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
6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self1 was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free2 from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,3 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[1] 6:6
[2] 6:7
[3] 6:16
(ESV)
In 1848, the wife of an Anglican clergyman from Ireland, Cecil Frances Alexander, penned these now famous words concerning the wonder of God's creation:
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all!
These words constitute what has proven to be one of history's most beloved Christian hymns. Perhaps you have even sung these words before.
The portrait that Alexander paints of God's glorious creation throughout this hymn is stirring. She speaks of "each little flower that opens" and "the purple headed mountains." Indeed, the imagery is so rich that you almost feel as if you're the one gazing with wonder on what she describes.
As much as I appreciate hymns which celebrate God's creation, I have always found them to be a little disingenuous. All thingsbright and beautiful? Really? Honestly, I can think of several things that I would call neither bright nor beautiful. Take fire ants, for instance.
During my college years, I worked at a country radio station in Austin. One evening, as I was pulling the night shift, I decided to step out for a breath of fresh air when my foot, which was protected by no more than a flip flop, landed right in the center of a massive fire ant mound. The burning bites began instantaneously. I quickly searched for relief. Thankfully, there was a fountain at the entrance to the radio station. And so, I flung off my flip flop and doused my foot in the fountain's cooling water, all the while screaming, "Die fire ants! Die!" The hymn may call fire ants "bright and beautiful," but I prefer my fire ants "cold and dead."
Unfortunately, as I learned that evening, fire ants are quite hearty creatures. They just wouldn't die. Their stings continued even with my foot in the fountain. I finally had to carefully search my foot while it remained submerged in the water and ruthlessly pry everylast fire ant I could find from my now red and swollen skin.
In our reading for today from Romans 6, Paul writes these glorious words: "For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him" (verse 9). Some 2,000 years ago, Paul says, Satan consorted with the evil entities of this world to make an attempt on the life of Christ. They accused him, arrested him, mocked him, beat him, and finally murdered him on a cross. And they thought they had the Savior just the way they preferred him: not "bright and beautiful," but "cold and dead." But three days later, much to the surprise and chagrin of Satan and his minions, they discovered that Jesus was heartier than they ever imagined. For Jesus could not and would not stay dead. And now, upon his resurrection, Paul reminds us, "He cannot die again." For he has conquered death.
But that's not all. Because the Savior's incredulity toward death marks our lives as well: "Now if we died with Christ, we also believe that we will live with him as well" (verse 8). In other words, just as Christ cannot die again, we, at our own resurrections on the Last Day, will also not die again. Indeed, not even a suffocating dip in a fountain can rob us of this life. In fact, drowning water is actually the very vehicle which God uses to give us a resurrected life: "We were therefore buried with Christ through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (verse 4).
So today, celebrate the Savior who just can't seem to stay dead. And hold out hope that he will keep us from staying dead too. For he, in the midst of a broken world in which so much is dark and ugly, is truly "bright and beautiful."
24:1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me this vision: behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD. 2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. 3 And the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”
4 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 5 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
8 “But thus says the LORD: Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them a horror1 to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. 10 And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”
25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 “For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. 4 You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the LORD persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, 5 saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. 6 Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ 7 Yet you have not listened to me, declares the LORD, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.
8 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
[1] 24:9
(ESV)
We've all seen baskets of fruit gone bad. What a contrast to the fresh fruit that we long to enjoy. The bad fruit is only waiting to be thrown away. Jeremiah uses the picture of two baskets of figs to contrast the fate of two groups of people. The good figs represented the exiles who had already been taken to Babylon. Humbled and repentant, God promised to watch over them and bring them back to the land in order to fulfill His covenant: "They will be my people, and I will be their God." On the other hand, Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem who steadfastly refused to turn to the LORD, would be destroyed by the sword, famine and plague. Twenty-three years after God first called Jeremiah to be His prophet, Jeremiah rebuked God's people for steadfastly refusing his message of repentance. Instead of listening to Jeremiah and the prophets before him, they provoked the LORD by pursuing their idols, and brought His wrath on themselves. As a result, God would command Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to destroy His chosen people. After 70 years, however, God would punish Babylon for their guilt, repaying them for the evil they had done with their own hands. God's justice would prevail in the case of Israel and Babylon, in His perfect time.
74:1 O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
5 They were like those who swing axes
in a forest of trees.2
6 And all its carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!
[1] 74:1
[2] 74:5
[3] 74:11
(ESV)