Jer. 50:1–16
50:1 The Lord spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia through the prophet Jeremiah.
2“Announce the news among the nations! Proclaim it!
Signal for people to pay attention.
Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say:
‘Babylon will be captured.
Bel will be put to shame.
Marduk will be dismayed.
Babylon’s idols will be put to shame;
her disgusting images will be dismayed.
3For a nation from the north will attack Babylon;
it will lay her land waste.
People and animals will flee out of it.
No one will inhabit it.’
4“When that time comes,” says the Lord,
“the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together.
They will come back with tears of repentance
as they seek the Lord their God.
5They will ask the way to Zion;
they will turn their faces toward it.
They will come and bind themselves to the Lord
in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
6“My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have allowed them to go astray.
They have wandered around in the mountains.
They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another.
They have forgotten their resting place.
7All who encountered them devoured them.
Their enemies who did this said, ‘We are not liable for punishment!
For those people have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture.
They have sinned against the Lord in whom their ancestors trusted.’
8“People of Judah, get out of Babylon quickly!
Leave the land of Babylonia!
Be the first to depart.
Be like the male goats that lead the herd.
9For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon
a host of mighty nations from the land of the north.
They will set up their battle lines against her.
They will come from the north and capture her.
Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier
who does not return from the battle empty-handed.
10Babylonia will be plundered.
Those who plunder it will take all they want,”
says the Lord.
11“People of Babylonia, you plundered my people.
That made you happy and glad.
You frolic about like calves in a pasture.
Your joyous sounds are like the neighs of a stallion.
12But Babylonia will be put to great shame.
The land where you were born will be disgraced.
Indeed, Babylonia will become the least important of all nations.
It will become a dry and barren desert.
13After I vent my wrath on it, Babylon will be uninhabited.
It will be totally desolate.
All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn
because of all the disasters that have happened to it.
14“Take up your battle positions all around Babylon,
all you soldiers who are armed with bows.
Shoot all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back!
For she has sinned against the Lord.
15Shout the battle cry from all around the city.
She will throw up her hands in surrender;
her towers will fall.
Her walls will be torn down.
Because I, the Lord, am wreaking revenge,
take out your vengeance on her!
Do to her as she has done!
16Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon;
kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time.
Let all the foreigners return to their own people.
Let them hurry back to their own lands
to escape destruction by that enemy army.
(NET Bible)Ps. 36
36:1 For the music director, an oracle, written by the Lord’s servant David.
An evil man is rebellious to the core.
He does not fear God,
2for he is too proud
to recognize and give up his sin.
3The words he speaks are sinful and deceitful;
he does not care about doing what is wise and right.
4While he lies in bed he plans ways to sin.
He is committed to a sinful lifestyle;
he does not reject what is evil.
5O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6Your justice is like the highest mountains,
your fairness like the deepest sea;
you, Lord, preserve mankind and the animal kingdom.
7How precious is your loyal love, O God!
The human race finds shelter under your wings.
8They are filled with food from your house,
and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.
9For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
10Extend your loyal love to your faithful followers,
and vindicate the morally upright.
11Do not let arrogant men overtake me,
or let evil men make me homeless.
12I can see the evildoers! They have fallen.
They have been knocked down and are unable to get up.
(NET Bible)Eph. 3:14–21
3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. 16I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he will grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 17that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 18you will be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you will be filled up to all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, 21to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
(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.