The Resolved to Read Podcast

In today's reading from Matthew 24:1–25:46, Mark 13:1–37, and Luke 21:5–36, Jesus tells His disciples about the end. His words point to two endings at once, the way many Old Testament prophecies did. The first is the fall of Jerusalem, about forty years away: "This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." The second is much further off, when the...

In today's reading from Matthew 21:20–23:39, Mark 11:20–12:44, and Luke 20:1–21:4, the religious leaders take turns trying to trap Jesus with questions about His authority, taxes to Caesar, the resurrection, and the greatest commandment. He sees right through them. They don't want to learn from Him; they want a reason to get rid of Him. Jesus warns the crowd not to follow their example, be...

In today's reading from John 12:12–36, Matthew 21:1–19, Mark 11:1–18, and Luke 19:29–48, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey while the crowds wave palm branches and shout, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" But as He comes near the city, He weeps over it and predicts its destruction. That happens in A.D. 70, about forty years later, and Jesus makes clear i...

In today's reading from Matthew 19:3–30; 20:17–34; 26:6–13, Mark 10:2–52; 14:3–9, Luke 18:15–43; 19:1–28, and John 11:55–12:11, Jesus makes His final journey toward Jerusalem, and every encounter along the way turns the world's values upside down. He welcomes little children and says the kingdom belongs to people like them. A rich young ruler walks away sad because he can't let go of h...

In today's reading from John 11:1–54, Jesus hears that His friend Lazarus is sick, yet He waits two more days before going to Bethany. His delay has a purpose: to reveal the glory of God. Mary and Martha can't understand why He didn't come sooner, and Jesus Himself weeps at His friend's tomb. But His timing is exactly as He planned, and many people are there to see Him call Lazarus...

In today's reading from Luke 13:22–18:14 and Matthew 20:1–16, Jesus tells parable after parable showing that God cares about everyone, not just the very religious. He goes after the one lost sheep, searches the house for one lost coin, and runs to welcome home the prodigal son. He tells of a poor man named Lazarus who is comforted in the end, and a tax collector who goes home justified because...

In today's reading from Matthew 19:1–2; 11:20–27, Luke 9:51–56; 17:11–19; 10:1–42; 11:1–13, and John 10:22–42, Jesus knows the religious leaders in Jerusalem want Him dead, yet He "resolutely set out for Jerusalem." Along the way, an expert in the law asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus turns the conversation on its head with the parable of the Good Samaritan, exposin...

In today's reading from John 8:12–10:21, Jesus uses symbolic images again to move His listeners past what they can see and toward what's happening in the heart. "I am the light of the world," He says. "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness." Then He makes a claim that sends the crowd into a rage: "Before Abraham was born, I am!" They pick up stones be...

In today's reading from John 7:2–8:11, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles while the crowds argue about who He is and the religious leaders look for a way to arrest Him. On the last and greatest day of the feast, He stands and calls out: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink." Then the teachers of the law bring Him a woman caught in adultery, hoping to t...

In today's reading from Matthew 16:13–18:35, Mark 8:27–9:50, and Luke 9:43–50; 17:1–10, Peter makes his great confession: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus says He will build His church on this rock, the truth of who He is. That means the church belongs to Jesus, and He is its head. Jesus then tells His disciples what it takes to follow Him. He expects them to b...

Today we finish the Old Testament and look back at the ground we've covered. Congratulations — you've read from creation to Malachi. We trace the covenants that carry the story forward: God's promise to Abraham of blessing for every nation, the covenant at Sinai that shaped a people set apart for Him, and the promise to David of a throne that would never end. We look at the themes that...

In today's reading from the book of Malachi, we see the slow erosion of faithfulness among the people who returned from exile — and especially among the priests, who offer blemished sacrifices and grow weary of serving the Lord. God confronts their robbery in tithes, their broken marriages, and their complaint that serving Him is futile. Yet Malachi promises a purifying is coming: "See, I...

In today's reading from Esther 5:1–10:3, God's providence is unmistakable. On the very night Haman has a gallows built for Mordecai, the king cannot sleep, calls for the chronicles, and happens to hear the account of Mordecai saving his life. Nothing in this story is accidental. The contrast between two wives is striking as well: Esther risks everything to speak against her husband's e...

In today's reading from Esther 1:1–4:17, God's name never appears — yet His hand is unmistakable throughout. Jewish tradition holds that Mordecai refused to bow to Haman because the idols Haman wore would have made it idolatry, and Esther's call to fast is a clear expression of their faith. Apart from God, we see how quickly humans grasp for power and then rage when it is threatened —...

In today's reading from Zechariah 9:1–14:21, the prophet speaks of a future so distant it must have bewildered his hearers. A humble king comes "righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey." A shepherd is valued at thirty pieces of silver. The people look on "the one they have pierced" and mourn as for an only son. A day is coming when Jerusalem will again be str...

In today's reading from Psalms 126, 128, 129, 132, 147, and 149, Israel has watched a miracle unfold before their eyes — the LORD has brought them home. "We were like those who dreamed... The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." They can see clearly now that God loves them and delights in those who humbly call on His name and walk in His ways. Having tasted firsthand the...

In today's reading from Psalms 126, 128, 129, 132, 147, and 149, Israel has watched a miracle unfold before their eyes — the LORD has brought them home. "We were like those who dreamed... The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." They can see clearly now that God loves them and delights in those who humbly call on His name and walk in His ways. Having tasted firsthand the...

In today's reading from Psalms 116, 118, and 125, we hear the sound of a revived people — an awakening after everything they had endured. By allowing them to suffer at the hands of their enemies, God showed them again His power and might in rescuing them, so they could see clearly that salvation comes from Him alone: "I love the LORD, for he heard my voice... Out of my distress I called o...

In today's reading from Psalm 78, the psalmist urges us to tell the next generation "the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done" — because a people who forget what God has done soon forget how completely they depend on Him. The psalm retells Israel's story: water from the rock, bread from heaven, and hearts that still wandered. Those provisions poi...

In today's reading from Zechariah 7:1–14; 8:1–23 and Ezra 6:14–22, God reminds His people why they were scattered in the first place: they refused His way — to "administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless" — and made their hearts as hard as flint. Yet the exile was brief, and now He promises to return to Zion and dwell...

In today's reading from Zechariah 1:7–6:15, God gives a series of night visions full of horses, measuring lines, a lampstand, a flying scroll, and chariots — each one assuring a discouraged people that the Lord is jealous for Jerusalem and will dwell among them again. At the center stands the high priest Joshua, stripped of filthy garments and clothed in clean ones, whom God calls a symbol of...

In today's reading from Haggai 1:1–15; 2:1–23 and Zechariah 1:1–6, God confronts a people busy building their own houses while His house lies in ruins, and He stirs their hearts to take up the work again. To the discouraged He promises that the glory of this later house will surpass the former, and He singles out Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest — two figures who together for...

Reading | Ezra 4–5 | Resolved to Read In today's reading from Ezra 4:6–24 and 5:1–13, opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem moves from harassment to official appeal. Letters are sent to the Persian throne, accusations are filed, and the work on the house of God comes to a halt. It's worth noting that the Artaxerxes named here is not to be confused with the Artaxerxes who appears some s...

In today's reading from Daniel 10:1–12:13, Daniel receives a final series of visions that reach far beyond his own day — detailing the rise and fall of kings, a time of unequaled distress, and the promise that those who sleep in the dust will awake, some to everlasting life. Many of these same prophecies are echoed by Jesus in the Gospels and unfolded further in the book of Revelation, remindi...

In today's reading from Ezra 1:1–4:5, the year is about 539 B.C., and everything God promised through Jeremiah begins to unfold. The Lord stirs the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to send His people home and rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. What a reminder that God's timing is perfect and His reach is absolute — He can bend the will of the rulers of empires to accomplish exactly...