Jer. 49:1–6
49:1 The Lord spoke about the Ammonites:
“Do you think there are not any people of the nation of Israel remaining?
Do you think there are not any of them remaining to reinherit their land?
Is that why you people who worship the god Milcom
have taken possession of the territory of Gad and live in his cities?
2Because you did that,
I, the Lord, affirm that a time is coming
when I will make Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon,
hear the sound of the battle cry.
It will become a mound covered with ruins.
Its villages will be burned to the ground.
Then Israel will take back its land
from those who took their land from them.
I, the Lord, affirm it!
3Wail, you people in Heshbon, because Ai in Ammon is destroyed.
Cry out in anguish, you people in the villages surrounding Rabbah.
Put on sackcloth and cry out in mourning.
Run about covered with gashes.
For your god Milcom will go into exile
along with his priests and officials.
4Why do you brag about your great power?
Your power is ebbing away, you rebellious people of Ammon,
who trust in your riches and say,
‘Who would dare to attack us?’
5I will bring terror on you from every side,”
says the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“You will be scattered in every direction.
No one will gather the fugitives back together.
6Yet in days to come
I will reverse Ammon’s ill fortune.”
says the Lord.
(NET Bible)Ps. 32
32:1 By David; a well-written song.
How blessed is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven,
whose sin is pardoned.
2How blessed is the one whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish,
in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3When I refused to confess my sin,
my whole body wasted away,
while I groaned in pain all day long.
4For day and night you tormented me;
you tried to destroy me in the intense heat of summer. (Selah)
5Then I confessed my sin;
I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.
I said, “I will confess my rebellious acts to the Lord.”
And then you forgave my sins. (Selah)
6For this reason every one of your faithful followers should pray to you
while there is a window of opportunity.
Certainly when the surging water rises,
it will not reach them.
7You are my hiding place;
you protect me from distress.
You surround me with shouts of joy from those celebrating deliverance. (Selah)
8I will instruct and teach you about how you should live.
I will advise you as I look you in the eye.
9Do not be like an unintelligent horse or mule,
which will not obey you
unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit.
10An evil person suffers much pain,
but the Lord’s faithfulness overwhelms the one who trusts in him.
11Rejoice in the Lord and be happy, you who are godly!
Shout for joy, all you who are morally upright!
(NET Bible)Eph. 1:1–14
1:1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus. 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
3Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. 4For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He did this by predestining us to adoption as his legal heirs through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will— 6to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. 9He did this when he revealed to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ—the things in heaven and the things on earth. 11In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory. 13And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.
(NET Bible)In 1535 Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, delivered in 1531, were published. In these he said: “This vice lies in us that we admire persons and respect them more than the Word while God desires that we adhere to and have our mind fixed alone upon the very Word. … He does not want us to admire or adore the apostolate in Peter and Paul but Christ who speaks in them and the very Word of God which comes from their mouth.” In speaking of the occurrence at Antioch (Gal. 2:11-14) Luther concedes that even prophets err and fail but only when they speak in their own spirit, not inspired by the Holy Ghost, as Nathan did when out of his own spirit (ex suo spiritu) he told David that he should build a house for the Lord. “This prophecy was immediately corrected by divine revelation.” Here Luther declares that even Gal. 3:16, a passage so o en ridiculed, was written out of genuine apostolic spirit and understanding, and repeats that it is impossible that Scripture should contradict itself, and that a single tittle of Scripture is of greater importance than heaven and earth. Scripture he calls the queen that alone should reign. (34–35)
–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.