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!
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7:1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.1 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. 9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you2 to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
17 Only let each person lead the life3 that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. 18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. 20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. 21 Were you a bondservant4 when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) 22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. 24 So, brothers,5 in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
25 Now concerning6 the betrothed,7 I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present8 distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman9 marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed,10 if his11 passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. 37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. 38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
[1] 7:6
[2] 7:15
[3] 7:17
[4] 7:21
[5] 7:24
[6] 7:25
[7] 7:25
[8] 7:26
[9] 7:28
[10] 7:36
[11] 7:36
(ESV)
When I was in seminary, I was constantly writing theological papers and reports. Very quickly, I learned which papers and reports I had to spend a lot of time on and which papers and reports I could crank out and breeze through with minimal effort. The papers and reports that required a lot of time also required a lot of rewrites. I would write a first draft, have my professor review it, mark it up until it bled red, and then take another crack at it. Most of the time, I would take it back for a second round of corrections, and then occasionally even a third. I can still remember one paper that took no fewer than six drafts worth of corrections, deletions, and expansions, before I handed it in. The disenchanting part of that paper was that, of course, when I received it back with a grade, it was still viciously marked up! At that point, however, I was too beleaguered to really care. "It's fine just the way it is," I thought to myself. "My professor will never be satisfied with it."
Thankfully, what my more demanding seminary professors saw in my papers and projects is not what God sees in his people. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul addresses both those who are single as well as those who are married. Paul's basic principle is simply this: "Each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him" (verse 17). In other words, you're fine just the way you are. If you're single, you don't need to hurry up and get married, and if you're married, instead of surreptitiously pining for your single days, praise God for your spouse. This stood in stark contrast to first century society, which saw marriage not as optional, but necessary. Indeed, even Emperor Caesar Augustus, following the lead of his father Julius Caesar, issued edicts that men must marry for the good of the empire and even went so far as to levy astronomically high taxes on single men and women to promote and even coerce marriage. Paul, however, says that the way of popular culture need not dictate the way of the people of God. "It is good for a man not to marry," Paul says in verse 1. Then again, "It is also better to marry than to burn with passion" (verse 9). Which is better? It depends on the person.
Paul's words speak just as poignantly to our society as they did to his. Pressure to conform to the patterns, norms, and social mores that pervade our daily interactions is fierce. Peer pressure affects not only teenagers, but also adults. Paul's basic message in 1 Corinthians 7, then, is simply this: don't give into peer pressure. Rather, be who Christ has called you to be. Are you single? Great! Are you married? That's great too. Thus, unlike my seminary papers, you're fine just the way you are. You don't need red marks of correction all over you. Now, just to be clear here, it's not your sin, not your transgression, and not your rebellion that's fine just the way it is, but it's you - the person who God has called you and made you to be - that is fine just the way you r. Oops. That's a typo. Oh well. It's fine just the way it is.
23:1 The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor!
From the land of Cyprus1
it is revealed to them.
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
3 And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were the merchant of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.”
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish2 over the report about Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle far away?
8 Who has purposed this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 The LORD of hosts has purposed it,
to defile the pompous pride of all glory,3
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10 Cross over your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint anymore.
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the LORD has given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its strongholds.
12 And he said:
“You will no more exult,
O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;
arise, cross over to Cyprus,
even there you will have no rest.”
13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;4 Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.
15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days5 of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take a harp;
go about the city,
O forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.”
17 At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the LORD.
[1] 23:1
[2] 23:5
[3] 23:9
[4] 23:13
[5] 23:15
(ESV)
The next oracle that Isaiah speaks is against Tyre and Sidon, the two great port cities in Phoenicia on the Mediterranean Sea. She became known as the marketplace of the nations as goods and foodstuffs came into her port from all over the world. However, in this oracle the prophets personifies the sea and she speaks to these ports about the absence of ships, as though the sea had never given birth to them. Even the people of far off Tarshish in the western Meditteranean were to wail due to their loss of trade with Tyre. When asked, "Who has purposed this?" Isaiah answered that it was the LORD. God's purpose in bringing down these powerful trading nations was to humble their pride. Canaan is another way that Phoenicia was referred to, and Isaiah prophesied that her strongholds would be destroyed, meaning even the strongest and best fortified fortresses that she had would be brought down. For those who thought of escaping across the Mediterranean, Isaiah warned that even on the isle of Cyprus they would find no rest. During the period from 700 to 630 BC trade in Tyre was greatly restricted by the Assyrians. This corresponded in length to the period of the Babylonian exile for Judah, and the 70 years may even refer to that exile. At the end of the time appointed, Tyre would once again ply her trade with the highest bidder, like a forgotten prostitute singing her song to lure in her lovers once again. However, her profit would be set aside for the LORD. At the end of the Babylonian exile, (Ezra 1:2-4) Cyrus ordered his people to provide the exiles "with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem." This may be a fulfillment of this prophecy.
27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold1 of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet2 I will be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire3 in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek4 my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, LORD, do I seek.”5
9 Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the LORD will take me in.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
13 I believe that I shall look6 upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!
[1] 27:1
[2] 27:3
[3] 27:4
[4] 27:8
[5] 27:8
[6] 27:13
(ESV)