Through the Bible – Day 320

Bible text(s)

Ezekiel 4

Ezekiel acts out the coming destruction of Judah and Jerusalem

The LORD said:

₁Ezekiel, son of man, find a brick and sketch a picture of Jerusalem on it. ₂Then prepare to attack the brick as if it were a real city. Build an earth mound and a ramp up to the top and surround the brick with enemy camps. On every side put large wooden poles as though you were going to break down the gate to the city. ₃Set up an iron pan like a wall between you and the brick. All this will be a warning for the people of Israel.

_4-5After that, lie down on your left side and stay there for three hundred and ninety days as a sign of Israel's punishment—one day for each year of its suffering. ₆Then turn over and lie on your right side forty more days. That will be a sign of Judah's punishment—one day for each year of its suffering.

₇The brick stands for Jerusalem, so attack it! Stare at it and shout angry warnings. ₈I will tie you up, so you can't leave until your attack has ended.

₉Get a large bowl. Then mix together wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and millet, and make some bread. This is what you will eat for the three hundred and ninety days you are lying down. ₁₀Eat only a small loaf of bread each day ₁₁and drink only two large cups of water. ₁₂Use dried human waste to start a fire, then bake the bread on the coals where everyone can watch you. ₁₃When I scatter the people of Israel among the nations, they will also have to eat food that is unclean, just as you must do.

₁₄I said, “LORD God, please don't make me do that! Never in my life have I eaten food that would make me unacceptable to you. I've never eaten anything that died a natural death or was killed by a wild animal or that you said was unclean.”

₁₅The LORD replied, “Instead of human waste, I will let you bake your bread on a fire made from cow manure. ₁₆Ezekiel, the people of Jerusalem will starve. They will have so little food and water that they will be afraid and hopeless. ₁₇Everyone will be shocked at what is happening, and, because of their sins, they will die a slow death.”

Ezekiel 5

Jerusalem's coming destruction

The LORD said:

₁Ezekiel, son of man, get a sharp sword and use it to cut off your hair and beard. Weigh the hair and divide it into three equal piles. ₂After you attack the brick that stands for Jerusalem, burn one pile of your hair on the brick. Chop up the second pile and let the small pieces of hair fall around the brick. Throw the third pile into the wind, and I will strike it with my own sword.

₃Keep a few of the hairs and wrap them in the hem of your clothes. ₄Then pull out a few of those hairs and throw them in the fire, so they will also burn. This fire will spread, destroying everyone in Israel.

₅I am the LORD God, and I have made Jerusalem the most important place in the world, and all other nations admire it. ₆But the people of Jerusalem rebelled and refuse to obey me. They ignored my laws and have become even more sinful than the nations around them.

₇So tell the people of Jerusalem:

I am the LORD God! You have refused to obey my laws and teachings, and instead you have obeyed the laws of the surrounding nations. You have become more rebellious than any of them! ₈Now all those nations will watch as I turn against you and punish you ₉for your sins. Your punishment will be more horrible than anything I've ever done or will ever do again. ₁₀Parents will be so desperate for food that they will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. Those who survive this horror will be scattered in every direction.

₁₁Your disgusting sins have made my temple unfit as a place to worship me. So I swear by my own life that I will turn my back on you and show you no pity. ₁₂A third of you will die here in Jerusalem from disease or starvation. Another third will be killed in war. And I will scatter the last third of you in every direction, then track you down and kill you.

₁₃You will feel my fierce anger until I have finished taking revenge. Then you will know that I, the LORD, was furious because of your disobedience. ₁₄Every passer-by will laugh at your destruction. Foreign nations ₁₅will insult you and make fun of you, but they will also be shocked and terrified at what I did in my anger. ₁₆I will destroy your crops until you starve to death, and disasters will strike you like arrows. ₁₇Starvation and wild animals will kill your children. I'll punish you with horrible diseases, and your enemies will strike you down with their swords. I, the LORD, have spoken.

Ezekiel 6

Disaster is near

Israel is doomed

₁The LORD God said:

₂Ezekiel, son of man, face the hills of Israel and tell them:

₃Listen, you mountains and hills, and every valley and gorge! I, the LORD, am about to turn against you and crush all the places where foreign gods are worshipped. ₄Every altar will be smashed, and in front of the idols I will put to death the people who worship them. ₅Dead bodies and bones will be lying around the idols and the altars. ₆Every town in Israel will be destroyed to make sure that each shrine, idol, and altar is smashed—everything the Israelites made will be a pile of ruins. ₇All over the country, your people will die. And those who survive will know that I, the LORD, did these things. ₈I will let some of the people live through this punishment, but I will scatter them among the nations, ₉where they will be prisoners. And when they think of me, they will realize that they disgraced me by rebelling and by worshipping idols. They will hate themselves for the evil things they did, ₁₀and they will know that I am the LORD and that my warnings must be taken seriously.

₁₁The LORD God then said:

Ezekiel, beat your fists together and stamp your feet in despair! Moan in sorrow, because the people of Israel have done disgusting things and now will be killed by enemy troops, or they will die from starvation and disease. ₁₂Those who live far away will be struck with deadly diseases. Those who live nearby will be killed in war. And the ones who are left will starve to death. I will let loose my anger on them! ₁₃These people used to offer incense to idols at altars built on hills and mountaintops and in the shade of large oak trees. But when they see dead bodies lying around those altars, they will know that I am the LORD. ₁₄I will make their country a barren wasteland, from the Southern Desert to the town of Diblah in the north. Then they will know that I, the LORD, have done these things.

Ezekiel 7

Disaster is near

₁The LORD God said:

₂Ezekiel, son of man, tell the people of Israel that I am saying:

Israel will soon come to an end! Your whole country is about to be destroyed ₃as punishment for your disgusting sins. I, the LORD, am so angry ₄that I will show no pity. I will punish you for the evil you've done, and you will know that I am the LORD.

₅There's never been anything like the coming disaster. ₆And when it comes, your life will be over. ₇You people of Israel are doomed! Soon there will be panic on the mountaintops instead of celebration. ₈I will let loose my anger and punish you for the evil things you've done. You'll get what you deserve. ₉Your sins are so terrible, that you'll get no mercy from me. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have punished you.

₁₀Disaster is near! Injustice and arrogance are everywhere, ₁₁and violent criminals run free. None of you will survive the disaster, and everything you own and value will be shattered. ₁₂The time is coming when everyone will be ruined. Buying and selling will stop, ₁₃and people who sell property will never get it back, because all of you must be punished for your sins. And I won't change my mind!

₁₄A signal has been blown on the trumpet, and weapons are prepared for battle. But no one goes to war, because in my anger I will strike down everyone in Israel.

Israel is surrounded

The LORD said to the people of Israel:

₁₅War, disease, and starvation are everywhere! People who live in the countryside will be killed in battle, and those who live in towns will die from starvation or deadly diseases. ₁₆Anyone who survives will escape into the hills, like doves who leave the valleys to find safety.

All of you will moan because of your sins. ₁₇Your hands will tremble, and your knees will go limp. ₁₈You will put on sackcloth to show your sorrow, but terror will overpower you. Shame will be written all over your faces, and you will shave your heads in despair. ₁₉Your silver and gold will be thrown into the streets like rubbish, because those are the two things that led you into sin, and now they cannot save you from my anger. They are not even worth enough to buy food. ₂₀You took great pride in using your beautiful jewellery to make disgusting idols of foreign gods. So I will make your jewellery worthless.

₂₁Wicked foreigners will rob and disgrace you. ₂₂They will break into my temple and leave it unfit as a place to worship me, but I will look away and let it happen.

₂₃Your whole country is in confusion! Murder and violence are everywhere in Israel, ₂₄so I will tell the most wicked nations to come and take over your homes. They will put an end to the pride you have in your strong army, and they will make your places of worship unfit to use. ₂₅You will be terrified and will desperately look for peace—but there will be no peace. ₂₆One tragedy will follow another, and you'll hear only bad news. People will beg prophets to give them a message from me. Priests will stop teaching my Law, and wise leaders won't be able to give advice. ₂₇Even your king and his officials will lose hope and cry in despair. Your hands will tremble with fear.

I will punish you for your sins and treat you the same way you have treated others. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 4:1-7:27CEVOpen in Bible reader

James 2

Don't favour the rich and powerful

Warning against having favourites

₁My friends, if you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you won't treat some people better than others. ₂Suppose a rich person wearing fine clothes and a gold ring comes to one of your meetings. And suppose a poor person dressed in worn out clothes also comes. ₃You must not give the best seat to the one in fine clothes and tell the one who is poor to stand at the side or sit on the floor. ₄That is the same as saying that some people are better than others, and you would be acting like a crooked judge.

₅My dear friends, pay attention. God has given a lot of faith to the poor people in this world. He has also promised them a share in his kingdom that he will give to everyone who loves him. ₆You ill-treat the poor. But isn't it the rich who boss you around and drag you off to court? ₇Aren't they the ones who make fun of your Lord?

₈You will do well, if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves. ₉But if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned.

₁₀If you obey every law except one, you are still guilty of breaking them all. ₁₁The same God who told us to be faithful in marriage also told us not to murder. So even if you are faithful in marriage, but murder someone, you have still broken God's Law.

₁₂Speak and act like people who will be judged by the law that sets us free. ₁₃Do this, because on the day of judgment there will be no pity for those who have not had pity on others. But even in judgment, God is merciful!

Faith and works

₁₄My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don't do anything to show that you really do have faith? Can that kind of faith save you? ₁₅If you know someone who doesn't have any clothes or food, ₁₆you shouldn't just say, “I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat.” What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help? ₁₇Faith that doesn't lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!

₁₈Suppose someone disagrees and says, “It is possible to have faith without doing kind deeds.”

I would answer, “Prove that you have faith without doing kind deeds, and I will prove that I have faith by doing them.” ₁₉You believe there is only one God. That's fine. Even demons believe this, and it makes them shake with fear.

₂₀Does some stupid person want proof that faith without deeds is useless? ₂₁Well, our ancestor Abraham pleased God by putting his son Isaac on the altar to sacrifice him. ₂₂Now you see how Abraham's faith and deeds worked together. He proved that his faith was real by what he did. ₂₃This is what the Scriptures mean by saying, “Abraham had faith in God, and God was pleased with him.” That's how Abraham became God's friend.

₂₄You can now see that we please God by what we do and not only by what we believe. ₂₅For example, Rahab had been a prostitute. But she pleased God when she welcomed the spies and sent them home by another way.

₂₆Anyone who doesn't breathe is dead, and faith that doesn't do anything is just as dead!

James 2:1-26CEVOpen in Bible reader