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Daily Readings for June 22
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1Samuel 1
1.Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite: 2.and he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3.This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh1 of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Yahweh, were there. 4.When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: 5.but to Hannah he gave a double portion; for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had shut up her womb. 6.Her rival provoked her severely, to make her fret, because Yahweh had shut up her womb. 7.As he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of Yahweh, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and didn't eat. 8.Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why don't you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"
9.So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh. 10.She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, and wept bitterly. 11.She vowed a vow, and said, "Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your handmaid, but will give to your handmaid a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and no razor shall come on his head."
12.It happened, as she continued praying before Yahweh, that Eli saw her mouth. 13.Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. 14.Eli said to her, "How long will you be drunken? Put away your wine from you."
15.Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh. 16.Don't count your handmaid for a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation."
17.Then Eli answered, "Go in peace; and may the God2 of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him."
18.She said, "Let your handmaid find favor in your sight." So the woman went her way, and ate; and her facial expression wasn't sad any more. 19.They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before Yahweh, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her.
20.It happened, when the time had come, that Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel,3 saying, "Because I have asked him of Yahweh."
21.The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 22.But Hannah didn't go up; for she said to her husband, "Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh, and stay there forever."
23.Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may Yahweh establish his word."
So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him. 24.When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah4 of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him to Yahweh's house in Shiloh. The child was young. 25.They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli. 26.She said, "Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh. 27.For this child I prayed; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him. 28.Therefore also I have granted him to Yahweh. As long as he lives he is granted to Yahweh." He worshiped Yahweh there.
Isaiah 46
1.Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are on the animals, and on the livestock: the things that you carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary. 2.They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves have gone into captivity.
3."Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne from their birth, that have been carried from the womb; 4.and even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
5."To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? 6.Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down--yes, they worship. 7.They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
8."Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, you transgressors. 9.Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me; 10.declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; 11.calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country; yes, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it. 12.Listen to me, you stout-hearted, who are far from righteousness: 13.I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
Isaiah 47
1."Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate. 2.Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. 3.Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man."
4.Our Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
5."Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. 6.I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke. 7.You said, 'I shall be a mistress forever;' so that you did not lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the latter end of it.
8."Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, 'I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:' 9.but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments. 10.For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. 11.Therefore evil will come on you; you won't know when it dawns: and mischief will fall on you; you will not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don't know.
12."Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail. 13. You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels: let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from the things that shall come on you. 14. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before. 15. Thus shall the things be to you in which you have labored: those who have trafficked with you from your youth shall wander everyone to his quarter; there shall be none to save you.
Revelation 3
1."And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write:
"He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars says these things:
"I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2.Wake up, and keep the things that remain, which you were about to throw away, for I have found no works of yours perfected before my God. 3.Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If therefore you won't watch, I will come as a thief, and you won't know what hour I will come upon you. 4.Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5.He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6.He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
7."To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write:
"He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
8."I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn't deny my name. 9.Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10.Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11.I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown. 12.He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. 13.He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
14."To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write:
"The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God's creation, says these things:
15."I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. 16.So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. 17.Because you say, 'I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;' and don't know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; 18.I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19.As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. 20.Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me. 21.He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22.He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies."
Revelation 4
1.After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one saying, "Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this."
2.Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne 3.that looked like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at. 4.Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. On the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads. 5.Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before his throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6.Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the midst of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. 7.The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8.The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy15 is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!"
9.When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, 10.the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying, 11."Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One,16 to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!"