Bible Reading
December 20
The World English Bible
Dec.
20
Jonah
1-4
Jon
1:1 Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
Jon
1:2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against
it, for their wickedness has come up before me."
Jon
1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of
Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so
he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish
from the presence of Yahweh.
Jon
1:4 But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a
mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.
Jon
1:5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god.
They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten
it. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and
he was laying down, and was fast asleep.
Jon
1:6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, "What do
you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will
notice us, so that we won't perish."
Jon
1:7 They all said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots, that
we may know for whose cause this evil is on us." So they cast
lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
Jon
1:8 Then they asked him, "Tell us, please, for whose cause this
evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What
is your country? Of what people are you?"
Jon
1:9 He said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God
of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land."
Jon
1:10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "What
is this that you have done?" For the men knew that he was
fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.
Jon
1:11 Then said they to him, "What shall we do to you, that the
sea may be calm to us?" For the sea grew more and more stormy.
Jon
1:12 He said to them, "Take me up, and throw me into the sea.
Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this
great storm is on you."
Jon
1:13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land;
but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against
them.
Jon
1:14 Therefore they cried to Yahweh, and said, "We beg you,
Yahweh, we beg you, let us not perish for this man's life, and don't
lay on us innocent blood; for you, Yahweh, have done as it pleased
you."
Jon
1:15 So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea
ceased its raging.
Jon
1:16 Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a
sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.
Jon
1:17 Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was
in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jon
2:1 Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish's belly.
Jon
2:2 He said, "I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He
answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.
Jon
2:3 For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The
flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over
me.
Jon
2:4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look
again toward your holy temple.'
Jon
2:5 The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around
me. The weeds were wrapped around my head.
Jon
2:6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me
in forever: yet have you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my
God.
Jon
2:7 "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My
prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
Jon
2:8 Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Jon
2:9 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I
will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh."
Jon
2:10 Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry
land.
Jon
3:1 The word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying,
Jon
3:2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it
the message that I give you."
Jon
3:3 So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of
Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days'
journey across.
Jon
3:4 Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried
out, and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be
overthrown!"
Jon
3:5 The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast,
and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of
them.
Jon
3:6 The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his
throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth,
and sat in ashes.
Jon
3:7 He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the
decree of the king and his nobles, saying, "Let neither man nor
animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink
water;
Jon
3:8 but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and
let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his
evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.
Jon
3:9 Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away
from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?"
Jon
3:10 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God
relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he
didn't do it.
Jon
4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
Jon
4:2 He prayed to Yahweh, and said, "Please, Yahweh, wasn't this
what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried
to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and
merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you
relent of doing harm.
Jon
4:3 Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it
is better for me to die than to live."
Jon
4:4 Yahweh said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"
Jon
4:5 Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the
city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade,
until he might see what would become of the city.
Jon
4:6 Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah,
that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his
discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.
Jon
4:7 But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on
the vine, so that it withered.
Jon
4:8 It happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east
wind; and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he fainted, and
requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is better
for me to die than to live."
Jon
4:9 God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about
the vine?" He said, "I am right to be angry, even to
death."
Jon
4:10 Yahweh said, "You have been concerned for the vine, for
which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a
night, and perished in a night.
Jon
4:11 Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which
are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can't discern
between their right hand and their left hand; and also much
livestock?"
Dec. 20
Revelation 2
Rev 2:1 "To the
angel of the assembly in Ephesus write: "He who holds the seven
stars in his right hand, he who walks among the seven golden
lampstands says these things:
Rev 2:2 "I know
your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can't
tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves
apostles, and they are not, and found them false.
Rev 2:3 You have
perseverance and have endured for my name's sake, and have not grown
weary.
Rev 2:4 But I have this
against you, that you left your first love.
Rev 2:5 Remember
therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first
works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your
lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.
Rev 2:6 But this you
have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Rev 2:7 He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who
overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the
Paradise of my God.
Rev 2:8 "To the
angel of the assembly in Smyrna write: "The first and the last,
who was dead, and has come to life says these things:
Rev 2:9 "I know
your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the
blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a
synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:10 Don't be
afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil
is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested;
and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and
I will give you the crown of life.
Rev 2:11 He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who
overcomes won't be harmed by the second death.
Rev 2:12 "To the
angel of the assembly in Pergamum write: "He who has the sharp
two-edged sword says these things:
Rev 2:13 "I know
your works and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. You hold
firmly to my name, and didn't deny my faith in the days of Antipas my
witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan
dwells.
Rev 2:14 But I have a
few things against you, because you have there some who hold the
teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block
before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and
to commit sexual immorality.
Rev 2:15 So you also
have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans likewise.
Rev 2:16 Repent
therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war
against them with the sword of my mouth.
Rev 2:17 He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who
overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give
him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one
knows but he who receives it.
Rev 2:18 "To the
angel of the assembly in Thyatira write: "The Son of God, who
has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished
brass, says these things:
Rev 2:19 "I know
your works, your love, faith, service, patient endurance, and that
your last works are more than the first.
Rev 2:20 But I have
this against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls
herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit
sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
Rev 2:21 I gave her
time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
Rev 2:22 Behold, I will
throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into
great oppression, unless they repent of her works.
Rev 2:23 I will kill
her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am
he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you
according to your deeds.
Rev 2:24 But to you I
say, to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as don't have this
teaching, who don't know what some call 'the deep things of Satan,'
to you I say, I am not putting any other burden on you.
Rev 2:25 Nevertheless,
hold that which you have firmly until I come.
Rev 2:26 He who
overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give
authority over the nations.
Rev 2:27 He will rule
them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots; as I also
have received of my Father:
Rev 2:28 and I will
give him the morning star.
Rev 2:29 He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
