Home > Reading > Daily Reading – October 1, 2020

Ezek. 29

29:1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the Lord’s message came to me: 2“Son of man, turn toward Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster lying in the midst of its waterways,

who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.”

4I will put hooks in your jaws

and stick the fish of your waterways to your scales.

I will haul you up from the midst of your waterways,

and all the fish of your waterways will stick to your scales.

5I will leave you in the wilderness,

you and all the fish of your waterways;

you will fall in the open field and will not be gathered up or collected.

I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the skies.

6Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am the Lord

because they were a reed staff for the house of Israel;

7when they grasped you with their hand, you broke and tore their shoulders,

and when they leaned on you, you splintered and caused their legs to be unsteady.

8“‘Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will kill every person and every animal. 9The land of Egypt will become a desolate ruin. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“‘Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,” 10I am against you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border with Ethiopia. 11No human foot will pass through it, and no animal’s foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for 40 years. 12I will turn the land of Egypt into a desolation in the midst of desolate lands; for 40 years her cities will lie desolate in the midst of ruined cities. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries.

13“‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: At the end of 40 years I will gather Egypt from the peoples where they were scattered. 14I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and will bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin; there they will be an insignificant kingdom. 15It will be the most insignificant of the kingdoms; it will never again exalt itself over the nations. I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations. 16It will never again be Israel’s source of confidence, but a reminder of how they sinned by turning to Egypt for help. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’”

17In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the Lord’s message came to me: 18“Son of man, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was rubbed bald and every shoulder rubbed bare; yet he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the work he carried out against it. 19Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. He will carry off her wealth, capture her loot, and seize her plunder; it will be his army’s wages. 20I have given him the land of Egypt as his compensation for attacking Tyre, because they did it for me, declares the Sovereign Lord. 21On that day I will make Israel powerful, and I will give you the right to be heard among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

(NET Bible)

Ps. 90

90:1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

O Lord, you have been our protector through all generations.

2Even before the mountains came into existence,

or you brought the world into being,

you were the eternal God.

3You make mankind return to the dust,

and say, “Return, O people.”

4Yes, in your eyes a thousand years

are like yesterday that quickly passes,

or like one of the divisions of the nighttime.

5You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.”

In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up:

6In the morning it glistens and sprouts up;

at evening time it withers and dries up.

7Yes, we are consumed by your anger;

we are terrified by your wrath.

8You are aware of our sins;

you even know about our hidden sins.

9Yes, throughout all our days we experience your raging fury;

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh.

10The days of our lives add up to 70 years,

or 80, if one is especially strong.

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression.

Yes, they pass quickly and we fly away.

11Who can really fathom the intensity of your anger?

Your raging fury causes people to fear you.

12So teach us to consider our mortality,

so that we might live wisely.

13Turn back toward us, O Lord.

How long must this suffering last?

Have pity on your servants.

14Satisfy us in the morning with your loyal love.

Then we will shout for joy and be happy all our days.

15Make us happy in proportion to the days you have afflicted us,

in proportion to the years we have experienced trouble.

16May your servants see your work.

May their sons see your majesty.

17May our Sovereign God extend his favor to us.

Make our endeavors successful.

Yes, make them successful.

(NET Bible)

Heb. 3:12–29

3:12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God. (NET Bible)

In his Exposition of the Prophet Zechariah, of 1527, in the explanation of the passage 11:12 ., Luther raises the question, “Why does Matthew (27:9) attribute the text of the thirty pieces of silver to the prophet Jeremiah when it appears here in Zechariah?” He answers: “It is true, this and similar questions do not mean much to me since they are of no particular profit, and Matthew has done enough when he has cited a genuine text even if he does not have the correct name, just as in other places he cites texts but does not give them in the exact words of Scripture; we can pass that by, and it does no harm that he does not use the exact words, for the sense has been preserved, and so here, what does it matter if he does not give the name exactly, because more depends on the words than on the name. And that is the manner of all apostles who do the same thing, citing the statements of Scripture without such meticulous care concerning the text. Wherefore it would be much harder to question their procedure than to question Matthew here about the name of Jeremiah. Let anyone who loves idle questions ask on. He will find more to question than he can answer.” (49)

–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.

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