Daily Readings for December 28

Daily Readings for December 28
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Job 38

1.Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind, 2."Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3.Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!

4."Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. 5.Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? 6.Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7.when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8."Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth from the womb, 9.when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10.marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, 11.and said, 'Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?'

12."Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place; 13.that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it? 14.It is changed as clay under the seal, and stands forth as a garment. 15.From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

16."Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep? 17.Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? 18.Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.

19."What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place, 20.that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house? 21.Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! 22.Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail, 23.which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? 24.By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth? 25.Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm; 26.To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man; 27.to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to spring forth? 28.Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? 29.Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it? 30.The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

31."Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? 32.Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs? 33.Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

34."Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you? 35.Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?' 36.Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? 37.Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky, 38.when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?

39."Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40.when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket? 41.Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?

Zechariah 13

1."In that day there will be a spring opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. 2.It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land. 3.It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, 'You must die, because you speak lies in the name of Yahweh;' and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies. 4.It will happen in that day, that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision, when he prophesies; neither will they wear a hairy mantle to deceive: 5.but he will say, 'I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondservant from my youth.' 6.One will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will answer, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'

7."Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me," says Yahweh of Armies. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones. 8.It shall happen that in all the land," says Yahweh, "two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it. 9.I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, 'It is my people;' and they will say, 'Yahweh is my God.'"

Zechariah 14

1.Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2.For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3.Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 4.His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5.You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you. 6.It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost. 7.It will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light.

8.It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be.

9.Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one. 10.All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. 11.Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely. 12.This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth. 13.It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor. 14.Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.

15.So will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the animals that will be in those camps, as that plague. 16.It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of tents. 17.It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn't go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain. 18.If the family of Egypt doesn't go up, and doesn't come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents. 19.This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents. 20.In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, "HOLY TO YAHWEH;" and the pots in Yahweh's house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21.Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies.

Revelation 15

1.I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them God's wrath is finished. 2.I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image,³⁶ and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. 3.They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations. 4.Who wouldn't fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed."

5.After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. 6.The seven angels who had the seven plagues came out, clothed with pure, bright linen, and wearing golden sashes around their breasts.

7.One of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8.The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power. No one was able to enter into the temple, until the seven plagues of the seven angels would be finished.

Revelation 16

1.I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!"

2.The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image.

3.The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died.

4.The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5.I heard the angel of the waters saying, "You are righteous, who are and who were, you Holy One, because you have judged these things. 6.For they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this." 7.I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments."

8.The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire. 9.People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn't repent and give him glory.

10.The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, 11.and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They didn't repent of their works.

12.The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise. 13.I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs; 14.for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go forth to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God, the Almighty.

15."Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn't walk naked, and they see his shame." 16.He gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Megiddo.

17.The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came forth out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!" 18.There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. 19.The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20.Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21.Great hailstones, about the weight of a talent,³⁷ came down out of the sky on people. People blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for this plague is exceedingly severe.