Home > Reading > Daily Reading – October 12, 2018

Job 15 (ESV)

Eliphaz Accuses: Job Does Not Fear God

15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,
and fill his belly with the east wind?
Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which he can do no good?
But you are doing away with the fear of God
and hindering meditation before God.
For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.

“Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you brought forth before the hills?
Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10  Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
older than your father.
11  Are the comforts of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
12  Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13  that you turn your spirit against God
and bring such words out of your mouth?
14  What is man, that he can be pure?
Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
15  Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
16  how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
a man who drinks injustice like water!

17  “I will show you; hear me,
and what I have seen I will declare
18  (what wise men have told,
without hiding it from their fathers,
19  to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them).
20  The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21  Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
22  He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
and he is marked for the sword.
23  He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
24  distress and anguish terrify him;
they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
25  Because he has stretched out his hand against God
and defies the Almighty,
26  running stubbornly against him
with a thickly bossed shield;
27  because he has covered his face with his fat
and gathered fat upon his waist
28  and has lived in desolate cities,
in houses that none should inhabit,
which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
29  he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the earth;
30  he will not depart from darkness;
the flame will dry up his shoots,
and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.
31  Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his payment.
32  It will be paid in full before his time,
and his branch will not be green.
33  He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
34  For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35  They conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
and their womb prepares deceit.”

Psalm 101 (ESV)

I Will Walk with Integrity

101 A Psalm of David.

I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
to you, O Lord, I will make music.

I will ponder the way that is blameless.
Oh when will you come to me?
I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;

I will not set before my eyes
anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.

A perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.

Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly
I will destroy.
Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not endure.

I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he who walks in the way that is blameless
shall minister to me.

No one who practices deceit
shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall continue before my eyes.

Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all the evildoers
from the city of the Lord.

Luke 11:27–36 (ESV)

True Blessedness

27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

The Sign of Jonah

29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

The Light in You

33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

Even in the introduction [to his lectures on Galatians delivered between 1535 and 1545] Luther discussed how the six days of creation are to be understood. He recalls that Hilary and Augustine, these two great lights of the church, were of the opinion that the world was created suddenly and not gradually in the course of six days. Then he opposes this view and writes: “Because we are not sufficiently able to understand how these days occurred nor why God wished to observe such distinctions of times, we shall rather admit our ignorance than attempt to twist the words unnecessarily into an unnatural meaning. As far, therefore, as St. Augustine’s opinion is concerned, we hold that Moses spoke literally not allegorically or figuratively, that is, the world and all its creatures was created within the six days as the words declare. Because we are not able to comprehend we shall remain disciples and leave the instructorship to the Holy Ghost.” (51)

–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.

Learn More