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
11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,1 a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion2 mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root3 of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers:4 a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now5 receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
[1] 11:1
[2] 11:12
[3] 11:17
[4] 11:25
[5] 11:31
(ESV)
One evening last week, while Melody and I were having supper with a wonderful couple from our congregation, the wife offered to show me pictures of her trip to the Holy Land. "They'll probably bore you," she warned. I am happy to report, however, that she was sorely mistaken. Seeing her albums full of pictures of such famous biblical places like the Sea of Galilee, the Pool of Siloam, Cana, and even Jesus' empty garden tomb made my heart sing and my spirit soar. For there is something about seeing pictures from Israel and the very places where Jesus walked that makes the Bible come alive in a whole new way.
Most certainly, the Holy Land in general, and Israel specifically, holds a special and prime place in the history of God's people. And yet, in today's reading from Romans 11, Paul reminds us that one does not have to live in Israel or be related to Abraham to be a child of God. For "salvation has come to the Gentiles" (verse 11). Salvation is offered to all, not just to some.
Throughout Romans 11, Paul repeatedly affirms this fact that salvation has come for both Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul's words, however, have caused countless conflicts amongst theologians and laypeople alike. The crux of the controversy comes in verse 26, where Paul writes, "And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.'" The question of this verse is: What does Paul mean, exactly, when he writes, "And so all Israel will be saved"? And the interpretations are legion. Augustine believed this phrase meant Elijah and Enoch would one day return and covert the entire Jewish nation. Where Elijah and Enoch are to be found in this passage, I don't know. But nevertheless, this idea of a mass Jewish conversion to Christianity took hold and, by the Middle Ages, it became a fixed doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church.
Other theologians, however, have taken a different posture toward this verse. No less than Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Martin Luther, and John Calvin have asserted that "Israel" here refers not to an ethnic nation of Jews, but to the church of God, Jew and Gentile alike, saved by Jesus Christ (cf. Galatians 6:15-16). As John Calvin writes in his Commentary on Romans: "Many understand this [passage to speak] of the Jewish people, as though Paul had said, that religion would again be restored among them as before: but I extend the word Israel to all the people of God." Thus, when Paul writes, "All Israel will be saved," he means, "The true church of God, which is the new Israel, will be saved."
Although finally, as Paul himself says, the notion that "all Israel will be saved" remains a bit of a "mystery" (verse 25), I prefer the latter interpretation of this verse to the former. I won't get into the nuances of why I prefer the latter interpretation here, but suffice it to say that this interpretation carries with it a beautiful promise: That from Abraham to Moses to David to the prophets, God has never given up on his people. His desire is that "all will be saved" (cf. 1 Timothy 2:3-4), a desire that is reiterated here when, with great glee and celebration, Paul proclaims: "God will get his 'all.' If not in 'all' humanity, then at least in 'all Israel.' All Israel will be saved!"
What does this mean for us? Simply this: Israel's story is our story too. Abraham, Moses, David, as well as the prophets are our ancestors. We come from a rich and storied history of people of great faith and now, we get to add our stories to the history of Israel. For we, as believers in Christ, are part of "all Israel." And even when passages like this confuse theologians and divide scholars, we can rejoice in this marvelous promise: The Bible's story is our story. And this means that the Bible's God is our God. And our God has come to us in Christ with salvation. Thus, to encounter God and see Israel, you don't need a trip to the Holy Land, you just need to look in the mirror. For you are Israel too.
28:1 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4 I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the LORD, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD, 6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles. 7 Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. 8 The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”
10 Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. 11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.
12 Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 13 “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the LORD: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. 14 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” 15 And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the LORD.’”
17 In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.
29:1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,1 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.
[1] 29:8
(ESV)
A false prophet named Hananiah came up to the temple to prophesy against Jeremiah in the presence of the people. He directly contradicted Jeremiah by saying that the yoke of oppression by Babylon was already broken and within two years the LORD would bring back the temple vessels that were already in Babylon. Jehoiachin and the other exiles would also return Hananiah said. Jeremiah's reply was a hearty "Amen!" He too wished that it could be so. He loved the people of Jerusalem and longed for their deliverance. It pained him to pronounce doom on them. However, he reminded the people that prophets were normally sent to announce judgment. If they prophesied peace, their words must come to pass if they are to be considered a true prophet. Enraged, Hananiah broken the yoke bars worn by Jeremiah and declared: "Thus says the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years." Jeremiah left without answering Hananiah. However, the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah later. He was told to tell Hananiah that he broken the wooden yoke bars but that he had made in their place bars of iron. Jeremiah also condemned Hananiah for making the people trust a lie, and told him that he would not live out another year. Two months later the false prophet was dead. Because other false prophets among the exiles in Babylon were also prophesying deliverance, Jeremiah sent the exiles a letter. Not only did he tell them to settle down, build houses, plant gardens and establish their families there, but he also commanded them to pray on behalf of Babylon, since their own welfare was tied to the fate of the nation to which they were exiled.
10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”1
11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
15 You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
your arrows flashed on every side.
18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
19 Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.2
20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
[1] 77:10
[2] 77:19
(ESV)