Daily Lectionary

Isaiah 29:1-14

¹ Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round.
² Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
³ And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you.
⁴ And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
⁵ But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly,
⁶ you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
⁷ And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
⁸ As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating, and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking, and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.
⁹ Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!
¹⁰ For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).
¹¹ And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
¹² And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
¹³ And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
¹⁴ therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” (ESV)

2 John 1-13; 3 John 1-15

¹ The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth,
² because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:
³ Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.
⁴ I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.
⁵ And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.
⁶ And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
⁷ For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
⁸ Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.
⁹ Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,
¹¹ for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
¹² Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
¹³ The children of your elect sister greet you.

¹ The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
² Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
³ For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth.
⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
⁵ Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are,
⁶ who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.
⁷ For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.
⁸ Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
⁹ I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.
¹⁰ So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
¹¹ Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.
¹² Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.
¹³ I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink.
¹⁴ I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
¹⁵ Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name. (ESV)