Formation Journal Reading Plan

1:1 Now it happened in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over one hundred twenty-seven provinces),

1:2 that in those days, when the King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,

1:3 in the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him.

1:4 He displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even one hundred eighty days.

1:5 When these days were fulfilled, the king made a seven day feast for all the people who were present in Shushan the palace, both great and small, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace.

1:6 There were hangings of white, green, and blue material, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and marble pillars. The couches were of gold and silver, on a pavement of red, white, yellow, and black marble.

1:7 They gave them drinks in golden vessels of various kinds, including royal wine in abundance, according to the bounty of the king.

1:8 In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory; for so the king had instructed all the officials of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.

1:9 Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to King Ahasuerus.

1:10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcass, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,

1:11 to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown, to show the people and the princes her beauty; for she was beautiful.

1:12 But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by the eunuchs. Therefore the king was very angry, and his anger burned in him.

1:13 Then the king said to the wise men, who knew the times, (for it was the king’s custom to consult those who knew law and judgment;

1:14 and the next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom),

1:15 “What shall we do to the queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the bidding of the King Ahasuerus by the eunuchs?”

1:16 Memucan answered before the king and the princes, “Vashti the queen has not done wrong to just the king, but also to all the princes, and to all the people who are in all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus.

1:17 For this deed of the queen will become known to all women, causing them to show contempt for their husbands, when it is reported, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she didn’t come.’

1:18 Today, the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s deed will tell all the king’s princes. This will cause much contempt and wrath.

1:19 “If it please the king, let a royal commandment go from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it cannot be altered, that Vashti may never again come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to another who is better than she.

1:20 When the king’s decree which he shall make is published throughout all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives will give their husbands honor, both great and small.”

1:21 This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucan:

1:22 for he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, that every man should rule his own house, speaking in the language of his own people.

39:1 For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David. I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”

39:2 I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.

39:3 My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned: I spoke with my tongue:

39:4 “Yahweh, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.

39:5 Behold, you have made my days handbreadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.

39:6 “Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

39:7 Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.

39:8 Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.

39:9 I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it.

39:10 Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

39:11 When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, You consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah.

39:12 “Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were.

39:13 Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away, and exist no more.”

9:1 I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit,

9:2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.

9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh,

9:4 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;

9:5 of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.

9:6 But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel.

9:7 Neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children. But, “In Isaac will your seed be called.”

9:8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed.

9:9 For this is a word of promise, “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”

9:10 Not only so, but Rebecca also conceived by one, by our father Isaac.

9:11 For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,

9:12 it was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.”

9:13 Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be!

9:15 For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

9:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.

9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

9:18 So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.

9:19 You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?”

9:20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

9:21 Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?

9:22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction,

9:23 and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory,

9:24 us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?

9:25 As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”

9:26 “It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ There they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

9:27 Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;

9:28 for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”

9:29 As Isaiah has said before, “Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah.”