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
4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
6 If you put these things before the brothers,1 you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive,2 because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,3 so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
[1] 4:6
[2] 4:10
[3] 4:15
(ESV)
Periodically, my wife Melody and I have the pleasure of babysitting our two little nephews, Noah and Nicholas. And, much to my chagrin, Noah and Nicholas, along with my wife and her sister, can sometimes prove to be picky eaters. I guess it's something that runs in the family. That means that, if food is placed in front of my nephews and they don't particularly care for it, they'll stare at it with a mild disgust, refusing even to try it. But then comes the injunction from either Melody or I: "You have to at least try a bite." And after a little more placid prodding, they'll usually pick up their forks, taste the dish, and then immediately return their forks to their plates and say, "I'm done. I tried it! Can I go now?" At which point Melody will usually chime in: "Can I go now? That's not how you ask. What do you say?" Remembering their manners, and anxious to leave the table so they can go play, they'll respond, "Can I be excused, please?"
These words are words that we all have to use from time to time: "Can I be excused, please?" If I'm in the middle of a conversation and I receive a phone call that I have to take, I'll always say, "Excuse me for a moment, please." Or if Melody and I get invited to a party that we cannot attend, I'll often tell the host, "I'm sorry. Could you excuse us from your party? We already have prior plans."
In our reading for today from 1 Timothy 4, Paul talks about the importance, and even the necessity, of being able to excuse yourself from certain situations: "Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales" (verse 7). The Greek word for the phrase "have nothing to do with" is pareiteomai, meaning "to excuse oneself." Indeed, this is the word that Jesus uses in a parable that he tells about a man who holds a dinner, only to have the invitees pareiteomai themselves: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me'" (Luke 14:15-19). And although the excuses of the people in Jesus' story were clearly illegitimate, Paul explains that there are times when a person has a legitimate reason to excuse him or herself, such as when people are gossiping, telling "old wives' tales."
I wonder how much dissension and distrust could be avoided if we would simply follow Paul's sage advice in 1 Timothy 4:7. If someone is talking bad about someone else, if someone is using ungodly speech, simply excuse yourself! Simply say, "I'm not sure I want to a part of this conversation. Would you please excuse me?" And then walk away. Yet, so often, we don't. Instead, we listen interestedly as someone breathlessly recounts the raucous details of someone else's sordid life.
Part of the tragedy of not excusing yourself from such godless chatter, Paul says, is that you have less time to devote yourself to talk and words that are righteous. That is why Paul later instructs Timothy: "Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching" (verse 13). Excuse yourself from gossipy words. Devote yourself to God's Word. This is Paul's instruction.
So today, if someone begins a conversation with a phrase like, "You wouldn't believe what I just heard about... " and then proceeds to gossip, won't you politely and gently excuse yourself from the conversation? After all, you have some better words to listen to. For you have God's Word to listen to.
13:1 Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist. 3 And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, 4 “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. 6 And after many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 “Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. 11 For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
12 “You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?’ 13 Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 14 And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”
15 Hear and give ear; be not proud,
for the LORD has spoken.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God
before he brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the twilight mountains,
and while you look for light
he turns it into gloom
and makes it deep darkness.
17 But if you will not listen,
my soul will weep in secret for your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears,
because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king and the queen mother:
“Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
has come down from your head.”
19 The cities of the Negeb are shut up,
with none to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
wholly taken into exile.
20 “Lift up your eyes and see
those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say when they set as head over you
those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you?
Will not pangs take hold of you
like those of a woman in labor?
22 And if you say in your heart,
‘Why have these things come upon me?’
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
that your skirts are lifted up
and you suffer violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
who are accustomed to do evil.
24 I will scatter you1 like chaff
driven by the wind from the desert.
25 This is your lot,
the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD,
because you have forgotten me
and trusted in lies.
26 I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
and your shame will be seen.
27 I have seen your abominations,
your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings,
on the hills in the field.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will it be before you are made clean?”
[1] 13:24
(ESV)
Since God is our Creator He also understands how we learn. Therefore He commanded Jeremiah to use an object to teach a lesson to His people. A linen loincloth was an undergarment, worn directly on the skin. This symbolized the close relationship between God and His chosen people. God told Jeremiah that it should not touch water, because His rebellious people saw no need to be cleansed from sin. Then God told Jeremiah to go and hide it in a cleft in a rock near the Euphrates River, which was in Babylon. By the time God told Jeremiah to retrieve the loincloth it had been ruined by the elements, and was "good for nothing." God told Jeremiah, "This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing." As the loincloth had been corrupted by the elements, so Israel had been corrupted by the foreign gods they served. Next, God used the object of an earthen jar to warn Jerusalem that just as a jar filled with wine could cause drunkenness, so God would fill His people with drunkenness, the drunkenness that came from drinking the cup of God's wrath. God then warned His people to turn to him, forsake their pride, and give God glory before He casts them into the darkness of captivity. Judah and Jerusalem, personified as royalty (as God had treated them), will go into exile. The threat would come from the north, from Babylon, to whom Judah had previously looked for friendship and protection from Assyria. Sadly, however, Judah had become so hardened in sin that God was forced to say that they could no more change their ways than an Ethiopian could change his skin or a leopard change his spots. God warned the people of Jerusalem that they would be disgraced publicly like a common prostitute whose skirts were lifted over her face to expose her shame. Her spiritual adultery would be tolerated no longer.
68:1 God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
3 But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!
4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the LORD;
exult before him!
5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God settles the solitary in a home;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
7 O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
8 the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai,
before God,1 the God of Israel.
9 Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
you restored your inheritance as it languished;
10 your flock2 found a dwelling in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
(ESV)