Bible Reading for December 16 and 17
World English Bible
Dec.
16
Joel
1-3
Joe
1:1 The Word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
Joe
1:2 Hear this, you elders, And listen, all you inhabitants of the
land. Has this ever happened in your days, or in the days of your
fathers?
Joe
1:3 Tell your children about it, and have your children tell their
children, and their children, another generation.
Joe
1:4 What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten.
What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the
grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.
Joe
1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of
wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
Joe
1:6 For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number.
His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a lioness.
Joe
1:7 He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has
stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.
Joe
1:8 Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her
youth!
Joe
1:9 The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from
Yahweh's house. The priests, Yahweh's ministers, mourn.
Joe
1:10 The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is
destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.
Joe
1:11 Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers; for the
wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.
Joe
1:12 The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered; the
pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of
the trees of the field are withered; for joy has withered away from
the sons of men.
Joe
1:13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of
the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God,
for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your
God's house.
Joe
1:14 Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, and
all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of Yahweh, your God,
and cry to Yahweh.
Joe
1:15 Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and it will
come as destruction from the Almighty.
Joe
1:16 Isn't the food cut off before our eyes; joy and gladness from
the house of our God?
Joe
1:17 The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid
desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
Joe
1:18 How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed,
because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made
desolate.
Joe
1:19 Yahweh, I cry to you, For the fire has devoured the pastures of
the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.
Joe
1:20 Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks
have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the
wilderness.
Joe
2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of
Yahweh comes, for it is close at hand:
Joe
2:2 A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong
people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more
after them, even to the years of many generations.
Joe
2:3 A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The
land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a
desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.
Joe
2:4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as
horsemen, so do they run.
Joe
2:5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they
leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as
a strong people set in battle array.
Joe
2:6 At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have
grown pale.
Joe
2:7 They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors.
They each march in his line, and they don't swerve off course.
Joe
2:8 Neither does one jostle another; they march everyone in his
path, and they burst through the defenses, and don't break ranks.
Joe
2:9 They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into
the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.
Joe
2:10 The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and
the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
Joe
2:11 Yahweh thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are
very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of
Yahweh is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?
Joe
2:12 "Yet even now," says Yahweh, "turn to me with
all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with
mourning."
Joe
2:13 Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh,
your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
Joe
2:14 Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind
him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to Yahweh, your God.
Joe
2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn
assembly.
Joe
2:16 Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders.
Gather the children, and those who suck the breasts. Let the
bridegroom go forth from his room, and the bride out of her chamber.
Joe
2:17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the
porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare your people,
Yahweh, and don't give your heritage to reproach, that the nations
should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where
is their God?' "
Joe
2:18 Then Yahweh was jealous for his land, And had pity on his
people.
Joe
2:19 Yahweh answered his people, "Behold, I will send you
grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I
will no more make you a reproach among the nations.
Joe
2:20 But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will
drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern
sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up,
and its bad smell will rise." Surely he has done great things.
Joe
2:21 Land, don't be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for Yahweh has done
great things.
Joe
2:22 Don't be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of
the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree
and the vine yield their strength.
Joe
2:23 "Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in
Yahweh, your God; for he gives you the former rain in just measure,
and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the
latter rain, as before.
Joe
2:24 The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will
overflow with new wine and oil.
Joe
2:25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has
eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my
great army, which I sent among you.
Joe
2:26 You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and will praise
the name of Yahweh, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and
my people will never again be disappointed.
Joe
2:27 You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am
Yahweh, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never
again be disappointed.
Joe
2:28 "It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit
on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your
old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.
Joe
2:29 And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I
will pour out my Spirit.
Joe
2:30 I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood,
fire, and pillars of smoke.
Joe
2:31 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
Joe
2:32 It will happen that whoever will call on the name of Yahweh
shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be
those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those
whom Yahweh calls.
Joe
3:1 "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I
restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
Joe
3:2 I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the
valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for
my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered
among the nations. They have divided my land,
Joe
3:3 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a
prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
Joe
3:4 "Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon, and all the
regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will
swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.
Joe
3:5 Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried
my finest treasures into your temples,
Joe
3:6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of
Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far
from their border.
Joe
3:7 Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold
them, and will return your repayment on your own head;
Joe
3:8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of
the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba,
to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it."
Joe
3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Stir up
the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.
Joe
3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into
spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'
Joe
3:11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather
yourselves together." Cause your mighty ones to come down there,
Yahweh.
Joe
3:12 "Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the
valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the
surrounding nations.
Joe
3:13 Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for
the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is
great."
Joe
3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day
of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.
Joe
3:15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their
shining.
Joe
3:16 Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the
heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his
people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.
Joe
3:17 "So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in
Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers
will pass through her any more.
Joe
3:18 It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down
sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah
will flow with waters, and a fountain will come forth from the house
of Yahweh, and will water the valley of Shittim.
Joe
3:19 Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate
wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because
they have shed innocent blood in their land.
Joe
3:20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from
generation to generation.
Joe
3:21 I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for
Yahweh dwells in Zion."
Dec.
17
Amos
1-4
Amo
1:1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he
saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the
days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before
the earthquake.
Amo
1:2 He said: "Yahweh will roar from Zion, and utter his voice
from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, and the
top of Carmel will wither."
Amo
1:3 Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Damascus,
yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have
threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;
Amo
1:4 but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will
devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.
Amo
1:5 I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant
from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house
of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,"
says Yahweh.
Amo
1:6 Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Gaza, yes,
for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried
away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom;
Amo
1:7 but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour
its palaces.
Amo
1:8 I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the
scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the
remnant of the Philistines will perish," says the Lord Yahweh.
Amo
1:9 Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Tyre, yes,
for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered
up the whole community to Edom, and didn't remember the brotherly
covenant;
Amo
1:10 but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will devour
its palaces."
Amo
1:11 Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Edom, yes,
for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he pursued his
brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger raged
continually, and he kept his wrath forever;
Amo
1:12 but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces
of Bozrah."
Amo
1:13 Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of the
children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its
punishment; because they have ripped open the pregnant women of
Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.
Amo
1:14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will
devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm
in the day of the whirlwind;
Amo
1:15 and their king will go into captivity, he and his princes
together," says Yahweh.
Amo
2:1 Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Moab, yes,
for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned the
bones of the king of Edom into lime;
Amo
2:2 but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces
of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with
the sound of the trumpet;
Amo
2:3 and I will cut off the judge from their midst, and will kill all
its princes with him," says Yahweh.
Amo
2:4 Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Judah, yes,
for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have
rejected Yahweh's law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies
have led them astray, after which their fathers walked;
Amo
2:5 But I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces
of Jerusalem."
Amo
2:6 Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel, yes,
for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold
the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;
Amo
2:7 They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor,
and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the
same maiden, to profane my holy name;
Amo
2:8 and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken
in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those
who have been fined.
Amo
2:9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like
the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I
destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Amo
2:10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you
forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
Amo
2:11 I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your
young men for Nazirites. Isn't this true, you children of Israel?"
says Yahweh.
Amo
2:12 "But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded
the prophets, saying, 'Don't prophesy!'
Amo
2:13 Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that
is full of grain.
Amo
2:14 Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won't
strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;
Amo
2:15 neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is swift
of foot won't escape; neither shall he who rides the horse deliver
himself;
Amo
2:16 and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked
on that day," says Yahweh.
Amo
3:1 Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, children of
Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land
of Egypt, saying:
Amo
3:2 "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth.
Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins."
Amo
3:3 Do two walk together, unless they have agreed?
Amo
3:4 Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a
young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?
Amo
3:5 Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set
for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is
nothing to catch?
Amo
3:6 Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being
afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn't done it?
Amo
3:7 Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his
secret to his servants the prophets.
Amo
3:8 The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord Yahweh has
spoken. Who can but prophesy?
Amo
3:9 Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the
land of Egypt, and say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of
Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among
them."
Amo
3:10 "Indeed they don't know to do right," says Yahweh,
"Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces."
Amo
3:11 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "An adversary will
overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your
fortresses will be plundered."
Amo
3:12 Thus says Yahweh: "As the shepherd rescues out of the
mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the
children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a
couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed."
Dec. 16
2 John
2Jn 1:1
The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in
truth; and not I only, but also all those who know the truth;
2Jn 1:2
for the truth's sake, which remains in us, and it will be with us
forever:
2Jn 1:3
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father, and
from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
2Jn 1:4
I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in
truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father.
2Jn 1:5
Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new
commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love
one another.
2Jn 1:6
This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments.
This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that
you should walk in it.
2Jn 1:7
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don't
confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and
the Antichrist.
2Jn 1:8
Watch yourselves, that we don't lose the things which we have
accomplished, but that we receive a full reward.
2Jn 1:9
Whoever transgresses and doesn't remain in the teaching of Christ,
doesn't have God. He who remains in the teaching, the same has both
the Father and the Son.
2Jn
1:10 If anyone comes to you, and doesn't bring this teaching, don't
receive him into your house, and don't welcome him,
2Jn
1:11 for he who welcomes him participates in his evil works.
2Jn
1:12 Having many things to write to you, I don't want to do so with
paper and ink, but I hope to come to you, and to speak face to face,
that our joy may be made full.
2Jn
1:13 The children of your chosen sister greet you. Amen.
Dec. 17
3 John
3Jn 1:1
The elder to Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth.
3Jn 1:2
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy,
even as your soul prospers.
3Jn 1:3
For I rejoiced greatly, when brothers came and testified about your
truth, even as you walk in truth.
3Jn 1:4
I have no greater joy than this, to hear about my children walking
in truth.
3Jn 1:5
Beloved, you do a faithful work in whatever you accomplish for those
who are brothers and strangers.
3Jn 1:6
They have testified about your love before the assembly. You will do
well to send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God,
3Jn 1:7
because for the sake of the Name they went out, taking nothing from
the Gentiles.
3Jn 1:8
We therefore ought to receive such, that we may be fellow workers
for the truth.
3Jn 1:9
I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among
them, doesn't accept what we say.
3Jn
1:10 Therefore, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which
he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words. Not content with
this, neither does he himself receive the brothers, and those who
would, he forbids and throws out of the assembly.
3Jn
1:11 Beloved, don't imitate that which is evil, but that which is
good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn't seen God.
3Jn
1:12 Demetrius has the testimony of all, and of the truth itself;
yes, we also testify, and you know that our testimony is true.
3Jn
1:13 I had many things to write to you, but I am unwilling to write
to you with ink and pen;
3Jn
1:14 but I hope to see you soon, and we will speak face to face.
Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.
