Joel 3:4–16
3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon?
Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia?
If you are, I will very quickly repay you for what you have done!
5For you took my silver and my gold
and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces.
6You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks,
removing them far from their own country.
7Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them.
I will repay you for what you have done!
8I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah.
They will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.”
Indeed, the Lord has spoken.
9Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for a holy war!
Call out the warriors!
Let all these fighting men approach and attack!
10Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’
11Lend your aid and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves to that place.”
Bring down, O Lord, your warriors!
12“Let the nations be roused and let them go up
to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.
13Rush forth with the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!
Come, stomp the grapes, for the winepress is full!
The vats overflow.
Indeed, their evil is great!”
14Crowds, great crowds are in the Valley of Decision,
for the day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision!
15The sun and moon are darkened;
the stars withhold their brightness.
16The Lord roars from Zion;
from Jerusalem his voice bellows out.
The heavens and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge for his people;
he is a stronghold for the citizens of Israel.
(NET Bible)Ps. 85
85:1 For the music director, written by the Korahites, a psalm.
O Lord, you showed favor to your land;
you restored the well-being of Jacob.
2You pardoned the wrongdoing of your people;
you forgave all their sin. (Selah)
3You withdrew all your fury;
you turned back from your raging anger.
4Restore us, O God our deliverer.
Do not be displeased with us.
5Will you stay mad at us forever?
Will you remain angry throughout future generations?
6Will you not revive us once more?
Then your people will rejoice in you.
7O Lord, show us your loyal love.
Bestow on us your deliverance.
8I will listen to what God the Lord says.
For he will make peace with his people, his faithful followers.
Yet they must not return to their foolish ways.
9Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance;
then his splendor will again appear in our land.
10Loyal love and faithfulness meet;
deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss.
11Faithfulness grows from the ground,
and deliverance looks down from the sky.
12Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings,
and our land will yield its crops.
13Deliverance goes before him,
and prepares a pathway for him.
(NET Bible)Rom. 14:13–15:7
14:13 Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister. 14I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean. 15For if your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy by your food someone for whom Christ died. 16Therefore do not let what you consider good be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18For the one who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people.
19So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for building up one another. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat. 21It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 22The faith you have, keep to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not judge himself by what he approves. 23But the man who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin.
15:1 But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves. 2Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. 3For even Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 4For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope. 5Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God’s glory. (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.