Day 326 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 19:21–29

²¹Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail. ²²The desire of a man is loving devotion; better to be poor than a liar. ²³The fear of the LORD leads to life, that one may rest content, without visitation from harm. ²⁴The slacker buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth. ²⁵Strike a mocker, and the simple will beware; rebuke the discerning man, and he will gain knowledge. ²⁶He who assaults his father or evicts his mother is a son who brings shame and disgrace. ²⁷If you cease to hear instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge. ²⁸A corrupt witness mocks justice, and a wicked mouth swallows iniquity. ²⁹Judgments are prepared for mockers, and beatings for the backs of fools.

New Testament·Hebrews 12:20–13:12

²⁰For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” ²¹The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” ²²Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels ²³in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. ²⁵See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven? ²⁶At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.” ²⁷The words “Once more” signify the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that the unshakable may remain. ²⁸Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. ²⁹“For our God is a consuming fire.”

13Continue in brotherly love. ²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. ³Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them. ⁴Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. ⁵Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” ⁶So we say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” ⁷Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. ⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ⁹Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them. ¹⁰We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat. ¹¹Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹²And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood.

Old Testament·Ezekiel 22:1–23:25

¹Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations ³and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself, ⁴you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands. ⁵Those near and far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil. ⁶See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood. ⁷Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed. ⁸You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency. ¹⁰In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity. ¹¹One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. ¹²In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD. ¹³Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst. ¹⁴Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act. ¹⁵I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness. ¹⁶And when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’” ¹⁷Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver. ¹⁹Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem. ²⁰Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to melt with a fiery blast, so I will gather you in My anger and wrath, leave you there, and melt you. ²¹Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city. ²²As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted within the city. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath upon you.’” ²³And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²⁴“Son of man, say to her, ‘In the day of indignation, you are a land that has not been cleansed, upon which no rain has fallen.’ ²⁵The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her. ²⁶Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. ²⁷Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain. ²⁸Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken. ²⁹The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice. ³⁰I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. ³¹So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”

23Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother, ³and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed. ⁴The older was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. ⁵Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors ⁶clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all desirable young men, horsemen mounted on steeds. ⁷She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted. ⁸She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her. ⁹Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. ¹⁰They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her. ¹¹Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. ¹²She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men. ¹³And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path. ¹⁴But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion, ¹⁵wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. ¹⁶At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ¹⁷Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust. ¹⁸When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. ¹⁹Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt ²⁰and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions. ²¹So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts. ²²Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side— ²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them—all desirable young men, governors and commanders, officers and men of renown, mounted on horses. ²⁴They will come against you with a host of peoples, with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will array themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will punish you according to their own standards. ²⁵And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire.