Daily Readings

¹“For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,

²I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.

³They have cast lots for My people, Have given a boy as payment for a harlot, And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

⁴“Indeed, what have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia? Will you retaliate against Me? But if you retaliate against Me, Swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head;

⁵Because you have taken My silver and My gold, And have carried into your temples My prized possessions.

⁶Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem You have sold to the Greeks, That you may remove them far from their borders.

⁷“Behold, I will raise them Out of the place to which you have sold them, And will return your retaliation upon your own head.

⁸I will sell your sons and your daughters Into the hand of the people of Judah, And they will sell them to the Sabeans, To a people far off; For the LORD has spoken.”

⁹Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up.

¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”

¹¹Assemble and come, all you nations, And gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD.

¹²“Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

¹³Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow— For their wickedness is great.”

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

¹⁵The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness.

¹⁶The LORD also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.

¹⁷“So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, And no aliens shall ever pass through her again.”

¹⁸And it will come to pass in that day That the mountains shall drip with new wine, The hills shall flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD And water the Valley of Acacias.

¹⁹“Egypt shall be a desolation, And Edom a desolate wilderness, Because of violence against the people of Judah, For they have shed innocent blood in their land.

²⁰But Judah shall abide forever, And Jerusalem from generation to generation.

²¹For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted; For the LORD dwells in Zion.”

¹⁴“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.

¹⁵And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.

¹⁶Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.

¹⁷And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.

¹⁸But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.

¹⁹After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

²⁰“So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’

²¹His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

²²He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’

²³His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

²⁴“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

²⁵And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

²⁶“But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.

²⁷So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.

²⁸Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

²⁹‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

³⁰And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’