Bible Readings for November 18, 2021

Let's read the Bible together in the next year. Today our passages are Ezekiel 37:1-38:23; James 1:19–2:17; Psalm 117:1-2; and Proverbs 28:1. The readings are the Contemporary English Version.  

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Ezekiel 37-38:23 (Contemporary English Version)

Ezekiel 37

Dry Bones Live Again

 ¹Some time later, I felt the LORD's power take control of me, and his Spirit carried me to a valley full of bones. ²The LORD showed me all around, and everywhere I looked I saw bones that were dried out. ³He said, "Ezekiel, son of man, can these bones come back to life?"   I replied, "LORD God, only you can answer that."
    ⁴He then told me to say:
   Dry bones, listen to what the LORD is saying to you, ⁵"I, the LORD God, will put breath in you, and once again you will live. ⁶I will wrap you with muscles and skin and breathe life into you. Then you will know that I am the LORD."
    ⁷I did what the LORD said, but before I finished speaking, I heard a rattling noise. The bones were coming together! ⁸I saw muscles and skin cover the bones, but they had no life in them.
    ⁹The LORD said:
   Ezekiel, now say to the wind, ^a] "The LORD God commands you to blow from every direction and to breathe life into these dead bodies, so they can live again." ¹⁰As soon as I said this, the wind blew among the bodies, and they came back to life! They all stood up, and there were enough to make a large army.
    ¹¹The LORD said:
   Ezekiel, the people of Israel are like dead bones. They complain that they are dried up and that they have no hope for the future. ¹²So tell them, "I, the LORD God, promise to open your graves and set you free. I will bring you back to Israel, ¹³and when that happens, you will realize that I am the LORD. ¹⁴My Spirit will give you breath, and you will live again. I will bring you home, and you will know that I have kept my promise. I, the LORD, have spoken."   

Judah and Israel Together Again

 ¹⁵The LORD said:    ¹⁶Ezekiel, son of man, get a stick and write on it, "The kingdom of Judah." Then get another stick and write on it, "The kingdom of Israel." ^b] 17Hold these two sticks end to end, so they look like one stick. ¹⁸And when your people ask you what this means, ¹⁹tell them that I, the LORD, will join together the stick of Israel and the stick of Judah. I will hold them in my hand, and they will become one. ²⁰Hold these two sticks where they can be seen by everyone ²¹and then say:
   I, the LORD God, will gather the people of Israel and bring them home from the foreign nations where they now live. ²²I will make them into one nation and let them once again live in the land of Israel. Only one king will rule them, and they will never again be divided into two nations. ²³They will no longer worship idols and do things that make them unacceptable to me. I will wash away their sin and make them clean, and I will protect them from everything that makes them unclean. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
    ^24-25Their king will always come from the family of my servant King David and will care for them like a shepherd. The people of Israel will faithfully obey my laws. They and their descendants will live in the land I gave my servant Jacob, just as their ancestors did. ²⁶I solemnly promise to bless the people of Israel with unending peace. I will protect them and let them become a powerful nation. My temple will stand in Israel for all time, ²⁷and I will live among my people and be their God. ²⁸Every nation on earth will know that my temple is in Israel and that I have chosen the Israelites to be my people.
   

Ezekiel 38

Gog Invades Israel

 ¹The LORD said:    ²Ezekiel, son of man, condemn Gog, that wicked ruler of the kingdoms of Meshech and Tubal in the land of Magog. Tell him:
    ³I, the LORD God, am your enemy, ⁴and I will make you powerless! I will put a hook in your jaw and drag away both you and your large army. You command cavalry troops that wear heavy armor and carry shields and swords. ⁵Your army includes soldiers from Persia, Ethiopia, ^c] and Libya, ⁶as well as from Gomer and Beth-Togarmah in the north. Your army is enormous! ⁷So keep your troops prepared to fight, ⁸because in a few years, I will command you to invade Israel, a country that was ruined by war. It was deserted for a long time, but its people have returned from the foreign nations where they once lived. The Israelites now live in peace in the mountains of their own land. ⁹But you and your army will attack them like a fierce thunderstorm and surround them like a cloud.
    ¹⁰When that day comes, I know that you will have an evil plan ¹¹to take advantage of Israel, that weak and peaceful country where people live safely inside towns that have no walls or gates or locks. ¹²You will rob the people in towns that were once a pile of rubble. These people lived as prisoners in foreign nations, but they have returned to Israel, the most important place in the world, and they own livestock and property. ¹³The people of Sheba and Dedan, along with merchants from villages in ^d] southern Spain, ^e] will be your allies. They will want some of the silver and gold, as well as the livestock and property that your army takes from Israel. ¹⁴I, the LORD God, know that when you see ^f] my people Israel living in peace, ¹⁵you will lead your powerful cavalry from your kingdom in the north. ¹⁶You will attack my people like a storm-cloud that covers their land. I will let you invade my country Israel, so that every nation on earth will know that I, the LORD, am holy.

Judgment on Gog

 ¹⁷The LORD said to Gog:   Long ago, I had my prophets warn the people of Israel that someday I would send an enemy to attack them. You, Gog, are that enemy, and that day is coming. ¹⁸When you invade Israel, I will become furious, ¹⁹and in my anger I will send a terrible earthquake to shake Israel. ²⁰Every living thing on earth will tremble in fear of me--every fish and bird, every wild animal and reptile, and every human. Mountains will crumble, cliffs will fall, and cities will collapse. ²¹I, the LORD, will make the mountains of Israel turn against you. ^g] Your troops will be so terrified that they will attack each other. ²²I will strike you with diseases and punish you with death. You and your army will be pounded with rainstorms, hailstones, and burning sulfur. ²³I will do these things to show the world that I, the LORD, am holy.

Footnotes:

1. Ezekiel 37:9 wind: Or "breath." The Hebrew word may mean either.
2. Ezekiel 37:16 Israel: The Hebrew text has "Joseph, that is, Ephraim," the leading tribe in the northern kingdom.
3. Ezekiel 38:5 Ethiopia: See the note at 29.10.
4. Ezekiel 38:13 from villages in: One ancient translation; Hebrew "and soldiers from."
5. Ezekiel 38:13 southern Spain: See the note at 27.12.
6. Ezekiel 38:14 when you see: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
7. Ezekiel 38:21 I, the LORD. . . against you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

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James 1:19-2:17 (Contemporary English Version)

Hearing and Obeying

 ¹⁹My dear friends, you should be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry. ²⁰If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good things that God wants done. ²¹You must stop doing anything immoral or evil. Instead be humble and accept the message that is planted in you to save you.    ²²Obey God's message! Don't fool yourselves by just listening to it. ²³If you hear the message and don't obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror ²⁴and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. ²⁵But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don't just hear and forget.
    ²⁶If you think you are being religious, but can't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and everything you do is useless. ²⁷Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.
   

James 2

Warning against Having Favorites

 ¹My friends, if you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you won't treat some people better than others. ²Suppose a rich person wearing fancy clothes and a gold ring comes to one of your meetings. And suppose a poor person dressed in worn-out clothes also comes. ³You must not give the best seat to the one in fancy clothes and tell the one who is poor to stand at the side or sit on the floor. ⁴That is the same as saying that some people are better than others, and you would be acting like a crooked judge.    ⁵My dear friends, pay attention. God has given a lot of faith to the poor people in this world. He has also promised them a share in his kingdom that he will give to everyone who loves him. ⁶You mistreat the poor. But isn't it the rich who boss you around and drag you off to court? ⁷Aren't they the ones who make fun of your Lord?
    ⁸You will do all right, if you obey the most important law ^a] in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves. ⁹But if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned. ¹⁰If you obey every law except one, you are still guilty of breaking them all. ¹¹The same God who told us to be faithful in marriage also told us not to murder. So even if you are faithful in marriage, but murder someone, you still have broken God's Law.
    ¹²Speak and act like people who will be judged by the law that sets us free. ¹³Do this, because on the day of judgment there will be no pity for those who have not had pity on others. But even in judgment, God is merciful! ^b]

Faith and Works

 ¹⁴My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don't do anything to show that you really do have faith? Can that kind of faith save you? ¹⁵If you know someone who doesn't have any clothes or food, ¹⁶you shouldn't just say, "I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat." What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help? ¹⁷Faith that doesn't lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!  

Footnotes:

1. James 2:8 most important law: The Greek text has "royal law," meaning the one given by the king (that is, God).
2. James 2:13 But even in judgment, God is merciful: Or "So be merciful, and you will be shown mercy on the day of judgment."

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Psalm 117:1-2 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 117

Come Praise the LORD

 ¹All of you nations,   come praise the LORD!
   Let everyone praise him.
    ²His love for us is wonderful;
   his faithfulness never ends.
   Shout praises to the LORD!

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Proverbs 28:1 (Contemporary English Version)

Proverbs 28

The Law of God Makes Sense

 ¹Wicked people run away   when no one chases them,
   but those who live right
   are as brave as lions.

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Thought for the Day

 

“Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours.” (John 17:17 - Contemporary English Version) We can trust God's word. And when we follow its teachings, we become more like the men and women we were called to be.

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Quote for the Day

English brewer, philanthropist, writer and member of Parliament, Charles Buxton wrote, “The rule in carving holds good as to criticism; never cut with a knife what you can cut with a spoon.”

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Joke for Today

A local priest and a pastor were fishing on the side of the road. They thoughtfully made a sign saying, "The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it's too late!" and showed it to each passing car. One driver who drove by didn't appreciate the sign and shouted at them, "Leave us alone, you religious nuts!"

All of a sudden they heard a big splash, looked at each other, and the priest said to the pastor, "You think maybe we should have just said 'Bridge Out' instead?"

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A Prayer Request

As Christians, we can offer specific daily prayers for our community, nation and world. Below is the need that we're laying before God today.

That Americans have the courage to confront the violence within our society.