November 20  

Daily Bible in a Year

Daily Old and New Testaments, Psalms, and Proverbs

  •   Ezekiel 40:28-41:26
    Ezekiel 40:28-41:26

    The Inner Court
    28 Then he brought me to the inner court through the south gate, and he measured the south gate. It was of the same size as the others. 29 Its side rooms, its jambs, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and both it and its vestibule had windows all around. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. 30 And there were vestibules all around, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits broad. 31 Its vestibule faced the outer court, and palm trees were on its jambs, and its stairway had eight steps.
    32 Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gate. It was of the same size as the others. 33 Its side rooms, its jambs, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and both it and its vestibule had windows all around. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits.34 Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its jambs, on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.
    35 Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it. It had the same size as the others. 36 Its side rooms, its jambs, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others,[a] and it had windows all around. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. 37 Its vestibule[b] faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its jambs, on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.
    38 There was a chamber with its door in the vestibule of the gate,[c] where the burnt offering was to be washed. 39 And in the vestibule of the gate were two tables on either side, on which the burnt offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering were to be slaughtered. 40 And off to the side, on the outside as one goes up to the entrance of the north gate, were two tables; and off to the other side of the vestibule of the gate were two tables. 41 Four tables were on either side of the gate, eight tables, on which to slaughter. 42 And there were four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high, on which the instruments were to be laid with which the burnt offerings and the sacrifices were slaughtered. 43 And hooks,[d] a handbreadth long, were fastened all around within. And on the tables the flesh of the offering was to be laid.

    Chambers for the Priests
    44 On the outside of the inner gateway there were two chambers[e] in the inner court, one[f] at the side of the north gate facing south, the other at the side of the south[g] gate facing north. 45 And he said to me, “This chamber that faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple, 46 and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who alone[h] among the sons of Levi may come near to the Lord to minister to him.”47 And he measured the court, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits broad, a square. And the altar was in front of the temple.

    The Vestibule of the Temple
    48 Then he brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured the jambs of the vestibule, five cubits on either side. And the breadth of the gate was fourteen cubits, and the sidewalls of the gate[i] were three cubits on either side. 49 The length of the vestibule was twenty cubits, and the breadth twelve[j] cubits, and people would go up to it by ten steps.[k] And there were pillars beside the jambs, one on either side.

    The Inner Temple
    41 Then he brought me to the nave and measured the jambs. On each side six cubits[l] was the breadth of the jambs.[m] And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sidewalls of the entrance were five cubits on either side. And he measured the length of the nave,[n] forty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits.Then he went into the inner room and measured the jambs of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the sidewalls on either side[o] of the entrance, seven cubits. And he measured the length of the room, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits, across the nave. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”
    Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick, and the breadth of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the temple. And the side chambers were in three stories, one over another, thirty in each story. There were offsets[p] all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side chambers, so that they should not be supported by the wall of the temple. And it became broader as it wound upward to the side chambers, because the temple was enclosed upward all around the temple. Thus the temple had a broad area upward, and so one went up from the lowest story to the top story through the middle story. I saw also that the temple had a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers measured a full reed of six long cubits. The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. The free space between the side chambers of the temple and the 10 other chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side. 11 And the doors of the side chambers opened on the free space, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. And the breadth of the free space was five cubits all around.
    12 The building that was facing the separate yard on the west side was seventy cubits broad, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.
    13 Then he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; and the yard and the building with its walls, a hundred cubits long; 14 also the breadth of the east front of the temple and the yard, a hundred cubits.
    15 Then he measured the length of the building facing the yard that was at the back and its galleries[q] on either side, a hundred cubits.
    The inside of the nave and the vestibules of the court, 16 the thresholds and the narrow windows and the galleries all around the three of them, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, from the floor up to the windows (now the windows were covered), 17 to the space above the door, even to the inner room, and on the outside. And on all the walls all around, inside and outside, was a measured pattern.[r] 18 It was carved of cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Every cherub had two faces: 19 a human face toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved on the whole temple all around. 20 From the floor to above the door, cherubim and palm trees were carved; similarly the wall of the nave.
    21 The doorposts of the nave were squared, and in front of the Holy Place was something resembling 22 an altar of wood, three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits broad.[s] Its corners, its base,[t] and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.” 23 The nave and the Holy Place had each a double door. 24 The double doors had two leaves apiece, two swinging leaves for each door. 25 And on the doors of the nave were carved cherubim and palm trees, such as were carved on the walls. And there was a canopy[u] of wood in front of the vestibule outside. 26 And there were narrow windows and palm trees on either side, on the sidewalls of the vestibule, the side chambers of the temple, and the canopies.

    Footnotes:
    1. Ezekiel 40:36 One manuscript (compare verses 29 and 33); most manuscripts lack were of the same size as the others
    2. Ezekiel 40:37 Septuagint, Vulgate (compare verses 263134); Hebrew jambs
    3. Ezekiel 40:38 Hebrew at the jambs, the gates
    4. Ezekiel 40:43 Or shelves
    5. Ezekiel 40:44 Septuagint; Hebrew were chambers for singers
    6. Ezekiel 40:44 Hebrew lacks one
    7. Ezekiel 40:44 Septuagint; Hebrew east
    8. Ezekiel 40:46 Hebrew lacks alone
    9. Ezekiel 40:48 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks was fourteen cubits, and the sidewalls of the gate
    10. Ezekiel 40:49 Septuagint; Hebrew eleven
    11. Ezekiel 40:49 Septuagint; Hebrew and by steps that would go up to it
    12. Ezekiel 41:1 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
    13. Ezekiel 41:1 Compare Septuagint; Hebrew tent
    14. Ezekiel 41:2 Hebrew its length
    15. Ezekiel 41:3 Septuagint; Hebrew and the breadth
    16. Ezekiel 41:6 Septuagint, compare 1 Kings 6:6; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
    17. Ezekiel 41:15 The meaning of the Hebrew term is unknown; also verse 16
    18. Ezekiel 41:17 Hebrew were measurements
    19. Ezekiel 41:22 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks two cubits broad
    20. Ezekiel 41:22 Septuagint; Hebrew length
    21. Ezekiel 41:25 The meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown; also verse 26
  •   James 4
    James 4

    Warning Against Worldliness
    What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[a] are at war within you?[b] You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people![c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
    11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[d] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

    Boasting About Tomorrow
    13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

    Footnotes:
    1. James 4:1 Greek pleasures; also verse 3
    2. James 4:1 Greek in your members
    3. James 4:4 Or You adulteresses!
    4. James 4:11 Or brothers and sisters
  •   Psalm 118:19-29
    Psalm 118:19-29

    19 
    Open to me the gates of righteousness,
        that I may enter through them
        and give thanks to the Lord.

    20 
    This is the gate of the Lord;
        the righteous shall enter through it.

    21 
    I thank you that you have answered me
        and have become my salvation.

    22 
    The stone that the builders rejected
        has become the cornerstone.[a]

    23 
    This is the Lord's doing;
        it is marvelous in our eyes.

    24 
    This is the day that the Lord has made;
        let us rejoice and be glad in it.

    25 
    Save us, we pray, O Lord!
        O Lord, we pray, give us success!

    26 
    Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
        We bless you from the house of the Lord.

    27 
    The Lord is God,
        and he has made his light to shine upon us.
    Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
        up to the horns of the altar!

    28 
    You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
        you are my God; I will extol you.

    29 
    Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
        for his steadfast love endures forever!

    Footnotes:
    1. Psalm 118:22 Hebrew the head of the corner
  •   Proverbs 28:3-5

    Proverbs 28:3-5


    A poor man who oppresses the poor

        is a beating rain that leaves no food.


    Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,

        but those who keep the law strive against them.


    Evil men do not understand justice,

        but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.


    English Standard Version (ESV)
    The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.


Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.