Joel 3:9-17
Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare war, stir up the warriors. Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, "I am a warrior." Come quickly, all you nations all around, gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD. Let the nations rouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the neighboring nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shake. But the LORD is a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. So you shall know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it.
James 2:1-13
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
Luke 16:10-18
"Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God. "The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped. "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
Morning Psalms
Psalm 87 Fundamenta ejus
1 On the holy mountain stands the city he has founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
2 Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of our God.
3 I count Egypt and Babylon among those who know me; behold Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia: in Zion were they born.
4 Of Zion it shall be said, "Everyone was born in her, and the Most High himself shall sustain her."
5 The LORD will record as he enrolls the peoples, "These also were born there."
6 The singers and the dancers will say, "All my fresh springs are in you."
Psalm 90 Domine, refugium
1 Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to another.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or the land and the earth were born, from age to age you are God.
3 You turn us back to the dust and say, "Go back, O child of earth."
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past and like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep us away like a dream; we fade away suddenly like the grass.
6 In the morning it is green and flourishes; in the evening it is dried up and withered.
7 For we consume away in your displeasure; we are afraid because of your wrathful indignation.
8 Our iniquities you have set before you, and our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9 When you are angry, all our days are gone; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The span of our life is seventy years, perhaps in strength even eighty; yet the sum of them is but labor and sorrow, for they pass away quickly and we are gone.
11 Who regards the power of your wrath? who rightly fears your indignation?
12 So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
13 Return, O LORD; how long will you tarry? be gracious to your servants.
14 Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
15 Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us and the years in which we suffered adversity.
16 Show your servants your works and your splendor to their children.
17 May the graciousness of the LORD our God be upon us; prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.
Evening Psalms
Psalm 136 Confitemini
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his mercy endures for ever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his mercy endures for ever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his mercy endures for ever.
4 Who only does great wonders, for his mercy endures for ever;
5 Who by wisdom made the heavens, for his mercy endures for ever;
6 Who spread out the earth upon the waters, for his mercy endures for ever;
7 Who created great lights, for his mercy endures for ever;
8 The sun to rule the day, for his mercy endures for ever;
9 The moon and the stars to govern the night, for his mercy endures for ever.
10 Who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his mercy endures for ever;
11 And brought out Israel from among them, for his mercy endures for ever;
12 With a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, for his mercy endures for ever;
13 Who divided the Red Sea in two, for his mercy endures for ever;
14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it, for his mercy endures for ever;
15 But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea, for his mercy endures for ever;
16 Who led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy endures for ever.
17 Who struck down great kings, for his mercy endures for ever;
18 And slew mighty kings, for his mercy endures for ever;
19 Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his mercy endures for ever;
20 And Og, the king of Bashan, for his mercy endures for ever;
21 And gave away their lands for an inheritance, for his mercy endures for ever;
22 An inheritance for Israel his servant, for his mercy endures for ever.
23 Who remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy endures for ever;
24 And delivered us from our enemies, for his mercy endures for ever;
25 Who gives food to all creatures, for his mercy endures for ever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his mercy endures for ever.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted.
No comments:
Post a Comment