Joel 2:28–3:3
2:28 (3:1) “After all of this
I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have prophetic dreams;
your young men will see visions.
29Even on male and female servants
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth—
blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
31The sunlight will be turned to darkness
and the moon to the color of blood,
before the day of the Lord comes—
that great and terrible day!
32It will so happen that
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive,
just as the Lord has promised;
the remnant will be those whom the Lord will call.
3:1 (4:1) “For look! In those days and at that time
I will return the exiles to Judah and Jerusalem.
2Then I will gather all the nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
I will enter into judgment against them there
concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance,
whom they scattered among the nations.
They partitioned my land,
3and they cast lots for my people.
They traded a boy for a prostitute;
they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink.
(NET Bible)Ps. 84
84:1 For the music director, according to the gittith style; written by the Korahites, a psalm.
How lovely is the place where you live,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
2I desperately want to be
in the courts of the Lord’s temple.
My heart and my entire being shout for joy
to the living God.
3Even the birds find a home there,
and the swallow builds a nest
where she can protect her young
near your altars, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
my King and my God.
4How blessed are those who live in your temple
and praise you continually. (Selah)
5How blessed are those who find their strength in you
and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple.
6As they pass through the Baca Valley,
he provides a spring for them.
The rain even covers it with pools of water.
7They are sustained as they travel along;
each one appears before God in Zion.
8O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
hear my prayer.
Listen, O God of Jacob. (Selah)
9O God, take notice of our shield.
Show concern for your chosen king.
10Certainly spending just one day in your temple courts is better
than spending a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather stand at the entrance to the temple of my God
than live in the tents of the wicked.
11For the Lord God is our sovereign protector.
The Lord bestows favor and honor;
he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity.
12O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
how blessed are those who trust in you.
(NET Bible)Rom. 14:1–12
14:1 Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions. 2One person believes in eating everything, but the weak person eats only vegetables. 3The one who eats everything must not despise the one who does not, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who eats everything, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. Each must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6The one who observes the day does it for the Lord. The one who eats, eats for the Lord because he gives thanks to God, and the one who abstains from eating abstains for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives for himself and none dies for himself. 8If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that he may be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10But you who eat vegetables only—why do you judge your brother or sister? And you who eat everything—why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.” 12Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
(NET Bible)
In his Exposition of the Prophet Zechariah, of 1527, in the explanation of the passage 11:12 ., Luther raises the question, “Why does Matthew (27:9) attribute the text of the thirty pieces of silver to the prophet Jeremiah when it appears here in Zechariah?” He answers: “It is true, this and similar questions do not mean much to me since they are of no particular profit, and Matthew has done enough when he has cited a genuine text even if he does not have the correct name, just as in other places he cites texts but does not give them in the exact words of Scripture; we can pass that by, and it does no harm that he does not use the exact words, for the sense has been preserved, and so here, what does it matter if he does not give the name exactly, because more depends on the words than on the name. And that is the manner of all apostles who do the same thing, citing the statements of Scripture without such meticulous care concerning the text. Wherefore it would be much harder to question their procedure than to question Matthew here about the name of Jeremiah. Let anyone who loves idle questions ask on. He will find more to question than he can answer.” (49)
–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures
This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.