Let's read the Bible together in the next year. Today our passages are Ezekiel 3:16–6:14; Hebrews 4:1-16; Psalm 104:24-35; and Proverbs 26:27. The readings are the Contemporary English Version.
Ezekiel 3:16-6:14Contemporary English Version (CEV)
The Lord Appoints Ezekiel To Stand Watch
16 Seven days after I had seen the brightness of the Lord’s glory, the Lordsaid:
17 Ezekiel, son of man, I have appointed you to stand watch for the people of Israel. So listen to what I say, then warn them for me. 18 When I tell wicked people they will die because of their sins, you must warn them to turn from their sinful ways so they won’t be punished. If you refuse, you are responsible for their death. 19 However, if you do warn them, and they keep on sinning, they will die because of their sins, and you will be innocent.
20 Now suppose faithful people start sinning, and I decide to put stumbling blocks in their paths to make them fall. They deserve to die because of their sins. So if you refuse to warn them, I will forget about the times they were faithful, and I will hold you responsible for their death. 21 But if you do warn them, and they listen to you and stop sinning, I will let them live. And you will be innocent.
Ezekiel Cannot Talk
22 The Lord took control of me and said, “Stand up! Go into the valley, and I will talk with you there.”
23 I immediately went to the valley, where I saw the brightness of the Lord’s glory, just as I had seen near the Chebar River, and I bowed with my face to the ground. 24 His Spirit took control of me and lifted me to my feet. Then theLord said:
Go back and lock yourself in your house! 25 You will be tied up to keep you inside, 26 and I will make you unable to talk or to warn those who have rebelled against me. 27 But the time will come, when I will tell you what to say, and you will again be able to speak my message.a] Some of them will listen; others will be stubborn and refuse to listen.
Ezekiel Acts Out an Attack on Jerusalem
The Lord said:
4 Ezekiel, son of man, find a brick and sketch a picture of Jerusalem on it.2 Then prepare to attack the brick as if it were a real city. Build a dirt mound and a ramp up to the top and surround the brick with enemy camps. On every side put large wooden poles as though you were going to break down the gate to the city. 3 Set up an iron pan like a wall between you and the brick. All this will be a warning for the people of Israel.
4-5 After that, lie down on your left side and stay there for three hundred ninety days as a sign of Israel’s punishmentb]—one day for each year of its suffering. 6 Then turn over and lie on your right side forty more days. That will be a sign of Judah’s punishment—one day for each year of its suffering.
7 The brick stands for Jerusalem, so attack it! Stare at it and shout angry warnings. 8 I will tie you up, so you can’t leave until your attack has ended.
9 Get a large bowl. Then mix together wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and millet, and make some bread. This is what you will eat for the three hundred ninety days you are lying down. 10 Eat only a small loaf of bread each day 11 and drink only two large cups of water. 12 Use dried human waste to start a fire, then bake the bread on the coals where everyone can watch you. 13 When I scatter the people of Israel among the nations, they will also have to eat food that is unclean, just as you must do.c]
14 I said, “Lord God, please don’t make me do that! Never in my life have I eaten food that would make me unacceptable to you. I’ve never eaten anything that died a natural death or was killed by a wild animal or that you said was unclean.”
15 The Lord replied, “Instead of human waste, I will let you bake your bread on a fire made from cow manure. 16 Ezekiel, the people of Jerusalem will starve. They will have so little food and water that they will be afraid and hopeless. 17 Everyone will be shocked at what is happening, and, because of their sins, they will die a slow death.”
Jerusalem’s Coming Destruction
The Lord said:
5 Ezekiel, son of man, get a sharp sword and use it to cut off your hair and beard. Weigh the hair and divide it into three equal piles. 2 After you attack the brick that stands for Jerusalem, burn one pile of your hair on the brick. Chop up the second pile and let the small pieces of hair fall around the brick. Throw the third pile into the wind, and I will strike it with my own sword.
3 Keep a few of the hairs and wrap them in the hem of your clothes. 4 Then pull out a few of those hairs and throw them in the fire, so they will also burn. This fire will spread, destroying everyone in Israel.
5 I am the Lord God, and I have made Jerusalem the most important place in the world, and all other nations admire it. 6 But the people of Jerusalem rebelled and refuse to obey me. They ignored my laws and have become even more sinful than the nations around them.
7 So tell the people of Jerusalem:
I am the Lord God! You have refused to obey my laws and teachings, and instead you have obeyed the laws of the surrounding nations. You have become more rebellious than any of them! 8 Now all those nations will watch as I turn against you and punish you 9 for your sins. Your punishment will be more horrible than anything I’ve ever done or will ever do again.10 Parents will be so desperate for food that they will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. Those who survive this horror will be scattered in every direction.
11 Your disgusting sins have made my temple unfit as a place to worship me. So I swear by my own life that I will turn my back on you and show you no pity. 12 A third of you will die here in Jerusalem from disease or starvation. Another third will be killed in war. And I will scatter the last third of you in every direction, then track you down and kill you.
13 You will feel my fierce anger until I have finished taking revenge. Then you will know that I, the Lord, was furious because of your disobedience.14 Every passerby will laugh at your destruction. Foreign nations 15 will insult you and make fun of you, but they will also be shocked and terrified at what I did in my anger. 16 I will destroy your crops until you starve to death, and disasters will strike you like arrows. 17 Starvation and wild animals will kill your children. I’ll punish you with horrible diseases, and your enemies will strike you down with their swords. I, the Lord, have spoken.
Israel Is Doomed
6 The Lord God said:
2 Ezekiel, son of man, face the hills of Israel and tell them:
3 Listen, you mountains and hills, and every valley and gorge! I, the Lord, am about to turn against you and crush all the places where foreign gods are worshiped. 4 Every altar will be smashed, and in front of the idols I will put to death the people who worship them. 5 Dead bodies and bones will be lying around the idols and the altars. 6 Every town in Israel will be destroyed to make sure that each shrine, idol, and altar is smashed—everything the Israelites made will be a pile of ruins. 7 All over the country, your people will die. And those who survive will know that I, the Lord, did these things. 8 I will let some of the people live through this punishment, but I will scatter them among the nations, 9 where they will be prisoners. And when they think of me, they will realize that they disgraced me by rebelling and by worshiping idols. They will hate themselves for the evil things they did, 10 and they will know that I am the Lord and that my warnings must be taken seriously.
11 The Lord God then said:
Ezekiel, beat your fists together and stomp your feet in despair! Moan in sorrow, because the people of Israel have done disgusting things and now will be killed by enemy troops, or they will die from starvation and disease.12 Those who live far away will be struck with deadly diseases. Those who live nearby will be killed in war. And the ones who are left will starve to death. I will let loose my anger on them! 13 These people used to offer incense to idols at altars built on hills and mountaintops and in the shade of large oak trees. But when they see dead bodies lying around those altars, they will know that I am the Lord. 14 I will make their country a barren wasteland, from the Southern Desert to the town of Diblah in the north. Then they will know that I, the Lord, have done these things.
Footnotes:
- 3.27 again. . . speak my message: See 33.21,22.
- 4.4,5 Israel’s punishment: Israel here refers to the northern kingdom that was destroyed in 722 B.C.
- 4.13 have to eat food that is unclean, just as you must do: The Lord had forbidden the people of Israel to mix certain things (see Deuteronomy 22.9-11), and so the people would not have been allowed to eat this bread under normal conditions. It is used here to show that when a city is under attack, people eat whatever food is left, even if the Lord had said it was unclean.
Hebrews 4:1-16 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
4 The promise to enter the place of rest is still good, and we must take 4 The promise to enter the place of rest is still good, and we must take care that none of you miss out. 2 We have heard the message, just as they did. But they failed to believe what they heard, and the message did not do them any good. 3 Only people who have faith will enter the place of rest. It is just as the Scriptures say,“God became angry
and told the people,
‘You will never enter
my place of rest!’”God said this, even though everything has been ready from the time of creation. 4 In fact, somewhere the Scriptures say that by the seventh day, God had finished his work, and so he rested. 5 We also read that he later said, “You people will never enter my place of rest!” 6 This means that the promise to enter is still good, because those who first heard about it disobeyed and did not enter. 7 Much later God told David to make the promise again, just as I have already said,“If you hear his voice today,
don’t be stubborn!”8 If Joshua had really given the people rest, there would not be any need for God to talk about another day of rest. 9 But God has promised us a Sabbath when we will rest, even though it has not yet come. 10 On that day God’s people will rest from their work, just as God rested from his work.11 We should do our best to enter that place of rest, so that none of us will disobey and miss going there, as they did. 12 What God has said isn’t only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts. 13 Nothing is hidden from God! He sees through everything, and we will have to tell him the truth.
4 The promise to enter the place of rest is still good, and we must take 4 The promise to enter the place of rest is still good, and we must take care that none of you miss out. 2 We have heard the message, just as they did. But they failed to believe what they heard, and the message did not do them any good. 3 Only people who have faith will enter the place of rest. It is just as the Scriptures say,
“God became angry
and told the people,
‘You will never enter
my place of rest!’”
and told the people,
‘You will never enter
my place of rest!’”
God said this, even though everything has been ready from the time of creation. 4 In fact, somewhere the Scriptures say that by the seventh day, God had finished his work, and so he rested. 5 We also read that he later said, “You people will never enter my place of rest!” 6 This means that the promise to enter is still good, because those who first heard about it disobeyed and did not enter. 7 Much later God told David to make the promise again, just as I have already said,
“If you hear his voice today,
don’t be stubborn!”
don’t be stubborn!”
8 If Joshua had really given the people rest, there would not be any need for God to talk about another day of rest. 9 But God has promised us a Sabbath when we will rest, even though it has not yet come. 10 On that day God’s people will rest from their work, just as God rested from his work.
11 We should do our best to enter that place of rest, so that none of us will disobey and miss going there, as they did. 12 What God has said isn’t only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts. 13 Nothing is hidden from God! He sees through everything, and we will have to tell him the truth.
Jesus Is the Great High Priest
14 We have a great high priest, who has gone into heaven, and he is Jesus the Son of God. That is why we must hold on to what we have said about him. 15 Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! 16 So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.
14 We have a great high priest, who has gone into heaven, and he is Jesus the Son of God. That is why we must hold on to what we have said about him. 15 Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! 16 So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.
Psalm 104:24-35Contemporary English Version (CEV)
24 Our Lord, by your wisdom
you made so many things;
the whole earth is covered
with your living creatures.
25 But what about the ocean
so big and wide?
It is alive with creatures,
large and small.
26 And there are the ships,
as well as Leviathan,a]
the monster you created
to splash in the sea.27 All of these depend on you
to provide them with food,
28 and you feed each one
with your own hand,
until they are full.
29 But when you turn away,
they are terrified;
when you end their life,
they die and rot.
30 You created all of them
by your Spirit,
and you give new life
to the earth.31 Our Lord, we pray
that your glory
will last forever
and that you will be pleased
with what you have done.
32 You look at the earth,
and it trembles.
You touch the mountains,
and smoke goes up.
33 As long as I live,
I will sing and praise you,
the Lord God.
34 I hope my thoughts
will please you,
because you are the one
who makes me glad.35 Destroy all wicked sinners
from the earth
once and for all.
With all my heart
I praise you, Lord!
I praise you!
24 Our Lord, by your wisdom
you made so many things;
the whole earth is covered
with your living creatures.
25 But what about the ocean
so big and wide?
It is alive with creatures,
large and small.
26 And there are the ships,
as well as Leviathan,a]
the monster you created
to splash in the sea.
you made so many things;
the whole earth is covered
with your living creatures.
25 But what about the ocean
so big and wide?
It is alive with creatures,
large and small.
26 And there are the ships,
as well as Leviathan,a]
the monster you created
to splash in the sea.
27 All of these depend on you
to provide them with food,
28 and you feed each one
with your own hand,
until they are full.
29 But when you turn away,
they are terrified;
when you end their life,
they die and rot.
30 You created all of them
by your Spirit,
and you give new life
to the earth.
to provide them with food,
28 and you feed each one
with your own hand,
until they are full.
29 But when you turn away,
they are terrified;
when you end their life,
they die and rot.
30 You created all of them
by your Spirit,
and you give new life
to the earth.
31 Our Lord, we pray
that your glory
will last forever
and that you will be pleased
with what you have done.
32 You look at the earth,
and it trembles.
You touch the mountains,
and smoke goes up.
33 As long as I live,
I will sing and praise you,
the Lord God.
34 I hope my thoughts
will please you,
because you are the one
who makes me glad.
that your glory
will last forever
and that you will be pleased
with what you have done.
32 You look at the earth,
and it trembles.
You touch the mountains,
and smoke goes up.
33 As long as I live,
I will sing and praise you,
the Lord God.
34 I hope my thoughts
will please you,
because you are the one
who makes me glad.
35 Destroy all wicked sinners
from the earth
once and for all.
With all my heart
I praise you, Lord!
I praise you!
from the earth
once and for all.
With all my heart
I praise you, Lord!
I praise you!
Footnotes:
- 104.26 Leviathan: See the note at 74.14.
- 104.26 Leviathan: See the note at 74.14.
Proverbs 26:27Contemporary English Version (CEV)
27 If you dig a pit,
you will fall in;
if you start a stone rolling,
it will roll back on you.
27 If you dig a pit,
you will fall in;
if you start a stone rolling,
it will roll back on you.
you will fall in;
if you start a stone rolling,
it will roll back on you.
Thought for the Day
But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. (1 Peter 2:9 - Contemporary English Version) God has done, is doing and will do amazing things for his children. And as his children, we wants us to share with others the wonderful things he's done.
Quote for the Day
But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. (1 Peter 2:9 - Contemporary English Version) God has done, is doing and will do amazing things for his children. And as his children, we wants us to share with others the wonderful things he's done.
Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, Orhan Pamuk wrote, “Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”
Joke for Today
Two boys were arguing when the teacher entered the room.
The teacher says, "Why are you arguing?"
One boy answers, "We found a £10 note and decided to give it to the person who tells the biggest lie."
"You should be ashamed of yourselves," said the teacher, "When I was your age, I didn't even know what a lie was."
The boys looked at each other then gave the £10 note to the teacher.
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 we elect officials that are both ethical and competent.
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