Day 362 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 30:29–33

²⁹There are three things that are stately in their stride, and four that are impressive in their walk: ³⁰a lion, mighty among beasts, refusing to retreat before anything; ³¹a strutting rooster; a he-goat; and a king with his army around him. ³²If you have foolishly exalted yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand over your mouth. ³³For as the churning of milk yields butter, and the twisting of the nose draws blood, so the stirring of anger brings forth strife.”

New Testament·Revelation 19

¹After this I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude in heaven, shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God! ²For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her hand.” ³And a second time they called out: “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises forever and ever.” ⁴And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying: “Amen, Hallelujah!” ⁵Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you who serve Him, and those who fear Him, small and great alike!” ⁶And I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude, like the rushing of many waters, and like a mighty rumbling of thunder, crying out: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. ⁷Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. ⁸She was given clothing of fine linen, bright and pure.” For the fine linen she wears is the righteous acts of the saints. ⁹Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” ¹⁰So I fell at his feet to worship him. But he told me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who rely on the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” ¹¹Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war. ¹²He has eyes like blazing fire, and many royal crowns on His head. He has a name written on Him that only He Himself knows. ¹³He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God. ¹⁴The armies of heaven, dressed in fine linen, white and pure, follow Him on white horses. ¹⁵And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. ¹⁶And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. ¹⁷Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out in a loud voice to all the birds flying overhead, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, ¹⁸so that you may eat the flesh of kings and commanders and mighty men, of horses and riders, of everyone slave and free, small and great.” ¹⁹Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies assembled to wage war against the One seated on the horse, and against His army. ²⁰But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹And the rest were killed with the sword that proceeded from the mouth of the One seated on the horse. And all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Old Testament·Zechariah 4–7

¹Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and woke me, as a man is awakened from his sleep. ²“What do you see?” he asked. “I see a solid gold lampstand,” I replied, “with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven spouts to the lamps. ³There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left.” ⁴“What are these, my lord?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me. ⁵“Do you not know what they are?” replied the angel. “No, my lord,” I answered. ⁶So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts. ⁷What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” ⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ⁹“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent me to you. ¹⁰For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.” ¹¹Then I asked the angel, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?” ¹²And I questioned him further, “What are the two olive branches beside the two gold pipes from which the golden oil pours?” ¹³“Do you not know what these are?” he inquired. “No, my lord,” I replied. ¹⁴So he said, “These are the two anointed ones who are standing beside the Lord of all the earth.”

5Again I lifted up my eyes and saw before me a flying scroll. ²“What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.” ³Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed. ⁴I will send it out, declares the LORD of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.” ⁵Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Now lift up your eyes and see what is approaching.” ⁶“What is it?” I asked. And he replied, “A measuring basket is going forth.” Then he continued, “This is their iniquity in all the land.” ⁷And behold, the cover of lead was raised, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket. ⁸“This is Wickedness,” he said. And he shoved her down into the basket, pushing down the lead cover over its opening. ⁹Then I lifted up my eyes and saw two women approaching, with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth. ¹⁰“Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me. ¹¹“To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”

6And again I lifted up my eyes and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. ²The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, ³the third white horses, and the fourth dappled horses—all of them strong. ⁴So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?” ⁵And the angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going forth from their station before the Lord of all the earth. ⁶The one with the black horses is going toward the land of the north, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.” ⁷As the strong horses went out, they were eager to go and patrol the earth; and the LORD said, “Go and patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth. ⁸Then the LORD summoned me and said, “Behold, those going to the land of the north have given rest to My Spirit in the land of the north.” ⁹The word of the LORD also came to me, saying, ¹⁰“Take an offering from the exiles—from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon—and go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ¹¹Take silver and gold, make an ornate crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak. ¹²And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the temple of the LORD. ¹³Yes, He will build the temple of the LORD; He will be clothed in splendor and will sit on His throne and rule. And He will be a priest on His throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two.’ ¹⁴The crown will reside in the temple of the LORD as a memorial to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and the gracious son of Zephaniah. ¹⁵Even those far away will come and build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.”

7In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev. ²Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD ³by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?” ⁴Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, ⁵“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? ⁶And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves? ⁷Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’” ⁸Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another. ¹⁰Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’ ¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing. ¹²They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts. ¹³And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts. ¹⁴But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”