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Daily Readings for February 17
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Exodus 28
1."Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. 2.You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. 3.You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest's office. 4.These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest's office. 5.They shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.
6."They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful workman. 7.It shall have two shoulder straps joined to the two ends of it, that it may be joined together. 8.The skillfully woven band, which is on it, that is on him, shall be like its work and of the same piece; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9.You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel: 10.six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the six that remain on the other stone, in the order of their birth. 11.With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones, according to the names of the children of Israel: you shall make them to be enclosed in settings of gold. 12.You shall put the two stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before Yahweh on his two shoulders for a memorial. 13.You shall make settings of gold, 14.and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them like cords of braided work: and you shall put the braided chains on the settings.
15."You shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, you shall make it. 16.It shall be square and folded double; a span22 shall be its length of it, and a span its breadth. 17.You shall set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row of ruby, topaz, and beryl shall be the first row; 18.and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire23, and an emerald; 19.and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 20.and the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be enclosed in gold in their settings. 21.The stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name, they shall be for the twelve tribes. 22.You shall make on the breastplate chains like cords, of braided work of pure gold. 23.You shall make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 24.You shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. 25.The other two ends of the two braided chains you shall put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in its forepart. 26.You shall make two rings of gold, and you shall put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, which is toward the side of the ephod inward. 27.You shall make two rings of gold, and shall put them on the two shoulder straps of the ephod underneath, in its forepart, close by its coupling, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 28.They shall bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not swing out from the ephod. 29.Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes in to the holy place, for a memorial before Yahweh continually. 30.You shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before Yahweh: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart before Yahweh continually.
31."You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32.It shall have a hole for the head in its midst: it shall have a binding of woven work around its hole, as it were the hole of a coat of mail, that it not be torn. 33.On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, around its hem; and bells of gold between and around them: 34.a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe. 35.It shall be on Aaron to minister: and its sound shall be heard when he goes in to the holy place before Yahweh, and when he comes out, that he not die.
36."You shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, 'HOLY TO YAHWEH.' 37.You shall put it on a lace of blue, and it shall be on the sash; on the front of the sash it shall be. 38.It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall make holy in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Yahweh. 39.You shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash, the work of the embroiderer.
40."You shall make coats for Aaron's sons, and you shall make sashes for them and you shall make headbands for them, for glory and for beauty. 41.You shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office. 42.You shall make them linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the waist even to the thighs they shall reach: 43.They shall be on Aaron, and on his sons, when they go in to the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place; that they don't bear iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.
Psalm 83
1.God, don't keep silent. Don't keep silent, and don't be still, God. 2.For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads. 3.They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones. 4."Come," they say, "and let's destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more." 5.For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you. 6.The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites; 7.Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8.Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot. Selah. 9.Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon; 10.who perished at Endor, who became as dung for the earth. 11.Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb; yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna; 12.who said, "Let us take possession of God's pasturelands." 13.My God, make them like tumbleweed; like chaff before the wind. 14.As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire, 15.so pursue them with your tempest, and terrify them with your storm. 16.Fill their faces with confusion, that they may seek your name, Yahweh. 17.Let them be disappointed and dismayed forever. Yes, let them be confounded and perish; 18.that they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 84
1.How lovely are your dwellings, Yahweh of Armies! 2.My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3.Yes, the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, near your altars, Yahweh of Armies, my King, and my God. 4.Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They are always praising you. Selah. 5.Blessed are those whose strength is in you; who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage. 6.Passing through the valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs. Yes, the autumn rain covers it with blessings. 7.They go from strength to strength. Everyone of them appears before God in Zion. 8.Yahweh, God of Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, God of Jacob. Selah. 9.Behold, God our shield, look at the face of your anointed. 10.For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11.For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly. 12.Yahweh of Armies, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
Mark 13
1.As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Teacher, see what kind of stones and what kind of buildings!"
2.Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone on another, which will not be thrown down."
3.As he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4."Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign that these things are all about to be fulfilled?"
5.Jesus, answering, began to tell them, "Be careful that no one leads you astray. 6.For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he!41' and will lead many astray.
7."When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don't be troubled. For those must happen, but the end is not yet. 8.For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines and troubles. These things are the beginning of birth pains. 9.But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them. 10.The Good News must first be preached to all the nations. 11.When they lead you away and deliver you up, don't be anxious beforehand, or premeditate what you will say, but say whatever will be given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
12."Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. 13.You will be hated by all men for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end, the same will be saved. 14.But when you see the abomination of desolation,42 spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, 15.and let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house. 16.Let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak. 17.But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days! 18.Pray that your flight won't be in the winter. 19.For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. 20.Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days. 21.Then if anyone tells you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'Look, there!' don't believe it. 22.For there will arise false christs and false prophets, and will show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones. 23.But you watch.
"Behold, I have told you all things beforehand. 24.But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, 25.the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.43 26.Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27.Then he will send out his angels, and will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky.
28."Now from the fig tree, learn this parable. When the branch has now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near; 29.even so you also, when you see these things coming to pass, know that it is near, at the doors. 30.Most certainly I say to you, this generation44 will not pass away until all these things happen. 31.Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 32.But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33.Watch, keep alert, and pray; for you don't know when the time is.
34."It is like a man, traveling to another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, and to each one his work, and also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. 35.Watch therefore, for you don't know when the lord of the house is coming, whether at evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning; 36.lest coming suddenly he might find you sleeping. 37.What I tell you, I tell all: Watch."