This Bible reading plan takes you through most of the Holy Scriptures each weekday of the year. Each day has three Bible readings:
You're welcome to read one, two, or all three of the readings every weekday. And if you fall behind, don't worry! You can either use the weekends to catch up or you can simply dive in to the reading for that day, even if you've missed a few days, weeks, or even months!
You can download a foldable bookmark here: 2026
12:1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.1 Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?2 And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?3 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his4 kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
35 “Stay dressed for action5 and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants6 whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he7 would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant8 whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
49 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
57 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”9
[1] 12:5
[2] 12:6
[3] 12:25
[4] 12:31
[5] 12:35
[6] 12:37
[7] 12:39
[8] 12:43
[9] 12:59
(ESV)
I know it's obnoxiously expensive, but I splurge. I splurge on bottled water. Yes, I understand that I can purify my own water and fill my own bottle for pennies on the dollar to what I spend on bottled water, but this luxury's convenience makes it worth the money. Granted, I will forgo my pricey bottled water and fill a glass of my own with water when I'm enjoying a leisurely evening supper, but in the morning when I'm racing out the door, the grab and go convenience of bottled water is too alluring for me to pass up.
One of the things which helps assuage my guilt over the price of bottled water is the cases in which I buy it. Most of the time, these cases contain twenty-four bottles. But every once in a while, the manufacturer, in an effort to keep folks like me buying their water, will offer a discount: A twenty-eight pack of water rather than a twenty-four pack for the same price. And just so I am sure to notice this enticing bargain, on the package will be proudly emblazoned: "Buy 24 and get 4 free!"
The promotion of buying one thing and getting something for free is a nearly ubiquitous fixture in our free market society. Hostess does it with its cupcake packages which periodically contain three, rather than the normal two, cupcakes. Old Navy does it with its clothing. If I buy one t-shirt, another awaits me for free. During the low-point of this recession, I even heard a commercial from a car dealer who promised that if you bought one truck, he'd give you another for free! Now that's a bargain!
Although we may think the "buy one, get one free" gimmick is a comparatively recent phenomenon of American capitalism, its origins seem to be much more ancient. In our reading for today from Luke 12, Jesus speaks of the care of his heavenly Father using this analogy: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (verses 6-7). The word which Jesus uses for "pennies" is a Greek form of a Latin loanword: assarion. An assarion was the lowest valued Roman coin, being equal to about half-an-hour's minimum wage. The sparrows which went five for two assaria were the cheapest things sold in the ancient market.
But wait. Something doesn't quite add up here. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus is again teaching on God's care when he uses this same analogy of sparrows, but with a twist: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:29-31). In Matthew, two sparrows are sold for a penny. That means in Luke, four sparrows should be sold for two pennies. But instead, Jesus says that five sparrows are sold for two pennies. It's a cut-rate price for sparrows at the ancient Roman market! Buy four... get one free!
This, then, is the exquisiteness of God's care: Not only does he care for the four sparrows which are valued at an already paltry two for a penny, he even cares for the fifth sparrow which is valued at absolutely nothing. What the world gives away for free is tremendously valued in God's sight.
Perhaps today, you feel somewhat like a fifth sparrow - you feel undervalued if not unvalued. If this is you, take this promise to heart: Jesus cares for and about the fifth sparrow, even when that fifth sparrow is you. Of course, no matter how you might subjectively feel, in objective reality, you are worth much more than any sparrow and even many sparrows, as Jesus himself says: "Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (verse 7). And as the apostle Paul will later write: "You were bought at a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20). And this price was very steep indeed. For it was the price of God's only Son. So take heart! You are valuable in God's sight. Rejoice in your value today.
32:1 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:
“You consider yourself a lion of the nations,
but you are like a dragon in the seas;
you burst forth in your rivers,
trouble the waters with your feet,
and foul their rivers.
3 Thus says the Lord GOD:
I will throw my net over you
with a host of many peoples,
and they will haul you up in my dragnet.
4 And I will cast you on the ground;
on the open field I will fling you,
and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you,
and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.
5 I will strew your flesh upon the mountains
and fill the valleys with your carcass.1
6 I will drench the land even to the mountains
with your flowing blood,
and the ravines will be full of you.
7 When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens
and make their stars dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon shall not give its light.
8 All the bright lights of heaven
will I make dark over you,
and put darkness on your land,
declares the Lord GOD.
9 “I will trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries that you have not known. 10 I will make many peoples appalled at you, and the hair of their kings shall bristle with horror because of you, when I brandish my sword before them. They shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life, on the day of your downfall.
11 “For thus says the Lord GOD: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. 12 I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them most ruthless of nations.
“They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt,
and all its multitude2 shall perish.
13 I will destroy all its beasts
from beside many waters;
and no foot of man shall trouble them anymore,
nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
14 Then I will make their waters clear,
and cause their rivers to run like oil,
declares the Lord GOD.
15 When I make the land of Egypt desolate,
and when the land is desolate of all that fills it,
when I strike down all who dwell in it,
then they will know that I am the LORD.
16 This is a lamentation that shall be chanted; the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt, and over all her multitude, shall they chant it, declares the Lord GOD.”
17 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month,3 on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18 “Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt, and send them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, to the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit:
19 ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?
Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised.’
20 They shall fall amid those who are slain by the sword. Egypt4 is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and all her multitudes. 21 The mighty chiefs shall speak of them, with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: ‘They have come down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’
22 “Assyria is there, and all her company, its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, 23 whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit; and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living.
[1] 32:5
[2] 32:12
[3] 32:17
[4] 32:20
(ESV)
Ezekiel took on the pride of Pharaoh who thought of himself as the "king of the jungle" or "lion of the nations." Instead, Ezekiel said, the LORD would throw His net over Pharaoh and haul him in like a "dragon in the seas" or a crocodile from the Nile. God was going to cast Pharaoh down and make him carrion for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. He would be consumed like "road kill." The description of Pharaoh's destruction recalled the plagues that God brought on Egypt in the days of Moses, when the water turned to blood and darkness came over the land. God's judgment on Egypt would cause fear and trembling among the nations. Once again Babylon was named as the agent of destruction. As a result of the devastation that would come on Egypt, the Nile, instead of being disturbed by the feet of men and beasts, would be utterly desolate and would flow as smoothly as if it were filled with oil. The multitudes of Egyptians, in their unbelief, would go down to death, the pit, or Sheol, and would join many other evil nations such as Assyria, Edom and the princes of the North. The only comfort Pharaoh would have, would be that he was not alone in his eternal misery.
128:1 Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,
who walks in his ways!
2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the LORD.
5 The LORD bless you from Zion!
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
6 May you see your children’s children!
Peace be upon Israel!
129:1 “Greatly1 have they afflicted me from my youth”—
let Israel now say—
2 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back;
they made long their furrows.”
4 The LORD is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward!
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
which withers before it grows up,
7 with which the reaper does not fill his hand
nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
8 nor do those who pass by say,
“The blessing of the LORD be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the LORD!”
[1] 129:1
(ESV)