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Daily Readings for December 18
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Job 22
1.Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, 2."Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. 3.Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect? 4.Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment? 5.Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities. 6.For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7.You haven't given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. 8.But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. 9.You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10.Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you, 11.or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.
12."Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are! 13.You say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? 14.Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn't see. He walks on the vault of the sky.' 15.Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden, 16.who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream, 17.who said to God, 'Depart from us;' and, 'What can the Almighty do for us?' 18.Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19.The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them, 20.saying, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.'
21."Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you. 22.Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. 23.If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents. 24.Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. 25.The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. 26.For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God. 27.You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows. 28.You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways. 29.When they cast down, you shall say, 'be lifted up.' He will save the humble person. 30.He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
Haggai 1
1.In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the Word of Yahweh1 came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2."This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, 'The time hasn't yet come, the time for Yahweh's house to be built.'"
3.Then the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, 4."Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste? 5.Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Consider your ways. 6.You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don't have enough. You drink, but you aren't filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it."
7.This is what Yahweh of Armies says: "Consider your ways. 8.Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified," says Yahweh. 9."You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says Yahweh of Armies, "Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10.Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 11.I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground brings forth, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands."
12.Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Yahweh, their God2, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as Yahweh, their God, had sent him; and the people feared Yahweh.
13.Then Haggai, Yahweh's messenger, spoke Yahweh's message to the people, saying, "I am with you," says Yahweh.
14.Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of Armies, their God, 15.in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
Haggai 2
1.In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 2."Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 3.'Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn't it in your eyes as nothing? 4.Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,' says Yahweh. 'Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' says Yahweh, 'and work, for I am with you,' says Yahweh of Armies. 5.This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. 'Don't be afraid.' 6.For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: 'Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land; 7.and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies. 8.The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,' says Yahweh of Armies. 9.'The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,' says Yahweh of Armies; 'and in this place will I give peace,' says Yahweh of Armies."
10.In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 11."Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, 12.'If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?'"
The priests answered, "No."
13.Then Haggai said, "If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?"
The priests answered, "It will be unclean."
14.Then Haggai answered, "'So is this people, and so is this nation before me,' says Yahweh; 'and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean. 15.Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of Yahweh. 16.Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty. 17.I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn't turn to me,' says Yahweh. 18.'Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Yahweh's temple was laid, consider it. 19.Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven't brought forth. From this day will I bless you.'"
20.The Word of Yahweh came the second time to Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 21."Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, 'I will shake the heavens and the earth. 22.I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. 23.In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,' says Yahweh, 'and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,' says Yahweh of Armies."
1John 5
1.Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him. 2.By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. 3.For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. 4.For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. 5.Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6.This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7.For there are three who testify5: 8.the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one. 9.If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God's testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. 10.He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn't believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. 11.The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12.He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn't have God's Son doesn't have the life. 13.These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
14.This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. 15.And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.
16.If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I don't say that he should make a request concerning this. 17.All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. 18.We know that whoever is born of God doesn't sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn't touch him. 19.We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20.We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
21.Little children, keep yourselves from idols.