  • August 21: Psalm 19; 1 Samuel 7:3–17; Jeremiah 51; 1 Peter 1:13–2:3
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 19
    Psalm 19 (Listen)
    The Law of the Lord Is Perfect
    To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

    19   The heavens declare the glory of God,
        and the sky aboveHebrew the expanse; compare Genesis 1:6–8">1 proclaims his handiwork.
    2   Day to day pours out speech,
        and night to night reveals knowledge.
    3   There is no speech, nor are there words,
        whose voice is not heard.
    4   Their voiceOr Their measuring line">2 goes out through all the earth,
        and their words to the end of the world.
      In them he has set a tent for the sun,
    5     which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
        and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
    6   Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
        and its circuit to the end of them,
        and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
    7   The law of the LORD is perfect,Or blameless">3
        reviving the soul;
      the testimony of the LORD is sure,
        making wise the simple;
    8   the precepts of the LORD are right,
        rejoicing the heart;
      the commandment of the LORD is pure,
        enlightening the eyes;
    9   the fear of the LORD is clean,
        enduring forever;
      the rulesOr just decrees">4 of the LORD are true,
        and righteous altogether.
    10   More to be desired are they than gold,
        even much fine gold;
      sweeter also than honey
        and drippings of the honeycomb.
    11   Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
        in keeping them there is great reward.
    12   Who can discern his errors?
        Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
    13   Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
        let them not have dominion over me!
      Then I shall be blameless,
        and innocent of great transgression.
    14   Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
        be acceptable in your sight,
        O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

    Footnotes

    [1] 19:1 Hebrew the expanse; compare Genesis 1:6–8


    [2] 19:4 Or Their measuring line

    [3] 19:7 Or blameless

    [4] 19:9 Or just decrees

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    1 Samuel 7:3–17
    1 Samuel 7:3–17 (Listen)
    Samuel Judges Israel

    3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only.

    5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. 7 Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. And Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him. 10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the LORD thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car.

    12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and ShenHebrew; Septuagint, Syriac Jeshanah">1 and called its name Ebenezer;Ebenezer means stone of help">2 for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

    15 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. 17 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the LORD.

    Footnotes

    [1] 7:12 Hebrew; Septuagint, Syriac Jeshanah


    [2] 7:12 Ebenezer means stone of help

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Jeremiah 51
    Jeremiah 51 (Listen)
    The Utter Destruction of Babylon

    51   Thus says the LORD:
      “Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer
        against Babylon,
        against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,A code name for Chaldea">1
    2   and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
        and they shall winnow her,
      and they shall empty her land,
        when they come against her from every side
        on the day of trouble.
    3   Let not the archer bend his bow,
        and let him not stand up in his armor.
      Spare not her young men;
        devote to destructionThat is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)">2 all her army.
    4   They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
        and wounded in her streets.
    5   For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
        by their God, the LORD of hosts,
      but the land of the ChaldeansHebrew their land">3 is full of guilt
        against the Holy One of Israel.
    6   “Flee from the midst of Babylon;
        let every one save his life!
      Be not cut off in her punishment,
        for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance,
        the repayment he is rendering her.
    7   Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand,
        making all the earth drunken;
      the nations drank of her wine;
        therefore the nations went mad.
    8   Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
        wail for her!
      Take balm for her pain;
        perhaps she may be healed.
    9   We would have healed Babylon,
        but she was not healed.
      Forsake her, and let us go
        each to his own country,
      for her judgment has reached up to heaven
        and has been lifted up even to the skies.
    10   The LORD has brought about our vindication;
        come, let us declare in Zion
        the work of the LORD our God.
    11   “Sharpen the arrows!
        Take up the shields!

    The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple.

    12   “Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
        make the watch strong;
      set up watchmen;
        prepare the ambushes;
      for the LORD has both planned and done
        what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
    13   O you who dwell by many waters,
        rich in treasures,
      your end has come;
        the thread of your life is cut.
    14   The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself:
      Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts,
        and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.
    15   “It is he who made the earth by his power,
        who established the world by his wisdom,
      and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
    16   When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
        and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
      He makes lightning for the rain,
        and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
    17   Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
        every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
      for his images are false,
        and there is no breath in them.
    18   They are worthless, a work of delusion;
        at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
    19   Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
        for he is the one who formed all things,
      and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
        the LORD of hosts is his name.
    20   “You are my hammer and weapon of war:
      with you I break nations in pieces;
        with you I destroy kingdoms;
    21   with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
        with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
    22   with you I break in pieces man and woman;
        with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth;
      with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman;
    23     with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
      with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
        with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.

    24 “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the LORD.

    25   “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
          declares the LORD,
        which destroys the whole earth;
      I will stretch out my hand against you,
        and roll you down from the crags,
        and make you a burnt mountain.
    26   No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
        and no stone for a foundation,
      but you shall be a perpetual waste,
        declares the LORD.
    27   “Set up a standard on the earth;
        blow the trumpet among the nations;
      prepare the nations for war against her;
        summon against her the kingdoms,
        Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
      appoint a marshal against her;
        bring up horses like bristling locusts.
    28   Prepare the nations for war against her,
        the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
        and every land under their dominion.
    29   The land trembles and writhes in pain,
        for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand,
      to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
        without inhabitant.
    30   The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
        they remain in their strongholds;
      their strength has failed;
        they have become women;
      her dwellings are on fire;
        her bars are broken.
    31   One runner runs to meet another,
        and one messenger to meet another,
      to tell the king of Babylon
        that his city is taken on every side;
    32   the fords have been seized,
        the marshes are burned with fire,
        and the soldiers are in panic.
    33   For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
      The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
        at the time when it is trodden;
      yet a little while
        and the time of her harvest will come.”
    34   “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;
        he has crushed me;
      he has made me an empty vessel;
        he has swallowed me like a monster;
      he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
        he has rinsed me out.Or he has expelled me">4
    35   The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
        let the inhabitant of Zion say.
      “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
        let Jerusalem say.
    36   Therefore thus says the LORD:
      “Behold, I will plead your cause
        and take vengeance for you.
      I will dry up her sea
        and make her fountain dry,
    37   and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
        the haunt of jackals,
      a horror and a hissing,
        without inhabitant.
    38   “They shall roar together like lions;
        they shall growl like lions’ cubs.
    39   While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast
        and make them drunk, that they may become merry,
      then sleep a perpetual sleep
        and not wake, declares the LORD.
    40   I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
        like rams and male goats.
    41   “How BabylonHebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon">5 is taken,
        the praise of the whole earth seized!
      How Babylon has become
        a horror among the nations!
    42   The sea has come up on Babylon;
        she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
    43   Her cities have become a horror,
        a land of drought and a desert,
      a land in which no one dwells,
        and through which no son of man passes.
    44   And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
        and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.
      The nations shall no longer flow to him;
        the wall of Babylon has fallen.
    45   “Go out of the midst of her, my people!
        Let every one save his life
        from the fierce anger of the LORD!
    46   Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
        at the report heard in the land,
      when a report comes in one year
        and afterward a report in another year,
      and violence is in the land,
        and ruler is against ruler.
    47   “Therefore, behold, the days are coming
        when I will punish the images of Babylon;
      her whole land shall be put to shame,
        and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
    48   Then the heavens and the earth,
        and all that is in them,
      shall sing for joy over Babylon,
        for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
          declares the LORD.
    49   Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
        just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
    50   “You who have escaped from the sword,
        go, do not stand still!
      Remember the LORD from far away,
        and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
    51   ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
        dishonor has covered our face,
      for foreigners have come
        into the holy places of the LORD’s house.’
    52   “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,
        when I will execute judgment upon her images,
      and through all her land
        the wounded shall groan.
    53   Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
        and though she should fortify her strong height,
      yet destroyers would come from me against her,
        declares the LORD.
    54   “A voice! A cry from Babylon!
        The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
    55   For the LORD is laying Babylon waste
        and stilling her mighty voice.
      Their waves roar like many waters;
        the noise of their voice is raised,
    56   for a destroyer has come upon her,
        upon Babylon;
      her warriors are taken;
        their bows are broken in pieces,
      for the LORD is a God of recompense;
        he will surely repay.
    57   I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
        her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
      they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
        declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
    58   “Thus says the LORD of hosts:
      The broad wall of Babylon
        shall be leveled to the ground,
      and her high gates
        shall be burned with fire.
      The peoples labor for nothing,
        and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”

    59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’”

    Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

    Footnotes

    [1] 51:1 A code name for Chaldea


    [2] 51:3 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)

    [3] 51:5 Hebrew their land

    [4] 51:34 Or he has expelled me

    [5] 51:41 Hebrew Sheshach, a code name for Babylon

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 Peter 1:13–2:3
    1 Peter 1:13–2:3 (Listen)
    Called to Be Holy

    13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action,Greek girding up the loins of your mind">1 and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

    22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

      “All flesh is like grass
        and all its glory like the flower of grass.
      The grass withers,
        and the flower falls,
    25   but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

    And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

    A Living Stone and a Holy People

    2 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

    Footnotes

    [1] 1:13 Greek girding up the loins of your mind

    (ESV)

    17 min
  • August 20: Psalm 18; 1 Samuel 5–7:2; Jeremiah 50; 1 Peter 1:1–12
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 18
    Psalm 18 (Listen)
    The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress
    To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

    18   I love you, O LORD, my strength.
    2   The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
        my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
        my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
    3   I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
        and I am saved from my enemies.
    4   The cords of death encompassed me;
        the torrents of destruction assailed me;Or terrified me">1
    5   the cords of Sheol entangled me;
        the snares of death confronted me.
    6   In my distress I called upon the LORD;
        to my God I cried for help.
      From his temple he heard my voice,
        and my cry to him reached his ears.
    7   Then the earth reeled and rocked;
        the foundations also of the mountains trembled
        and quaked, because he was angry.
    8   Smoke went up from his nostrils,Or in his wrath">2
        and devouring fire from his mouth;
        glowing coals flamed forth from him.
    9   He bowed the heavens and came down;
        thick darkness was under his feet.
    10   He rode on a cherub and flew;
        he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
    11   He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
        thick clouds dark with water.
    12   Out of the brightness before him
        hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
    13   The LORD also thundered in the heavens,
        and the Most High uttered his voice,
        hailstones and coals of fire.
    14   And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
        he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
    15   Then the channels of the sea were seen,
        and the foundations of the world were laid bare
      at your rebuke, O LORD,
        at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
    16   He sent from on high, he took me;
        he drew me out of many waters.
    17   He rescued me from my strong enemy
        and from those who hated me,
        for they were too mighty for me.
    18   They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
        but the LORD was my support.
    19   He brought me out into a broad place;
        he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
    20   The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;
        according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
    21   For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
        and have not wickedly departed from my God.
    22   For all his rulesOr just decrees">3 were before me,
        and his statutes I did not put away from me.
    23   I was blameless before him,
        and I kept myself from my guilt.
    24   So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
        according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
    25   With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
        with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
    26   with the purified you show yourself pure;
        and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
    27   For you save a humble people,
        but the haughty eyes you bring down.
    28   For it is you who light my lamp;
        the LORD my God lightens my darkness.
    29   For by you I can run against a troop,
        and by my God I can leap over a wall.
    30   This God—his way is perfect;Or blameless">4
        the word of the LORD proves true;
        he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
    31   For who is God, but the LORD?
        And who is a rock, except our God?—
    32   the God who equipped me with strength
        and made my way blameless.
    33   He made my feet like the feet of a deer
        and set me secure on the heights.
    34   He trains my hands for war,
        so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
    35   You have given me the shield of your salvation,
        and your right hand supported me,
        and your gentleness made me great.
    36   You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
        and my feet did not slip.
    37   I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
        and did not turn back till they were consumed.
    38   I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
        they fell under my feet.
    39   For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
        you made those who rise against me sink under me.
    40   You made my enemies turn their backs to me,Or You gave me my enemies’ necks">5
        and those who hated me I destroyed.
    41   They cried for help, but there was none to save;
        they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
    42   I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
        I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
    43   You delivered me from strife with the people;
        you made me the head of the nations;
        people whom I had not known served me.
    44   As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
        foreigners came cringing to me.
    45   Foreigners lost heart
        and came trembling out of their fortresses.
    46   The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,
        and exalted be the God of my salvation—
    47   the God who gave me vengeance
        and subdued peoples under me,
    48   who rescued me from my enemies;
        yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;
        you delivered me from the man of violence.
    49   For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,
        and sing to your name.
    50   Great salvation he brings to his king,
        and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
        to David and his offspring forever.

    Footnotes

    [1] 18:4 Or terrified me


    [2] 18:8 Or in his wrath

    [3] 18:22 Or just decrees

    [4] 18:30 Or blameless

    [5] 18:40 Or You gave me my enemies’ necks

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    1 Samuel 5–7:2
    1 Samuel 5–7:2 (Listen)
    The Philistines and the Ark

    5 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

    6 The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” 8 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had brought it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” 11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

    The Ark Returned to Israel

    6 The ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people away, and they departed? 7 Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. 8 And take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way 9 and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

    10 The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they put the ark of the LORD on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh. 13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the LORD. 16 And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

    17 These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, 18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and unwalled villages. The great stone beside which they set down the ark of the LORD is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

    19 And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the LORD. He struck seventy men of them,Most Hebrew manuscripts struck of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men">1 and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow. 20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up to you.”

    7 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the LORD. 2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.

    Footnotes

    [1] 6:19 Most Hebrew manuscripts struck of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Jeremiah 50
    Jeremiah 50 (Listen)
    Judgment on Babylon

    50 The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet:

    2   “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
        set up a banner and proclaim,
        conceal it not, and say:
      ‘Babylon is taken,
        Bel is put to shame,
        Merodach is dismayed.
      Her images are put to shame,
        her idols are dismayed.’

    3 “For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away.

    4 “In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the LORD their God. 5 They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’

    6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. 7 All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

    8 “Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as male goats before the flock. 9 For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a gathering of great nations, from the north country. And they shall array themselves against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. 10 Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, declares the LORD.

    11   “Though you rejoice, though you exult,
        O plunderers of my heritage,
      though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture,
        and neigh like stallions,
    12   your mother shall be utterly shamed,
        and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
      Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,
        a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
    13   Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited
        but shall be an utter desolation;
      everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
        and hiss because of all her wounds.
    14   Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
        all you who bend the bow;
      shoot at her, spare no arrows,
        for she has sinned against the LORD.
    15   Raise a shout against her all around;
        she has surrendered;
      her bulwarks have fallen;
        her walls are thrown down.
      For this is the vengeance of the LORD:
        take vengeance on her;
        do to her as she has done.
    16   Cut off from Babylon the sower,
        and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;
      because of the sword of the oppressor,
        every one shall turn to his own people,
        and every one shall flee to his own land.

    17 “Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. 18 Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria. 19 I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. 20 In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

    21   “Go up against the land of Merathaim,Merathaim means double rebellion">1
        and against the inhabitants of Pekod.Pekod means punishment">2
      Kill, and devote them to destruction,That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)">3
          declares the LORD,
        and do all that I have commanded you.
    22   The noise of battle is in the land,
        and great destruction!
    23   How the hammer of the whole earth
        is cut down and broken!
      How Babylon has become
        a horror among the nations!
    24   I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
        and you did not know it;
      you were found and caught,
        because you opposed the LORD.
    25   The LORD has opened his armory
        and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
      for the Lord GOD of hosts has a work to do
        in the land of the Chaldeans.
    26   Come against her from every quarter;
        open her granaries;
      pile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
        let nothing be left of her.
    27   Kill all her bulls;
        let them go down to the slaughter.
      Woe to them, for their day has come,
        the time of their punishment.

    28 “A voice! They flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, vengeance for his temple.

    29 “Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has proudly defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the LORD.

    31   “Behold, I am against you, O proud one,
        declares the Lord GOD of hosts,
      for your day has come,
        the time when I will punish you.
    32   The proud one shall stumble and fall,
        with none to raise him up,
      and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
        and it will devour all that is around him.

    33 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go. 34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

    35   “A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the LORD,
        and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
        and against her officials and her wise men!
    36   A sword against the diviners,
        that they may become fools!
      A sword against her warriors,
        that they may be destroyed!
    37   A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
        and against all the foreign troops in her midst,
        that they may become women!
      A sword against all her treasures,
        that they may be plundered!
    38   A drought against her waters,
        that they may be dried up!
      For it is a land of images,
        and they are mad over idols.

    39 “Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon,Hebrew lacks in Babylon">4 and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations. 40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the LORD, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.

    41   “Behold, a people comes from the north;
        a mighty nation and many kings
        are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
    42   They lay hold of bow and spear;
        they are cruel and have no mercy.
      The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
        they ride on horses,
      arrayed as a man for battle
        against you, O daughter of Babylon!
    43   “The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
        and his hands fell helpless;
      anguish seized him,
        pain as of a woman in labor.

    44 “Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? 45 Therefore hear the plan that the LORD has made against Babylon, and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 46 At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 50:21 Merathaim means double rebellion


    [2] 50:21 Pekod means punishment

    [3] 50:21 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)

    [4] 50:39 Hebrew lacks in Babylon

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 Peter 1:1–12
    1 Peter 1:1–12 (Listen)
    Greeting

    1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

    To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

    May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

    Born Again to a Living Hope

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

    10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or timeOr what time or circumstances">1 the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

    Footnotes

    [1] 1:11 Or what time or circumstances

    (ESV)

    22 min
  • August 19: Psalm 17; 1 Samuel 4; Jeremiah 49; Mark 16
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 17
    Psalm 17 (Listen)
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    A Prayer of David.

    17   Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry!
        Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!
    2   From your presence let my vindication come!
        Let your eyes behold the right!
    3   You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night,
        you have tested me, and you will find nothing;
        I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
    4   With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips
        I have avoided the ways of the violent.
    5   My steps have held fast to your paths;
        my feet have not slipped.
    6   I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
        incline your ear to me; hear my words.
    7   Wondrously showOr Distinguish me by">1 your steadfast love,
        O Savior of those who seek refuge
        from their adversaries at your right hand.
    8   Keep me as the apple of your eye;
        hide me in the shadow of your wings,
    9   from the wicked who do me violence,
        my deadly enemies who surround me.
    10   They close their hearts to pity;
        with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
    11   They have now surrounded our steps;
        they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.
    12   He is like a lion eager to tear,
        as a young lion lurking in ambush.
    13   Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him!
        Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,
    14   from men by your hand, O LORD,
        from men of the world whose portion is in this life.Or from men whose portion in life is of the world">2
      You fill their womb with treasure;Or As for your treasured ones, you fill their womb">3
        they are satisfied with children,
        and they leave their abundance to their infants.
    15   As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
        when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

    Footnotes

    [1] 17:7 Or Distinguish me by


    [2] 17:14 Or from men whose portion in life is of the world

    [3] 17:14 Or As for your treasured ones, you fill their womb

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    1 Samuel 4
    1 Samuel 4 (Listen)
    The Philistines Capture the Ark

    4 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

    Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. 3 And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that itOr he">1 may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

    5 As soon as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. 6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp, 7 the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. 8 Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. 9 Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.”

    10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

    The Death of Eli

    12 A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. 13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, “What is this uproar?” Then the man hurried and came and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see. 16 And the man said to Eli, “I am he who has come from the battle; I fled from the battle today.” And he said, “How did it go, my son?” 17 He who brought the news answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” 18 As soon as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.

    19 Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention. 21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departedOr gone into exile; also verse 22">2 from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 4:3 Or he


    [2] 4:21 Or gone into exile; also verse 22

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Jeremiah 49
    Jeremiah 49 (Listen)
    Judgment on Ammon

    49 Concerning the Ammonites.

    Thus says the LORD:

      “Has Israel no sons?
        Has he no heir?
      Why then has MilcomOr their king; also verse 3">1 dispossessed Gad,
        and his people settled in its cities?
    2   Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
        declares the LORD,
      when I will cause the battle cry to be heard
        against Rabbah of the Ammonites;
      it shall become a desolate mound,
        and its villages shall be burned with fire;
      then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,
        says the LORD.
    3   “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
        Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!
      Put on sackcloth,
        lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!
      For Milcom shall go into exile,
        with his priests and his officials.
    4   Why do you boast of your valleys,Hebrew boast of your valleys, your valley flows">2
        O faithless daughter,
      who trusted in her treasures, saying,
        ‘Who will come against me?’
    5   Behold, I will bring terror upon you,
        declares the Lord GOD of hosts,
        from all who are around you,
      and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,
        with none to gather the fugitives.

    6 “But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD.”

    Judgment on Edom

    7 Concerning Edom.

    Thus says the LORD of hosts:

      “Is wisdom no more in Teman?
        Has counsel perished from the prudent?
        Has their wisdom vanished?
    8   Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,
        O inhabitants of Dedan!
      For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
        the time when I punish him.
    9   If grape gatherers came to you,
        would they not leave gleanings?
      If thieves came by night,
        would they not destroy only enough for themselves?
    10   But I have stripped Esau bare;
        I have uncovered his hiding places,
        and he is not able to conceal himself.
      His children are destroyed, and his brothers,
        and his neighbors; and he is no more.
    11   Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive;
        and let your widows trust in me.”

    12 For thus says the LORD: “If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink. 13 For I have sworn by myself, declares the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.”

    14   I have heard a message from the LORD,
        and an envoy has been sent among the nations:
      “Gather yourselves together and come against her,
        and rise up for battle!
    15   For behold, I will make you small among the nations,
        despised among mankind.
    16   The horror you inspire has deceived you,
        and the pride of your heart,
      you who live in the clefts of the rock,Or of Sela">3
        who hold the height of the hill.
      Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,
        I will bring you down from there,
          declares the LORD.

    17 “Edom shall become a horror. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. 18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown, says the LORD, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. 19 Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make himSeptuagint, Syriac them">4 run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? 20 Therefore hear the plan that the LORD has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away. Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 21 At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. 22 Behold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains.”

    Judgment on Damascus

    23 Concerning Damascus:

      “Hamath and Arpad are confounded,
        for they have heard bad news;
      they melt in fear,
        they are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet.
    24   Damascus has become feeble, she turned to flee,
        and panic seized her;
      anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,
        as of a woman in labor.
    25   How is the famous city not forsaken,
        the city of my joy?
    26   Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
        and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,
          declares the LORD of hosts.
    27   And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
        and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.”

    Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

    28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down.

      Thus says the LORD:
      “Rise up, advance against Kedar!
        Destroy the people of the east!
    29   Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,
        their curtains and all their goods;
      their camels shall be led away from them,
        and men shall cry to them: ‘Terror on every side!’
    30   Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,
        O inhabitants of Hazor!
          declares the LORD.
      For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
        has made a plan against you
        and formed a purpose against you.
    31   “Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,
        that dwells securely,
          declares the LORD,
      that has no gates or bars,
        that dwells alone.
    32   Their camels shall become plunder,
        their herds of livestock a spoil.
      I will scatter to every wind
        those who cut the corners of their hair,
      and I will bring their calamity
        from every side of them,
          declares the LORD.
    33   Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals,
        an everlasting waste;
      no man shall dwell there;
        no man shall sojourn in her.”

    Judgment on Elam

    34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

    35 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. 36 And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. And I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of Elam shall not come. 37 I will terrify Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger, declares the LORD. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them, 38 and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, declares the LORD.

    39 “But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the LORD.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 49:1 Or their king; also verse 3


    [2] 49:4 Hebrew boast of your valleys, your valley flows

    [3] 49:16 Or of Sela

    [4] 49:19 Septuagint, Syriac them

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    Mark 16
    Mark 16 (Listen)
    The Resurrection

    16 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

    [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.]Some manuscripts end the book with 16:8; others include verses 9–20 immediately after verse 8. At least one manuscript inserts additional material after verse 14; some manuscripts include after verse 8 the following: But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. These manuscripts then continue with verses 9–20">1
    Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

    9 [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

    Jesus Appears to Two Disciples

    12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

    The Great Commission

    14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

    19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]]

    Footnotes

    [1] 16:9 Some manuscripts end the book with 16:8; others include verses 9–20 immediately after verse 8. At least one manuscript inserts additional material after verse 14; some manuscripts include after verse 8 the following: But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. These manuscripts then continue with verses 9–20

    (ESV)

    15 min
  • August 18: Psalm 16; 1 Samuel 3; Jeremiah 48; Mark 15
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 16
    Psalm 16 (Listen)
    You Will Not Abandon My Soul
    A MiktamProbably a musical or liturgical term">1 of David.

    16   Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
    2   I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
        I have no good apart from you.”
    3   As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
        in whom is all my delight.Or To the saints in the land, the excellent in whom is all my delight, I say:">2
    4   The sorrows of those who run afterOr who acquire">3 another god shall multiply;
        their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
        or take their names on my lips.
    5   The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
        you hold my lot.
    6   The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
        indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
    7   I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
        in the night also my heart instructs me.Hebrew my kidneys instruct me">4
    8   I have set the LORD always before me;
        because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
    9   Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole beingHebrew my glory">5 rejoices;
        my flesh also dwells secure.
    10   For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
        or let your holy one see corruption.Or see the pit">6
    11   You make known to me the path of life;
        in your presence there is fullness of joy;
        at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

    Footnotes

    [1] 16:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term


    [2] 16:3 Or To the saints in the land, the excellent in whom is all my delight, I say:

    [3] 16:4 Or who acquire

    [4] 16:7 Hebrew my kidneys instruct me

    [5] 16:9 Hebrew my glory

    [6] 16:10 Or see the pit

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    1 Samuel 3
    1 Samuel 3 (Listen)
    The Lord Calls Samuel

    3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.

    2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.

    4 Then the LORD called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.

    6 And the LORD called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

    8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

    10 And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” 11 Then the LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God,Or blaspheming for themselves">1 and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

    15 Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16 But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.”

    19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD. 21 And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.

    Footnotes

    [1] 3:13 Or blaspheming for themselves

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Jeremiah 48
    Jeremiah 48 (Listen)
    Judgment on Moab

    48 Concerning Moab.

    Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:

      “Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste!
        Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;
      the fortress is put to shame and broken down;
    2     the renown of Moab is no more.
      In Heshbon they planned disaster against her:
        ‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’
      You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;
        the sword shall pursue you.
    3   “A voice! A cry from Horonaim,
        ‘Desolation and great destruction!’
    4   Moab is destroyed;
        her little ones have made a cry.
    5   For at the ascent of Luhith
        they go up weeping;Hebrew weeping goes up with weeping">1
      for at the descent of Horonaim
        they have heard the distressed crySeptuagint (compare Isaiah 15:5) heard the cry">2 of destruction.
    6   Flee! Save yourselves!
        You will be like a juniper in the desert!
    7   For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures,
        you also shall be taken;
      and Chemosh shall go into exile
        with his priests and his officials.
    8   The destroyer shall come upon every city,
        and no city shall escape;
      the valley shall perish,
        and the plain shall be destroyed,
        as the LORD has spoken.
    9   “Give wings to Moab,
        for she would fly away;
      her cities shall become a desolation,
        with no inhabitant in them.

    10 “Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

    11   “Moab has been at ease from his youth
        and has settled on his dregs;
      he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
        nor has he gone into exile;
      so his taste remains in him,
        and his scent is not changed.

    12 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break hisSeptuagint, Aquila; Hebrew their">3 jars in pieces. 13 Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

    14   “How do you say, ‘We are heroes
        and mighty men of war’?
    15   The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,
        and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,
        declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
    16   The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
        and his affliction hastens swiftly.
    17   Grieve for him, all you who are around him,
        and all who know his name;
      say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken,
        the glorious staff.’
    18   “Come down from your glory,
        and sit on the parched ground,
        O inhabitant of Dibon!
      For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
        he has destroyed your strongholds.
    19   Stand by the way and watch,
        O inhabitant of Aroer!
      Ask him who flees and her who escapes;
        say, ‘What has happened?’
    20   Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;
        wail and cry!
      Tell it beside the Arnon,
        that Moab is laid waste.

    21 “Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, 22 and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23 and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, 24 and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. 25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the LORD.

    26 “Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the LORD, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. 27 Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

    28   “Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,
        O inhabitants of Moab!
      Be like the dove that nests
        in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.
    29   We have heard of the pride of Moab—
        he is very proud—
      of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
        and the haughtiness of his heart.
    30   I know his insolence, declares the LORD;
        his boasts are false,
        his deeds are false.
    31   Therefore I wail for Moab;
        I cry out for all Moab;
        for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn.
    32   More than for Jazer I weep for you,
        O vine of Sibmah!
      Your branches passed over the sea,
        reached to the Sea of Jazer;
      on your summer fruits and your grapes
        the destroyer has fallen.
    33   Gladness and joy have been taken away
        from the fruitful land of Moab;
      I have made the wine cease from the winepresses;
        no one treads them with shouts of joy;
        the shouting is not the shout of joy.

    34 “From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. 35 And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the LORD, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god. 36 Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.

    37 “For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth. 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the LORD. 39 How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.”

    40   For thus says the LORD:
      “Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle
        and spread his wings against Moab;
    41   the cities shall be taken
        and the strongholds seized.
      The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day
        like the heart of a woman in her birth pains;
    42   Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people,
        because he magnified himself against the LORD.
    43   Terror, pit, and snare
        are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!
          declares the LORD.
    44   He who flees from the terror
        shall fall into the pit,
      and he who climbs out of the pit
        shall be caught in the snare.
      For I will bring these things upon Moab,
        the year of their punishment,
          declares the LORD.
    45   “In the shadow of Heshbon
        fugitives stop without strength,
      for fire came out from Heshbon,
        flame from the house of Sihon;
      it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,
        the crown of the sons of tumult.
    46   Woe to you, O Moab!
        The people of Chemosh are undone,
      for your sons have been taken captive,
        and your daughters into captivity.
    47   Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
        in the latter days, declares the LORD.”
      Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

    Footnotes

    [1] 48:5 Hebrew weeping goes up with weeping


    [2] 48:5 Septuagint (compare Isaiah 15:5) heard the cry

    [3] 48:12 Septuagint, Aquila; Hebrew their

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    Mark 15
    Mark 15 (Listen)
    Jesus Delivered to Pilate

    15 And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. 2 And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

    Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

    6 Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7 And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8 And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9 And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10 For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourgedA Roman judicial penalty, consisting of a severe beating with a multi-lashed whip containing embedded pieces of bone and metal">1 Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

    Jesus Is Mocked

    16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters),Greek the praetorium">2 and they called together the whole battalion.Greek cohort; a tenth of a Roman legion, usually about 600 men">3 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

    The Crucifixion

    21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hourThat is, 9 a.m.">4 when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.Some manuscripts insert verse 28: And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “He was numbered with the transgressors”">5 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

    The Death of Jesus

    33 And when the sixth hourThat is, noon">6 had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.That is, 3 p.m.">7 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way heSome manuscripts insert cried out and">8 breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the SonOr a son">9 of God!”

    40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

    Jesus Is Buried

    42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.Or Pilate wondered whether he had already died">10 And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And JosephGreek he">11 bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

    Footnotes

    [1] 15:15 A Roman judicial penalty, consisting of a severe beating with a multi-lashed whip containing embedded pieces of bone and metal


    [2] 15:16 Greek the praetorium

    [3] 15:16 Greek cohort; a tenth of a Roman legion, usually about 600 men

    [4] 15:25 That is, 9 a.m.

    [5] 15:27 Some manuscripts insert verse 28: And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “He was numbered with the transgressors”

    [6] 15:33 That is, noon

    [7] 15:33 That is, 3 p.m.

    [8] 15:39 Some manuscripts insert cried out and

    [9] 15:39 Or a son

    [10] 15:44 Or Pilate wondered whether he had already died

    [11] 15:46 Greek he

    (ESV)

    17 min
  • August 17: Psalm 15; 1 Samuel 2:12–36; Jeremiah 46–47; Mark 14
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 15
    Psalm 15 (Listen)
    Who Shall Dwell on Your Holy Hill?
    A Psalm of David.

    15   O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
        Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
    2   He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
        and speaks truth in his heart;
    3   who does not slander with his tongue
        and does no evil to his neighbor,
        nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
    4   in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
        but who honors those who fear the LORD;
      who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
    5   who does not put out his money at interest
        and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
      He who does these things shall never be moved.

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    1 Samuel 2:12–36
    1 Samuel 2:12–36 (Listen)
    Eli’s Worthless Sons

    12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD. 13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.” 16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.” 17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.

    18 Samuel was ministering before the LORD, a boy clothed with a linen ephod. 19 And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the LORD give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of the LORD.” So then they would return to their home.

    21 Indeed the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD.

    Eli Rebukes His Sons

    22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading abroad. 25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death.

    26 Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.

    The Lord Rejects Eli’s Household

    27 And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? 28 Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. 29 Why then do you scornHebrew kick at">1 my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ 30 Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep hisSeptuagint; Hebrew your; twice in this verse">2 eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendantsHebrew increase">3 of your house shall die by the sword of men.Septuagint; Hebrew die as men">4 34 And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day. 35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. 36 And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests’ places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

    Footnotes

    [1] 2:29 Hebrew kick at


    [2] 2:33 Septuagint; Hebrew your; twice in this verse

    [3] 2:33 Hebrew increase

    [4] 2:33 Septuagint; Hebrew die as men

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Jeremiah 46–47
    Jeremiah 46–47 (Listen)
    Judgment on Egypt

    46 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

    2 About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

    3   “Prepare buckler and shield,
        and advance for battle!
    4   Harness the horses;
        mount, O horsemen!
      Take your stations with your helmets,
        polish your spears,
        put on your armor!
    5   Why have I seen it?
      They are dismayed
        and have turned backward.
      Their warriors are beaten down
        and have fled in haste;
      they look not back—
        terror on every side!
          declares the LORD.
    6   “The swift cannot flee away,
        nor the warrior escape;
      in the north by the river Euphrates
        they have stumbled and fallen.
    7   “Who is this, rising like the Nile,
        like rivers whose waters surge?
    8   Egypt rises like the Nile,
        like rivers whose waters surge.
      He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,
        I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’
    9   Advance, O horses,
        and rage, O chariots!
      Let the warriors go out:
        men of Cush and Put who handle the shield,
        men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.
    10   That day is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts,
        a day of vengeance,
        to avenge himself on his foes.
      The sword shall devour and be sated
        and drink its fill of their blood.
      For the Lord GOD of hosts holds a sacrifice
        in the north country by the river Euphrates.
    11   Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
        O virgin daughter of Egypt!
      In vain you have used many medicines;
        there is no healing for you.
    12   The nations have heard of your shame,
        and the earth is full of your cry;
      for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
        they have both fallen together.”

    13 The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:

    14   “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;
        proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
      say, ‘Stand ready and be prepared,
        for the sword shall devour around you.’
    15   Why are your mighty ones face down?
        They do not standHebrew He does not stand">1
        because the LORD thrust them down.
    16   He made many stumble, and they fell,
        and they said one to another,
      ‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people
        and to the land of our birth,
        because of the sword of the oppressor.’
    17   Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
        ‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’
    18   “As I live, declares the King,
        whose name is the LORD of hosts,
      like Tabor among the mountains
        and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.
    19   Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,
        O inhabitants of Egypt!
      For Memphis shall become a waste,
        a ruin, without inhabitant.
    20   “A beautiful heifer is Egypt,
        but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.
    21   Even her hired soldiers in her midst
        are like fattened calves;
      yes, they have turned and fled together;
        they did not stand,
      for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
        the time of their punishment.
    22   “She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away;
        for her enemies march in force
      and come against her with axes
        like those who fell trees.
    23   They shall cut down her forest,
          declares the LORD,
        though it is impenetrable,
      because they are more numerous than locusts;
        they are without number.
    24   The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;
        she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north.”

    25 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, said: “Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26 I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the LORD.

    27   “But fear not, O Jacob my servant,
        nor be dismayed, O Israel,
      for behold, I will save you from far away,
        and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
      Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
        and none shall make him afraid.
    28   Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
          declares the LORD,
        for I am with you.
      I will make a full end of all the nations
        to which I have driven you,
        but of you I will not make a full end.
      I will discipline you in just measure,
        and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

    Judgment on the Philistines

    47 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.

    2   “Thus says the LORD:
      Behold, waters are rising out of the north,
        and shall become an overflowing torrent;
      they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,
        the city and those who dwell in it.
      Men shall cry out,
        and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
    3   At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
        at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
      the fathers look not back to their children,
        so feeble are their hands,
    4   because of the day that is coming to destroy
        all the Philistines,
      to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
        every helper that remains.
      For the LORD is destroying the Philistines,
        the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
    5   Baldness has come upon Gaza;
        Ashkelon has perished.
      O remnant of their valley,
        how long will you gash yourselves?
    6   Ah, sword of the LORD!
        How long till you are quiet?
      Put yourself into your scabbard;
        rest and be still!
    7   How can itSeptuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew you">2 be quiet
        when the LORD has given it a charge?
      Against Ashkelon and against the seashore
        he has appointed it.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 46:15 Hebrew He does not stand


    [2] 47:7 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew you

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    Mark 14
    Mark 14 (Listen)
    The Plot to Kill Jesus

    14 It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”

    Jesus Anointed at Bethany

    3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13">1 as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denariiA denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer">2 and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

    Judas to Betray Jesus

    10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

    The Passover with the Disciples

    12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

    17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

    Institution of the Lord’s Supper

    22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of theSome manuscripts insert new">3 covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

    Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial

    26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 29 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

    Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

    32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.”Or keep awake; also verses 37, 38">4 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

    Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

    43 And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.” 45 And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” And he kissed him. 46 And they laid hands on him and seized him. 47 But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servantOr bondservant">5 of the high priest and cut off his ear. 48 And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? 49 Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.” 50 And they all left him and fled.

    A Young Man Flees

    51 And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, 52 but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

    Jesus Before the Council

    53 And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. 54 And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. 55 Now the chief priests and the whole councilGreek Sanhedrin">6 were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. 56 For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. 57 And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” 59 Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. 60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”Or Have you no answer to what these men testify against you?">7 61 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64 You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. 65 And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.

    Peter Denies Jesus

    66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gatewayOr forecourt">8 and the rooster crowed.Some manuscripts omit and the rooster crowed">9 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.Or And when he had thought about it, he wept">10

    Footnotes

    [1] 14:3 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13


    [2] 14:5 A denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer

    [3] 14:24 Some manuscripts insert new

    [4] 14:34 Or keep awake; also verses 37, 38

    [5] 14:47 Or bondservant

    [6] 14:55 Greek Sanhedrin

    [7] 14:60 Or Have you no answer to what these men testify against you?

    [8] 14:68 Or forecourt

    [9] 14:68 Some manuscripts omit and the rooster crowed

    [10] 14:72 Or And when he had thought about it, he wept

    (ESV)

    20 min
  • August 16: Psalm 14; 1 Samuel 1–2:11; Jeremiah 44–45; Mark 13
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 14
    Psalm 14 (Listen)
    The Fool Says, There Is No God
    To the choirmaster. Of David.

    14   The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
        They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
        there is none who does good.
    2   The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
        to see if there are any who understand,Or that act wisely">1
        who seek after God.
    3   They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
        there is none who does good,
        not even one.
    4   Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
        who eat up my people as they eat bread
        and do not call upon the LORD?
    5   There they are in great terror,
        for God is with the generation of the righteous.
    6   You would shame the plans of the poor,
        butOr for">2 the LORD is his refuge.
    7   Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
        When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
        let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

    Footnotes

    [1] 14:2 Or that act wisely


    [2] 14:6 Or for

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    1 Samuel 1–2:11
    1 Samuel 1–2:11 (Listen)
    The Birth of Samuel

    1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

    3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb.Syriac; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Septuagint And, although he loved Hannah, he would give Hannah only one portion, because the Lord had closed her womb">1 6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

    9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

    12 As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” 15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

    19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. 20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the LORD.”Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard of God">2

    Samuel Given to the Lord

    21 The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the LORD and dwell there forever.” 23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the LORD establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull,Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac; Masoretic Text three bulls">3 an ephahAn ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters">4 of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. And the child was young. 25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. 27 For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD.”

    And he worshiped the LORD there.

    Hannah’s Prayer

    2 And Hannah prayed and said,

      “My heart exults in the LORD;
        my horn is exalted in the LORD.
      My mouth derides my enemies,
        because I rejoice in your salvation.
    2   “There is none holy like the LORD:
        for there is none besides you;
        there is no rock like our God.
    3   Talk no more so very proudly,
        let not arrogance come from your mouth;
      for the LORD is a God of knowledge,
        and by him actions are weighed.
    4   The bows of the mighty are broken,
        but the feeble bind on strength.
    5   Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
        but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
      The barren has borne seven,
        but she who has many children is forlorn.
    6   The LORD kills and brings to life;
        he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
    7   The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
        he brings low and he exalts.
    8   He raises up the poor from the dust;
        he lifts the needy from the ash heap
      to make them sit with princes
        and inherit a seat of honor.
      For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s,
        and on them he has set the world.
    9   “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
        but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,
        for not by might shall a man prevail.
    10   The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces;
        against them he will thunder in heaven.
      The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;
        he will give strength to his king
        and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

    11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. And the boyHebrew na‘ar can be rendered boy (2:11, 18, 21, 26; 3:1, 8), servant (2:13, 15), or young man (2:17), depending on the context">5 was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli the priest.

    Footnotes

    [1] 1:5 Syriac; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Septuagint And, although he loved Hannah, he would give Hannah only one portion, because the Lord had closed her womb


    [2] 1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard of God

    [3] 1:24 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac; Masoretic Text three bulls

    [4] 1:24 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters

    [5] 2:11 Hebrew na‘ar can be rendered boy (2:11, 18, 21, 26; 3:1, 8), servant (2:13, 15), or young man (2:17), depending on the context

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Jeremiah 44–45
    Jeremiah 44–45 (Listen)
    Judgment for Idolatry

    44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3 because of the evil that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. 4 Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ 5 But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. 6 Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day. 7 And now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? 8 Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of theirHebrew his">1 wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

    11 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. 12 I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. 13 I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives.”

    15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. 17 But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. 18 But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” 19 And the women said,Compare Syriac; Hebrew lacks And the women said">2 “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands’ approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

    20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer: 21 “As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them? Did it not come into his mind? 22 The LORD could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.”

    24 Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. 25 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows! 26 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord GOD lives.’ 27 Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them. 28 And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. 29 This shall be the sign to you, declares the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for harm: 30 Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.”

    Message to Baruch

    45 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 You said, ‘Woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’ 4 Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. 5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 44:9 Hebrew his


    [2] 44:19 Compare Syriac; Hebrew lacks And the women said

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    Mark 13
    Mark 13 (Listen)
    Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

    13 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

    Signs of the End of the Age

    3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

    9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

    The Abomination of Desolation

    14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18 Pray that it may not happen in winter. 19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. 21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.

    The Coming of the Son of Man

    24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

    The Lesson of the Fig Tree

    28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

    No One Knows That Day or Hour

    32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake.Some manuscripts add and pray">1 For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servantsOr bondservants">2 in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows,That is, the third watch of the night, between midnight and 3 a.m.">3 or in the morning—36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 13:33 Some manuscripts add and pray


    [2] 13:34 Or bondservants

    [3] 13:35 That is, the third watch of the night, between midnight and 3 a.m.

    (ESV)

    19 min
  • August 15: Psalm 13; Ruth 4; Jeremiah 42–43; Mark 12
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 13
    Psalm 13 (Listen)
    How Long, O Lord?
    To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

    13   How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
        How long will you hide your face from me?
    2   How long must I take counsel in my soul
        and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
      How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
    3   Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
        light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
    4   lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
        lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
    5   But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
        my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
    6   I will sing to the LORD,
        because he has dealt bountifully with me.

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Ruth 4
    Ruth 4 (Listen)
    Boaz Redeems Ruth

    4 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if youHebrew he">1 will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire RuthMasoretic Text you also buy it from Ruth">2 the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

    7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” 11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.”

    Ruth and Boaz Marry

    13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

    The Genealogy of David

    18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

    Footnotes

    [1] 4:4 Hebrew he


    [2] 4:5 Masoretic Text you also buy it from Ruth

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Jeremiah 42–43
    Jeremiah 42–43 (Listen)
    Warning Against Going to Egypt

    42 Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant—because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us—3 that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” 4 Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you.” 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”

    7 At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. 13 But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the LORD your God 14 and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ 15 then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, 16 then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die. 17 All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.

    18 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more. 19 The LORD has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day 20 that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says, declare to us and we will do it.’ 21 And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything that he sent me to tell you. 22 Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.”

    Jeremiah Taken to Egypt

    43 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent him to them, 2 Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ 3 but Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven—6 the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. 7 And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they arrived at Tahpanhes.

    8 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: 9 “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11 He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. 12 I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. 13 He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    Mark 12
    Mark 12 (Listen)
    The Parable of the Tenants

    12 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servantOr bondservant; also verse 4">1 to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture:

      “‘The stone that the builders rejected
        has become the cornerstone;Greek the head of the corner">2
    11   this was the Lord’s doing,
        and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

    12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.

    Paying Taxes to Caesar

    13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances,Greek you do not look at people’s faces">3 but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denariusA denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer">4 and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

    The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

    18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the manGreek his brother">5 must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

    24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

    The Great Commandment

    28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

    Whose Son Is the Christ?

    35 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,

      “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
      “Sit at my right hand,
        until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

    37 David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

    Beware of the Scribes

    38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

    The Widow’s Offering

    41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.Greek two lepta, which make a kodrantes; a kodrantes (Latin quadrans) was a Roman copper coin worth about 1/64 of a denarius (which was a day’s wage for a laborer)">6 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 12:2 Or bondservant; also verse 4


    [2] 12:10 Greek the head of the corner

    [3] 12:14 Greek you do not look at people’s faces

    [4] 12:15 A denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer

    [5] 12:19 Greek his brother

    [6] 12:42 Greek two lepta, which make a kodrantes; a kodrantes (Latin quadrans) was a Roman copper coin worth about 1/64 of a denarius (which was a day’s wage for a laborer)

    (ESV)

    16 min

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