Home > Reading > Daily Reading – September 15, 2020

Ezek. 13

13:1 Then the Lord’s message came to me: 2“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to the prophets who prophesy from their imagination: ‘Listen to the Lord’s message! 3This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit but have seen nothing! 4Your prophets have become like jackals among the ruins, O Israel. 5You have not gone up in the breaks in the wall, nor repaired a wall for the house of Israel that it would stand strong in the battle on the day of the Lord. 6They see delusion and their omens are a lie. They say, “The Lord declares,” though the Lord has not sent them; yet they expect their word to be confirmed. 7Have you not seen a false vision and announced a lying omen when you say, “The Lord declares,” although I myself never spoke?

8“‘Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have spoken false words and forecast delusion, look, I am against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 9My hand will be against the prophets who see delusion and announce lying omens. They will not be included in the council of my people, nor be written in the registry of the house of Israel, nor enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

10“‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,” when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, they coat it with whitewash. 11Tell the ones who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. When there is a deluge of rain, hailstones will fall and a violent wind will break out. 12When the wall has collapsed, people will ask you, “Where is the whitewash you coated it with?”

13“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury. 14I will break down the wall you coated with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. When it falls you will be destroyed beneath it, and you will know that I am the Lord. 15I will vent my rage against the wall and against those who coated it with whitewash. Then I will say to you, “The wall is no more and those who whitewashed it are no more— 16those prophets of Israel who would prophesy about Jerusalem and would see visions of peace for it, when there was no peace,” declares the Sovereign Lord.’

17“As for you, son of man, turn toward the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination. Prophesy against them 18and say ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands on all their wrists and make headbands for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives? 19You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!

20“‘Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Take note that I am against your wristbands with which you entrap people’s lives like birds. I will tear them from your arms and will release the people’s lives, which you hunt like birds. 21I will tear off your headbands and rescue my people from your power; they will no longer be prey in your hands. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 22This is because you have disheartened the righteous person with lies (although I have not grieved him), and because you have encouraged the wicked person not to turn from his evil conduct and preserve his life. 23Therefore you will no longer see false visions and practice divination. I will rescue my people from your power, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

(NET Bible)

Ps. 75

75:1 For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style; a psalm of Asaph, a song.

We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks.

You reveal your presence;

people tell about your amazing deeds.

2God says,

“At the appointed times,

I judge fairly.

3When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear,

I make its pillars secure.” (Selah)

4 I say to the proud, “Do not be proud,”

and to the wicked, “Do not be so confident of victory.

5Do not be so certain you have won.

Do not speak with your head held so high.

6For victory does not come from the east or west,

or from the wilderness.

7For God is the judge.

He brings one down and exalts another.

8For the Lord holds in his hand a cup

full of foaming wine mixed with spices,

and pours it out.

Surely all the wicked of the earth

will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.”

9As for me, I will continually tell what you have done;

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

10God says,

“I will bring down all the power of the wicked;

the godly will be victorious.”

(NET Bible)

2 Tim. 1:1–18

1:1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to further the promise of life in Christ Jesus, 2to Timothy, my dear child. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!

3I am thankful to God, whom I have served with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, when I remember you in my prayers as I do constantly night and day. 4As I remember your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I recall your sincere faith that was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am sure is in you.

6Because of this I remind you to rekindle God’s gift that you possess through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, a prisoner for his sake, but by God’s power accept your share of suffering for the gospel. 9He is the one who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not based on our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10but now made visible through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel! 11For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher. 12Because of this, in fact, I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed because I know the one in whom my faith is set and I am convinced that he is able to protect what has been entrusted to me until that day. 13Hold to the standard of sound words that you heard from me and do so with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14Protect that good thing entrusted to you, through the Holy Spirit who lives within us.

15You know that everyone in the province of Asia deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16May the Lord grant mercy to the family of Onesiphorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my imprisonment. 17But when he arrived in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me. 18May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day! And you know very well all the ways he served me in Ephesus.

(NET Bible)

[Luther continues in his exposition of John chapters 1 and 2]: “But we have to reckon, as all the histories do, that Christ was baptized in the thirtieth year of His life, that He began to preach a er His baptism and preached for three full years. e remaining time that followed the third year and was the beginning of the fourth, beginning with either the Festival of the Circumcision or Epiphany Day and continuing until Easter (which can be reckoned as almost a half year), He continued to preach, because He preached three and a half years (though it fell a little short of that time). So it could easily have been that when Christ was thirty years old and after He had been baptized, that in the first year of His activity and at the first Easter [Passover] of that period He did this, but it is a matter of no importance. When discrepancies occur in the Holy Scriptures and we cannot harmonize them, let it pass, it does not endanger the article of the Christian faith, because all the evangelists agree in this that Christ died for our sins. As for the rest, concerning His acts and miracles they observe no particular order, because they often place what took place later at an earlier date.” (46)

–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.

Learn More