Day 282 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 6:1–8

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger, ²if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth, ³then do this, my son, to free yourself, for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go, humble yourself, and press your plea with your neighbor. ⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. ⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. ⁶Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise. ⁷Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler, ⁸it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.

New Testament·Ephesians 4

¹As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷Now to each one of us grace has been given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. ⁸This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.” ⁹What does “He ascended” mean, except that He also descended to the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the very One who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things. ¹¹And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ. ¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. ¹⁶From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part. ¹⁷So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. ¹⁹Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more. ²⁰But this is not the way you came to know Christ. ²¹Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him—in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus— ²²to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³to be renewed in the spirit of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. ²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another. ²⁶“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger, ²⁷and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing good with his own hands, that he may have something to share with the one in need. ²⁹Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. ³²Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

Old Testament·Isaiah 47–48

¹“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. ²Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams. ³Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.” ⁴Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name— is the Holy One of Israel. ⁵“Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of Chaldea. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms. ⁶I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke. ⁷You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome. ⁸So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’ ⁹These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells. ¹⁰You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ ¹¹But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly. ¹²So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! ¹³You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you— your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate. ¹⁴Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside. ¹⁵This is what they are to you— those with whom you have labored and traded from youth— each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.

48“Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, who have descended from the line of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD, who invoke the God of Israel— but not in truth or righteousness— ²who indeed call yourselves after the holy city and lean on the God of Israel; the LORD of Hosts is His name. ³I foretold the former things long ago; they came out of My mouth and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. ⁴For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze. ⁵Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image and molten god has ordained it.’ ⁶You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not acknowledge them? From now on I will tell you of new things, hidden things unknown to you. ⁷They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot claim, ‘I already knew them!’ ⁸You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth. ⁹For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I will restrain it, so that you will not be cut off. ¹⁰See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. ¹¹For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another. ¹²Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first, and I am the last. ¹³Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together. ¹⁴Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans. ¹⁵I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission. ¹⁶Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it happened, I was there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit. ¹⁷Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go. ¹⁸If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea. ¹⁹Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.” ²⁰Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!” ²¹They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out. ²²“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”