September 3

Luke 21:1-19

The Widow’s Offering

[1] Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, [2] and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. [3] And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. [4] For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

[5] And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, [6] “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” [7] And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” [8] And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. [9] And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”

Jesus Foretells Wars and Persecution

[10] Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. [11] There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. [12] But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. [13] This will be your opportunity to bear witness. [14] Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, [15] for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. [16] You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. [17] You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. [18] But not a hair of your head will perish. [19] By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Hebrews 2:1-9

Warning Against Neglecting Salvation

[1] Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. [2] For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, [3] how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, [4] while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

The Founder of Salvation

[5] For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. [6] It has been testified somewhere, 

    “What is man, that you are mindful of him,

        or the son of man, that you care for him? 

    [7] You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

        you have crowned him with glory and honor, 

    [8]     putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

    Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.  [9] But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Proverbs 19:15-29

    [15] 

    Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep,

        and an idle person will suffer hunger. 

    [16] 

    Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life;

        he who despises his ways will die. 

    [17] 

    Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD,

        and he will repay him for his deed. 

    [18] 

    Discipline your son, for there is hope;

        do not set your heart on putting him to death. 

    [19] 

    A man of great wrath will pay the penalty,

        for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again. 

    [20] 

    Listen to advice and accept instruction,

        that you may gain wisdom in the future. 

    [21] 

    Many are the plans in the mind of a man,

        but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand. 

    [22] 

    What is desired in a man is steadfast love,

        and a poor man is better than a liar. 

    [23] 

    The fear of the LORD leads to life,

        and whoever has it rests satisfied;

        he will not be visited by harm. 

    [24] 

    The sluggard buries his hand in the dish

        and will not even bring it back to his mouth. 

    [25] 

    Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence;

        reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge. 

    [26] 

    He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother

        is a son who brings shame and reproach. 

    [27] 

    Cease to hear instruction, my son,

        and you will stray from the words of knowledge. 

    [28] 

    A worthless witness mocks at justice,

        and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity. 

    [29] 

    Condemnation is ready for scoffers,

        and beating for the backs of fools.

Isaiah 6

Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord

[1] In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. [2] Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. [3] And one called to another and said: 

    “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

    the whole earth is full of his glory!”

    [4] And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. [5] And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

[6] Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. [7] And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah’s Commission from the Lord

[8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go, and say to this people: 

    “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

    keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 

    [10] Make the heart of this people dull,

        and their ears heavy,

        and blind their eyes;

    lest they see with their eyes,

        and hear with their ears,

    and understand with their hearts,

        and turn and be healed.” 

    [11] Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”

    And he said:

    “Until cities lie waste

        without inhabitant,

    and houses without people,

        and the land is a desolate waste, 

    [12] and the LORD removes people far away,

        and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 

    [13] And though a tenth remain in it,

        it will be burned again,

    like a terebinth or an oak,

        whose stump remains

        when it is felled.”

    The holy seed is its stump.

Isaiah 7

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

[1] In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. [2] When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

[3] And the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. [4] And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. [5] Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, [6] “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” [7] thus says the Lord GOD: 

    “‘It shall not stand,

        and it shall not come to pass. 

    [8] For the head of Syria is Damascus,

        and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

    And within sixty-five years

        Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. 

    [9] And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

        and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

    If you are not firm in faith,

        you will not be firm at all.’”

    The Sign of Immanuel

[10] Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: [11] “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” [12] But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” [13] And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? [14] Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. [15] He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. [16] For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. [17] The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

[18] In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. [19] And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.

[20] In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

[21] In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, [22] and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.

[23] In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. [24] With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. [25] And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

Isaiah 8

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

[1] Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ [2] And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

[3] And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; [4] for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

[5] The LORD spoke to me again: [6] “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, [7] therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, [8] and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

    [9] Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;

        give ear, all you far countries;

    strap on your armor and be shattered;

        strap on your armor and be shattered. 

    [10] Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;

        speak a word, but it will not stand,

        for God is with us.

    Fear God, Wait for the LORD

[11] For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: [12] “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. [13] But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. [14] And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. [15] And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

[16] Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. [17] I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. [18] Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. [19] And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? [20] To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. [21] They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. [22] And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.