Home > Reading > Daily Reading – June 19, 2020

Jer. 19

19:1 The Lord told Jeremiah, “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take with you some of the leaders of the people and some of the leaders of the priests. 2Go out to the part of the Hinnom Valley that is near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Announce there what I tell you. 3Say, ‘Listen to the Lord’s message, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, has said, “Look here! I am about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring. 4I will do so because these people have rejected me and have defiled this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children. 5They have built places here for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make. They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind. 6So I, the Lord, say: ‘The time will soon come that people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Hinnom Valley. But they will call this valley the Valley of Slaughter! 7In this place I will thwart the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword at the hands of their enemies. I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat. 8I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. 9I will reduce the people of this city to desperate straits during the siege imposed on it by their enemies who are seeking to kill them. I will make them so desperate that they will eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters and the flesh of one another.”’”’

10The Lord continued, “Now break the jar in front of those who have come here with you. 11Tell them the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, ‘I will do just as Jeremiah has done. I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter’s vessel that is broken beyond repair. The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.’ 12I, the Lord, say: ‘That is how I will deal with this city and its citizens. I will make it like Topheth. 13The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’”

14Then Jeremiah left Topheth where the Lord had sent him to give that prophecy. He went to the Lord’s temple and stood in its courtyard and called out to all the people. 15“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused to pay any attention to what I have said!’”

(NET Bible)

Ps. 139

139:1 For the music director, a psalm of David.

O Lord, you examine me and know me.

2You know when I sit down and when I get up;

even from far away you understand my motives.

3You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest;

you are aware of everything I do.

4Certainly my tongue does not frame a word

without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it.

5You squeeze me in from behind and in front;

you place your hand on me.

6Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension;

it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it.

7Where can I go to escape your Spirit?

Where can I flee to escape your presence?

8If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there.

If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be.

9If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn

and settle down on the other side of the sea,

10even there your hand would guide me,

your right hand would grab hold of me.

11If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me,

and the light will turn to night all around me,”

12even the darkness is not too dark for you to see,

and the night is as bright as day;

darkness and light are the same to you.

13Certainly you made my mind and heart;

you wove me together in my mother’s womb.

14I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing.

You knew me thoroughly;

15my bones were not hidden from you,

when I was made in secret

and sewed together in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb.

All the days ordained for me

were recorded in your scroll

before one of them came into existence.

17How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God!

How vast is their sum total.

18If I tried to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand.

Even if I finished counting them,

I would still have to contend with you.

19If only you would kill the wicked, O God!

Get away from me, you violent men!

20They rebel against you and act deceitfully;

your enemies lie.

21O Lord, do I not hate those who hate you

and despise those who oppose you?

22I absolutely hate them;

they have become my enemies.

23Examine me, O God, and probe my thoughts.

Test me, and know my concerns.

24See if there is any idolatrous way in me,

and lead me in the everlasting way.

(NET Bible)

Acts 11:19–30

11:19 Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message to no one but Jews. 20But there were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene among them who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks too, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus. 21The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22A report about them came to the attention of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, 24because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people were brought to the Lord. 25Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for Saul, 26and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught a significant number of people. Now it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

27At that time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28One of them, named Agabus, got up and predicted by the Spirit that a severe famine was about to come over the whole inhabited world. (This took place during the reign of Claudius.) 29So the disciples, each in accordance with his financial ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30They did so, sending their financial aid to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

(NET Bible)

Luther did not first come to realize in 1522 that everything in Scripture depends upon that which teaches Christ. He expressed this view already in his first exposition of the Psalms, 1513-1514. Already there we read, “I see nothing in Scripture but Christ crucified” (Ego non intelligo usquam in Scriptura nisi Christum cruci xum); and in a fragment of a sermon delivered on November 11, 1515, Luther says: “He who would read the Bible must simply take heed that he does not err, for the Scripture may permit itself to be stretched and led, but let no one lead it according to his affects but let him lead it to the source, i.e., the cross of Christ. en he will surely strike the center;” and in his Exposition of the Penitential Psalms, 1517, he says in conclusion: “This I confess for myself, whenever I found less in the Scripture than Christ I was not satisfied; whenever I found more than Christ, I never became poorer myself, so that even that seems true to me, that God, the Holy Spirit, does and will know no more than Jesus Christ, as he says of Him, He will glorify me.” And according to Luther also in the Old Testament writings Christ can be found. (28)

–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.

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