The Bible Reading Plan

Readings for December 18:

First, Deuteronomy Chapter 28 verses 30 to 44. Follow that by reading from Zephaniah Chapter 1 verse 1 to Chapter 2 verse 7. Follow that by reading Daniel Chapter 5 verses 1 to 16; and lastly from Revelation Chapter 9 verse 17 to Chapter 10 verse 11

You can read the passages below. If you're looking to read for a different day or want to use your own Bible, then here's the entire year's plan as a list. Enjoy!

Section 1

Deuteronomy 28:30-44

15 verses

Deuteronomy Chapter 28

30You'll be betrothed to a wife, but another man will lie with her. You'll build a house, but won't live in it. You'll plant a vineyard, but won't use its fruit. 31Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, and you won't eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from in front of your face, and won't be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you'll have no one to save you. 32Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look and fail with longing for them all day [long]. There'll be no power in your hand. 33A nation which you don't know will eat the fruit of your ground and all your work. You will only ever be oppressed and crushed, 34so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad. 35Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with dreadful boils, which cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. 36Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone. 37You'll become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away. 38You'll carry a lot of seed out into the field, but gather [only a] little in, for the locust will consume it. 39You'll plant vineyards and dress them, but you won't drink of the wine, or gather [grapes], because worms will eat them. 40You'll have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won't anoint yourself with the oil, for your olive trees will drop [their fruit]. 41You'll father sons and daughters, but they won't be [there], for they will go into captivity. 42Locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land. 43The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, but you'll come down lower and lower. 44He'll lend to you, and you won't lend to him. He'll be the head, and you'll be the tail.

Section 2

Zephaniah 1:1-2:7

25 verses

Zephaniah Chapter 1

1The word of Yahweh which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2I will utterly sweep away everything off of the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. 3I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. 4I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place: the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests, 5those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam, 6those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven't sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.

7Be silent at the presence of LordOfMine Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh is at hand. For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests. 8In the day of Yahweh's sacrifice, I will punish the princes, the king's sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing. 9In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master's house with violence and deceit.

10In that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. 11Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off. 12At that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, "Yahweh will not do good, nor will he do evil." 13Their wealth will become a plunder, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won't inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won't drink their wine.

14The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly. 15That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, 16a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. 17I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. 18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh's wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.

Zephaniah Chapter 2

1Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame, 2before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes on you, before the day of Yahweh's anger comes on you. 3Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh's anger. 4For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up. 5Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Yahweh is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, that there will be no inhabitant. 6The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks. 7The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for Yahweh, their God, will visit them, and restore them.

Section 3

Daniel 5:1-16

16 verses

Daniel Chapter 5

1Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 2Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them. 3Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of God's house which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them. 4They drank wine, and praised the god of gold, and of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

5In that very hour the fingers of a man's hand came forth and wrote by the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6Then the king's face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.

7The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever shall read this writing, and show me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

8Then came in all the king's wise men; but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation. 9Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his face was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed.

10[Now] the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: the queen spoke and said, O king, live forever; don't let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your face be changed. 11There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the Spirit of the holy God; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of God, were found in him; and the king Nebuchadnezzar your father, the king, [I say], your father, made him master of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; 12because an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of dark sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in that Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.

13Then was Daniel brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Are you that Daniel, who are of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah? 14I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. 15Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known to me its interpretation; but they could not show the interpretation of the thing. 16But I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations, and dissolve doubts; now if you can read the writing, and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Section 4

Revelation 9:17-10:11

16 verses

Revelation Chapter 9

17Thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them, having breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the horses' heads resembled lions' heads. Out of their mouths proceed fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their mouths. 19For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with them they harm.

20The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn't repent of the work of their hands, that they wouldn't worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. 21They didn't repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts.

Revelation Chapter 10

1I saw a mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2He had in his hand a little open book. He set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land. 3He cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. 4When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, "Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and don't write them."

5The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky, 6and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay, 7but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets.

8The voice which I heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, "Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land."

9I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. He said to me, "Take it, and eat it up. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."

10I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 11They told me, "You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

The Bible text is an adaptation of the WEB to include nuanced meanings of particular ancient words for placenames, God and others of special interest.
In general square brackets:[] are used to indicate words not found in the original text.
They also indicate the 5 books of the Psalms, and the letters in Psalm 119;
and a few passages considered by some to be of questionable authenticity, marked with an asterisk(*).