The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday November 20, 2022 (NIV)

Ezekiel 40:28-41:26

The Inner Gates

28 Then he brought me to the inner court through the south gate. When he measured the south gate, it had the same measurements as the others. 29 Its recesses, jambs, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both it and its portico had windows all around. It was 87½ feet long and 43¾ feet wide. 30 (There were porticoes all around, 43¾ feet long and 8¾ feet wide.[a]) 31 Its portico faced the outer court, and its jambs were decorated with palm trees. Its stairway had eight steps.

32 Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side. When he measured the gate, it had the same measurements as the others. 33 Its recesses, jambs, and portico had the same measurements as the others. Both it and its portico had windows all around. It was 87½ feet long and 43¾ feet wide. 34 Its portico faced the outer court, and its jambs were decorated with palm trees on each side. Its stairway had eight steps.

35 Then he brought me to the north gate.(A) When he measured it, it had the same measurements as the others, 36 as did its recesses, jambs, and portico. It also had windows all around. It was 87½ feet long and 43¾ feet wide. 37 Its portico[b] faced the outer court, and its jambs were decorated with palm trees on each side. Its stairway had eight steps.

Rooms for Preparing Sacrifices

38 There was a chamber whose door opened into the gate’s portico.[c] The burnt offering was to be washed there.(B) 39 Inside the gate’s portico there were two tables on each side, on which to slaughter the burnt offering, sin offering,(C) and guilt offering.(D) 40 Outside, as one approaches the entrance of the north gate, there were two tables on one side and two more tables on the other side of the gate’s portico. 41 So there were four tables inside the gate and four outside, eight tables in all on which the slaughtering was to be done. 42 There were also four tables of cut stone for the burnt offering,(E) each 31½ inches[d] long, 31½ inches wide, and 21 inches high. The utensils used to slaughter the burnt offerings and other sacrifices were placed on them. 43 There were three-inch[e] hooks[f] fastened all around the inside of the room, and the flesh of the offering was to be laid on the tables.

Rooms for Singers and Priests

44 Outside the inner gate, within the inner court, there were chambers for the singers:[g](F) one[h] beside the north gate, facing south, and another beside the south[i] gate, facing north. 45 Then the man said to me, “This chamber that faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple.(G) 46 The chamber that faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok,(H) the ones from the sons of Levi who may approach the Lord to serve him.”(I) 47 Next he measured the court. It was square, 175 feet long and 175 feet wide. The altar(J) was in front of the temple.

48 Then he brought me to the portico of the temple and measured the jambs of the portico; they were 8¾ feet thick on each side. The width of the gate was 24½ feet,[j] and the side walls of the gate were[k] 5¼ feet[l] wide on each side. 49 The portico was 35 feet[m] across and 21[n] feet[o] deep, and 10 steps led[p] up to it.(K) There were pillars by the jambs, one on each side.(L)

Inside the Temple

41 Next he brought me into the great hall and measured the jambs;(M) on each side the width of the jamb was 10½ feet.[q][r] The width of the entrance was 17½ feet,[s] and the side walls of the entrance were 8¾ feet[t] wide on each side. He also measured the length of the great hall, 70 feet,[u] and the width, 35 feet.[v](N) He went inside the next room and measured the jambs at the entrance;(O) they were 3½ feet[w] wide. The entrance was 10½ feet wide, and the width of the entrance’s side walls on each side[x] was 12¼ feet.[y] He then measured the length of the room adjacent to the great hall, 35 feet, and the width, 35 feet.(P) And he said to me, “This is the most holy place.”(Q)

Outside the Temple

Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was 10½ feet thick. The width of the side rooms all around the temple was 7 feet.[z](R) The side rooms were arranged one above another in three stories of thirty rooms each.[aa] There were ledges on the wall of the temple all around to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be in the temple wall itself.(S) The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive story, for the structure surrounding the temple went up by stages. This was the reason for the temple’s broadness as it rose. And so, one would go up from the lowest story to the highest by means of the middle one.[ab](T)

I saw that the temple had a raised platform surrounding it; this foundation for the side rooms was 10½ feet high.[ac](U) The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was 8¾ feet. The free space between the side rooms of the temple 10 and the outer chambers was 35 feet wide all around the temple.(V) 11 The side rooms opened into the free space, one entrance toward the north and another to the south. The area of free space was 8¾ feet wide all around.

12 Now the building that faced the temple yard toward the west was 122½ feet[ad] wide. The wall of the building was 8¾ feet thick on all sides, and the building’s length was 157½ feet.[ae]

13 Then the man measured the temple; it was 175 feet[af] long.(W) In addition, the temple yard and the building, including its walls, were 175 feet long. 14 The width of the front of the temple along with the temple yard to the east was 175 feet. 15 Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple yard to the west, with its galleries[ag] on each side;(X) it was 175 feet.

Interior Wooden Structures

The interior of the great hall and the porticoes of the court— 16 the thresholds, the beveled windows,(Y) and the balconies all around with their three levels opposite the threshold—were overlaid with wood on all sides.(Z) They were paneled from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered), 17 reaching to the top of the entrance, and as far as the inner temple and on the outside. On every wall all around, on the inside and outside, was a pattern 18 carved with cherubim and palm trees.(AA) There was a palm tree between each pair of cherubim.(AB) Each cherub had two faces: 19 a human face turned toward the palm tree on one side,(AC) and a lion’s face turned toward it on the other. They were carved throughout the temple on all sides. 20 Cherubim and palm trees were carved from the ground to the top of the entrance and on the wall of the great hall.

21 The doorposts of the great hall were square,(AD) and the front of the sanctuary had the same appearance. 22 The altar was[ah] made of wood, 5¼ feet[ai] high and 3½ feet long.[aj] It had corners, and its length[ak] and sides were of wood.(AE) The man told me, “This is the table that stands before the Lord.”(AF)

23 The great hall and the sanctuary each had a double door,(AG) 24 and each of the doors had two swinging panels.(AH) There were two panels for one door and two for the other. 25 Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the doors of the great hall like those carved on the walls. There was a wooden canopy[al](AI) outside, in front of the portico. 26 There were beveled windows and palm trees on both sides,(AJ) on the side walls of the portico, the side rooms of the temple, and the canopies.[am]

Footnotes:

  1. 40:30 Some Hb mss, LXX omit v. 30
  2. 40:37 LXX; MT reads jambs
  3. 40:38 Text emended; MT reads door was by the jambs, at the gates
  4. 40:42 Lit one and a half cubits
  5. 40:43 Lit one handbreadth
  6. 40:43 Or ledges
  7. 40:44 LXX reads were two chambers
  8. 40:44 LXX; MT reads singers, which was
  9. 40:44 LXX; MT reads east
  10. 40:48 Lit 14 cubits
  11. 40:48 LXX; MT omits 24½ feet, and the side walls of the gate were
  12. 40:48 Lit three cubits
  13. 40:49 Lit 20 cubits
  14. 40:49 LXX; MT reads 19¼
  15. 40:49 Lit 12 cubits
  16. 40:49 MT reads and it was on steps that they would go
  17. 41:1 LXX; MT reads jambs; they were 10½ feet wide on each side—the width of the tabernacle
  18. 41:1 Lit six cubits, also in vv. 3,5
  19. 41:2 Lit 10 cubits
  20. 41:2 Lit five cubits, also in vv. 9,11,12
  21. 41:2 Lit 40 cubits
  22. 41:2 Lit 20 cubits, also in vv. 4,10
  23. 41:3 Lit two cubits, also in v. 22
  24. 41:3 LXX; MT reads width of the entrance
  25. 41:3 Lit seven cubits
  26. 41:5 Lit four cubits
  27. 41:6 Lit another three and thirty times
  28. 41:7 Hb obscure
  29. 41:8 Lit a full rod of six cubits of a joint; Hb obscure
  30. 41:12 Lit 70 cubits
  31. 41:12 Lit 90 cubits
  32. 41:13 Lit 100 cubits
  33. 41:15 Or ledges
  34. 41:21–22 Or and in front of the sanctuary was something that looked like 22 an altar
  35. 41:22 Lit three cubits
  36. 41:22 LXX reads long and 3½ feet wide
  37. 41:22 LXX reads base
  38. 41:25 Hb obscure
  39. 41:26 Hb obscure
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

James 4

Proud or Humble

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions(A) that wage war within you?[a] You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war.[b] You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.(B)

You adulterous people![c] Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.(C) Or do you think it’s without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely?[d](D)

But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says:

God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble.[e](E)

Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.(F) Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.(G) Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.(H) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer[f] defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.(I) 12 There is one lawgiver and judge[g] who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?(J)

Our Will and God’s Will

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”(K) 14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.(L)

15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.(M) 17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.(N)

Footnotes:

  1. 4:1 Or war in your members
  2. 4:2 Or You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and wage war.
  3. 4:4 Lit Adulteresses
  4. 4:5 Or Scripture says: He jealously yearns for the spirit he made to live in us?, or Scripture says: The Spirit he made to dwell in us longs jealously?
  5. 4:6 Pr 3:34
  6. 4:11 Or his brother or sister
  7. 4:12 Other mss omit and judge
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Psalm 118:19-29

19 Open the gates of righteousness for me;
I will enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.(A)
20 This is the Lord’s gate;
the righteous will enter through it.(B)
21 I will give thanks to you
because you have answered me
and have become my salvation.(C)
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.(D)
23 This came from the Lord;
it is wondrous in our sight.(E)
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
let’s rejoice and be glad in it.(F)

25 Lord, save us!
Lord, please grant us success!(G)
26 He who comes in the name
of the Lord is blessed.(H)
From the house of the Lord we bless you.(I)
27 The Lord is God and has given us light.
Bind the festival sacrifice with cords
to the horns of the altar.(J)
28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks.
You are my God; I will exalt you.(K)
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.(L)

Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Proverbs 28:3-5

A destitute leader[a] who oppresses the poor
is like a driving rain that leaves no food.(A)

Those who reject the law praise the wicked,(B)
but those who keep the law pit themselves against them.(C)

The evil do not understand justice,(D)
but those who seek the Lord understand everything.(E)

Footnotes:

  1. 28:3 LXX reads A wicked man
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.