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
7:1 Or do you not know, brothers1—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.2 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.3
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
[1] 7:1
[2] 7:2
[3] 7:6
(ESV)
One of the most marvelous days of my life was when I married my true love, Melody. I can still remember the morning with crystal clarity. The music, the guests, me with my knocking knees and sweaty tuxedo, and, of course, my beautiful bride, adorned in a dress that took my breath away. And then came the moment when I spoke that sacred vow to my beloved mate: "I, Zach, in the presence of God and these witnesses, take you, Melody, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, 'til death do us part."
Out of all the lines in this vow, it's the final line that still takes my breath away: "'Til death do us part." For it is in this line that we find the true strength of the wedded promise. We declare, "No matter what happens, we will not be parted. Only death can break our marriage bond."
Paul alludes to this strong marriage bond in our reading for today from Romans 7 when he writes, "By law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage" (verse 2). Paul says, "The bond of marriage stands until one spouse dies. 'Til death do us part." Paul continues, however, by talking about something even bigger, deeper, and more profound than marriage: "So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ" (verse 4). Paul's analogy is this: Just as a wife is parted from her husband when he dies, so also are we parted from the law when we die. What law is Paul speaking of here? The law which accuses us of our sin and convicts us of our guilt. But now, death has done us part from this law which would consign us to hell. But death has done something else too: "So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead" (verse 4).
Death, Paul says, at the same time it estranges us from the law, also unites us to Christ! For this death does not merely kill us off, it also promises new life. This death asks us to die to ourselves, our sinful nature, and a law which would condemn us so that we can rise into a newer, better, fuller life in Christ. As Paul writes elsewhere, "Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:1). Thus, to the law we say, "Death has done us part! You no longer have privilege to condemn me to hell!" But to Christ we say, "Death has done us... together! For I have died to all the sin which has separated me from God and have arisen as his redeemed child."
In this world, nothing parts us as finally and completely as does death. It parts us from our friends. It parts us from our loved ones. It parts us from our marriages. It even, to look on a brighter side, parts us from our worries, our cares, our ailments, our wounds, and our bills. Death parts us from everything... except Christ. For in Christ we can exclaim, "'Til death do us... together!" And death will indeed do us together. For upon our deaths, we have the hope of being together with Christ in heaven. This, then, is Christ's vow to us: "'Til death do us together." Praise be to God for Christ's strong vow!
15 Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.”
17 So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, 20 and all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; 26 all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon1 shall drink.
27 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.’
28 “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: You must drink! 29 For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.’
30 “You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:
“‘The LORD will roar from on high,
and from his holy habitation utter his voice;
he will roar mightily against his fold,
and shout, like those who tread grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against the nations;
he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
and the wicked he will put to the sword,
declares the LORD.’
32 “Thus says the LORD of hosts:
Behold, disaster is going forth
from nation to nation,
and a great tempest is stirring
from the farthest parts of the earth!
33 “And those pierced by the LORD on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.
34 “Wail, you shepherds, and cry out,
and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,
for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come,
and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
35 No refuge will remain for the shepherds,
nor escape for the lords of the flock.
36 A voice—the cry of the shepherds,
and the wail of the lords of the flock!
For the LORD is laying waste their pasture,
37 and the peaceful folds are devastated
because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
38 Like a lion he has left his lair,
for their land has become a waste
because of the sword of the oppressor,
and because of his fierce anger.”
[1] 25:26
(ESV)
God told His prophet Jeremiah to serve as His divine cupbearer, taking the cup of God's wrath to the nations who would be forced to drink of it. Proverbs 23:32 describes the outcome of drinking too much wine: "In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper." Thus God chooses the image of the cup to describe the devastating effects of His wrath on the nations that He will judge. "They shall drink and stagger and be crazed." The very first nation God commanded Jeremiah to force to drink the cup of His wrath was Judah and the people of Jerusalem. God then continued to command His prophet to take the cup to all the nations of the region, from Egypt in the South to Babylon in the North, and all the nations in between. If they sought to refuse the cup of God's wrath, Jeremiah was to tell them: "You must drink!" None would escape the sword of judgment that God was summoning against all the inhabitants of the earth. The nations would hear the LORD roar from on high, and as He trampled them under foot, the sound would be like the shouting of those who crushed grapes under their feet. The LORD, roaring like a lion, would devastate their flocks, leaving the shepherds to cry out. As Christians we recognize that there is only one escape from the cup of God's wrath. It is through faith in God's Son, Jesus Christ. He is the one who, when facing the prospect of having to drink the cup of God's wrath in our place, prayed: "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." (Matthew 26:42) He is the One who willingly drank the cup of God's wrath for us. He took our punishment so that we do not have to drink the cup of wrath.
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters1 on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, defend your cause;
remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
[1] 74:13
(ESV)