November 23

John 13:12-17

[12] When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? [13] You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. [14] If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. [15] For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. [16] Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. [17] If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Jude 1:1-7

Greeting

[1] Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, 

To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 

[2] May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Judgment on False Teachers

[3] Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. [4] For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

[5] Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. [6] And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—[7] just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Job 21:1-21

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

[1] Then Job answered and said:

    [2] “Keep listening to my words,

        and let this be your comfort. 

    [3] Bear with me, and I will speak,

        and after I have spoken, mock on. 

    [4] As for me, is my complaint against man?

        Why should I not be impatient? 

    [5] Look at me and be appalled,

        and lay your hand over your mouth. 

    [6] When I remember, I am dismayed,

        and shuddering seizes my flesh. 

    [7] Why do the wicked live,

        reach old age, and grow mighty in power? 

    [8] Their offspring are established in their presence,

        and their descendants before their eyes. 

    [9] Their houses are safe from fear,

        and no rod of God is upon them. 

    [10] Their bull breeds without fail;

        their cow calves and does not miscarry. 

    [11] They send out their little boys like a flock,

        and their children dance. 

    [12] They sing to the tambourine and the lyre

        and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. 

    [13] They spend their days in prosperity,

        and in peace they go down to Sheol. 

    [14] They say to God, ‘Depart from us!

        We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. 

    [15] What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

        And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ 

    [16] Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?

        The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

    [17] “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?

        That their calamity comes upon them?

        That God distributes pains in his anger? 

    [18] That they are like straw before the wind,

        and like chaff that the storm carries away? 

    [19] You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’

        Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it. 

    [20] Let their own eyes see their destruction,

        and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 

    [21] For what do they care for their houses after them,

        when the number of their months is cut off?

Daniel 7

Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts

[1] In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. [2] Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. [3] And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. [4] The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. [5] And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ [6] After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. [7] After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. [8] I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

The Ancient of Days Reigns

[9] “As I looked, 

    thrones were placed,

        and the Ancient of Days took his seat;

    his clothing was white as snow,

        and the hair of his head like pure wool;

    his throne was fiery flames;

        its wheels were burning fire. 

    [10] A stream of fire issued

        and came out from before him;

    a thousand thousands served him,

        and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;

    the court sat in judgment,

        and the books were opened.

    [11] “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. [12] As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion

[13] “I saw in the night visions, 

    and behold, with the clouds of heaven

        there came one like a son of man,

    and he came to the Ancient of Days

        and was presented before him. 

    [14] And to him was given dominion

        and glory and a kingdom,

    that all peoples, nations, and languages

        should serve him;

    his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

        which shall not pass away,

    and his kingdom one

        that shall not be destroyed.

    Daniel’s Vision Interpreted

[15] “As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me. [16] I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things. [17] ‘These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. [18] But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’

[19] “Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, [20] and about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. [21] As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, [22] until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.

[23] “Thus he said: ‘As for the fourth beast, 

    there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth,

        which shall be different from all the kingdoms,

    and it shall devour the whole earth,

        and trample it down, and break it to pieces. 

    [24] As for the ten horns,

    out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise,

        and another shall arise after them;

    he shall be different from the former ones,

        and shall put down three kings. 

    [25] He shall speak words against the Most High,

        and shall wear out the saints of the Most High,

        and shall think to change the times and the law;

    and they shall be given into his hand

        for a time, times, and half a time. 

    [26] But the court shall sit in judgment,

        and his dominion shall be taken away,

        to be consumed and destroyed to the end. 

    [27] And the kingdom and the dominion

        and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven

        shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High;

    his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom,

        and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’

    [28] “Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my color changed, but I kept the matter in my heart.”

Daniel 8

Daniel’s Vision of the Ram and the Goat

[1] In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. [2] And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. [3] I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. [4] I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.

[5] As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. [6] He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. [7] I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. [8] Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.

[9] Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. [10] It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. [11] It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. [12] And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. [13] Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” [14] And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

The Interpretation of the Vision

[15] When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. [16] And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” [17] So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.”

[18] And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. [19] He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. [20] As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. [21] And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. [22] As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. [23] And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. [24] His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. [25] By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. [26] The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.”

[27] And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.