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Today's Bible Reading

November 22

2 Peter 1; Jeremiah 41-42; Psalm 139 CJB

2 Peter 1

1 From: Shim'on Kefa, a slave and emissary of Yeshua the Messiah To: Those who, through the righteousness of our God and of our Deliverer Yeshua the Messiah, have been given the same kind of trust as ours:

2 May grace and shalom be yours in full measure, as you come to a full knowledge of God and Yeshua our Lord.

3 God's power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowing the One who called us to his own glory and goodness.

4 By these he has given us valuable and superlatively great promises, so that through them you might come to share in God's nature and escape the corruption which evil desires have brought into the world.

5 For this very reason, try your hardest to furnish your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge,

6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with perseverance, perseverance with godliness,

7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

8 For if you have these qualities in abundance, they keep you from being barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

9 Indeed, whoever lacks them is blind, so shortsighted that he forgets that his past sins have been washed away.

10 Therefore, brothers, try even harder to make your being called and chosen a certainty. For if you keep doing this, you will never stumble.

11 Thus you will be generously supplied with everything you need to enter the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah.

12 For this reason, I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you already have.

13 And I consider it right to keep stirring you up with reminders, as long as I am in the tent of this body.

14 I know that I will soon lay aside this tent of mine, as our Lord Yeshua the Messiah has made clear to me.

15 And I will do my best to see that after my exodus, you will be able to remember these things at all times.

16 For when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, we did not rely on cunningly contrived myths. On the contrary, we saw his majesty with our own eyes.

17 For we were there when he received honor and glory from God the Father; and the voice came to him from the grandeur of the Sh'khinah, saying, "This is my son, whom I love; I am well pleased with him!"

18 We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

19 Yes, we have the prophetic Word made very certain. You will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark, murky place, until the Day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.

20 First of all, understand this: no prophecy of Scripture is to be interpreted by an individual on his own;

21 for never has a prophecy come as a result of human willing - on the contrary, people moved by the Ruach HaKodesh spoke a message from God.

Jeremiah 41

1 In the seventh month Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu, the son of Elishama, of royal blood and one of the chief officials of the king, came with ten men to G'dalyahu in Mitzpah. While eating a meal together there in Mitzpah,

2 Yishma'el and the ten men with him rose and attacked G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, struck him with their swords, and assassinated the man whom the king of Bavel had appointed governor of the land.

3 Yishma'el also murdered all the Judeans who were with G'dalyahu at Mitzpah, as well as the Kasdim soldiers they found there.

4 The next day, before his assassination of G'dalyahu had become known,

5 eighty men from Sh'khem, Shiloh and Shomron came with beards shaved off, clothes torn and gashes on their bodies; they had grain offerings and frankincense with them to present in the house of ADONAI.

6 Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu went out from Mitzpah to meet them, weeping all along the way; on meeting them, he said to them, "Come to G'dalyahu the son of Achikam."

7 But once they were inside the city, Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern.

8 However, ten of them said to Yishma'el, "Don't kill us, for we have stores of wheat, barley, olive oil and honey hidden in the field." So he relented, and did not kill them along with their comrades.

9 The cistern in which Yishma'el threw the corpses of the men he had murdered with G'dalyahu was the one Asa the king had made in fear of Ba'asha king of Isra'el; it was this cistern that Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu filled with the slaughtered men.

10 Then Yishma'el carried off captive the rest of the people in Mitzpah - the king's daughters and all the people left in Mitzpah, whom N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard had committed to the care of G'dalyahu the son of Achikam. Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu carried them off captive and left to cross over to the people of 'Amon.

11 When Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders with him heard of all the crimes committed by Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu,

12 they took all the men and went to attack Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu. They found him by the big pool in Giv'on.

13 When all Yishma'el's captives saw Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders with him, they were overjoyed.

14 So all the people Yishma'el had carried off captive from Mitzpah turned and joined Yochanan the son of Kareach.

15 But Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu escaped from Yochanan with eight men and went on to the people of 'Amon.

16 Yochanan the son of Kareach and the military commanders with him then took all the rest of the people he had freed from Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu, those Yishma'el had taken from Mitzpah after assassinating G'dalyahu the son of Achikam - the heroes, the soldiers, the women, the children and the officers he had brought back from Giv'on -

17 and they left there to stay at Kimham's Lodge, near Beit-Lechem, intending to go on to Egypt

18 and thus escape the Kasdim. They were afraid of them, because Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu had murdered G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, whom the king of Bavel had appointed governor of the land.

Jeremiah 42

1 Then all the military commanders, Yochanan the son of Kareach, Y'zanyah the son of Hosha'yah and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached

2 and said to Yirmeyahu the prophet, "I beg you, approve our request: pray for us to ADONAI your God for all of this remnant. For, while once we were numerous, only a few of us are left, as you can see.

3 Pray that ADONAI your God will tell us what direction to take and what to do."

4 Yirmeyahu the prophet said to them: "I hear you. All right, I will pray to ADONAI your God, as you have asked. And whatever ADONAI answers you, I will tell you; I will withhold nothing from you."

5 They said to Yirmeyahu, "May ADONAI be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do any part of what ADONAI your God gives you to tell us.

6 Whether it be good or bad, we will listen to what ADONAI our God says. We are dispatching you to him so that things will go well with us, as we heed what ADONAI our God says."

7 Ten days later the word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu.

8 So he called Yochanan the son of Kareach, all the military commanders with him and all the people, from the least to the greatest,

9 and said to them, "You sent me to present your request to ADONAI the God of Isra'el. This is what he says:

10 'If you will stay in this land, then I will build you up, not pull you down; I will plant you and not uproot you; for I am relenting from the calamity I inflicted on you.

11 Don't be afraid of the king of Bavel - of whom you are afraid. Don't be afraid of him,' says ADONAI, 'for I am with you to save you and to rescue you from his power.

12 I will take pity on you, so that he will take pity on you and cause you to return to your own land.

13 "But if you say, 'We will not stay in this land,' thereby not heeding what ADONAI your God is saying,

14 and instead say, 'No, we will go to the land of Egypt; because there we will not see war or hear the shofar sounding its alarm or be short of food; so we'll stay there';

15 then hear what ADONAI says, remnant of Y'hudah - this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'If you are determined to go to Egypt and stay there,

16 the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, of which you are afraid, will pursue you relentlessly there in Egypt; and there you will die.

17 This is how it will be for all the people determined to go to Egypt and stay there - they will die by sword, famine and plague; none of them will remain or escape the disaster that I will bring upon them.'

18 For here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, so likewise my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt; so that you will become an object of condemnation, astonishment, cursing and reproach; and you will see this place no more.'

19 "ADONAI has spoken concerning you, remnant of Y'hudah! Don't go to Egypt! You know for a fact that I have given you fair warning today.

20 For you have been behaving deceitfully, against your own interests. You sent me to ADONAI your God, saying, 'Pray for us to ADONAI our God; tell us everything ADONAI our God says, and we will do it.'

21 Today I have told it to you, but you haven't heeded any part of what ADONAI your God gave me to tell you.

22 Therefore, know for a fact that you will die by sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go and live."

Psalm 139

1 For the leader. A psalm of David: ADONAI, you have probed me, and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I stand up, you discern my inclinations from afar,

3 you scrutinize my daily activities. You are so familiar with all my ways

4 that before I speak even a word, ADONAI, you know all about it already.

5 You have hemmed me in both behind and in front and laid your hand on me.

6 Such wonderful knowledge is beyond me, far too high for me to reach.

7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; if I lie down in Sh'ol, you are there.

9 If I fly away with the wings of the dawn and land beyond the sea,

10 even there your hand would lead me, your right hand would hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Let darkness surround me, let the light around me be night,"

12 even darkness like this is not too dark for you; rather, night is as clear as day, darkness and light are the same.

13 For you fashioned my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I thank you because I am awesomely made, wonderfully; your works are wonders -I know this very well.

15 My bones were not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes could see me as an embryo, but in your book all my days were already written; my days had been shaped before any of them existed.

17 God, how I prize your thoughts! How many of them there are!

18 If I count them, there are more than grains of sand; if I finish the count, I am still with you.

19 God, if only you would kill off the wicked! Men of blood, get away from me!

20 They invoke your name for their crafty schemes; yes, your enemies misuse it.

21 ADONAI, how I hate those who hate you! I feel such disgust with those who defy you!

22 I hate them with unlimited hatred! They have become my enemies too.

23 Examine me, God, and know my heart; test me, and know my thoughts.

24 See if there is in me any hurtful way, and lead me along the eternal way.

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Today's Bible Reading

November 23

2 Peter 2; Jeremiah 43-44; Psalm 140 CJB

2 Peter 2

1 But among the people there were also false prophets, just as there will be false teachers among you. Under false pretenses they will introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and thus bring on themselves swift destruction.

2 Many will follow their debaucheries; and because of them, the true Way will be maligned.

3 In their greed they will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their punishment, decreed long ago, is not idle; their destruction is not asleep!

4 For God did not spare the angels who sinned; on the contrary, he put them in gloomy dungeons lower than Sh'ol to be held for judgment.

5 And he did not spare the ancient world; on the contrary, he preserved Noach, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, and brought the Flood upon a world of ungodly people.

6 And he condemned the cities of S'dom and 'Amora, reducing them to ashes and ruin, as a warning to those in the future who would live ungodly lives;

7 but he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people;

8 for the wicked deeds which that righteous man saw and heard, as he lived among them, tormented his righteous heart day after day.

9 So the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and how to hold the wicked until the Day of Judgment while continuing to punish them,

10 especially those who follow their old natures in lust for filth and who despise authority. Presumptuous and self-willed, these false teachers do not tremble at insulting angelic beings;

11 whereas angels, though stronger and more powerful, do not bring before the Lord an insulting charge against them.

12 But these people, acting without thinking, like animals without reason, born to be captured and destroyed, insult things about which they have no knowledge. When they are destroyed, their destruction will be total -

13 they will be paid back harm as wages for the harm they are doing. Their idea of pleasure is carousing in broad daylight; they are spots and defects reveling in their deceptions as they share meals with you -

14 for they have eyes always on the lookout for a woman who will commit adultery, eyes that never stop sinning; and they have a heart that has exercised itself in greed; so that they seduce unstable people. What a cursed brood!

15 These people have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Bil'am Ben-B'or, who loved the wages of doing harm

16 but was rebuked for his sin - a dumb beast of burden spoke out with a human voice and restrained the prophet's insanity!

17 Waterless springs they are, mists driven by a gust of wind; for them has been reserved the blackest darkness.

18 Mouthing grandiosities of nothingness, they play on the desires of the old nature, in order to seduce with debaucheries people who have just begun to escape from those whose way of life is wrong.

19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for a person is slave to whatever has defeated him.

20 Indeed, if they have once escaped the pollutions of the world through knowing our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah, and then have again become entangled and defeated by them, their latter condition has become worse than their former.

21 It would have been better for them not to have known the Way of righteousness than, fully knowing, to turn from the holy command delivered to them.

22 What has happened to them accords with the true proverb, "A dog returns to its own vomit." Yes, "The pig washed itself, only to wallow in the mud!"

Jeremiah 43

1 When Yirmeyahu had finished telling all the people everything ADONAI their God had said, which ADONAI their God had sent him to tell them, the entire speech cited above,

2 then 'Azaryah the son of Hosha'yah, Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the men with him had the effrontery to say to Yirmeyahu, "You are lying! ADONAI our God did not send you to say, 'Don't go to Egypt and live there'!

3 Rather, Barukh the son of Neriyah is inciting you against us, so that we can be handed over to the Kasdim to be put to death or carried off as captives to Bavel."

4 So Yochanan the son of Kareach, all the military commanders and all the people did not heed what ADONAI said, to live in the land of Y'hudah.

5 Instead, Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders took all the remnant of Y'hudah who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven to live in the land of Y'hudah -

6 the men, the women, the children, the king's daughters, everyone N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard had committed to G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, and Yirmeyahu the prophet and Barukh the son of Neriyah -

7 and went to the land of Egypt; for they did not heed what ADONAI had said; and they arrived in Tachpanches.

8 Then this word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu in Tachpanches:

9 "With the men of Y'hudah watching, take some big stones, and set them with mortar in the pavement at the entry to Pharaoh's palace in Tachpanches.

10 Tell them: 'This is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: "I will summon N'vukhadretzar the king of Bavel, my servant, take him and set his throne on these stones I laid here; he will come and spread his royal canopy over them.

11 He will come and attack the land of Egypt. Those destined for death - to death! Those destined for captivity - to captivity! Those destined for the sword - to the sword!

12 I will light a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn [those gods] or take them captive. He will fold up the land of Egypt like a shepherd folding up his cloak, and leave there victorious.

13 He will also break the standing-stones of the temple of the sun in the land of Egypt and burn to the ground the temples of the gods of Egypt."'"

Jeremiah 44

1 This word came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the people from Y'hudah living in the land of Egypt - in Migdol, Tachpanches, Nof and the land of Patros:

2 "Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'You have seen all the disaster I inflicted on Yerushalayim and all the cities of Y'hudah; there they are today, ruined, with no one living in them.

3 It came about because of the wicked things they did to make me angry - sacrificing to and serving other gods, whom they did not know, neither they, nor you nor your ancestors.

4 I had sent you all my servants the prophets, sent them frequently, with the message, "Don't do this horrible thing which I hate!"

5 But they neither listened nor obeyed, so as to turn from their wickedness and stop offering to other gods.

6 Hence my fury and anger were poured out and ignited in the cities of Y'hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim; so that they became waste and desolate, as they are today.'

7 "Therefore now, ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says this: 'Why are you committing this great sin against yourselves? The result can only be to cut you off from Y'hudah - men, women, children and babies - so that none of you remain.

8 For you continue provoking me with the products of your own hands, offering to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live as aliens. It will lead only to your destruction and becoming an object of curses and reproaches among all the nations of the earth.

9 Have you forgotten the wicked deeds of your ancestors, the wicked deeds of the kings of Y'hudah, the wicked deeds of their wives, your own wicked deeds, and the wicked deeds of your wives, which they committed in the land of Y'hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim?

10 To this day they remain unhumbled; they have not been afraid, and they have not lived according to my Torah or my regulations that I presented to you and your ancestors.'

11 "Therefore here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I will decree disaster for you and destroy all of Y'hudah.

12 I will take the remnant of Y'hudah, who determined to go to Egypt and live there as aliens, and they will all perish - in the land of Egypt they will fall and perish by sword and famine. They will die, from the least to the greatest, by sword and famine; and they will become an object of condemnation, astonishment, cursing and reproach.

13 Yes, I will punish those living in the land of Egypt, as I punished Yerushalayim, by sword, famine and plague;

14 so that none of the remnant of Y'hudah who went into the land of Egypt to live as aliens will escape or remain, to be able to return to the land of Y'hudah. They long to return and live there, but none will return except a few refugees.'"

15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were offering incense to other gods, along with all the women standing by, a huge crowd, all the people living in Patros in the land of Egypt, answered Yirmeyahu:

16 "As for the word you have just spoken to us in the name of ADONAI, we will not listen to you.

17 Instead, we will certainly continue to fulfill every word our mouths have spoken: we will offer incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our ancestors, our kings and our leaders, in the cities of Y'hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim. For then we had plenty of food; everything was fine, we didn't experience anything unpleasant.

18 But since we stopped offering to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been destroyed by sword and famine."

19 [Then the wives added,] "Are we the ones who offer incense to the queen of heaven? Do we pour out drink offerings to her? And did we make cakes marked with her image for her and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands' consent?"

20 Then Yirmeyahu said to all the people - to the men, the women, and all the people who had answered him back:

21 "The incense you offered in the cities of Y'hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim - you, your ancestors, your kings, your leaders and the people of the land - ADONAI kept remembering and taking note of this [insult],

22 until ADONAI could no longer bear it, so evil and so detestable were your deeds. This is why your land has become a wasteland, an object for astonishment and cursing, uninhabited, as it is today.

23 It is because you offered incense, sinned against ADONAI, didn't listen to what ADONAI said, and didn't live by his Torah, regulations and instructions that this disaster has befallen you, as it is today."

24 In addition, Yirmeyahu said to all the people, but especially the women: "Hear the word of ADONAI, all Y'hudah who are in the land of Egypt;

25 this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'You and your wives stated your intentions with your mouths and performed them with your hands - you said, "We will certainly fulfill our vows that we made to offer incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her."' Without doubt, you will indeed fulfill every point of your vows.

26 Therefore hear the word of ADONAI, all Y'hudah living in the land of Egypt: 'I swear by my own great name,' says ADONAI, 'that no man of Y'hudah will speak my name again in the land of Egypt, swearing, "As ADONAI, God, lives."

27 I am watching over them for harm, not for good. All the men of Y'hudah in the land of Egypt will be destroyed by sword and famine, until none of them is left.

28 Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Y'hudah few in number; and all the remnant of Y'hudah who went into the land of Egypt to live will know whose word will stand - mine or theirs!

29 Moreover, here is a sign for you,' says ADONAI, 'that I will punish you in this place, so that you can know that my threats of disaster against you will come true.'

30 ADONAI says, 'I will hand over Pharaoh Hofra king of Egypt to his enemies, to those seeking his life - just as I handed Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah over to N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel, his enemy, who sought his life.'"

Psalm 140

1 For the leader. A psalm of David: Rescue me, ADONAI, from evil people, protect me from violent people.

2 They plan evil things in their hearts they continually stir up bitter strife.

3 They have made their tongues as sharp as a snake's; viper's venom is under their lips. (Selah)

4 Keep me, ADONAI, from the hands of the wicked, protect me from violent people who are trying to trip me up.

5 The arrogant hide snares for me; they spread nets by the side of the road, hoping to trap me there. (Selah)

6 I said to ADONAI, "You are my God; listen, ADONAI, to my plea for mercy."

7 ADONAI, Adonai, my saving strength, my helmet shielding my head in battle,

8 ADONAI, don't grant the wicked their wishes; make their plot fail, so they won't grow proud. (Selah)

9 May the heads of those who surround me be engulfed in the evil they spoke of, themselves.

10 May burning coals rain down on them, may they be flung into the fire, flung into deep pits, never to rise again.

11 Let slanderers find no place in the land; let the violent and evil be hunted relentlessly.

12 I know that ADONAI gives justice to the poor and maintains the rights of the needy.

13 The righteous will surely give thanks to your name; the upright will live in your presence.

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Today's Bible Reading

November 24

2 Peter 3; Jeremiah 45-46; Psalm 141 CJB

2 Peter 3

1 Dear friends, I am writing you now this second letter; and in both letters I am trying to arouse you to wholesome thinking by means of reminders;

2 so that you will keep in mind the predictions of the holy prophets and the command given by the Lord and Deliverer through your emissaries.

3 First, understand this: during the Last Days, scoffers will come, following their own desires

4 and asking, "Where is this promised 'coming' of his? For our fathers have died, and everything goes on just as it has since the beginning of creation."

5 But, wanting so much to be right about this, they overlook the fact that it was by God's Word that long ago there were heavens, and there was land which arose out of water and existed between the waters,

6 and that by means of these things the world of that time was flooded with water and destroyed.

7 It is by that same Word that the present heavens and earth, having been preserved, are being kept for fire until the Day of Judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.

8 Moreover, dear friends, do not ignore this: with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one dayb

9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins.

10 However, the Day of the Lord will come "like a thief." On that Day the heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will melt and disintegrate, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up.

11 Since everything is going to be destroyed like this, what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives,

12 as you wait for the Day of God and work to hasten its coming. That Day will bring on the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt from the heat;

13 but we, following along with his promise, wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness will be at home.

14 Therefore, dear friends, as you look for these things, do everything you can to be found by him without spot or defect and at peace.

15 And think of our Lord's patience as deliverance, just as our dear brother Sha'ul also wrote you, following the wisdom God gave him.

16 Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

17 But you, dear friends, since you know this in advance, guard yourselves; so that you will not be led away by the errors of the wicked and fall from your own secure position.

18 And keep growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory, both now and forever! Amen.

Jeremiah 45

1 Here is what Yirmeyahu said to Barukh the son of Neriyah when he wrote these words in a book at Yirmeyahu's dictation, in the fourth year of Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah:

2 "This is what Adonai the God of Isra'el says concerning you, Barukh. You said,

3 'Woe to me now! ADONAI has compounded my pain with sorrow, I am weary from groaning, and I can find no relief!'

4 "Tell him that ADONAI says: 'I will tear down what I built up, I will uproot what I planted, and this throughout the land.

5 Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don't! For I am bringing disaster on everything living,' says ADONAI. 'But wherever you go, you will escape with your life.'"

Jeremiah 46

1 This is the word of ADONAI that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the nations.

2 Concerning Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh N'kho, king of Egypt, stationed by the Euphrates River in Kark'mish, which N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel attacked in the fourth year of Y'hoyakim son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah:

3 "Prepare breastplate and shield! Advance to battle!

4 Harness the horses! Riders, mount! [Troops,] fall in! Helmets in place! Polish the spears! Coats of mail on!

5 "Why do I see them retreating in panic, their heroes routed, fleeing headlong, not looking back, terror all around?" asks ADONAI.

6 "The swift cannot flee, nor the heroes escape. In the north, by the Euphrates River, they have stumbled and fallen."

7 Who is this, rising up like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge out in flood?

8 It is Egypt, rising up like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge out in flood, saying, "I will surge out and cover the earth, destroying the city along with its people."

9 Charge, horses! Full speed ahead, chariots! Let the warriors attack! - Kush and Put, bearing their shields, and the Ludim, strung bows in hand.

10 For on that day Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot will have a day of vengeance for avenging himself on his enemies. The sword will destroy, have its fill, be made drunk on their blood. Yes, Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot decrees slaughter in the land to the north by the Euphrates River.

11 Go up to Gil'ad for its healing resin, virgin daughter of Egypt. You try many medicines, all in vain; for you there is no cure.

12 The nations have heard about your disgrace; your shrieks fill the earth as warrior trips over warrior, both falling down together.

13 This word ADONAI spoke to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning how N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel would come and attack the land of Egypt:

14 "Proclaim in Egypt, announce in Migdol, announce in Nof and Tachpanches; say: 'Take your stand! Get ready! For all around you the sword is destroying.

15 Why has your strong one been overthrown? He failed to stand because ADONAI pushed him down.

16 He caused many to trip; yes, they fell all over each other.'" Then they said, "Let's get up, let's return to our own people, back to the land where we were born, away from the sword that destroys."

17 They cried there, "Pharaoh king of Egypt makes noise, but he lets the right time [for action] slip by."

18 "As I live," says the king, whose name is ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "when he comes, he will be [as mighty] as Tavor among the mountains, as Karmel next to the sea.

19 "Daughter living in Egypt, prepare what you need for exile; for Nof will become a ruin, laid waste, without inhabitant.

20 Egypt is a beautiful female calf; but a horsefly from the north has come to attack her.

21 Her mercenaries too, that she had with her, were like well-fed calves in a stable; but they too have withdrawn in retreat, they all ran away without standing their ground. For their day of disaster has come over them, the time for them to be punished.

22 Egypt hisses like a snake, as the enemy's army marches ahead, attacking her with their axes like lumbermen chopping trees.

23 They cut down her forest," says ADONAI, "for they cannot be numbered; yes, there are more of them than locusts, far too many to count.

24 The daughter of Egypt is put to shame, handed over to the people from the north."

25 ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: "I will punish Amon from No, Pharaoh, and Egypt with her gods and kings - that is, Pharaoh and those who trust in him;

26 I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel and to his servants. But afterwards, Egypt will be inhabited, as in the past," says ADONAI.

27 "Yet don't be afraid, Ya'akov my servant; don't be distressed, Isra'el. For I will save you from faraway places, and your offspring from the lands where they are held captive. Ya'akov will return and be at peace, quiet, with no one to make him afraid.

28 Don't be afraid, Ya'akov my servant," says ADONAI, "for I am with you. I will finish off all the nations where I have scattered you. However, you I will not finish off, I will discipline you as you deserve, but not completely destroy you."

Psalm 141

1 A psalm of David: ADONAI, I have called you; come to me quickly! Listen to my plea when I call to you.

2 Let my prayer be like incense set before you, my uplifted hands like an evening sacrifice.

3 Set a guard, ADONAI, over my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.

4 Don't let my heart turn to anything evil or allow me to act wickedly with men who are evildoers; keep me from eating their delicacies.

5 Let the righteous strike me, let him correct me; it will be an act of love. Let my head not refuse such choice oil, for I will keep on praying about their wickedness.

6 When their rulers are thrown down from the cliff, [the wicked] will hear that my words were fitting.

7 As when one plows and breaks the ground into clods, our bones are strewn at the mouth of Sh'ol.

8 For my eyes, ADONAI, Adonai, are on you; in you I take refuge; don't pour out my life.

9 Keep me from the trap they have set for me, from the snares of evildoers.

10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.

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Today's Bible Reading

November 25

Galatians 1; Jeremiah 47-48; Psalm 142 CJB

Galatians 1

1 From: Sha'ul, an emissary - I received my commission not from human beings or through human mediation but through Yeshua the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead - also from all the brothers with me

2 To: The Messianic communities in Galatia:

3 Grace and shalom to you from God our Father and from the Lord Yeshua the Messiah,

4 who gave himself for our sins, so that he might deliver us from the present evil world-system, in obedience to the will of God, our Father.

5 To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

6 I am astounded that you are so quick to remove yourselves from me, the one who called you by the Messiah's grace, and turn to some other supposedly "Good News,"

7 which is not good news at all! What is really happening is that certain people are pestering you and trying to pervert the genuine Good News of the Messiah.

8 But even if we-or, for that matter, an angel from heaven!-were to announce to you some so-called "Good News" contrary to the Good News we did announce to you, let him be under a curse forever!

9 We said it before, and I say it again: if anyone announces "Good News" contrary to what you received, let him be under a curse forever!

10 Now does that sound as if I were trying to win human approval? No! I want God's approval! Or that I'm trying to cater to people? If I were still doing that, I would not be a servant of the Messiah.

11 Furthermore, let me make clear to you, brothers, that the Good News as I proclaim it is not a human product;

12 because neither did I receive it from someone else nor was I taught it-it came through a direct revelation from Yeshua the Messiah.

13 For you have heard about my former way of life in [traditional] Judaism - how I did my best to persecute God's Messianic Community and destroy it;

14 and how, since I was more of a zealot for the traditions handed down by my forefathers than most Jews my age, I advanced in [traditional] Judaism more rapidly than they did.

15 But when God, who picked me out before I was born and called me by his grace, chose

16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might announce him to the Gentiles, I did not consult anyone;

17 and I did not go up to Yerushalayim to see those who were emissaries before me. Instead, I immediately went off to Arabia and afterwards returned to Dammesek.

18 Not until three years later did I go up to Yerushalayim to make Kefa's acquaintance, and I stayed with him for two weeks,

19 but I did not see any of the other emissaries except Ya'akov the Lord's brother.

20 (Concerning these matters I am writing you about, I declare before God that I am not lying!)

21 Next I went to Syria and Cilicia;

22 but in Y'hudah, the Messianic congregations didn't even know what I looked like -

23 they were only hearing the report, "The one who used to persecute us now preaches the Good News of the faith he was formerly out to destroy";

24 and they praised God for me.

Jeremiah 47

1 This word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the P'lishtim before Pharaoh attacked 'Azah:

2 "Here is what ADONAI says: 'Water is rising out of the north; it will become a flooding stream, flooding the land and all that is in it, the city and its inhabitants. The people are crying out in alarm, everyone in the land is weeping

3 at the thunderous pound of his stallions' hoofs, at his rattling chariots' rumbling wheels. Fathers fail to turn back for their children; instead, their hands hang limp,

4 because the day has come for destroying all the P'lishtim, for cutting off from Tzor and Tzidon the last of their allies; for ADONAI is destroying the P'lishtim, the remnant from the island of Kaftor.

5 'Azah is shaved bald, Ashkelon reduced to silence. Those of you who remain in their valley, how long will you go on gashing yourselves?'"

6 Oh, sword of ADONAI, how long till you can be quiet? Put yourself back in your scabbard! Stop! Be still!

7 But how can you be still? For ADONAI has given it orders against Ashkelon, against the seacoast; he has assigned it its task there.

Jeremiah 48

1 Concerning Mo'av, this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: "Woe to N'vo, for it is ravaged; Kiryatayim disgraced and captured. Misgav is put to shame, distressed.

2 "In Mo'av, nothing is left to praise. At Heshbon they plotted her downfall: 'Come, we'll cut her off as a nation.' You too, Madmein, will be silenced; the sword pursues behind you.

3 An agonized cry from Horonayim, ruin, terrible devastation!

4 Mo'av has been shattered; the cries of her young ones are heard,

5 as they ascend the slopes of Luchit, weeping bitterly as they climb. On the road down to Horonayim shrieks of destruction ring out."

6 Flee! Save your lives! Be strong, like a tamarisk in the desert.

7 Because you trust in your deeds and your wealth, you too will be captured. Together with his priests and princes, K'mosh will go into exile.

8 A destroyer will descend on every city, no city will escape. The valley too will perish, the plain will be laid waste, as ADONAI as said.

9 Give Mo'av wings, so it can fly and get away. Its cities will become ruins, with no one to live in them.

10 A curse on him who does the work of ADONAI carelessly! A curse on him who withholds his sword from blood!

11 Mo'av has lived at ease from his youth; he is [wine] settled on its dregs, not decanted from jar to jar - he has not gone into exile. Therefore it retains its own [bad] taste, its aroma remains unchanged.

12 "So the days are coming," says ADONAI, "when I will send people to tilt him; they will tilt his jars, emptying them and shattering the wine-flasks to pieces.

13 Mo'av will be disappointed by K'mosh then, just as the house of Isra'el was disappointed by Beit-El, a god in whom they had put their trust.

14 "How can you say, 'We are heroes, warriors valiant in battle'?

15 They are ravaging Mo'av, attacking its cities; its best young men go down to be slaughtered," says the king, whose name is ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

16 Mo'av's ruin is coming soon, its disaster speeds on swiftly.

17 Pity him, all of you who are near him, all of you who know his name; say, "How the mighty scepter is shattered, that splendid staff!"

18 Descend from your glory, and sit in thirst, daughter living in Divon; for Mo'av's destroyer advances on you; he has destroyed your strongholds.

19 Stand by the road and watch, inhabitant of 'Aro'er; ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, "What is going on?"

20 Mo'av is disgraced, indeed, destroyed. Wail aloud! Shriek! Proclaim it by the Arnon that Mo'av has been laid waste.

21 Judgment has come on the Plain - on Holon, Yachtzah, Mefa'at,

22 Divon, N'vo, Beit-Diblatayim,

23 Kiryatayim, Beit-Gamul, Beit-M'on,

24 K'riot, Botzrah and all the cities in the land of Mo'av, far and near.

25 "Mo'av's strength is cut down, his arm is broken," says ADONAI.

26 Because Mo'av boasted against ADONAI, make him so drunk that he wallows in his own vomit and becomes a laughingstock.

27 After all, Isra'el was a laughingstock for you. He didn't associate with thieves; nevertheless, whenever you spoke of him, you shook your head.

28 You who live in Mo'av, leave the cities, and live on the rocks; be like the dove who makes her nest in a hole in the rock at the mouth of a cave.

29 We have heard of the pride of Mo'av: so very proud he is! - presumptuous, proud, conceited; so haughty his heart!

30 "I know what meager ground he has for his arrogance," says ADONAI. "His boasting has nothing behind it, and it hasn't accomplished a thing."

31 Therefore I wail for Mo'av; for all Mo'av I cry; for the people of Kir-Heres I lament.

32 I will weep for you, vineyard of Sivmah, more than I wept for Ya'zer. Your branches spread to the sea, reaching as far as the sea of Ya'zer. On your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer has fallen.

33 Gladness and joy have been removed from productive fields and the land of Mo'av. "I have stopped the flow of wine from the vats and the shouts of those who tread the grapes - those shouts of joy are stilled."

34 The cries from Heshbon to El'aleh are heard as far away as Yachatz; those from Tzo'ar to Horonayim are heard in 'Eglat-Shlishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have become a desolate waste.

35 "Moreover," says ADONAI, "in Mo'av I will put an end to anyone sacrificing on a high place or offering incense to his gods."

36 This is why my heart is moaning for Mo'av like funeral flutes, why my heart moans for the men of Kir-Heres like funeral flutes; for the wealth they produced has vanished.

37 Every head has been shaved bald, every beard has been clipped short, gashes are on every hand, sackcloth around every waist.

38 On all the housetops of Mo'av and in its open places - lamentation everywhere! "For I have broken Mo'av like a pot that nobody wants," says ADONAI.

39 Wail, "How shattered is Mo'av! How shamefully in retreat!" Thus will Mo'av become an object of ridicule and distress to all its neighbors.

40 For here is what ADONAI says: "Look! Down he swoops like a vulture, spreading his wings against Mo'av

41 the cities are captured, the strongholds are seized. On that day the hearts of Mo'av's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

42 Mo'av will be destroyed as a people, because he boasted against ADONAI.

43 Terror, pit and trap are upon you, people of Mo'av," says ADONAI.

44 "Whoever flees from the terror will fall into the pit; and he who climbs up out of the pit will be caught in the trap. For I will bring on her, on Mo'av, the year for her punishment," says ADONAI.

45 "In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stop, exhausted. For fire breaks out from Heshbon, a flame from inside Sichon, consuming the sides and tops of the heads of Mo'av's noisy boasters.

46 Woe to you, Mo'av! K'mosh's people are doomed! For your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters led into captivity.

47 Yet I will end Mo'av's exile in the acharit-hayamim," says ADONAI. This is the judgment on Mo'av.

Psalm 142

1 A maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A prayer: With my voice I cry to ADONAI, with my voice I plead to ADONAI for mercy.

2 Before him I pour out my complaint, before him I tell my trouble.

3 When my spirit faints within me, you watch over my path. By the road that I am walking they have hidden a snare for me.

4 Look to my right, and see that no one recognizes me. I have no way of escape; nobody cares for me.

5 I cried out to you, ADONAI; I said, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."

6 Listen to my cry, for I have been brought very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.

7 Lead me out of prison, so that I can give thanks to your name; in me the righteous will be crowning themselves, because you will have treated me generously.

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Today's Bible Reading

November 26

Galatians 2; Jeremiah 49-50; Psalm 143 CJB

Galatians 2

1 Then after fourteen years I again went up to Yerushalayim, this time with Bar-Nabba; and I took with me Titus.

2 I went up in obedience to a revelation, and I explained to them the Good News as I proclaim it among the Gentiles - but privately, to the acknowledged leaders. I did this out of concern that my current or previous work might have been in vain.

3 But they didn't force my Gentile companion Titus to undergo b'rit-milah.

4 Indeed, the question came up only because some men who pretended to be brothers had been sneaked in - they came in surreptitiously to spy out the freedom we have in the Messiah Yeshua, so that they might enslave us.

5 Not even for a minute did we give in to them, so that the truth of the Good News might be preserved for you.

6 Moreover, those who were the acknowledged leaders-what they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by outward appearances - these leaders added nothing to me.

7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the Uncircumcised, just as Kefa had been for the Circumcised;

8 since the One working in Kefa to make him an emissary to the Circumcised had worked in me to make me an emissary to the Gentiles.

9 So, having perceived what grace had been given to me, Ya'akov, Kefa and Yochanan, the acknowledged pillars of the community, extended to me and Bar-Nabba the right hand of fellowship; so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the Circumcised.

10 Their only request was that we should remember the poor - which very thing I have spared no pains to do.

11 Furthermore, when Kefa came to Antioch, I opposed him publicly, because he was clearly in the wrong.

12 For prior to the arrival of certain people from [the community headed by] Ya'akov, he had been eating with the Gentile believers; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he was afraid of the faction who favored circumcising Gentile believers.

13 And the other Jewish believers became hypocrites along with him, so that even Bar-Nabba was led astray by their hypocrisy.

14 But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path, keeping in line with the truth of the Good News, I said to Kefa, right in front of everyone, "If you, who are a Jew, live like a Goy and not like a Jew, why are you forcing the Goyim to live like Jews?

15 We are Jews by birth, not so-called 'Goyishe sinners';

16 even so, we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous by God on the ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands, but through the Messiah Yeshua's trusting faithfulness. Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to him, in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiah's trusting faithfulness and not on the ground of our legalistic observance of Torah commands. For on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, no one will be declared righteous.

17 But if, in seeking to be declared righteous by God through our union with the Messiah, we ourselves are indeed found to be sinners, then is the Messiah an aider and abettor of sin? Heaven forbid!

18 Indeed, if I build up again the legalistic bondage which I destroyed, I really do make myself a transgressor.

19 For it was through letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with God.

20 When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

21 I do not reject God's gracious gift; for if the way in which one attains righteousness is through legalism, then the Messiah's death was pointless.

Jeremiah 49

1 Concerning the people of 'Amon, here is what ADONAI says: "Has Isra'el no sons? Has he no heir? Then why has Malkam inherited Gad, with his people settled in its cities?

2 Therefore," says ADONAI, "the days are coming when I will sound the battle alarm against Rabbah and the people of 'Amon; it will become a tel of ruins, her villages burned to the ground. Then Isra'el will inherit from them who disinherited him," says ADONAI.

3 "Wail, Heshbon, for 'Ai is doomed! Cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Wear sackcloth and mourn, running here and there among the sheep pens. For Malkam will go into exile, together with his priests and officers.

4 Why do you take such pride in the valleys, your well-watered valleys, rebellious daughter? You trusted in your riches and thought, 'Who can attack me?'

5 I am bringing terror on you," says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot, "from every side. Each of you will be driven out headlong, with no one to gather the fugitives.

6 But afterwards, I will bring back the exiles of 'Amon," says ADONAI.

7 Concerning Edom, this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: "Is there no wisdom left in Teman? Have her wise men forgotten how to counsel? Has their wisdom vanished?

8 Flee! Turn back! Hide yourselves well, you who live in D'dan; for I am bringing calamity on 'Esav, when the time for me to punish him comes.

9 If grape-pickers came to you, they would leave no grapes for gleaning. If thieves came at night, they would destroy until they were satisfied.

10 So I, for my part, have stripped 'Esav bare, I have exposed his hiding-places; he will not be able to hide himself. He is doomed - sons, brothers and neighbors - so that he is no more.

11 Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive; let your widows trust in me."

12 For this is what ADONAI says: "Those who do not deserve to drink from this cup will have to drink it anyway, so should you go unpunished? No, you will not go unpunished; you will certainly drink it.

13 For I have sworn by myself," says ADONAI, "that Botzrah will become a ruin and an object of astonishment, reproach and cursing; all its cities will be ruins forever."

14 I have heard a message from ADONAI: "A messenger is sent among the nations, saying: 'Gather together, and march against her! Prepare for battle!'

15 Here! I will make you least among nations, the most despised of people.

16 Your capacity to terrorize has deceived you and made you arrogant. You make your home in the rocky crags and seize the top of the mountain; but even if you build your nest high as an eagle's, from there I will drag you down," says ADONAI.

17 Edom will become an object of horror; everyone passing by will whistle in astonishment at all its disasters.

18 It will be like the overthrow of S'dom, 'Amora and their neighboring towns," says ADONAI. "No one will settle there any more, no human being will live there again.

19 It will be like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Yarden against a strong settlement: in an instant I will chase him away and appoint over it whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who can call me to account? What shepherd can stand up to me?"

20 So hear the plan of ADONAI that he has devised against Edom, and his purpose that he will accomplish against those who live in Teman: the least of the flock will drag them away; their own pasture will be in shock at them.

21 The earth quakes at the sound of their fall; their cry can be heard at the Sea of Suf.

22 Like a vulture he will soar, swoop down and spread out his wings against Botzrah. On that day the hearts of Edom's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

23 Concerning Dammesek: "Hamat and Arpad are confused; having heard bad news, they dissolve in fear, like the churning sea, which cannot calm itself.

24 Dammesek, weakened, turns to flee; trembling has seized her; anguish and pain take hold of her like the pains of a woman in labor.

25 How can a city so praised be deserted, a city that gave me such joy?

26 Therefore her young men will fall in her squares, and all her warriors be silenced on that day," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

27 "I will light a fire inside Dammesek's walls which will consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad."

28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hatzor, which N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel struck, ADONAI says: "Set out! March against Kedar! Plunder the people of the east!

29 They will seize their tents and their flocks, their tent curtains and all their equipment; their camels too they will take for themselves and shout at them, 'Terror in every direction!'

30 Flee! Leave your homes! Hide yourselves well, you who live in Hatzor," says ADONAI; "for N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel has devised a plan against you; he has formed a scheme against you.

31 Get up! March on a nation at ease, that lives secure," says ADONAI. "They have neither gates nor bars; they live in isolation.

32 Their camels will be booty, their many cattle a spoil. I will scatter to the winds those who shave the sides of their heads; From every direction I will bring their disaster on them," says ADONAI.

33 "Hatzor will be a place for jackals to live, desolate forever; no one will settle there any more, no human being will live there again."

34 This is the word of ADONAI that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning 'Eilam at the beginning of the reign of Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah:

35 "ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'I will break 'Eilam's bow, the mainstay of their might.

36 I will bring against 'Eilam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky and scatter them to all those winds. There will not be one nation to which the dispersed of 'Eilam will not come.

37 I will break 'Eilam before their foes, before those who seek their lives; I will bring disaster on them, my burning anger,' says ADONAI. 'I will send the sword to pursue them until I have finished them off.

38 I will put my throne in 'Eilam and destroy their king and leaders,' says ADONAI.

39 'But in the acharit-hayamim, I will bring back the exiles of 'Eilam,' says ADONAI."

Jeremiah 50

1 This is the word which ADONAI spoke concerning Bavel, concerning the land of the Kasdim, through Yirmeyahu the prophet:

2 "Declare it among the nations, proclaim it! Hoist a banner, proclaim it, don't hide it! Say: 'Bavel is captured. Bel is shamed, M'rodakh disgraced, her images shamed, her idols disgraced.'

3 For from the north a nation is marching against her that will desolate her land. No one will live there - both humans and animals have fled and gone.

4 In those days, at that time," says ADONAI, "the people of Isra'el will come, together with the people of Y'hudah. They will weep as they go their way, seeking ADONAI their God.

5 They will ask the way to Tziyon; and, turning their faces toward it, will say, 'Come, join yourselves to ADONAI by an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten.'

6 My people have been lost sheep. My shepherds made them go astray, turning them loose in the mountains. As they wandered from mountain to hill, they lost track of where their home is.

7 Everyone finding them ate them up. Their enemies said, 'We aren't guilty; for they sinned against ADONAI, the resting place of justice; yes, against ADONAI, their ancestors' hope.'

8 Flee from Bavel! Leave the land of the Kasdim! Be like male goats leading the flock;

9 for I will stir up and bring against Bavel an alliance of great nations from the country to the north. They will array themselves against her; from there she will be captured. Their arrows are like those of a death-dealing warrior; none will return in vain.

10 The land of the Kasdim will be plundered; all who plunder it will get enough," says ADONAI.

11 "Because you are glad, because you exult, you plunderers of my heritage; because you frisk like a calf in the grass and neigh like stallions;

12 your mother will be utterly shamed, she who bore you will be disgraced. Here she is! - last among the nations, a desert, parched and barren.

13 Because of the anger of ADONAI, no one will live there any more; all of it will be desolate. Everyone passing Bavel will whistle in shock at all her plagues.

14 "Take your positions surrounding Bavel, all you whose bows are strung; shoot at her, spare no arrows; because she sinned against ADONAI.

15 From all sides raise the war cry against her! Now she surrenders! Her buttresses fall, her walls are thrown down, for this is the vengeance of ADONAI. Avenge yourself on her! As she has done, do to her!

16 Cut off the sower from Bavel and the reaper with sickle at harvest-time. For fear of the destroying sword everyone returns to his own people, each one flees to his own land.

17 "Isra'el is a stray lamb, driven away by lions. First to devour him was Ashur's king; and the last to break his bones is this N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel."

18 Therefore ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: "I will punish the king of Bavel and his land as I punished the king of Ashur.

19 I will bring Isra'el back to his pasture, to graze on the Karmel and the Bashan, on the hills of Efrayim and in Gil'ad until he has his fill.

20 In those days, at that time," says ADONAI, "Isra'el's guilt will be sought, but there will be none, and Y'hudah's sins, but they won't be found; for I will pardon the remnant I leave.

21 "Attack the land of Meratayim; attack it and those living in P'kod. Waste them, utterly destroy them; do all I have ordered you," says ADONAI.

22 "The sound of battle is heard in the land, with great destruction!

23 How the hammer of the whole earth lies hacked apart and shattered! What an object of horror among the nations Bavel has become!

24 I set a trap and caught you, Bavel, before you knew it. You were discovered and seized, because you challenged ADONAI.

25 ADONAI has opened his store of arms and brought out the weapons of his wrath; for Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot has work to do in the land of the Kasdim.

26 Attack her from every direction! Open her stores of grain! Pile her up like heaps of grain; destroy her completely; leave nothing!

27 Kill all her bulls! let them go down to be slaughtered! Woe to them! for their day has come, the time for them to be punished."

28 Hear the sound of the fugitives, of those escaping from Bavel, coming to proclaim in Tziyon the vengeance of ADONAI our God, vengeance over his temple.

29 "Call up archers against Bavel, all whose bows are strung. Besiege her from every side, let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; as she has done, do to her. For she insulted ADONAI, the Holy One of Isra'el.

30 This is why her young men will fall in her open places, why all her warriors will be silenced on that day," says ADONAI.

31 "I am against you, arrogant [nation]," says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot. "For your day has come, the time for you to be punished.

32 The arrogant [nation] will stumble and fall, and no one will lift him up again. I will set his cities on fire, and it will devour everything around him."

33 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: "The people of Isra'el are oppressed, and so are the people of Y'hudah. Those who took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.

34 But their redeemer is strong; ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, so that he can give rest to the land but unrest to those who live in Bavel.

35 ADONAI says, "A sword hangs over the Kasdim, and over those who live in Bavel, over her leaders and over her sages.

36 A sword hangs over the lying diviners; they will become fools. A sword hangs over her warriors; they will be disgraced.

37 A sword hangs over their horses, also over their chariots, also over the foreigners within her; they will become like women. A sword hangs over her treasures; they will be robbed.

38 A drought hangs over her waters; they will be dried up. For this is a land of idols; they go mad over these horrors of theirs.

39 "Therefore wildcats and jackals will live there, and ostriches will settle there. It will never again be peopled, it will be uninhabited age after age;

40 as when God overthrew S'dom, 'Amora and their neighboring towns," says ADONAI. "No one will settle there any more, no human being will live there again.

41 "Look! A people is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.

42 They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel, without compassion; their sound is like the roaring sea, as they ride forth on horses. Their men take their battle positions against you, daughter of Bavel.

43 The king of Bavel has heard news of them; his hands droop, helpless. Anguish seizes hold of him and pain, like a woman in labor.

44 "It will be like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Yarden against a strong settlement; in an instant I will chase him away and appoint over it whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who can call me to account? What shepherd can stand up to me?"

45 So hear the plan of ADONAI that he has devised against Bavel, and his goals that he will accomplish against the land of the Kasdim: the least of the flock will drag them away; their own pasture will be in shock at them.

46 At the sound of Bavel's capture the earth quakes; their cry is heard throughout the nations.

Psalm 143

1 A psalm of David: ADONAI, hear my prayer; listen to my pleas for mercy. In your faithfulness, answer me, and in your righteousness.

2 Don't bring your servant to trial, since in your sight no one alive would be considered righteous.

3 For an enemy is pursuing me; he has crushed my life into the ground and left me to live in darkness, like those who have been long dead.

4 My spirit faints within me; my heart is appalled within me.

5 I remember the days of old, reflecting on all your deeds, thinking about the work of your hands.

6 I spread out my hands to you, I long for you like a thirsty land. (Selah)

7 Answer me quickly, ADONAI, because my spirit is fainting. Don't hide your face from me, or I'll be like those who drop down into a pit.

8 Make me hear of your love in the morning, because I rely on you. Make me know the way I should walk, because I entrust myself to you.

9 ADONAI, rescue me from my enemies; I have hidden myself with you.

10 Teach me to do your will, because you are my God; Let your good Spirit guide me on ground that is level.

11 For your name's sake, ADONAI, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of distress.

12 In your grace, cut off my enemies; destroy all those harassing me; because I am your servant.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

November 27

Galatians 3:1-18; Jeremiah 51-52; Psalm 144 CJB

Galatians 3:1-18

1 You stupid Galatians! Who has put you under a spell? Before your very eyes Yeshua the Messiah was clearly portrayed as having been put to death as a criminal!

2 I want to know from you just this one thing: did you receive the Spirit by legalistic observance of Torah commands or by trusting in what you heard and being faithful to it?

3 Are you that stupid? Having begun with the Spirit's power, do you think you can reach the goal under your own power?

4 Have you suffered so much for nothing? If that's the way you think, your suffering certainly will have been for nothing!

5 What about God, who supplies you with the Spirit and works miracles among you - does he do it because of your legalistic observance of Torah commands or because you trust in what you heard and are faithful to it?

6 It was the same with Avraham: "He trusted in God and was faithful to him, and that was credited to his account as righteousness."b

7 Be assured, then, that it is those who live by trusting and being faithful who are really children of Avraham.

8 Also the Tanakh, foreseeing that God would consider the Gentiles righteous when they live by trusting and being faithful, told the Good News to Avraham in advance by saying, "In connection with you, all the Goyim will be blessed."

9 So then, those who rely on trusting and being faithful are blessed along with Avraham, who trusted and was faithful.

10 For everyone who depends on legalistic observance of Torah commands lives under a curse, since it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the Scroll of the Torah."d

11 Now it is evident that no one comes to be declared righteous by God through legalism, since "The person who is righteous will attain life by trusting and being faithful."e

12 Furthermore, legalism is not based on trusting and being faithful, but on [a misuse of] the text that says, "Anyone who does these things will attain life through them."f

13 The Messiah redeemed us from the curse pronounced in the Torah by becoming cursed on our behalf; for the Tanakh says, "Everyone who hangs from a stake comes under a curse."g

14 Yeshua the Messiah did this so that in union with him the Gentiles might receive the blessing announced to Avraham, so that through trusting and being faithful, we might receive what was promised, namely, the Spirit.

15 Brothers, let me make an analogy from everyday life: when someone swears an oath, no one else can set it aside or add to it.

16 Now the promises were made to Avraham and to his seed. It doesn't say, "and to seeds," as if to many; on the contrary, it speaks of one - "and to your seed" - and this "one" is the Messiah.

17 Here is what I am saying: the legal part of the Torah, which came into being 430 years later, does not nullify an oath sworn by God, so as to abolish the promise.

18 For if the inheritance comes from the legal part of the Torah, it no longer comes from a promise. But God gave it to Avraham through a promise.

Jeremiah 51

1 ADONAI says this: "Against Bavel and those living in Lev-Kamai I will stir up a destructive wind.

2 Against Bavel I will send foreigners to winnow her and leave her land empty. They will besiege her from every side on the day of disaster.

3 Let the archer draw his bow, let him flaunt his coat of mail; do not spare her young men, completely destroy her whole army.

4 In the land of the Kasdim the slain will fall, those thrust through [by the sword] in her streets.

5 Isra'el and Y'hudah are not left widowed of their God, ADONAI-Tzva'ot; but the land of [the Kasdim] is full of guilt before the Holy One of Isra'el."

6 Flee from Bavel, let each one save his life! Don't perish because of her guilt. For the time has come for the vengeance of ADONAI; he will repay her what she deserves.

7 Bavel was a gold cup in the hands of ADONAI; it made the whole earth drunk - the nations drank her wine; this is why the nations have lost their senses.

8 Bavel has suddenly fallen. She is broken; wail for her. Bring healing ointment for her wounds; perhaps she can be healed.

9 "We tried to heal Bavel, but she cannot be healed. So leave her alone, and each of us will return to his own country." For the judgment against her rises to the skies and reaches even the clouds.

10 ADONAI has brought forth our victory. Come, let us proclaim in Tziyon the work of ADONAI our God!

11 Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! ADONAI roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because he plans to destroy Bavel. This is the vengeance of ADONAI vengeance over his temple.

12 Raise a standard against the walls of Bavel! Strengthen the guard! Post the sentries! Prepare ambushes! For ADONAI has both planned and accomplished what he promised to do to those living in Bavel.

13 You who live near plenty of water, so rich in treasure - your end has come, your time for being cut off!

14 ADONAI-Tzva'ot has sworn by himself, "I will fill you with men as numerous as grasshoppers; they will raise over you a shout of triumph."

15 He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom spread out the sky by his understanding.

16 When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar, he raises clouds from the ends of the earth, he makes the lightning flash in the rain and brings the wind out from his storehouses.

17 At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant, every goldsmith put to shame by his idol! The figures he casts are a fraud, there is no breath in them,

18 they are nothings, ridiculous objects; when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.

19 Ya'akov's portion is not like these, for he is the one who formed all things, including the tribe he claims as his heritage. ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name.

20 "[Bavel] you are my war club and weapons of war - with you I shatter nations; with you I destroy kingdoms;

21 with you I shatter horses and their riders; with you I shatter chariots and their drivers;

22 with you I shatter husbands and wives; with you I shatter old and young; with you I shatter young men and virgins;

23 with you I shatter shepherds and their flocks; with you I shatter farmers and their teams; with you I shatter governors and deputies.

24 "But I will repay Bavel and all living in the land of the Kasdim for all the evil they did in Tziyon," says ADONAI, "before your eyes [, Y'hudah]."

25 "I am against you, destructive mountain, destroying all the earth," says ADONAI. "I will stretch out my hand against you, to send you tumbling down from the crags and make you a burned-out mountain.

26 No one will make cornerstones or foundation-stones from you again; but you will be desolate forever," says ADONAI.

27 Raise up a banner in the land, blow the shofar among the nations. Prepare the nations for war against her. Summon kingdoms against her - Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint an officer against her; bring up horses like bristling grasshoppers.

28 Prepare the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, his governors and deputies, and all the land he controls.

29 The earth quakes and writhes, as ADONAI's designs against Bavel are fulfilled, to make the land of Bavel a ruin, with no one living there.

30 Bavel's warriors have given up fighting; they remain in their fortresses; their courage has failed; they are now like women. Her homes are on fire, her gate-bars broken.

31 One runner runs to meet another, messenger to meet messenger, to report to the king of Bavel that every part of his city is taken,

32 the fords have been occupied, and the swamp thickets set on fire, while the warriors are seized with panic.

33 For here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: "The daughter of Bavel is like a threshing-floor at treading-time. Just a little while longer, and the time for harvesting her will come."

34 N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel has devoured me, crushed me. He left me like an empty pot. Like a monster, he swallowed me whole. With my delicacies he stuffed his belly; then he rinsed me out.

35 But one who lives in Tziyon will say, "May my torn flesh be avenged on Bavel"; and Yerushalayim will say, "May my blood be avenged on the Kasdim."

36 Therefore here is what ADONAI says: "I will plead your cause. I will take vengeance for you. I will dry up her river and make her water sources dry.

37 Bavel will become a heap of ruins, a place for jackals to live, an object of horror and hissing, with no one living there.

38 Together they roar like young lions, growl like lion cubs.

39 When they are hot with desire, I will prepare them a drink. I will make them so drunk they will have convulsions, sleep forever and never wake up," says ADONAI.

40 "I will drag them down like lambs to be slaughtered, like rams and male goats."

41 Sheshakh has been captured, the pride of the whole earth seized! Bavel has become an object of horror throughout the nations!

42 The sea has flooded Bavel, overwhelmed her with its raging waves.

43 Her cities have become desolate - parched, arid land, a land where no one lives; nobody even passes through.

44 "I will punish Bel in Bavel and make him disgorge what he swallowed. The nations will no longer flow to him. Bavel's wall will fall.

45 Get out of her, my people! Each one, save yourself from ADONAI's furious anger!

46 Don't be fainthearted, don't be afraid of the rumors spreading abroad in the land. One year one rumor comes, the next year another one, rumors of violence in the land and rulers fighting rulers.

47 Therefore, listen! The days are coming when I will pass judgment on Bavel's idols. Her whole land will be put to shame, as all her slain fall on home soil.

48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Bavel; for the plunderers from the north are coming to her," says ADONAI.

49 Just as Bavel caused the slain of Isra'el to fall, so at Bavel will fall the slain of all the land.

50 You who escaped the sword, go! Don't stand still! Remember ADONAI from afar, let Yerushalayim come into your minds.

51 "The reproaches we have heard have put us to shame, disgrace covers our faces; because foreigners have entered the sanctuaries of ADONAI's house."

52 "Therefore," says ADONAI, "the days are coming when I will pass judgment on her idols, and the wounded will groan throughout her land.

53 Even if Bavel scales the heavens or reinforces her lofty stronghold, plunderers will come to her from me," says ADONAI.

54 An agonized cry is heard from Bavel! Great destruction in the land of the Kasdim!

55 For ADONAI is plundering Bavel and silencing her noisy din their waves roar like the raging ocean, their clamor sounds and resounds.

56 Yes, the plunderer has fallen upon her, fallen on Bavel. Her warriors are captured, their bows are broken. For ADONAI is a God of retribution; he will surely repay.

57 "I will intoxicate her leaders and sages, her governors, deputies and warriors. They will sleep forever and never wake up," says the king, whose name is ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

58 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: "The wide walls of Bavel will be razed to the ground, her lofty gates will be set on fire. The peoples are toiling for nothing, the nation's labor goes up in flames, and everyone is exhausted."

59 This is the order which Yirmeyahu the prophet gave to S'rayah the son of Neriyah, the son of Machseyah, when he went to Bavel with Tzidkiyahu the king of Y'hudah in the fourth year of his reign. S'rayah was quartermaster.

60 Yirmeyahu had written on a separate scroll all the above words describing the disaster that was to befall Bavel.

61 Yirmeyahu said to S'rayah, "See to it that when you arrive in Bavel you read all these words aloud. Then say,

62 'ADONAI, you have promised to destroy this place, that no one will live here, neither human nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.'

63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a rock to it, throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,

64 and say, 'Like this, Bavel will sink, never to rise again, because of the disaster I am bringing on her; and they will grow weary.'" (Up to here, these have been the words of Yirmeyahu.)

Jeremiah 52

1 Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu, from Livnah.

2 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, following the example of everything Y'hoyakim had done.

3 And it was because of ADONAI's anger that all these things happened to Yerushalayim and Y'hudah, until he had thrown them out of his presence. Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel;

4 so in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army. He set up camp against it and built siege towers against it on every side.

5 The city remained under siege into the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu.

6 On the ninth day of the fourth month, when the famine in the city was so severe that there was no food for the people of the land,

7 they broke through into the city. All the soldiers fled and left the city by night through the gate between the two walls, near the king's garden. Because the Kasdim were surrounding the city, they took the route through the 'Aravah.

8 But the army of the Kasdim went in pursuit of the king and overtook Tzidkiyahu on the plains near Yericho; all his troops deserted him.

9 Then they took the king and brought him up to the king of Bavel in Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, where he passed judgment on him.

10 The king of Bavel slaughtered his sons before his eyes; he also slaughtered all the leading men of Y'hudah in Rivlah.

11 Then the king of Bavel put out Tzidkiyahu's eyes, bound him in chains, carried him off to Bavel and kept him in prison until the day of his death.

12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was also the nineteenth year of King N'vukhadretzar, king of Bavel, N'vuzar'adan, the commander of the guard and a close associate of the king of Bavel, entered Yerushalayim.

13 He burned down the house of ADONAI, the royal palace and all the houses in Yerushalayim - every notable person's house he burned to the ground.

14 The whole army of the Kasdim, who were with the commander of the guard, broke down all the walls of Yerushalayim on every side.

15 N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard then deported some of the poor people, the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Bavel and the rest of the common people.

16 But N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard left behind some of the poor people of the land to be vineyard-workers and farmers.

17 The Kasdim smashed the bronze columns of the house of ADONAI, also the trolleys and bronze Sea that were in the house of ADONAI, and carried their bronze to Bavel.

18 They also took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, basins, pans, and all the bronze articles they had used in worship.

19 The commander of the guard took the cups, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, menorahs, pans and bowls - everything made of gold and everything made of silver.

20 The bronze in the two columns, the one Sea, and the twelve bronze bulls under the bases, all of which Shlomo had made for the house of ADONAI, was more than could be weighed.

21 As for the columns, the height of one column was thirty-one-and-a-half feet; it took a twenty-one-foot measuring line to go around it; and its thickness was four fingers - it was hollow.

22 On it was a capital of brass eight-and-three quarters feet high, with netting and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze; the second column was similar, also with pomegranates.

23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the outside; while the total number of pomegranates in the netting was one hundred.

24 The commander of the guard took [prisoner] S'rayah the chief cohen, Tz'fanyah the second-ranking cohen, and three doorkeepers.

25 From the city he took an official in charge of the soldiers, seven close associates of the king who had been found in the city, the army commander's secretary in charge of military conscription, and sixty of the common people found inside the city.

26 N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Bavel in Rivlah.

27 There in Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, the king of Bavel had them put to death. Thus Y'hudah was carried away captive out of his land.

28 The numbers of people deported by N'vukhadretzar were as follows: in the seventh year, 3,023 persons from Y'hudah;

29 in the eighteenth year of N'vukhadretzar, 832 persons from Yerushalayim;

30 and in the twenty-third year of N'vukhadretzar, N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard deported 745 persons from Y'hudah; the total comes to 4,600 persons.

31 In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Y'hoyakhin king of Y'hudah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Eveel-M'rodakh began his reign as king of Bavel; and in his first year, he commuted the sentence of Y'hoyakhin king of Y'hudah and released him from prison.

32 He treated him with kindness and gave him a throne higher than those of the other kings there with him in Bavel.

33 So Y'hoyakhin no longer had to wear prison clothes; moreover, he was provided with food as long as he lived,

34 and he was granted a daily allowance by the king of Bavel to spend on his other needs for as long as he lived, until the day of his death.

Psalm 144

1 By David: Blessed be ADONAI, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.

2 He shows me grace; and he is my fortress, my stronghold, in whom I find shelter, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.

3 ADONAI, what are mere mortals, that you notice them at all; humans, that you think about them?

4 Man is like a puff of wind, his days like a fleeting shadow.

5 ADONAI, lower the heavens, and come down; touch the mountains, make them pour out smoke.

6 Shoot out lightning, and scatter them; send out your arrows, and rout them.

7 Reach out your hands from on high; rescue me; save me out of deep water, out of the power of strangers,

8 whose mouths speak worthless words and whose right hands swear false oaths.

9 God, I will sing a new song to you; sing praises to you with a ten-stringed harp.

10 You give kings their victories; you save your servant David from the cruel sword.

11 Rescue me, save me from the power of strangers, whose mouths speak worthless words and whose right hands swear false oaths.

12 Our sons in their youth will be like full-grown saplings, our daughters will be like sculptured pillars fit for the corner of a palace.

13 Our barns are full with crops of every kind; the sheep in our fields number thousands, tens of thousands.

14 our oxen are well-fed, our city walls have no breach, our people are not taken captive, and there are no cries of protest in our cities' open places.

15 How happy the people who live in such conditions! How happy the people whose God is ADONAI!

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

November 28

Galatians 3:19-4:20; Lamentations 1-2; Psalm 145 CJB

Galatians 3:19-29

19 So then, why the legal part of the Torah? It was added in order to create transgressions, until the coming of the seed about whom the promise had been made. Moreover, it was handed down through angels and a mediator.

20 Now a mediator implies more than one, but God is one.

21 Does this mean that the legal part of the Torah stands in opposition to God's promises? Heaven forbid! For if the legal part of the Torah which God gave had had in itself the power to give life, then righteousness really would have come by legalistically following such a Torah.

22 But instead, the Tanakh shuts up everything under sin; so that what had been promised might be given, on the basis of Yeshua the Messiah's trusting faithfulness, to those who continue to be trustingly faithful.

23 Now before the time for this trusting faithfulness came, we were imprisoned in subjection to the system which results from perverting the Torah into legalism, kept under guard until this yet-to-come trusting faithfulness would be revealed.

24 Accordingly, the Torah functioned as a custodian until the Messiah came, so that we might be declared righteous on the ground of trusting and being faithful.

25 But now that the time for this trusting faithfulness has come, we are no longer under a custodian.

26 For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this trusting faithfulness;

27 because as many of you as were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah, in whom

28 there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.

29 Also, if you belong to the Messiah, you are seed of Avraham and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 4:1-20

1 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a minor he is no different from a slave, even though he is the legal owner of the estate;

2 rather, he is subject to guardians and caretakers until the time previously set by his father.

3 So it is with us - when we were "children" we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe;

4 but when the appointed time arrived, God sent forth his Son. He was born from a woman, born into a culture in which legalistic perversion of the Torah was the norm,

5 so that he might redeem those in subjection to this legalism and thus enable us to be made God's sons.

6 Now because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, the Spirit who cries out, "Abba!" (that is, "Dear Father!").

7 So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son you are also an heir.

8 In the past, when you did not know God, you served as slaves beings which in reality are non-gods.

9 But now you do know God, and, more than that, you are known by God. So how is it that you turn back again to those weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to enslave yourselves to them once more?

10 You observe special days, months, seasons and years!

11 I fear for you that my work among you has been wasted!

12 Brothers, I beg of you: put yourselves in my place - after all, I put myself in your place. It isn't that you have done me any wrong -

13 you know that it was because I was ill that I proclaimed the Good News to you at first;

14 and even though my physical condition must have tempted you to treat me with scorn, you did not display any sign of disdain or disgust. No, you welcomed me as if I had been an angel of God, as if I had been the Messiah Yeshua himself!

15 So what has become of the joy you felt? For I bear you witness that had it been possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

16 Have I now become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

17 True, these teachers are zealous for you, but their motives are not good. They want to separate you from us so that you will become zealous for them.

18 To be zealous is good, provided always that the cause is good. Indeed, whether I am present with you or not,

19 my dear children, I am suffering the pains of giving birth to you all over again - and this will go on until the Messiah takes shape in you.

20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone of voice. I don't know what to do with you.

Lamentations 1

1 How lonely lies the city that once thronged with people! Once great among the nations, now she is like a widow! Once princess among provinces, she has become a vassal.

2 Bitterly she weeps at night, tears running down her cheeks. Not one of all her lovers is there to comfort her. Her friends have all betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

3 Y'hudah has fled into exile from oppression and endless slavery. She lives among the nations, but there she finds no rest. Her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

4 The roads to Tziyon are mourning because no one comes to the festivals. Her gateways are all deserted, her cohanim are groaning, her unmarried girls are grieving -how bitter it is for her!

5 Her foes have become the head, her enemies relax, for ADONAI has made her suffer because of her many sins. Her young children have gone away captive before the foe.

6 All splendor has departed from the daughter of Tziyon. Her princes have become like deer unable to find pasture, running on, exhausted, fleeing from the hunter.

7 In the days of her affliction and anguish, Yerushalayim remembers all the treasures that were hers, ever since ancient times. Now her people fall into the power of the foe, and she has no one to help her; her enemies are gloating over her, mocking her desolation.

8 Yerushalayim sinned grievously; therefore she has become unclean. All who honored her now despise her, because they have seen her naked. She herself also moans and turns her face away.

9 Her filthiness was in her skirts; she gave no thought to how it would end. Hence her astounding downfall, with no one to console her. "Look, ADONAI, how I suffer; for the foe has triumphed!"

10 Enemies have reached out their hands to seize all her treasures. She has seen Goyim approach and go inside her sanctuary, those whom you forbade even to enter your assembly.

11 All her people are groaning, as they search for something to eat. They barter their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. "Look, ADONAI! See how despised I am.

12 "May it not happen to you, all you passers-by! Just look, and see if there is any pain like the pain inflicted on me, which ADONAI made me suffer on the day of his blazing anger.

13 "From on high, he sent down fire deep into my bones; he spread a net to catch my feet; he turned me back; he left me desolate, in misery all day long.

14 "My sins have been bound into a yoke, knit together by his hand. It weighs down on my neck, and it saps my strength. Adonai has put me into the power of those I cannot withstand.

15 "All the strong men within my walls Adonai has rejected. He has set a specific time for crushing my young men. Adonai has trodden, like grapes in a winepress, the virgin daughter of Y'hudah.

16 "Because of these things, I weep; my eyes, my eyes stream with tears; for anyone who could comfort me and revive my courage is far away. My children are in a state of shock, because the enemy has prevailed."

17 Tziyon spreads out her hands, but no one is there to console her. Concerning Ya'akov, ADONAI has ordered those around him to be his foes; Yerushalayim has become for them an unclean, filthy thing.

18 "ADONAI is in the right, for I rebelled against his word. Listen, please, all you peoples; and see how I am in pain! My young women and my young men have gone into captivity.

19 "I called out to my lovers, but they let me down. My cohanim and leaders perished in the city, as they were seeking food to keep themselves alive.

20 "See, ADONAI, how distressed I am! Everything in me is churning! My heart turns over inside me, because I have been so rebellious. Outside, the sword brings bereavement; inside, it is like death.

21 "People have heard how I groan, with no one to comfort me. All my foes have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. Bring the day you have promised, so that they will suffer like me!

22 "Let all their wickedness come before you. Then do to them as you have done to me because of all my offenses. For my groans are many, and I am sick at heart."

Lamentations 2

1 ow enveloped in darkness Adonai, in his anger, has made the daughter of Tziyon! He has thrown down from heaven to earth the splendor of Isra'el, forgotten his footstool [the sanctuary] on the day of his anger.

2 Without pity Adonai swallowed up all the dwellings of Ya'akov. In his wrath he broke down the strongholds of the daughter of Y'hudah, brought them down to the ground, thus profaning the kingdom and its rulers.

3 In his fierce anger he cut off all the power of Isra'el, withdrew his protecting right hand at the approach of the enemy, and blazed up in Ya'akov like a flaming fire devouring everything around it.

4 He bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe. He killed all who were pleasant to see. In the tent of the daughter of Tziyon, he poured out his fury like fire.

5 Adonai became like an enemy; he swallowed up Isra'el, swallowed up all its palaces, and destroyed all its strongholds. For the daughter of Y'hudah he has multiplied mourning and moaning.

6 He wrecked his tabernacle as easily as a garden, destroyed his place of assembly. ADONAI caused Isra'el to forget designated times and Shabbats. In the heat of his anger he rejected both king and cohen.

7 Adonai rejected his altar, disowned his sanctuary, and gave her palace walls over to the power of the foe, who raised such shouts in the house of ADONAI that it sounded like a festival day.

8 ADONAI resolved to destroy the wall of the daughter of Tziyon. He measured it with his line and did not stay his hand until it was all in ruins. He brought grief to rampart and wall; together they lie dejected.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; he destroyed and broke their bars. Her king and rulers are among the Goyim, there is no more Torah, and her prophets do not receive visions from ADONAI.

10 The leaders of the daughter of Tziyon sit on the ground in silence. They throw dust on their heads; they are wearing sackcloth. The unmarried women of Yerushalayim lower their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes are worn out from weeping, everything in me is churning; I am empty of emotion because of the wounds to my people, because children and infants are fainting away in the streets of the city.

12 They keep asking their mothers, "Where is something to eat or drink?"as they faint away in the streets of the city, gasping out their last breath in their mother's bosom.

13 What can be said to you, what can be compared with you, daughter of Yerushalayim? What example can I give to comfort you, virgin daughter of Tziyon? For your downfall is as vast as the sea; who can heal you?

14 The visions your prophets saw for you were futile, just a whitewash. They did not expose your guilt, so as to reverse your fortunes -no, the visions they saw for you were alluring, but futile.

15 All who pass your way clap their hands at you, hissing and shaking their heads at the daughter of Yerushalayim: "This city was called 'perfection in beauty'? 'the joy of the whole earth'?"

16 All your adversaries open their mouths to jeer at you. They hiss, they grind their teeth; they say, "We have swallowed her up! This is the day we were waiting for, and now we have lived to see it!"

17 ADONAI has done what he planned, he has fulfilled his promise, which he decreed in ancient times. He has destroyed without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you and filled your foes with pride.

18 Their hearts cried out to Adonai, "Wall of the daughter of Tziyon! Let your tears stream down like a torrent, day and night! Give yourself no respite, give your eyes no rest!

19 "Get up! Cry out in the night, at the beginning of every watch! Pour your heart out like water before the face of Adonai! Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your babies, who are fainting away from hunger at every streetcorner."

20 ADONAI, look and see who it is you have thus tormented! Should women eat the fruit of their wombs, the children they have held in their hands? Should cohanim and prophets be slaughtered in the sanctuary of Adonai?

21 Youths and old men are lying on the ground in the streets, my unmarried women and young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them on the day of your anger, you slaughtered them without pity.

22 You have summoned my terrors from every direction, as on a festival day. On the day of ADONAI's anger, not one escaped; not one survived -the children I held in my arms and raised, my enemy has destroyed.

Psalm 145

1 Praise. By David: I will praise you to the heights, my God, the king; I will bless your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless you; I will praise your name forever and ever.

3 Great is ADONAI and greatly to be praised; his greatness is beyond all searching out.

4 Each generation will praise your works to the next and proclaim your mighty acts.

5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on the story of your wonders.

6 People will speak of your awesome power, and I will tell of your great deeds.

7 They will gush forth the fame of your abounding goodness, and they will sing of your righteousness.

8 ADONAI is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and great in grace.

9 ADONAI is good to all; his compassion rests on all his creatures.

10 All your creatures will thank you, ADONAI, and your faithful servants will bless you.

11 They will speak of the glory of your kingship, and they will tell about your might;

12 to let everyone know of your mighty acts and the glorious majesty of your kingship.

13 Your kingship is an everlasting kingship, your reign continues through all generations.

14 ADONAI supports all who fall and lifts up all who are bent over.

15 The eyes of all are looking to you; you give them their food at the right time.

16 You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 ADONAI is righteous in all his ways, full of grace in all he does.

18 ADONAI is close to all who call on him, to all who sincerely call on him.

19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

20 ADONAI protects all who love him, but all the wicked he destroys.

21 My mouth will proclaim the praise of ADONAI; all people will bless his holy name forever and ever.

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Today's Bible Reading

November 29

Galatians 4:21-31; Lamentations 3-4; Psalm 146 CJB

Galatians 4:21-31

21 Tell me, you who want to be in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism, don't you hear what the Torah itself says?

22 It says that Avraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman.

23 The one by the slave woman was born according to the limited capabilities of human beings, but the one by the free woman was born through the miracle-working power of God fulfilling his promise.

24 Now, to make a midrash on these things: the two women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children for slavery - this is Hagar.

25 Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Yerushalayim, for she serves as a slave along with her children.

26 But the Yerushalayim above is free, and she is our mother;

27 for the Tanakh says, "Rejoice, you barren woman who does not bear children! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the deserted wife will have more children than the one whose husband is with her!"i

28 You, brothers, like Yitz'chak, are children referred to in a promise of God.

29 But just as then the one born according to limited human capability persecuted the one born through the Spirit's supernatural power, so it is now.

30 Nevertheless, what does the Tanakh say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for by no means will the son of the slave woman inherit along with the son of the free woman!"

31 So, brothers, we are children not of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Lamentations 3

1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his fury,

2 He has led me and made me walk in darkness and not in light.

3 Against me alone he turns his hand again and again, all day.

4 He has worn away my skin and flesh, he has broken my bones.

5 He has besieged and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

6 He has made me live in darkness, like those who are long dead.

7 He has walled me in, so I can't escape; he has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I cry out, pleading for help, he shuts out my prayer.

9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone, he has made my paths crooked.

10 He lies in wait for me like a bear, like a lion in hiding.

11 He has forced me aside and torn me to pieces, leaving me stunned.

12 He has bent his bow and used me as a target for his arrows.

13 He has pierced my vital organs with shafts from his quiver.

14 I'm a laughingstock to all my people, the butt of their taunts all day long.

15 He has filled me with bitterness, sated me with wormwood.

16 He has broken my teeth with gravel and pressed me down into ashes.

17 I have been so deprived of peace, I have so forgotten what happiness is,

18 that I think, "My strength is gone, and so is my hope in ADONAI."

19 Remember my utter misery, the wormwood and the gall.

20 They are always on my mind; this is why I am so depressed.

21 But in my mind I keep returning to something, something that gives me hope -

22 that the grace of ADONAI is not exhausted, that his compassion has not ended.

23 [On the contrary,] they are new every morning! How great your faithfulness!

24 "ADONAI is all I have," I say; "therefore I will put my hope in him.

25 ADONAI is good to those waiting for him, to those who are seeking him out.

26 It is good to wait patiently for the saving help of ADONAI.

27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke from his youth.

28 Let him sit alone in silence when he has laid it on him.

29 Let him submit absolutely; there may yet be hope.

30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes it, and receive his fill of insults.

31 For rejection by Adonai does not last forever.

32 He may cause grief, but he will take pity, in keeping with the greatness of his grace.

33 For he does not arbitrarily torment or punish human beings.

34 When anyone tramples underfoot any of the prisoners of the land;

35 when anyone deprives a person of justice, in defiance of the Most High;

36 when someone is cheated of justice in court -does Adonai not take note of such things?

37 Who can say something and have it happen without Adonai's commanding it?

38 Don't both bad things and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?

39 Why should anyone alive complain, even a strong man, about the punishment for his sins?

40 Let us examine and test our ways and return to ADONAI.

41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven and say,

42 "We, for our part, have transgressed and rebelled; you, for your part, have not forgiven.

43 "You have covered us with anger, pursued and slaughtered us without pity.

44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so thick that no prayer can pass through.

45 You have reduced us to rubbish and filth among the peoples.

46 "All our adversaries open their mouths to jeer at us.

47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us, desolation and destruction.

48 My eyes stream with rivers of water over the destruction of the daughter of my people."

49 My eyes weep ceaselessly; there is no respite,

50 until ADONAI looks down and sees from heaven.

51 My eyes make me so upset at the fate of the women in my city.

52 Those who are my enemies for no reason hunted me down like a bird.

53 They forced me alive into a pit and threw stones on me.

54 Water rose above my head; I thought, "I am finished!"

55 I called on your name, ADONAI, from the bottom of the pit.

56 You heard my voice; don't close your ear at my sighs, at my cries.

57 You came near when I called to you; you said, "Don't be afraid."

58 Adonai, you defended my cause; you redeemed my life.

59 ADONAI, you see how I have been wronged; give judgment in my favor!

60 You have seen all their vindictiveness and all their plots against me.

61 You have heard their taunts, ADONAI, and all their plots against me,

62 the whispered murmurings of my foes against me all day long.

63 See how, whether they sit or stand, I am the butt of their taunts.

64 Repay them, ADONAI, as their deeds deserve.

65 Give them hardheartedness as your curse on them.

66 Pursue them in anger! Destroy them from under your heavens!

Lamentations 4

1 How the gold has lost its luster! How the fine gold has changed! How the stones of the sanctuary lie scattered at every streetcorner!

2 The precious sons of Tziyon, as precious as fine gold -to think they are now worth no more than clay jars made by a potter!

3 Even jackals bare their breasts in order to nurse their young, but the daughters of my people have become as cruel as ostriches in the desert.

4 The tongue of the baby at the breast sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst; young children are begging for bread, but no one is giving them any.

5 People who once ate only the best lie dying in the streets; those who were raised wearing purple are clawing at piles of garbage.

6 For the offense of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of S'dom, which was overthrown in an instant, without a hand to help her.

7 Her princes were purer than snow; they were whiter than milk, their bodies more ruddy than pink pearls, as beautiful as sapphires.

8 Now their faces are blacker than coal; in the streets they go unrecognized. Their skin has shriveled over their bones and become as dry as a stick.

9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who are dying from hunger; since these waste away as if pierced through, for lack of food from the fields.

10 With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children; their children became their food when the daughter of my people was destroyed.

11 ADONAI has finished with his fury, he has poured out his blazing wrath; he kindled a fire in Tziyon that consumed its very foundations.

12 The kings of the earth could not believe, neither could anyone living in the world, that enemy or foe would ever enter the gates of Yerushalayim.

13 It happened because of the sins of her prophets and the offenses of her cohanim, who, within her walls, shed the blood of the righteous.

14 They wander in the streets like the blind; they are so polluted with blood that nobody is able even to touch their clothing.

15 "Keep away! Unclean!" people shout at them, "Keep away! Away! Don't touch us!"They flee, to wander here and there; but no nation allows them to stay.

16 ADONAI himself scattered them; he will no longer look after them; they had no respect for cohanim and showed no kindness to the leaders.

17 As for us, our eyes are worn out from looking in vain for help; we kept on watching and watching for a nation that couldn't save us.

18 They keep dogging our steps, so that we can't go out in our streets. Our end is near, our time is up; yes, our end has come.

19 Those who pursued us were swifter than eagles in the sky. They chased us over the mountains and waylaid us in the desert.

20 ADONAI's anointed, our life-breath, was caught in their pits; though of him we had said, "Under his protection, we can live among the nations."

21 Rejoice, be glad, daughter of Edom, who lives in the land of 'Utz. To you too the cup will pass; you will get drunk and strip yourself naked!

22 Your offenses, daughter of Tziyon, are atoned for; he will keep you in exile no longer. Your offenses, daughter of Edom, he will punish; he will expose your sins.

Psalm 146

1 Praise the LORD.Praise the LORD, my soul. 2 I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God. 6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, 8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. 10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

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Today's Bible Reading

November 30

Galatians 5:1-15; Lamentations 5; Psalm 147 CJB

Galatians 5:1-15

1 What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don't let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Mark my words - I, Sha'ul, tell you that if you undergo b'rit-milah the Messiah will be of no advantage to you at all!

3 Again, I warn you: any man who undergoes b'rit-milah is obligated to observe the entire Torah!

4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by God through legalism have severed yourselves from the Messiah! You have fallen away from God's grace!

5 For it is by the power of the Spirit, who works in us because we trust and are faithful, that we confidently expect our hope of attaining righteousness to be fulfilled.

6 When we are united with the Messiah Yeshua, neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is trusting faithfulness expressing itself through love.

7 You were running the race well; who has stopped you from following the truth?

8 Whatever means of persuasion he used was not from the One who calls you.

9 "It takes only a little hametz to leaven the whole batch of dough."

10 I am confident that since you are united with the Lord, you will take no other view; and I am confident that the one who has been disturbing you, whoever he may be, will have to bear his punishment.

11 And as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were the case, my preaching about the execution-stake would cause no offense whatever.

12 I wish the people who are bothering you would go the whole way and castrate themselves!

13 For, brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not let that freedom become an excuse for allowing your old nature to have its way. Instead, serve one another in love.

14 For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: "Love your neighbor as yourself";k

15 but if you go on snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other!

Lamentations 5

1 Remember, ADONAI, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.

2 The land we possessed has been passed on to strangers, our homes to foreigners.

3 We have become fatherless orphans, our mothers now are widows.

4 We have to pay to drink our own water; we have to buy our own wood.

5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted; we toil to exhaustion but are given no rest.

6 We made pacts with Egypt and Ashur to get enough food.

7 Our ancestors sinned and no longer exist; we bear the weight of their guilt.

8 We are ruled by slaves, and there is no one to save us from their power.

9 We get our food at the peril of our lives because of the sword in the desert.

10 Our skins are as black as a furnace because of the searing blasts of famine.

11 They have raped the women of Tziyon, virgins in the cities of Y'hudah.

12 Princes are hung up by their hands, leaders receive no respect.

13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, boys stagger under loads of wood.

14 The old men have deserted the city gate, the young men have given up their music.

15 Joy has vanished from our hearts, our dancing has turned into mourning.

16 The crown has fallen from our heads. Woe to us! for we have sinned.

17 This is why our hearts are sick; this is why our eyes grow dim -

18 it's because of Mount Tziyon, so wasted that jackals have overrun it.

19 You, ADONAI, reign forever; your throne endures through all generations.

20 Why do you never remember us? Why abandon us for so long a time?

21 ADONAI, turn us back to you; and we will come back; renew our days, as they were in the past -

22 unless you have totally rejected us in a fury that knows no limits. [ADONAI, turn us back to you; and we will come back; renew our days, as they were in the past.]

Psalm 147

1 Halleluyah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! How sweet, how fitting to praise him!

2 ADONAI is rebuilding Yerushalayim, gathering the dispersed of Isra'el.

3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

4 He determines how many stars there are and calls them all by name.

5 Our Lord is great, his power is vast, his wisdom beyond all telling.

6 ADONAI sustains the humble but brings the wicked down to the ground.

7 Sing to ADONAI with thanks, sing praises on the lyre to our God.

8 He veils the sky with clouds; he provides the earth with rain; he makes grass grow on the hills;

9 he gives food to the animals, even to the young ravens when they cry.

10 He takes no delight in the strength of a horse, no pleasure in a runner's speed.

11 ADONAI takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who wait for his grace.

12 Glorify ADONAI, Yerushalayim! Praise your God, Tziyon!

13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you,

14 he brings peace within your borders, he gives you your fill of the finest wheat.

15 He sends his word out over the earth, his command runs swiftly.

16 Thus he gives snow like wool, scatters hoarfrost like ashes,

17 sends crystals of ice like crumbs of bread -who can withstand such cold?

18 Then he sends his word out and melts them; he makes the winds blow, and the water flows.

19 He reveals his words to Ya'akov, his laws and rulings to Isra'el.

20 He has not done this for other nations; they do not know his rulings. Halleluyah!

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Today's Bible Reading

December 1

Galatians 5:16-26; Ezekiel 1; Psalm 148 CJB

Galatians 5:16-26

16 What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants.

17 For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions.

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.

19 And it is perfectly evident what the old nature does. It expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity and indecency;

20 involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue

21 and envy; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God!

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.

24 Moreover, those who belong to the Messiah Yeshua have put their old nature to death on the stake, along with its passions and desires.

25 Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day.

26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Ezekiel 1

1 In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the K'var River, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

2 On the fifth day of the month, which was during the fifth year of King Y'hoyakhin's exile,

3 the word of ADONAI came to the cohen Yechezk'el son of Buzi, in the land of the Kasdim by the K'var River; there the hand of ADONAI was on him.

4 I looked and saw a windy storm approaching from the north and a huge cloud with flashing fire, glowing brightly all around with the color of gleaming amber from within the fire.

5 Inside, there appeared to be four living creatures that looked like human beings;

6 but each one had four faces and four wings.

7 Their legs were straight, with feet like calves' hoofs. They glittered like burnished bronze.

8 Beneath their wings they had human hands on their four sides. The four of them had faces and wings as follows:

9 they touched one another with their wings; they did not turn when they moved, but each one moved straight forward;

10 as for the appearance of their faces, they had human faces [in front], each of the four had a lion's face on the right, each of the four had a bull's face on the left, and each of the four had an eagle's face [toward the rear] -

11 thus their faces. As for their wings, each had two that stretched upward and joined those of others, and two more that covered their bodies.

12 Each [living creature] moved in the direction of any of its faces; in whichever direction the spirit wanted to go, they went, without turning as they moved -

13 thus the appearance of the living creatures. With them was something that looked like fiery coals burning the way torches do, with the fire flashing here and there between the living creatures; the fire had a brilliance, and out of the fire went lightning.

14 The living creatures kept speeding here and there like flashes of lightning.

15 As I gazed at the living creatures, I saw wheels on the ground, one next to each of the four-faced living creatures.

16 All four wheels looked the same: their inner parts gleamed like beryl, and their structure seemed to be that of a wheel inside a wheel.

17 When they moved, they could go in any of the four directions without turning as they moved.

18 Their rims were tall and fearsome, because the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.

19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved along with them; and when the creatures were lifted off the ground, the wheels went with them.

20 Wherever the spirit was to go, they went, in the direction the spirit wanted to go. The wheels were lifted up next to them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

21 When [the living creatures] moved, [the wheels] moved; when the former stood still, the latter stood still; and when the former were lifted off the ground, the wheels were lifted up next to them; because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

22 Over the heads of the living creatures was what appeared to be a dome glittering like ice; it was awesome, spread out over their heads, above them.

23 Under the dome each had a pair of wings spread out straight toward those of others, and each had a pair which covered his body.

24 I heard the sound of their wings when they moved; it was like the sound of rushing water, like the voice of Shaddai, like the noise of a tumultuous crowd or army. When they stopped, they lowered their wings.

25 Whenever there was a sound from above the dome over their heads, they stopped and lowered their wings.

26 Above the dome that was over their heads was something like a throne that looked like a sapphire. On it, above it, was what appeared to be a person.

27 I saw what looked like gleaming, amber-colored fire radiating from what appeared to be his waist upward. Downward from what appeared to be his waist, I saw what looked like fire, giving a brilliant light all around him.

28 This brilliance around him looked like a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was how the appearance of the glory of ADONAI looked. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking.

Psalm 148

1 Halleluyah! Praise ADONAI from the heavens! Praise him in the heights!

2 Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his armies!

3 Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all shining stars!

4 Praise him, highest heaven, and waters above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of ADONAI; for he commanded, and they were created.

6 He established them forever and ever; he has given a law to which they must conform.

7 Praise ADONAI from the earth, sea monsters and watery depths,

8 fire and hail, snow and mist, storm-winds that obey his word,

9 mountains and every hill, fruit trees and all cedars,

10 wild animals and all livestock, creeping reptiles, flying birds,

11 kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers on earth,

12 young men and women alike, old men and children.

13 Let them praise the name of ADONAI, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above both earth and heaven.

14 He has increased the power of his people, granted praise to all his faithful, to the descendants of Isra'el, a people close to him. Halleluyah!

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 2

Galatians 6; Ezekiel 2-3; Psalm 149 CJB

Galatians 6

1 Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won't be tempted too.

2 Bear one another's burdens - in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah's true meaning, which the Messiah upholds.

3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is really nothing, he is fooling himself.

4 So let each of you scrutinize his own actions. Then if you do find something to boast about, at least the boasting will be based on what you have actually done and not merely on a judgment that you are better than someone else;

5 for each person will carry his own load.

6 But whoever is being instructed in the Word should share all the good things he has with his instructor.

7 Don't delude yourselves: no one makes a fool of God! A person reaps what he sows.

8 Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life.

9 So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don't give up, we will in due time reap the harvest.

10 Therefore, as the opportunity arises, let us do what is good to everyone, and especially to the family of those who are trustingly faithful.

11 Look at the large letters I use as I close in my own handwriting.

12 It is those who want to look good outwardly who are trying to get you to be circumcised. The only reason they are doing it is to escape persecution for preaching about the Messiah's execution-stake.

13 For even those who are getting circumcised don't observe the Torah. On the contrary, they want you to get circumcised so that they can boast of having gained your adherence.

14 But as for me, Heaven forbid that I should boast about anything except the execution-stake of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! Through him, as far as I am concerned, the world has been put to death on the stake; and through him, as far as the world is concerned, I have been put to death on the stake.

15 For neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is being a new creation.

16 And as many as order their lives by this rule, shalom upon them and mercy, and upon the Isra'el of God!

17 From now on, I don't want anyone to give me any more tsuris, because I have scars on my body to prove that I belong to Yeshua!

18 The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Ezekiel 2

1 He said to me, "Human being! Stand up! I want to speak with you!"

2 As he spoke to me, a spirit entered me and put me on my feet, and I heard him who was speaking to me.

3 He said, "Human being! I am sending you to the people of Isra'el, that nation of rebels who have rebelled against me - they and their ancestors have been transgressing against me to this very day.

4 Because they are defiant, hardhearted children, I am sending you; and you are to tell them, 'Here is what Adonai ELOHIM says.'

5 Whether they listen or not, this rebellious house will still know that a prophet has been among them!

6 "As for you, human being, don't be afraid of them or their words, even if briars and thorns surround you, and you sit among scorpions. Don't be afraid of their words or be upset by their looks, for they are a rebellious house.

7 You are to speak my words to them, whether they listen or not, for they are very rebellious.

8 But you, human being, hear what I am telling you: don't you be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth, and eat what I am about to give you."

9 When I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me, holding a scroll.

10 He spread it out in front of me, and it was covered with writing front and back. Written on it were laments, dirges and woes.

Ezekiel 3

1 He said to me, "Human being, eat what you see in front of you; eat this scroll. Then go and speak to the house of Isra'el."

2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat,

3 as he said, "Human being, eat this scroll I am giving you; fill your insides with it." When I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey.

4 "Human being," he said to me, "go to the house of Isra'el, and speak my words to them.

5 For you are not being sent to a people with a difficult language and unintelligible speech, but to the house of Isra'el -

6 not to many peoples with difficult languages and unintelligible speech, whose words you can't understand when you hear them. Without doubt, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.

7 But the house of Isra'el will not be willing to listen to you, because they aren't willing to listen to me; since all the house of Isra'el are obstinate and hardhearted.

8 However, I am making you as defiant and obstinate as they are.

9 Yes, I am making your resoluteness harder than flint, as hard as a diamond. So don't be afraid of them or depressed by how they look at you, because they are a rebellious house."

10 Then he said to me, "Human being, receive in your heart and hear with your ears all my words that I speak to you.

11 Then go to the exiles, to your countrymen; and speak to them. Tell them, 'Here is what Adonai ELOHIM, says,' whether they listen or not."

12 A spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a very loud sound - blessed be the glory of ADONAI from his place!

13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they beat against each other, and the sound of the wheels next to them, a very loud sound.

14 So a spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness and the heat of my spirit, with the hand of ADONAI strong on me.

15 I went to the exiles who were living in Tel-Aviv, by the K'var River and stayed with them there in a stupefied state for seven days.

16 After seven days the word of ADONAI came to me:

17 "Human being, I have appointed you to be a watchman for the house of Isra'el. When you hear a word from my mouth, you are to warn them for me.

18 If I say to a wicked person, 'You will certainly die'; and you fail to warn him, to speak and warn the wicked person to leave his wicked way and save his life; then that wicked person will die guilty; and I will hold you responsible for his death.

19 On the other hand, if you warn the wicked person, and he doesn't turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, then he will still die guilty; but you will have saved your own life.

20 Similarly, when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits wickedness, I will place a stumblingblock before him - he will die; because you failed to warn him, he will die in his sin; his righteous acts which he did will not be remembered; and I will hold you responsible for his death.

21 But if you warn the righteous person that a righteous person should not sin, and he doesn't sin; then he will certainly live, because he took the warning; and you too will have saved your life."

22 The hand of ADONAI came on me there, and he said to me, "Get up, go out to the valley, and I will speak with you there."

23 So I got up and went out to the valley. The glory of ADONAI was there, like the glory I had seen by the K'var River; and I fell on my face.

24 A spirit entered me and put me on my feet. Then he spoke with me and said to me, "Go, shut yourself inside your house.

25 Human being, you are going to be bound with ropes, unable to go out among the people.

26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, so that you will be mute, unable to reprove them; for they are a rebellious house.

27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth; and you will say to them, 'This is what Adonai ELOHIM says.' Whoever is inclined to listen will listen, and whoever is inclined to refuse will refuse, because they are a rebellious house.

Psalm 149

1 Halleluyah! Sing to ADONAI a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.

2 Let Isra'el rejoice in their maker, let Tziyon's children take joy in their king.

3 Let them praise his name with dancing, make melody to him with tambourine and lyre;

4 for ADONAI takes delight in his people, he crowns the humble with salvation.

5 Let the faithful exult gloriously, let them sing for joy on their beds.

6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats, but a two-edged sword in their hands

7 to carry out vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,

8 to bind their kings with chains and put their nobles in irons,

9 to execute the judgments decreed for them; for this will glorify all his faithful. Halleluyah!

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 3

Ephesians 1; Ezekiel 4-5; Psalm 150 CJB

Ephesians 1

1 From: Sha'ul, by God's will an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua To: God's people living in Ephesus, that is, those who are trusting in the Messiah Yeshua:

2 Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

3 Praised be ADONAI, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who in the Messiah has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven.

4 In the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence.

5 He determined in advance that through Yeshua the Messiah we would be his sons - in keeping with his pleasure and purpose -

6 so that we would bring him praise commensurate with the glory of the grace he gave us through the Beloved One.

7 In union with him, through the shedding of his blood, we are set free - our sins are forgiven; this accords with the wealth of the grace

8 he has lavished on us. In all his wisdom and insight

9 he has made known to us his secret plan, which by his own will he designed beforehand in connection with the Messiah

10 and will put into effect when the time is ripe - his plan to place everything in heaven and on earth under the Messiah's headship.

11 Also in union with him we were given an inheritance, we who were picked in advance according to the purpose of the One who effects everything in keeping with the decision of his will,

12 so that we who earlier had put our hope in the Messiah would bring him praise commensurate with his glory.

13 Furthermore, you who heard the message of the truth, the Good News offering you deliverance, and put your trust in the Messiah were sealed by him with the promised Ruach HaKodesh,

14 who guarantees our inheritance until we come into possession of it and thus bring him praise commensurate with his glory.

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your trust in the Lord Yeshua and your love for all God's people,

16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you. In my prayers I keep asking

17 the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the glorious Father, to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you will have full knowledge of him.

18 I pray that he will give light to the eyes of your hearts, so that you will understand the hope to which he has called you, what rich glories there are in the inheritance he has promised his people,

19 and how surpassingly great is his power working in us who trust him. It works with the same mighty strength he used

20 when he worked in the Messiah to raise him from the dead and seat him at his right hand in heaven,

21 far above every ruler, authority, power, dominion or any other name that can be named either in the 'olam hazeh or in the 'olam haba.

22 Also, he has put all things under his feeta and made him head over everything for the Messianic Community,

23 which is his body, the full expression of him who fills all creation.

Ezekiel 4

1 "As for you, human being, take a clay slab, lay it down in front of you, and draw on it the city of Yerushalayim.

2 Show it under siege - build towers against it, raise earthworks against it, set up camps against it, and surround it with battering rams.

3 Then take an iron griddle and put it in place as a wall of iron between yourself and the city, and fix your gaze on it - the city is under siege, and you are the one besieging it. This will be a sign for the house of Isra'el.

4 "Next, you are to lie on your left side, and have it bear the guilt of the house of Isra'el - for as many days as you lie on your side, you will bear their guilt.

5 For I am assigning you one day for each year of their guilt; thus you are to bear the guilt of the house of Isra'el for 390 days.

6 Then, when you have finished that, you are to lie on your right side and bear the guilt of the house of Y'hudah for forty days, each day corresponding to a year; this is what I am assigning you.

7 You are to fix your gaze on the siege of Yerushalayim, and, with your arm bared, prophesy against it.

8 I am tying you down with ropes, and you are not to turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

9 "Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and buckwheat; put them together in one bowl; and make bread from it. For as long as you lie on your side, 390 days, this is what you are to eat.

10 Each day the food you eat must weigh only three-quarters of a pound; you may eat it from time to time [during the day].

11 You are also to drink a limited amount of water, two-thirds of a quart; you may drink it from time to time [during the day].

12 [The bread] you eat is to be baked like barley cakes; you are to bake it before their eyes, using human dung as fuel."

13 ADONAI said, "This is how the people of Isra'el will eat their food - unclean - in the nations where I am driving them."

14 I objected: "No, Adonai ELOHIM! I have never defiled myself - from my youth until now I have never eaten anything that died by itself or was killed by wild animals; no such disgusting food has ever entered my mouth."

15 He answered, "All right, I will give you cow dung to use instead of human dung, and you can prepare your bread on it."

16 He then said to me, "Human being, I am going to cut off the supply of bread in Yerushalayim, so that they will anxiously weigh out bread to eat, and, horrified, ration water to drink.

17 Finally, due to lack of bread and water, they will stare at each other in shock, wasting away because of their guilt."

Ezekiel 5

1 "Now you, human being, take a sharp sword; and use it like a barber's razor to shave your head and beard. Then weigh the hair on a balance-scale, and divide it up.

2 A third of it you are to burn in the city when the days of the siege are over. Take another third, and hit it with your sword all around the city. Scatter the last third to the wind, and I will pursue them with drawn sword.

3 Also take a few hairs and tie them up in the folds of your garment.

4 Again, of these take some; throw them in the fire, and burn them up; from there a fire will come out against the entire house of Isra'el.

5 "Here is what Adonai ELOHIM, says: 'This is Yerushalayim! I have placed her in the middle of the nations; countries can be found all around her.

6 But she has rebelled against my rulings and committed wickedness more than the nations, against my laws more than the countries around her; because they have rejected my rulings and not lived according to my laws.'

7 "Therefore here is what Adonai ELOHIM, says: 'Because you have outdone the nations around you by not living according to my laws or following my rulings or even following the rules of the nations around you,'

8 therefore here is what Adonai ELOHIM, says: 'I too am against you, yes, I; and I will execute judgments among you while all the nations look on.

9 Moreover, because of all your disgusting practices, I will do things to you that I have never done before; and I will never do such things again.

10 Parents among you will eat their children, and children will eat their parents! I will execute judgments among you and scatter to all the winds those of you who remain.

11 For, as I live,' says Adonai ELOHIM, 'because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and disgusting practices, therefore I swear that I will cut you off - my eye will not spare, I will have no pity.

12 A third of you will die from plague or be consumed by famine inside [Yerushalayim]; a third will fall by the sword all around [Yerushalayim]; and a third I will scatter to all the winds and pursue with the sword.'

13 In this way my anger will spend itself, my fury against them will die down, and I will be satisfied. Then, when I have spent my fury on them, they will know that I, ADONAI, have spoken out of my zeal.

14 'I will make you a ruin and an object of reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all passing by.

15 When I execute judgments and furious punishments among you in anger and fury, [Yerushalayim] will be an object of reproach, derision and horror, and a lesson to warn the nations around you. I, ADONAI, have announced it.

16 I will send upon them the deadly, destructive arrows of famine, which I will send to destroy you. I will make the famine worse for you by cutting off your food supply.

17 Yes, I will send famine and savage beasts upon you to leave you without children; plague and bloodshed will sweep through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I, ADONAI, have spoken it.'"

Psalm 150

1 Halleluyah! Praise God in his holy place! Praise him in the heavenly dome of his power!

2 Praise him for his mighty deeds! Praise him for his surpassing greatness!

3 Praise him with a blast on the shofar! Praise him with lute and lyre!

4 Praise him with tambourines and dancing! Praise him with flutes and strings!

5 Praise him with clanging cymbals! Praise him with loud crashing cymbals!

6 Let everything that has breath praise ADONAI! Halleluyah!

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 4

Ephesians 2; Ezekiel 6-7; Isaiah 40 CJB

Ephesians 2

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spi

1 You used to be dead because of your sins and acts of disobedience.

2 You walked in the ways of the 'olam hazeh and obeyed the Ruler of the Powers of the Air, who is still at work among the disobedient.

3 Indeed, we all once lived this way - we followed the passions of our old nature and obeyed the wishes of our old nature and our own thoughts. In our natural condition we were headed for God's wrath, just like everyone else.

4 But God is so rich in mercy and loves us with such intense love

5 that, even when we were dead because of our acts of disobedience, he brought us to life along with the Messiah - it is by grace that you have been delivered.

6 That is, God raised us up with the Messiah Yeshua and seated us with him in heaven,

7 in order to exhibit in the ages to come how infinitely rich is his grace, how great is his kindness toward us who are united with the Messiah Yeshua.

8 For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God's gift.

9 You were not delivered by your own actions; therefore no one should boast.

10 For we are of God's making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.

11 Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth - called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised -

12 at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra'el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God's promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.

13 But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah's blood.

14 For he himself is our shalom - he has made us both one and has broken down the m'chitzah which divided us

15 by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom,

16 and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.

17 Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby, b

18 news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

19 So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God's people and members of God's family.

20 You have been built on the foundation of the emissaries and the prophets, with the cornerstone being Yeshua the Messiah himself.

21 In union with him the whole building is held together, and it is growing into a holy temple in union with the Lord.

22 Yes, in union with him, you yourselves are being built together into a spiritual dwelling-place for God!

Ezekiel 6

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "Human being, face toward the mountains of Isra'el, and prophesy against them:

3 'Mountains of Isra'el, hear the word of Adonai ELOHIM: here is what Adonai ELOHIM says about the mountains, hills, ravines and valleys: "I myself will bring a sword against you and destroy your high places.

4 Your altars will be wrecked and your pillars for sun-worship broken, and I will throw down your slain ones in front of your idols.

5 I will lay the corpses of the people of Isra'el in front of their idols and scatter your bones all around your altars.

6 Everywhere you live, the cities will be destroyed and the high places wrecked; so that your altars can be destroyed and wrecked, your idols broken and abolished, your pillars for sun-worship cut down and the things you have made wiped out.

7 The slain will fall among you; then you will know that I am ADONAI.

8 "'"Nevertheless, I will leave a remnant, some who will escape the sword among the nations, when you have been scattered throughout the countries.

9 Those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they have been exiled. How broken I have been over their whoring hearts that left me, and over their eyes that went whoring after their idols! They are going to loathe themselves for all the evils they committed in their disgusting practices.

10 Then they will know that I am ADONAI; it isn't for nothing that I said I would bring this calamity upon them."'

11 "Here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and bemoan all the terrible disgusting practices of the house of Isra'el. For they will fall by sword, famine and plague.

12 Those far away will die from the plague, those nearby will fall by the sword, and whoever stays and is besieged will die from famine. This is how I will spend my fury on them.

13 You will know that I am ADONAI when their slain men are lying among their idols around their altars on every high hill, on every mountaintop, under every green tree, under every thick pistachio tree, wherever they offered sweet-smelling sacrifices to appease their idols.

14 I will stretch out my hand over them and make the land wherever they live into a desolate waste worse than the Divlah Desert. Then they will know that I am ADONAI.'"

Ezekiel 7

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "As for you, human being, here is what Adonai ELOHIM says about the land of Isra'el: 'The end! The end is coming to the four corners of the land!

3 Now the end is upon you! I will send my anger upon you, I will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your disgusting practices.

4 My eye will not spare you, I will have no pity, but I will bring your ways upon you, and your disgusting practices will be done among you. Then you will know that I am ADONAI.'

5 "Here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Disaster, unique disaster - here it comes!

6 The end is coming! The end is coming! It rouses itself against you - here it comes!

7 Doom has come to you, you who live in the land! The time has come, the day is near, for tumult, not joyful shouts on the mountains.

8 Now, soon, I will pour out my fury on you, I will spend my anger on you; I will judge you according to your ways I will bring on you all your disgusting practices.

9 My eye will not spare you, I will have no pity; but will bring upon you what your ways deserve; and your disgusting practices will be among you. Then you will know it is I, ADONAI, striking you.

10 "'Here is the day! Here it comes! Doom has gone out, the rod has blossomed, arrogance has budded.

11 Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness. Nothing is left of them, nothing of their crowds, nothing of their wealth - there is nothing of importance in them.

12 The time has come, the day has arrived; let neither buyer rejoice nor seller regret; for wrath is coming to all her many people.

13 For the seller will not return to what he sold, even if he is still alive; for though the vision was brought to all her many people, nobody repented. Each kept living his own wicked life; they weren't strong enough [to repent].

14 The shofar has sounded, everything is ready, but no one goes out to the battle, for my wrath is coming to all her many people.

15 "'Outside is the sword, inside plague and famine. Those in the country will die by the sword. And as for those in the city, plague and famine will eat them up.

16 But if any of them manage to escape, they will head for the mountains like doves from the valleys, all of them moaning, each for his sin.

17 All hands will droop, all knees turn to water.

18 They will put on sackcloth; horror will cover them; every face will be ashamed, every head shaved bald.

19 They will throw their silver into the streets; their gold will be like something unclean. On the day of ADONAI's wrath their silver and gold won't be able to rescue them. These things won't satisfy their hunger, these things won't fill their stomachs, because these are what caused them to sin.

20 From their beautiful jewellery, in which they took such pride, they made their abominable idols and their other detestable things; therefore, for them I have caused it to be like something unclean.

21 I will hand it over to foreigners as booty, to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it.

22 I will turn my face away from them; then [Bavel] will profane my secret place, robbers will enter and profane it.

23 "'Forge a chain, for the land is full of capital crimes and the city full of violence.

24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their homes; I will end the arrogance of the strong; and their holy places will be profaned.

25 When horror comes, they will seek peace; but there will be none.

26 Calamity will follow calamity, rumor will follow rumor; they will seek a vision from the prophet, but Torah will perish from the cohen and advice from the leaders.

27 The king will go into mourning, the prince will be clothed with fright, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble in terror. I will treat them as their way of life deserves and judge them as they have judged others. Then they will know that I am ADONAI.'"

Isaiah 40

1 "Comfort and keep comforting my people," says your God.

2 "Tell Yerushalayim to take heart; proclaim to her that she has completed her time of service, that her guilt has been paid off, that she has received at the hand of ADONAI double for all her sins."

3 A voice cries out: "Clear a road through the desert for ADONAI! Level a highway in the 'Aravah for our God!

4 Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill lowered, the bumpy places made level and the crags become a plain.

5 Then the glory of ADONAI will be revealed; all humankind together will see it, for the mouth of ADONAI has spoken."

6 A voice says, "Proclaim!" And I answer, "What should I proclaim?" "All humanity is merely grass, all its kindness like wildflowers:

7 the grass dries up, the flower fades, when a wind from ADONAI blows on it. Surely the people are grass!

8 The grass dries up, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever."

9 You who bring good news to Tziyon, get yourself up on a high mountain; you who bring good news to Yerushalayim, cry out at the top of your voice! Don't be afraid to shout out loud! Say to the cities of Y'hudah, "Here is your God!

10 Here comes Adonai ELOHIM with power, and his arm will rule for him. Look! His reward is with him, and his recompense is before him.

11 He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering his lambs with his arm, carrying them against his chest, gently leading the mother sheep."

12 Who has counted the handfuls of water in the sea, measured off the sky with a ruler, gauged how much dust there is on the earth, weighed the mountains on scales, or the hills in a balance?

13 Who has measured the Spirit of ADONAI? Who has been his counselor, instructing him?

14 Whom did he consult, to gain understanding? Who taught him how to judge, taught him what he needed to know, showed him how to discern?

15 The nations are like a drop in a bucket, they count like a grain of dust on the scales. The islands weigh as little as specks of dust.

16 The L'vanon would not suffice for fuel or its animals be enough for burnt offerings.

17 Before him all the nations are like nothing. He regards them as less than nothing.

18 With whom, then, will you compare God? By what standard will you evaluate him?

19 An image made by a craftsman, which a goldsmith overlays with gold, for which he then casts silver chains?

20 A man too poor to afford an offering chooses a piece of wood that won't rot, then seeks out a skilled artisan to prepare an image that won't fall over.

21 Don't you know? Don't you hear? Haven't you been told from the start? Don't you understand how the earth is set up?

22 He who sits above the circle of the earth - for whom its inhabitants appear like grasshoppers - stretches out the heavens like a curtain, spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He reduces princes to nothing, the rulers of the earth to emptiness.

24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely their stem taken root in the ground, when he blows on them, they dry up, and the whirlwind carries them off like straw.

25 "With whom, then, will you compare me? With whom am I equal?" asks the Holy One.

26 Turn your eyes to the heavens! See who created these? He brings out the army of them in sequence, summoning each by name. Through his great might and his massive strength, not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you complain, Ya'akov; why do you say, Isra'el, "My way is hidden from ADONAI, my rights are ignored by my God"?

28 Haven't you known, haven't you heard that the everlasting God, ADONAI, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow tired or weary? His understanding cannot be fathomed.

29 He invigorates the exhausted, he gives strength to the powerless.

30 Young men may grow tired and weary, even the fittest may stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in ADONAI will renew their strength, they will soar aloft as with eagles' wings; when they are running they won't grow weary, when they are walking they won't get tired.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 5

Ephesians 3; Ezekiel 8-9; Isaiah 41 CJB

Ephesians 3

1 It is a consequence of this that I, Sha'ul, am a prisoner of the Messiah Yeshua on behalf of you Gentiles.

2 I assume that you have heard of the work God in his grace has given me to do for your benefit,

3 and that it was by a revelation that this secret plan was made known to me. I have already written about it briefly,

4 and if you read what I have written, you will grasp how I understand this secret plan concerning the Messiah.

5 In past generations it was not made known to mankind, as the Spirit is now revealing it to his emissaries and prophets,

6 that in union with the Messiah and through the Good News the Gentiles were to be joint heirs, a joint body and joint sharers with the Jews in what God has promised.

7 I became a servant of this Good News by God's gracious gift, which he gave me through the operation of his power.

8 To me, the least important of all God's holy people, was given this privilege of announcing to the Gentiles the Good News of the Messiah's unfathomable riches,

9 and of letting everyone see how this secret plan is going to work out. This plan, kept hidden for ages by God, the Creator of everything,

10 is for the rulers and authorities in heaven to learn, through the existence of the Messianic Community, how many-sided God's wisdom is.

11 This accords with God's age-old purpose, accomplished in the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.

12 In union with him, through his faithfulness, we have boldness and confidence when we approach God.

13 So I ask you not to be discouraged by the troubles I endure on your behalf - it is all for your glory.

14 For this reason, I fall on my knees before the Father,

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its character.

16 I pray that from the treasures of his glory he will empower you with inner strength by his Spirit,

17 so that the Messiah may live in your hearts through your trusting. Also I pray that you will be rooted and founded in love,

18 so that you, with all God's people, will be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of the Messiah's love,

19 yes, to know it, even though it is beyond all knowing, so that you will be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who by his power working in us is able to do far beyond anything we can ask or imagine,

21 to him be glory in the Messianic Community and in the Messiah Yeshua from generation to generation forever. Amen.

Ezekiel 8

1 On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, as I was sitting in my house, and the leaders of Y'hudah were sitting there with me, the hand of Adonai ELOHIM fell on me.

2 I looked and saw what seemed like a man made of fire. From what appeared to be his waist downward was fire, and from his waist upward was what appeared to be a gleaming amber-colored brilliance.

3 The form of a hand was put out, which took me by a lock of my hair; and a spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me, in these visions from God, to Yerushalayim, to the entrance of the inner [courtyard] gate that faces north. There stood the idol that [arouses God's] jealousy and provokes [his] zealous indignation.

4 There before me was the glory of the God of Isra'el, as in the vision I had seen in the valley.

5 Then he said to me, "Human being, raise your eyes toward the north." I raised my eyes toward the north and saw, north of the Altar Gate, this image that [arouses God's] jealousy in the entryway.

6 He asked me, "Human being, do you see what they are doing, the horribly disgusting practices that the house of Isra'el is committing here, so that I must distance myself from my own sanctuary? But you will see even worse abominations."

7 He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard; and when I looked, I saw a hole in the wall.

8 He said to me, "Human being, dig into the wall." After digging in the wall, I saw a door.

9 "Go in," he said, "and see the wicked practices they are engaged in here."

10 So I went in and looked, and there, carved on the walls all around, were every kind of reptile and repulsive animal, along with all the idols of the house of Isra'el.

11 Standing in front of them were seventy of the leading men of the house of Isra'el - in the center stood Ya'azanyahu the son of Shafan. Each man had his incense-burner in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up.

12 Then he said to me, "Human being, did you see what the leaders of the house of Isra'el are doing in the dark, each one in the room of his own carved image, because they say, 'ADONAI can't see us; ADONAI has left the land.'?"

13 He also said to me, "You will see even worse abominations that they are doing."

14 He brought me to the entrance of the north gate to ADONAI's house; and there before me were women weeping for Tammuz.

15 "Human being," he asked me, "have you seen this? You will see practices even more disgusting than these."

16 He brought me into the inner courtyard of ADONAI's house; and there, at the entrance to the temple of ADONAI, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of ADONAI and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east.

17 He asked me, "Human being, have you seen this? Does the house of Y'hudah consider it a casual matter that they commit the disgusting practices they are committing here, thus filling the land with violence, provoking me still more? Look! They are even putting the branch to their nose!

18 Therefore I will act in fury, my eye will not spare, I will have no pity. Even if they cry loudly right in my ears, I will not listen to them."

Ezekiel 9

1 Then he cried loudly right in my ears: "Summon the commanders of the city, each holding his weapon of destruction."

2 At once, six men approached on the path from the upper gate, to the north, each man holding his weapon of destruction. Among them was a man clothed in linen, with a scribe's writing equipment at his waist. They entered and stood by the bronze altar.

3 Then the glory of the God of Isra'el was made to go up from over the keruv, where it had been, to the threshold of the house. He called to the man clothed in linen, who had the scribe's writing equipment at his waist.

4 ADONAI said to him, "Go throughout the city, through all Yerushalayim, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who are sighing and crying over all the disgusting practices that are being committed in it."

5 To the others I heard him say, "Go through the city after him and strike! Don't let your eye spare; have no pity!

6 Kill old men, young men, girls, little children, women - slaughter them all! But don't go near anyone with the mark. Begin at my sanctuary." They began with the leaders in front of the house.

7 Then he said to them, "Defile the house! Fill the courtyards with corpses! Get going!" So they went out, spreading death in the city.

8 While the killing was going on, I was left alone. I fell on my face, cried, and said, "Oh, Adonai ELOHIM! In pouring out your fury on Yerushalayim, are you going to destroy everyone left in Isra'el?"

9 Then he said to me, "The wickedness of the house of Isra'el and Y'hudah is enormous, the land is full of blood, and the city is full of justice denied; because they say, 'ADONAI has left the land, ADONAI doesn't see.'

10 But as far as I am concerned, my eye will not spare, and I will have no pity, but I will bring [the consequences of] their ways on their own heads."

11 At this point the man clothed in linen with the writing equipment at his waist returned and reported, "I have done everything you ordered me to do."

Isaiah 41

1 "Keep silence before me, coastlands! Let the peoples replenish their strength! Let them approach; then let them speak. Let us assemble for judgment."

2 Who has raised from the east one who is just and called him to be in his service? He hands nations over to him and subjects kings to him; his sword reduces them to dust, his bow to driven straw.

3 He pursues them, passing on unscathed, hardly touching the path with his feet.

4 Whose work is this? Who has brought it about? He who called the generations from the beginning, "I, ADONAI, am the first; and I am the same with those who are last."

5 The coastlands have seen and became afraid. The ends of the earth have trembled. They have approached, and now they have come.

6 Every one helps his fellow workman, everyone says to his brother, "Be strong!"

7 The woodworker encourages the goldsmith, the polisher encourages the hammerer; he says of the soldering, "Yes, that's good," then puts nails in [the idol] to keep it from moving.

8 "But you, Isra'el, my servant; Ya'akov, whom I have chosen, descendants of Avraham my friend,

9 I have taken you from the ends of the earth, summoned you from its most distant parts and said to you, 'You are my servant' - I have chosen you, not rejected you.

10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you; don't be distressed, for I am your God. I give you strength, I give you help, I support you with my victorious right hand.

11 All those who were angry with you will be disgraced, put to shame; those who fought against you will be destroyed, brought to nothing.

12 You will seek them but not find them, those who contended with you; yes, those who made war with you will be brought to nothing, nothing at all.

13 For I, ADONAI, your God, say to you, as I hold your right hand, 'Have no fear; I will help you.

14 Have no fear, Ya'akov, you worm, you men of Isra'el!' I will help you," says ADONAI; "Your redeemer is the Holy One of Isra'el.

15 "I will make you into a threshing-sledge, new, with sharp, pointed teeth, to thresh the mountains and crush them to dust, to reduce the hills to chaff.

16 As you fan them, the wind will carry them off, and the whirlwind will scatter them. Then you will rejoice in ADONAI, you will glory in the Holy One of Isra'el.

17 "The poor and needy look for water in vain; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, ADONAI, will answer them. I, the God of Isra'el, will not leave them.

18 I will open up rivers on the barren hills and wells down in the broad valleys. I will turn the desert into a lake and dry ground into springs.

19 I will plant the desert with cedars, acacias, myrtles and olive trees; In the 'Aravah I will put cypresses together with elm trees and larches."

20 Then the people will see and know, together observe and understand that the hand of ADONAI has done this, that the Holy One of Isra'el created it.

21 "Present your case," says ADONAI, "Produce your arguments," says Ya'akov's king.

22 Bring out those idols! Have them foretell the future for us, tell us about past events, so that we can reflect on them and understand their consequences. Or tell us about events yet to come,

23 state what will happen in the future, so that we can know you are gods. At least, do something, either good or bad - anything, to make us awestruck and fearful!

24 You can't! - because you are less than nothing. Whoever chooses you is an abomination!

25 "I roused someone from the north, and he has come from the rising sun; he will call on my name. He will trample on rulers as if they were mud, like a potter treading clay."

26 Who said this at the start, so we could know, or foretold it, so we could say, "He's right"? In fact, no one said it; no one foretold it - the fact is, nobody hears what you say.

27 I am the first to declare it to Tziyon, to send Yerushalayim a messenger with good news.

28 But when I look around, there is no one - not a single one can give counsel, who, when I ask, can give an answer.

29 Look at them all! What they do is nothing! Their idols are so much wind and waste.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 6

Ephesians 4:1-16; Ezekiel 10-11; Isaiah 42 CJB

Ephesians 4:1-16

1 Therefore I, the prisoner united with the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

2 Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love,

3 and making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as when you were called you were called to one hope.

5 And there is one Lord, one trust, one immersion,

6 and one God, the Father of all, who rules over all, works through all and is in all.

7 Each one of us, however, has been given grace to be measured by the Messiah's bounty.

8 This is why it says, "After he went up into the heights, he led captivity captive and he gave gifts to mankind."

9 Now this phrase, "he went up," what can it mean if not that he first went down into the lower parts, that is, the earth?

10 The one who went down is himself the one who also went up, far above all of heaven, in order to fill all things.

11 Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers.

12 Their task is to equip God's people for the work of service that builds the body of the Messiah,

13 until we all arrive at the unity implied by trusting and knowing the Son of God, at full manhood, at the standard of maturity set by the Messiah's perfection.

14 We will then no longer be infants tossed about by the waves and blown along by every wind of teaching, at the mercy of people clever in devising ways to deceive.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect grow up into him who is the head, the Messiah.

16 Under his control, the whole body is being fitted and held together by the support of every joint, with each part working to fulfill its function; this is how the body grows and builds itself up in love.

Ezekiel 10

1 Then I looked, and suddenly, on the dome over the heads of the k'ruvim, there appeared above them something like sapphire that seemed to take the form of a throne.

2 He spoke to the man clothed in linen; he said, "Go in between the wheels under the k'ruvim, fill both your hands with fiery coals from between the k'ruvim, and throw them on the city." As I watched, he went.

3 Now the k'ruvim were standing to the right of the house when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard.

4 The glory of ADONAI rose from above the keruv to the threshold of the house, leaving the house filled with the cloud and the courtyard full of the brilliance of ADONAI's glory.

5 The sound of the wings of the k'ruvim could be heard even in the outer courtyard sounding like the voice of God, Shaddai, when he speaks.

6 When he ordered the man clothed in linen to take fire from between the wheels, from between the k'ruvim, he went in and stood next to a wheel;

7 and a keruv put out his hand from between the k'ruvim into the fire between the k'ruvim, took some of it, and put it in the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

8 Now there appeared among the k'ruvim the form of a man's hand under their wings.

9 I looked and saw four wheels next to the k'ruvim, one wheel next to one keruv and another wheel next to another keruv: the wheels had the color of beryl.

10 Their shape was the same for all four, like a wheel inside a wheel.

11 When they moved, they could go in any of the four directions without turning as they moved; rather, wherever the head looked, they followed without turning as they moved.

12 Their whole bodies, including their backs, hands and wings, and also the wheels, were full of eyes all around - even the wheels of the four k'ruvim.

13 As for the wheels, I heard them called "the wheel apparatus."

14 Every one [of the k'ruvim] had four faces: the first face was the face of a keruv, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle.

15 Then the k'ruvim rose. These were the living creatures I had seen by the K'var River.

16 When the k'ruvim moved, the wheels went with them; and when the k'ruvim lifted their wings to rise off the ground, these wheels did not stop going with them.

17 When [the k'ruvim] stood still, [the wheels] stood still; and when the former rose, the latter rose with them; because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

18 Now the glory of ADONAI left the threshold of the house and halted above the k'ruvim.

19 The k'ruvim lifted their wings and rose off the earth - I was watching as they went off with the wheels next to them. They paused at the entrance to the east gate of ADONAI's house, with the glory of the God of Isra'el over them, from above.

20 This was the living creature I had seen beneath the God of Isra'el by the K'var River, so I knew they were k'ruvim.

21 Each of the four had four faces, and each had four wings, and what looked like a man's hands was under their wings.

22 As for how their faces looked, they were the faces I had seen by the K'var River, identical in appearance. Each one moved straight ahead.

Ezekiel 11

1 Then a spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of ADONAI's house, the gate that faces eastward. At the entrance of the gate I saw twenty-five men; among them were Ya'azanyah the son of 'Azur and P'latyahu the son of B'nayahu, leaders of the people.

2 He said to me, "Human being, these are the men who make evil plans and give wicked advice in this city.

3 They say, 'The time hasn't come to build houses. This city is the cooking pot, and we're the meat!'

4 Therefore prophesy against them, human being, prophesy!"

5 The Spirit of ADONAI fell on me, and he said to me, "Say, 'Here is what ADONAI says: "What you are saying is correct, house of Isra'el; because I know how your minds work.

6 You have killed many in this city, you have filled its streets with the dead."

7 Therefore Adonai ELOHIM says this: "Those you have killed and strewn all over it, they are the meat; and this city is indeed the cooking pot; but you will be removed from it.

8 You are afraid of the sword, but I will bring the sword upon you," says Adonai ELOHIM.

9 "I will bring you out of it, hand you over to foreigners and execute judgments among you.

10 You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Isra'el; and you will know that I am ADONAI.

11 This city will not be your cooking pot, but you will be the meat in it - I will judge you at Isra'el's frontier;

12 and you will know that I am ADONAI. For you have not lived by my laws or obeyed my rulings but have acted according to the rules of the nations surrounding you."'"

13 As I was prophesying, P'latyahu the son of B'nayah died. I fell down on my face and cried out, "Oh, Adonai ELOHIM! Are you going to destroy completely those of Isra'el who are left?"

14 Then the word of ADONAI came to me:

15 "Human being, it is to your kinsmen - your brothers, your relatives and the whole house of Isra'el - that the people living in Yerushalayim have said, 'Get away from ADONAI! This land has been given to us to possess!'

16 Therefore, say that Adonai ELOHIM says this: 'True, I removed them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries; nevertheless, I have been a little sanctuary for them in the countries to which they have gone.'

17 Therefore, say that Adonai ELOHIM says this: '"I will gather you from the peoples and collect you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give the land of Isra'el to you."

18 Then they will go there and remove all its loathsome things and disgusting practices,

19 and I will give them unity of heart. "I will put a new spirit among you." I will remove from their bodies the hearts of stone and give them hearts of flesh;

20 so that they will live by my regulations, obey my rulings and act by them. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

21 But as for those whose hearts go after the heart of their loathsome things and disgusting practices, I will bring [the consequences of] their ways on their own heads,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

22 The k'ruvim lifted their wings, and the wheels were next to them, with the glory of the God of Isra'el over them, above.

23 Next, the glory of ADONAI rose from within the city and stood over the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

24 Then a spirit lifted me up and brought me, in the vision, by the Spirit of God, to the exiles in the land of the Kasdim; after which the vision I had seen left me.

25 So I told the exiles everything ADONAI had shown me.

Isaiah 42

1 "Here is my servant, whom I support, my chosen one, in whom I take pleasure. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the Goyim.

2 He will not cry or shout; no one will hear his voice in the streets.

3 He will not snap off a broken reed or snuff out a smoldering wick. He will bring forth justice according to truth;

4 he will not weaken or be crushed until he has established justice on the earth, and the coastlands wait for his Torah."

5 Thus says God, ADONAI, who created the heavens and spread them out, who stretched out the earth and all that grows from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it:

6 "I, ADONAI, called you righteously, I took hold of you by the hand, I shaped you and made you a covenant for the people, to be a light for the Goyim,

7 so that you can open blind eyes, free the prisoners from confinement, those living in darkness from the dungeon.

8 I am ADONAI; that is my name. I yield my glory to no one else, nor my praise to any idol.

9 See how the former predictions come true; and now new things do I declare - before they sprout I tell you about them."

10 Sing to ADONAI a new song! Let his praise be sung from the ends of the earth by those sailing the sea and by everything in it, by the coastlands and those living there.

11 Let the desert and its cities raise their voices, the villages where Kedar lives; let those living in Sela shout for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops!

12 Let them give glory to ADONAI and proclaim his praise in the coastlands.

13 ADONAI will go out like a soldier, like a soldier roused to the fury of battle; he will shout, yes, he raises the battle cry; as he triumphs over his foes.

14 "For a long time I have held my peace, I have been silent, restrained myself. Now I will shriek like a woman in labor, panting and gasping for air.

15 I will devastate mountains and hills, wither all their vegetation, turn the rivers into islands and dry up the lakes.

16 The blind I will lead on a road they don't know, on roads they don't know I will lead them; I will turn darkness to light before them, and straighten their twisted paths. These are things I will do without fail.

17 Those who trust in idols, who say to statues, 'You are our gods,' will be repulsed in utter shame.

18 Listen, you deaf! Look, you blind! - so that you will see!

19 Who is as blind as my servant, or as deaf as the messenger I send? Who is as blind as the one I rewarded, as blind as the servant of ADONAI?"

20 You see much but don't pay attention; you open your ears, but you don't listen.

21 ADONAI was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to make the Torah great and glorious.

22 But this is a people pillaged and plundered, all trapped in holes and sequestered in prisons. They are there to be plundered, with no one to rescue them; there to be pillaged, and no one says, "Return them!"

23 Which of you will listen to this? Who will hear and give heed in the times to come?

24 Who gave Ya'akov to be pillaged, Isra'el to the plunderers? Didn't ADONAI, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they refused to walk, he whose Torah they did not obey?

25 This is why he poured on him his blazing anger as well as the fury of battle - it wrapped him in flames, yet he learned nothing; it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 7

Ephesians 4:17-32; Ezekiel 12-13; Isaiah 43 NIV

Ephesians 4:17-32

17 Therefore I say this - indeed, in union with the Lord I insist on it: do not live any longer as the pagans live, with their sterile ways of thinking.

18 Their intelligence has been shrouded in darkness, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance in them, which in turn comes from resisting God's will.

19 They have lost all feeling, so they have abandoned themselves to sensuality, practicing any kind of impurity and always greedy for more.

20 But this is not the lesson you learned from the Messiah!

21 If you really listened to him and were instructed about him, then you learned that since what is in Yeshua is truth,

22 then, so far as your former way of life is concerned, you must strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires;

23 and you must let your spirits and minds keep being renewed,

24 and clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.

25 Therefore, stripping off falsehood, let everyone speak truth with his neighbor, because we are intimately related to each other as parts of a body.

26 Be angry, but don't sine - don't let the sun go down before you have dealt with the cause of your anger;

27 otherwise you leave room for the Adversary.

28 The thief must stop stealing; instead, he should make an honest living by his own efforts. This way he will be able to share with those in need.

29 Let no harmful language come from your mouth, only good words that are helpful in meeting the need, words that will benefit those who hear them.

30 Don't cause grief to God's Ruach HaKodesh, for he has stamped you as his property until the day of final redemption.

31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent assertiveness and slander, along with all spitefulness.

32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.

Ezekiel 12

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "Human being, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes that can see, but they don't take notice; and they have ears that can hear, but they don't pay attention; because they are a rebellious people.

3 So you, human being, prepare supplies for exile; and during the daytime, as they watch, go away as if you were going into exile - leave your place, and go somewhere else as they watch. Perhaps they will take notice, even though they are a rebellious house.

4 Bring out your belongings during the day while they watch, as supplies for exile; and you yourself, while they watch, are to leave as people do who are going into exile.

5 Dig a hole through the wall while they watch, and carry [your belongings] out through it.

6 While they watch, you are to shoulder your pack and carry it out into the dark, with your face covered, so that you can't see the ground; for I am making you a sign for the house of Isra'el."

7 So I did as I had been ordered - I brought out my belongings during the day as supplies for exile, and in the evening I dug a hole through the wall with my hand; then I carried my pack out on my shoulder in the dark as they watched.

8 In the morning the word of ADONAI came to me:

9 "Human being, the house of Isra'el, that rebellious house, has asked you what you are doing.

10 Tell them that Adonai ELOHIM says this prophecy concerns the prince in Yerushalayim and all the house of Isra'el there.

11 Say: 'I am a sign for you. As I have done, so will it be done to them - they will go into exile, into captivity.

12 The prince who is with them will shoulder his pack and leave in the dark. They will dig holes through the wall to carry out their supplies. He will cover his face, so that he won't be able to see the ground with his eyes.

13 I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. Then I will bring him to Bavel, to the land of the Kasdim. But he will not see it, even though he is going to die there.

14 I will scatter to every wind all who are in attendance on him to help him, along with all his troops; and I will pursue them with the sword.

15 They will know that I am ADONAI when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the countries.

16 But I will spare a few of them from sword, famine and plague; so that they can tell about all their disgusting practices among the nations where they go; thus they too will know that I am ADONAI.'"

17 The word of ADONAI came to me:

18 "Human being, shake as you eat your food; tremble anxiously as you drink your water;

19 and say to the people of the land, 'Here is what Adonai ELOHIM says concerning those living in Yerushalayim in the land of Isra'el: "They will eat their bread in anxiety and drink their water in horror; because the land will be desolated from everything that fills it, due to the violence of those living there.

20 The inhabited cities will be laid waste, the land will be desolate, and you will know that I am ADONAI."'"

21 The word of ADONAI came to me:

22 "Human being, don't you have this proverb in the land of Isra'el, 'Time keeps passing, and none of the visions are fulfilled'?

23 Therefore tell them that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'I will put an end to that proverb; never again will they use it as a proverb in Isra'el.' Tell them, 'The time has come for the fulfillment of every vision.

24 There will no longer be empty visions or falsely optimistic divinations in the house of Isra'el,

25 because I am ADONAI. I will speak; and whatever statement I make, it will be accomplished. It will no longer be delayed; for in your days, you rebellious house, I will speak the word and accomplish it,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

26 Again, the word of ADONAI came to me:

27 "Human being, look! People from the house of Isra'el are saying, 'The vision he sees concerns the distant future; he is prophesying about a time far off.'

28 Therefore, say to them that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'None of my words will be delayed any more, but the word that I speak will be accomplished,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

Ezekiel 13

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "Human being, prophesy against the prophets of Isra'el who prophesy. Tell those prophesying out of their own thoughts, 'Listen to what ADONAI says!

3 Adonai ELOHIM says: "Woe to the vile prophets who follow their own spirits and things which they have not seen!

4 Isra'el, your prophets have been like jackals among ruins.

5 You [prophets] have not gone up to the breaks in the barricade or repaired it for the house of Isra'el, so that they can stand fast in battle on the day of ADONAI.

6 Their visions are futile and their divination is false; they say, 'ADONAI says,' when ADONAI has not sent them; yet they hope that the word will be confirmed.

7 Haven't you had a futile vision and spoken a false divination when you say, 'ADONAI says,' and I have not spoken?

8 Therefore here is what Adonai ELOHIM does say: 'Because you have spoken futilities and seen falsehoods, therefore I am against you,' says Adonai ELOHIM.

9 "'"My hand will be against the prophets who have futile visions and produce false divinations; they will not be allowed into the council of my people, or be written in the register of the house of Isra'el, or enter the land of Isra'el. Then you will know that I am Adonai ELOHIM.

10 They deserve this, because they have led my people astray by saying there is peace when there is no peace. If someone builds a wall without mortar, they 'plaster' it with whitewash [to make it appear strong].

11 Tell these 'plasterers' that a cloudburst is coming, with huge hailstones and gale-force winds;

12 and the wall will fall down. Then people will ask you, 'Where is the whitewash you used to "plaster" it?'"

13 Therefore Adonai ELOHIM says: "In my rage I will cause gale-force winds to break out, and in my anger there will come a cloudburst, with huge hailstones to consume it in fury.

14 This is how I will break down the wall you covered with whitewash - I will smash it to the ground, so that its foundation will be revealed. The wall will fall down, and you will be consumed with it. Then you will know that I am ADONAI.

15 In this way I will spend my fury on the wall and on those who covered it with whitewash; and I will say to you, 'The wall is gone, and so are those who "plastered" it,'

16 that is, the prophets of Isra'el who prophesy about Yerushalayim and see visions of peace for her when there is no peace," says Adonai ELOHIM.'

17 "You, human being, turn your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own thoughts. Prophesy against them;

18 tell them that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'Woe to the women who sew magic pads for all arm joints and put veils over people of all sizes, in order to hunt human lives! Will you hunt down the lives of my people while you keep your own lives safe?

19 You dishonor me before my people for a few handfuls of barley and crumbs of bread, killing people who should not die and sparing those who should not live, by your lying to my people, who love hearing lies.'

20 Therefore here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'I am against your pads, with which you hunt human lives like birds; I will tear them from your arms and let the lives go, yes, the human lives that you hunt like birds.

21 I will also tear your veils and rescue my people from your clutches, so that they will no longer be in your power for you to hunt. Then you will know that I am ADONAI.

22 Because you have disheartened the righteous with your lies when I was not trying to cause them pain and have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked ways and thus be saved,

23 therefore you will have no more futile visions, and you will produce no more divinations. I will rescue my people from your clutches, and you will know that I am ADONAI.'"

Isaiah 43

1 But now this is what ADONAI says, he who created you, Ya'akov, he who formed you, Isra'el: "Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I am calling you by your name; you are mine.

2 When you pass through water, I will be with you; when you pass through rivers, they will not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire, you will not be scorched - the flame will not burn you.

3 For I am ADONAI, your God, the Holy One of Isra'el, your Savior - I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and S'va for you.

4 Because I regard you as valued and honored, and because I love you. For you I will give people, nations in exchange for your life.

5 Don't be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your descendants from the east, and I will gather you from the west;

6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Don't hold them back! Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth,

7 everyone who bears my name, whom I created for my glory - I formed him, yes, I made him.'"

8 Bring forward the people who are blind but have eyes, also the deaf who have ears.

9 All the nations are gathered together, and the peoples are assembled. Who among them can proclaim this and reveal what happened in the past? Let them bring their witnesses to justify themselves, so that others, on hearing, can say, "That's true."

10 "You are my witnesses," says ADONAI, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you can know and trust me and understand that I am he no god was produced before me, nor will any be after me.

11 I, yes I, am ADONAI; besides me there is no deliverer.

12 I have declared, saved and proclaimed - not some alien god among you. Therefore you are my witnesses," says ADONAI. "I am God.

13 Since days began, I have been he. No one can deliver from my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?"

14 Here is what ADONAI, your redeemer, the Holy One of Isra'el, says: "For your sake I have sent [an army] to Bavel and knocked down the fleeing Kasdim, all of them; their songs of triumph are now lamentations.

15 I am ADONAI, your Holy One, the Creator of Isra'el, your King."

16 Here is what ADONAI says, who made a way in the sea, a path through the raging waves;

17 who led out chariot and horse, the army in its strength - they lay down, never to rise again, snuffed out and quenched like a wick:

18 "Stop dwelling on past events and brooding over times gone by;

19 I am doing something new; it's springing up - can't you see it? I am making a road in the desert, rivers in the wasteland.

20 The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I put water in the desert, rivers in the wasteland, for my chosen people to drink,

21 the people I formed for myself, so that they would proclaim my praise.

22 But you haven't called on me, Ya'akov; because you have grown weary of me, Isra'el.

23 You have not brought me sheep for your burnt offerings, you have not honored me with your sacrifices. I didn't burden you by requiring grain offerings. or weary you by demanding frankincense.

24 You have not spent money to buy me sweet cane or filled me with the fat of your sacrifices. Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your crimes.

25 I, yes I, am the one who blots out your offenses for my own sake; I will not remember your sins.

26 Remind me when we're in court together - tell your side, make the case that you are right.

27 Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen rebelled against me.

28 Therefore I repudiated the officials of the sanctuary, delivered Ya'akov to the curse of destruction, and subjected Isra'el to scorn.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 8

Ephesians 5:1-20; Ezekiel 14-15; Isaiah 44 CJB

Ephesians 5:1-20

1 So imitate God, as his dear children;

2 and live a life of love, just as also the Messiah loved us, indeed, on our behalf gave himself up as an offering, as a slaughtered sacrifice to God with a pleasing fragrance.

3 Among you there should not even be mentioned sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or greed; these are utterly inappropriate for God's holy people.

4 Also out of place are obscenity and stupid talk or coarse language; instead, you should be giving thanks.

5 For of this you can be sure: every sexually immoral, impure or greedy person - that is, every idol-worshipper - has no share in the Kingdom of the Messiah and of God.

6 Let no one deceive you with empty talk; for it is because of these things that God's judgment is coming on those who disobey him.

7 So don't become partners with them!

8 For you used to be darkness; but now, united with the Lord, you are light. Live like children of light,

9 for the fruit of the light is in every kind of goodness, rightness and truth -

10 try to determine what will please the Lord.

11 Have nothing to do with the deeds produced by darkness, but instead expose them,

12 for it is shameful even to speak of the things these people do in secret.

13 But everything exposed to the light is revealed clearly for what it is,

14 since anything revealed is a light. This is why it says, "Get up, sleeper! Arise from the dead, and the Messiah will shine on you!"

15 Therefore, pay careful attention to how you conduct your life - live wisely, not unwisely.

16 Use your time well, for these are evil days.

17 So don't be foolish, but try to understand what the will of the Lord is.

18 Don't get drunk with wine, because it makes you lose control. Instead, keep on being filled with the Spirit -

19 sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to each other; sing to the Lord and make music in your heart to him;

20 always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Ezekiel 14

1 Then certain of Isra'el's leaders came to me; and while they were sitting with me,

2 the word of ADONAI came to me:

3 "Human being, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, thus setting in front of themselves the stumblingblock that leads to sin. Should I let them consult me at all?

4 Therefore speak to them, and tell them that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'Everyone in the house of Isra'el who takes his idols into his heart, thus setting in front of himself the stumblingblock that leads to sin, and then comes to the prophet, I myself, ADONAI, will answer him in a manner suited to his many idols,

5 in order to grab hold of the house of Isra'el in their hearts; since, through their idols, they have all fallen away from me.'

6 "Therefore say to the house of Isra'el that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'Repent! Turn yourselves away from your idols, turn your faces away from all your disgusting practices!

7 For everyone, whether from the house of Isra'el or a foreigner living in Isra'el, who separates himself from me and takes his idols into his heart, thus setting in front of himself the stumblingblock that leads to sin, and then comes to the prophet, asking him to consult me for him, I myself, ADONAI, will answer him.

8 I will set my face against that person, make him a warning sign and an example, and cut him off from my people. Then you will know that I am ADONAI.

9 "'Now, whenever a prophet is enticed into speaking a word, it will be I, ADONAI, who will have enticed that prophet. I will stretch out my hand over him and destroy him from among my people Isra'el.

10 The prophets will bear the guilt for their sins - the sin of the prophet will be the same as the sin of the inquirer -

11 so that the house of Isra'el will no longer wander away from me or defile themselves with all their crimes; rather, they will be my people and I will be their God,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

12 The word of ADONAI came to me:

13 "Human being, when a land sins against me by dealing treacherously with me, so that I stretch out my hand over it and break off its food supply, sending it famine and eliminating both its humans and its animals;

14 even if these three men were in it - Noach, Dani'el and Iyov - they would by their righteousness save only themselves," says Adonai ELOHIM.

15 "If I unleash wild beasts on the land, and they kill its children and desolate it, so that no one can pass through because of the animals;

16 even if these three men were in it, as I live," says Adonai ELOHIM, "they would save neither sons nor daughters; only they themselves would be saved, and the land would remain barren.

17 "Or if I bring the sword down on that land, saying, 'Let the sword pass through the land,' so that I eliminate both its humans and its animals;

18 even if these three men were in it, as I live," says Adonai ELOHIM, "they would save neither sons nor daughters; only they themselves would be saved.

19 "Or if I bring a plague into that land and pour out my fury on it in bloodshed, so that I eliminate both its humans and its animals;

20 even if Noach, Dani'el and Iyov were in it, as I live," says Adonai ELOHIM, "they would save neither a son nor a daughter; they would save only themselves by their righteousness."

21 For here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: "Even if I inflict my four dreadful judgments on Yerushalayim - sword, famine, wild animals and plagues - to eliminate both its humans and its animals;

22 there will still be left a remnant in it to be brought out, including both sons and daughters. When they come out to you, and you see their way of life and how they act, then you will be consoled over the calamity I have brought upon Yerushalayim, over everything I have done to it.

23 Yes, they will console you when you see their way of life and how they act; and you will understand that it was not without good reason that I did what I did in [Yerushalayim]," says Adonai ELOHIM.

Ezekiel 15

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "Human being, why should wood from a grapevine be better than some other kind of wood, than some branch that one might find among the trees of the forest?

3 Its wood can't be used to make anything, not even a pin on which to hang a pot.

4 So now it is thrown in the fire as fuel, the fire consumes both ends of it, and the middle of it is singed is it useful now for making something?

5 When it was whole, it was good for nothing; so how much less, when the fire has consumed it, and it is singed, will it be useful for making something!

6 "So Adonai ELOHIM says this: 'Like wood from the vine among the trees of the forest, which I consign to the fire as fuel, so I give those living in Yerushalayim.

7 I will set my face against them they may have escaped one fire, but the fire will consume them yet. When I set my face against them, you will know that I am ADONAI.

8 I will make the land desolate because they have dealt so treacherously,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

Isaiah 44

1 "Now listen, Ya'akov my servant, Isra'el whom I have chosen:

2 Thus says ADONAI, who made you, formed you in the womb, and will help you: Don't be afraid, Ya'akov my servant, Yeshurun, whom I have chosen.

3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, my blessing on your offspring.

4 They will spring up among the grass like willows on the riverbanks.

5 One will say, 'I belong to ADONAI.' Another will be called by the name of Ya'akov. Yet another will write that he belongs to ADONAI. and adopt the surname Isra'el."

6 Thus says ADONAI, Isra'el's King and Redeemer, ADONAI-Tzva'ot: "I am the first, and I am the last; besides me there is no God.

7 Who is like me? Let him speak out! Let him show me clearly what has been happening since I set up the eternal people; let him foretell future signs and events.

8 Don't be frightened, don't be afraid - Didn't I tell you this long ago? I foretold it, and you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? There is no other Rock - I know of none."

9 All idol-makers amount to nothing; their precious productions profit no one; and their witnesses, to their own shame, neither see nor understand.

10 Who would fashion a god or cast an image that profits no one anything?

11 All involved will be ashamed, but more than anyone else, the people who made them. Let them all be assembled, let them stand up; let them fear and be shamed together.

12 A blacksmith makes a tool over burning coals; with his strong arm he shapes it with hammers. But when he gets hungry, his strength fails; if he doesn't drink water, he grows tired.

13 A carpenter takes his measurements, sketches the shape with a stylus, planes the wood, checks it with calipers, and carves it into the shape of a man; and, since it is honored like a man, of course it has to live in a house.

14 He goes to chop down cedars; he takes an evergreen and an oak; he especially tends one tree in the forest, plants a pine for the rain to nourish.

15 In time, when it's ready for use as fuel, he takes some of it to keep himself warm and burns some more to bake bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, carves it into an idol and falls down before it.

16 So half of it he burns in the fire; with that half he roasts meat and eats his fill; he warms himself; says, "It feels so good, getting warm while watching the flames!"

17 With the rest of the log he fashions a god, a carved image, then falls down before it; he worships it and prays to it. "Save me," he says, "for you are my god!"

18 Such people know nothing, understand nothing. Their eyes are sealed shut, so that they can't see; their hearts too, so they can't understand.

19 Not one thinks to himself or has the knowledge or the discernment to say, "I burned half of it in the fire, baked bread on its coals, roasted meat and ate it. Should I now make the rest an abomination? Should I prostrate myself to a tree trunk?"

20 He is relying on ashes! A deceived heart has led him astray; so that now he won't save himself, just won't say, "This thing in my hand is a fraud!"

21 "Keep these matters in mind, Ya'akov, for you, Isra'el, are my servant. I formed you, you are my own servant; Isra'el, don't forget me.

22 Like a thick cloud, I wipe away your offenses; like a cloud, your sins. Come back to me, for I have redeemed you."

23 Sing, you heavens, for ADONAI has done it! Shout, you depths of the earth! Mountains, break out into song, along with every tree in the forest! For ADONAI has redeemed Ya'akov; he glorifies himself in Isra'el.

24 Here is what ADONAI says, your Redeemer, he who formed you in the womb: "I am ADONAI, who makes all things, who stretched out the heavens all alone, who spread out the earth all by myself.

25 I frustrate false prophets and their omens, I make fools of diviners, I drive back the sages and make their wisdom look silly.

26 I confirm my servants' prophecies and make my messengers' plans succeed. I say of Yerushalayim: 'She will be lived in,' of the cities of Y'hudah, 'They will be rebuilt; I will restore their ruins.'

27 I say to the deep sea, 'Dry up! I will make your streams run dry.'

28 I say of Koresh, 'He is my shepherd, he will do everything I want. He will say of Yerushalayim, "You will be rebuilt," and of the temple, "Your foundation will be laid."'"

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 9

Ephesians 5:21-33; Ezekiel 16; Isaiah 45 CJB

Ephesians 5:21-33

21 Submit to one another in fear of the Messiah.

22 Wives should submit to their husbands as they do to the Lord;

23 because the husband is head of the wife, just as the Messiah, as head of the Messianic Community, is himself the one who keeps the body safe.

24 Just as the Messianic Community submits to the Messiah, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 As for husbands, love your wives, just as the Messiah loved the Messianic Community, indeed, gave himself up on its behalf,

26 in order to set it apart for God, making it clean through immersion in the mikveh, so to speak,

27 in order to present the Messianic Community to himself as a bride to be proud of, without a spot, wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without defect.

28 This is how husbands ought to love their wives - like their own bodies; for the man who loves his wife is loving himself.

29 Why, no one ever hated his own flesh! On the contrary, he feeds it well and takes care of it, just as the Messiah does the Messianic Community,

30 because we are parts of his Body.

31 "Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and remain with his wife, and the two will become one."f

32 There is profound truth hidden here, which I say concerns the Messiah and the Messianic Community.

33 However, the text also applies to each of you individually: let each man love his wife as he does himself, and see that the wife respects her husband.

Ezekiel 16

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "Human being, make Yerushalayim realize how disgusting her practices are.

3 Say that Adonai ELOHIM is telling Yerushalayim, 'By origin and birth you are of the land of the Kena'ani - your father was an Emori, and your mother was a Hitti.

4 As for your birth - on the day you were born nobody cut your umbilical cord, washed you in water to clean you off, rubbed salt on you or wrapped you in cloth.

5 No one seeing you had enough pity on you to do any of these things for you - no one had any compassion on you. Instead, you were thrown into an open field in your own filth on the day you were born.

6 "'I passed by and saw you there, wallowing in your own blood; and as you lay in your blood I said to you, "Live!" Yes, I said to you, as you lay in your blood, "Live!

7 I will increase your numbers just like plants growing in the field." And you did increase, you developed, you reached puberty, your breasts appeared, and your hair grew long; but you were naked and exposed.

8 "'Again I passed by you, looked at you and saw that your time had come, the time for love. So I spread my cloak over you to cover your private parts and entered into a covenant with you,' says Adonai ELOHIM, 'and you became mine.

9 Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with oil.

10 I also clothed you with an embroidered gown, gave you fine leather sandals to wear, put a fine linen headband on your head and covered you with silk.

11 I gave you jewelry to wear, bracelets for your hands, a necklace for your neck,

12 a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears and a beautiful crown for your head.

13 Thus you were decked out in gold and silver; your clothing was of fine linen, silk and richly embroidered cloth; you ate the finest flour, honey and olive oil. You grew increasingly beautiful - you were fit to be queen.

14 Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, because it was perfect, due to my having bestowed my own splendor on you' says Adonai ELOHIM.

15 "'But you put your trust in your own beauty and began prostituting yourself because of your fame, soliciting everyone passing by and accepting all comers.

16 You took your clothes and used them to decorate with bright colors the high places you made for yourself, and there you continued prostituting yourself. Such things shouldn't happen, and in the future they won't.

17 You also took your beautiful jewels made of my gold and my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images, with which you continued to prostitute yourself.

18 You took your embroidered clothing and covered them; you set my olive oil and my incense in front of them;

19 and you took my food, which I had given you - my fine flour, olive oil and honey, that I had given you to eat - and set it in front of them to give a pleasant aroma. That is how it was,' says Adonai ELOHIM.

20 "'Moreover, your sons and daughters, whom you bore me, you took and sacrificed for them to devour. Were these fornications of yours a casual matter? -

21 killing my children, handing them over and setting them apart for [these idols]?

22 In all your disgusting practices and fornications you never remembered the condition you were in when you were young - naked, exposed and wallowing in your own blood.

23 "'So, after all this wickedness of yours - woe, woe to you!' says Adonai ELOHIM -

24 'you built platforms and made yourself high places in every open space.

25 You built your high places at every streetcorner, turning your beauty into an abomination, spreading your legs for every passer-by, and multiplying your acts of fornication.

26 You had sex with your big-membered Egyptian neighbors and engaged in fornication over and over, just to provoke me.

27 So now I have stretched out my hand over you, diminished your ration of food and put you at the mercy of those who hate you, the daughters of the P'lishtim, who find your lewd behavior revolting.

28 "'Still unsatisfied, you acted like a whore also with the people of Ashur; yes, you fornicated with them and were still not satisfied.

29 You multiplied your acts of fornication with the land of traders, the Kasdim, and still weren't satisfied.

30 "'You are so weak-willed!' says Adonai ELOHIM. 'You do all these things, behaving like a shameless whore,

31 building your platforms on every streetcorner, making your high places in every open space - and yet you aren't like a whore, because you scorn getting paid.

32 Here is a wife who commits adultery, who goes to bed with strangers instead of her husband;

33 but also instead of receiving gifts like every other prostitute, you give gifts to all your lovers, you bribe them to come to you from all over the place and have sex with you!

34 You are the opposite of other women - you solicit the fornication, you aren't solicited; and you pay them, they don't pay you - you're the opposite!

35 "'All right, you whore, listen to the word of ADONAI!'

36 Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Because your filth has been poured out and your privates exposed through your acts of fornication with your lovers, and because of all the idols of your disgusting practices, and because of the blood of your children, which you gave them,

37 therefore, look! I am going to gather all your lovers, to whom you have been so very nice, all the ones you hate right along with all the ones you love - I will gather them against you from all over the place and expose your private parts to them, so that they will see you completely naked.

38 I will pronounce on you the sentence that applies to women who commit adultery and murder; I will bring on you the death [decreed for] furious jealousy.

39 Yes, I will hand you over to them; and they will make a ruin of your platforms, tear down your high places, strip you of your clothes, take away your jewels, and leave you naked and exposed.

40 They will also bring up a mob against you, who will stone you to death and hack you to pieces with their swords.

41 They will burn your houses to the ground and execute judgments against you in the presence of many women. I will make you stop fornicating, and you will never again pay for a lover.

42 "'Yes, I will satisfy my fury against you. But after that, my jealousy will leave you; and I will calm down and no longer be angry.

43 "'Because you didn't remember the condition you were in when you were young, but enraged me with all these things, therefore I will bring [the consequences of] your ways on your own head' says Adonai ELOHIM. "'You committed these obscenities in addition to all your other disgusting practices!

44 Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb against you, "Like mother, like daughter."

45 Yes, you are your mother's daughter, who despises her husband and children; you are the sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and children; your mother was a Hitti and your father an Emori.

46 Moreover, your older sister is Shomron, who lives at your left, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, living at your right, is S'dom with her daughters.

47 You didn't merely live by their ways and act according to their disgusting practices, but in a very short time you acted more corruptly than they in all your ways.

48 "'As I live' says Adonai ELOHIM, 'your sister S'dom has not done, neither she nor her daughters, [as much evil] as you have done, you and your daughters.

49 The crimes of your sister S'dom were pride and gluttony; she and her daughters were careless and complacent, so that they did nothing to help the poor and needy.

50 They were arrogant and committed disgusting acts before me; so that when I saw it, I swept them away.

51 Shomron did not commit even half as many sins as you did. You committed many more disgusting acts than your sisters; in fact, in comparison with all the disgusting acts you have committed, they seem innocent!

52 But you too must bear your disgrace; for by your passing judgment that your sisters were innocent, through your having committed sins worse than theirs, they are shown to be more righteous than you. So be ashamed, and bear the disgrace you deserve for making your [guilty] sisters seem innocent!

53 "'I will end their exile - the exile of S'dom and her daughters, the exile of Shomron and her daughters, and the exile of your captives there among them;

54 so that you can bear your own shame and experience the disgrace you deserve for all you have done to shield them from feeling their own guilt.

55 Your sisters, S'dom with her daughters and Shomron with her daughters, will return to their previous condition; and you with your daughters will return to your previous condition.

56 When you were so proud, you spoke with contempt about your sister S'dom,

57 before your own wickedness was exposed. But now the daughters of Aram mock you, as do her neighbors; and the daughters of the P'lishtim on every side are repulsed by you.

58 You have brought it all on yourself with your depravities and disgusting practices,' says ADONAI.

59 "For here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'I will do to you as you have done - you treated the oath with contempt by breaking the covenant.

60 Nevertheless, I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl and will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

61 Then you will remember your behavior and be ashamed of it as you receive your older and younger sisters and make them your daughters, even though the covenant with you does not cover that;

62 and I will re-establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am ADONAI;

63 so that you will remember and be so ashamed that you will never open your mouth again, so ashamed will you be when I have forgiven you all that you have done,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

Isaiah 45

1 Thus says ADONAI to Koresh, his anointed, whose right hand he has grasped, so that he subdues nations before him and strips kings of their robes, so that doors open in front of him, and no gates are barred:

2 "I will go ahead of you, levelling the hills, shattering the bronze gates, smashing the iron bars.

3 I will give you treasures hoarded in the dark, secret riches hidden away, so that you will know that I, ADONAI, calling you by your name, am the God of Isra'el.

4 It is for the sake of Ya'akov my servant, yes, for Isra'el my elect, that I call you by your name and give you a title, although you don't know me.

5 I am ADONAI; there is no other; besides me there is no God. I am arming you, although you don't know me,

6 so that those from the east and those from the west will know that there is none besides me - I am ADONAI; there is no other.

7 I form light, I create darkness; I make well-being, I create woe; I, ADONAI, do all these things.

8 "Heavens above, rain down justice; let the clouds pour it down. Let the earth open, so that salvation springs up, and justice sprouts with it. I, ADONAI, have created it."

9 Woe to anyone who argues with his maker, like potsherds lying on the ground! Does the clay ask the potter, "What are you doing?" or, "What's this you're making, that has no hands?"

10 Woe to him who asks a father, "Of what are you the father?" or who asks a woman, "To what are you giving birth?"

11 Thus says ADONAI, the Holy One of Isra'el, his Maker: "You ask for signs concerning my children? You give orders concerning the work of my hands?

12 I am the one who made the earth! I created human beings on it! I- my hands - stretched out the heavens, and directed all their number.

13 I am stirring up Koresh to righteousness, I am smoothing out all his paths. He will rebuild my city; and he will free my exiles, taking neither ransom nor bribe," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

14 Here is what ADONAI says: "The earnings of Egypt, the commerce of Ethiopia, and men of stature from S'va will come over to you and become yours; they will come in chains and follow you. They will prostrate themselves before you; they will pray to you: 'Surely God is with you; there is no other, other gods are nothing.'"

15 Truly, you are a God who hides himself, God of Isra'el, Savior!

16 The idol-makers will be ashamed, disgraced, all of them; they will go dishonored together.

17 But Isra'el, saved by ADONAI with an everlasting salvation, you will never, ever, be ashamed or disgraced.

18 For thus says ADONAI, who created the heavens, God, who shaped and made the earth, who established and created it not to be chaos, but formed it to be lived in: "I am ADONAI; there is no other.

19 I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Ya'akov, 'It is in vain that you will seek me.' I, ADONAI, speak rightly; I say what is true.

20 Assemble, come and gather together, you refugees from the nations! Those carrying their wooden idols are ignorant, they pray to a god that cannot save.

21 Let them stand and present their case! Indeed, let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, announced it in times gone by? Wasn't it I, ADONAI? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides me.

22 Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God; there is no other.

23 In the name of myself I have sworn, from my mouth has rightly gone out, a word that will not return - that to me every knee will bow and every tongue will swear

24 about me that only in ADONAI are justice and strength." All who rage against him will come to him ashamed,

25 but all the descendants of Isra'el will find justice and glory in ADONAI.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 10

Ephesians 6; Ezekiel 17; Isaiah 46 CJB

Ephesians 6

1 Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won't be tempted too.

2 Bear one another's burdens - in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah's true meaning, which the Messiah upholds.

3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is really nothing, he is fooling himself.

4 So let each of you scrutinize his own actions. Then if you do find something to boast about, at least the boasting will be based on what you have actually done and not merely on a judgment that you are better than someone else;

5 for each person will carry his own load.

6 But whoever is being instructed in the Word should share all the good things he has with his instructor.

7 Don't delude yourselves: no one makes a fool of God! A person reaps what he sows.

8 Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life.

9 So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don't give up, we will in due time reap the harvest.

10 Therefore, as the opportunity arises, let us do what is good to everyone, and especially to the family of those who are trustingly faithful.

11 Look at the large letters I use as I close in my own handwriting.

12 It is those who want to look good outwardly who are trying to get you to be circumcised. The only reason they are doing it is to escape persecution for preaching about the Messiah's execution-stake.

13 For even those who are getting circumcised don't observe the Torah. On the contrary, they want you to get circumcised so that they can boast of having gained your adherence.

14 But as for me, Heaven forbid that I should boast about anything except the execution-stake of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! Through him, as far as I am concerned, the world has been put to death on the stake; and through him, as far as the world is concerned, I have been put to death on the stake.

15 For neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is being a new creation.

16 And as many as order their lives by this rule, shalom upon them and mercy, and upon the Isra'el of God!

17 From now on, I don't want anyone to give me any more tsuris, because I have scars on my body to prove that I belong to Yeshua!

18 The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Ezekiel 17

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "Human being, propound this riddle, tell the house of Isra'el this allegory,

3 say that Adonai ELOHIM says this: 'A big eagle having great wings and long pinions full of varicolored feathers came to the L'vanon and took over the top of the cedar.

4 He cropped off the topmost of its young twigs, carried them to a land of traders and set them down in a city of merchants.

5 He also took some of the seed in the land and planted it in fertile soil, placing it where there was abundant water, as one would a willow.

6 It grew to become a fruitful vine sprawling over the ground; its branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him - thus it became a vine, sprouting branches and putting forth shoots.

7 "'There was another big eagle with great wings and many feathers; and the vine bent its roots toward him and put forth its branches toward him, so that he might water it more than in the bed where it was planted.

8 It had been planted in good soil, near plenty of water, so that it would produce branches, bear fruit and become a noble vine.'

9 "Say that Adonai ELOHIM asks: 'Will it succeed? Won't he pull it up by the roots and cut off its fruit; so that it dries up; and all its sprouting leaves wither? There will be no great power and few people there when it is plucked up by the roots.

10 Will it thrive just because it was planted? Won't it wither altogether when the east wind strikes it? Yes, it will wither right there in the beds where it was growing.'"

11 The word of ADONAI came to me:

12 "Say to the rebellious house: 'Don't you know what these things mean?' Tell them: 'Here, the king of Bavel came to Yerushalayim, took its king and princes and brought them to himself in Bavel.

13 Then he took a member of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. He removed the powerful leaders of the land,

14 so that this kingdom of his would stay humble and not develop aspirations of its own; rather, it would keep his covenant and live accordingly.

15 But this man rebelled and sent representatives to Egypt, in order to obtain horses and a sizeable army. Can he succeed? Can someone who does such things escape punishment? Can he break the covenant and still escape punishment?

16 "'As I live,' says Adonai ELOHIM, 'in the place where the king who gave him his throne lives, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, there with him in Bavel I swear that he will die.

17 Pharaoh with his mighty army and numerous troops will give him no help in the war, when they raise siege-works and build fortified towers to destroy many people;

18 because he despised the oath by breaking the covenant to which he had sworn allegiance; having done all these things, he will not escape unpunished.'

19 Therefore Adonai ELOHIM says: 'As I live, I swear that it is my oath he has despised and my covenant he has broken, and I will bring this on his own head.

20 I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Bavel and bring him to judgment there for breaking faith with me.

21 The elite troops among his forces will die by the sword, and those who survive will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, ADONAI, said it.'

22 "Adonai ELOHIM says, 'From the top of this tall cedar, from its highest branch, I will take a shoot and plant it myself on a high and prominent mountain.

23 I will plant it on the highest mountain in Isra'el, where it will put out branches, bear fruit, and become a noble cedar. Under it will live all kinds of birds; winged creatures of every description will live there in the shadow of its branches.

24 Then all the trees of the field will know that I, ADONAI, bring down the tall tree and raise up the low tree, wither the green tree and make the withered tree bear fruit. I, ADONAI, have spoken; and I will do it.'"

Isaiah 46

1 Bel bows down, N'vo stoops low; their idols are borne by animals, beasts of burden. The loads you yourselves were carrying are now burdening tired animals.

2 They stoop and bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity.

3 "Listen to me, house of Ya'akov, all who remain of the house of Isra'el: I have borne you from birth, carried you since the womb.

4 Till your old age I will be the same - I will carry you until your hair is white. I have made you, and I will bear you; yes, I will carry and save you.

5 To whom will you liken me and equate me? With whom will you compare me, as if we were similar?"

6 They squander the gold from their bags and weigh silver on a scale; they hire a goldsmith to make a god, before which they fall down and worship!

7 It is borne on shoulders and carried, then set in its place; and there it stands. From its place it does not move. If one cries to it, it cannot answer or save anyone from his troubles.

8 Remember this, and stand firm. Keep it in mind, you rebels.

9 "Remember things that happened at the beginning, long ago - that I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.

10 At the beginning I announce the end, proclaim in advance things not yet done; and I say that my plan will hold, I will do everything I please to do.

11 I call a bird of prey from the east, the man I intended, from a distant country. I have spoken and will bring it about; I have made a plan, and I will fulfill it.

12 Listen to me, you stubborn people, so far from righteousness:

13 I am bringing my justice nearer, it is not far away; my salvation will not be delayed, I will place my salvation in Tziyon for Isra'el my glory.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 11

Philippians 1:1-11; Ezekiel 18; Isaiah 47 CJB

Philippians 1:1-11

1 From: Sha'ul and Timothy, slaves of the Messiah Yeshua To: All God's people united with the Messiah Yeshua and living in Philippi, along with the congregation leaders and shammashim:

2 Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

3 I thank my God every time I think of you.

4 Whenever I pray for all of you I always pray with joy,

5 because you have shared in proclaiming the Good News from the very first day until now.

6 And I am sure of this: that the One who began a good work among you will keep it growing until it is completed on the Day of the Messiah Yeshua.

7 It is right for me to think this way about you all, because I have you on my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and establishing the Good News, you are all sharing with me in this privileged work.

8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the deep affection of the Messiah Yeshua.

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may more and more overflow in fullness of knowledge and depth of discernment,

10 so that you will be able to determine what is best and thus be pure and without blame for the Day of the Messiah,

11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Yeshua the Messiah - to the glory and praise of God.

Ezekiel 18

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "What does it mean, that you keep quoting this proverb in the land of Isra'el 'When parents eat sour grapes, their children's teeth are set on edge'?

3 "As I live," says Adonai ELOHIM, "I swear that you will never again quote this proverb in Isra'el.

4 Look, all lives belong to me - both the parent's life and the child's life are equally mine - so it is the person who sins, himself, who must die.

5 "Consider someone who is righteous, who does what is lawful and right.

6 He doesn't eat on the mountains or raise his eyes toward the idols of the house of Isra'el; he doesn't defile his neighbor's wife or touch a woman during her time of menstrual impurity;

7 he doesn't wrong anyone; he returns any pledged property a debtor has given as collateral for a loan; he takes nothing by robbery, but gives his food to the hungry and clothing to those who need it;

8 he neither demands nor accepts interest on a loan; he refrains from what is evil; and he judges honestly between one person and another.

9 In short, he lives according to my laws and observes my rulings, so as to act faithfully. Such a person is righteous, and he will certainly live," says Adonai ELOHIM.

10 "Now suppose he is the father of a son who is a robber, a murderer, or who does any of these things to a brother -

11 whereas the father himself does none of them. He eats on the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife,

12 wrongs the poor and needy, takes by robbery, doesn't restore pledged property, raises his eyes toward the idols, engages in disgusting practices,

13 demands and accepts interest. Should he live? He will not live, because he has engaged in all these disgusting practices - he must be put to death; his blood is on him.

14 "But now suppose he has a son who sees all the sins his father committed, thinks about them, and behaves differently.

15 He doesn't eat on the mountains, raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Isra'el, defile his neighbor's wife,

16 wrong others, keep pledged property or take by robbery, but gives his food to the hungry and clothing to those in need of it;

17 he refrains from oppressing the poor; and he neither demands nor accepts interest. He obeys my rulings and lives according to my laws. So he will not die for his father's sins but will certainly live.

18 Yet his father, because he oppressed so cruelly, committed robbery against his brother and never did anything good among his people - he will die for his sins.

19 "You ask, 'Why doesn't the son bear his father's guilt?' When the son has done what is lawful and right, has kept all my laws and obeyed them, he will certainly live.

20 The person who sins is the one that will die - a son is not to bear his father's guilt with him, nor is the father to bear his son's guilt with him; but the righteousness of the righteous will be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked will be his own.

21 "However, if the wicked person repents of all the sins he committed, keeps my laws and does what is lawful and right; then he will certainly live, he will not die.

22 None of the transgressions he has committed will be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done, he will live.

23 Do I take any pleasure at all in having the wicked person die?" asks Adonai ELOHIM. "Wouldn't I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?

24 "On the other hand, when the righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits wickedness by acting in accordance with all the disgusting practices that the wicked person does, will he live? None of the righteous deeds he has done will be remembered; for the trespasses and sins he has committed, he will die.

25 "So now you say, 'ADONAI's way isn't fair.' Listen, house of Isra'el! Is it my way that is unfair? or your ways that are unfair?

26 When the righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits wickedness, he will die for it - for the wickedness he commits he will die.

27 And when the wicked person turns away from all the wickedness he has committed and does what is lawful and right, he will save his life.

28 Because he thinks it over and repents of all the transgressions he committed, he will certainly live, not die.

29 Yet the house of Isra'el says, 'ADONAI's way isn't fair.' House of Isra'el, is it my ways that are unfair, or your ways that are unfair?

30 Therefore, house of Isra'el, I will judge each of you according to his ways," says Adonai ELOHIM. "Repent, and turn yourselves away from all your transgressions, so that they will not be a stumblingblock that brings guilt upon you.

31 Throw far away from yourselves all your crimes that you committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit; for why should you die, house of Isra'el?

32 I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," says Adonai ELOHIM, "so turn yourselves around, and live!

Isaiah 47

1 "Come down, and sit in the dust, you virgin daughter of Bavel! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, daughter of the Kasdim! No longer are you to be called dainty and delicate.

2 Take the millstones, and grind meal; take off your veil, strip off your skirt, uncover your legs, wade through the streams.

3 Your private parts will be exposed; yes, your shame will be seen. I am going to take vengeance, and no one will stand in my way."

4 Our Redeemer! ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name, the Holy One of Isra'el!

5 "Sit there speechless, go into darkness, you daughter of the Kasdim! For you will no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.

6 I was angry with my people, I desecrated my own possession and gave them over to you. But you showed them no mercy; you made your yoke very heavy, even upon the aged.

7 You said, 'I will be mistress forever.' so you didn't consider these things or think about the consequences.

8 Now hear this, you lover of luxuries, lolling at ease and saying to yourself, 'I am important, and no one else! I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.'

9 But both will come over you in an instant, in a single day loss of children and widowhood; they will utterly overwhelm you, despite your many occult practices and powerful spells to prevent it."

10 You were at ease in your wickedness, you thought, "No one sees me." Your "wisdom" and "knowledge" perverted you, as you thought to yourself, "I am important, and no one else."

11 Yet disaster will befall you, and you won't know how to charm it away; calamity will come upon you, and you won't be able to turn it aside; ruin will overcome you, suddenly, before you know it.

12 So for now, keep on with your powerful spells and your many occult practices; from childhood you have been working at them; maybe they will do you some good, maybe you will inspire terror!

13 You are worn out with all your consultations - so let the astrologers and stargazers, the monthly horoscope-makers, come forward now and save you from the things that will come upon you!

14 Look, they will be like straw! The fire will consume them. They will not save even themselves from the power of the flame. It will not be coals for warming oneself, not a fire to sit beside!

15 So much for your [wizards], with whom you have worked all your life! Each will wander off in his own direction, and nobody will save you.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 12

Philippians 1:12-30; Ezekiel 19; Isaiah 48 CJB

Philippians 1:12-30

12 Now, brothers, I want you to know that what has happened to me has helped in advancing the Good News.

13 It has become clear to the whole palace and to everyone else that it is because of the Messiah that I am in chains.

14 Also, my being in prison has given most of the brothers in the Lord confidence, so that they have become much more bold in speaking the word of God fearlessly.

15 True, some are proclaiming the Messiah out of jealousy and rivalry, but others are doing it in goodwill.

16 The latter act from love, aware that I am put where I am for defending the Good News;

17 while the former announce the Messiah out of selfish ambition, with impure motives, supposing they can stir up trouble for me in prison.

18 But so what? All that matters is that in every way, whether honestly or in pretense, the Messiah is being proclaimed; and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,

19 for I know that this will work out for my deliverance, because of your prayers and the support I get from the Spirit of Yeshua the Messiah.

20 It all accords with my earnest expectation and hope that I will have nothing to be ashamed of; but rather, now, as always, the Messiah will be honored by my body, whether it is alive or dead.

21 For to me, life is the Messiah, and death is gain.

22 But if by living on in the body I can do fruitful work, then I don't know which to choose.

23 I am caught in a dilemma: my desire is to go off and be with the Messiah - that is better by far -

24 but because of you, the greater need is to stay on in the body.

25 Yes, I am convinced of this; so I know I will stay on with you in order to help you progress in the faith and have joy in it.

26 Then, through my being with you again, you will have even greater reason for boasting about the Messiah Yeshua.

27 Only conduct your lives in a way worthy of the Good News of the Messiah; so that whether I come and see you or I hear about you from a distance, you stand firm, united in spirit, fighting with one accord for the faith of the Good News,

28 not frightened by anything the opposition does. This will be for them an indication that they are headed for destruction and you for deliverance. And this is from God;

29 because for the Messiah's sake it has been granted to you not only to trust in him but also to suffer on his behalf,

30 to fight the same battles you once saw me fight and now hear that I am still fighting.

Ezekiel 19

1 "Moreover, raise a lament for the leaders of Isra'el;

2 say: 'What a mother you had a lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions and reared her cubs.

3 One of her cubs she singled out: he became a young lion, he learned to seize his prey, he became a man-eater.

4 The nations sounded an alarm against him; and he was caught in their pit. With hooks they dragged him off to the land of Egypt.

5 When she saw that she had been thwarted, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made a young lion of him.

6 He prowled among the lions, grew to be a young lion, learned to seize his prey and became a man-eater.

7 He raped their widows and destroyed their cities; the land and all in it were appalled at the sound of his roaring.

8 The nations set a snare for him from the provinces all around, they spread their net over him, and he was caught in their pit.

9 With hooks they put him in a cage and brought him to the king of Bavel to imprison him in a fortress, so that his roar would be heard no more on the mountains of Isra'el.

10 "'Your mother was like a strong grapevine planted by the water. It was fruitful and luxuriant because of the abundant water.

11 It had strong branches to be used as scepters by rulers; besides having thick foliage, it grew taller and taller, until its height was noticed, with its mass of branches.

12 But it was torn up in fury and flung on the ground. An east wind withered her fruit, her strong branches were broken off; they dried up; and fire consumed the vine.

13 It has been transplanted to the desert, to a dry, thirsty land.

14 Fire has gone out from its own branches, burning up its fruit, so that now it has no strong branch to be a ruler's scepter.'" This lamentation became very well known.

Isaiah 48

1 Listen to this, house of Ya'akov, called by the name of Isra'el, who have come from the spring of Y'hudah, who swear by the name of ADONAI and invoke the God of Isra'el! - it is not sincerely or justifiably

2 that they call themselves people of the holy city or rely on the God of Isra'el - ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name:

3 "I announced things that happened at the beginning, long ago; they issued from my mouth, I proclaimed them. Then suddenly I acted, and they occurred.

4 Because I knew that you were stubborn, your neck an iron sinew, your forehead bronze,

5 I announced it to you long ago; before it occurred, I proclaimed it to you; so that you could not say, 'My idol did it; my carved image, my statue, gave the order for it.'

6 You have heard and seen all this, so why won't you admit it? "Now I am announcing new things to you, secret things you have not known,

7 created now, not long ago; before today, you did not hear them: so you can't say, 'I already know about them.'

8 No, you haven't heard, and you haven't known; these things have not reached your ears before. For I knew how treacherous you were - you were called a rebel from the womb.

9 Yet for the sake of my own reputation I am deferring my anger; for the sake of my praise I am patient with you, so as not to cut you off.

10 "Look, I have refined you, but not [as severely] as silver; [rather] I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

11 For my sake I will do it, for my own sake. I will not let [my reputation] be tarnished; I will not yield my glory to anyone else.

12 "Listen to me, Ya'akov; Isra'el, whom I have called: I am he who is first; I am also the last.

13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth, my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summoned them, at once they rose into being.

14 "All of you, assemble and listen: which of you has foretold what is coming? ADONAI's friend will do his will against Bavel, using his arm against the Kasdim.

15 It is I who have spoken, I have summoned him, I have brought him, and he will succeed.

16 "Come close to me, and listen to this: since the beginning I have not spoken in secret, since the time things began to be, I have been there; and now Adonai ELOHIM has sent me and his Spirit."

17 Thus says ADONAI, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Isra'el: "I am ADONAI, your God, who teaches you for your own good, who guides you on the path you should take.

18 If only you would heed my mitzvot! Then your peace would flow on like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

19 Your descendants would be numerous as the sand, your offspring countless as its grains. Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from my presence."

20 Get out of Bavel! Flee the Kasdim! With shouts of joy announce it, proclaim it! Send the news out to the ends of the earth! Say, "ADONAI has redeemed his servant Ya'akov."

21 They weren't thirsty when he led them through the deserts, he made water flow from the rock for them - he split the rock, and out gushed the water.

22 But there is no peace, says ADONAI, for the wicked.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 13

Philippians 2:1-11; Ezekiel 20; Isaiah 49 CJB

Philippians 2:1-11

1 Therefore, if you have any encouragement for me from your being in union with the Messiah, any comfort flowing from love, any fellowship with me in the Spirit, or any compassion and sympathy,

2 then complete my joy by having a common purpose and a common love, by being one in heart and mind.

3 Do nothing out of rivalry or vanity; but, in humility, regard each other as better than yourselves -

4 look out for each other's interests and not just for your own.

5 Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua:

6 Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be possessed by force.

7 On the contrary, he emptied himself, in that he took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are. And when he appeared as a human being,

8 he humbled himself still more by becoming obedient even to death - death on a stake as a criminal!

9 Therefore God raised him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name;

10 that in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow - in heaven, on earth and under the earth

11 and every tongue will acknowledgeb that Yeshua the Messiah is ADONAI - to the glory of God the Father.

Ezekiel 20

1 On the tenth day of the fifth month of the seventh year, some of Isra'el's leaders came to consult ADONAI and sat with me;

2 and the word of ADONAI came to me:

3 "Human being, speak to Isra'el's leaders; tell them that Adonai ELOHIM asks, 'Have you come to consult me? As I live,' says Adonai ELOHIM, 'I swear that I will not let you consult me.'

4 "Are you going to judge them? Human being, are you going to judge them? Then have them realize how disgusting their ancestors' practices were.

5 Tell them that Adonai ELOHIM says this: 'Back on the day when I chose Isra'el, I raised my hand to the descendants of the house of Ya'akov. I revealed myself to them in the land of Egypt when I raised my hand to them and said, "I am ADONAI your God."

6 On the day I raised my hand to them, pledging to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land I had reconnoitered for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands,

7 I told them, "Each of you is to throw away the detestable things that draw your eyes. Do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am ADONAI your God."

8 "'But they rebelled against me and wouldn't listen to me; they did not, each of them, throw away the detestable things that drew their eyes; and they did not abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my fury on them and spend my anger on them there in the land of Egypt.

9 But concern for my own reputation kept me from letting it be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they were living, in the sight of whom I had made myself known to them, in order to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

10 So I had them leave the land of Egypt and brought them into the desert.

11 I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them.

12 I gave them my shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy.

13 "'But the house of Isra'el rebelled against me in the desert. They did not live by my laws; and they rejected my rulings, which, if a person does, he will have life through them; moreover, they greatly profaned my shabbats. Then I said I would pour out my fury on them in the desert, in order to destroy them.

14 But concern for my own reputation kept me from letting it be profaned in the sight of the nations who had seen when I brought them out.

15 Yet I also raised my hand and swore to them in the desert that I would not bring them into the land I was giving them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands;

16 because they had rejected my rulings, did not live by my laws and profaned my shabbats; since their hearts went after their idols.

17 However, I spared them from complete destruction; I did not completely finish them off in the desert.

18 "'I said to their children in the desert, "Don't live by the laws of your fathers, observe their rulings or defile yourselves with their idols.

19 I am ADONAI your God; live by my laws, observe my rulings, and obey them,

20 and keep my shabbats holy; and they will be a sign between me and you, so that you will know that I am ADONAI your God."

21 "'But the children too rebelled against me. They did not live by my laws or observe my rulings, to obey them, which, if a person does, he will have life by them; and they profaned my shabbats. Then I said I would pour out my fury on them and spend my anger on them in the desert.

22 Nevertheless, I withdrew my hand and allowed concern for my own reputation to keep me from letting it be profaned in the sight of the nations who had seen when I brought them out.

23 "'I also raised my hand and swore to them in the desert that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries;

24 because they hadn't obeyed my rulings but had rejected my laws and profaned my shabbats, and their eyes had turned toward their fathers' idols.

25 I also gave them laws which did them no good and rulings by which they did not live;

26 and I let them become defiled by their own gifts, in that they offered up their firstborn sons, so that I could fill them with revulsion, so that they would [finally] realize that I am ADONAI.'

27 "Therefore, human being, speak to the house of Isra'el; tell them that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'Moreover, your ancestors blasphemed me by breaking faith with me in still another way:

28 for after I had brought them into the land, which I had raised my hand in pledge to give them, they noted all its high hills and leafy trees and offered there their sacrifices; there they made offerings that provoked my anger, there they set out their sweet aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings.

29 When I asked them, "This high place where you go, what is the meaning of it?" they gave it the name Bamah which it retains to this day.'

30 "So tell the house of Isra'el that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'You are defiling yourselves in the same way as your ancestors, following their abominations and fornicating with them;

31 and when offering your gifts, you make your children pass through the fire and defile yourselves with all your idols - to this day. So, am I supposed to allow you to consult me, house of Isra'el? As I live,' says Adonai ELOHIM, 'I swear that I won't have you consult me,

32 and that what you have in mind when you say, "We will be like the Goyim, like the families of the other countries, serving wood and stone," will certainly not happen.

33 As I live,' says Adonai ELOHIM, 'I swear that surely with a mighty hand, with a stretched-out arm and with poured-out fury I myself will be king over you.

34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you were scattered, with a mighty hand, with a stretched-out arm and with poured-out fury;

35 then I will bring you into the desert of the peoples and judge you face to face.

36 Just as I judged your ancestors in the desert of the land of Egypt, so will I judge you,' says Adonai ELOHIM.

37 'I will make you pass under the crook and bring you into the obligations of the covenant.

38 I will rid you of the rebels who are in revolt against me - I will bring them out from the land where they are living, but they will not enter the land of Isra'el; then you will know that I am ADONAI.'

39 "As for you, house of Isra'el, here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Go on serving your idols, every one of you! But afterwards, [I swear that] you will listen to me, and you will no longer profane my holy name with your gifts and with your idols.

40 For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Isra'el,' says Adonai ELOHIM, 'the whole house of Isra'el, all of them, will serve me in the land. I will accept them there, and there I will require your contributions, your best gifts and all your consecrated things.

41 I will accept you with your sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you were scattered; and through you I will manifest my holiness in the sight of the nations.

42 "'You will know that I am ADONAI when I bring you into the land of Isra'el, into the country which I pledged, by raising my hand, to give to your ancestors.

43 There you will remember your behavior and all the things you did by which you defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evils you committed.

44 You will know that I am ADONAI when I have dealt with you in a manner that preserves my reputation, and not according to your evil ways and corrupt actions, house of Isra'el' says Adonai ELOHIM." The Hebrew word bamah means "high place"; the etymology suggested here relates it to Hebrew ba ("go") and mah ("what").

45 The word of ADONAI came to me:

46 "Human being, turn your face southward, preach to the south and prophesy to the scrublands of the Negev;

47 say to the Negev forest: 'Hear the word of ADONAI. Adonai ELOHIM says, "I will light a fire in you; it will devour every tree in you, green and dry alike; a blazing, unquenchable flame that will scorch every face from the Negev to the north.

48 All humanity will see that I, ADONAI, lit it; it will not be put out."'"

49 I said, "Oh, Adonai ELOHIM! They complain that I speak only in parables."

Isaiah 49

1 Coastlands, listen to me; listen, you peoples far away: ADONAI called me from the womb; before I was born, he had spoken my name.

2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword while hiding me in the shadow of his hand; he has made me like a sharpened arrow while concealing me in his quiver.

3 He said to me, "You are my servant, Isra'el, through whom I will show my glory."

4 But I said, "I have toiled in vain, spent my strength for nothing, futility." Yet my cause is with ADONAI, my reward is with my God.

5 So now ADONAI says - he formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Ya'akov back to him, to have Isra'el gathered to him, so that I will be honored in the sight of ADONAI, my God having become my strength

6 he has said, "It is not enough that you are merely my servant to raise up the tribes of Ya'akov and restore the offspring of Isra'el. I will also make you a light to the nations, so my salvation can spread to the ends of the earth."

7 Here is what ADONAI, the Redeemer of Isra'el, his Holy One, says to the one despised, whom the nations detest, to the servant of tyrants: "When kings see you, they will stand up; princes too will prostrate themselves, because of ADONAI, who is faithful, the Holy One of Isra'el, who has chosen you."

8 Here is what ADONAI says: "At the time when I choose, I will answer you; on the day of salvation, I will help you. I have preserved you, and I have appointed you to be the covenant for a people, to restore the land and distribute again its ruined inheritances to their owners,

9 to say to the prisoners, 'Come out!' to those in darkness, 'Show yourselves!' They will feed along the paths, and all the high hills will be their pastures.

10 They will be neither hungry nor thirsty; neither scorching wind nor sun will strike them; for he who has mercy on them will lead them and guide them to springs of water.

11 I will turn all my mountains into a road, my highways will be raised up.

12 There they come, some from far away, some from the north, some from the west, and some from the land of Sinim."

13 Sing, heaven! Rejoice, earth! Break out in song, you mountains! For ADONAI is comforting his people, having mercy on his own who have suffered.

14 "But Tziyon says, 'ADONAI has abandoned me, Adonai has forgotten me.'

15 Can a woman forget her child at the breast, not show pity on the child from her womb? Even if these were to forget, I would not forget you.

16 I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, your walls are always before me."

17 Your children are coming quickly, your destroyers and plunderers are leaving and going.

18 Raise your eyes, and look around: they are all gathering and coming to you. ADONAI swears: "As surely as I am alive, you will wear them all like jewels, adorn yourself with them like a bride."

19 For your desolate places and ruins and your devastated land will be too cramped for those living in it; your devourers will be far away.

20 The day will come when the children born when you were mourning will say to you, "This place is too cramped for me! Give me room, so I can live!"

21 Then you will ask yourself, "Who fathered these for me? I've been mourning my children, alone, as an exile, wandering to and fro; so who has raised these? I was left alone, so where have these come from?"

22 Adonai ELOHIM answers: "I am beckoning to the nations, raising my banner for the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

23 Kings will be your foster-fathers, their princesses your nurses. They will bow to you, face toward the earth, and lick the dust on your feet. Then you will know that I am ADONAI - those who wait for me will not be sorry."

24 But can booty be wrested from a warrior? Can a victor's captives be freed?

25 Here is ADONAI's answer: "Even a warrior's captives will be snatched away, and the booty of the fearful will be freed. I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children.

26 I will feed those oppressing you with their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood as with wine. Then everyone will know that I, ADONAI, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Ya'akov."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 14

Philippians 2:12-30; Ezekiel 21-22; Isaiah 50 CJB

Philippians 2:12-30

12 So, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey now when I am away from you: keep working out your deliverance with fear and trembling, c

13 for God is the one working among you both the willing and the working for what pleases him.

14 Do everything without kvetching or arguing,

15 so that you may be blameless and pure children of God, without defect in the midst of a twisted and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the sky,

16 as you hold on to the Word of Life. If you do this, I will be able to boast, when the Day of the Messiah comes, that I did not run or toil for nothing.

17 Indeed, even if my lifeblood is poured out as a drink offering over the sacrifice and service of your faith, I will still be glad and rejoice with you all.

18 Likewise, you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

19 But I hope in the Lord Yeshua to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I too may be cheered by knowing how you are doing.

20 I have no one who compares with him, who will care so sincerely for your welfare -

21 people all put their own interests ahead of the Messiah Yeshua's.

22 But you know his character, that like a child with his father he slaved with me to advance the Good News.

23 So I hope to send him just as soon as I see how things will go with me,

24 and I am confident in the Lord that before long I myself will come too.

25 Also I considered it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow-worker and fellow-soldier, the emissary whom you sent to take care of my needs;

26 since he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard he was ill.

27 Indeed he was ill, close to death; but God had mercy on him - and not only on him, but also on me - otherwise I would have had sorrow piled on sorrow.

28 Therefore, I am all the more eager to send him, so that you may rejoice when you see him again; and I, for my part, may be less sad.

29 So give him a joyful welcome in the Lord; honor such people.

30 For he risked his life and nearly died working for the Messiah, in order to give me the help you were not in a position to give.

Ezekiel 21

1 Then the word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "Human being, turn your face toward Yerushalayim, preach to the sanctuaries and prophesy to the land of Isra'el;

3 tell the land of Isra'el that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'I am against you. I will draw my sword from its scabbard and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.

4 Since I am going to rid you of both righteous and evildoers, my sword will also go out of its scabbard against everyone, from the Negev to the north.

5 Everyone alive will know that I, ADONAI, drew my sword from its scabbard; it will not be sheathed again.'

6 "Therefore, human being, groan! Groan bitterly, as if your heart would break, as they watch.

7 Then, when they ask you, 'Why are you groaning?' you will answer, 'Because of the news, because it's coming. All hearts will melt, all hands hang limp, all spirits faint and all knees turn to water; here, it's coming, it will happen,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

8 The word of ADONAI came to me:

9 "Human being, prophesy. Say that Adonai ELOHIM says to say this: 'A sword, a sword has been sharpened and polished,

10 sharpened in order to slaughter and slaughter, polished to flash like lightning. But how can we rejoice? My son rejects the rod and every other stick.

11 The sword was given to be polished, so that it could be wielded; it was sharpened and polished to be placed in the slaughterer's hand.'

12 "Shout and wail, human being, because it's coming upon my people, upon all the leaders of Isra'el - they will be victims of the sword along with my people. Strike your thigh in remorse!

13 For a test is coming, and what if he rejects the rod again then? He will cease to exist," says Adonai ELOHIM.

14 "Therefore, human being, prophesy and clap your hands together. Then the sword will strike twice, three times, the sword for victims, the sword for a great slaughter, coming from every direction.

15 So that their hearts will melt, and many will stumble and fall, I have posted the point of the sword at every one of their gates. See how it flashes, sharpened for the kill!

16 "Sword! Slash to the right; destroy to the left, whichever way your edge is aimed!

17 I too will clap my hands together and satisfy my fury. I, ADONAI, have spoken."

18 The word of ADONAI came to me:

19 "Now, human being, designate two roads for the sword of the king of Bavel to follow, both coming out of one country. Put up a signpost at the start of the road leading to the city.

20 Make a road, so that the sword can come to Rabbah of the people of 'Amon and to Y'hudah in fortified Yerushalayim.

21 For the king of Bavel is standing at the fork in the road, where the two roads separate, about to use divination - he is shaking the arrows, consulting the household gods, examining the liver.

22 Into his right hand comes the lot for Yerushalayim, to set up battering rams, give the order for slaughter, raise a shout, set battering rams against the gates, build siege ramps and erect watchtowers.

23 The inhabitants will believe this is a false divination because of the oaths upon oaths [that their false prophets have sworn to the contrary]. But it will cause [God] to remember their guilt and thus insure their capture.

24 "Therefore this is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Because you have caused your guilt to be remembered, with your misdeeds revealed and the sins in all your actions evident - since you have been remembered, you will be captured.'

25 As for you, you wicked prince of Isra'el, due to be killed, whose day has come, at the time of final punishment,

26 here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Remove the turban, take off the crown! Everything is being changed. What was low will be raised up, and what was high will be brought down.

27 Ruin! Ruin! I will leave it a ruin such as there has never been, and it will stay that way until the rightful ruler comes, and I give it to him.'

28 "You, human being, prophesy! Say that Adonai ELOHIM says this about the people of 'Amon and their insults: 'A sword, a sword, is drawn for slaughter, polished to the utmost, to flash like lightning -

29 while [your prophets] produce false visions for you, while they divine lies for you to lay you out upon the necks of the wicked who are to be killed, whose day has come, at the time of final punishment.

30 Cause it to return to its scabbard! I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your origin.

31 I will pour my fury out on you, breathe on you with the fire of my rage, and hand you over to barbarous men highly skilled in destruction.

32 You will be fuel for the fire, your blood will flow through the land, you will be remembered no more; for I, ADONAI, have spoken.'"

Ezekiel 22

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "Now, human being, are you prepared to judge? Are you prepared to judge the city drenched in blood? Then make her realize how disgusting all her practices are!

3 Say that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'City that sheds blood within yourself, thus speeding your own doom, and that makes idols for yourself that defile you:

4 you are guilty because of the blood you have shed, you are defiled by your idols that you have made. You have shortened your days, you have completed your years; therefore I have made you an object of scorn for the nations and a laughingstock for every country.

5 Those close by and those far off will taunt you, you who have such a defiled reputation and such great disorder.

6 "'The leaders of Isra'el in you all use their power in order to shed blood.

7 In you, they make light of fathers and mothers, they oppress foreigners, they wrong orphans and widows.

8 You treat my holy things with contempt, you profane my shabbats.

9 In you, people gossip to the point of inciting bloodshed; in you are those who go to eat on the mountains; in you, they commit lewd acts;

10 in you, they commit incest; in you, they force themselves on women during their menstrual impurity.

11 In you, one commits an abomination with his neighbor's wife; another commits some lewd act defiling his daughter-in-law; still another humbles his sister, his own father's daughter.

12 In you, people take bribes to shed blood; you demand and accept interest on loans; in greed you make profits off your neighbors by extorting them; and you have forgotten me,' says Adonai ELOHIM.

13 "'Therefore, I am clapping my hands together because of your ill-gotten gains and the blood shed in you.

14 Can your courage last, can your strength continue during the days when I deal with you? I, ADONAI, have spoken it; and I will do it.

15 I will scatter you among the Goyim and disperse you throughout the countries; thus I will remove your defilement from you,

16 and you will cause yourselves to be profaned in full view of the Goyim. Then you will know that I am ADONAI.'"

17 The word of ADONAI came to me:

18 "Human being, the house of Isra'el has become an alloy of base metals for me; they are all copper, tin, iron and lead mixed together in the crucible, the dross left over from the silver.

19 Therefore Adonai ELOHIM says this: 'Because you have all become dross, I will collect all of you inside Yerushalayim.

20 Then, just as they collect silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into a crucible and blow fire on it to melt it down; so likewise I will collect you in my anger and fury, throw you in there, and melt you down.

21 Yes, I will collect you and blow on you with the fire of my rage, and you will be melted down in it.

22 As silver is melted down in a crucible, so will you be melted down in [Yerushalayim]. Then you will know that it is I, ADONAI, who have poured out my fury on you.'"

23 The word of ADONAI came to me:

24 "Human being, tell her this: 'You are a land that is neither cleansed nor rained on in the day of fury.

25 There is a conspiracy of prophets in it like a roaring lion tearing up the prey; they have devoured people, seized wealth and valuables, and widowed many in it.

26 Her cohanim have done violence to my Torah, profaned my holy things, made no difference between the holy and the common, not distinguished between unclean and clean, hidden their eyes from my shabbats, and profaned me among themselves.

27 Her leaders in it are like wolves tearing up the prey to shed blood and destroy people, in order to benefit unjustly.

28 Her prophets have "plastered" for them with whitewash, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, "Thus says Adonai ELOHIM," when ADONAI has not spoken.

29 The people of the land have extorted, robbed, wronged the poor and needy and unjustly oppressed foreigners.

30 "'I sought for a man among them who could build a barricade or stand in the break to oppose me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.

31 Therefore I am pouring out my fury on them, consuming them with the fire of my rage, bringing their own ways on their own heads,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

Isaiah 50

1 ADONAI says: "Where is your mother's divorce document which I gave her when I divorced her? Or: to which of my creditors did I sell you? You were sold because of your sins; because of your crimes was your mother divorced.

2 Why was no one here when I came? Why, when I called, did nobody answer? Is my arm too short to redeem? Have I too little power to save? With my rebuke I dry up the sea; I turn rivers into desert, their fish rot for lack of water and they die of thirst;

3 I dress the heavens in black to mourn and make their covering sackcloth."

4 Adonai ELOHIM has given me the ability to speak as a man well taught, so that I, with my words, know how to sustain the weary. Each morning he awakens my ear to hear like those who are taught.

5 Adonai ELOHIM has opened my ear, and I neither rebelled nor turned away.

6 I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who plucked out my beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.

7 For Adonai ELOHIM will help. This is why no insult can wound me. This is why I have set my face like flint, knowing I will not be put to shame.

8 My vindicator is close by; let whoever dares to accuse me appear with me in court! Let whoever has a case against me step forward!

9 Look, if Adonai ELOHIM helps me, who will dare to condemn me? Here, they are all falling apart like old, moth-eaten clothes.

10 Who among you fears ADONAI? Who obeys what his servant says? Even when he walks in the dark, without any light, he will trust in ADONAI's reputation and rely on his God.

11 But all of you who are lighting fires and arming yourselves with firebrands: go, walk in the flame of your own fire, among the firebrands you lit! From my hands this [fate] awaits you: you will lie down in torment.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 15

Philippians 3; Ezekiel 23; Isaiah 51 CJB

Philippians 3

1 In conclusion, my brothers: rejoice in union with the Lord. It is no trouble for me to repeat what I have written you before, and for you it will be a safeguard:

2 beware of the dogs, those evildoers, the Mutilated!

3 For it is we who are the Circumcised, we who worship by the Spirit of God and make our boast in the Messiah Yeshua! We do not put confidence in human qualifications,

4 even though I certainly have grounds for putting confidence in such things. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for putting confidence in human qualifications, I have better grounds:

5 b'rit-milah on the eighth day, by birth belonging to the people of Isra'el, from the tribe of Binyamin, a Hebrew-speaker, with Hebrew-speaking parents, in regard to the Torah, a Parush,

6 in regard to zeal, a persecutor of the Messianic Community, in regard to the righteousness demanded by legalism, blameless.

7 But the things that used to be advantages for me, I have, because of the Messiah, come to consider a disadvantage.

8 Not only that, but I consider everything a disadvantage in comparison with the supreme value of knowing the Messiah Yeshua as my Lord. It was because of him that I gave up everything and regard it all as garbage, in order to gain the Messiah

9 and be found in union with him, not having any righteousness of my own based on legalism, but having that righteousness which comes through the Messiah's faithfulness, the righteousness from God based on trust.

10 Yes, I gave it all up in order to know him, that is, to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings as I am being conformed to his death,

11 so that somehow I might arrive at being resurrected from the dead.

12 It is not that I have already obtained it or already reached the goal - no, I keep pursuing it in the hope of taking hold of that for which the Messiah Yeshua took hold of me.

13 Brothers, I, for my part, do not think of myself as having yet gotten hold of it; but one thing I do: forgetting what is behind me and straining forward toward what lies ahead,

14 I keep pursuing the goal in order to win the prize offered by God's upward calling in the Messiah Yeshua.

15 Therefore, as many of us as are mature, let us keep paying attention to this; and if you are differently minded about anything, God will also reveal this to you.

16 Only let our conduct fit the level we have already reached.

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and pay attention to those who live according to the pattern we have set for you.

18 For many - I have told you about them often before, and even now I say it with tears - live as enemies of the Messiah's execution-stake.

19 They are headed for destruction! Their god is the belly; they are proud of what they ought to be ashamed of, since they are concerned about the things of the world.

20 But we are citizens of heaven, and it is from there that we expect a Deliverer, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

21 He will change the bodies we have in this humble state and make them like his glorious body, using the power which enables him to bring everything under his control.

Ezekiel 23

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 "Human being! There were two women, daughters of the same mother,

3 who were whores in Egypt - even as young girls they were whores. There they let their breasts be caressed, and there their virgin nipples were fondled.

4 Their names were Oholah, the older one, and Oholivah, her sister. They belonged to me, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Shomron is Oholah, and Yerushalayim is Oholivah

5 "Even when she belonged to me, Oholah prostituted herself; she lusted after her lovers from Ashur - warriors

6 dressed in blue, governors, rulers, all of them good-looking young men riding on horseback.

7 She gave herself as a whore to them, all of them the elite of Ashur; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after.

8 She did not give up the whoring she had begun in Egypt, where men had sex with her, fondled her virgin nipples and flooded her with their fornication.

9 "So I handed her over to her lovers, the men of Ashur she lusted after.

10 They exposed her private parts, took her sons and daughters, and put her to death with the sword; so that she became notorious among women for the judgments executed against her.

11 "Her sister Oholivah saw this; nevertheless she was worse than her sister in lusting and likewise in whoring.

12 She lusted after the men from Ashur, governors and rulers, warriors dressed to perfection, skilled horsemen, all of them good-looking young men.

13 I saw that she had defiled herself; both sisters had gone down the same path.

14 She prostituted herself more than ever; because she saw wall-carvings of men, depicting the Kasdim in vermilion

15 with sashes wrapped around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like military men, the very image of men of Bavel born in the land of the Kasdim.

16 The moment she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in the land of the Kasdim;

17 and the men of Bavel climbed into her "love bed" and defiled her with their lust. She was defiled by them, and then filled with revulsion at them.

18 Thus did she reveal her fornication and expose her private parts. When this happened, I was filled with revulsion at her, just as I had been filled with revulsion at her sister.

19 Still she kept increasing her whoring, remembering the days when she was young, fornicating in the land of Egypt

20 Yes, she lusted after their male prostitutes, whose members are like those of donkeys and who ejaculate like stallions.

21 You yearned for the lewdness of your girlhood, when the Egyptians used to fondle your nipples and caress your young breasts

22 "Therefore, Oholivah, here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'I will raise up your lovers against you, the ones who fill you with revulsion, and bring them against you from every side -

23 the men of Bavel and all the Kasdim, P'kod, Shoa and Koa, and with them all the men of Ashur, good-looking young men, all of them governors and rulers, commanders and officers, all on horseback.

24 They will advance on you armed with chariots, wagons and with an army drawn from many peoples; they will array themselves against you from every side with breastplates, shields and helmets. I will give them the authority to judge, and they will judge you as they see fit.

25 I will direct my jealousy against you, so that they will deal with you in fury - they will cut off your nose and ears, and what is left of you will die by the sword; they will seize your sons and daughters, and those who remain of you will be consumed by the fire.

26 They will strip you of your clothes and seize your fine jewels.

27 Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your fornication brought from the land of Egypt, so that you will no longer raise your eyes toward them or remember Egypt any more.'

28 For this is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'I am about to hand you over to those you hate, to those who fill you with revulsion;

29 and they will deal with you in hatred, seize everything you have worked for, and leave you naked and exposed - the full shame of your whoring will be exposed, your lewdness and your fornicating.

30 These things will be done to you because you have gone fornicating with the Goyim, and because you are defiled with their idols.

31 You walked down your sister's path, so I will put her cup in your hand.'

32 Adonai ELOHIM says: 'You will drink from your sister's cup, a cup both deep and wide, full right up to the brim with scorn and derision,

33 filling you with drunkenness and sorrow, a cup of horror and devastation the cup of your sister Shomron.

34 You will drink it, you will drain it, and then you will gnaw it to shreds and tear out your own breasts! For I have spoken it' says Adonai ELOHIM.

35 "Therefore this is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Because you forgot me and flung me behind your back, you will bear the guilt of your lewdness and whoring.'"

36 Then ADONAI said to me, "Human being, are you ready to judge Oholah and Oholivah? Then confront them with their disgusting practices

37 For they committed adultery, and their hands are dripping with blood. They committed adultery with their idols; and they offered their sons, whom they bore to me, for these idols to eat.

38 Moreover, they have done this to me as well: they defiled my sanctuary on the same day, and they profaned my shabbats

39 For after killing their children for their idols, they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; this they did in my house.

40 "Worse still, you sent a messenger summoning men to come from a distance; and they came. For them you washed yourself, painted your eyes, decked yourself with your finery,

41 and sat on a sumptuous bed, with a table arranged before it, on which you put my incense and my olive oil.

42 The noise of a carefree crowd could be heard there; many of the men were brought in drunk from the desert. They put bracelets on their hands and magnificent crowns on their heads.

43 I thought, 'That woman! She's worn out from all her adulteries, but they still go to fornicate with her!'

44 For every one went in to her; just as men go in to a prostitute, so they went in to Oholah and Oholivah, those debauched women.

45 Nevertheless, there are righteous men who will judge them as adulterers and murderers are supposed to be judged; because they are adulterers, and blood is dripping from their hands.

46 For here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Summon an assembly to punish them; give them over to terror and plunder.

47 Let the assembly stone them to death, dispatch them with their swords, kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses to the ground.

48 "'Thus I will put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may be taught not to imitate your lewdness.

49 You will receive the punishment your lewdness deserves, and you will pay the penalty for your idolatries. Then you will know that I am Adonai ELOHIM.'"

Isaiah 51

1 "Listen to me, you pursuers of justice, you who seek ADONAI: consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were dug

2 consider Avraham your father and Sarah, who gave birth to you; in that I called him when he was only one person, then blessed him and made him many.

3 For ADONAI will comfort Tziyon, will comfort all her ruined places, will make her desert like 'Eden, her 'Aravah like the garden of ADONAI. Joy and gladness will be there, thanksgiving and the sound of music.

4 "Pay attention to me, my people! My nation, listen to me! For Torah will go out from me; I will calm them with my justice as a light for the peoples.

5 My righteousness is at hand, my salvation goes out, my arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands are putting their hope in me, trusting in my arm.

6 "Raise your eyes toward the skies, look at the earth below. The skies will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like clothing. Those living on it will die like flies; but my salvation will be forever, and my justice will never end.

7 "Listen to me, you who know justice, you people who have my Torah in your heart: don't be afraid of people's taunts, don't be upset by their insults.

8 For the moth will eat them up like clothing, the worm will eat them like wool; but my justice will be forever, and my salvation for all generations."

9 Awake! Awake! Arm of ADONAI, clothe yourself with strength! Awake, as in days of old, as in ancient generations! Wasn't it you who hacked Rahav to pieces, you who pierced the sea monster?

10 Wasn't it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; you who made the sea bottom a road for the redeemed to cross?

11 Those ransomed by ADONAI will return and come with singing to Tziyon; on their heads will be everlasting joy. They will acquire gladness and joy, while sorrow and sighing will flee. Rahav symbolizes Egypt; the sea monster symbolizes Pharaoh 518

12 "I, yes I, am the one who comforts you! Why are you afraid of a man, who must die; of a human being, who will wither like grass?

13 You have forgotten ADONAI, your maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. Instead, you are in constant fear all day because of the oppressor's rage, as he prepares to destroy! But where is the oppressor's rage?

14 The captive will soon be set free; he will not die and go down to Sh'ol; on the contrary, his food supply will be secure.

15 For I am ADONAI your God, who stirs up the sea, who makes its waves roar - ADONAI-Tzva'ot is my name.

16 I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand, in order to plant the skies [anew], lay the foundations of the earth [anew] and say to Tziyon, 'You are my people.'"

17 Awake! Awake! Stand up, Yerushalayim! At ADONAI's hand you drank the cup of his fury; you have drained to the dregs the goblet of drunkenness.

18 There is no one to guide her among all the sons she has borne. Not one of all the children she raised is taking her by the hand.

19 These two disasters have overcome you - yet who will grieve with you? - plunder and destruction, famine and sword; by whom can I comfort you?

20 Your children lie helpless at every street corner, like an antelope trapped in a net; they are full of ADONAI's fury, the rebuke of your God.

21 Therefore, please hear this in your affliction, you who are drunk, but not with wine;

22 this is what your Lord ADONAI says, your God, who defends his people: "Here, I have removed from your hand the cup of drunkenness, the goblet of my fury. You will never drink it again.

23 I will put it in the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, 'Bend down, so we can trample you,' and you flattened your back on the ground like a street for them to walk on."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

December 16

Philippians 4; Ezekiel 24; Isaiah 52 CJB

Philippians 4

1 So, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, my dear friends, keep standing firm in union with the Lord.

2 I beg Evodia and I beg Syntyche to agree with each other in union with the Lord.

3 I also request you, loyal Syzygus, to help these women; for they have worked hard proclaiming the Good News with me, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers whose names are in the Book of Life.

4 Rejoice in union with the Lord always! I will say it again: rejoice!

5 Let everyone see how reasonable and gentle you are. The Lord is near!

6 Don't worry about anything; on the contrary, make your requests known to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.

7 Then God's shalom, passing all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with the Messiah Yeshua.

8 In conclusion, brothers, focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy.

9 Keep doing what you have learned and received from me, what you have heard and seen me doing; then the God who gives shalom will be with you.

10 In union with the Lord I greatly rejoice that now, after this long time, you have let your concern for me express itself again. Of course, you were concerned for me all along, but you had no opportunity to express it.

11 Not that I am saying this to call attention to any need of mine; since, as far as I am concerned, I have learned to be content regardless of circumstances.

12 I know what it is to be in want, and I know what it is to have more than enough - in everything and in every way I have learned the secret of being full and being hungry, of having abundance and being in need.

13 I can do all things through him who gives me power.

14 Nevertheless, it was good of you to share in my trouble.

15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the early days of my work spreading the Good News, when I left Macedonia, not a single congregation shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving - only you.

16 Indeed, in Thessalonica when I needed it, you sent me aid twice.

17 I am not seeking the gift; rather, I am looking for what will increase the credit balance of your account.

18 I have been more than paid in full: I have been filled, since I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent - they are a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, one that pleases God well.

19 Moreover, my God will fill every need of yours according to his glorious wealth, in union with the Messiah Yeshua.

20 And to God our Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

21 Greet each of God's people in the Messiah Yeshua. The brothers with me send their greetings to you.

22 All God's people send greetings, but especially those in the Emperor's household.

23 The grace of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with your spirit.

Ezekiel 24

1 The word of ADONAI came to me on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year:

2 "Human being, write down today's date; because on this very day the king of Bavel has begun his attack on Yerushalayim.

3 And tell this allegory to these rebels; say that Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Put a pot on the fire; put it there, pour water in it;

4 Put in it pieces of meat, all the best parts - the thigh, the shoulder; fill it with the choicest cuts,

5 taken from the pick of the flock, and pile the bones underneath. Bring it to a rolling boil, till it's all cooked, even the bones.'

6 "Therefore Adonai ELOHIM says: 'Woe to the city drenched with blood, to the pot whose scum is in it, and whose scum has not been removed. Empty it piece by piece, without troubling to draw lots.

7 For her blood is still in her; she poured it on bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust.

8 So in order to rouse my fury and excite my vengeance, I have fixed her blood there on the bare rock, where it will not be covered.'

9 "Therefore Adonai ELOHIM says this: 'Woe to the city drenched with blood! I myself will make a huge bonfire,

10 heap on the wood, light it, cook the meat and add the spices - the bones can just be burned.

11 Put the empty pot on the coals, heat it till its copper bottom glows, till its impurity melts inside it, and its scum is burned away.

12 But the effort is in vain: its layers of scum will not leave it; so into the fire with its scum!

13 Because of your filthy lewdness, because you refused to be purified when I wanted to purify you; now you will not be purified from your filth until I have satisfied my fury on you.

14 "'I, ADONAI, have spoken it, and it will happen. I will do it, I will not turn back, I will not refrain or spare or relent. They will judge you as your ways and deeds deserve,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

15 The word of ADONAI came to me:

16 "Human being, with a single blow I am about to deprive you of the delight of your eyes. But you are not to lament, weep or let your tears run down.

17 Sigh silently, don't observe mourning for the dead, bind your turban on your head, put your sandals on your feet, don't cover your upper lip, and don't eat the food people prepare for mourners."

18 I spoke to the people in the morning, and that evening my wife died. So I did the following morning as I had been ordered.

19 The people asked me, "Won't you tell us what these actions of yours mean for us?"

20 I answered them, "The word of ADONAI came to me, telling me

21 to speak to the house of Isra'el and say that this is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'I am about to profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes and your heart's desire. Your sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die by the sword.

22 But you are to do as I have done - not cover your upper lips, not eat the food people prepare for mourners,

23 put your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet, and neither observe mourning nor cry. Rather, because of your crimes you will pine away and groan to one another.

24 Thus Yechezk'el will be a sign for you; you will do just what he has done; and when this happens, you will know that I am Adonai ELOHIM.'

25 "As for you, human being, on the day when I take away from them their stronghold, their crowning joy, the delight of their eyes, their heart's desire, their sons and daughters -

26 on that day a fugitive will come and bring you the news;

27 and on that day your mouth will be opened for you to speak to the survivor and no longer be silent. In this way you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am ADONAI."

Isaiah 52

1 Awake! Awake, Tziyon! Clothe yourself with your strength! Dress in your splendid garments, Yerushalayim, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean will enter you no more.

2 Shake off the dust! Arise! Be enthroned, Yerushalayim! Loosen the chains on your neck, captive daughter of Tziyon!

3 For thus says ADONAI: "You were sold for nothing, and you will be redeemed without money."

4 For thus says Adonai ELOHIM: "Long ago my people went down to Egypt to live there as aliens, and Ashur oppressed them for no reason.

5 So now, what should I do here," asks ADONAI, "since my people were carried off for nothing? Their oppressors are howling," says ADONAI, "and my name is always being insulted, daily.

6 Therefore my people will know my name; therefore on that day they will know that I, the one speaking - here I am!"

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation and saying to Tziyon, "Your God is King!"

8 Listen! Your watchmen are raising their voices, shouting for joy together. For they will see, before their own eyes, ADONAI returning to Tziyon.

9 Break out into joy! Sing together, you ruins of Yerushalayim! For ADONAI has comforted his people, he has redeemed Yerushalayim!

10 ADONAI has bared his holy arm in the sight of every nation, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

11 Leave! Leave! Get out of there! Don't touch anything unclean! Get out from inside it, and be clean, you who carry ADONAI's temple equipment.

12 You need not leave in haste, you do not have to flee; for ADONAI will go ahead of you, and the God of Isra'el will also be behind you.

13 "See how my servant will succeed! He will be raised up, exalted, highly honored!

14 Just as many were appalled at him, because he was so disfigured that he didn't even seem human and simply no longer looked like a man,

15 so now he will startle many nations; because of him, kings will be speechless. For they will see what they had not been told, they will ponder things they had never heard."