Day 267 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 1:1–9

¹These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel, ²for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight, ³and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity. ⁴To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young, ⁵let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel ⁶by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. ⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. ⁸Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. ⁹For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.

New Testament·2 Corinthians 9

¹Now about the service to the saints, there is no need for me to write to you. ²For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting to the Macedonians that since last year you in Achaia were prepared to give. And your zeal has stirred most of them to do likewise. ³But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove empty, but that you will be prepared, just as I said. ⁴Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—to say nothing of you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. ⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you beforehand and make arrangements for the bountiful gift you had promised. This way, your gift will be prepared generously and not begrudgingly. ⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written: “He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” ¹⁰Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your store of seed and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be enriched in every way to be generous on every occasion, so that through us your giving will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹²For this ministry of service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanksgiving to God. ¹³Because of the proof this ministry provides, the saints will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all the others. ¹⁴And their prayers for you will express their affection for you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Old Testament·Isaiah 7–8

¹Now in the days that Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram marched up to wage war against Jerusalem. He was accompanied by Pekah son of Remaliah the king of Israel, but he could not overpower the city. ²When it was reported to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind. ³Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct that feeds the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, ⁴and say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Do not be afraid or disheartened over these two smoldering stubs of firewood—over the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. ⁵For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted your ruin, saying: ⁶‘Let us invade Judah, terrorize it, and divide it among ourselves. Then we can install the son of Tabeal over it as king.’ ⁷But this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘It will not arise; it will not happen. ⁸For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered as a people. ⁹The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.’” ¹⁰Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹“Ask for a sign from the LORD your God, whether from the depths of Sheol or the heights of heaven.” ¹²But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask; I will not test the LORD.” ¹³Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. ¹⁵By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey. ¹⁶For before the boy knows enough to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. ¹⁷The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since the day Ephraim separated from Judah—He will bring the king of Assyria.” ¹⁸On that day the LORD will whistle to the flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bees in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines and clefts of the rocks, in all the thornbushes and watering holes. ²⁰On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates —the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beard as well. ²¹On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep, ²²and from the abundance of milk they give, he will eat curds; for all who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. ²³And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found. ²⁴Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. ²⁵For fear of the briers and thorns, you will no longer traverse the hills once tilled by the hoe; they will become places for oxen to graze and sheep to trample.

8Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ²And I will appoint for Myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.” ³And I had relations with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ⁴For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” ⁵And the LORD spoke to me further: ⁶“Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoiced in Rezin and the son of Remaliah, ⁷the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates — the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks. ⁸It will pour into Judah, swirling and sweeping over it, reaching up to the neck; its spreading streams will cover your entire land, O Immanuel! ⁹Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered! ¹⁰Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.” ¹¹For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people: ¹²“Do not call conspiracy everything these people regard as conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not live in dread. ¹³The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded. ¹⁴And He will be a sanctuary— but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare. ¹⁵Many will stumble over these; they will fall and be broken; they will be ensnared and captured.” ¹⁶Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples. ¹⁷I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him. ¹⁸Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me as signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God. ²²Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.