Home > Reading > Daily Reading – October 2, 2020

Ezek. 30

30:1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2“Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“‘Wail, “Alas, the day is here!”

3For the day is near,

the day of the Lord is near;

it will be a day of storm clouds,

it will be a time of judgment for the nations.

4A sword will come against Egypt

and panic will overtake Ethiopia

when the slain fall in Egypt

and they carry away her wealth

and dismantle her foundations.

5Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the foreigners, Libya, and the people of the covenant land will die by the sword along with them.

6“‘This is what the Lord says:

Egypt’s supporters will fall;

her confident pride will crumble.

From Migdol to Syene they will die by the sword within her,

declares the Sovereign Lord.

7They will be desolate among desolate lands,

and their cities will be among ruined cities.

8They will know that I am the Lord

when I ignite a fire in Egypt

and all her allies are defeated.

9“‘On that day messengers will go out from me in ships to frighten overconfident Ethiopia; panic will overtake them on the day of Egypt’s doom; for beware—it is coming!

10“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt,

by the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon.

11He and his people with him,

the most terrifying of the nations,

will be brought there to destroy the land.

They will draw their swords against Egypt

and fill the land with corpses.

12I will dry up the waterways

and hand the land over to evil men.

I will make the land and everything in it desolate by the hand of foreigners.

I, the Lord, have spoken!

13“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

I will destroy the idols,

and put an end to the gods of Memphis.

There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;

so I will make the land of Egypt fearful.

14I will desolate Pathros,

I will ignite a fire in Zoan,

and I will execute judgments on Thebes.

15I will pour out my anger upon Pelusium,

the stronghold of Egypt;

I will cut off the hordes of Thebes.

16I will ignite a fire in Egypt;

Syene will writhe in agony,

Thebes will be broken down,

and Memphis will face enemies every day.

17The young men of On and of Pi Beseth will die by the sword;

and the cities will go into captivity.

18In Tahpanhes the day will be dark

when I break the yoke of Egypt there.

Her confident pride will cease within her;

a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity.

19I will execute judgments on Egypt.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

20In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the Lord’s message came to me: 21“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Look, it has not been bandaged for healing or set with a dressing so that it might become strong enough to grasp a sword. 22Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong arm and the broken one, and I will make the sword drop from his hand. 23I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. 24I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I will place my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan like the fatally wounded before the king of Babylon. 25I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I place my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon and he extends it against the land of Egypt. 26I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

(NET Bible)

Ps. 91

91:1 As for you, the one who lives in the shelter of the Most High,

and resides in the protective shadow of the Sovereign One—

2I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,

my God in whom I trust—

3he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter

and from the destructive plague.

4He will shelter you with his wings;

you will find safety under his wings.

His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall.

5You need not fear the terrors of the night,

the arrow that flies by day,

6the plague that stalks in the darkness,

or the disease that ravages at noon.

7Though a thousand may fall beside you,

and a multitude on your right side,

it will not reach you.

8Certainly you will see it with your very own eyes—

you will see the wicked paid back.

9For you have taken refuge in the Lord,

my shelter, the Most High.

10No harm will overtake you;

no illness will come near your home.

11For he will order his angels

to protect you in all you do.

12They will lift you up in their hands,

so you will not slip and fall on a stone.

13You will subdue a lion and a snake;

you will trample underfoot a young lion and a serpent.

14The Lord says,

“Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him;

I will protect him because he is loyal to me.

15When he calls out to me, I will answer him.

I will be with him when he is in trouble;

I will rescue him and bring him honor.

16I will satisfy him with long life

and will let him see my salvation.”

(NET Bible)

Heb. 4:1–13

4:1 Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 2For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in faith. 3For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” And yet God’s works were accomplished from the foundation of the world. 4For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 5but to repeat the text cited earlier: “They will never enter my rest!6Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience. 7So God again ordains a certain day, “Today,” speaking through David after so long a time, as in the words quoted before, “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts.” 8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward about another day. 9Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. 10For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. 11Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. 12For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

(NET Bible)

In his Exposition of the Prophet Zechariah, of 1527, in the explanation of the passage 11:12 ., Luther raises the question, “Why does Matthew (27:9) attribute the text of the thirty pieces of silver to the prophet Jeremiah when it appears here in Zechariah?” He answers: “It is true, this and similar questions do not mean much to me since they are of no particular profit, and Matthew has done enough when he has cited a genuine text even if he does not have the correct name, just as in other places he cites texts but does not give them in the exact words of Scripture; we can pass that by, and it does no harm that he does not use the exact words, for the sense has been preserved, and so here, what does it matter if he does not give the name exactly, because more depends on the words than on the name. And that is the manner of all apostles who do the same thing, citing the statements of Scripture without such meticulous care concerning the text. Wherefore it would be much harder to question their procedure than to question Matthew here about the name of Jeremiah. Let anyone who loves idle questions ask on. He will find more to question than he can answer.” (49)

–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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