November 17

John 11:45-57

The Plot to Kill Jesus

[45] Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, [46] but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. [47] So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. [48] If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” [49] But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. [50] Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” [51] He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, [52] and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. [53] So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

[54] Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

[55] Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. [56] They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” [57] Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

1 John 4:1-6

Test the Spirits

[1] Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. [2] By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, [3] and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. [4] Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. [5] They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. [6] We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Job 15:17-35

    [17] “I will show you; hear me,

        and what I have seen I will declare 

    [18] (what wise men have told,

        without hiding it from their fathers, 

    [19] to whom alone the land was given,

        and no stranger passed among them). 

    [20] The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

        through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless. 

    [21] Dreadful sounds are in his ears;

        in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him. 

    [22] He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,

        and he is marked for the sword. 

    [23] He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’

        He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand; 

    [24] distress and anguish terrify him;

        they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle. 

    [25] Because he has stretched out his hand against God

        and defies the Almighty, 

    [26] running stubbornly against him

        with a thickly bossed shield; 

    [27] because he has covered his face with his fat

        and gathered fat upon his waist 

    [28] and has lived in desolate cities,

        in houses that none should inhabit,

        which were ready to become heaps of ruins; 

    [29] he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,

        nor will his possessions spread over the earth; 

    [30] he will not depart from darkness;

        the flame will dry up his shoots,

        and by the breath of his mouth he will depart. 

    [31] Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,

        for emptiness will be his payment. 

    [32] It will be paid in full before his time,

        and his branch will not be green. 

    [33] He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,

        and cast off his blossom like the olive tree. 

    [34] For the company of the godless is barren,

        and fire consumes the tents of bribery. 

    [35] They conceive trouble and give birth to evil,

        and their womb prepares deceit.”

Ezekiel 42

The Temple’s Chambers

[1] Then he led me out into the outer court, toward the north, and he brought me to the chambers that were opposite the separate yard and opposite the building on the north. [2] The length of the building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty cubits. [3] Facing the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court, and facing the pavement that belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in three stories. [4] And before the chambers was a passage inward, ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long, and their doors were on the north. [5] Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. [6] For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the courts. Thus the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones. [7] And there was a wall outside parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court, opposite the chambers, fifty cubits long. [8] For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite the nave were a hundred cubits long. [9] Below these chambers was an entrance on the east side, as one enters them from the outer court.

[10] In the thickness of the wall of the court, on the south also, opposite the yard and opposite the building, there were chambers [11] with a passage in front of them. They were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and breadth, with the same exits and arrangements and doors, [12] as were the entrances of the chambers on the south. There was an entrance at the beginning of the passage, the passage before the corresponding wall on the east as one enters them.

[13] Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the yard are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the LORD shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy. [14] When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They shall put on other garments before they go near to that which is for the people.”

[15] Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faced east, and measured the temple area all around. [16] He measured the east side with the measuring reed, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. [17] He measured the north side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. [18] He measured the south side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. [19] Then he turned to the west side and measured, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. [20] He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, 500 cubits long and 500 cubits broad, to make a separation between the holy and the common.

Ezekiel 43

The Glory of the LORD Fills the Temple

[1] Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. [2] And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. [3] And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face. [4] As the glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east, [5] the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

[6] While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple, [7] and he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places, [8] by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them. They have defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger. [9] Now let them put away their whoring and the dead bodies of their kings far from me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

[10] “As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. [11] And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. [12] This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

The Altar

[13] “These are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth): its base shall be one cubit high and one cubit broad, with a rim of one span around its edge. And this shall be the height of the altar: [14] from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; [15] and the altar hearth, four cubits; and from the altar hearth projecting upward, four horns. [16] The altar hearth shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve broad. [17] The ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad, with a rim around it half a cubit broad, and its base one cubit all around. The steps of the altar shall face east.”

[18] And he said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and for throwing blood against it, [19] you shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord GOD, a bull from the herd for a sin offering. [20] And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the rim all around. Thus you shall purify the altar and make atonement for it. [21] You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place belonging to the temple, outside the sacred area. [22] And on the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and the altar shall be purified, as it was purified with the bull. [23] When you have finished purifying it, you shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish. [24] You shall present them before the LORD, and the priests shall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD. [25] For seven days you shall provide daily a male goat for a sin offering; also, a bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided. [26] Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it. [27] And when they have completed these days, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, and I will accept you, declares the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel 44

The Gate for the Prince

[1] Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. [2] And the LORD said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. [3] Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the LORD. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”

[4] Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple of the LORD. And I fell on my face. [5] And the LORD said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the LORD and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. [6] And say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: O house of Israel, enough of all your abominations, [7] in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. [8] And you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.

[9] “Thus says the Lord GOD: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. [10] But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment. [11] They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before the people, to minister to them. [12] Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn concerning them, declares the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their punishment. [13] They shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. [14] Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

Rules for Levitical Priests

[15] “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord GOD. [16] They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. [17] When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. [18] They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. [19] And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. [20] They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. [21] No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. [22] They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. [23] They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. [24] In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. [25] They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. [26] After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. [27] And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.

[28] “This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. [29] They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. [30] And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, that a blessing may rest on your house. [31] The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.