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Reading Plan
Day 217 Day 218Day 219

Habakkuk chapter 1

1
This is the message that the LORD revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.
2
O LORD, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence?
3
Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere.
4
The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.
5
Then the LORD said to his people, "Keep watching the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it.
6
I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands.
7
They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.
8
"Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.
9
"Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand.
10
They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them---they pile up earth against it and capture it.
11
Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god."
12
LORD, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. LORD, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us.
13
But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?
14
How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them?
15
The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch!
16
They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.
17
Are they going to use their swords forever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?

Habakkuk chapter 2

1
I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the LORD will tell me to say and what answer he will give to my complaint.
2
The LORD gave me this answer: "Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance.
3
Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed.
4
And this is the message: 'Those who are evil will not survive, but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.' "
5
Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless---like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves.
6
The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, "You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?"
7
But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you!
8
You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.
9
You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by violence, and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger!
10
But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many nations you have only brought ruin on yourself.
11
Even the stones of the walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.
12
You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder.
13
The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labor, and all they have built goes up in flames. The LORD Almighty has done this.
14
But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD's glory as the seas are full of water.
15
You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbors; you made them stagger as though they were drunk.
16
You in turn will be covered with shame instead of honor. You yourself will drink and stagger. The LORD will make you drink your own cup of punishment, and your honor will be turned to disgrace.
17
You have cut down the forests of Lebanon; now you will be cut down. You killed its animals; now animals will terrify you. This will happen because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.
18
What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it---a god that can't even talk!
19
You are doomed! You say to a piece of wood, "Wake up!" or to a block of stone, "Get up!" Can an idol reveal anything to you? It may be covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it.
20
The LORD is in his holy Temple; let everyone on earth be silent in his presence.

Habakkuk chapter 3

1
This is a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk:
2
O LORD, I have heard of what you have done, and I am filled with awe. Now do again in our times the great deeds you used to do. Be merciful, even when you are angry.
3
God is coming again from Edom; the holy God is coming from the hills of Paran. His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.
4
He comes with the brightness of lightning; light flashes from his hand, there where his power is hidden.
5
He sends disease before him and commands death to follow him.
6
When he stops, the earth shakes; at his glance the nations tremble. The eternal mountains are shattered; the everlasting hills sink down, the hills where he walked in ancient times.
7
I saw the people of Cushan afraid and the people of Midian tremble.
8
Was it the rivers that made you angry, LORD? Was it the sea that made you furious? You rode upon the clouds; the storm cloud was your chariot, as you brought victory to your people.
9
You got ready to use your bow, ready to shoot your arrows. Your lightning split open the earth.
10
When the mountains saw you, they trembled; water poured down from the skies. The waters under the earth roared, and their waves rose high.
11
At the flash of your speeding arrows and the gleam of your shining spear, the sun and the moon stood still.
12
You marched across the earth in anger; in fury you trampled the nations.
13
You went out to save your people, to save your chosen king. You struck down the leader of the wicked and completely destroyed his followers.
14
Your arrows pierced the commander of his army when it came like a storm to scatter us, gloating like those who secretly oppress the poor.
15
You trampled the sea with your horses, and the mighty waters foamed.
16
I hear all this, and I tremble; my lips quiver with fear. My body goes limp, and my feet stumble beneath me. I will quietly wait for the time to come when God will punish those who attack us.
17
Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no grain, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty,
18
I will still be joyful and glad, because the LORD God is my savior.
19
The Sovereign LORD gives me strength. He makes me sure-footed as a deer and keeps me safe on the mountains.

John chapter 8

1
[Then everyone went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2
Early the next morning he went back to the Temple. All the people gathered around him, and he sat down and began to teach them.
3
The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all.
4
"Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
5
In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?"
6
They said this to trap Jesus, so that they could accuse him. But he bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger.
7
As they stood there asking him questions, he straightened up and said to them, "Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her."
8
Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground.
9
When they heard this, they all left, one by one, the older ones first. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still standing there.
10
He straightened up and said to her, "Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?"
11
"No one, sir," she answered. "Well, then," Jesus said, "I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again."]
12
Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. "I am the light of the world," he said. "Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness."
13
The Pharisees said to him, "Now you are testifying on your own behalf; what you say proves nothing."
14
"No," Jesus answered, "even though I do testify on my own behalf, what I say is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. You do not know where I came from or where I am going.
15
You make judgments in a purely human way; I pass judgment on no one.
16
But if I were to do so, my judgment would be true, because I am not alone in this; the Father who sent me is with me.
17
It is written in your Law that when two witnesses agree, what they say is true.
18
I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me also testifies on my behalf."
19
"Where is your father?" they asked him. "You know neither me nor my Father," Jesus answered. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
20
Jesus said all this as he taught in the Temple, in the room where the offering boxes were placed. And no one arrested him, because his hour had not come.
21
Again Jesus said to them, "I will go away; you will look for me, but you will die in your sins. You cannot go where I am going."
22
So the Jewish authorities said, "He says that we cannot go where he is going. Does this mean that he will kill himself ?"
23
Jesus answered, "You belong to this world here below, but I come from above. You are from this world, but I am not from this world.
24
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. And you will die in your sins if you do not believe that 'I Am Who I Am'."
25
"Who are you?" they asked him. Jesus answered, "What I have told you from the very beginning.
26
I have much to say about you, much to condemn you for. The one who sent me, however, is truthful, and I tell the world only what I have heard from him."
27
They did not understand that Jesus was talking to them about the Father.
28
So he said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that 'I Am Who I Am'; then you will know that I do nothing on my own authority, but I say only what the Father has instructed me to say.
29
And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him."
30
Many who heard Jesus say these things believed in him.
31
So Jesus said to those who believed in him, "If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples;
32
you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33
"We are the descendants of Abraham," they answered, "and we have never been anybody's slaves. What do you mean, then, by saying, 'You will be free'?"
34
Jesus said to them, "I am telling you the truth: everyone who sins is a slave of sin.
35
A slave does not belong to a family permanently, but a son belongs there forever.
36
If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free.
37
I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are trying to kill me, because you will not accept my teaching.
38
I talk about what my Father has shown me, but you do what your father has told you."
39
They answered him, "Our father is Abraham." "If you really were Abraham's children," Jesus replied, "you would do the same things that he did.
40
All I have ever done is to tell you the truth I heard from God, yet you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like this!
41
You are doing what your father did." "God himself is the only Father we have," they answered, "and we are his true children."
42
Jesus said to them, "If God really were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own authority, but he sent me.
43
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my message.
44
You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father's desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies.
45
But I tell the truth, and that is why you do not believe me.
46
Which one of you can prove that I am guilty of sin? If I tell the truth, then why do you not believe me?
47
He who comes from God listens to God's words. You, however, are not from God, and that is why you will not listen."
48
They asked Jesus, "Were we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon in you?"
49
"I have no demon," Jesus answered. "I honor my Father, but you dishonor me.
50
I am not seeking honor for myself. But there is one who is seeking it and who judges in my favor.
51
I am telling you the truth: whoever obeys my teaching will never die."
52
They said to him, "Now we know for sure that you have a demon! Abraham died, and the prophets died, yet you say that whoever obeys your teaching will never die.
53
Our father Abraham died; you do not claim to be greater than Abraham, do you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are?"
54
Jesus answered, "If I were to honor myself, that honor would be worth nothing. The one who honors me is my Father---the very one you say is your God.
55
You have never known him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his word.
56
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see the time of my coming; he saw it and was glad."
57
They said to him, "You are not even fifty years old---and you have seen Abraham?"
58
"I am telling you the truth," Jesus replied. "Before Abraham was born, 'I Am'."
59
Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.

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