Day 344 – December 10, 2021

Ezekiel 32

Lamentation for Pharaoh and Egypt

1 Again it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,†

2 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, ‘You are like a lion among the nations, and you are like a dragon in the sea. You assaulted with your rivers, troubled water with your feet, and trampled your rivers.’

3 “Thus says the Lord: ‘I shall therefore spread a net over you of many peoples, and bring you up with my fishhook.

4 I shall stretch you out upon the earth, and the plains will be filled with you. I shall cause the birds of the heavens to settle upon you, and all the beasts of the whole earth to fill up on you.

5 I shall offer your flesh on the open mountains and saturate them with your blood.

6 The land shall be drenched with your excrement because of your multitude upon the mountains. I will fill the valleys with you.

7 When I extinguish you, I shall cover up heaven and make its stars grow dark. I shall cover up the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give her light.

8 All the bodies that give light in heaven shall grow dark over you, and I shall bring darkness upon your land, says the Lord and Master.

9 I will provoke to anger the heart of many peoples, when I lead you captive among the nations into a land you have not known.

10 Many nations will become saddened over you, and their kings will be utterly amazed when My sword flies in their faces, as they await their own fall from the day of your fall.’

11 “For thus says the Lord: ‘The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you with the swords of his mighty men, and I will strike down your strength.

12 All these men are plagues from the nations. They will destroy the insolence of Egypt, and all her strength will be crushed.

13 I will also destroy all her cattle from beside her abundant water, which the foot of man will trouble no more, nor will the footstep of cattle trample it.

14 Thus at that time, their waters shall become still, and their rivers will flow like oil, says the Lord,

15 when I give Egypt over to destruction, and the land becomes desolate with all its fullness, and when I disperse all who dwell in it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

16 There is a lamentation, and you shall mourn over Pharaoh. The daughters of the nations shall mourn over him and over Egypt, and they shall mourn for her over all her strength,’ says the Lord and Master.”

The Nations Go Down to Hades

17 Again in the first month of the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

18 “Son of man, lament over the strength of Egypt, for the nations will cast down her daughters dead into the depth of the earth, to those who go down into the pit.

19 They shall fall with him among those slain by the sword, and all his strength will sleep in death. The mighty men will say to you,

20 ‘Be in the depth of the pit, for to whom are you superior? Go down and sleep in death with the uncircumcised among those slain by the sword.’

21 “Assyria is there and all its company, and all the slain were put there. Their burial- place is in the depth of the pit, and his company are set round about his grave.

22 All the slain who fell by the sword are those who caused their fear to be upon the land of the living.

23 “There is Elam and all his army all around his grave, and all the slain who fell by the sword, and the uncircumcised who went down into the depth of the earth, and who caused their terror to be in the land of the living. Now they bear their torment with those who go down to the pit among the slain.

24 “Meshech and Tubal and all their strength were put there around about his grave. All his slain men, all the uncircumcised slain by the sword, who spread their terror in the land of the living, are there.

25 They sleep in death with the mighty men who fell of old, who went down to Hades with their weapons of war.

26 Their swords were put under their heads, but their lawlessness was placed on their bones, because they terrified the mighty men in the land of the living.

27 As for you, you will sleep in death among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.

28 “There are the rulers of Assyria who yielded his strength to a wound of the sword.

29 They sleep in death with the slain, with those who go down into the pit.

30 There are the rulers of the north, all the commanders of Assyria, who, with their terror and their strength, go down slain into the pit. They fell asleep uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, and they bear their torment with those who go down to the pit.

31 “King Pharaoh will see them, and be comforted over all their strength,” says the Lord and Master.

32 “For I caused his fear to be in the land of the living; but he shall sleep in death among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude,” says the Lord and Master.

Psalms 131

1 An ode of ascents. Remember David, O Lord, And all his meekness, 

2 How he swore to the Lord, How he vowed to the God of Jacob, 

3 “I shall not enter my dwelling, I shall not recline on my bed, 

4 I shall not close my eyes in sleep Nor my eyelids for dozing, Nor give any rest to my temples, 

5 Until I find a place for the Lord, A tabernacle for the God of Jacob.” 

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; We found it in the plains of the wood; 

7 Let us enter into His tabernacles; Let us worship at the place where His feet stood. 

8 Arise, O Lord, into Your rest, You and the ark of Your holiness; 

9 Your priests shall clothe themselves in righteousness; Your saints shall greatly rejoice. 

10 For Your servant David’s sake, Do not turn away from the face of Your anointed. 

11 The Lord swore to David this truth, and He shall not reject it, “I shall set upon your throne one from the fruit of your loins. 

12 If your sons keep My covenant And these testimonies I shall teach them, Then their sons shall sit upon your throne forever.” 

13 For the Lord has chosen Zion; He chose her for His dwelling: 

14 “This is My place of rest unto ages of ages; Here I shall dwell, for I have chosen her. 

15 Blessing, I shall bless her provision; I shall satisfy her poor with bread; 

16 And I shall clothe her priests with salvation, And her saints shall rejoice exceedingly with great joy; 

17 There I shall cause to spring up a horn for David; There I prepared a lamp for my anointed; 

18 His enemies I shall clothe with shame; Upon him shall My sanctification flourish.”

Proverbs of Solomon 28

12 A rich man is wise in his own eyes, But a poor man shall disapprove of his thoughts. 

13 Great glory arises because of the help of the righteous, But in places of the ungodly, men are conquered.† 

14 He who hides his own ungodliness shall not prosper, But he who leads his own rebuttal shall be loved.† 

15 Blessed is the man who shall be discreet in all things because of godly fear, But the man who hardens his heart shall fall into evils.

Jude 1

Greeting

1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:†

2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

The Presence of False Teachers

3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.†

4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.†

The Judgment of Such False Teachers

5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.†

6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;

7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

The Character of False Teachers

8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.†

9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”†

10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.†

11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.†

12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;†

13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.†

14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,†

15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Resistance to False Teachers

16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.†

17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:

18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.

19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.†

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,†

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction;

23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Doxology

24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,† 

25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.