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 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy1 that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
[1] 7:13
(ESV)
"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
When I lived in Washington State there was a 15 mile paved trail near my house that I would frequently ride on. The Foothills Trail was used by walkers, runners, skateboarders, inline skaters, and of course, cyclists, but was restricted to any kind of motorized vehicles. In an effort to enforce this, whenever the trail crossed a road there were three large metal posts, one at either side and one in the middle of the paved trail. The posts were placed close enough together to prevent a car or an ATV from entering the path.
This was not a problem when I was riding on my own. However, sometimes I would pull my grandson in a trailer behind my bike. The trailer was wide enough to hold two children, and the wheels of the trailer would barely fit between the two posts. As a result, whenever I came to a street, I would have to slow way down and carefully thread my way between the two posts so as to not hit them with the trailer, which would have been disastrous for both me and my grandson.
I thought of this experience as I read Jesus' words above from Matthew 7:13-14. In fact, I thought in particular about Luke's account of Jesus' words. Luke quoted Jesus in this way: "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to." The Greek word for "make every effort" is "agonizesthe". It's the root of our English word "agonize."
Jesus said that many would try to enter the narrow door and would be unable to. Why? I envision a problem similar to the trailer on the back of my bike that caused me to "agonize" each time I passed between those posts for fear of hitting them. Some people want to enter into eternal life, but they do not want to repent of the sin in their lives. They think they can hang on to their sin and continue in it, yet somehow still be saved. But the only road we can travel while holding on to our sin is the broad road that leads away from God and toward destruction.
Others think that the way to enter eternal life is to show up at the narrow door laden with all the good works and kind deeds they have ever done, as though these will be their "ticket" to heaven. Instead, those good works in which they place their trust become a "wide load" that prevents them from passing through the narrow gate. Rather, we need to come to the narrow door empty handed, repenting of our sin, and trusting only in Jesus to save us. Then He will throw open the gates to heaven and welcome us in.
So don't waste time agonizing over whether you're "good enough" to go to heaven. Instead, agonize over your sin in heartfelt repentance. Then put your faith in Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Trusting in Him, you will find that one narrow road that leads to life, and by His grace spend eternity in heaven.
20 So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. 21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. 22 It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. 23 As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. 24 Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments. 25 Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.
27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the LORD, You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?” 30 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31 And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.’”
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.
37:1 Zedekiah the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. 2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.
3 King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray for us to the LORD our God.” 4 Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. 5 The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 “Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, Pharaoh’s army that came to help you is about to return to Egypt, to its own land. 8 And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. They shall capture it and burn it with fire. 9 Thus says the LORD, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. 10 For even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.’”
(ESV)
In his explanation to the Third Commandment Luther wrote in his Small Catechism: "We should fear and love God, and so we should not despise his Word." What we see in today's reading is the most blatant despising of God's word imaginable. Jehoikim's royal officials reported the words of Jeremiah to the king. He then ordered Jehudi to get the actual scroll from the royal secretary's office and read it to him. You might think that Jehoiakim was alarmed by the summary he had been given by his royal officials and wanted to hear more, but that was not the case. As Jehudi read the scroll to the king who was seated by the warmth of the firepot, the king would cut off a piece of scroll three or four columns wide and casually toss it into the fire. There was no concern for the content of the warnings the scroll contained. There was no sorrow or repentance. There was only a calloused and casual despising of God's Word. Just as easily as you or I would crumple up last week's newspaper to light the charcoal on the backyard grill, so easily did Jehoiakim dispose of the unwanted message from God. "Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments." The prophet Isaiah said, "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." (Isaiah 66:2) May God grant us such a spirit in contrast to Jehoiakim! When the king ordered Baruch and Jeremiah seized, God graciously hid them. God commanded Jeremiah to rewrite the scroll that had been destroyed and He promised to punish Jehoiakim for his blatant unbelief. After this account, the text of Jeremiah returns to the reign of king Zedekiah. He was no more willing to listen to and obey the Word of the LORD than Jehoiakim had been before him. At a time when Nebuchadnezzar's army forsook its siege of Jerusalem to engage Pharaoh's army from Egypt, Zedekiah asked Jeremiah to pray for Jerusalem that the Babylonians might stay away permanently. But God told Jeremiah that the Babylonians would soon return to Jerusalem, capture and burn it. No temporary respite or even a military victory could save Jerusalem from the fate God decreed for it.
84:1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.2
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!
(ESV)