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
18:1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed1 thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” 29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers2 or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
35 As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” 42 And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
(ESV)
It was in the middle of our record-breaking long, hot, dry summer. And although I don't usually do this, the temperature that day was racing toward 105 degrees and so I figured, "Why not? It's hot outside. It's a slow day at work. I'm going to wear shorts to the office today!" And so, without a lot of forethought, I threw on some black and white plaid shorts with a black and white striped shirt. I was so proud of myself. I managed to color coordinate on the fly.
I thought I was a regular fashionista until I arrived home that evening. My wife Melody's jaw slacked open. "Umm," she said, "You didn't wear that to work, did you?" "Well, yes, I did wear this to work," I responded defensively. "What's wrong with it?" "You're wearing plaid shorts with a striped shirt," my wife informed me. "You can wear a solid with a pattern, but not a pattern with a pattern. Don't ever wear that again!"
I thought I had dressed acceptably, and even stylishly. But it took the fashion conscious eye of my wife to inform me otherwise.
In our reading for today from Luke 18, Jesus tells this parable:
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (verses 10-14)
Far too often, far too many Christians read Jesus' parable and reflexively respond, "Wow, I sure am glad I'm not like that Pharisee. I'm not arrogant. I'm not self-righteous. After all, I would never treat a 'lesser' tax collector the way that Pharisee did. I'm so much better than that Pharisee." Hmmm. Perhaps we're more like that Pharisee than we first care to admit. We may think that we are more spiritually coordinated, even more spiritually stylish than that Pharisee. But it takes the spiritually discerning eye of Jesus to inform us otherwise.
Indeed, in order to understand the true import of this parable, we need to first understand the audience for Jesus' story. He was not telling this story to humble and humiliated tax collectors; rather, he was telling it to self-righteous religious elites: "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable" (verse 9). Thus, in order to hear this parable, we need to first recognize that we are part of Jesus' audience - we are part of the mob of self-righteous religious snobs. That is why we need this parable. That is why it is in the Bible. It is not there for those other self-righteous people who are spiritually worse off than we are. It is there for us.
At the heart of the Pharisee's self-righteousness is the preposition that Jesus uses to describe the Pharisee's prayer: "The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself" (verse 11). The Greek word for "about" is pros, often meaning "to," or "toward." The sense is that this Pharisee is far less interested in praying to God as he in talking to himself about all of his laudable accomplishments: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get" (verses 11-12). Notice that while using God's name only once, he uses the pronoun "I" four times. This prayer is clearly all about him. The tax collector, on the other hand, is not nearly so narcissistic. He prays, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner" (verse 13). And he, Jesus says, is the one who goes "home justified before God" (verse 14).
The fact of the matter is we live in a world of Pharisees, not of tax collectors. We lust after accolades, accomplishment, and adoration. We read books like The Power of Positive Thinking and How To Win Friends and Influence People which encourage us to believe in our own potential rather than to lean on the grace of God. And when we pray, our pronouns echo those of a Pharisee rather than those of a tax collector: "God, I need this and I need that. I want you to help me with this and I want you to give me that."
If you would indulge me, allow me offer some very simple guidance for your praying today. As you pray, begin each prayer with words not of request, but with words of confession: "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." For this simple confession is also an expression of our deepest need: our need for forgiveness. And this, finally, is the difference between a Pharisee and a tax-collector: one asks for forgiveness and the other does not. And that is why, by the end of this parable, we are allowed to identify with the tax collector. Not because we're better than the Pharisee and would never treat anyone like the Pharisee treated the tax collector, but because, like the tax collector, we have been forgiven by God. For God's grace turns former self-righteous Pharisees into newly forgiven tax collectors. And that's why I'm happy to be a tax collector. I hope you are too.
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.1 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
33 “Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.
37 “Thus says the Lord GOD: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. 38 Like the flock for sacrifices,2 like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”
(ESV)
God's promise of a New Covenant came alive in this promise to Israel: "I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you." God declared that He was not doing this for Israel's sake, but "for the sake of my holy name." What God was promising to do would "through you" vindicate His holiness before the eyes of the nations, the very same nations among which Israel profaned God's name by their idolatry. Key elements of the New Covenant are clearly mentioned. Jesus said, "No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." This is the new birth Ezekiel prophesied when he said: "I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be cleansed." Paul explained this further when he said, "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). These blessings were first promised as a part of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31. Here, Ezekiel reinforced those promises, which were all fulfilled in Christ. The fulfillment of these promises would begin with the return from the exile, but would find their complete fulfillment in the coming of Christ. God would return His people and replenish the land. He would cause them to "loathe" themselves for the sins that had led to their exile. These words of promise even pointed forward to the greater hope of heaven, since "this land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden." Once again, the people of Israel would be the "flock" of God, filling the land with His chosen ones. And when the New Covenant became a reality in Christ, that flock would increase immensely. "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:14-16).
137:1 By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows1 there
we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How shall we sing the LORD’s song
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,
down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us!
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock!
[1] 137:2
(ESV)