Bible Readings for December 21, 2015

Today our passages are Zechariah 1:1-21; Revelation 12:1–13:1a; Psalm 140:1-13; and Proverbs 30:17. The readings are from the Contemporary English Version. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal. 

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Zechariah 1:1-21 (Contemporary English Version)

Zechariah 1

Turn to the LORD

 ¹I am the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo.    In the eighth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia, ^[a] the LORD told me to say: ^2-3Israel, I, the LORD All-Powerful, was very angry with your ancestors. But if you people will return to me, I will turn and help you. ⁴Don't be stubborn like your ancestors. They were warned by the earlier prophets ^[b] to give up their evil and turn back to me, but they paid no attention. ⁵Where are your ancestors now? Not even prophets live forever. ⁶But my warnings and my words spoken by the prophets caught up with your ancestors. So they turned back to me and said, "LORD All-Powerful, you have punished us for our sins, just as you had planned."
   

First Vision: Horses and Riders

 ^7-8On the twenty-fourth day of Shebat, ^[c] which was the eleventh month of that same year, ^[d] the LORD spoke to me in a vision during the night: In a valley among myrtle trees, ^[e] I saw someone on a red horse, with riders on red, brown, and white horses behind him. ⁹An angel was there to explain things to me, and I asked, "Sir, who are these riders?" "I'll tell you," the angel answered.     ¹⁰Right away, the man standing among the myrtle trees said, "These are the ones the LORD has sent to find out what's happening on earth."
    ¹¹Then the riders spoke to the LORD's angel, who was standing among the myrtle trees, and they said, "We have gone everywhere and have discovered that the whole world is at peace."
    ¹²At this, the angel said, "LORD All-Powerful, for seventy years you have been angry with Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. When are you ever going to have mercy on them?"
    ¹³The LORD's answer was kind and comforting. ¹⁴So the angel told me to announce:
   I, the LORD All-Powerful, am very protective of Jerusalem. ¹⁵For a while I was angry at the nations, but now I am furious, because they have made things worse for Jerusalem and are not the least bit concerned. ¹⁶And so, I will have pity on Jerusalem. The city will be completely rebuilt, and my temple will stand again. ¹⁷I also promise that my towns will prosper--Jerusalem will once again be my chosen city, and I will comfort the people of Zion.
   

Second Vision: Animal Horns

 ¹⁸Next, I saw four animal horns. ^{[f] 19-21}The angel who was sent to explain was there, and so I asked, "What do these mean?" His answer was, "These horns are the nations that scattered the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, and took away their freedom."    Then the LORD showed me four blacksmiths, and I asked, "What are they going to do?"
   He replied, "They are going to terrify and crush those horns."
   

Footnotes:

1. Zechariah 1:1 eighth month. . . second year. . . king of Persia: Bul, the eighth month of the Hebrew calender, from about mid-October to mid-November; the second year of the rule of Darius was 520 B.C.
2. Zechariah 1:4 the earlier prophets: Those who preached before the fall of Jerusalem in either 587 or 586 B.C.
3. Zechariah 1:7 Shebat: The eleventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-January to mid-February.
4. Zechariah 1:7 that same year: See verse 1 and the note there.
5. Zechariah 1:7 myrtle trees: Evergreen shrubs, which in ancient times were symbols of fertility and renewal.
6. Zechariah 1:18 animal horns: Horns, especially those of a bull, were symbols of power in ancient times. The number "four" would signal completeness, one representing each of the four directions.

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Revelation 12-13:1 (Contemporary English Version)

Revelation 12

The Woman and the Dragon

 ¹Something important appeared in the sky. It was a woman whose clothes were the sun. The moon was under her feet, and a crown made of twelve stars was on her head. ²She was about to give birth, and she was crying because of the great pain.     ³Something else appeared in the sky. It was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and a crown on each of its seven heads. ⁴With its tail, it dragged a third of the stars from the sky and threw them down to the earth. Then the dragon turned toward the woman, because it wanted to eat her child as soon as it was born.
    ⁵The woman gave birth to a son, who would rule all nations with an iron rod. The boy was snatched away. He was taken to God and placed on his throne. ⁶The woman ran into the desert to a place that God had prepared for her. There she would be taken care of for one thousand two hundred sixty days.
   

Michael Fights the Dragon

 ⁷A war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon and its angels. ⁸But the dragon lost the battle. It and its angels were forced out of their places in heaven ⁹and were thrown down to the earth. Yes, that old snake and his angels were thrown out of heaven! That snake, who fools everyone on earth, is known as the devil and Satan. ¹⁰Then I heard a voice from heaven shout,    "Our God has shown
   his saving power,
   and his kingdom has come!
   God's own Chosen One
   has shown his authority.
   Satan accused our people
   in the presence of God
   day and night.
   Now he has been thrown out!
    ¹¹Our people defeated Satan
   because of the blood ^[a] of the Lamb
   and the message of God.
   They were willing
   to give up their lives.
    ¹²The heavens should rejoice,
   together with everyone
   who lives there.
   But pity the earth
   and the sea,
   because the devil
   was thrown down
   to the earth.
   He knows his time is short,
   and he is very angry."
    ¹³When the dragon realized that it had been thrown down to the earth, it tried to make trouble for the woman who had given birth to a son. ¹⁴But the woman was given two wings like those of a huge eagle, so that she could fly into the desert. There she would escape from the snake and be taken care of for a time, two times, and half a time.
    ¹⁵The snake then spewed out water like a river to sweep the woman away. ¹⁶But the earth helped her and swallowed the water that had come from the dragon's mouth. ¹⁷This made the dragon terribly angry with the woman. So it started a war against the rest of her children. They are the people who obey God and are faithful to what Jesus did and taught. ¹⁸The dragon ^[b] stood on the beach beside the sea.

Revelation 13

The Two Beasts

 ¹I looked and saw a beast coming up from the sea. This one had ten horns and seven heads, and a crown was on each of its ten horns. On each of its heads were names that were an insult to God.

Footnotes:

1. Revelation 12:11 blood: Or "death."
2. Revelation 12:18 The dragon: The text has "he," and some manuscripts have "I."

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Psalm 140:1-13 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 140

(A psalm by David for the music leader.)

A Prayer for the LORD's Help

 ¹Rescue me from cruel    and violent enemies, LORD!
    ²They think up evil plans
   and always cause trouble.
    ³Their words bite deep
   like the poisonous fangs
   of a snake.
    ⁴Protect me, LORD, from cruel
   and brutal enemies,
   who want to destroy me.
    ⁵Those proud people have hidden
   traps and nets
   to catch me as I walk.
    ⁶You, LORD, are my God!
   Please listen to my prayer.
    ⁷You have the power to save me,
   and you keep me safe
   in every battle.
    ⁸Don't let the wicked succeed
   in doing what they want,
   or else they might never
   stop planning evil.
    ⁹They have me surrounded,
   but make them the victims
   of their own vicious lies. ^{[a] 10}Dump flaming coals on them
   and throw them into pits
   where they can't climb out.
    ¹¹Chase those cruel liars away!
   Let trouble hunt them down.
    ¹²Our LORD, I know that you
   defend the homeless
   and see that the poor
   are given justice.
    ¹³Your people will praise you
   and will live with you
   because they do right.
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 140:9 or else. . . lies: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

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Proverbs 30:17 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁷Don't make fun of your father
   or disobey your mother--
   crows will peck out your eyes,
   and buzzards will eat
   the rest of you.

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Verse of the Day
“and while they were there, she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.” - Luke 2:6-7

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state, Voltaire wrote, “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”