Jer. 29:24–32
29:24 The Lord told Jeremiah, “Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite 25that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, has a message for him. Tell him, ‘On your own initiative you sent a letter to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and to all the other priests and to all the people in Jerusalem. In your letter you said to Zephaniah, 26“The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. He has put you in charge in the Lord’s temple of controlling any lunatic who pretends to be a prophet. And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks with an iron collar around his neck. 27You should have reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth who is pretending to be a prophet among you! 28For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us, ‘You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.’”’”
29Zephaniah the priest read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah. 30Then the Lord’s message came to Jeremiah: 31“Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘The Lord has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie. 32Because he has done this,” the Lord says, “I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. There will not be any of them left to experience the good things that I will do for my people. I, the Lord, affirm it! For he counseled rebellion against the Lord.”’”
(NET Bible)Ps. 5
5:1 For the music director, to be accompanied by wind instruments; a psalm of David.
Listen to what I say, Lord!
Carefully consider my complaint!
2Pay attention to my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for I am praying to you!
3Lord, in the morning you will hear me;
in the morning I will present my case to you and then wait expectantly for an answer.
4Certainly you are not a God who approves of evil;
evil people cannot dwell with you.
5Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who behave wickedly.
6You destroy liars;
the Lord despises violent and deceitful people.
7But as for me, because of your great faithfulness I will enter your house;
I will bow down toward your holy temple as I worship you.
8Lord, lead me in your righteousness
because of those who wait to ambush me,
remove the obstacles in the way in which you are guiding me.
9For they do not speak the truth;
their stomachs are like the place of destruction,
their throats like an open grave,
their tongues like a steep slope leading into it.
10Condemn them, O God!
May their own schemes be their downfall.
Drive them away because of their many acts of insurrection,
for they have rebelled against you.
11But may all who take shelter in you be happy.
May they continually shout for joy.
Shelter them so that those who are loyal to you may rejoice.
12Certainly you reward the godly, Lord.
Like a shield you protect them in your good favor.
(NET Bible)Acts 17:22–34
17:22 So Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects. 23For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, 25nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone. 26From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, 27so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 29So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination. 30Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32Now when they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33So Paul left the Areopagus. 34But some people joined him and believed. Among them were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
(NET Bible)As late as 1544 [Luther] wrote in his Kurzes Bekenntnis vom heiligen Sakrament: “It is certain that he who does not or will not believe one article correctly (after he has been taught and admonished) does not believe any sincerely and with the right faith. And whoever is so bold that he ventures to accuse God of fraud and deception in a single word and does so willfully again and again after he has been warned and instructed once or twice will likewise certainly venture to accuse God of fraud and deception in all of His words. erefore it is true, absolutely and without exception, that everything is believed or nothing is believed. The Holy Ghost does not suffer Himself to be separated or divided so that He should teach and cause to be believed one doctrine rightly and another falsely.” (32–33)
–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.