October 21

John 6:41-59

[41] So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” [42] They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” [43] Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. [44] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. [45] It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—[46] not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. [47] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. [51] I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

[52] The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” [53] So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. [54] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55] For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. [56] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. [57] As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. [58] This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” [59] Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

1 Peter 3:13-22

[13] Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? [14] But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, [15] but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, [16] having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. [17] For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

[18] For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, [19] in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, [20] because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. [21] Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, [22] who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Song of Solomon 5

He

    [1] I came to my garden, my sister, my bride,

        I gathered my myrrh with my spice,

        I ate my honeycomb with my honey,

        I drank my wine with my milk.

Others

    Eat, friends, drink,

        and be drunk with love!

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

She

    [2] I slept, but my heart was awake.

    A sound! My beloved is knocking.

    “Open to me, my sister, my love,

        my dove, my perfect one,

    for my head is wet with dew,

        my locks with the drops of the night.” 

    [3] I had put off my garment;

        how could I put it on?

    I had bathed my feet;

        how could I soil them? 

    [4] My beloved put his hand to the latch,

        and my heart was thrilled within me. 

    [5] I arose to open to my beloved,

        and my hands dripped with myrrh,

    my fingers with liquid myrrh,

        on the handles of the bolt. 

    [6] I opened to my beloved,

        but my beloved had turned and gone.

    My soul failed me when he spoke.

    I sought him, but found him not;

        I called him, but he gave no answer. 

    [7] The watchmen found me

        as they went about in the city;

    they beat me, they bruised me,

        they took away my veil,

        those watchmen of the walls. 

    [8] I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

        if you find my beloved,

    that you tell him

        I am sick with love.

    Others

    [9] What is your beloved more than another beloved,

        O most beautiful among women?

    What is your beloved more than another beloved,

        that you thus adjure us?

    The Bride Praises Her Beloved

She

    [10] My beloved is radiant and ruddy,

        distinguished among ten thousand. 

    [11] His head is the finest gold;

        his locks are wavy,

        black as a raven. 

    [12] His eyes are like doves

        beside streams of water,

    bathed in milk,

        sitting beside a full pool. 

    [13] His cheeks are like beds of spices,

        mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.

    His lips are lilies,

        dripping liquid myrrh. 

    [14] His arms are rods of gold,

        set with jewels.

    His body is polished ivory,

        bedecked with sapphires. 

    [15] His legs are alabaster columns,

        set on bases of gold.

    His appearance is like Lebanon,

        choice as the cedars. 

    [16] His mouth is most sweet,

        and he is altogether desirable.

    This is my beloved and this is my friend,

        O daughters of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 52

The Fall of Jerusalem Recounted

[1] Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. [2] And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. [3] For because of the anger of the LORD it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence. 

And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.  [4] And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. [5] So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. [6] On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. [7] Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. [8] But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. [9] Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. [10] The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. [11] He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

The Temple Burned

[12] In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. [13] And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. [14] And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. [15] And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans. [16] But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

[17] And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all the bronze to Babylon. [18] And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the basins and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service; [19] also the small bowls and the fire pans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the dishes for incense and the bowls for drink offerings. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. [20] As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea, and the stands, which Solomon the king had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. [21] As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. [22] On it was a capital of bronze. The height of the one capital was five cubits. A network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates. [23] There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network all around.

The People Exiled to Babylon

[24] And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold; [25] and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and seven men of the king’s council, who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city. [26] And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. [27] And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.

[28] This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans; [29] in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons; [30] in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

[31] And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. [32] And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. [33] So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table, [34] and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, until the day of his death, as long as he lived.