Home > Reading > Daily Reading – September 24, 2020

Ezek. 22

22:1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2“As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment? Are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city? Then confront her with all her abominable deeds! 3Then say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom), and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity), 4you are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your doom; the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations, an object to be mocked by all lands. 5Those both near and far from you will mock you, you with your bad reputation, full of turmoil.

6“‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. 7They have treated father and mother with contempt within you; they have oppressed the resident foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow within you. 8You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 9Slanderous men shed blood within you. Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; they commit obscene acts among you. 10They have sexual relations with their father’s wife within you; they violate women during their menstrual period within you. 11One commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates his sister—his father’s daughter—within you. 12They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign Lord.

13“‘See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest profit you have made and at the bloodshed they have done among you. 14Can your heart endure or can your hands be strong when I deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it! 15I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among various countries; I will remove your impurity from you. 16You will be profaned within yourself in the sight of the nations; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

17The Lord’s message came to me: 18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; they are the worthless slag of silver. 19Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you have become slag, look out! I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. 20As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can blow on them to melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there and melt you. 21I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”

23The Lord’s message came to me: 24“Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that receives no rain or showers in the day of my anger.’ 25Her princes within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows within it. 26Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore my Sabbaths, and I am profaned in their midst. 27Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey—shedding blood and destroying lives—so they can get dishonest profit. 28Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the resident foreigner and denied them justice.

30“I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. 31So I have poured my anger on them and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I hereby repay them for what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

(NET Bible)

Ps. 83

83:1 A song, a psalm of Asaph.

O God, do not be silent.

Do not ignore us. Do not be inactive, O God.

2For look, your enemies are making a commotion;

those who hate you are hostile.

3They carefully plot against your people,

and make plans to harm the ones you cherish.

4They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation.

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

5Yes, they devise a unified strategy;

they form an alliance against you.

6It includes the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites,

7Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,

Philistia, and the inhabitants of Tyre.

8Even Assyria has allied with them,

lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. (Selah)

9Do to them as you did to Midian—

as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.

10They were destroyed at Endor;

their corpses were like manure on the ground.

11Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12who said, “Let’s take over the pastures of God.”

13O my God, make them like dead thistles,

like dead weeds blown away by the wind.

14Like the fire that burns down the forest,

or the flames that consume the mountainsides,

15chase them with your gale winds

and terrify them with your windstorm.

16Cover their faces with shame,

so they might seek you, O Lord.

17May they be humiliated and continually terrified.

May they die in shame.

18Then they will know that you alone are the Lord,

the Most High over all the earth.

(NET Bible)

Titus 3:1–15

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. 2They must not slander anyone, but be peaceable, gentle, showing complete courtesy to all people. 3For we, too, were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.”

8This saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people. 9But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, quarrels, and fights about the law because they are useless and empty. 10Reject a divisive person after one or two warnings. 11You know that such a person is twisted by sin and is conscious of it himself.

12When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13Make every effort to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; make sure they have what they need. 14Here is another way that our people can learn to engage in good works to meet pressing needs and so not be unfruitful. 15Everyone with me greets you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

(NET Bible)

Here we might add what Luther said in 1528 in his Vom Abendmahl Christi, Bekenntnis … “So we must say that Matthew and Mark have placed after the New Supper what took place after the old Supper and is to be located there. For they were not greatly concerned about the order but were satisfied if they wrote history and truth. Luke, however, who wrote after them, states that the reason for his writing was that many others had written such accounts without regard to the order of events, and that he, therefore, had resolved to write them in proper order.” (47–48)

–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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