Daily Readings

¹ Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains.² Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee.³ And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,⁴ Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:⁵ For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.⁶ Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?⁷ Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:⁸ And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.⁹ Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,¹⁰ And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD will build thee an house.¹¹ And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.¹² He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever.¹³ I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:¹⁴ But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.¹⁵ According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.¹⁶ And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?¹⁷ And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.¹⁸ What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.¹⁹ O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.²⁰ O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.²¹ And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?²² For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God.²³ Therefore now, LORD, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.²⁴ Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.²⁵ For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house: therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee.²⁶ And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:²⁷ Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and it shall be blessed for ever.

¹ In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,² Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:³ Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.⁴ But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.⁵ And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.⁶ And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.⁷ When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.⁸ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.⁹ And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.¹⁰ Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.¹¹ No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.¹² And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.¹³ Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:¹⁴ And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.¹⁵ It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.¹⁶ And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.¹⁷ And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,¹⁸ Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.²¹ In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

¹ O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?² This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?³ Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?⁴ Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.⁵ He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?⁶ Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.⁷ Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.⁸ And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.⁹ So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.¹¹ But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.¹² And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.¹³ Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:¹⁴ That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.¹⁵ Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.¹⁶ Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.¹⁷ And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.¹⁸ For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.¹⁹ Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.²⁰ Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.²¹ Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.²² But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.²³ But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.²⁴ Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.²⁵ But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.²⁶ For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.²⁷ For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.²⁹ And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

¹ Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;² But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.³ Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:⁴ But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,⁵ To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.⁶ And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.⁷ Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.⁸ Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.⁹ But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?¹⁰ Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.¹¹ I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.¹² Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.¹³ Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.¹⁴ And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.¹⁵ Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.¹⁶ Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?¹⁷ They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.¹⁸ But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.¹⁹ My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,²⁰ I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.²¹ Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?²² For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.²⁴ Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.²⁵ For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.²⁶ But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.²⁷ For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.²⁸ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.²⁹ But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.³⁰ Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.