The Bible in a Year

Old Testament

Lamentations 3-Ezekiel 15
Read this coming week:
Nov 15 Lam 2‐3, Ps 119:57‐64, 2 Cor 11‐13 Nov 16 Lam 4‐5, Ps 119:65‐
72, Gal 1‐2 Nov 17 Ezek 1‐3, Ps 119:73‐80, Gal 3‐4 Nov 18 Ezek 4‐6, Ps
119:81‐88, Gal 5‐6 Nov 19 Ezek 7‐9, Ps 119:89‐96, Eph 1 Nov 20 Ezek 10‐
11, Ps 119:97‐104, Eph 2‐3 Nov 21 Ezek 12‐13, Ps 119:105‐112, Eph 4
Nov 22 Ezek 14‐15, Ps 119:113‐120, Eph 5‐6

Reading Questions
For next week you’re reading Lamentations 3-Ezekiel
15. Be able to answer the following:
• Lamentations is a “gloom and doom” book for the
most part. Where does the Gospel and hope
shine clearly?
• Try to associate the poetry of Lamentations to a
New Testament story – what characters would
speak these laments?
 • Ezekiel is a contemporary of Jeremiah, but in a
different place. What are the similarities and
differences that you notice?
• Ezekiel is a much more “visually stimulating”
book. Log some of the images that Ezekiel
describes.

7 Principles for Interpreting the Prophets

The prophetic books of the Bible are often a challenge
for interpreters both amateur and seasoned. These few
principles will help provide some guidelines in the
interpretation of prophetic books:
1. The clarity of the text determines the degree of
confidence we may hold in its interpretation.
Obscure texts must be approached with humility
and earnest study – not the false notion that all
Scripture is equally easy to understand.
2. The Bible itself offers the best guide to the
interpretation of prophecy. This is especially true
for those passages from the Old Testament that
are addressed in the New Testament.
3. Approach the prophecy keeping in mind the
historical events of the day and the prophecy’s
most likely time of fulfillment (i.e. is this fulfilled in
the near future, Christ’s ministry before the cross,
Christ’s return, etc.).
4. Unless specifically indicated otherwise in the New
Testament, normally assume that Old Testament
prophecies relate to Old Testament time or to a
general picture of the spirituality of God’s Church
throughout the years.
5. Strive to understand the major points of a
prophecy’s text instead of being caught up in
allegorical or symbolical minutia.
6. Prophetic books contain levels of context that
must be considered. Normally these levels of
context should be considered in the following
order: Within the section of the prophetic book 
Within the prophetic book overall  Within the
 history of Israel  Within the history of the NT’s
usage of the prophecy  Within the Church’s use
of the prophecy
7. Application of the prophecy should be approached
with caution and humility, seeking to find
correlations between the events within the
prophecy and contemporary events.

Please don’t throw this away. If you’re not going to use it, leave it for
someone else to use.