Bible Readings for June 10, 2019

Today our passages are 1 Kings 7:1-51; Acts 7:30-50; Psalm 128:1-6; and Proverbs 16:31-33. 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 by using the link below.

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1 Kings 7:1-51 (Contemporary English Version)

1 Kings 7

Solomon's Palace Is Built

 ¹Solomon's palace took thirteen years to build.     ^2-3Forest Hall was the largest room in the palace. It was one hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high, and was lined with cedar from Lebanon. It had four rows of cedar pillars, fifteen in a row, and they held up forty-five cedar beams. The ceiling was covered with cedar. ⁴Three rows of windows on each side faced each other, ⁵and there were three doors on each side near the front of the hall.
    ⁶Pillar Hall was seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide. A covered porch supported by pillars went all the way across the front of the hall.
    ⁷Solomon's throne was in Justice Hall, where he judged cases. This hall was completely lined with cedar.
    ⁸The section of the palace where Solomon lived was behind Justice Hall and looked exactly like it. He had a similar place built for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt.
    ⁹From the foundation all the way to the top, these buildings and the courtyard were made out of the best stones ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} carefully cut to size, then smoothed on every side with saws. ¹⁰The foundation stones were huge, good stones--some of them fifteen feet long and others twelve feet long. ¹¹The cedar beams and other stones that had been cut to size were on top of these foundation stones. ¹²The walls around the palace courtyard were made out of three layers of cut stones with one layer of cedar beams, just like the front porch and the inner courtyard of the temple. 

Hiram Makes the Bronze Furnishings

(2 Chronicles 3.15-17; 4.1-10)

 ^13-14Hiram was a skilled bronze worker from the city of Tyre. ^[b<="">] His father was now dead, but he also had been a bronze worker from Tyre, and his mother was from the tribe of Naphtali. King Solomon asked Hiram to come to Jerusalem and make the bronze furnishings to use for worship in the LORD's temple, and he agreed to do it.     ¹⁵Hiram made two bronze columns twenty-seven feet tall and about six feet across. ¹⁶For the top of each column, he also made a bronze cap seven and a half feet high. ¹⁷The caps were decorated with seven rows of designs that looked like chains, ^[c<="">] 18with two rows of designs that looked like pomegranates. ^[d<="">] 19The caps for the columns of the porch were six feet high and were shaped like lilies. ^[e<="">] 20The chain designs on the caps were right above the rounded tops of the two columns, and there were two hundred pomegranates in rows around each cap. ²¹Hiram placed the two columns on each side of the main door of the temple. The column on the south side was called Jachin, ^[f<="">] and the one on the north was called Boaz. ^[g<="">] 22The lily-shaped caps were on top of the columns.
   This completed the work on the columns.
    ²³Hiram also made a large bowl called the Sea. It was seven and a half feet deep, about fifteen feet across, and forty-five feet around. ²⁴Two rows of bronze gourds were around the outer edge of the bowl, ten gourds to every eighteen inches. ²⁵The bowl itself sat on top of twelve bronze bulls with three bulls facing outward in each of four directions. ²⁶The sides of the bowl were four inches thick, and its rim was like a cup that curved outward like flower petals. The bowl held about eleven thousand gallons.
    ²⁷Hiram made ten movable bronze stands, each one four and a half feet high, six feet long, and six feet wide. ^28-29The sides were made with panels attached to frames decorated with flower designs. The panels themselves were decorated with figures of lions, bulls, and winged creatures. ^30-31Each stand had four bronze wheels and axles and a round frame twenty-seven inches across, held up by four supports eighteen inches high. A small bowl rested in the frame. The supports were decorated with flower designs, and the frame with carvings.
   The side panels of the stands were square, ³²and the wheels and axles were underneath them. The wheels were about twenty-seven inches high ³³and looked like chariot wheels. The axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were made out of bronze.
    ^34-35Around the top of each stand was a nine-inch strip, and there were four braces ^[h<="">] attached to the corners of each stand. The panels and the supports were attached to the stands, ³⁶and the stands were decorated with flower designs and figures of lions, palm trees, and winged creatures. ³⁷Hiram made the ten bronze stands from the same mold, so they were exactly the same size and shape. ³⁸Hiram also made ten small bronze bowls, one for each stand. The bowls were six feet across and could hold about two hundred thirty gallons.
    ³⁹He put five stands on the south side of the temple, five stands on the north side, and the large bowl at the southeast corner of the temple.
    ⁴⁰Hiram made pans for hot ashes, and also shovels and sprinkling bowls.
   This is a list of the bronze items that Hiram made for the LORD's temple: 

A List of Everything inside the Temple

(2 Chronicles 4.11--5.1)

 ⁴¹two columns; two bowl-shaped caps for the tops of the columns; two chain designs on the caps; ⁴²four hundred pomegranates ^[i<="">] for the chain designs; ⁴³ten movable stands; ten small bowls for the stands; ⁴⁴a large bowl; twelve bulls that held up the bowl; ⁴⁵pans for hot ashes, and also shovels and sprinkling bowls. Hiram made these bronze things for Solomon ⁴⁶near the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan by pouring melted bronze into clay molds.    ⁴⁷There were so many bronze things that Solomon never bothered to weigh them, and no one ever knew how much bronze was used.
    ⁴⁸Solomon gave orders to make the following temple furnishings out of gold: the altar; the table that held the sacred loaves of bread; ^[j<="">] 49ten lampstands that went in front of the most holy place; flower designs; lamps and tongs; ⁵⁰cups, lamp snuffers, and small sprinkling bowls; dishes for incense; fire pans; and the hinges for the doors to the most holy place and the main room of the temple. ⁵¹After the LORD's temple was finished, Solomon put into its storage rooms everything that his father David had dedicated to the LORD, including the gold and the silver.
    

Footnotes:

1. 1 Kings 7:9 From. . . best stones: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
2. 1 Kings 7:13 Hiram. . . city of Tyre: This is not the same person as "King Hiram of Tyre" (see 5.1).
3. 1 Kings 7:17 seven rows. . . chains: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
4. 1 Kings 7:18 pomegranates: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 18. A pomegranate is a bright red fruit that looks like an apple. In ancient times, it was a symbol of life.
5. 1 Kings 7:19 lilies: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 19.
6. 1 Kings 7:21 Jachin: Or "He makes secure."
7. 1 Kings 7:21 Boaz: Or "He is strong."
8. 1 Kings 7:34 braces: Or "handles."
9. 1 Kings 7:42 pomegranates: See the note at 7.18.
10. 1 Kings 7:48 sacred loaves of bread: This bread was offered to the LORD and was a symbol of the LORD's presence in the temple. It was put out on a special table, and was replaced with fresh bread each week (see Leviticus 24.5-9).

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Acts 7:30-50 (Contemporary English Version)

³⁰Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses from a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹Moses was surprised by what he saw. He went closer to get a better look, and the Lord said, ³²"I am the God who was worshiped by your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Moses started shaking all over and didn't dare to look at the bush.
    ³³The Lord said to him, "Take off your sandals. The place where you are standing is holy. ³⁴With my own eyes I have seen the suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now I am sending you back to Egypt."
    ³⁵This was the same Moses that the people rejected by saying, "Who made you our leader and judge?" God's angel had spoken to Moses from the bush. And God had even sent the angel to help Moses rescue the people and be their leader.
    ³⁶In Egypt and at the Red Sea ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} and in the desert, Moses rescued the people by working miracles and wonders for forty years. ³⁷Moses is the one who told the people of Israel, "God will choose one of your people to be a prophet, just as he chose me." ³⁸Moses brought our people together in the desert, and the angel spoke to him on Mount Sinai. There he was given these life-giving words to pass on to us. ³⁹But our ancestors refused to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt. ⁴⁰The people said to Aaron, "Make some gods to lead us! Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don't know what's happened to him now." ⁴¹Then they made an idol in the shape of a calf. They offered sacrifices to the idol and were pleased with what they had done.
    ⁴²God turned his back on his people and left them. Then they worshiped the stars in the sky, just as it says in the Book of the Prophets, "People of Israel, you didn't offer sacrifices and offerings to me during those forty years in the desert. ⁴³Instead, you carried the tent where the god Molech is worshiped, and you took along the star of your god Rephan. You made those idols and worshiped them. So now I will have you carried off beyond Babylonia."
    ⁴⁴The tent where our ancestors worshiped God was with them in the desert. This was the same tent that God had commanded Moses to make. And it was made like the model that Moses had seen. ⁴⁵Later it was given to our ancestors, and they took it with them when they went with Joshua. They carried the tent along as they took over the land from those people that God had chased out for them. Our ancestors used this tent until the time of King David. ⁴⁶He pleased God and asked him if he could build a house of worship for the people ^[b<="">] of Israel. ⁴⁷And it was finally King Solomon who built a house for God. ^[c<="">] 48But the Most High God doesn't live in houses made by humans. It is just as the prophet said, when he spoke for the Lord,
    ⁴⁹"Heaven is my throne,
   and the earth
   is my footstool.
   What kind of house
   will you build for me?
   In what place will I rest?
    ⁵⁰I have made everything."
    

Footnotes:

1. Acts 7:36 Red Sea: This name comes from the Bible of the early Christians, a translation made into Greek about 200 B.C. It refers to the body of water that the Israelites crossed and was one of the marshes or fresh water lakes near the eastern part of the Nile Delta, where they lived and where the towns of Exodus 13.17--14.9 were located.
2. Acts 7:46 the people: Some manuscripts have "God."
3. Acts 7:47 God: Or "the people."

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Psalm 128:1-6 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 128

(A song for worship.)

The LORD Rewards His Faithful People

 ¹The LORD will bless you    if you respect him
   and obey his laws.
    ²Your fields will produce,
   and you will be happy
   and all will go well.
    ³Your wife will be as fruitful
   as a grapevine,
   and just as an olive tree
   is rich with olives,
   your home will be rich
   with healthy children.
    ⁴That is how the LORD will bless
   everyone who respects him.
    ⁵I pray that the LORD
   will bless you from Zion
   and let Jerusalem prosper
   as long as you live.
    ⁶May you live long enough
   to see your grandchildren.
   Let's pray for peace in Israel! 

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Proverbs 16:31-33 (Contemporary English Version)

³¹Gray hair is a glorious crown
   worn by those
   who have lived right.
    ³²Controlling your temper
   is better than being a hero
   who captures a city.
    ³³We make our own decisions,
   but the LORD alone
   determines what happens. 

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Verse of the Day

“Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you.” - Colossians 3:13 

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

Canadian-American writer, Saul Bellow wrote, “A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”

 

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A Joke for Today

 

An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of Church services when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and yelled, "Stop! Acts 2:38!" (Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.) The burglar stopped in his tracks.

 

The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done.

 

As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, "Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yelling a scripture to you."

 

"Scripture?" replied the burglar. "She said she had an Ax and Two 38's!"  

Bible Readings for June 10, 2017

Today our passages are 1 Kings 7:1-51; Acts 7:30-50; Psalm 128:1-6; and Proverbs 16:31-33. 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 by using the link below.

 

 

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1 Kings 7:1-51 (Contemporary English Version)

1 Kings 7

Solomon's Palace Is Built

 ¹Solomon's palace took thirteen years to build.     ^2-3Forest Hall was the largest room in the palace. It was one hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high, and was lined with cedar from Lebanon. It had four rows of cedar pillars, fifteen in a row, and they held up forty-five cedar beams. The ceiling was covered with cedar. ⁴Three rows of windows on each side faced each other, ⁵and there were three doors on each side near the front of the hall.
    ⁶Pillar Hall was seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide. A covered porch supported by pillars went all the way across the front of the hall.
    ⁷Solomon's throne was in Justice Hall, where he judged cases. This hall was completely lined with cedar.
    ⁸The section of the palace where Solomon lived was behind Justice Hall and looked exactly like it. He had a similar place built for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt.
    ⁹From the foundation all the way to the top, these buildings and the courtyard were made out of the best stones ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} carefully cut to size, then smoothed on every side with saws. ¹⁰The foundation stones were huge, good stones--some of them fifteen feet long and others twelve feet long. ¹¹The cedar beams and other stones that had been cut to size were on top of these foundation stones. ¹²The walls around the palace courtyard were made out of three layers of cut stones with one layer of cedar beams, just like the front porch and the inner courtyard of the temple.

Hiram Makes the Bronze Furnishings

(2 Chronicles 3.15-17; 4.1-10)

 ^13-14Hiram was a skilled bronze worker from the city of Tyre. ^[b<="">] His father was now dead, but he also had been a bronze worker from Tyre, and his mother was from the tribe of Naphtali. King Solomon asked Hiram to come to Jerusalem and make the bronze furnishings to use for worship in the LORD's temple, and he agreed to do it.     ¹⁵Hiram made two bronze columns twenty-seven feet tall and about six feet across. ¹⁶For the top of each column, he also made a bronze cap seven and a half feet high. ¹⁷The caps were decorated with seven rows of designs that looked like chains, ^{[c<="">] 18}with two rows of designs that looked like pomegranates. ^{[d<="">] 19}The caps for the columns of the porch were six feet high and were shaped like lilies. ^{[e<="">] 20}The chain designs on the caps were right above the rounded tops of the two columns, and there were two hundred pomegranates in rows around each cap. ²¹Hiram placed the two columns on each side of the main door of the temple. The column on the south side was called Jachin, ^[f<="">] and the one on the north was called Boaz. ^{[g<="">] 22}The lily-shaped caps were on top of the columns.
   This completed the work on the columns.
    ²³Hiram also made a large bowl called the Sea. It was seven and a half feet deep, about fifteen feet across, and forty-five feet around. ²⁴Two rows of bronze gourds were around the outer edge of the bowl, ten gourds to every eighteen inches. ²⁵The bowl itself sat on top of twelve bronze bulls with three bulls facing outward in each of four directions. ²⁶The sides of the bowl were four inches thick, and its rim was like a cup that curved outward like flower petals. The bowl held about eleven thousand gallons.
    ²⁷Hiram made ten movable bronze stands, each one four and a half feet high, six feet long, and six feet wide. ^28-29The sides were made with panels attached to frames decorated with flower designs. The panels themselves were decorated with figures of lions, bulls, and winged creatures. ^30-31Each stand had four bronze wheels and axles and a round frame twenty-seven inches across, held up by four supports eighteen inches high. A small bowl rested in the frame. The supports were decorated with flower designs, and the frame with carvings.
   The side panels of the stands were square, ³²and the wheels and axles were underneath them. The wheels were about twenty-seven inches high ³³and looked like chariot wheels. The axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were made out of bronze.
    ^34-35Around the top of each stand was a nine-inch strip, and there were four braces ^[h<="">] attached to the corners of each stand. The panels and the supports were attached to the stands, ³⁶and the stands were decorated with flower designs and figures of lions, palm trees, and winged creatures. ³⁷Hiram made the ten bronze stands from the same mold, so they were exactly the same size and shape. ³⁸Hiram also made ten small bronze bowls, one for each stand. The bowls were six feet across and could hold about two hundred thirty gallons.
    ³⁹He put five stands on the south side of the temple, five stands on the north side, and the large bowl at the southeast corner of the temple.
    ⁴⁰Hiram made pans for hot ashes, and also shovels and sprinkling bowls.
   This is a list of the bronze items that Hiram made for the LORD's temple:

A List of Everything inside the Temple

(2 Chronicles 4.11--5.1)

 ⁴¹two columns; two bowl-shaped caps for the tops of the columns; two chain designs on the caps; ⁴²four hundred pomegranates ^[i<="">] for the chain designs; ⁴³ten movable stands; ten small bowls for the stands; ⁴⁴a large bowl; twelve bulls that held up the bowl; ⁴⁵pans for hot ashes, and also shovels and sprinkling bowls. Hiram made these bronze things for Solomon ⁴⁶near the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan by pouring melted bronze into clay molds.     ⁴⁷There were so many bronze things that Solomon never bothered to weigh them, and no one ever knew how much bronze was used.
    ⁴⁸Solomon gave orders to make the following temple furnishings out of gold: the altar; the table that held the sacred loaves of bread; ^{[j<="">] 49}ten lampstands that went in front of the most holy place; flower designs; lamps and tongs; ⁵⁰cups, lamp snuffers, and small sprinkling bowls; dishes for incense; fire pans; and the hinges for the doors to the most holy place and the main room of the temple. ⁵¹After the LORD's temple was finished, Solomon put into its storage rooms everything that his father David had dedicated to the LORD, including the gold and the silver.
   

Footnotes:

1. 1 Kings 7:9 From. . . best stones: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
2. 1 Kings 7:13 Hiram. . . city of Tyre: This is not the same person as "King Hiram of Tyre" (see 5.1).
3. 1 Kings 7:17 seven rows. . . chains: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
4. 1 Kings 7:18 pomegranates: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 18. A pomegranate is a bright red fruit that looks like an apple. In ancient times, it was a symbol of life.
5. 1 Kings 7:19 lilies: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 19.
6. 1 Kings 7:21 Jachin: Or "He makes secure."
7. 1 Kings 7:21 Boaz: Or "He is strong."
8. 1 Kings 7:34 braces: Or "handles."
9. 1 Kings 7:42 pomegranates: See the note at 7.18.
10. 1 Kings 7:48 sacred loaves of bread: This bread was offered to the LORD and was a symbol of the LORD's presence in the temple. It was put out on a special table, and was replaced with fresh bread each week (see Leviticus 24.5-9).

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Acts 7:30-50 (Contemporary English Version)

³⁰Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses from a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹Moses was surprised by what he saw. He went closer to get a better look, and the Lord said, ³²"I am the God who was worshiped by your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Moses started shaking all over and didn't dare to look at the bush.
    ³³The Lord said to him, "Take off your sandals. The place where you are standing is holy. ³⁴With my own eyes I have seen the suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now I am sending you back to Egypt."
    ³⁵This was the same Moses that the people rejected by saying, "Who made you our leader and judge?" God's angel had spoken to Moses from the bush. And God had even sent the angel to help Moses rescue the people and be their leader.
    ³⁶In Egypt and at the Red Sea ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} and in the desert, Moses rescued the people by working miracles and wonders for forty years. ³⁷Moses is the one who told the people of Israel, "God will choose one of your people to be a prophet, just as he chose me." ³⁸Moses brought our people together in the desert, and the angel spoke to him on Mount Sinai. There he was given these life-giving words to pass on to us. ³⁹But our ancestors refused to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt. ⁴⁰The people said to Aaron, "Make some gods to lead us! Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don't know what's happened to him now." ⁴¹Then they made an idol in the shape of a calf. They offered sacrifices to the idol and were pleased with what they had done.
    ⁴²God turned his back on his people and left them. Then they worshiped the stars in the sky, just as it says in the Book of the Prophets, "People of Israel, you didn't offer sacrifices and offerings to me during those forty years in the desert. ⁴³Instead, you carried the tent where the god Molech is worshiped, and you took along the star of your god Rephan. You made those idols and worshiped them. So now I will have you carried off beyond Babylonia."
    ⁴⁴The tent where our ancestors worshiped God was with them in the desert. This was the same tent that God had commanded Moses to make. And it was made like the model that Moses had seen. ⁴⁵Later it was given to our ancestors, and they took it with them when they went with Joshua. They carried the tent along as they took over the land from those people that God had chased out for them. Our ancestors used this tent until the time of King David. ⁴⁶He pleased God and asked him if he could build a house of worship for the people ^[b<="">] of Israel. ⁴⁷And it was finally King Solomon who built a house for God. ^{[c<="">] 48}But the Most High God doesn't live in houses made by humans. It is just as the prophet said, when he spoke for the Lord,
    ⁴⁹"Heaven is my throne,
   and the earth
   is my footstool.
   What kind of house
   will you build for me?
   In what place will I rest?
    ⁵⁰I have made everything."
   

Footnotes:

1. Acts 7:36 Red Sea: This name comes from the Bible of the early Christians, a translation made into Greek about 200 B.C. It refers to the body of water that the Israelites crossed and was one of the marshes or fresh water lakes near the eastern part of the Nile Delta, where they lived and where the towns of Exodus 13.17--14.9 were located.
2. Acts 7:46 the people: Some manuscripts have "God."
3. Acts 7:47 God: Or "the people."

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Psalm 128:1-6 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 128

(A song for worship.)

The LORD Rewards His Faithful People

 ¹The LORD will bless you    if you respect him
   and obey his laws.
    ²Your fields will produce,
   and you will be happy
   and all will go well.
    ³Your wife will be as fruitful
   as a grapevine,
   and just as an olive tree
   is rich with olives,
   your home will be rich
   with healthy children.
    ⁴That is how the LORD will bless
   everyone who respects him.
    ⁵I pray that the LORD
   will bless you from Zion
   and let Jerusalem prosper
   as long as you live.
    ⁶May you live long enough
   to see your grandchildren.
   Let's pray for peace in Israel!

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Proverbs 16:31-33 (Contemporary English Version)

³¹Gray hair is a glorious crown
   worn by those
   who have lived right.
    ³²Controlling your temper
   is better than being a hero
   who captures a city.
    ³³We make our own decisions,
   but the LORD alone
   determines what happens.

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Verse of the Day

“Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you.” - Colossians 3:13

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

Canadian-American writer, Saul Bellow wrote, “A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”

 

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A Joke for Today

 

An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of Church services when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and yelled, "Stop! Acts 2:38!" (Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.) The burglar stopped in his tracks.

 

The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done.

 

As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, "Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yelling a scripture to you."

 

"Scripture?" replied the burglar. "She said she had an Ax and Two 38's!"  

Bible Readings for October 6, 2014

Today our passages are Jeremiah 6:15–8:7; Colossians 2:8-23; Psalm 78:1-31; and Proverbs 24:26. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

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Jeremiah 6:15-8:7 (The Message)

^13-15"Everyone's after the dishonest dollar,
little people and big people alike.
Prophets and priests and everyone in between
twist words and doctor truth.
My people are broken—shattered!—
and they put on Band-Aids,
Saying, 'It's not so bad. You'll be just fine.'
But things are not 'just fine'!
Do you suppose they are embarrassed
over this outrage?
No, they have no shame.
They don't even know how to blush.
There's no hope for them. They've hit bottom
and there's no getting up.
As far as I'm concerned,
they're finished."
God has spoken.

Death Is on the Prowl

^16-20God's Message yet again: "Go stand at the crossroads and look around.
Ask for directions to the old road,
The tried-and-true road. Then take it.
Discover the right route for your souls.
But they said, 'Nothing doing.
We aren't going that way.'
I even provided watchmen for them
to warn them, to set off the alarm.
But the people said, 'It's a false alarm.
It doesn't concern us.'
And so I'm calling in the nations as witnesses:
'Watch, witnesses, what happens to them!'
And, 'Pay attention, Earth!
Don't miss these bulletins.'
I'm visiting catastrophe on this people, the end result
of the games they've been playing with me.
They've ignored everything I've said,
had nothing but contempt for my teaching.
What would I want with incense brought in from Sheba,
rare spices from exotic places?
Your burnt sacrifices in worship give me no pleasure.
Your religious rituals mean nothing to me."
²¹So listen to this. Here's God's verdict on your way of life:
"Watch out! I'm putting roadblocks and barriers
on the road you're taking.
They'll send you sprawling,
parents and children, neighbors and friends—
and that will be the end of the lot of you."
^22-23And listen to this verdict from God:
"Look out! An invasion from the north,
a mighty power on the move from a faraway place:
Armed to the teeth,
vicious and pitiless,
Booming like sea storm and thunder—tramp, tramp, tramp—
riding hard on war horses,
In battle formation
against you, dear Daughter Zion!"
^24-25We've heard the news,
and we're as limp as wet dishrags.
We're paralyzed with fear.
Terror has a death grip on our throats.
Don't dare go outdoors!
Don't leave the house!
Death is on the prowl.
Danger everywhere!
²⁶"Dear Daughter Zion: Dress in black.
Blacken your face with ashes.
Weep most bitterly,
as for an only child.
The countdown has begun...
six, five, four, three...
The Terror is on us!"
^27-30God gave me this task:
"I have made you the examiner of my people,
to examine and weigh their lives.
They're a thickheaded, hard-nosed bunch,
rotten to the core, the lot of them.
Refining fires are cranked up to white heat,
but the ore stays a lump, unchanged.
It's useless to keep trying any longer.
Nothing can refine evil out of them.
Men will give up and call them 'slag,'
thrown on the slag heap by me, their God."

Jeremiah 7

The Nation That Wouldn't Obey God

^1-2 The Message from God to Jeremiah: "Stand in the gate of God's Temple and preach this Message. ^2-3"Say, 'Listen, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship God. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, has this to say to you: ^3-7"'Clean up your act—the way you live, the things you do—so I can make my home with you in this place. Don't for a minute believe the lies being spoken here—"This is God's Temple, God's Temple, God's Temple!" Total nonsense! Only if you clean up your act (the way you live, the things you do), only if you do a total spring cleaning on the way you live and treat your neighbors, only if you quit exploiting the street people and orphans and widows, no longer taking advantage of innocent people on this very site and no longer destroying your souls by using this Temple as a front for other gods—only then will I move into your neighborhood. Only then will this country I gave your ancestors be my permanent home, my Temple.
^8-11"'Get smart! Your leaders are handing you a pack of lies, and you're swallowing them! Use your heads! Do you think you can rob and murder, have sex with the neighborhood wives, tell lies nonstop, worship the local gods, and buy every novel religious commodity on the market—and then march into this Temple, set apart for my worship, and say, "We're safe!" thinking that the place itself gives you a license to go on with all this outrageous sacrilege? A cave full of criminals! Do you think you can turn this Temple, set apart for my worship, into something like that? Well, think again. I've got eyes in my head. I can see what's going on.'" God's Decree!
¹²"'Take a trip down to the place that was once in Shiloh, where I met my people in the early days. Take a look at those ruins, what I did to it because of the evil ways of my people Israel.
^13-15"'So now, because of the way you have lived and failed to listen, even though time and again I took you aside and talked seriously with you, and because you refused to change when I called you to repent, I'm going to do to this Temple, set aside for my worship, this place you think is going to keep you safe no matter what, this place I gave as a gift to your ancestors and you, the same as I did to Shiloh. And as for you, I'm going to get rid of you, the same as I got rid of those old relatives of yours around Shiloh, your fellow Israelites in that former kingdom to the north.'
^16-18"And you, Jeremiah, don't waste your time praying for this people. Don't offer to make petitions or intercessions. Don't bother me with them. I'm not listening. Can't you see what they're doing in all the villages of Judah and in the Jerusalem streets? Why, they've got the children gathering wood while the fathers build fires and the mothers make bread to be offered to 'the Queen of Heaven'! And as if that weren't bad enough, they go around pouring out libations to any other gods they come across, just to hurt me.
¹⁹"But is it me they're hurting?" God's Decree! "Aren't they just hurting themselves? Exposing themselves shamefully? Making themselves ridiculous?
²⁰"Here's what the Master God has to say: 'My white-hot anger is about to descend on this country and everything in it—people and animals, trees in the field and vegetables in the garden—a raging wildfire that no one can put out.'
^21-23"The Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God: 'Go ahead! Put your burnt offerings with all your other sacrificial offerings and make a good meal for yourselves. I sure don't want them! When I delivered your ancestors out of Egypt, I never said anything to them about wanting burnt offerings and sacrifices as such. But I did say this, commanded this: "Obey me. Do what I say and I will be your God and you will be my people. Live the way I tell you. Do what I command so that your lives will go well."
^24-26"'But do you think they listened? Not a word of it. They did just what they wanted to do, indulged any and every evil whim and got worse day by day. From the time your ancestors left the land of Egypt until now, I've supplied a steady stream of my servants the prophets, but do you think the people listened? Not once. Stubborn as mules and worse than their ancestors!'
^27-28"Tell them all this, but don't expect them to listen. Call out to them, but don't expect an answer. Tell them, 'You are the nation that wouldn't obey God, that refused all discipline. Truth has disappeared. There's not a trace of it left in your mouths.
²⁹"'So shave your heads.
Go bald to the hills and lament,
For God has rejected and left
this generation that has made him so angry.'
^30-31"The people of Judah have lived evil lives while I've stood by and watched." God's Decree. "In deliberate insult to me, they've set up their obscene god-images in the very Temple that was built to honor me. They've constructed Topheth altars for burning babies in prominent places all through the valley of Ben-hinnom, altars for burning their sons and daughters alive in the fire—a shocking perversion of all that I am and all I command.
^32-34"But soon, very soon"—God's Decree!—"the names Topheth and Benhinnom will no longer be used. They'll call the place what it is: Murder Meadow. Corpses will be stacked up in Topheth because there's no room left to bury them! Corpses abandoned in the open air, fed on by crows and coyotes, who have the run of the place. And I'll empty both smiles and laughter from the villages of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. No wedding songs, no holiday sounds. Dead silence."

Jeremiah 8

^1-2 "And when the time comes"—God's Decree!—"I'll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people. They'll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they've been so infatuated with all these years, following their 'lucky stars' in doglike devotion. The bones will be left scattered and exposed, to reenter the soil as fertilizer, like manure. ³"Everyone left—all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to—will wish they were dead." Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

To Know Everything but God's Word

^4-7"Tell them this, God's Message: "'Do people fall down and not get up?
Or take the wrong road and then just keep going?
So why does this people go backward,
and just keep on going—backward!
They stubbornly hold on to their illusions,
refuse to change direction.
I listened carefully
but heard not so much as a whisper.
No one expressed one word of regret.
Not a single "I'm sorry" did I hear.
They just kept at it, blindly and stupidly
banging their heads against a brick wall.
Cranes know when it's time
to move south for winter.
And robins, warblers, and bluebirds
know when it's time to come back again.
But my people? My people know nothing,
not the first thing of God and his rule.

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Colossians 2:8-23 (The Message)

^8-10Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
^11-15Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
^16-17So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
^18-19Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.
^20-23So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.

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Psalm 78:1-31 (The Message)

Psalm 78

An Asaph Psalm

^1-4 Listen, dear friends, to God's truth, bend your ears to what I tell you.
I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb;
I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,
Stories we heard from our fathers,
counsel we learned at our mother's knee.
We're not keeping this to ourselves,
we're passing it along to the next generation—
God's fame and fortune,
the marvelous things he has done.

^5-8 He planted a witness in Jacob,
set his Word firmly in Israel,
Then commanded our parents
to teach it to their children
So the next generation would know,
and all the generations to come—
Know the truth and tell the stories
so their children can trust in God,
Never forget the works of God
but keep his commands to the letter.
Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,
bullheaded and bad,
A fickle and faithless bunch
who never stayed true to God.

^9-16 The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth,
ran off when the battle began.
They were cowards to God's Covenant,
refused to walk by his Word.
They forgot what he had done—
marvels he'd done right before their eyes.
He performed miracles in plain sight of their parents
in Egypt, out on the fields of Zoan.
He split the Sea and they walked right through it;
he piled the waters to the right and the left.
He led them by day with a cloud,
led them all the night long with a fiery torch.
He split rocks in the wilderness,
gave them all they could drink from underground springs;
He made creeks flow out from sheer rock,
and water pour out like a river.

^17-20 All they did was sin even more,
rebel in the desert against the High God.
They tried to get their own way with God,
clamored for favors, for special attention.
They whined like spoiled children,
"Why can't God give us a decent meal in this desert?
Sure, he struck the rock and the water flowed,
creeks cascaded from the rock.
But how about some fresh-baked bread?
How about a nice cut of meat?"

^21-31 When God heard that, he was furious—
his anger flared against Jacob,
he lost his temper with Israel.
It was clear they didn't believe God,
had no intention of trusting in his help.
But God helped them anyway, commanded the clouds
and gave orders that opened the gates of heaven.
He rained down showers of manna to eat,
he gave them the Bread of Heaven.
They ate the bread of the mighty angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.
He let East Wind break loose from the skies,
gave a strong push to South Wind.
This time it was birds that rained down—
succulent birds, an abundance of birds.
He aimed them right for the center of their camp;
all round their tents there were birds.
They ate and had their fill;
he handed them everything they craved on a platter.
But their greed knew no bounds;
they stuffed their mouths with more and more.
Finally, God was fed up, his anger erupted—
he cut down their brightest and best,
he laid low Israel's finest young men.

 

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Proverbs 24:26 (The Message)

²⁶ An honest answer
is like a warm hug.

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Verse of the Day

“So always trust the LORD because he is forever our mighty rock.” - Isaiah 26:4

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

 

Canadian-born American writer, Saul Bellow wrote, “When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.”