← Through the ESV Bible in a Year with Jackie Hill Perry
Through the ESV Bible in a Year with Jackie Hill Perry
November 25 (Ezekiel 19–20; Psalm 119:137–144; Colossians 1–2)
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A reading from the book of Ezekiel. And you take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel and say, what was your mother? A lioness among lions. She crouched in the midst of young lions. She reared her cubs, and she brought up one of her cubs. He became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey. He devoured men. The nations heard about him. He was caught in their pit, and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. When she saw that she waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion. He prowled among the lions. He became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey. He devoured men and seized their widows, he laid waste their cities and the land was appalled, and all who were in it at the sound of his roaring. Then the nations set against him. From provinces on every side they spread their net over him. He was taken in their pit with hooks. They put him in a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into custody that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel. Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard planted by the water, fruitful and full of branches. By reason of abundant water, its strong stems became ruler scepters. It towered aloft among the thick boughs. It was seen in its height with the mass of his branches. But the vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground. The east wind dried up its fruit. They were stripped off and withered. The as for its strong stem, fire consumed it. Now it is planted in the wilderness in a dry and thirsty land. And fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots has consumed its fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for ruling. This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation. In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, thus says the Lord is it to inquire of me that you come? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you. Will you judge them? Son of man, will you judge them? Let them know the abominations of their fathers, and say to them, thus says the Lord God. On the day when I chose Israel, I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, making myself known to them in the land of Egypt, I swore to them, saying, I Am the Lord your God. On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands. And I said to them, cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on every one of you. And do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. But they rebelled against me and and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, Nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. But I acted for the sake of my name that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. So I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live. Moreover, I gave them my sabbaths as a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes, but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live. And my sabbaths they greatly profaned. And then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness to make a full end of them. But I acted for the sake of my name that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands. Because they rejected my rules and did not walk in my statutes and profaned my sabbaths. For their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless, my eyes spared them, and I did not destroy them or make a full end of them in the wilderness. And I said to their children in the wilderness, do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the Lord your God. Walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules and keep my sabbaths holy, that they may be assigned between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. But the children rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes, and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live. They profaned my sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and and dispersed them through the countries, because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their Father's idols. Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good, and rules by which they could not have life. And I defiled them through their very gifts and their offering up all their firstborn that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the Lord. Therefore, Son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, thus says the Lord God. In this also your fathers blasphemed me by dealing treacherously with me. For when I had brought them into the land that I swore to give them, then wherever they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering, there they sent up their pleasing aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings. I said to them, what is the high place to which you go? So its name is called Bema. To this day, therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things? When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you. What is in your mind shall never happen. The thought, Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone. As I live, declares the Lord God. Surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I will be king over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt. So I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord God. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge out the rebels from among you and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God. Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter. If you will not listen to me but my holy name, you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols. For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, declares the Lord God. There all the house of Israel, all of them shall serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choices of your gifts, with all your sacred offerings as a pleasing aroma. I will accept you when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations. And you shall know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your fathers. And there you shall remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves. And you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed. And you shall know that I am the Lord when I deal with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways, but according nor according to your corrupt deeds. O house of Israel, declares the Lord God. And the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, set your face toward the southland, preach against the south and prophesy against the forest land in the Negeb. Say to the forest of the Negeb, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God. Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree every the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it. All flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it. It shall not be quenched. Then I said, ah, Lord God, they are saying of me, is he not a maker of parables? A reading from the Book of Psalms. Righteous are you, O Lord, and right are your rules. You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness. My Zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words. Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it. I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts. Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true. Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight. Your testimonies are righteous forever. Give me understanding that I may live. A reading from the book of Colossians. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world. It is bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for Him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you who once were alienated and Hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints, to them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance, of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, and in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross, he disarmed the rulers and authorities, and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival, or a new moon, or a sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body nourished and knit together, through which joints and ligaments grows with the growth that is from God. If with Christ you die to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teachings. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self made religion and and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.