Daily Readings for December 17
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Job 21

 

1.Then Job answered, 2."Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation. 3.Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on. 4.As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient? 5.Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth. 6.When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.

7."Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? 8.Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes. 9.Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. 10.Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don't miscarry. 11.They send forth their little ones like a flock. Their children dance. 12.They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. 13.They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol⁸. 14.They tell God, 'Depart from us, for we don't want to know about your ways. 15.What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?' 16.Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17."How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger? 18.How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away? 19.You say, 'God lays up his iniquity for his children.' Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it. 20.Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21.For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?

22."Shall any teach God knowledge, since he judges those who are high? 23.One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. 24.His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened. 25.Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good. 26.They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them.

27."Behold, I know your thoughts, the devices with which you would wrong me. 28.For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?' 29.Haven't you asked wayfaring men? Don't you know their evidences, 30.that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led forth to the day of wrath? 31.Who shall declare his way to his face? Who shall repay him what he has done? 32.Yet he will be borne to the grave. Men shall keep watch over the tomb. 33.The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him. 34.So how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood?"

 

Zephaniah 3

 

1.Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city! 2.She didn't obey the voice. She didn't receive correction. She didn't trust in Yahweh. She didn't draw near to her God. 3.Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day. 4.Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law. 5.Yahweh, in the midst of her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn't fail, but the unjust know no shame. 6.I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste, so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant. 7.I said, "Just fear me. Receive correction, so that her dwelling won't be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her." But they rose early and corrupted all their doings. 8."Therefore wait for me," says Yahweh, "until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. 9.For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on the name of Yahweh, to serve him shoulder to shoulder. 10.From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering. 11.In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain. 12.But I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in the name of Yahweh. 13.The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity, nor speak lies, neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid."

14.Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. 15.Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is in the midst of you. You will not be afraid of evil any more. 16.In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, "Don't be afraid, Zion. Don't let your hands be weak." 17.Yahweh, your God, is in the midst of you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. 18.I will remove those who grieve about the appointed feasts from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you. 19.Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you, and I will save those who are lame, and gather those who were driven away. I will give them praise and honor, whose shame has been in all the earth. 20.At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh.

 

1John 3

 

1.Behold, how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn't know us, because it didn't know him. 2.Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that, when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is. 3.Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure. 4.Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. 5.You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. 6.Whoever remains in him doesn't sin. Whoever sins hasn't seen him, neither knows him.

7.Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8.He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9.Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God. 10.In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn't do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn't love his brother. 11.For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12.unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 13.Don't be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14.We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn't love his brother remains in death. 15.Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.

16.By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17.But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart of compassion against him, how does the love of God remain in him? 18.My little children, let's not love in word only, neither with the tongue only, but in deed and truth. 19.And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him, 20.because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21.Beloved, if our hearts don't condemn us, we have boldness toward God; 22.and whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. 23.This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. 24.He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.

 

1John 4

 

1.Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2.By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3.and every spirit who doesn't confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. 4.You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 5.They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 6.We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn't listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7.Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. 8.He who doesn't love doesn't know God, for God is love. 9.By this God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10.In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice⁴ for our sins. 11.Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12.No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.

13.By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14.We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15.Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16.We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17.In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world. 18.There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. 19.We love him, because he first loved us. 20.If a man says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21.This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.

 

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