Read the Bible in a Year

Each day, we'll post passages so that you can read the Bible in one year. This is part of The Colossians 13:16 Project, sponsored by Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia. You're invited to worship with us Sundays, at 11:00 a.m. or Saturdays, at 6:30 p.m. You may also want to consider joining one our adult Bible Studies: Thursdays at 12:00 noon and Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. We also have a full range of programs for children. If you want more information about the church, check out the other blogs. And please feel free to leave any comments.

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Saturday, December 5, 2015

Bible Readings for December 5, 2015


Today our passages are Daniel 11:36–12:13; 1 John 4:1-21; Psalm 123:1-4; and Proverbs 29:2-4. 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. 

Hosea 1-3:5 (Contemporary English Version)

Hosea 1

 1I am Hosea son of Beeri. When Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah, and when Jeroboam son of Jehoash [a] was king of Israel, [b] the LORD spoke this message to me.
Hosea's Family
 2The LORD said, " Hosea, Israel has betrayed me like an unfaithful wife. [c] Marry such a woman and have children by her." 3So I married Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and we had a son. 4Then the LORD said, " Hosea, name your son Jezreel, [d] because I will soon punish the descendants of King Jehu of Israel for the murders he committed in Jezreel Valley. [e] I will destroy his kingdom, 5and in Jezreel Valley I will break the power of Israel." 6Later, Gomer had a daughter, and the LORD said, " Name her Lo-Ruhamah, [f] because I will no longer have mercy and forgive Israel. 7But I am the LORD God of Judah, and I will have mercy and save Judah by my own power--not by wars and arrows or swords and cavalry." 8After Gomer had stopped nursing Lo-Ruhamah, she had another son. 9Then the LORD said, " Name him Lo-Ammi, [g] because these people are not mine, and I am not their God."
Hope for Israel
 10Someday it will be impossible to count the people of Israel, because there will be as many of them as there are grains of sand along the seashore. They are now called " Not My People," but in the future they will be called " Children of the Living God." 11Israel and Judah will unite and choose one leader. Then they will take back their land, and this will be a great day for Jezreel. [h]

Hosea 2

 1So let your brothers be called " My People" and your sisters be called " Shown Mercy." [i]
The LORD Promises To Punish Israel
 2Accuse! Accuse your mother!    She is no longer my wife,
   and now I, the LORD,
   am not her husband.
   Beg her to give up prostitution
   and stop being unfaithful, [j] 3or I will strip her naked
   like the day she was born.
   I will make her barren
   like a desert,
   and she will die of thirst.
    4You children are the result
   of her unfaithfulness,
   and I'll show you no pity.
    5Your mother was unfaithful.
   She was disgraceful and said,
   " I'll run after my lovers.
   Everything comes from them--
   my food and drink,
   my linen and wool,
   my olive oil and wine."
    6I, the LORD, will build
   a fence of thorns
   to block her path.
    7She will run after her lovers,
   but not catch them;
   she will search,
   but not find them.
   Then she will say, " I'll return
   to my first husband.
   Life was better then."
    8She didn't know that her grain,
   wine, and olive oil
   were gifts from me,
   as were the gold and silver
   she used in worshiping Baal. [k] 9So I'll hold back the harvest
   of grain and grapes.
   I'll take back
   my wool and my linen
   that cover her body.
    10Then I'll strip her naked
   in the sight of her lovers. [l] No one can rescue her.
    11I'll stop Israel's celebrations--
   no more New Moon Festivals,
   Sabbaths, or other feasts.
    12She said, " My lovers gave me
   vineyards and fig trees
   as payment [m] for sex." Now I, the LORD, will ruin
   her vineyards and fig trees;
   they will become clumps of weeds
   eaten by wild animals.
    13I'll punish her for the days
   she worshiped Baal
   and burned incense to him.
   I'll punish her for the times
   she forgot about me
   and wore jewelry and rings
   to attract her lovers.
   I, the LORD, have spoken!
   
The LORD Will Help Israel
 14Israel, I, the LORD,    will lure you into the desert
   and speak gently to you.
    15I will return your vineyards,
   and then Trouble Valley [n] will become Hopeful Valley.
   You will say " Yes" to me
   as you did in your youth,
   when leaving Egypt.
    16I promise that from that day on, you will call me your husband instead of your master. [o] 17I will no longer even let you mention the names of those pagan gods that you called " Master." 18And I will agree to let you live in peace--you will no longer be attacked by wild animals and birds or by weapons of war. 19I will accept you as my wife forever, and instead of a bride price [p] I will give you justice, fairness, love, kindness, 20and faithfulness. Then you will truly know who I am. 21I will command the sky to send rain on the earth, 22and it will produce grain, grapes, and olives in Jezreel Valley. 23I will scatter the seeds and show mercy to Lo-Ruhamah. [q] I will say to Lo-Ammi, [r] " You are my people," and they will answer, " You are our God."

Hosea 3

God's Love Offers Hope
 1Once again the LORD spoke to me. And this time he said, " Hosea, fall in love with an unfaithful woman [s] who has a lover. Do this to show that I love the people of Israel, even though they worship idols and enjoy the offering cakes made with fruit." 2So I paid fifteen pieces of silver and about ten bushels of grain for such a woman. 3Then I said, " Now you are mine! You will have to remain faithful to me, though it will be a long time before we sleep together."     4It will also be a long time before Israel has a king or before sacrifices are offered at the temple or before there is any way to get guidance from God. 5But later, Israel will turn back to the LORD their God and to David their king. At that time they will come to the LORD with fear and trembling, and he will be good to them.
   
Footnotes:
  1. Hosea 1:1 Jehoash: The Hebrew text has " Joash," another spelling of the name.
  2. Hosea 1:1 kings of Judah. . . king of Israel: Uzziah (781-740 B.C.), Jotham (740-736), Ahaz (736-716), Hezekiah (716-687), and Jeroboam II (783-743).
  3. Hosea 1:2 unfaithful wife: In some Canaanite religions of Old Testament times, young women were expected to have sex with the worshipers of their god before marriage. Such women were called " temple prostitutes." Many of the Israelite women did this same thing, and Hosea is told to marry one of them to show that the nation has turned from the LORD to worship idols.
  4. Hosea 1:4 Jezreel: In Hebrew " Jezreel" means " God scatters (seed)." Here the name is used as a threat (meaning the LORD will punish Israel by scattering its people), while in verse 11 it is used as a promise (meaning the LORD will bless Israel by giving their nation many people, just as a big harvest comes when many seeds are scattered in a field).
  5. Hosea 1:4 murders. . . Valley: Jehu murdered the wife and relatives of King Ahab (see 2 Kings 9.15--10.14).
  6. Hosea 1:6 Lo-Ruhamah: In Hebrew " Lo-Ruhamah" means " No Mercy."
  7. Hosea 1:9 Lo-Ammi: In Hebrew " Lo-Ammi" means " Not My People."
  8. Hosea 1:11 Jezreel: See the note at verse 4.
  9. Hosea 2:1 My People. . . Shown Mercy: In Hebrew " My People" is " Ammi" and " Shown Mercy" is " Ruhamah" (see Lo-Ruhamah in 1.6 and Lo-Ammi in 1.9).
  10. Hosea 2:2 prostitution. . . unfaithful: See the note at 1.2.
  11. Hosea 2:8 Baal: A Canaanite god of fertility.
  12. Hosea 2:10 I'll strip. . . lovers: Or " I'll show her lovers how disgusting she is."
  13. Hosea 2:12 fig trees. . . payment: Hosea uses an unusual word for " fig tree," which is spelled something like the word for " payment."
  14. Hosea 2:15 Trouble Valley: Or " Achor Valley." The exact location of the valley is unknown, but in Hebrew " Achor" sounds like " Achan," who brought trouble on Israel by disobeying the Lord (see Joshua 7.24-26).
  15. Hosea 2:16 husband. . . master: In Hebrew the word " master" is the same as the name of the god Baal. But the LORD promises that his people will have a deep personal relationship with him (like a devoted wife and husband) rather than merely a legal tie (like a wife and her " master" ).
  16. Hosea 2:19 bride price: It was the custom for the husband to pay his wife's parents a bride price. Instead of money, the LORD will give much better benefits to Israel.
  17. Hosea 2:23 Lo-Ruhamah: See the note at 1.6.
  18. Hosea 2:23 Lo-Ammi: See the note at 1.9.
  19. Hosea 3:1 unfaithful woman: This may refer to Gomer, the woman Hosea married (see 1.3), or it may refer to another woman.

1 John 5:1-21 (Contemporary English Version)

1 John 5

Victory over the World
 1If we believe that Jesus is truly Christ, we are God's children. Everyone who loves the Father will also love his children. 2If we love and obey God, we know that we will love his children. 3We show our love for God by obeying his commandments, and they are not hard to follow.     4Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory. 5No one can defeat the world without having faith in Jesus as the Son of God.
   
Who Jesus Is
 6Water and blood came out from the side of Jesus Christ. It wasn't just water, but water and blood. [a] The Spirit tells about this, because the Spirit is truthful. 7In fact, there are three who tell about it. 8They are the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and they all agree. 9We believe what people tell us. But we can trust what God says even more, and God is the one who has spoken about his Son. 10If we have faith in God's Son, we have believed what God has said. But if we don't believe what God has said about his Son, it is the same as calling God a liar. 11God has also said that he gave us eternal life and that this life comes to us from his Son. 12And so, if we have God's Son, we have this life. But if we don't have the Son, we don't have this life.    
Knowing about Eternal Life
 13All of you have faith in the Son of God, and I have written to let you know that you have eternal life. 14We are certain that God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases him. 15And if we know that God listens when we pray, we are sure that our prayers have already been answered.     16Suppose you see one of our people commit a sin that isn't a deadly sin. You can pray, and that person will be given eternal life. But the sin must not be one that is deadly. 17Everything that is wrong is sin, but not all sins are deadly.
    18We are sure that God's children do not keep on sinning. God's own Son protects them, and the devil cannot harm them.
    19We are certain that we come from God and that the rest of the world is under the power of the devil.
    20We know that Jesus Christ the Son of God has come and has shown us the true God. And because of Jesus, we now belong to the true God who gives eternal life.
    21Children, you must stay away from idols.
   
Footnotes:
  1. 1 John 5:6 Water and blood came out from the side of Jesus Christ. It wasn't just water, but water and blood: See John 19.34. It is also possible to translate, "Jesus Christ came by the water of baptism and by the blood of his death! He was not only baptized, but he bled and died." The purpose of the verse is to tell that Jesus was truly human and that he really died.

Psalm 124:1-8 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 124

(A song by David for worship.)
Thanking the LORD for Victory
 1The LORD was on our side!    Let everyone in Israel say:
    2"The LORD was on our side!
   Otherwise, the enemy attack
    3would have killed us all,
   because it was furious.
    4We would have been swept away
   in a violent flood
    5of high and roaring waves."
    6Let's praise the LORD!
   He protected us from enemies
   who were like wild animals,
    7and we escaped like birds
   from a hunter's torn net.
    8The LORD made heaven and earth,
   and he is the one
   who sends us help.


Proverbs 29:5-8 (Contemporary English Version)

5Flattery is nothing less
   than setting a trap.
    6Your sins will catch you,
   but everyone who lives right
   will sing and celebrate.
    7The wicked don't care
   about the rights of the poor,
   but good people do.
    8Sneering at others is a spark
   that sets a city on fire;
   using good sense can put out
   the flames of anger.



Verse of the Day

 “[Jesus Is the Good Shepherd]Jesus said: I tell you for certain that I am the gate for the sheep. I am the gate. All who come in through me will be saved. Through me they will come and go and find pasture. A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.” - John 10:7, 9-10
Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

 
Black and white photograph of Wodehouse's head and shoulders. He is wearing a suit and looking at the cameraThought for the Day

English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century, P. G. Wodehouse wrote, “There is only one cure for gray hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.”
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