Jer. 51:59–64
51:59 This is the order Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to King Zedekiah of Judah in Babylon during the fourth year of his reign. (Seraiah was a quartermaster.) 60Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon—all these prophecies written about Babylon. 61Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, make sure you read aloud all these prophecies. 62Then say, ‘O Lord, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!’ 63When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. 64Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’”
The prophecies of Jeremiah end here.
(NET Bible)Ps. 41
41:1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
How blessed is the one who treats the poor properly.
When trouble comes, may the Lord deliver him.
2May the Lord protect him and save his life.
May he be blessed in the land.
Do not turn him over to his enemies.
3The Lord supports him on his sickbed;
you have healed him from his illness.
4As for me, I said:
“O Lord, have mercy on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you.
5My enemies ask this cruel question about me,
‘When will he finally die and be forgotten?’
6When someone comes to visit, he pretends to be friendly;
he thinks of ways to defame me,
and when he leaves he slanders me.
7All who hate me whisper insults about me to one another;
they plan ways to harm me.
8They say,
‘An awful disease overwhelms him,
and now that he is bedridden he will never recover.’
9Even my close friend whom I trusted,
he who shared meals with me, has turned against me.
10As for you, O Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up,
so I can pay them back!”
11By this I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy does not triumph over me.
12As for me, you uphold me because of my integrity;
you allow me permanent access to your presence.
13The Lord God of Israel deserves praise
in the future and forevermore.
We agree! We agree!
(NET Bible)Phil 1:1–11
1:1 From Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons. 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you 5because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. 6For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 7For it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you became partners in God’s grace together with me. 8For God is my witness that I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight 10so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
(NET Bible)In 1538 and 1539 Luther wrote his powerful book Von den Conciliis un Kirchen and published it in 1539. In this he says: “If anyone would see still farther that the dear holy fathers were men, let him read the little book on the four chapters to the Corinthians by Dr. Pommer, our pastor. From it we must learn that St. Augustine was right when he said … that he will not believe any of the fathers unless he has the Scriptures on his side. Dear Lord God, if the Christian faith were to depend on men and be founded in human words, what were the need for the Holy Scriptures, or why has God given them? Let us draw them under the bench and lay the councils and the fathers on the desk instead! Or if the fathers were not men, how shall we men be saved? If they were men, they must also have thought, spoken, and acted sometimes as we think, speak, and act, and then said, like us, the prayer, ‘Forgive us our trespasses,’ especially since they have not the promise of the Spirit, like the apostles, and must be pupils of the apostles … When they build without the Scriptures, i.e., without gold, silver, precious stones, they have to build wood, straw, and hay; therefore we must follow the judgment of St. Paul and know how to distinguish between gold and wood, silver and straw, precious stones and hay.” (36)
–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.