September 5

Luke 21:29-38

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

[29] And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. [30] As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. [31] So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. [32] Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. [33] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Watch Yourselves

[34] “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. [35] For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. [36] But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

[37] And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. [38] And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.

Hebrews 3

Jesus Greater Than Moses

[1] Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, [2] who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. [3] For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. [4] (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) [5] Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, [6] but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

A Rest for the People of God

[7] Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 

    “Today, if you hear his voice, 

    [8] do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

        on the day of testing in the wilderness, 

    [9] where your fathers put me to the test

        and saw my works for forty years. 

    [10] Therefore I was provoked with that generation,

    and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;

        they have not known my ways.’ 

    [11] As I swore in my wrath,

        ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

    [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. [14] For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. [15] As it is said, 

    “Today, if you hear his voice,

    do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

    [16] For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? [17] And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? [18] And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? [19] So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Proverbs 20:16-30

    [16] 

    Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger,

        and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners. 

    [17] 

    Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,

        but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel. 

    [18] 

    Plans are established by counsel;

        by wise guidance wage war. 

    [19] 

    Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets;

        therefore do not associate with a simple babbler. 

    [20] 

    If one curses his father or his mother,

        his lamp will be put out in utter darkness. 

    [21] 

    An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning

        will not be blessed in the end. 

    [22] 

    Do not say, “I will repay evil”;

        wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you. 

    [23] 

    Unequal weights are an abomination to the LORD,

        and false scales are not good. 

    [24] 

    A man’s steps are from the LORD;

        how then can man understand his way? 

    [25] 

    It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,”

        and to reflect only after making vows. 

    [26] 

    A wise king winnows the wicked

        and drives the wheel over them. 

    [27] 

    The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD,

        searching all his innermost parts. 

    [28] 

    Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king,

        and by steadfast love his throne is upheld. 

    [29] 

    The glory of young men is their strength,

        but the splendor of old men is their gray hair. 

    [30] 

    Blows that wound cleanse away evil;

        strokes make clean the innermost parts.

Isaiah 11

The Righteous Reign of the Branch

    [1] There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

        and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 

    [2] And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,

        the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

        the Spirit of counsel and might,

        the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 

    [3] And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

    He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

        or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 

    [4] but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

        and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

    and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

        and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 

    [5] Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

        and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

    [6] The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

        and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

    and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

        and a little child shall lead them. 

    [7] The cow and the bear shall graze;

        their young shall lie down together;

        and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 

    [8] The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

        and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 

    [9] They shall not hurt or destroy

        in all my holy mountain;

    for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD

        as the waters cover the sea.

    [10] In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

[11] In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

    [12] He will raise a signal for the nations

        and will assemble the banished of Israel,

    and gather the dispersed of Judah

        from the four corners of the earth. 

    [13] The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,

        and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;

    Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

        and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. 

    [14] But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,

        and together they shall plunder the people of the east.

    They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab,

        and the Ammonites shall obey them. 

    [15] And the LORD will utterly destroy

        the tongue of the Sea of Egypt,

    and will wave his hand over the River

        with his scorching breath,

    and strike it into seven channels,

        and he will lead people across in sandals. 

    [16] And there will be a highway from Assyria

        for the remnant that remains of his people,

    as there was for Israel

        when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 12

The LORD Is My Strength and My Song

    [1] You will say in that day:

    “I will give thanks to you, O LORD,

        for though you were angry with me,

    your anger turned away,

        that you might comfort me.

    [2] “Behold, God is my salvation;

        I will trust, and will not be afraid;

    for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,

        and he has become my salvation.”

    [3] With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. [4] And you will say in that day: 

    “Give thanks to the LORD,

        call upon his name,

    make known his deeds among the peoples,

        proclaim that his name is exalted.

    [5] “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;

        let this be made known in all the earth. 

    [6] Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

        for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah 13

The Judgment of Babylon

[1] The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

    [2] On a bare hill raise a signal;

        cry aloud to them;

    wave the hand for them to enter

        the gates of the nobles. 

    [3] I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

        and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

        my proudly exulting ones.

    [4] The sound of a tumult is on the mountains

        as of a great multitude!

    The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

        of nations gathering together!

    The LORD of hosts is mustering

        a host for battle. 

    [5] They come from a distant land,

        from the end of the heavens,

    the LORD and the weapons of his indignation,

        to destroy the whole land.

    [6] Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;

        as destruction from the Almighty it will come! 

    [7] Therefore all hands will be feeble,

        and every human heart will melt. 

    [8] They will be dismayed:

        pangs and agony will seize them;

        they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

    They will look aghast at one another;

        their faces will be aflame.

    [9] Behold, the day of the LORD comes,

        cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

    to make the land a desolation

        and to destroy its sinners from it. 

    [10] For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

        will not give their light;

    the sun will be dark at its rising,

        and the moon will not shed its light. 

    [11] I will punish the world for its evil,

        and the wicked for their iniquity;

    I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

        and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. 

    [12] I will make people more rare than fine gold,

        and mankind than the gold of Ophir. 

    [13] Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

        and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

    at the wrath of the LORD of hosts

        in the day of his fierce anger. 

    [14] And like a hunted gazelle,

        or like sheep with none to gather them,

    each will turn to his own people,

        and each will flee to his own land. 

    [15] Whoever is found will be thrust through,

        and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. 

    [16] Their infants will be dashed in pieces

        before their eyes;

    their houses will be plundered

        and their wives ravished.

    [17] Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them,

        who have no regard for silver

        and do not delight in gold. 

    [18] Their bows will slaughter the young men;

        they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

        their eyes will not pity children. 

    [19] And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,

        the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

    will be like Sodom and Gomorrah

        when God overthrew them. 

    [20] It will never be inhabited

        or lived in for all generations;

    no Arab will pitch his tent there;

        no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. 

    [21] But wild animals will lie down there,

        and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

    there ostriches will dwell,

        and there wild goats will dance. 

    [22] Hyenas will cry in its towers,

        and jackals in the pleasant palaces;

    its time is close at hand

        and its days will not be prolonged.