ESV: ESV Study Bible

November 20: Psalm 111, 2 Kings 19, Isaiah 9:1-7, John 12:20-50

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

Psalm 111 (Listen)

Great Are the LORD's Works

111:1 Praise the LORD!
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
  in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the LORD,
  studied by all who delight in them.
Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
  and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
  the LORD is gracious and merciful.
He provides food for those who fear him;
  he remembers his covenant forever.
He has shown his people the power of his works,
  in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
  all his precepts are trustworthy;
they are established forever and ever,
  to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
He sent redemption to his people;
  he has commanded his covenant forever.
  Holy and awesome is his name!
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
  all those who practice it have a good understanding.
  His praise endures forever!

2 Kings 19 (Listen)

Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

19:1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

Sennacherib Defies the LORD

The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that the king had left Lachish. Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah's Prayer

Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: “O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:

“She despises you, she scorns you—
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.

“Whom have you mocked and reviled?
  Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
  Against the Holy One of Israel!
By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
  and you have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
  to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
  its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest lodging place,
  its most fruitful forest.
I dug wells
  and drank foreign waters,
and I dried up with the sole of my foot
  all the streams of Egypt.’

“Have you not heard
  that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
  what now I bring to pass,
that you should turn fortified cities
  into heaps of ruins,
while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
  are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
  and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
  blighted before it is grown.

“But I know your sitting down
  and your going out and coming in,
  and your raging against me.
Because you have raged against me
  and your complacency has come into my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
  and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
  by which you came.

“And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this.

“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Isaiah 9:1-7 (Listen)

For to Us a Child Is Born

9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness
  have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
  on them has light shined.
You have multiplied the nation;
  you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
  as with joy at the harvest,
  as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden,
  and the staff for his shoulder,
  the rod of his oppressor,
  you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
  and every garment rolled in blood
  will be burned as fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born,
  to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
  and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
  there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
  to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
  from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

John 12:20-50 (Listen)

Some Greeks Seek Jesus

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

The Unbelief of the People

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

“He has blinded their eyes
  and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
  and understand with their heart, and turn,
  and I would heal them.”

Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Jesus Came to Save the World

And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 111:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet
[2] 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Hebrew
[3] 9:1 Or of the Gentiles
[4] 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew
[5] 9:6 Or is upon
[6] 9:6 Or is called

This reading plan is from the ESV Study Bible.

November 19: Psalm 110, 2 Kings 18, Isaiah 7-8, John 11:55-12:19

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

Psalm 110 (Listen)

Sit at My Right Hand

A Psalm of David.

110:1 The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”

The LORD sends forth from Zion
  your mighty scepter.
  Rule in the midst of your enemies!
Your people will offer themselves freely
  on the day of your power,
  in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
  the dew of your youth will be yours.
The LORD has sworn
  and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
  after the order of Melchizedek.”

The Lord is at your right hand;
  he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
He will execute judgment among the nations,
  filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
  over the wide earth.
He will drink from the brook by the way;
  therefore he will lift up his head.

2 Kings 18 (Listen)

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18:1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”

Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah 7-8 (Listen)

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

7:1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

And the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” thus says the Lord GOD:

“‘It shall not stand,
  and it shall not come to pass.
For the head of Syria is Damascus,
  and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
  Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
  and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you are not firm in faith,
  you will not be firm at all.’”

The Sign of Immanuel

Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”

In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.

In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.

In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

8:1 Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

The LORD spoke to me again: “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
  give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
  strap on your armor and be shattered.
Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
  speak a word, but it will not stand,
  for God is with us.

Fear God, Wait for the LORD

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

John 11:55-12:19 (Listen)

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

Mary Anoints Jesus at Bethany

12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

The Plot to Kill Lazarus

When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

The Triumphal Entry

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

“Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt!”

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 110:3 Or on the day you lead your forces
[2] 110:3 Masoretic Text; some Hebrew manuscripts and Jerome on the holy mountains
[3] 110:3 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
[4] 110:6 Or the head
[5] 18:4 Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for both bronze and serpent
[6] 18:14 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
[7] 18:29 Hebrew his
[8] 18:31 Hebrew Make a blessing with me
[9] 7:2 Hebrew Syria has rested upon
[10] 7:2 Hebrew his heart
[11] 7:3 Shear-jashub means A remnant shall return
[12] 7:6 Hebrew let us split it open
[13] 7:9 The Hebrew for you is plural in verses 9, 13, 14
[14] 7:11 The Hebrew for you and your is singular in verses 11, 16, 17
[15] 7:13 That is, Isaiah
[16] 7:14 Immanuel means God is with us
[17] 7:19 Or watering holes, or brambles
[18] 7:23 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
[19] 8:1 Hebrew with a man's stylus
[20] 8:1 Maher-shalal-hash-baz means The spoil speeds, the prey hastens
[21] 8:9 Or Be evil
[22] 8:9 Or dismayed
[23] 8:10 The Hebrew for God is with us is Immanuel
[24] 8:16 Or law; also verse 20
[25] 8:21 Hebrew it
[26] 8:21 Or speak contemptuously by
[27] 11:56 Greek were seeking for
[28] 12:3 Greek litra; a litra (or Roman pound) was equal to about 11 1/2 ounces or 327 grams
[29] 12:5 A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer
[30] 12:7 Or Leave her alone; she intended to keep it
[31] 12:9 Greek he

This reading plan is from the ESV Study Bible.

November 18: Psalm 109, 2 Kings 17:24-41, Isaiah 6, John 11:1-54

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

Psalm 109 (Listen)

Help Me, O LORD My God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

109:1 Be not silent, O God of my praise!
For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
  speaking against me with lying tongues.
They encircle me with words of hate,
  and attack me without cause.
In return for my love they accuse me,
  but I give myself to prayer.
So they reward me evil for good,
  and hatred for my love.

Appoint a wicked man against him;
  let an accuser stand at his right hand.
When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;
  let his prayer be counted as sin!
May his days be few;
  may another take his office!
May his children be fatherless
  and his wife a widow!
May his children wander about and beg,
  seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
May the creditor seize all that he has;
  may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
Let there be none to extend kindness to him,
  nor any to pity his fatherless children!
May his posterity be cut off;
  may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,
  and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
Let them be before the LORD continually,
  that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!

For he did not remember to show kindness,
  but pursued the poor and needy
  and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!
  He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!
He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;
  may it soak into his body like water,
  like oil into his bones!
May it be like a garment that he wraps around him,
  like a belt that he puts on every day!
May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD,
  of those who speak evil against my life!

But you, O GOD my Lord,
  deal on my behalf for your name's sake;
  because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
For I am poor and needy,
  and my heart is stricken within me.
I am gone like a shadow at evening;
  I am shaken off like a locust.
My knees are weak through fasting;
  my body has become gaunt, with no fat.
I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
  when they see me, they wag their heads.

Help me, O LORD my God!
  Save me according to your steadfast love!
Let them know that this is your hand;
  you, O LORD, have done it!
Let them curse, but you will bless!
  They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
  may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!

With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.

2 Kings 17:24-41 (Listen)

Assyria Resettles Samaria

And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

Isaiah 6 (Listen)

Isaiah's Vision of the Lord

6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah's Commission from the LORD

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull,
  and their ears heavy,
  and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
  and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
  and turn and be healed.”
Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
  without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
  and the land is a desolate waste,
and the LORD removes people far away,
  and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
And though a tenth remain in it,
  it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
  whose stump remains
  when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.

John 11:1-54 (Listen)

The Death of Lazarus

11:1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Jesus Weeps

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 109:4 Hebrew but I am prayer
[2] 109:17 Revocalization; Masoretic Text curses have come
[3] 109:17 Revocalization; Masoretic Text it is far
[4] 109:18 Revocalization; Masoretic Text it has soaked
[5] 17:27 Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew them
[6] 6:1 Or hem
[7] 6:3 Or may his glory fill the whole earth
[8] 6:9 Or Hear indeed
[9] 6:9 Or see indeed
[10] 6:10 Hebrew fat
[11] 6:13 Or purged
[12] 6:13 Or offspring
[13] 11:6 Greek he; also verse 17
[14] 11:16 Greek Didymus
[15] 11:18 Greek fifteen stadia; a stadion was about 607 feet or 185 meters
[16] 11:25 Some manuscripts omit and the life

This reading plan is from the ESV Study Bible.

November 17: Psalm 108, 2 Kings 17:1-23, Isaiah 5, John 10:19-42

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

Psalm 108 (Listen)

With God We Shall Do Valiantly

A Song. A Psalm of David.

108:1 My heart is steadfast, O God!
  I will sing and make melody with all my being!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
  I will awake the dawn!
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples;
  I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is great above the heavens;
  your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
That your beloved ones may be delivered,
give salvation by your right hand and answer me!

God has promised in his holiness:
  “With exultation I will divide up Shechem
  and portion out the Valley of Succoth.
Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
  Ephraim is my helmet,
  Judah my scepter.
Moab is my washbasin;
  upon Edom I cast my shoe;
  over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

Who will bring me to the fortified city?
  Who will lead me to Edom?
Have you not rejected us, O God?
  You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
Oh grant us help against the foe,
  for vain is the salvation of man!
With God we shall do valiantly;
  it is he who will tread down our foes.

2 Kings 17:1-23 (Listen)

17:1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

The Fall of Israel

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Exile Because of Idolatry

And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this.” Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.

Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin. The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Isaiah 5 (Listen)

The Vineyard of the LORD Destroyed

5:1 Let me sing for my beloved
  my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
  on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
  and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
  and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
  but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
  and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard,
  that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
  why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you
  what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
  and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
  and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
  it shall not be pruned or hoed,
  and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
  that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
  is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
  are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
  but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
  but behold, an outcry!

Woe to the Wicked

Woe to those who join house to house,
  who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
  and you are made to dwell alone
  in the midst of the land.
The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
  large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
  and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”

Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
  that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
  as wine inflames them!
They have lyre and harp,
  tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD,
  or see the work of his hands.

Therefore my people go into exile
  for lack of knowledge;
their honored men go hungry,
  and their multitude is parched with thirst.
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
  and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down,
  her revelers and he who exults in her.
Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
  and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.
But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice,
  and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
  and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
  who draw sin as with cart ropes,
who say: “Let him be quick,
  let him speed his work
  that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
  and let it come, that we may know it!”
Woe to those who call evil good
  and good evil,
who put darkness for light
  and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
  and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
  and shrewd in their own sight!
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
  and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
  and deprive the innocent of his right!

Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
  and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will be as rottenness,
  and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts,
  and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,
  and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
  and the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
  in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
  and his hand is stretched out still.

He will raise a signal for nations far away,
  and whistle for them from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
None is weary, none stumbles,
  none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
  not a sandal strap broken;
their arrows are sharp,
  all their bows bent,
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
  and their wheels like the whirlwind.
Their roaring is like a lion,
  like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey;
  they carry it off, and none can rescue.
They will growl over it on that day,
  like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
  behold, darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.

John 10:19-42 (Listen)

There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

I and the Father Are One

At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 108:1 Hebrew with my glory
[2] 108:7 Or sanctuary
[3] 17:17 Or made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire
[4] 5:5 Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5
[5] 5:7 The Hebrew words for justice and bloodshed sound alike
[6] 5:7 The Hebrew words for righteous and outcry sound alike
[7] 5:10 Hebrew ten yoke, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day
[8] 5:10 A bath was about 6 gallons or 22 liters; a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; an ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
[9] 5:13 Or without their knowledge
[10] 5:13 Or die of hunger
[11] 5:14 Hebrew her nobility
[12] 5:15 Hebrew high
[13] 5:16 Hebrew high
[14] 10:29 Some manuscripts What my Father has given to me

This reading plan is from the ESV Study Bible.

November 16: Psalm 107, 2 Kings 16, Isaiah 3-4, John 10:1-18

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

Psalm 107 (Listen)

Book Five

Let the Redeemed of the LORD Say So

107:1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
  for his steadfast love endures forever!
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
  whom he has redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
  from the east and from the west,
  from the north and from the south.

Some wandered in desert wastes,
  finding no way to a city to dwell in;
hungry and thirsty,
  their soul fainted within them.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
  and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
  till they reached a city to dwell in.
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
  for his wondrous works to the children of man!
For he satisfies the longing soul,
  and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
  prisoners in affliction and in irons,
for they had rebelled against the words of God,
  and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
  they fell down, with none to help.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
  and he delivered them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
  and burst their bonds apart.
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
  for his wondrous works to the children of man!
For he shatters the doors of bronze
  and cuts in two the bars of iron.

Some were fools through their sinful ways,
  and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
they loathed any kind of food,
  and they drew near to the gates of death.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
  and he delivered them from their distress.
He sent out his word and healed them,
  and delivered them from their destruction.
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
  for his wondrous works to the children of man!
And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
  and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

Some went down to the sea in ships,
  doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the LORD,
  his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
  which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
  their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
  and were at their wits' end.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
  and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
  and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
  and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
  for his wondrous works to the children of man!
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
  and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

He turns rivers into a desert,
  springs of water into thirsty ground,
a fruitful land into a salty waste,
  because of the evil of its inhabitants.
He turns a desert into pools of water,
  a parched land into springs of water.
And there he lets the hungry dwell,
  and they establish a city to live in;
they sow fields and plant vineyards
  and get a fruitful yield.
By his blessing they multiply greatly,
  and he does not let their livestock diminish.

When they are diminished and brought low
  through oppression, evil, and sorrow,
he pours contempt on princes
  and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
but he raises up the needy out of affliction
  and makes their families like flocks.
The upright see it and are glad,
  and all wickedness shuts its mouth.

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.

2 Kings 16 (Listen)

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

16:1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.

When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. And the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Isaiah 3-4 (Listen)

Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

3:1 For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts
  is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and supply,
  all support of bread,
  and all support of water;
the mighty man and the soldier,
  the judge and the prophet,
  the diviner and the elder,
the captain of fifty
  and the man of rank,
the counselor and the skillful magician
  and the expert in charms.
And I will make boys their princes,
  and infants shall rule over them.
And the people will oppress one another,
  every one his fellow
  and every one his neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the elder,
  and the despised to the honorable.

For a man will take hold of his brother
  in the house of his father, saying:
“You have a cloak;
  you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
  shall be under your rule”;
in that day he will speak out, saying:
“I will not be a healer;
  in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me
  leader of the people.”
For Jerusalem has stumbled,
  and Judah has fallen,
because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD,
  defying his glorious presence.

For the look on their faces bears witness against them;
  they proclaim their sin like Sodom;
  they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
  For they have brought evil on themselves.
Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
  for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
  for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
My people—infants are their oppressors,
  and women rule over them.
O my people, your guides mislead you
  and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.

The LORD has taken his place to contend;
  he stands to judge peoples.
The LORD will enter into judgment
  with the elders and princes of his people:
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard,
  the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What do you mean by crushing my people,
  by grinding the face of the poor?”
declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

The LORD said:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty
  and walk with outstretched necks,
  glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
  tinkling with their feet,
therefore the Lord will strike with a scab
  the heads of the daughters of Zion,
  and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts.

In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; the signet rings and nose rings; the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;
  and instead of a belt, a rope;
and instead of well-set hair, baldness;
  and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth;
  and branding instead of beauty.
Your men shall fall by the sword
  and your mighty men in battle.
And her gates shall lament and mourn;
  empty, she shall sit on the ground.

4:1 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”

The Branch of the LORD Glorified

In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

John 10:1-18 (Listen)

I Am the Good Shepherd

10:1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 107:2 Or from the hand of the foe
[2] 107:27 Hebrew and all their wisdom was swallowed up
[3] 107:30 Hebrew they
[4] 16:3 Or made his son pass through the fire
[5] 16:17 Compare 1 Kings 7:23
[6] 3:1 Hebrew staff
[7] 3:4 Or caprice
[8] 3:7 Hebrew binder of wounds
[9] 3:8 Hebrew the eyes of his glory
[10] 3:12 Or they have confused
[11] 3:14 Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5
[12] 4:4 Or purging

This reading plan is from the ESV Study Bible.

November 15: Psalm 106, 2 Kings 14:23-15:38, Isaiah 2, John 9

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

Psalm 106 (Listen)

Give Thanks to the LORD, for He Is Good

106:1 Praise the LORD!
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
  for his steadfast love endures forever!
Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD,
  or declare all his praise?
Blessed are they who observe justice,
  who do righteousness at all times!

Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people;
  help me when you save them,
that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones,
  that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
  that I may glory with your inheritance.

Both we and our fathers have sinned;
  we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.
Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
  did not consider your wondrous works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
  but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
Yet he saved them for his name's sake,
  that he might make known his mighty power.
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
  and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
So he saved them from the hand of the foe
  and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
And the waters covered their adversaries;
  not one of them was left.
Then they believed his words;
  they sang his praise.

But they soon forgot his works;
  they did not wait for his counsel.
But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness,
  and put God to the test in the desert;
he gave them what they asked,
  but sent a wasting disease among them.

When men in the camp were jealous of Moses
  and Aaron, the holy one of the LORD,
the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
  and covered the company of Abiram.
Fire also broke out in their company;
  the flame burned up the wicked.

They made a calf in Horeb
  and worshiped a metal image.
They exchanged the glory of God
  for the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God, their Savior,
  who had done great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
  and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
Therefore he said he would destroy them—
  had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
  to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

Then they despised the pleasant land,
  having no faith in his promise.
They murmured in their tents,
  and did not obey the voice of the LORD.
Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them
  that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
and would make their offspring fall among the nations,
  scattering them among the lands.

Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor,
  and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,
  and a plague broke out among them.
Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
  and the plague was stayed.
And that was counted to him as righteousness
  from generation to generation forever.

They angered him at the waters of Meribah,
and it went ill with Moses on their account,
for they made his spirit bitter,
and he spoke rashly with his lips.

They did not destroy the peoples,
  as the LORD commanded them,
but they mixed with the nations
  and learned to do as they did.
They served their idols,
  which became a snare to them.
They sacrificed their sons
  and their daughters to the demons;
they poured out innocent blood,
  the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
  and the land was polluted with blood.
Thus they became unclean by their acts,
  and played the whore in their deeds.

Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,
  and he abhorred his heritage;
he gave them into the hand of the nations,
  so that those who hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies oppressed them,
  and they were brought into subjection under their power.
Many times he delivered them,
  but they were rebellious in their purposes
  and were brought low through their iniquity.

Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,
  when he heard their cry.
For their sake he remembered his covenant,
  and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
He caused them to be pitied
  by all those who held them captive.

Save us, O LORD our God,
and gather us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in your praise.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the LORD!

2 Kings 14:23-15:38 (Listen)

Jeroboam II Reigns in Israel

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

Azariah Reigns in Judah

15:1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. And the LORD touched the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house. And Jotham the king's son was over the household, governing the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

Zechariah Reigns in Israel

In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down at Ibleam and put him to death and reigned in his place. Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. (This was the promise of the LORD that he gave to Jehu, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it came to pass.)

Shallum Reigns in Israel

Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria. Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and reigned in his place. Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, and the conspiracy that he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on, because they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it, and he ripped open all the women in it who were pregnant.

Menahem Reigns in Israel

In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, and he reigned ten years in Samaria. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart all his days from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that he might help him to confirm his hold on the royal power. Menahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy men, fifty shekels of silver from every man, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land. Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.

Pekahiah Reigns in Israel

In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty men of the people of Gilead, and struck him down in Samaria, in the citadel of the king's house with Argob and Arieh; he put him to death and reigned in his place. Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Pekah Reigns in Israel

In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twenty years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.

In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria. Then Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah and struck him down and put him to death and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Jotham Reigns in Judah

In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? In those days the LORD began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Isaiah 2 (Listen)

The Mountain of the LORD

2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

It shall come to pass in the latter days
  that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
  and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
  and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
  to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
  and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law,
  and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
  and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
  and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
  neither shall they learn war anymore.

O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the LORD.

The Day of the LORD

For you have rejected your people,
  the house of Jacob,
because they are full of things from the east
  and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,
  and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
Their land is filled with silver and gold,
  and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
  and there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is filled with idols;
  they bow down to the work of their hands,
  to what their own fingers have made.
So man is humbled,
  and each one is brought low—
  do not forgive them!
Enter into the rock
  and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the LORD,
  and from the splendor of his majesty.
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
  and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

For the LORD of hosts has a day
  against all that is proud and lofty,
  against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
against all the cedars of Lebanon,
  lofty and lifted up;
  and against all the oaks of Bashan;
against all the lofty mountains,
  and against all the uplifted hills;
against every high tower,
  and against every fortified wall;
against all the ships of Tarshish,
  and against all the beautiful craft.
And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
  and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
  and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
And the idols shall utterly pass away.
And people shall enter the caves of the rocks
  and the holes of the ground,
from before the terror of the LORD,
  and from the splendor of his majesty,
  when he rises to terrify the earth.

In that day mankind will cast away
  their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for themselves to worship,
  to the moles and to the bats,
to enter the caverns of the rocks
  and the clefts of the cliffs,
from before the terror of the LORD,
  and from the splendor of his majesty,
  when he rises to terrify the earth.
Stop regarding man
  in whose nostrils is breath,
  for of what account is he?

John 9 (Listen)

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 106:4 Or Remember me, O Lord, with the favor you show to your people; help me with your salvation
[2] 106:33 Or they rebelled against God's Spirit
[3] 15:5 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
[4] 15:5 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
[5] 15:13 Another name for Azariah
[6] 15:19 Another name for Tiglath-pileser III (compare verse 29)
[7] 15:19 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
[8] 15:20 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
[9] 2:3 Or teaching
[10] 2:19 Hebrew dust
[11] 9:22 Greek him
[12] 9:35 Some manuscripts the Son of God
[13] 9:41 Greek you would not have sin

This reading plan is from the ESV Study Bible.

November 14: Psalm 105, 2 Kings 14:1-22, Isaiah 1, John 8

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

Psalm 105 (Listen)

Tell of All His Wonderful Works

105:1 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name;
  make known his deeds among the peoples!
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
  tell of all his wondrous works!
Glory in his holy name;
  let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!
Seek the LORD and his strength;
  seek his presence continually!
Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
  his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
O offspring of Abraham, his servant,
  children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

He is the LORD our God;
  his judgments are in all the earth.
He remembers his covenant forever,
  the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
the covenant that he made with Abraham,
  his sworn promise to Isaac,
which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
  to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
  as your portion for an inheritance.”

When they were few in number,
  of little account, and sojourners in it,
wandering from nation to nation,
  from one kingdom to another people,
he allowed no one to oppress them;
  he rebuked kings on their account,
saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,
  do my prophets no harm!”

When he summoned a famine on the land
  and broke all supply of bread,
he had sent a man ahead of them,
  Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
His feet were hurt with fetters;
  his neck was put in a collar of iron;
until what he had said came to pass,
  the word of the LORD tested him.
The king sent and released him;
  the ruler of the peoples set him free;
he made him lord of his house
  and ruler of all his possessions,
to bind his princes at his pleasure
  and to teach his elders wisdom.

Then Israel came to Egypt;
  Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
And the LORD made his people very fruitful
  and made them stronger than their foes.
He turned their hearts to hate his people,
  to deal craftily with his servants.

He sent Moses, his servant,
  and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
They performed his signs among them
  and miracles in the land of Ham.
He sent darkness, and made the land dark;
  they did not rebel against his words.
He turned their waters into blood
  and caused their fish to die.
Their land swarmed with frogs,
  even in the chambers of their kings.
He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
  and gnats throughout their country.
He gave them hail for rain,
  and fiery lightning bolts through their land.
He struck down their vines and fig trees,
  and shattered the trees of their country.
He spoke, and the locusts came,
  young locusts without number,
which devoured all the vegetation in their land
  and ate up the fruit of their ground.
He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
  the firstfruits of all their strength.

Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold,
and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
Egypt was glad when they departed,
for dread of them had fallen upon it.

He spread a cloud for a covering,
  and fire to give light by night.
They asked, and he brought quail,
  and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
  it flowed through the desert like a river.
For he remembered his holy promise,
  and Abraham, his servant.

So he brought his people out with joy,
  his chosen ones with singing.
And he gave them the lands of the nations,
  and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil,
that they might keep his statutes
  and observe his laws.
Praise the LORD!

2 Kings 14:1-22 (Listen)

Amaziah Reigns in Judah

14:1 In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father. But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”

He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this day.

Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

Isaiah 1 (Listen)

1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Wickedness of Judah

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
  for the LORD has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
  but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner,
  and the donkey its master's crib,
but Israel does not know,
  my people do not understand.”

Ah, sinful nation,
  a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
  children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,
  they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
  they are utterly estranged.

Why will you still be struck down?
  Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
  and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
  there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
  and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
  or softened with oil.

Your country lies desolate;
  your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
  foreigners devour your land;
  it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
And the daughter of Zion is left
  like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
  like a besieged city.

If the LORD of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.

Hear the word of the LORD,
  you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
  you people of Gomorrah!
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
  says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
  and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
  or of lambs, or of goats.

“When you come to appear before me,
  who has required of you
  this trampling of my courts?
Bring no more vain offerings;
  incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
  I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
  my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
  I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,
  I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
  I will not listen;
  your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
  remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
  learn to do good;
seek justice,
  correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
  plead the widow's cause.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
  they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
  they shall become like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
  you shall eat the good of the land;
but if you refuse and rebel,
  you shall be eaten by the sword;
  for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

The Unfaithful City

How the faithful city
  has become a whore,
  she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
  but now murderers.
Your silver has become dross,
  your best wine mixed with water.
Your princes are rebels
  and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
  and runs after gifts.
They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
  and the widow's cause does not come to them.

Therefore the Lord declares,
  the LORD of hosts,
  the Mighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
  and avenge myself on my foes.
I will turn my hand against you
  and will smelt away your dross as with lye
  and remove all your alloy.
And I will restore your judges as at the first,
  and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,
  the faithful city.”

Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
  and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
  and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks
  that you desired;
and you shall blush for the gardens
  that you have chosen.
For you shall be like an oak
  whose leaf withers,
  and like a garden without water.
And the strong shall become tinder,
  and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
  with none to quench them.

John 8 (Listen)

8:1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]

I Am the Light of the World

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Before Abraham Was, I Am

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 105:16 Hebrew staff
[2] 105:22 Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome instruct
[3] 105:28 Septuagint, Syriac omit not
[4] 14:8 Jehoash is another spelling for Joash (son of Jehoahaz) as in 13:9, 12-14; also verses 9, 11-16
[5] 14:13 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
[6] 1:2 Or Sons; also verse 4
[7] 1:10 Or law
[8] 1:18 Or dispute
[9] 1:21 Or become unchaste
[10] 1:29 Some Hebrew manuscripts you
[11] 8:16 Some manuscripts he
[12] 8:34 Greek bondservant; also verse 35
[13] 8:54 Some manuscripts your God
[14] 8:57 Some manuscripts has Abraham seen you?

This reading plan is from the ESV Study Bible.