Month: February 2020

Zechariah 12

Jerusalem’s Enemies to Be Destroyed

1 A prophecy: The word of theLordconcerning Israel.

TheLord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares:

2 “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.

3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.

4 On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares theLord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations.

5 Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because theLordAlmighty is their God.’

6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.

7 “TheLordwill save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah.

8 On that day theLordwill shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of theLordgoing before them.

9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.

Mourning for the One They Pierced

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spiritof grace and supplication. They will look onme, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives,

13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives,

14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/ZEC/12-d855d35321c5c0e2eca81a6be3254d6a.mp3?version_id=111—

Zechariah

Zechariah 13

Cleansing From Sin

1 “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

2 “On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares theLordAlmighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land.

3 And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies in theLord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.

4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair in order to deceive.

5 Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.’

6 If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered

7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd,

against the man who is close to me!”

declares theLordAlmighty.

“Strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered,

and I will turn my hand against the little ones.

8 In the whole land,” declares theLord,

“two-thirds will be struck down and perish;

yet one-third will be left in it.

9 This third I will put into the fire;

I will refine them like silver

and test them like gold.

They will call on my name

and I will answer them;

I will say, ‘They are my people,’

and they will say, ‘TheLordis our God.’ ”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/ZEC/13-ac2e7305c9d0ef89a17b8997848d5fe8.mp3?version_id=111—

Zechariah

Zechariah 14

The Lord Comes and Reigns

1 A day of theLordis coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.

2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

3 Then theLordwill go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.

4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.

5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquakein the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then theLordmy God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

6 On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness.

7 It will be a unique day—a day known only to theLord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.

8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.

9 TheLordwill be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be oneLord, and his name the only name.

10 The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place.

11 It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

12 This is the plague with which theLordwill strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

13 On that day people will be stricken by theLordwith great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.

14 Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing.

15 A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, theLordAlmighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, theLordAlmighty, they will have no rain.

18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. TheLordwill bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

20 On that dayHoly to theLordwill be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in theLord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar.

21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to theLordAlmighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanitein the house of theLordAlmighty.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/ZEC/14-4d8b06779638e801bbc9cf195659c59e.mp3?version_id=111—

Malachi

Malachi Intro

The rebuilding of the temple under Zerubbabel and Joshua, inspired by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, was completed in 516 BC. The new temple was meant to be the centerpiece of a community in which there was true justice and genuine worship. In this way Israel could fulfill its calling and be a light, revealing God to the nations.

Unfortunately, as the years went by, the people fell further and further away from this ideal. By the middle of the next century, their worship had become corrupt, and their society was plagued with injustice. Malachi (“my messenger”) challenges the people to honor God properly in their worship and in their dealings with one another. The world could then come to know the

Lord

as the great king.

Malachi brings his challenges in a distinctive style. He first offers an abrupt charge, voices the anticipated objections, and finally answers those objections. The book records that some of the people repent in response to these challenges, and that God says he will spare them when he comes to judge the earth. The book ends with God’s promise to send the prophet Elijah back

before that great and dreadful day of theLord.

Malachi

Malachi 1

1 A prophecy: The word of theLordto Israel through Malachi.

Israel Doubts God’s Love

2 “I have loved you,” says theLord.

“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares theLord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,

3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”

But this is what theLordAlmighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of theLord.

5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is theLord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’

Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices

6 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says theLordAlmighty.

“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.

“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

7 “By offering defiled food on my altar.

“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’

“By saying that theLord’s table is contemptible.

8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says theLordAlmighty.

9 “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says theLordAlmighty.

10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says theLordAlmighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

11 My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says theLordAlmighty.

12 “But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’

13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says theLordAlmighty.

“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says theLord.

14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says theLordAlmighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/MAL/1-d36c0121e5d9e5109aa9c5a27e288cf6.mp3?version_id=111—

Malachi

Malachi 2

Additional Warning to the Priests

1 “And now, you priests, this warning is for you.

2 If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says theLordAlmighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.

3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

4 And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says theLordAlmighty.

5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.

6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.

7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of theLordAlmighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.

8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says theLordAlmighty.

9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”

Breaking Covenant Through Divorce

10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?

11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary theLordloves by marrying women who worship a foreign god.

12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may theLordremove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to theLordAlmighty.

13 Another thing you do: You flood theLord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.

14 You ask, “Why?” It is because theLordis the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.

16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says theLord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”says theLordAlmighty.

So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.

Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

17 You have wearied theLordwith your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of theLord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/MAL/2-fdc7c4f3fe1c30fcadca2ea4749f10d4.mp3?version_id=111—

Malachi

Malachi 3

1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says theLordAlmighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.

3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then theLordwill have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,

4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to theLord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says theLordAlmighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

6 “I theLorddo not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says theLordAlmighty.

“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings.

9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.

10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says theLordAlmighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says theLordAlmighty.

12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says theLordAlmighty.

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says theLord.

“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’

14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before theLordAlmighty?

15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ”

The Faithful Remnant

16 Then those who feared theLordtalked with each other, and theLordlistened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared theLordand honored his name.

17 “On the day when I act,” says theLordAlmighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.

18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/MAL/3-b0002cc035223fba539a7b179e8068b4.mp3?version_id=111—

Malachi

Malachi 4

Judgment and Covenant Renewal

1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says theLordAlmighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.

2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.

3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says theLordAlmighty.

4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of theLordcomes.

6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/MAL/4-8f2cd7f12336fb3ea4b19e2680989768.mp3?version_id=111—

Matthew

Matthew Intro

Matthew’s purpose is to show that God has kept his ancient promises to Israel through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. The long-expected reign of heaven is now coming to earth, bringing the Jewish story to its climax. Matthew begins by highlighting that Jesus was the son of David, Israel’s most famous king, and the son of Abraham, Israel’s founding patriarch. Jesus is the true Israelite and God’s promised Messiah.

The Messiah is shown as reliving the story of Israel—going down into the Jordan River, facing temptation in the wilderness, gathering twelve disciples as twelve new tribes, ascending a mountain to deliver a new Torah, etc. The author highlights the idea of Jesus as a new Moses by collecting his teachings into five long speeches. These are marked off by some variation of the phrase

When Jesus had finished saying these things.

Just as the Torah had five books, Matthew presents five major sections.

The book concludes by telling how Jesus brought about the great new act of redemption for his people. As in the story of Israel’s Exodus, a Passover meal is celebrated and then deliverance comes. Jesus gives his life for the sake of the world and is then raised from the dead. At the beginning of the book, Jesus is given the name

Immanuel

, meaning “God with us.” At the end, Jesus sends his followers into the world with the promise that

surely I am with you always.

Matthew

Matthew 1

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

1 This is the genealogyof Jesus the Messiahthe son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

4 Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

6 and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiahand his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12 After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

Abihud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

14 Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Elihud,

15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob,

16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yetdid not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/MAT/1-22e6eeed2197d81006153a59c619c8cb.mp3?version_id=111—