← Through the ESV Bible in a Year with Jackie Hill Perry
Through the ESV Bible in a Year with Jackie Hill Perry
December 21 (Amos 6–9; Psalm 141; 2 John—Jude)
00:16:32
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Reader
A reading from the Book of Amos. Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria. The notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of.
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Israel comes, pass over to Chalne and.
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Sea, and from there go to Hamath the Great, then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms, or is their territory greater than your territory?
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O you who put far away the.
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Day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence. Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idol songs to the sound of the harp and, like David, invent for themselves instruments of music, who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.
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Therefore they shall now be the first.
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Of those who go into exile, and and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away. The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts. I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds. And I will deliver up the city and all that is in it. And if 10 men remain in one house, they shall die. And when one's relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, is there still anyone with you? He shall say, no. And he shall say, silence. We must not mention the name of the Lord. For, behold, the Lord commands. And the great house shall be struck down into fragments and the little house into bits. Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. You who rejoice in Lo Debor, who say, have we not by our own strength captured Carnium for ourselves? For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, declares the Lord, the God of hosts. And they shall oppress you from Lebo Hamath to the brook of the Arabah. This is what the Lord God showed me. Behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout. And behold, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, o Lord God, please forgive me. How can Jacob stand? He is so small. The Lord relented concerning this it shall not be said the Lord. This is what the Lord God showed me. Behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoureth the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said, o Lord God, please cease. How can Jacob stand? He is so small. The Lord relented concerning this. This also shall not be said the Lord God. This is what he showed me. Behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, amos, what do you see? And I said, a plumb line. Then the Lord said, behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will never again pass by them. The high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid to waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, amos.
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Has conspired against you.
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In the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land. And Amaziah said to Amos, o seer, go flee away to the land of Judah and eat bread there and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary and it is a temple of the kingdom. Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock. And the Lord said to me, go prophesy to my people Israel. Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord. You say, do not prophesy against Israel and do not preach against the house of Isaac. Therefore, thus says, the wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line. You yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land. This is what the Lord God showed me. Behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, amos, what do you see? And I said, a basket of summer fruit. Then the Lord said to me, the end has come upon my people Israel. I will never again pass by them. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day, declares the Lord God, so many dead bodies, they are thrown Everywhere. Silence. Hear this, you who trample on the.
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Needy and bring the poor of the.
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Land to an end, saying, when will the new moon be over? That we may sell grain and the Sabbath. That we may offer wheat for sale. That we may make the Ephah small and the shekel great, and deal deceitfully with false balances. That we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat. The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob. Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account? And every one mourn who dwells in it? And all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again like the Nile of Egypt. And on that day, declares the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread, nor thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea.
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And from north to east.
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They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it in that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, as your God lives, O Dan, and as the way of Beersheba lives, they shall fall and never rise again. I saw the Lord standing beside the altar and he said, strike the capitals until the thresholds shake and shatter them on the heads of all the people. And those who are left of them I will kill with the sword. Not one of them shall flee away, not one of them shall escape.
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If they dig into Sheol, from there.
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Shall my hand take them. If they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them. And if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, the there I will command the serpent and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies there I will command the sword and it shall kill them. And I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good. The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile and sinks again like the Nile of Egypt.
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Who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth?
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Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth? The Lord is his name. Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel? Declares the Lord. Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kur? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, declares the Lord. For, behold, I will command and shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes with a sieve. But no pebble shall fall to the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say disaster shall not overtake or meet us in that day. I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, declares the Lord. Who does this? Behold, the days are coming declared, declares the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed, the mountain shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God. A reading from the Book of Psalms.
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A Psalm of David. O Lord, I call upon you. Hasten to me. Give ear to my voice when I call to you. Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity. And let me not eat of their delicacies. Let a righteous man strike me. It is a kindness. Let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head, let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. When their judges are thrown over the cliff. Then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant as when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol. But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord, in you I seek refuge. Leave me not, defenseless. Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers. Let the wicked fall into their own nets while I pass by safely. A reading from the Book of two, John. My love and truth. And not only I, but also all who know the truth. Because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son. In truth and love, I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another, and this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ.
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Does not have God.
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Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete. The children of your elect sister greet you.
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A reading from the book of Third John the Elder.
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To the beloved Gaius, whom I love. In truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health as it goes.
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Well with your soul.
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For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testify to your love before the Church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, for they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. I have written something to the Church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want to and puts them.
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Out of the church.
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Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God. Whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone. And from the truth itself we also add our testimony. And you know that our testimony is true. I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name. A reading from the book of Jude. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you, beloved. Although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation. Ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe and the angels, who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling. He has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet in like manner, these people, also relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, his he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perished in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead uprooted wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, saying, behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires. They are loud mouth boasters showing favoritism to gain advantage. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you in the last time, there will be scoffers, but following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt, save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others, show mercy with fear and hating even the garments stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.