Day 294 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 9:12–18

¹²If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage; but if you scoff, you alone will bear the consequences. ¹³The woman named Folly is loud; she is naive and knows nothing. ¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the heights of the city, ¹⁵calling out to those who pass by, who make their paths straight. ¹⁶“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” she says to him who lacks judgment. ¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!” ¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

New Testament·Colossians 4

¹Masters, supply your slaves with what is right and fair, since you know that you also have a Master in heaven. ²Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, ³as you pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁴Pray that I may declare it clearly, as I should. ⁵Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time. ⁶Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. ⁷Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord. ⁸I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about us, and that he may encourage your hearts. ⁹With him I am sending Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here. ¹⁰My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you greetings, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas. You have already received instructions about him: If he comes to you, welcome him. ¹¹Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. ¹²Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in the full will of God. ¹³For I testify about him that he goes to great pains for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. ¹⁴Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas send you greetings. ¹⁵Greet the brothers in Laodicea, as well as Nympha and the church that meets at her house. ¹⁶After this letter has been read among you, make sure that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea. ¹⁷Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.” ¹⁸This greeting is in my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Old Testament·Jeremiah 12–13

¹Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? ²You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts. ³But You know me, O LORD; You see me and test my heart toward You. Drag away the wicked like sheep to the slaughter and set them apart for the day of carnage. ⁴How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.” ⁵“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan? ⁶Even your brothers— your own father’s household— even they have betrayed you; even they have cried aloud against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you. ⁷I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My inheritance. I have given the love of My life into the hands of her enemies. ⁸My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me; therefore I hate her. ⁹Is not My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey with other birds of prey circling against her? Go, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour her. ¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. ¹¹They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart. ¹²Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the earth to the other. No flesh has peace. ¹³They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves to no avail. Bear the shame of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD.” ¹⁴This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land. ¹⁶And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people. ¹⁷But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.”

13This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” ²So I bought a loincloth as the LORD had instructed me, and I put it around my waist. ³Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time: ⁴“Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to Perath and hide it there in a crevice of the rocks.” ⁵So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD had commanded me. ⁶Many days later the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to Perath, and get the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and I took it from the place where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined—of no use at all. ⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me: ⁹“This is what the LORD says: In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who go after other gods to serve and worship them, they will be like this loincloth—of no use at all. ¹¹For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I have made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me, declares the LORD, so that they might be My people for My renown and praise and glory. But they did not listen. ¹²Therefore you are to tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.’ And when they reply, ‘Don’t we surely know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ ¹³then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁴I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’” ¹⁵Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken. ¹⁶Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness. ¹⁷But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive. ¹⁸Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.” ¹⁹The cities of the Negev have been shut tight, and no one can open them. All Judah has been carried into exile, wholly taken captive. ²⁰Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride? ²¹What will you say when He sets over you close allies whom you yourself trained? Will not pangs of anguish grip you, as they do a woman in labor? ²²And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed. ²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good— you who are accustomed to doing evil. ²⁴“I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind. ²⁵This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood. ²⁶So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen. ²⁷Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields— I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”