Day 315 of 365

Ezek 14:1–16:25

14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me, and sat before me.

14:2 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

14:3 "Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

14:4 Therefore speak to them, and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;

14:5 that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols."'

14:6 "Therefore tell the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Return, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

14:7 For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I the Lord will answer him by myself:

14:8 and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am the Lord.

14:9 "'"If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

14:10 They shall bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the iniquity of him who seeks him;

14:11 that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God," says the Lord God.'"

14:12 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

14:13 "Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal;

14:14 though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord God."

14:15 "If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals;

14:16 though these three men were in it, as I live," says the Lord God, "they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.

14:17 "Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, 'Sword, go through the land'; so that I cut off from it man and animal;

14:18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves.

14:19 "Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal;

14:20 though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

14:21 "For thus says the Lord God: 'How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal!

14:22 Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth to you, and you shall see their way and their doings; and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought on it.

14:23 They shall comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it,' says the Lord God."

15:1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

15:2 "Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest?

15:3 Shall wood be taken of it to make any work? Or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

15:4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and its midst is burned: is it profitable for any work?

15:5 Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be meet for any work!

15:6 "Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15:7 I will set my face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.

15:8 I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass,' says the Lord God."

16:1 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

16:2 "Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations;

16:3 and say, 'Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your birth and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.

16:4 As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you weren't salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

16:5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, for that your person was abhorred, in the day that you were born.

16:6 "'When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, Though you are in your blood, live; yes, I said to you, "Though you are in your blood, live."

16:7 I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent ornament; your breasts were fashioned, and your hair was grown; yet you were naked and bare.

16:8 "'Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you,' says the Lord God, 'and you became mine.

16:9 "'Then washed I you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.

16:10 I clothed you also with embroidered work, and shod you with sealskin, and I dressed you about with fine linen, and covered you with silk.

16:11 I decked you with ornaments, and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck.

16:12 I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

16:13 Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you were exceeding beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate.

16:14 Your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,' says the Lord God.

16:15 "'But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by; his it was.

16:16 You took of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

16:17 You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them;

16:18 and you took your embroidered garments, and covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them.

16:19 My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and thus it was,' says the Lord God.

16:20 "'Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter,

16:21 that you have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them?

16:22 In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood.

16:23 "'It has happened after all your wickedness, ("Woe, woe to you!" says the Lord God),

16:24 that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street.

16:25 You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution.

2 Thess 2:1–3:18

2:1 Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him, we ask you

2:2 not to be quickly shaken in your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, saying that the day of the Lord had come.

2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

2:4 he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.

2:5 Do you not remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things?

2:6 Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season.

2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way.

2:8 Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;

2:9 even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

2:10 and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2:11 Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie;

2:12 that they all might be judged who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2:13 But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth;

2:14 to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.

2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,

2:17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.

3:1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, even as also with you;

3:2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for not all have faith.

3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one.

3:4 We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things we command.

3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.

3:6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us.

3:7 For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we did not behave ourselves rebelliously among you,

3:8 neither did we eat bread from anyone's hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you;

3:9 not because we do not have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us.

3:10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat."

3:11 For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who do not work at all, but are busybodies.

3:12 Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

3:13 But you, brothers, do not be weary in doing well.

3:14 If any man does not obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed.

3:15 Do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all.

3:17 The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand, which is the sign in every letter: this is how I write.

3:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Ps 131:1–3

1 Lord, my heart isn't haughty, nor my eyes lofty; nor do I concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me.

2 Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 Israel, hope in the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore.