Daily Readings for December 31
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Job 41

 

1."Can you draw out Leviathan¹⁴ with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord? 2.Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook? 3.Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you? 4.Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever? 5.Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls? 6.Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants? 7.Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears? 8.Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more. 9.Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won't one be cast down even at the sight of him? 10.None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me? 11.Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.

12."I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame. 13.Who can strip off his outer garment? Who shall come within his jaws? 14.Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror. 15.Strong scales are his pride, shut up together with a close seal. 16.One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. 17.They are joined one to another. They stick together, so that they can't be pulled apart. 18.His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. 19.Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap forth. 20.Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. 21.His breath kindles coals. A flame goes forth from his mouth. 22.There is strength in his neck. Terror dances before him. 23.The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him. They can't be moved. 24.His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, firm as the lower millstone. 25.When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. They retreat before his thrashing. 26.If one attacks him with the sword, it can't prevail; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft. 27.He counts iron as straw; and brass as rotten wood. 28.The arrow can't make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him. 29.Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin. 30.His undersides are like sharp potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. 31.He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment. 32.He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair. 33.On earth there is not his equal, that is made without fear. 34.He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride."

 

Job 42

 

1.Then Job answered Yahweh, 2."I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained. 3.You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?' therefore I have uttered that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn't know. 4.You said, 'Listen, now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.' 5.I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. 6.Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

7.It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. 8.Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has."

9.So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did what Yahweh commanded them, and Yahweh accepted Job.

10.Yahweh turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends. Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11.Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money,¹⁵ and everyone a ring of gold.

12.So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. 13.He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14.He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch. 15.In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16.After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, to four generations. 17.So Job died, being old and full of days.

 

Malachi 3

 

1."Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!" says Yahweh of Armies. 2."But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap; 3.and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness. 4.Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. 5.I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Armies. 6."For I, Yahweh, don't change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 7.From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says Yahweh of Armies. "But you say, 'How shall we return?' 8.Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings. 9.You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation. 10.Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this," says Yahweh of Armies, "if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for. 11.I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field," says Yahweh of Armies. 12."All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," says Yahweh of Armies.

13."Your words have been stout against me," says Yahweh. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against you?' 14.You have said, 'It is vain to serve God;' and 'What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies? 15.Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.' 16.Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honored his name. 17.They shall be mine," says Yahweh of Armies, "my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. 18.Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn't serve him.

 

Malachi 4

 

1."For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up," says Yahweh of Armies, "that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2.But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall. 3.You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make," says Yahweh of Armies.

4."Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. 5.Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. 6.He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

 

Revelation 21

 

1.I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. 2.I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3.I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4.He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away."

5.He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." He said, "Write, for these words of God are faithful and true." 6.He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7.He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son. 8.But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers,⁴³ idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

9.One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb's bride." 10.He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11.having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12.having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. 13.On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14.The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. 15.He who spoke with me had for a measure, a golden reed, to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. 16.The city lies foursquare, and its length is as great as its breadth. He measured the city with the reed, Twelve thousand twelve stadia⁴⁴. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. 17.Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits,⁴⁵ by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18.The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass. 19.The foundations of the city's wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire⁴⁶; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20.the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; and the twelfth, amethyst. 21.The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22.I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. 23.The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24.The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 25.Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there), 26.and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter. 27.There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

 

Revelation 22

 

1.He showed me a⁴⁷ river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2.in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3.There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him. 4.They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5.There will be no night, and they need no lamp light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.

6.He said to me, "These words are faithful and true. The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show to his bondservants the things which must happen soon."

7."Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."

8.Now I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who had shown me these things. 9.He said to me, "See you don't do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God." 10.He said to me, "Don't seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 11.He who acts unjustly, let him act unjustly still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him do righteousness still. He who is holy, let him be holy still."

12."Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work. 13.I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14.Blessed are those who do his commandments,⁴⁸ that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. 15.Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16.I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the offspring of David; the Bright and Morning Star."

17.The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" He who hears, let him say, "Come!" He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely. 18.I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, may God add to him the plagues which are written in this book. 19.If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, may God take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. 20.He who testifies these things says, "Yes, I come quickly."

Amen! Yes, come, Lord Jesus.

21.The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints. Amen.

 

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