John 10:11–21; 1 John 2:18–23; Job 11; Ezekiel 31–32

red bookmark icon blue bookmark icon gold bookmark icon
John 10:11–21

11 fI am the good shepherd. The good shepherd glays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is ha hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and ileaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and jscatters them. 13 He flees because khe is a hired hand and lcares nothing for the sheep. 14 mI am the good shepherd. nI know my own and omy own know me, 15 pjust as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and qI lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And rI have other sheep that are not of this fold. sI must bring them also, and tthey will listen to my voice. So there will be uone flock, vone shepherd. 17 wFor this reason the Father loves me, xbecause yI lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 zNo one takes it from me, but yI lay it down aof my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and bI have authority to take it up again. cThis charge I have received from my Father.

19 dThere was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, eHe has a demon, and fis insane; why listen to him? 21 Others said, These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. gCan a demon open the eyes of the blind?


1 John 2:18–23

Warning Concerning Antichrists

18 Children, ait is the last hour, and as you have heard that bantichrist is coming, so now cmany antichrists have come. dTherefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 eThey went out from us, but they were not of us; for fif they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, gthat it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been hanointed by ithe Holy One, and jyou all have knowledge.1 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but khe who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is bthe antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 lNo one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.


Job 11

Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse

Then dZophar the Naamathite answered and said:

Should ea multitude of words go unanswered,

and a man full of talk be judged right?

Should your babble silence men,

and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

For fyou say, My gdoctrine is pure,

and I am clean in God’s1 eyes.

But oh, that God would speak

and open his lips to you,

and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!

For he is manifold in hunderstanding.2

Know then that God iexacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

jCan you find out the deep things of God?

Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

It is khigher than heaven3what can you do?

Deeper than Sheolwhat can you know?

Its measure is longer than the earth

and broader than the sea.

10  If he lpasses through and mimprisons

and summons the court, who can nturn him back?

11  For he knows oworthless men;

when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

12  But a stupid man will get understanding

when pa wild donkey’s colt is qborn a man!

13  If you rprepare your heart,

you will sstretch out your hands toward him.

14  If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,

and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

15  Surely then you will tlift up your face without ublemish;

you will be secure and will not fear.

16  You will vforget your misery;

you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

17  And your life will be wbrighter than the noonday;

its darkness will be like the morning.

18  And you will feel secure, because there is hope;

you will look around and xtake your rest in security.

19  You will xlie down, and none will make you afraid;

many will ycourt your favor.

20  But zthe eyes of the wicked will fail;

all way of escape will be lost to them,

and their hope is ato breathe their last.


Ezekiel 31–32

Pharaoh to Be Slain

tIn the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: uSon of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to vhis multitude:

wWhom are you like in your greatness?

Behold, xAssyria was a ycedar in zLebanon,

with beautiful branches and aforest shade,

band of towering height,

its top among the clouds.1

The waters nourished it;

the deep made it grow tall,

making cits rivers flow

around the place of its planting,

sending forth its streams

to all the trees of the field.

So dit towered high

above all the trees of the field;

its boughs grew large

and its branches long

from eabundant water in its shoots.

fAll the birds of the heavens

made their nests in its boughs;

under its branches all the beasts of the field

gave birth to their young,

and under its shadow

lived all great nations.

It was gbeautiful in its greatness,

in the length of its branches;

efor its roots went down

to abundant waters.

hThe cedars iin the garden of God could not rival it,

nor the fir trees equal its boughs;

neither were the plane trees

like its branches;

no tree iin the garden of God

was its equal in beauty.

I made it beautiful

in the mass of its branches,

and all the trees of jEden envied it,

that were in the garden of God.

10 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because kit2 towered high and set its top among the clouds,3 and lits heart was proud of its height, 11 I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. 12 mForeigners, mthe most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. nOn the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all othe ravines of the land, and pall the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13 qOn its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 rAll this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,4 and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, sto the world tbelow, among the children of man,5 with those who go down to the pit.

15 Thus says the Lord God: On the day uthe cedar6 went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 vI made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, uwhen I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. wAnd all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, xwere comforted in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol with it, yto those who are slain by the sword; yes, zthose who were its arm, awho lived under its shadow among the nations.

18 bWhom are you thus like in glory and in greatness wamong the trees of Eden? cYou shall be brought down with wthe trees of Eden to the world below. dYou shall lie among the uncircumcised, ywith those who are slain by the sword.

bThis is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.

A Lament over Pharaoh and Egypt

eIn the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: fSon of man, graise a lamentation over hPharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:

You consider yourself ia lion of the nations,

but you are like ja dragon kin the seas;

lyou burst forth in your rivers,

trouble the waters with your feet,

and foul their rivers.

Thus says the Lord God:

mI will throw my net over you

with a host of nmany peoples,

and othey will haul you up in my dragnet.

And pI will cast you on the ground;

on the open field I will fling you,

and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you,

and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.

I will strew your flesh qupon the mountains

and fill the valleys with your carcass.7

I will drench the land even to the mountains

with your flowing blood,

and the ravines will be full of you.

rWhen I blot you out, sI will cover the heavens

and make their stars dark;

I will cover the sun with a cloud,

and the moon shall not give its light.

All the bright lights of heaven

will I make dark over you,

and tput darkness on your land,

declares the Lord God.

I will trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries that you have not known. 10 uI will make many peoples appalled at you, and the hair of their kings shall bristle with horror because of you, when vI brandish my sword before them. wThey shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life, on the day of your downfall.

11 For thus says the Lord God: xThe sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. 12 I will cause yyour multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them zmost ruthless of nations.

aThey shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt,

and all its multitude8 shall perish.

13  I will destroy all its beasts

from beside many waters;

band no foot of man shall trouble them anymore,

nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.

14  Then cI will make their waters clear,

and cause their rivers to run like oil,

declares the Lord God.

15  When I make the land of Egypt desolate,

and when the land dis desolate of all that fills it,

when I strike down all who dwell in it,

then ethey will know that I am the Lord.

16 fThis is a lamentation that shall be chanted; the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt, and over gall her multitude, shall they chant it, declares the Lord God.

17 hIn the twelfth year, in the twelfth month,9 on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 iSon of man, jwail over gthe multitude of Egypt, and ksend them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, lto the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit:

19  mWhom do you surpass in beauty?

Go down and nbe laid to rest with the uncircumcised.

20 They shall fall amid those owho are slain by the sword. Egypt10 is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and pall her multitudes. 21 The mighty chiefs qshall speak of them, rwith their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: They have come down, they lie still, sthe uncircumcised, oslain by the sword.

22 tAssyria is there, and all her company, uits graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, 23 whose graves are set in vthe uttermost parts of the pit; and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, wwho spread terror xin the land of the living.

24 yElam is zthere, and all her multitude around her grave; all of them aslain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into bthe world below, who spread their terror in the land of the living; and cthey bear their shame bwith those who go down to the pit. 25 dThey have made her a bed among the slain with all her multitude, eher graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are placed among the slain.

26 fMeshech-Tubal is ethere, and all her multitude, eher graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27 And gthey do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose iniquities are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living. 28 But as for you, you shall be broken hand lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

29 iEdom is jthere, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit.

30 The princes kof the north are there, all of them, and all the lSidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, mfor all the terror that they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and nbear their shame with those who go down to the pit.

31 When Pharaoh sees them, he owill be comforted for pall his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord God. 32 qFor I spread terror rin the land of the living; and he shall be laid to rest among sthe uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.