Nah. 1
1:1 This is an oracle about Nineveh; the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
2The Lord is a zealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and very angry.
The Lord takes vengeance against his foes;
he sustains his rage against his enemies.
3The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will certainly not allow the wicked to go unpunished.
He marches out in the whirlwind and the raging storm;
dark storm clouds billow like dust under his feet.
4He shouts a battle cry against the sea and makes it dry up;
he makes all the rivers run dry.
Bashan and Carmel wither;
the blossom of Lebanon withers.
5The mountains tremble before him;
the hills convulse;
the earth is laid waste before him;
the world and all its inhabitants are laid waste.
6No one can withstand his indignation!
No one can resist his fierce anger!
His wrath is poured out like volcanic fire,
boulders are broken up as he approaches.
7The Lord is good—
indeed, he is a fortress in time of distress,
and he protects those who seek refuge in him.
8But with an overwhelming flood
he will make a complete end of Nineveh;
he will drive his enemies into darkness.
9Whatever you plot against the Lord, he will completely destroy!
Distress will not arise a second time.
10Surely they will be totally consumed
like entangled thornbushes,
like the drink of drunkards,
like very dry stubble.
11From you, O Nineveh, one has marched forth who plots evil against the Lord,
a wicked military strategist.
12This is what the Lord says:
“Even though they are powerful—
and what is more, even though their army is numerous—
nevertheless, they will be destroyed and trickle away!
Although I afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.
13And now, I will break Assyria’s yoke bar from your neck;
I will tear apart the shackles that are on you.”
14The Lord has issued a decree against you:
“Your dynasty will come to an end.
I will destroy the idols and images in the temples of your gods.
I will desecrate your grave, because you are accursed!”
15(2:1) Look! A herald is running on the mountains!
A messenger is proclaiming deliverance:
“Celebrate your sacred festivals, O Judah!
Fulfill your sacred vows to praise God!
For never again will the wicked Assyrians invade you;
they have been completely destroyed.”
(NET Bible)Ps. 113
113:1 Praise the Lord.
Praise, you servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
2May the Lord’s name be praised
now and forevermore.
3From east to west
the Lord’s name is deserving of praise.
4The Lord is exalted over all the nations;
his splendor reaches beyond the sky.
5Who can compare to the Lord our God,
who sits on a high throne?
6He bends down to look
at the sky and the earth.
7He raises the poor from the dirt
and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile
8that he might seat him with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9He makes the barren woman of the family
a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
(NET Bible)Luke 19:11–27
19:11 While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. 12Therefore he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. 13And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ 14But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to be king over us!’ 15When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much they had earned by trading. 16So the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17And the king said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’ 18Then the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’ 19So the king said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 20Then another slave came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth. 21For I was afraid of you because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’ 22The king said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow? 23Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’ 24And he said to his attendants, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’ 25But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas already!’ 26‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 27But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!’”
(NET Bible)On April 28, thus ten days later [a er Worms], [Luther] wrote his well-known letter to Emperor Charles. … “But I, who was always humble and zealously ready to do and to suffer all that in me lay, could not obtain this one concession, this most Christian prayer, that the Word of God should remain free and unbound, and that I should submit my books to your Sacred Majesty and the Estates of the Empire on that condition, nor that in yielding to the decree of a Council I should not submit to anything contrary to the gospel of God, nor should they make any such decree. is was the crux of the whole controversy.” Luther then continues: “For God, the searcher of hearts, is my witness that I am most ready to submit to and obey your Majesty either in life or in death, to glory or to shame, for gain or for loss. As I have o ered myself, thus I do now, excepting nothing save the Word of God, in which not only (as Christ teaches in Matthew 4) does man live, but which also the angels of Christ desire to see (I Peter 1). As it is above all things it ought to be held free and unbound in all, as Paul teaches (II Timothy 2:9). It ought not to depend on human judgment nor to yield to the opinion of men, no matter how great, how numerous, how learned, and how holy they are. Thus does St. Paul in Galatians. I dare to exclaim with emphasis, ‘If we or an angel from heaven teach you another gospel, let him be anathema,’ and David says, ‘Put not your trust in princes, in the sons of men, in whom is no safety,’ Ps. 146:3. Nor is anyone able to trust in himself, as Solomon says, ‘He is a fool who trusts in his heart’; Prov. 28:26, and Jeremiah 17, ‘Cursed is he who trusteth in man’ … For to trust in man in matters of salvation is to give to the creature the glory due to the creator alone.” (20–21)
–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures
This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.