1 Chron. 13:1–14
13:1 David consulted with his military officers, including those who led groups of a thousand and those who led groups of a hundred. 2David said to the whole Israelite assembly, “If you so desire and the Lord our God approves, let’s spread the word to our brothers who remain in all the regions of Israel, and to the priests and Levites in their cities, so they may join us. 3Let’s move the ark of our God back here, for we did not seek his will throughout Saul’s reign.” 4The whole assembly agreed to do this, for the proposal seemed right to all the people. 5So David assembled all Israel from the Shihor River in Egypt to Lebo Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim. 6David and all Israel went up to Baalah (that is, Kiriath Jearim) in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord, who sits enthroned between the cherubim—the ark that is called by his Name.
7They transported the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab; Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the cart, 8while David and all Israel were energetically celebrating before God, singing and playing various stringed instruments, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets. 9When they arrived at the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to take hold of the ark because the oxen stumbled. 10The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, he killed him, because he reached out his hand and touched the ark. He died right there before God.
11David was angry because the Lord attacked Uzzah; so he called that place Perez Uzzah, which remains its name to this very day. 12David was afraid of God that day and said, “How will I ever be able to bring the ark of God up here?” 13So David did not move the ark to the City of David; he left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 14The ark of God remained in Obed-Edom’s house for three months; the Lord blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything that belonged to him.
(NET Bible)Ps. 117
117:1 Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Applaud him, all you foreigners.
2For his loyal love towers over us,
and the Lord’s faithfulness endures.
Praise the Lord.
(NET Bible)Mark 13:24–14:2
13:24 “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; 25the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26Then everyone will see the Son of Man arriving in the clouds with great power and glory. 27Then he will send angels and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
28“Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29So also you, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, right at the door. 30I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
32“But as for that day or hour no one knows it—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son—except the Father. 33Watch out! Stay alert! For you do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going on a journey. He left his house and put his slaves in charge, assigning to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert. 35Stay alert, then, because you do not know when the owner of the house will return—whether during evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or at dawn— 36or else he might find you asleep when he returns suddenly. 37What I say to you I say to everyone: Stay alert!”
14:1 Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 2For they said, “Not during the feast, so there won’t be a riot among the people.”
(NET Bible)
No matter how emphatically Luther emphasized the inerrancy and the consistency of the original text of Holy Scripture as the work of the Holy Ghost, he is also, on the other hand, convinced of the personal cooperation of the original authors. They are not, in his opinion, mechanical instruments and dead machines, mere amanuenses who set down on paper only what was dictated to them by the Spirit of God. He regarded them rather as independent instruments of the Spirit who spoke their faith, their heart, their thoughts; who put their entire will and feeling into the words to such an extent that from what Luther reads in each case he draws conclusions concerning the character and the temperament of the authors. So [according to Luther] the Prophet Joel reveals himself in his writing as a “gracious and gentle man, who does not scold and censure like the other prophets but implores and bewails.” Amos, on the other hand, is “violent, scolding almost all the way through his book, so that he is well called, Amos, that is a burden or what is burdensome and vexatious”; and he explains this as being due to his calling and from the fact that he was sent as a “stranger” from the Kingdom of Judah to the Kingdom of Israel, for, he continues, “because he is a shepherd and not one of the order of the prophets, as he says in the seventh chapter, moreover, he goes from the branch of Judah, from Tekoa, into the Kingdom of Israel and preaches there as a stranger.” Of Jeremiah, however, Luther says that he is always afraid that he censures too much, for which reason he compares him with Philip Melanchthon. In Paul he observes the deepest emotion because of his writings and can say of his words, “these words are violent above mea- sure, from which it is easy to see that he was much more violently moved than he was able to express in words.” Yes, he adds, “So it has come about that St. Paul under the influence of his intense thought could not control his own word so well, and his speech has become somewhat disordered and peculiar.” (60)
–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.