Joel 2:1-14

English Standard Version

The Day of the Lord

2 ^(A)Blow a trumpet in ^(B)Zion;
    sound an alarm on ^(C)my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
    for ^(D)the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
²^(E)a day of darkness and gloom,
    ^(F)a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
    ^(G)a great and powerful people;
^(H)their like has never been before,
    nor will be again after them
    through the years of all generations.

³^(I)Fire devours before them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like ^(J)the garden of Eden before them,
    but ^(K)behind them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.

⁴^(L)Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
    and like war horses they run.
⁵^(M)As with the rumbling of chariots,
    they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of ^(N)a flame of fire
    devouring the stubble,
^(O)like a powerful army
    drawn up for battle.

⁶Before them peoples are in anguish;
    ^(P)all faces grow pale.
⁷Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
    they do not swerve from their paths.
⁸They do not jostle one another;
    ^(Q)each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.
⁹^(R)They leap upon the city,
    they run upon the walls,
^(S)they climb up into the houses,
    ^(T)they enter through the windows ^(U)like a thief.

¹⁰^(V)The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens tremble.
^(W)The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
¹¹^(X)The Lord utters his voice
    before ^(Y)his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
    ^(Z)he who executes his word is powerful.
^(AA)For the day of the Lord is ^(AB)great and very awesome;
    ^(AC)who can endure it?

Return to the Lord

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    ^(AD)“return to me with all your heart,
^(AE)with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
¹³    and ^(AF)rend your hearts and not ^(AG)your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    ^(AH)for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    ^(AI)and he relents over disaster.
¹⁴^(AJ)Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
    and ^(AK)leave a blessing behind him,
^(AL)a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the Lord your God?

Read full chapter

Jeremiah 31:27-34

English Standard Version

²⁷^(A)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(B)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ^(C)the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸And it shall come to pass that ^(D)as I have watched over them ^(E)to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, ^(F)so I will watch over them ^(G)to build and to plant, declares the Lord. ²⁹In those days they shall no longer say:

^(H)“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰^(I)But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

³¹^(J)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^(K)a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^(L)I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^(M)though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³^(N)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^(O)I will put my law within them, and I will write it ^(P)on their hearts. ^(Q)And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^(R)for they shall all know me, ^(S)from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^(T)I will forgive their iniquity, and ^(U)I will remember their sin no more.”

Read full chapter

Romans 14:1-15:3

English Standard Version

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

14 As for ^(A)the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. ²^(B)One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and ^(C)let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. ⁴^(D)Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master^[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵^(E)One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. ^(F)Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since ^(G)he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷For ^(H)none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, ^(I)whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. ⁹For to this end Christ ^(J)died and lived again, that he might be Lord both ^(K)of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For ^(L)we will all stand before ^(M)the judgment seat of God; ¹¹for it is written,

^(N)“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess^[b] to God.”

¹²So then ^(O)each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Do Not Cause Another to Stumble

¹³^(P)Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide ^(Q)never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. ¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus ^(R)that nothing is unclean in itself, ^(S)but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, ^(T)you are no longer walking in love. ^(U)By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶^(V)So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷^(W)For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but ^(X)of righteousness and ^(Y)peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸Whoever thus serves Christ is ^(Z)acceptable to God and approved by men. ¹⁹So then let us ^(AA)pursue what makes for peace and for ^(AB)mutual upbuilding.

²⁰^(AC)Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. ^(AD)Everything is indeed clean, but ^(AE)it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. ²¹^(AF)It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.^[c] ²²The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. ^(AG)Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. ²³But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.^[d]

The Example of Christ

15 ^(AH)We who are strong ^(AI)have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ²^(AJ)Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. ³For ^(AK)Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ^(AL)“The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

Footnotes

Romans 14:4 Or lord
Romans 14:11 Or shall give praise
Romans 14:21 Some manuscripts add or be hindered or be weakened
Romans 14:23 Some manuscripts insert here 16:25–27

Luke 6:39-49

English Standard Version

³⁹He also told them a parable: ^(A)“Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰^(B)A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is ^(C)fully trained will be like his teacher. ⁴¹^(D)Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but ^(E)do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴²How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³“For ^(F)no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, ⁴⁴for ^(G)each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵^(H)The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces ^(I)evil, ^(J)for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Build Your House on the Rock

⁴⁶^(K)“Why ^(L)do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? ⁴⁷^(M)Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: ⁴⁸he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.^[a] ⁴⁹^(N)But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and ^(O)the ruin of that house was great.”