Formation Journal Reading Plan

2:1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

2:2 And the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid.

2:3 And I said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

2:4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

2:5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.

2:6 And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

2:7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through till I come unto Judah;

2:8 and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which appertaineth to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

2:9 Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen.

2:10 And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, for that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

2:11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.

2:12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem; neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.

2:13 And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal’s well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.

2:14 Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.

2:15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned.

2:16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

2:17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

2:18 And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also of the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good work.

2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

2:20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

34:11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of Jehovah.

34:12 What man is he that desireth life, And loveth many days, that he may see good?

34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, And thy lips from speaking guile.

34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; Seek peace, and pursue it.

34:15 The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous, And his ears are open unto their cry.

34:16 The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

34:17 The righteous cried, and Jehovah heard, And delivered them out of all their troubles.

34:18 Jehovah is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, And saveth such as are of a contrite spirit.

34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But Jehovah delivereth him out of them all.

34:20 He keepeth all his bones: Not one of them is broken.

34:21 Evil shall slay the wicked; And they that hate the righteous shall be condemned.

34:22 Jehovah redeemeth the soul of his servants; And none of them that take refuge in him shall be condemned.

3:21 But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction;

3:23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

3:24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

3:25 whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God;

3:26 for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.

3:27 Where then is the glorying? It is excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of faith.

3:28 We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only? is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also:

3:30 if so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.

3:31 Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law.

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, hath found according to the flesh?

4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not toward God.

4:3 For what saith the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.

4:4 Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt.

4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.

4:6 Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works,

4:7 saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered.

4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin.

4:9 Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness.

4:10 How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision:

4:11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned unto them;

4:12 and the father of circumcision to them who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had in uncircumcision.

4:13 For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith.

4:14 For if they that are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect:

4:15 for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

4:16 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

4:17 (as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were.

4:18 Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be.

4:19 And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;

4:20 yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God,

4:21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

4:22 Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.

4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him;

4:24 but for our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

4:25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.