The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday December 30, 2019 (NIV)

The Lord’s Love for Israel

1 A pronouncement:^(A)

The word of the Lord^(B) to Israel through^(C) Malachi.^[a]

² “I have loved you,”^(D) says the Lord.

Yet you ask, “How have you loved us?”

“Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” ^(E) This is the Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob, ³ but I hated Esau.^(F) I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”^(G)

⁴ Though Edom says: “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild^[b] the ruins,” the Lord of Armies says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country^(H) and the people the Lord has cursed^[c] forever.^{(I) 5} Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, ‘The Lord is great, even beyond^[d] the borders of Israel.’^(J)

Disobedience of the Priests

⁶ “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me?^(K) says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.”

Yet you ask: “How have we despised your name?”

⁷ “By presenting defiled food on my altar.”

“How have we defiled you?” you ask.^(L)

When you say: “The Lord’s table is contemptible.”^(M)

⁸ “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong?^(N) Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies. ⁹ “And now plead for God’s favor. Will he be gracious to us?^(O) Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favor?” ^(P) asks the Lord of Armies. ¹⁰ “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors,^(Q) so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar!^(R) I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Armies, “and I will accept^(S) no offering from your hands.^(T)

¹¹ “My name will be great among the nations,^(U) from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense^[e] and pure offerings will be presented in my name in every place because my name will be great among the nations,”^[f] says the Lord of Armies.

¹² “But you are profaning it^(V) when you say: ‘The Lord’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.’ ¹³ You also say: ‘Look, what a nuisance!’ And you scorn^[g] it,”^[h](W) says the Lord of Armies. “You bring stolen,^[i](X) lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?” asks the Lord.

¹⁴ “The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord.^(Y) For I am a great King,” says the Lord of Armies, “and my name will be feared among the nations.

Warning to the Priests

2 “Therefore, this decree^(Z) is for you priests: ² If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart^(AA) to honor my name,” says the Lord of Armies, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.^(AB) In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.

³ “Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants,^(AC) and I will spread animal waste^[j] over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices,^(AD) and you will be taken away with it. ⁴ Then you will know that I sent you this decree, so that my covenant with Levi^(AE) may continue,” says the Lord of Armies. ⁵ “My covenant with him was one of life and peace,^(AF) and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.^{(AG) 6} True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me^(AH) in peace and integrity and turned many from iniquity.^{(AI) 7} For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Armies.^(AJ)

⁸ “You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.^(AK) You have caused many to stumble^(AL) by your instruction. You have violated^[k] the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Armies. ⁹ “So I in turn have made you despised^(AM) and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping my ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”^(AN)

Judah’s Marital Unfaithfulness

¹⁰ Don’t all of us have one Father?^(AO) Didn’t one God create us?^(AP) Why then do we act treacherously against one another,^(AQ) profaning^(AR) the covenant of our fathers?^{(AS) 11} Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable^(AT) act has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned^(AU) the Lord’s sanctuary,^[l](AV) which he loves,^(AW) and has married the daughter of a foreign god.^{[m](AX) 12} May the Lord cut off^(AY) from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, whoever he may be,^[n](AZ) even if he presents an offering to the Lord of Armies.

¹³ This is another thing you do. You are covering the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning,^(BA) because he no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.^(BB)

¹⁴ And you ask, “Why?” Because even though the Lord has been a witness^(BC) between you and the wife of your youth,^(BD) you have acted treacherously against her. She was your marriage partner^(BE) and your wife by covenant.^{(BF) 15} Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking?^[o] Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully,^[p](BG) so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his^[q] youth.

¹⁶ “If he hates^(BH) and divorces his wife,”^(BI) says the Lord God of Israel, “he^[r] covers his garment with injustice,”^(BJ) says the Lord of Armies. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully,^[s] and do not act treacherously.

Judgment at the Lord’s Coming

¹⁷ You have wearied the Lord^(BK) with your words.

Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?”

When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord’s sight, and he is delighted with them,^(BL) or else where is the God of justice?” ^(BM)

The New Creation

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;^(A) for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,^(B) and the sea was no more.^{(C) 2} I also saw the holy city,^(D) the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,^(E) prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.^(F)

³ Then I heard a loud voice^(G) from the throne:^[a](H) Look, God’s dwelling^[b] is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples,^[c](I) and God himself will be with them and will be their God.^{[d] 4} He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.^(J) Death will be no more;^(K) grief, crying, and pain will be no more,^(L) because the previous things^[e] have passed away.^(M)

⁵ Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words^[f] are faithful and true.”^{(N) 6} Then he said to me, “It is done!^(O) I am the Alpha and the Omega,^(P) the beginning and the end.^(Q) I will freely give to the thirsty^(R) from the spring of the water of life.^{(S) 7} The one who conquers^(T) will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.^{(U) 8} But the cowards, faithless,^[g] detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars^(V)—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,^(W) which is the second death.”^(X)

The New Jerusalem

⁹ Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues,^(Y) came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ He then carried me away in the Spirit^[h](Z) to a great, high mountain^(AA) and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, ¹¹ arrayed with God’s glory.^(AB) Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. ¹² The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.^{(AC) 14} The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

¹⁵ The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod^(AD) to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.^{(AE) 16} The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia.^[i] Its length, width, and height are equal. ¹⁷ Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used. ¹⁸ The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel:^(AF) the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street^[j] of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

²² I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.^{(AG) 24} The nations^[k] will walk by its light,^(AH) and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.^{[l](AI) 25} Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there.^{(AJ) 26} They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.^{[m](AK) 27} Nothing unclean will ever enter it,^(AL) nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.^(AM)

Psalm 149

Praise for God’s Triumph

In Praise of a Wife of Noble Character