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Daily Readings for December 19
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Job 23
1.Then Job answered, 2."Even today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. 3.Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat! 4.I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5.I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would tell me. 6.Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me. 7.There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.
8."If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can't find him; 9.He works to the north, but I can't see him. He turns south, but I can't catch a glimpse of him. 10.But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come forth like gold. 11.My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside. 12.I haven't gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. 13.But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does. 14.For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him. 15.Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him. 16.For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me. 17.Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
Job 24
1."Why aren't times laid up by the Almighty? Why don't those who know him see his days? 2.There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them. 3.They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow's ox for a pledge. 4.They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves. 5.Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children. 6.They cut their provender in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked. 7.They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. 8.They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter. 9.There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor, 10.So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves. 11.They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst. 12.From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn't regard the folly.
13."These are of those who rebel against the light. They don't know its ways, nor stay in its paths. 14.The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief. 15.The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face. 16.In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don't know the light. 17.For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
18."They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They don't turn into the way of the vineyards. 19.Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol9 those who have sinned. 20.The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree. 21.He devours the barren who don't bear. He shows no kindness to the widow. 22.Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life. 23.God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways. 24.They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain. 25.If it isn't so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?"
Zechariah 1
1.In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh1 came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, 2."Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers. 3.Therefore tell them: Thus says Yahweh of Armies: 'Return to me,' says Yahweh of Armies, 'and I will return to you,' says Yahweh of Armies. 4.Don't you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says Yahweh of Armies, 'Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;' but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh. 5.Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6.But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn't they overtake your fathers?
"Then they repented and said, 'Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.'" 7.On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, 8."I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses. 9.Then I asked, 'My lord, what are these?'"
The angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what these are."
10.The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, "They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth."
11.They reported to the angel of Yahweh who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, "We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace." 12.Then the angel of Yahweh replied, "O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?"
13.Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words. 14.So the angel who talked with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 15.I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity." 16.Therefore thus says Yahweh: "I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it," says Yahweh of Armies, "and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem."'
17."Proclaim further, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem."'"
18.I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns. 19.I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these?"
He answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."
20.Yahweh showed me four craftsmen. 21.Then I asked, "What are these coming to do?"
He said, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it."
2John 1
1.The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not I only, but also all those who know the truth; 2.for the truth's sake, which remains in us, and it will be with us forever: 3.Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4.I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father. 5.Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6.This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. 7.For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don't confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. 8.Watch yourselves, that we don't lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward. 9.Whoever transgresses and doesn't remain in the teaching of Christ, doesn't have God. He who remains in the teaching, the same has both the Father and the Son. 10.If anyone comes to you, and doesn't bring this teaching, don't receive him into your house, and don't welcome him, 11.for he who welcomes him participates in his evil works.
12.Having many things to write to you, I don't want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you, and to speak face to face, that our joy may be made full. 13.The children of your chosen sister greet you. Amen.
3John 1
1.The elder to Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth.
2.Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers. 3.For I rejoiced greatly, when brothers came and testified about your truth, even as you walk in truth. 4.I have no greater joy than this, to hear about my children walking in truth.
5.Beloved, you do a faithful work in whatever you accomplish for those who are brothers and strangers. 6.They have testified about your love before the assembly. You will do well to send them forward on their journey in a way worthy of God, 7.because for the sake of the Name they went out, taking nothing from the Gentiles. 8.We therefore ought to receive such, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
9.I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, doesn't accept what we say. 10.Therefore, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words. Not content with this, neither does he himself receive the brothers, and those who would, he forbids and throws out of the assembly. 11.Beloved, don't imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn't seen God. 12.Demetrius has the testimony of all, and of the truth itself; yes, we also testify, and you know that our testimony is true.
13.I had many things to write to you, but I am unwilling to write to you with ink and pen; 14.but I hope to see you soon, and we will speak face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.