ESV: Digging Deep into the Bible

ESV: Digging Deep into the Bible

Download on the App Store

ESV: Digging Deep into the Bible episodes

  • December 12: Psalm 132; Job 19; Isaiah 41; Revelation 2
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 132
    Psalm 132 (Listen)
    The Lord Has Chosen Zion
    A Song of Ascents.

    132   Remember, O LORD, in David’s favor,
        all the hardships he endured,
    2   how he swore to the LORD
        and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
    3   “I will not enter my house
        or get into my bed,
    4   I will not give sleep to my eyes
        or slumber to my eyelids,
    5   until I find a place for the LORD,
        a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
    6   Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
        we found it in the fields of Jaar.
    7   “Let us go to his dwelling place;
        let us worship at his footstool!”
    8   Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place,
        you and the ark of your might.
    9   Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
        and let your saints shout for joy.
    10   For the sake of your servant David,
        do not turn away the face of your anointed one.
    11   The LORD swore to David a sure oath
        from which he will not turn back:
      “One of the sons of your bodyHebrew of your fruit of the womb">1
        I will set on your throne.
    12   If your sons keep my covenant
        and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
      their sons also forever
        shall sit on your throne.”
    13   For the LORD has chosen Zion;
        he has desired it for his dwelling place:
    14   “This is my resting place forever;
        here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
    15   I will abundantly bless her provisions;
        I will satisfy her poor with bread.
    16   Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
        and her saints will shout for joy.
    17   There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
        I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
    18   His enemies I will clothe with shame,
        but on him his crown will shine.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 132:11 Hebrew of your fruit of the womb

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 19
    Job 19 (Listen)
    Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives

    19 Then Job answered and said:

    2   “How long will you torment me
        and break me in pieces with words?
    3   These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
        are you not ashamed to wrong me?
    4   And even if it be true that I have erred,
        my error remains with myself.
    5   If indeed you magnify yourselves against me
        and make my disgrace an argument against me,
    6   know then that God has put me in the wrong
        and closed his net about me.
    7   Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
        I call for help, but there is no justice.
    8   He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
        and he has set darkness upon my paths.
    9   He has stripped from me my glory
        and taken the crown from my head.
    10   He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
        and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
    11   He has kindled his wrath against me
        and counts me as his adversary.
    12   His troops come on together;
        they have cast up their siege rampHebrew their way">1 against me
        and encamp around my tent.
    13   “He has put my brothers far from me,
        and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
    14   My relatives have failed me,
        my close friends have forgotten me.
    15   The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
        I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
    16   I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
        I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
    17   My breath is strange to my wife,
        and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
    18   Even young children despise me;
        when I rise they talk against me.
    19   All my intimate friends abhor me,
        and those whom I loved have turned against me.
    20   My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
        and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
    21   Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
        for the hand of God has touched me!
    22   Why do you, like God, pursue me?
        Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
    23   “Oh that my words were written!
        Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
    24   Oh that with an iron pen and lead
        they were engraved in the rock forever!
    25   For I know that my Redeemer lives,
        and at the last he will stand upon the earth.Hebrew dust">2
    26   And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
        yet inOr without">3 my flesh I shall see God,
    27   whom I shall see for myself,
        and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
        My heart faints within me!
    28   If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’
        and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’Many Hebrew manuscripts in me">4
    29   be afraid of the sword,
        for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
        that you may know there is a judgment.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 19:12 Hebrew their way


    [2] 19:25 Hebrew dust

    [3] 19:26 Or without

    [4] 19:28 Many Hebrew manuscripts in me

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 41
    Isaiah 41 (Listen)
    Fear Not, for I Am with You

    41   Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
        let the peoples renew their strength;
      let them approach, then let them speak;
        let us together draw near for judgment.
    2   Who stirred up one from the east
        whom victory meets at every step?Or whom righteousness calls to follow?">1
      He gives up nations before him,
        so that he tramples kings underfoot;
      he makes them like dust with his sword,
        like driven stubble with his bow.
    3   He pursues them and passes on safely,
        by paths his feet have not trod.
    4   Who has performed and done this,
        calling the generations from the beginning?
      I, the LORD, the first,
        and with the last; I am he.
    5   The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
        the ends of the earth tremble;
        they have drawn near and come.
    6   Everyone helps his neighbor
        and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
    7   The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
        and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
      saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
        and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
    8   But you, Israel, my servant,
        Jacob, whom I have chosen,
        the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
    9   you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
        and called from its farthest corners,
      saying to you, “You are my servant,
        I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
    10   fear not, for I am with you;
        be not dismayed, for I am your God;
      I will strengthen you, I will help you,
        I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
    11   Behold, all who are incensed against you
        shall be put to shame and confounded;
      those who strive against you
        shall be as nothing and shall perish.
    12   You shall seek those who contend with you,
        but you shall not find them;
      those who war against you
        shall be as nothing at all.
    13   For I, the LORD your God,
        hold your right hand;
      it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
        I am the one who helps you.”
    14   Fear not, you worm Jacob,
        you men of Israel!
      I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;
        your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
    15   Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
        new, sharp, and having teeth;
      you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
        and you shall make the hills like chaff;
    16   you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
        and the tempest shall scatter them.
      And you shall rejoice in the LORD;
        in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
    17   When the poor and needy seek water,
        and there is none,
        and their tongue is parched with thirst,
      I the LORD will answer them;
        I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
    18   I will open rivers on the bare heights,
        and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
      I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
        and the dry land springs of water.
    19   I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
        the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
      I will set in the desert the cypress,
        the plane and the pine together,
    20   that they may see and know,
        may consider and understand together,
      that the hand of the LORD has done this,
        the Holy One of Israel has created it.

    The Futility of Idols

    21   Set forth your case, says the LORD;
        bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
    22   Let them bring them, and tell us
        what is to happen.
      Tell us the former things, what they are,
        that we may consider them,
      that we may know their outcome;
        or declare to us the things to come.
    23   Tell us what is to come hereafter,
        that we may know that you are gods;
      do good, or do harm,
        that we may be dismayed and terrified.Or that we may both be dismayed and see">2
    24   Behold, you are nothing,
        and your work is less than nothing;
        an abomination is he who chooses you.
    25   I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
        from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
      he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
        as the potter treads clay.
    26   Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
        and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
      There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
        none who heard your words.
    27   I was the first to sayOr Formerly I said">3 to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
        and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
    28   But when I look, there is no one;
        among these there is no counselor
        who, when I ask, gives an answer.
    29   Behold, they are all a delusion;
        their works are nothing;
        their metal images are empty wind.

    Footnotes

    [1] 41:2 Or whom righteousness calls to follow?


    [2] 41:23 Or that we may both be dismayed and see

    [3] 41:27 Or Formerly I said

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    Revelation 2
    Revelation 2 (Listen)
    To the Church in Ephesus

    2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

    2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

    To the Church in Smyrna

    8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

    9 “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slanderGreek blasphemy">1 of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

    To the Church in Pergamum

    12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

    13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faithOr your faith in me">2 even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

    To the Church in Thyatira

    18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

    19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 25 Only hold fast what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will ruleGreek shepherd">3 them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

    Footnotes

    [1] 2:9 Greek blasphemy


    [2] 2:13 Or your faith in me

    [3] 2:27 Greek shepherd

    (ESV)

    14 min
  • December 11: Psalm 131; Job 18; Isaiah 40; Revelation 1
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 131
    Psalm 131 (Listen)
    I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul
    A Song of Ascents. Of David.

    131   O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
        my eyes are not raised too high;
      I do not occupy myself with things
        too great and too marvelous for me.
    2   But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
        like a weaned child with its mother;
        like a weaned child is my soul within me.
    3   O Israel, hope in the LORD
        from this time forth and forevermore.

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 18
    Job 18 (Listen)
    Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked

    18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

    2   “How long will you hunt for words?
        Consider, and then we will speak.
    3   Why are we counted as cattle?
        Why are we stupid in your sight?
    4   You who tear yourself in your anger,
        shall the earth be forsaken for you,
        or the rock be removed out of its place?
    5   “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out,
        and the flame of his fire does not shine.
    6   The light is dark in his tent,
        and his lamp above him is put out.
    7   His strong steps are shortened,
        and his own schemes throw him down.
    8   For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
        and he walks on its mesh.
    9   A trap seizes him by the heel;
        a snare lays hold of him.
    10   A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
        a trap for him in the path.
    11   Terrors frighten him on every side,
        and chase him at his heels.
    12   His strength is famished,
        and calamity is ready for his stumbling.
    13   It consumes the parts of his skin;
        the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
    14   He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
        and is brought to the king of terrors.
    15   In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
        sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
    16   His roots dry up beneath,
        and his branches wither above.
    17   His memory perishes from the earth,
        and he has no name in the street.
    18   He is thrust from light into darkness,
        and driven out of the world.
    19   He has no posterity or progeny among his people,
        and no survivor where he used to live.
    20   They of the west are appalled at his day,
        and horror seizes them of the east.
    21   Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
        such is the place of him who knows not God.”

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 40
    Isaiah 40 (Listen)
    Comfort for God’s People

    40   Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
    2   Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
        and cry to her
      that her warfareOr hardship">1 is ended,
        that her iniquity is pardoned,
      that she has received from the LORD’s hand
        double for all her sins.
    3   A voice cries:Or A voice of one crying">2
      “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
        make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
    4   Every valley shall be lifted up,
        and every mountain and hill be made low;
      the uneven ground shall become level,
        and the rough places a plain.
    5   And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
        and all flesh shall see it together,
        for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

    The Word of God Stands Forever

    6   A voice says, “Cry!”
        And I said,Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text And someone says">3 “What shall I cry?”
      All flesh is grass,
        and all its beautyOr all its constancy">4 is like the flower of the field.
    7   The grass withers, the flower fades
        when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
        surely the people are grass.
    8   The grass withers, the flower fades,
        but the word of our God will stand forever.

    The Greatness of God

    9   Go on up to a high mountain,
        O Zion, herald of good news;Or O herald of good news to Zion">5
      lift up your voice with strength,
        O Jerusalem, herald of good news;Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem">6
        lift it up, fear not;
      say to the cities of Judah,
        “Behold your God!”
    10   Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
        and his arm rules for him;
      behold, his reward is with him,
        and his recompense before him.
    11   He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
        he will gather the lambs in his arms;
      he will carry them in his bosom,
        and gently lead those that are with young.
    12   Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
        and marked off the heavens with a span,
      enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
        and weighed the mountains in scales
        and the hills in a balance?
    13   Who has measuredOr has directed">7 the Spirit of the LORD,
        or what man shows him his counsel?
    14   Whom did he consult,
        and who made him understand?
      Who taught him the path of justice,
        and taught him knowledge,
        and showed him the way of understanding?
    15   Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
        and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
        behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
    16   Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
        nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
    17   All the nations are as nothing before him,
        they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
    18   To whom then will you liken God,
        or what likeness compare with him?
    19   An idol! A craftsman casts it,
        and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
        and casts for it silver chains.
    20   He who is too impoverished for an offering
        chooses woodOr He chooses valuable wood">8 that will not rot;
      he seeks out a skillful craftsman
        to set up an idol that will not move.
    21   Do you not know? Do you not hear?
        Has it not been told you from the beginning?
        Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
    22   It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
        and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
      who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
        and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
    23   who brings princes to nothing,
        and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
    24   Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
        scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
      when he blows on them, and they wither,
        and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
    25   To whom then will you compare me,
        that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
    26   Lift up your eyes on high and see:
        who created these?
      He who brings out their host by number,
        calling them all by name;
      by the greatness of his might
        and because he is strong in power,
        not one is missing.
    27   Why do you say, O Jacob,
        and speak, O Israel,
      “My way is hidden from the LORD,
        and my right is disregarded by my God”?
    28   Have you not known? Have you not heard?
      The LORD is the everlasting God,
        the Creator of the ends of the earth.
      He does not faint or grow weary;
        his understanding is unsearchable.
    29   He gives power to the faint,
        and to him who has no might he increases strength.
    30   Even youths shall faint and be weary,
        and young men shall fall exhausted;
    31   but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
        they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
      they shall run and not be weary;
        they shall walk and not faint.

    Footnotes

    [1] 40:2 Or hardship


    [2] 40:3 Or A voice of one crying

    [3] 40:6 Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text And someone says

    [4] 40:6 Or all its constancy

    [5] 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Zion

    [6] 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem

    [7] 40:13 Or has directed

    [8] 40:20 Or He chooses valuable wood

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    Revelation 1
    Revelation 1 (Listen)
    Prologue

    1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servantsfor the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; likewise for servant later in this verse">1 the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

    Greeting to the Seven Churches

    4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

    Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

    To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wailOr mourn">2 on account of him. Even so. Amen.

    8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

    Vision of the Son of Man

    9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

    12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

    17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

    Footnotes

    [1] 1:1 for the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; likewise for servant later in this verse


    [2] 1:7 Or mourn

    (ESV)

    11 min
  • December 10: Psalm 130; Job 16–17; Isaiah 39; Jude
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 130
    Psalm 130 (Listen)
    My Soul Waits for the Lord
    A Song of Ascents.

    130   Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
    2     O Lord, hear my voice!
      Let your ears be attentive
        to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
    3   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
        O Lord, who could stand?
    4   But with you there is forgiveness,
        that you may be feared.
    5   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
        and in his word I hope;
    6   my soul waits for the Lord
        more than watchmen for the morning,
        more than watchmen for the morning.
    7   O Israel, hope in the LORD!
        For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
        and with him is plentiful redemption.
    8   And he will redeem Israel
        from all his iniquities.

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 16–17
    Job 16–17 (Listen)
    Job Replies: Miserable Comforters Are You

    16 Then Job answered and said:

    2   “I have heard many such things;
        miserable comforters are you all.
    3   Shall windy words have an end?
        Or what provokes you that you answer?
    4   I also could speak as you do,
        if you were in my place;
      I could join words together against you
        and shake my head at you.
    5   I could strengthen you with my mouth,
        and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
    6   “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
        and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
    7   Surely now God has worn me out;
        he hasHebrew you have; also verse 8">1 made desolate all my company.
    8   And he has shriveled me up,
        which is a witness against me,
      and my leanness has risen up against me;
        it testifies to my face.
    9   He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
        he has gnashed his teeth at me;
        my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
    10   Men have gaped at me with their mouth;
        they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
        they mass themselves together against me.
    11   God gives me up to the ungodly
        and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
    12   I was at ease, and he broke me apart;
        he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
      he set me up as his target;
    13     his archers surround me.
      He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;
        he pours out my gall on the ground.
    14   He breaks me with breach upon breach;
        he runs upon me like a warrior.
    15   I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
        and have laid my strength in the dust.
    16   My face is red with weeping,
        and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
    17   although there is no violence in my hands,
        and my prayer is pure.
    18   “O earth, cover not my blood,
        and let my cry find no resting place.
    19   Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
        and he who testifies for me is on high.
    20   My friends scorn me;
        my eye pours out tears to God,
    21   that he would argue the case of a man with God,
        asHebrew and">2 a son of man does with his neighbor.
    22   For when a few years have come
        I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

    Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope?

    17   “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;
        the graveyard is ready for me.
    2   Surely there are mockers about me,
        and my eye dwells on their provocation.
    3   “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
        who is there who will put up security for me?
    4   Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
        therefore you will not let them triumph.
    5   He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
        the eyes of his children will fail.
    6   “He has made me a byword of the peoples,
        and I am one before whom men spit.
    7   My eye has grown dim from vexation,
        and all my members are like a shadow.
    8   The upright are appalled at this,
        and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
    9   Yet the righteous holds to his way,
        and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
    10   But you, come on again, all of you,
        and I shall not find a wise man among you.
    11   My days are past; my plans are broken off,
        the desires of my heart.
    12   They make night into day:
        ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain">3
    13   If I hope for Sheol as my house,
        if I make my bed in darkness,
    14   if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
        and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
    15   where then is my hope?
        Who will see my hope?
    16   Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
        Shall we descend together into the dust?”Or Will they go down to the bars of Sheol? Is rest to be found together in the dust?">4


    Footnotes

    [1] 16:7 Hebrew you have; also verse 8


    [2] 16:21 Hebrew and

    [3] 17:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

    [4] 17:16 Or Will they go down to the bars of Sheol? Is rest to be found together in the dust?

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 39
    Isaiah 39 (Listen)
    Envoys from Babylon

    39 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

    5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    Jude
    Jude (Listen)
    Greeting

    1 Jude, a servantFor the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface">1 of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

    To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept forOr by">2 Jesus Christ:

    2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

    Judgment on False Teachers

    3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

    5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who savedSome manuscripts although you fully knew it, that the Lord who once saved">3 a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire,Greek different flesh">4 serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

    8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefsOr are blemishes">5 at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

    14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

    A Call to Persevere

    17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 TheyOr Christ, because they">6 said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garmentGreek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin">7 stained by the flesh.

    Doxology

    24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all timeOr before any age">8 and now and forever. Amen.

    Footnotes

    [1] 1:1 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface


    [2] 1:1 Or by

    [3] 1:5 Some manuscripts although you fully knew it, that the Lord who once saved

    [4] 1:7 Greek different flesh

    [5] 1:12 Or are blemishes

    [6] 1:18 Or Christ, because they

    [7] 1:23 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin

    [8] 1:25 Or before any age

    (ESV)

    10 min
  • December 9: Psalm 129; Job 15; Isaiah 38; 3 John
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 129
    Psalm 129 (Listen)
    They Have Afflicted Me from My Youth
    A Song of Ascents.

    129   “GreatlyOr Often; also verse 2">1 have they afflicted me from my youth”—
        let Israel now say—
    2   “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
        yet they have not prevailed against me.
    3   The plowers plowed upon my back;
        they made long their furrows.”
    4   The LORD is righteous;
        he has cut the cords of the wicked.
    5   May all who hate Zion
        be put to shame and turned backward!
    6   Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
        which withers before it grows up,
    7   with which the reaper does not fill his hand
        nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
    8   nor do those who pass by say,
        “The blessing of the LORD be upon you!
        We bless you in the name of the LORD!”

    Footnotes

    [1] 129:1 Or Often; also verse 2

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 15
    Job 15 (Listen)
    Eliphaz Accuses: Job Does Not Fear God

    15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

    2   “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,
        and fill his belly with the east wind?
    3   Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
        or in words with which he can do no good?
    4   But you are doing away with the fear of GodHebrew lacks of God">1
        and hindering meditation before God.
    5   For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
        and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
    6   Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
        your own lips testify against you.
    7   “Are you the first man who was born?
        Or were you brought forth before the hills?
    8   Have you listened in the council of God?
        And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
    9   What do you know that we do not know?
        What do you understand that is not clear to us?
    10   Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
        older than your father.
    11   Are the comforts of God too small for you,
        or the word that deals gently with you?
    12   Why does your heart carry you away,
        and why do your eyes flash,
    13   that you turn your spirit against God
        and bring such words out of your mouth?
    14   What is man, that he can be pure?
        Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
    15   Behold, GodHebrew he">2 puts no trust in his holy ones,
        and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
    16   how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
        a man who drinks injustice like water!
    17   “I will show you; hear me,
        and what I have seen I will declare
    18   (what wise men have told,
        without hiding it from their fathers,
    19   to whom alone the land was given,
        and no stranger passed among them).
    20   The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
        through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
    21   Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
        in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
    22   He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
        and he is marked for the sword.
    23   He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
        He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
    24   distress and anguish terrify him;
        they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
    25   Because he has stretched out his hand against God
        and defies the Almighty,
    26   running stubbornly against him
        with a thickly bossed shield;
    27   because he has covered his face with his fat
        and gathered fat upon his waist
    28   and has lived in desolate cities,
        in houses that none should inhabit,
        which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
    29   he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
        nor will his possessions spread over the earth;Or nor will his produce bend down to the earth">3
    30   he will not depart from darkness;
        the flame will dry up his shoots,
        and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.
    31   Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
        for emptiness will be his payment.
    32   It will be paid in full before his time,
        and his branch will not be green.
    33   He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
        and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
    34   For the company of the godless is barren,
        and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
    35   They conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
        and their womb prepares deceit.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 15:4 Hebrew lacks of God


    [2] 15:15 Hebrew he

    [3] 15:29 Or nor will his produce bend down to the earth

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 38
    Isaiah 38 (Listen)
    Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery

    38 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”Or live; also verses 9, 21">1 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 and said, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

    4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.Hebrew to your days">2 6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.

    7 “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has promised: 8 Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain">3

    9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

    10   I said, In the middleOr In the quiet">4 of my days
        I must depart;
      I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
        for the rest of my years.
    11   I said, I shall not see the LORD,
        the LORD in the land of the living;
      I shall look on man no more
        among the inhabitants of the world.
    12   My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
        like a shepherd’s tent;
      like a weaver I have rolled up my life;
        he cuts me off from the loom;
      from day to night you bring me to an end;
    13     I calmed myselfOr (with Targum) I cried for help">5 until morning;
      like a lion he breaks all my bones;
        from day to night you bring me to an end.
    14   Like a swallow or a crane I chirp;
        I moan like a dove.
      My eyes are weary with looking upward.
        O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!
    15   What shall I say? For he has spoken to me,
        and he himself has done it.
      I walk slowly all my years
        because of the bitterness of my soul.
    16   O Lord, by these things men live,
        and in all these is the life of my spirit.
        Oh restore me to health and make me live!
    17   Behold, it was for my welfare
        that I had great bitterness;
      but in love you have delivered my life
        from the pit of destruction,
      for you have cast all my sins
        behind your back.
    18   For Sheol does not thank you;
        death does not praise you;
      those who go down to the pit do not hope
        for your faithfulness.
    19   The living, the living, he thanks you,
        as I do this day;
      the father makes known to the children
        your faithfulness.
    20   The LORD will save me,
        and we will play my music on stringed instruments
      all the days of our lives,
        at the house of the LORD.

    21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?”

    Footnotes

    [1] 38:1 Or live; also verses 9, 21


    [2] 38:5 Hebrew to your days

    [3] 38:8 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain

    [4] 38:10 Or In the quiet

    [5] 38:13 Or (with Targum) I cried for help

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    3 John
    3 John (Listen)
    Greeting

    1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

    2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothersOr brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 10">1 came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

    Support and Opposition

    5 Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6 who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

    9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

    11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

    Final Greetings

    13 I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

    15 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.

    Footnotes

    [1] 1:3 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 10

    (ESV)

    9 min
  • December 8: Psalm 128; Job 14; Isaiah 36–37; 2 John
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 128
    Psalm 128 (Listen)
    Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears the Lord
    A Song of Ascents.

    128   Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,
        who walks in his ways!
    2   You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
        you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
    3   Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
        within your house;
      your children will be like olive shoots
        around your table.
    4   Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
        who fears the LORD.
    5   The LORD bless you from Zion!
        May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
        all the days of your life!
    6   May you see your children’s children!
        Peace be upon Israel!

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 14
    Job 14 (Listen)
    Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All

    14   “Man who is born of a woman
        is few of days and full of trouble.
    2   He comes out like a flower and withers;
        he flees like a shadow and continues not.
    3   And do you open your eyes on such a one
        and bring me into judgment with you?
    4   Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
        There is not one.
    5   Since his days are determined,
        and the number of his months is with you,
        and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
    6   look away from him and leave him alone,Probable reading; Hebrew look away from him, that he may cease">1
        that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.
    7   “For there is hope for a tree,
        if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
        and that its shoots will not cease.
    8   Though its root grow old in the earth,
        and its stump die in the soil,
    9   yet at the scent of water it will bud
        and put out branches like a young plant.
    10   But a man dies and is laid low;
        man breathes his last, and where is he?
    11   As waters fail from a lake
        and a river wastes away and dries up,
    12   so a man lies down and rises not again;
        till the heavens are no more he will not awake
        or be roused out of his sleep.
    13   Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
        that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,
        that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
    14   If a man dies, shall he live again?
        All the days of my service I would wait,
        till my renewalOr relief">2 should come.
    15   You would call, and I would answer you;
        you would long for the work of your hands.
    16   For then you would number my steps;
        you would not keep watch over my sin;
    17   my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
        and you would cover over my iniquity.
    18   “But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
        and the rock is removed from its place;
    19   the waters wear away the stones;
        the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
        so you destroy the hope of man.
    20   You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
        you change his countenance, and send him away.
    21   His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;
        they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
    22   He feels only the pain of his own body,
        and he mourns only for himself.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 14:6 Probable reading; Hebrew look away from him, that he may cease


    [2] 14:14 Or relief

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 36–37
    Isaiah 36–37 (Listen)
    Sennacherib Invades Judah

    36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent the RabshakehRabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer">1 from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3 And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

    4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”

    11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

    13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with meHebrew Make a blessing with me">2 and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

    21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

    Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

    37 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

    5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

    8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush,Probably Nubia">3 “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

    Hezekiah’s Prayer for Deliverance

    14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: 16 “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”

    Sennacherib’s Fall

    21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:

      “‘She despises you, she scorns you—
        the virgin daughter of Zion;
      she wags her head behind you—
        the daughter of Jerusalem.
    23   “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?
        Against whom have you raised your voice
      and lifted your eyes to the heights?
        Against the Holy One of Israel!
    24   By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
        and you have said, With my many chariots
      I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
        to the far recesses of Lebanon,
      to cut down its tallest cedars,
        its choicest cypresses,
      to come to its remotest height,
        its most fruitful forest.
    25   I dug wells
        and drank waters,
      to dry up with the sole of my foot
        all the streams of Egypt.
    26   “‘Have you not heard
        that I determined it long ago?
      I planned from days of old
        what now I bring to pass,
      that you should make fortified cities
        crash into heaps of ruins,
    27   while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
        are dismayed and confounded,
      and have become like plants of the field
        and like tender grass,
      like grass on the housetops,
        blightedSome Hebrew manuscripts and 2 Kings 19:26; most Hebrew manuscripts a field">4 before it is grown.
    28   “‘I know your sitting down
        and your going out and coming in,
        and your raging against me.
    29   Because you have raged against me
        and your complacency has come to my ears,
      I will put my hook in your nose
        and my bit in your mouth,
      and I will turn you back on the way
        by which you came.’

    30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

    33 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

    36 And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

    Footnotes

    [1] 36:2 Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer


    [2] 36:16 Hebrew Make a blessing with me

    [3] 37:9 Probably Nubia

    [4] 37:27 Some Hebrew manuscripts and 2 Kings 19:26; most Hebrew manuscripts a field

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    2 John
    2 John (Listen)
    Greeting

    1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

    3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

    Walking in Truth and Love

    4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what weSome manuscripts you">1 have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

    Final Greetings

    12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

    13 The children of your elect sister greet you.

    Footnotes

    [1] 1:8 Some manuscripts you

    (ESV)

    15 min
  • December 7: Psalm 127; Job 13; Isaiah 35; 1 John 5
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 127
    Psalm 127 (Listen)
    Unless the Lord Builds the House
    A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.

    127   Unless the LORD builds the house,
        those who build it labor in vain.
      Unless the LORD watches over the city,
        the watchman stays awake in vain.
    2   It is in vain that you rise up early
        and go late to rest,
      eating the bread of anxious toil;
        for he gives to his beloved sleep.
    3   Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
        the fruit of the womb a reward.
    4   Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
        are the childrenOr sons">1 of one’s youth.
    5   Blessed is the man
        who fills his quiver with them!
      He shall not be put to shame
        when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.Or They shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in the gate">2

    Footnotes

    [1] 127:4 Or sons


    [2] 127:5 Or They shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in the gate

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 13
    Job 13 (Listen)
    Job Continues: Still I Will Hope in God

    13   “Behold, my eye has seen all this,
        my ear has heard and understood it.
    2   What you know, I also know;
        I am not inferior to you.
    3   But I would speak to the Almighty,
        and I desire to argue my case with God.
    4   As for you, you whitewash with lies;
        worthless physicians are you all.
    5   Oh that you would keep silent,
        and it would be your wisdom!
    6   Hear now my argument
        and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
    7   Will you speak falsely for God
        and speak deceitfully for him?
    8   Will you show partiality toward him?
        Will you plead the case for God?
    9   Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
        Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
    10   He will surely rebuke you
        if in secret you show partiality.
    11   Will not his majesty terrify you,
        and the dread of him fall upon you?
    12   Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
        your defenses are defenses of clay.
    13   “Let me have silence, and I will speak,
        and let come on me what may.
    14   Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
        and put my life in my hand?
    15   Though he slay me, I will hope in him;Or Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope">1
        yet I will argue my ways to his face.
    16   This will be my salvation,
        that the godless shall not come before him.
    17   Keep listening to my words,
        and let my declaration be in your ears.
    18   Behold, I have prepared my case;
        I know that I shall be in the right.
    19   Who is there who will contend with me?
        For then I would be silent and die.
    20   Only grant me two things,
        then I will not hide myself from your face:
    21   withdraw your hand far from me,
        and let not dread of you terrify me.
    22   Then call, and I will answer;
        or let me speak, and you reply to me.
    23   How many are my iniquities and my sins?
        Make me know my transgression and my sin.
    24   Why do you hide your face
        and count me as your enemy?
    25   Will you frighten a driven leaf
        and pursue dry chaff?
    26   For you write bitter things against me
        and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
    27   You put my feet in the stocks
        and watch all my paths;
        you set a limit forOr you marked">2 the soles of my feet.
    28   ManHebrew He">3 wastes away like a rotten thing,
        like a garment that is moth-eaten.

    Footnotes

    [1] 13:15 Or Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope


    [2] 13:27 Or you marked

    [3] 13:28 Hebrew He

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 35
    Isaiah 35 (Listen)
    The Ransomed Shall Return

    35   The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
        the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
    2   it shall blossom abundantly
        and rejoice with joy and singing.
      The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
        the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
      They shall see the glory of the LORD,
        the majesty of our God.
    3   Strengthen the weak hands,
        and make firm the feeble knees.
    4   Say to those who have an anxious heart,
        “Be strong; fear not!
      Behold, your God
        will come with vengeance,
      with the recompense of God.
        He will come and save you.”
    5   Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
        and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
    6   then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
        and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
      For waters break forth in the wilderness,
        and streams in the desert;
    7   the burning sand shall become a pool,
        and the thirsty ground springs of water;
      in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
        the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
    8   And a highway shall be there,
        and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
      the unclean shall not pass over it.
        It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
        even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it">1
    9   No lion shall be there,
        nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
      they shall not be found there,
        but the redeemed shall walk there.
    10   And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
        and come to Zion with singing;
      everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
        they shall obtain gladness and joy,
        and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

    Footnotes

    [1] 35:8 Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 John 5
    1 John 5 (Listen)
    Overcoming the World

    5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

    Testimony Concerning the Son of God

    6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

    That You May Know

    13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

    16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and GodGreek he">1 will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

    18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

    19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

    20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

    Footnotes

    [1] 5:16 Greek he

    (ESV)

    8 min
  • December 6: Psalm 126; Job 12; Isaiah 33–34; 1 John 4
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 126
    Psalm 126 (Listen)
    Restore Our Fortunes, O Lord
    A Song of Ascents.

    126   When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
        we were like those who dream.
    2   Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
        and our tongue with shouts of joy;
      then they said among the nations,
        “The LORD has done great things for them.”
    3   The LORD has done great things for us;
        we are glad.
    4   Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
        like streams in the Negeb!
    5   Those who sow in tears
        shall reap with shouts of joy!
    6   He who goes out weeping,
        bearing the seed for sowing,
      shall come home with shouts of joy,
        bringing his sheaves with him.

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 12
    Job 12 (Listen)
    Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This

    12 Then Job answered and said:

    2   “No doubt you are the people,
        and wisdom will die with you.
    3   But I have understanding as well as you;
        I am not inferior to you.
        Who does not know such things as these?
    4   I am a laughingstock to my friends;
        I, who called to God and he answered me,
        a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
    5   In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
        it is ready for those whose feet slip.
    6   The tents of robbers are at peace,
        and those who provoke God are secure,
        who bring their god in their hand.The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain">1
    7   “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
        the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
    8   or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;Or or speak to the earth, and it will teach you">2
        and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
    9   Who among all these does not know
        that the hand of the LORD has done this?
    10   In his hand is the life of every living thing
        and the breath of all mankind.
    11   Does not the ear test words
        as the palate tastes food?
    12   Wisdom is with the aged,
        and understanding in length of days.
    13   “With GodHebrew him">3 are wisdom and might;
        he has counsel and understanding.
    14   If he tears down, none can rebuild;
        if he shuts a man in, none can open.
    15   If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
        if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
    16   With him are strength and sound wisdom;
        the deceived and the deceiver are his.
    17   He leads counselors away stripped,
        and judges he makes fools.
    18   He looses the bonds of kings
        and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
    19   He leads priests away stripped
        and overthrows the mighty.
    20   He deprives of speech those who are trusted
        and takes away the discernment of the elders.
    21   He pours contempt on princes
        and loosens the belt of the strong.
    22   He uncovers the deeps out of darkness
        and brings deep darkness to light.
    23   He makes nations great, and he destroys them;
        he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
    24   He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
        and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
    25   They grope in the dark without light,
        and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

    Footnotes

    [1] 12:6 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain


    [2] 12:8 Or or speak to the earth, and it will teach you

    [3] 12:13 Hebrew him

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 33–34
    Isaiah 33–34 (Listen)
    O Lord, Be Gracious to Us

    33   Ah, you destroyer,
        who yourself have not been destroyed,
      you traitor,
        whom none has betrayed!
      When you have ceased to destroy,
        you will be destroyed;
      and when you have finished betraying,
        they will betray you.
    2   O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
        Be our arm every morning,
        our salvation in the time of trouble.
    3   At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
        when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
    4   and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
        as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
    5   The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
        he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
    6   and he will be the stability of your times,
        abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
        the fear of the LORD is Zion’sHebrew his">1 treasure.
    7   Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
        the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
    8   The highways lie waste;
        the traveler ceases.
      Covenants are broken;
        citiesMasoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll witnesses">2 are despised;
        there is no regard for man.
    9   The land mourns and languishes;
        Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
      Sharon is like a desert,
        and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
    10   “Now I will arise,” says the LORD,
        “now I will lift myself up;
        now I will be exalted.
    11   You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
        your breath is a fire that will consume you.
    12   And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
        like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”
    13   Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
        and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
    14   The sinners in Zion are afraid;
        trembling has seized the godless:
      “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
        Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
    15   He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
        who despises the gain of oppressions,
      who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
        who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
        and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
    16   he will dwell on the heights;
        his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
        his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
    17   Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
        they will see a land that stretches afar.
    18   Your heart will muse on the terror:
        “Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute?
        Where is he who counted the towers?”
    19   You will see no more the insolent people,
        the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
        stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
    20   Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
        Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
        an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,
      whose stakes will never be plucked up,
        nor will any of its cords be broken.
    21   But there the LORD in majesty will be for us
        a place of broad rivers and streams,
      where no galley with oars can go,
        nor majestic ship can pass.
    22   For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver;
        the LORD is our king; he will save us.
    23   Your cords hang loose;
        they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
        or keep the sail spread out.
      Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
        even the lame will take the prey.
    24   And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
        the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.

    Judgment on the Nations

    34   Draw near, O nations, to hear,
        and give attention, O peoples!
      Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
        the world, and all that comes from it.
    2   For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,
        and furious against all their host;
        he has devoted them to destruction,That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5">3 has given them over for slaughter.
    3   Their slain shall be cast out,
        and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
        the mountains shall flow with their blood.
    4   All the host of heaven shall rot away,
        and the skies roll up like a scroll.
      All their host shall fall,
        as leaves fall from the vine,
        like leaves falling from the fig tree.
    5   For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
        behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,
        upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
    6   The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood;
        it is gorged with fat,
        with the blood of lambs and goats,
        with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
      For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
        a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
    7   Wild oxen shall fall with them,
        and young steers with the mighty bulls.
      Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
        and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
    8   For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
        a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
    9   And the streams of EdomHebrew her streams">4 shall be turned into pitch,
        and her soil into sulfur;
        her land shall become burning pitch.
    10   Night and day it shall not be quenched;
        its smoke shall go up forever.
      From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
        none shall pass through it forever and ever.
    11   But the hawk and the porcupineThe identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain">5 shall possess it,
        the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
      He shall stretch the line of confusionHebrew formlessness">6 over it,
        and the plumb line of emptiness.
    12   Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
        and all its princes shall be nothing.
    13   Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
        nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
      It shall be the haunt of jackals,
        an abode for ostriches.Or owls">7
    14   And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
        the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
      indeed, there the night birdIdentity uncertain">8 settles
        and finds for herself a resting place.
    15   There the owl nests and lays
        and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
      indeed, there the hawks are gathered,
        each one with her mate.
    16   Seek and read from the book of the LORD:
        Not one of these shall be missing;
        none shall be without her mate.
      For the mouth of the LORD has commanded,
        and his Spirit has gathered them.
    17   He has cast the lot for them;
        his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
      they shall possess it forever;
        from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

    Footnotes

    [1] 33:6 Hebrew his


    [2] 33:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll witnesses

    [3] 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5

    [4] 34:9 Hebrew her streams

    [5] 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain

    [6] 34:11 Hebrew formlessness

    [7] 34:13 Or owls

    [8] 34:14 Identity uncertain

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 John 4
    1 John 4 (Listen)
    Test the Spirits

    4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

    God Is Love

    7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

    13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannotSome manuscripts how can he">1 love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

    Footnotes

    [1] 4:20 Some manuscripts how can he

    (ESV)

    13 min
  • December 5: Psalm 125; Job 11; Isaiah 30:18–32:20; 1 John 3:4–24
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 125
    Psalm 125 (Listen)
    The Lord Surrounds His People
    A Song of Ascents.

    125   Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
        which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
    2   As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
        so the LORD surrounds his people,
        from this time forth and forevermore.
    3   For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
        on the land allotted to the righteous,
      lest the righteous stretch out
        their hands to do wrong.
    4   Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,
        and to those who are upright in their hearts!
    5   But those who turn aside to their crooked ways
        the LORD will lead away with evildoers!
        Peace be upon Israel!

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 11
    Job 11 (Listen)
    Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse

    11 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

    2   “Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
        and a man full of talk be judged right?
    3   Should your babble silence men,
        and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
    4   For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure,
        and I am clean in God’sHebrew your">1 eyes.’
    5   But oh, that God would speak
        and open his lips to you,
    6   and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
        For he is manifold in understanding.The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain">2
      Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
    7   “Can you find out the deep things of God?
        Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
    8   It is higher than heavenHebrew The heights of heaven">3—what can you do?
        Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
    9   Its measure is longer than the earth
        and broader than the sea.
    10   If he passes through and imprisons
        and summons the court, who can turn him back?
    11   For he knows worthless men;
        when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
    12   But a stupid man will get understanding
        when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!
    13   “If you prepare your heart,
        you will stretch out your hands toward him.
    14   If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
        and let not injustice dwell in your tents.
    15   Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
        you will be secure and will not fear.
    16   You will forget your misery;
        you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
    17   And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
        its darkness will be like the morning.
    18   And you will feel secure, because there is hope;
        you will look around and take your rest in security.
    19   You will lie down, and none will make you afraid;
        many will court your favor.
    20   But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
        all way of escape will be lost to them,
        and their hope is to breathe their last.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 11:4 Hebrew your


    [2] 11:6 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

    [3] 11:8 Hebrew The heights of heaven

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 30:18–32:20
    Isaiah 30:18–32:20 (Listen)
    The Lord Will Be Gracious

    18   Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,
        and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
      For the LORD is a God of justice;
        blessed are all those who wait for him.

    19 For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

    23 And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

    27   Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,
        burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;Hebrew in weight of uplifted clouds">1
      his lips are full of fury,
        and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
    28   his breath is like an overflowing stream
        that reaches up to the neck;
      to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
        and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.

    29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For a burning placeOr For Topheth">2 has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

    Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt

    31   WoeOr Ah,">3 to those who go down to Egypt for help
        and rely on horses,
      who trust in chariots because they are many
        and in horsemen because they are very strong,
      but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
        or consult the LORD!
    2   And yet he is wise and brings disaster;
        he does not call back his words,
      but will arise against the house of the evildoers
        and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.
    3   The Egyptians are man, and not God,
        and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
      When the LORD stretches out his hand,
        the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
        and they will all perish together.
    4   For thus the LORD said to me,
      “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
        and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
      he is not terrified by their shouting
        or daunted at their noise,
      so the LORD of hosts will come down
        to fightThe Hebrew words for hosts and to fight sound alike">4 on Mount Zion and on its hill.
    5   Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts
        will protect Jerusalem;
      he will protect and deliver it;
        he will spare and rescue it.”

    6 Turn to him from whom peopleHebrew they">5 have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

    8   “And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;
        and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;
      and he shall flee from the sword,
        and his young men shall be put to forced labor.
    9   His rock shall pass away in terror,
        and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
      declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion,
        and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

    A King Will Reign in Righteousness

    32   Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,
        and princes will rule in justice.
    2   Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
        a shelter from the storm,
      like streams of water in a dry place,
        like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
    3   Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
        and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
    4   The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
        and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
    5   The fool will no more be called noble,
        nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
    6   For the fool speaks folly,
        and his heart is busy with iniquity,
      to practice ungodliness,
        to utter error concerning the LORD,
      to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
        and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
    7   As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil;
        he plans wicked schemes
      to ruin the poor with lying words,
        even when the plea of the needy is right.
    8   But he who is noble plans noble things,
        and on noble things he stands.

    Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

    9   Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
        you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
    10   In little more than a year
        you will shudder, you complacent women;
      for the grape harvest fails,
        the fruit harvest will not come.
    11   Tremble, you women who are at ease,
        shudder, you complacent ones;
      strip, and make yourselves bare,
        and tie sackcloth around your waist.
    12   Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
        for the fruitful vine,
    13   for the soil of my people
        growing up in thorns and briers,
      yes, for all the joyous houses
        in the exultant city.
    14   For the palace is forsaken,
        the populous city deserted;
      the hill and the watchtower
        will become dens forever,
      a joy of wild donkeys,
        a pasture of flocks;
    15   until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
        and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
        and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
    16   Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
        and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
    17   And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
        and the result of righteousness, quietness and trustOr security">6 forever.
    18   My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
        in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
    19   And it will hail when the forest falls down,
        and the city will be utterly laid low.
    20   Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
        who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

    Footnotes

    [1] 30:27 Hebrew in weight of uplifted clouds


    [2] 30:33 Or For Topheth

    [3] 31:1 Or Ah,

    [4] 31:4 The Hebrew words for hosts and to fight sound alike

    [5] 31:6 Hebrew they

    [6] 32:17 Or security

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 John 3:4–24
    1 John 3:4–24 (Listen)

    4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’sGreek his">1 seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

    Love One Another

    11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers,Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 14, 16">2 that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

    16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

    19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God,Greek him">3 and GodGreek he">4 in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

    Footnotes

    [1] 3:9 Greek his


    [2] 3:13 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 14, 16

    [3] 3:24 Greek him

    [4] 3:24 Greek he

    (ESV)

    13 min
  • December 4: Psalm 124; Job 9–10; Isaiah 29–30:17; 1 John 2:18–3:3
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 124
    Psalm 124 (Listen)
    Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord
    A Song of Ascents. Of David.

    124   If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—
        let Israel now say—
    2   if it had not been the LORD who was on our side
        when people rose up against us,
    3   then they would have swallowed us up alive,
        when their anger was kindled against us;
    4   then the flood would have swept us away,
        the torrent would have gone over us;
    5   then over us would have gone
        the raging waters.
    6   Blessed be the LORD,
        who has not given us
        as prey to their teeth!
    7   We have escaped like a bird
        from the snare of the fowlers;
      the snare is broken,
        and we have escaped!
    8   Our help is in the name of the LORD,
        who made heaven and earth.

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 9–10
    Job 9–10 (Listen)
    Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter

    9 Then Job answered and said:

    2   “Truly I know that it is so:
        But how can a man be in the right before God?
    3   If one wished to contend with him,
        one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
    4   He is wise in heart and mighty in strength
        —who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
    5   he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
        when he overturns them in his anger,
    6   who shakes the earth out of its place,
        and its pillars tremble;
    7   who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
        who seals up the stars;
    8   who alone stretched out the heavens
        and trampled the waves of the sea;
    9   who made the Bear and Orion,
        the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
    10   who does great things beyond searching out,
        and marvelous things beyond number.
    11   Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not;
        he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
    12   Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back?
        Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
    13   “God will not turn back his anger;
        beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.
    14   How then can I answer him,
        choosing my words with him?
    15   Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
        I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.Or to my judge">1
    16   If I summoned him and he answered me,
        I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
    17   For he crushes me with a tempest
        and multiplies my wounds without cause;
    18   he will not let me get my breath,
        but fills me with bitterness.
    19   If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty!
        If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?Or who can grant me a hearing?">2
    20   Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
        though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
    21   I am blameless; I regard not myself;
        I loathe my life.
    22   It is all one; therefore I say,
        ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
    23   When disaster brings sudden death,
        he mocks at the calamityThe meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain">3 of the innocent.
    24   The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
        he covers the faces of its judges—
        if it is not he, who then is it?
    25   “My days are swifter than a runner;
        they flee away; they see no good.
    26   They go by like skiffs of reed,
        like an eagle swooping on the prey.
    27   If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
        I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’
    28   I become afraid of all my suffering,
        for I know you will not hold me innocent.
    29   I shall be condemned;
        why then do I labor in vain?
    30   If I wash myself with snow
        and cleanse my hands with lye,
    31   yet you will plunge me into a pit,
        and my own clothes will abhor me.
    32   For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
        that we should come to trial together.
    33   There is noOr Would that there were an">4 arbiter between us,
        who might lay his hand on us both.
    34   Let him take his rod away from me,
        and let not dread of him terrify me.
    35   Then I would speak without fear of him,
        for I am not so in myself.

    Job Continues: A Plea to God

    10   “I loathe my life;
      I will give free utterance to my complaint;
        I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
    2   I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
        let me know why you contend against me.
    3   Does it seem good to you to oppress,
        to despise the work of your hands
        and favor the designs of the wicked?
    4   Have you eyes of flesh?
        Do you see as man sees?
    5   Are your days as the days of man,
        or your years as a man’s years,
    6   that you seek out my iniquity
        and search for my sin,
    7   although you know that I am not guilty,
        and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
    8   Your hands fashioned and made me,
        and now you have destroyed me altogether.
    9   Remember that you have made me like clay;
        and will you return me to the dust?
    10   Did you not pour me out like milk
        and curdle me like cheese?
    11   You clothed me with skin and flesh,
        and knit me together with bones and sinews.
    12   You have granted me life and steadfast love,
        and your care has preserved my spirit.
    13   Yet these things you hid in your heart;
        I know that this was your purpose.
    14   If I sin, you watch me
        and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
    15   If I am guilty, woe to me!
        If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head,
      for I am filled with disgrace
        and look on my affliction.
    16   And were my head lifted up,Hebrew lacks my head">5 you would hunt me like a lion
        and again work wonders against me.
    17   You renew your witnesses against me
        and increase your vexation toward me;
        you bring fresh troops against me.
    18   “Why did you bring me out from the womb?
        Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
    19   and were as though I had not been,
        carried from the womb to the grave.
    20   Are not my days few?
        Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer
    21   before I go—and I shall not return—
        to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
    22   the land of gloom like thick darkness,
        like deep shadow without any order,
        where light is as thick darkness.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 9:15 Or to my judge


    [2] 9:19 Or who can grant me a hearing?

    [3] 9:23 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

    [4] 9:33 Or Would that there were an

    [5] 10:16 Hebrew lacks my head

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 29–30:17
    Isaiah 29–30:17 (Listen)
    The Siege of Jerusalem

    29   Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
        the city where David encamped!
      Add year to year;
        let the feasts run their round.
    2   Yet I will distress Ariel,
        and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
        and she shall be to me like an Ariel.Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)">1
    3   And I will encamp against you all around,
        and will besiege you with towers
        and I will raise siegeworks against you.
    4   And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
        and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
      your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
        and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
    5   But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,
        and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
      And in an instant, suddenly,
    6     you will be visited by the LORD of hosts
      with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
        with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
    7   And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
        all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
        shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
    8   As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
        and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
      or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,
        and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
      so shall the multitude of all the nations be
        that fight against Mount Zion.
    9   Astonish yourselvesOr Linger awhile">2 and be astonished;
        blind yourselves and be blind!
      Be drunk,Or They are drunk">3 but not with wine;
        stagger,Or they stagger">4 but not with strong drink!
    10   For the LORD has poured out upon you
        a spirit of deep sleep,
      and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
        and covered your heads (the seers).

    11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

    13   And the Lord said:
      “Because this people draw near with their mouth
        and honor me with their lips,
        while their hearts are far from me,
      and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
    14   therefore, behold, I will again
        do wonderful things with this people,
        with wonder upon wonder;
      and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
        and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
    15   Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel,
        whose deeds are in the dark,
        and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
    16   You turn things upside down!
      Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
      that the thing made should say of its maker,
        “He did not make me”;
      or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
        “He has no understanding”?
    17   Is it not yet a very little while
        until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
        and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
    18   In that day the deaf shall hear
        the words of a book,
      and out of their gloom and darkness
        the eyes of the blind shall see.
    19   The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD,
        and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
    20   For the ruthless shall come to nothing
        and the scoffer cease,
        and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
    21   who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
        and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
        and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

    22 Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

      “Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
        no more shall his face grow pale.
    23   For when he sees his children,
        the work of my hands, in his midst,
        they will sanctify my name;
      they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
        and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
    24   And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
        and those who murmur will accept instruction.”

    Do Not Go Down to Egypt

    30   “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD,
      “who carry out a plan, but not mine,
      and who make an alliance,Hebrew who weave a web">5 but not of my Spirit,
        that they may add sin to sin;
    2   who set out to go down to Egypt,
        without asking for my direction,
      to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
        and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
    3   Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
        and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
    4   For though his officials are at Zoan
        and his envoys reach Hanes,
    5   everyone comes to shame
        through a people that cannot profit them,
      that brings neither help nor profit,
        but shame and disgrace.”

    6 An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb.

      Through a land of trouble and anguish,
        from where come the lioness and the lion,
        the adder and the flying fiery serpent,
      they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
        and their treasures on the humps of camels,
        to a people that cannot profit them.
    7   Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;
        therefore I have called her
        “Rahab who sits still.”

    A Rebellious People

    8   And now, go, write it before them on a tablet
        and inscribe it in a book,
      that it may be for the time to come
        as a witness forever.Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever">6
    9   For they are a rebellious people,
        lying children,
      children unwilling to hear
        the instruction of the LORD;
    10   who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
        and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
      speak to us smooth things,
        prophesy illusions,
    11   leave the way, turn aside from the path,
        let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
    12   Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
      “Because you despise this word
        and trust in oppression and perverseness
        and rely on them,
    13   therefore this iniquity shall be to you
        like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
        whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
    14   and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel
        that is smashed so ruthlessly
      that among its fragments not a shard is found
        with which to take fire from the hearth,
        or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
    15   For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,
      “In returningOr repentance">7 and rest you shall be saved;
        in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
      But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
      “No! We will flee upon horses”;
        therefore you shall flee away;
      and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
        therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
    17   A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
        at the threat of five you shall flee,
      till you are left
        like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
        like a signal on a hill.

    Footnotes

    [1] 29:2 Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)


    [2] 29:9 Or Linger awhile

    [3] 29:9 Or They are drunk

    [4] 29:9 Or they stagger

    [5] 30:1 Hebrew who weave a web

    [6] 30:8 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever

    [7] 30:15 Or repentance

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 John 2:18–3:3
    1 John 2:18–3:3 (Listen)
    Warning Concerning Antichrists

    18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.Some manuscripts you know everything">1 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to usSome manuscripts you">2—eternal life.

    26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

    Children of God

    28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

    3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appearsOr when it appears">3 we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

    Footnotes

    [1] 2:20 Some manuscripts you know everything


    [2] 2:25 Some manuscripts you

    [3] 3:2 Or when it appears

    (ESV)

    16 min
  • December 3: Psalm 123; Job 8; Isaiah 28; 1 John 2:7–17
    Psalms and Wisdom:
    Psalm 123
    Psalm 123 (Listen)
    Our Eyes Look to the Lord Our God
    A Song of Ascents.

    123   To you I lift up my eyes,
        O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
    2   Behold, as the eyes of servants
        look to the hand of their master,
      as the eyes of a maidservant
        to the hand of her mistress,
      so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
        till he has mercy upon us.
    3   Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us,
        for we have had more than enough of contempt.
    4   Our soul has had more than enough
        of the scorn of those who are at ease,
        of the contempt of the proud.

    (ESV)

    Pentateuch and History:
    Job 8
    Job 8 (Listen)
    Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent

    8 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

    2   “How long will you say these things,
        and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
    3   Does God pervert justice?
        Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
    4   If your children have sinned against him,
        he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
    5   If you will seek God
        and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
    6   if you are pure and upright,
        surely then he will rouse himself for you
        and restore your rightful habitation.
    7   And though your beginning was small,
        your latter days will be very great.
    8   “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,
        and consider what the fathers have searched out.
    9   For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
        for our days on earth are a shadow.
    10   Will they not teach you and tell you
        and utter words out of their understanding?
    11   “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
        Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
    12   While yet in flower and not cut down,
        they wither before any other plant.
    13   Such are the paths of all who forget God;
        the hope of the godless shall perish.
    14   His confidence is severed,
        and his trust is a spider’s web.Hebrew house">1
    15   He leans against his house, but it does not stand;
        he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
    16   He is a lush plant before the sun,
        and his shoots spread over his garden.
    17   His roots entwine the stone heap;
        he looks upon a house of stones.
    18   If he is destroyed from his place,
        then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
    19   Behold, this is the joy of his way,
        and out of the soil others will spring.
    20   “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
        nor take the hand of evildoers.
    21   He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
        and your lips with shouting.
    22   Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
        and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

    Footnotes

    [1] 8:14 Hebrew house

    (ESV)

    Chronicles and Prophets:
    Isaiah 28
    Isaiah 28 (Listen)
    Judgment on Ephraim and Jerusalem

    28   Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
        and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
        which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!
    2   Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong;
        like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,
      like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters,
        he casts down to the earth with his hand.
    3   The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
        will be trodden underfoot;
    4   and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
        which is on the head of the rich valley,
      will be like a first-ripe figOr fruit">1 before the summer:
        when someone sees it, he swallows it
        as soon as it is in his hand.
    5   In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory,The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike">2
        and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
    6   and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
        and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
    7   These also reel with wine
        and stagger with strong drink;
      the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
        they are swallowed byOr confused by">3 wine,
        they stagger with strong drink,
      they reel in vision,
        they stumble in giving judgment.
    8   For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
        with no space left.
    9   “To whom will he teach knowledge,
        and to whom will he explain the message?
      Those who are weaned from the milk,
        those taken from the breast?
    10   For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
        line upon line, line upon line,
        here a little, there a little.”
    11   For by people of strange lips
        and with a foreign tongue
      the LORD will speak to this people,
    12     to whom he has said,
      “This is rest;
        give rest to the weary;
      and this is repose”;
        yet they would not hear.
    13   And the word of the LORD will be to them
      precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
        line upon line, line upon line,
        here a little, there a little,
      that they may go, and fall backward,
        and be broken, and snared, and taken.

    A Cornerstone in Zion

    14   Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers,
        who rule this people in Jerusalem!
    15   Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
        and with Sheol we have an agreement,
      when the overwhelming whip passes through
        it will not come to us,
      for we have made lies our refuge,
        and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
    16   therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
      “Behold, I am the one who has laidDead Sea Scroll I am laying">4 as a foundation in Zion,
        a stone, a tested stone,
      a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
        ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
    17   And I will make justice the line,
        and righteousness the plumb line;
      and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
        and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
    18   Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
        and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
      when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
        you will be beaten down by it.
    19   As often as it passes through it will take you;
        for morning by morning it will pass through,
        by day and by night;
      and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.
    20   For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
        and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
    21   For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim;
        as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused;
      to do his deed—strange is his deed!
        and to work his work—alien is his work!
    22   Now therefore do not scoff,
        lest your bonds be made strong;
      for I have heard a decree of destruction
        from the Lord GOD of hosts against the whole land.
    23   Give ear, and hear my voice;
        give attention, and hear my speech.
    24   Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
        Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
    25   When he has leveled its surface,
        does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,
      and put in wheat in rows
        and barley in its proper place,
        and emmerA type of wheat">5 as the border?
    26   For he is rightly instructed;
        his God teaches him.
    27   Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
        nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,
      but dill is beaten out with a stick,
        and cumin with a rod.
    28   Does one crush grain for bread?
        No, he does not thresh it forever;Or Grain is crushed for bread; he will surely thresh it, but not forever">6
      when he drives his cart wheel over it
        with his horses, he does not crush it.
    29   This also comes from the LORD of hosts;
        he is wonderful in counsel
        and excellent in wisdom.

    Footnotes

    [1] 28:4 Or fruit


    [2] 28:5 The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike

    [3] 28:7 Or confused by

    [4] 28:16 Dead Sea Scroll I am laying

    [5] 28:25 A type of wheat

    [6] 28:28 Or Grain is crushed for bread; he will surely thresh it, but not forever

    (ESV)

    Gospels and Epistles:
    1 John 2:7–17
    1 John 2:7–17 (Listen)
    The New Commandment

    7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, becauseOr that">1 the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in himOr it">2 there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

    12   I am writing to you, little children,
        because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.
    13   I am writing to you, fathers,
        because you know him who is from the beginning.
      I am writing to you, young men,
        because you have overcome the evil one.
      I write to you, children,
        because you know the Father.
    14   I write to you, fathers,
        because you know him who is from the beginning.
      I write to you, young men,
        because you are strong,
        and the word of God abides in you,
        and you have overcome the evil one.

    Do Not Love the World

    15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of lifeOr pride in possessions">3—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

    Footnotes

    [1] 2:8 Or that


    [2] 2:10 Or it

    [3] 2:16 Or pride in possessions

    (ESV)

    9 min

About ESV: Digging Deep into the Bible

From the publisher's feed

Understand the Bible in a Deeper Way