December 2

John 14:15-21

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

[15] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. [16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, [17] even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

[18] “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. [19] Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. [20] In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. [21] Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Revelation 1:9-20

Vision of the Son of Man

[9] I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. [10] I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet [11] saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

[12] Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, [13] and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. [14] The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, [15] his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. [16] In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

[17] When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, [18] and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. [19] Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. [20] As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Job 24

    [1] “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,

        and why do those who know him never see his days? 

    [2] 

    Some move landmarks;

        they seize flocks and pasture them. 

    [3] 

    They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

        they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. 

    [4] 

    They thrust the poor off the road;

        the poor of the earth all hide themselves. 

    [5] 

    Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert

        the poor go out to their toil, seeking game;

        the wasteland yields food for their children. 

    [6] 

    They gather their fodder in the field,

        and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man. 

    [7] 

    They lie all night naked, without clothing,

        and have no covering in the cold. 

    [8] 

    They are wet with the rain of the mountains

        and cling to the rock for lack of shelter. 

    [9] 

    (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,

        and they take a pledge against the poor.) 

    [10] 

    They go about naked, without clothing;

        hungry, they carry the sheaves; 

    [11] 

    among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil;

        they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst. 

    [12] 

    From out of the city the dying groan,

        and the soul of the wounded cries for help;

        yet God charges no one with wrong.

    [13] 

    “There are those who rebel against the light,

        who are not acquainted with its ways,

        and do not stay in its paths. 

    [14] 

    The murderer rises before it is light,

        that he may kill the poor and needy,

        and in the night he is like a thief. 

    [15] 

    The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,

        saying, ‘No eye will see me’;

        and he veils his face. 

    [16] 

    In the dark they dig through houses;

        by day they shut themselves up;

        they do not know the light. 

    [17] 

    For deep darkness is morning to all of them;

        for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

    [18] 

    “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;

        their portion is cursed in the land;

        no treader turns toward their vineyards. 

    [19] 

    Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

        so does Sheol those who have sinned. 

    [20] 

    The womb forgets them;

        the worm finds them sweet;

    they are no longer remembered,

        so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

    [21] 

    “They wrong the barren, childless woman,

        and do no good to the widow. 

    [22] 

    Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

        they rise up when they despair of life. 

    [23] 

    He gives them security, and they are supported,

        and his eyes are upon their ways. 

    [24] 

    They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;

        they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

        they are cut off like the heads of grain. 

    [25] 

    If it is not so, who will prove me a liar

        and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

Hosea 4

The LORD Accuses Israel

    [1] Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel,

        for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.

    There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,

        and no knowledge of God in the land; 

    [2] there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;

        they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 

    [3] Therefore the land mourns,

        and all who dwell in it languish,

    and also the beasts of the field

        and the birds of the heavens,

        and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

    [4] Yet let no one contend,

        and let none accuse,

        for with you is my contention, O priest. 

    [5] You shall stumble by day;

        the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;

        and I will destroy your mother. 

    [6] My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;

        because you have rejected knowledge,

        I reject you from being a priest to me.

    And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

        I also will forget your children.

    [7] The more they increased,

        the more they sinned against me;

        I will change their glory into shame. 

    [8] They feed on the sin of my people;

        they are greedy for their iniquity. 

    [9] And it shall be like people, like priest;

        I will punish them for their ways

        and repay them for their deeds. 

    [10] They shall eat, but not be satisfied;

        they shall play the whore, but not multiply,

    because they have forsaken the LORD

        to cherish  [11] whoredom, wine, and new wine,

        which take away the understanding. 

    [12] My people inquire of a piece of wood,

        and their walking staff gives them oracles.

    For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,

        and they have left their God to play the whore. 

    [13] They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains

        and burn offerings on the hills,

    under oak, poplar, and terebinth,

        because their shade is good.

    Therefore your daughters play the whore,

        and your brides commit adultery. 

    [14] I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,

        nor your brides when they commit adultery;

    for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes

        and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,

    and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.

    [15] Though you play the whore, O Israel,

        let not Judah become guilty.

    Enter not into Gilgal,

        nor go up to Beth-aven,

        and swear not, “As the LORD lives.” 

    [16] Like a stubborn heifer,

        Israel is stubborn;

    can the LORD now feed them

        like a lamb in a broad pasture?

    [17] Ephraim is joined to idols;

        leave him alone. 

    [18] When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;

        their rulers dearly love shame. 

    [19] A wind has wrapped them in its wings,

        and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Hosea 5

Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah

    [1] Hear this, O priests!

        Pay attention, O house of Israel!

    Give ear, O house of the king!

        For the judgment is for you;

    for you have been a snare at Mizpah

        and a net spread upon Tabor. 

    [2] And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter,

        but I will discipline all of them.

    [3] I know Ephraim,

        and Israel is not hidden from me;

    for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;

        Israel is defiled. 

    [4] Their deeds do not permit them

        to return to their God.

    For the spirit of whoredom is within them,

        and they know not the LORD.

    [5] The pride of Israel testifies to his face;

        Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;

        Judah also shall stumble with them. 

    [6] With their flocks and herds they shall go

        to seek the LORD,

    but they will not find him;

        he has withdrawn from them. 

    [7] They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD;

        for they have borne alien children.

        Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

    [8] Blow the horn in Gibeah,

        the trumpet in Ramah.

    Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;

        we follow you, O Benjamin! 

    [9] Ephraim shall become a desolation

        in the day of punishment;

    among the tribes of Israel

        I make known what is sure. 

    [10] The princes of Judah have become

        like those who move the landmark;

    upon them I will pour out

        my wrath like water. 

    [11] Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,

        because he was determined to go after filth. 

    [12] But I am like a moth to Ephraim,

        and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

    [13] When Ephraim saw his sickness,

        and Judah his wound,

    then Ephraim went to Assyria,

        and sent to the great king.

    But he is not able to cure you

        or heal your wound. 

    [14] For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,

        and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

    I, even I, will tear and go away;

        I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

    [15] I will return again to my place,

        until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,

        and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Hosea 6

Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant

    [1] “Come, let us return to the LORD;

        for he has torn us, that he may heal us;

        he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 

    [2] After two days he will revive us;

        on the third day he will raise us up,

        that we may live before him. 

    [3] Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;

        his going out is sure as the dawn;

    he will come to us as the showers,

        as the spring rains that water the earth.”

    [4] What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

        What shall I do with you, O Judah?

    Your love is like a morning cloud,

        like the dew that goes early away. 

    [5] Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;

        I have slain them by the words of my mouth,

        and my judgment goes forth as the light. 

    [6] For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

        the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

    [7] But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;

        there they dealt faithlessly with me. 

    [8] Gilead is a city of evildoers,

        tracked with blood. 

    [9] As robbers lie in wait for a man,

        so the priests band together;

    they murder on the way to Shechem;

        they commit villainy. 

    [10] In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;

        Ephraim’s whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.

    [11] For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.

    When I restore the fortunes of my people,