SFJ Bible Reading Plan

Revelation 21:1-8

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place¹ of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,² and God himself will be with them as their God.³ 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Footnotes

[1] 21:3 Or tabernacle

[2] 21:3 Some manuscripts peoples

[3] 21:3 Some manuscripts omit as their God

(ESV)

Psalm 136:1-26

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

136:1   Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
2   Give thanks to the God of gods,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
3   Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;


4   to him who alone does great wonders,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
5   to him who by understanding made the heavens,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
6   to him who spread out the earth above the waters,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
7   to him who made the great lights,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
8   the sun to rule over the day,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
9   the moon and stars to rule over the night,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;


10   to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
11   and brought Israel out from among them,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
12   with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
13   to him who divided the Red Sea in two,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
14   and made Israel pass through the midst of it,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
15   but overthrew¹ Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
16   to him who led his people through the wilderness,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;


17   to him who struck down great kings,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
18   and killed mighty kings,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
19   Sihon, king of the Amorites,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
20   and Og, king of Bashan,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
21   and gave their land as a heritage,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
22   a heritage to Israel his servant,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.


23   It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
24   and rescued us from our foes,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
25   he who gives food to all flesh,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.


26   Give thanks to the God of heaven,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.

Footnotes

[1] 136:15 Hebrew shook off

(ESV)

Job 38:1-21

The Lord Answers Job

38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

2   “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3   Dress for action¹ like a man;
    I will question you, and you make it known to me.


4   “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
5   Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
6   On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
7   when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?


8   “Or who shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,
9   when I made clouds its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10   and prescribed limits for it
    and set bars and doors,
11   and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
    and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?


12   “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
    and caused the dawn to know its place,
13   that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14   It is changed like clay under the seal,
    and its features stand out like a garment.
15   From the wicked their light is withheld,
    and their uplifted arm is broken.


16   “Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17   Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18   Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
    Declare, if you know all this.


19   “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
    and where is the place of darkness,
20   that you may take it to its territory
    and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21   You know, for you were born then,
    and the number of your days is great!

Footnotes

[1] 38:3 Hebrew Gird up your loins

(ESV)

Numbers 25:1-18

Baal Worship at Peor

25:1 While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. 4 And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang¹ them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” 5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.”

6 And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand 8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. 9 Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

The Zeal of Phinehas

10 And the LORD said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, 13 and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

14 The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father’s house belonging to the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of a father’s house in Midian.

16 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Harass the Midianites and strike them down, 18 for they have harassed you with their wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.”

Footnotes

[1] 25:4 Or impale

(ESV)

Deuteronomy 6:1-24

The Greatest Commandment

6:1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules¹—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.² 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—15 for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised.

20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.

Footnotes

[1] 6:1 Or just decrees; also verse 20

[2] 6:4 Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone

(ESV)