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
13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
(ESV)
When I was in high school, I was befriended by a Jehovah's Witness. She, of course, was all too happy to try to "convert" me to the doctrine of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. One of the hallmark doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses is that although Christ may have had a special relationship to his heavenly Father, he was not the God of heaven and earth, incarnate in human flesh. Troublingly, the Witnesses even have their own skewed translation of the Bible, the New World Translation, which polemically mistranslates passages that clearly declare the divinity of Christ. For instance, the New World Translation renders John 1:1: "In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." Compare this to the New International Version which translates: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
When my friend first showed me her "translation" which calls Jesus "a god" rather than "the God," I was horrified. And although I did not know Greek at the time, I quickly began researching the original Greek grammar behind the English translations of this passage and I stumbled across something called Colwell's Rule. This rule was first formulated in 1933 by E.C. Colwell in an article he published for the Journal of Biblical Literature. In it, he states: "In sentences in which the copula is expressed, a definite predicate nominative has the article when it follows the verb; it does not have the article when it precedes the verb." Don't know what that means? That's okay, neither did I. But I did know that this made the translation of Jesus as "a god" very tenuous and unlikely. And I did know that Jesus was no second-rate divinity. He was and is the one, true God.
And so, I told my friend about Colwell's Law. I also gave her a veritable plethora of resources refuting the theology of Jehovah's Witnesses. And I made an appeal to her to believe in the Bible rather than in a centralized, and somewhat enigmatic, Watchtower society. My friend, however, remained un-persuaded. She told me, "Well, I guess you'll just have your beliefs and I'll have mine."
I was shocked. She refused to agree with me when it came to Christ's divinity! I was at a loss. After all, my study was impeccable. My linguistic theory was unimpeachable. My logic was irrefutable. How could she not agree with me?
I have since learned that there are many people who do not agree with me, no matter how persuasive I may think I am. I will often joke with my wife Melody and tell her, "You know, this world would be a much better place if everyone just agreed with me." But everyone does not agree with me. And this is where our reading for today from Romans 13 comes into play.
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law" (verse 8). According to the apostle Paul, love is the order of the day. But notice who we are supposed to love: our "fellowman." The Greek word for "fellowman" is heteros, meaning "different." In other words, Paul is encouraging us to love not only those who think as we do, believe as we do, dress as we do, and act as we do, but to love those even who are different from us. He is encouraging us to love even those who do not agree with us - even when we have impeccable study, unimpeachable linguistic theory, and irrefutable logic. We are to love everyone.
Is there anyone who is different from you or disagrees with you whom you have failed to love the way you should? If so, now is the time to repent of your unloving heart and reflect God's love toward that person. Mind you, loving someone different from you does not necessarily mean that you accept their positions or actions, especially if they're sinful or false, as are those of the Jehovah's Witnesses, but it does mean that you treat others the way Christ would treat them: with care, concern, and compassion. After all, love - true love - has a way of bridging divides, breaking barriers, and binding up brokenness. And that's something that we all need... no matter how heteros we might be from each other.
30:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. 3 For behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”
4 These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah:
5 “Thus says the LORD:
We have heard a cry of panic,
of terror, and no peace.
6 Ask now, and see,
can a man bear a child?
Why then do I see every man
with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor?
Why has every face turned pale?
7 Alas! That day is so great
there is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob;
yet he shall be saved out of it.
8 “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him.1 9 But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10 “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the LORD,
nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for behold, I will save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with you to save you,
declares the LORD;
I will make a full end of all the nations
among whom I scattered you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
12 “For thus says the LORD:
Your hurt is incurable,
and your wound is grievous.
13 There is none to uphold your cause,
no medicine for your wound,
no healing for you.
14 All your lovers have forgotten you;
they care nothing for you;
for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,
the punishment of a merciless foe,
because your guilt is great,
because your sins are flagrant.
15 Why do you cry out over your hurt?
Your pain is incurable.
Because your guilt is great,
because your sins are flagrant,
I have done these things to you.
16 Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured,
and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
those who plunder you shall be plundered,
and all who prey on you I will make a prey.
17 For I will restore health to you,
and your wounds I will heal,
declares the LORD,
because they have called you an outcast:
‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’
18 “Thus says the LORD:
Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt on its mound,
and the palace shall stand where it used to be.
19 Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,
and the voices of those who celebrate.
I will multiply them, and they shall not be few;
I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.
20 Their children shall be as they were of old,
and their congregation shall be established before me,
and I will punish all who oppress them.
21 Their prince shall be one of themselves;
their ruler shall come out from their midst;
I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,
for who would dare of himself to approach me?
declares the LORD.
22 And you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.”
[1] 30:8
(ESV)
God commanded Jeremiah to write down His gracious promise: "days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people." The LORD was going to bring His chosen people out of exile back into the Promised Land. The upheaval in Babylon that would bring about this deliverance was the cause of great fear and distress to the exiles. Nevertheless, God would use those events to break the yoke of bondage that had been placed on the neck of His people by Babylon. Once God's people Israel were restored to "quiet and ease," none would make them afraid. God would have to chasten Israel, but He would not destroy them like He would the nations among whom He had scattered them. God's discipline would not seem easy or light though, in fact, their wound would seem incurable, because their sins were great! Nevertheless, God would ultimately plunder those who plundered Israel, and He would heal their wounds. God was going to restore Israel and rebuild Jerusalem. He was going to multiply the remnant and honor His chosen people once again. In a clear Messianic reference, God promised: "Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me?" This promise is clearly reflected in the words of St. Paul.: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5), and in Hebrews 7:26: "Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens." Because of the work of the Messiah, the promise of the Old Covenant would be fulfilled in spite of the sinful rebellion of God's people Israel: "So you will be my people, and I will be your God."
17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22 because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24 and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25 Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27 he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28 he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30 But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.
(ESV)