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Today's Readings
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Friday, 17th March 2017 --- 8 Baramhat 1733
Matins
Deuteronomy 10 : 12 - 11 : 28 Isaiah 29 : 12 - 23 Job 21 : 1 - 34 Daniel 1 : 1 - 42
Deuteronomy 10 : 12 - 11 : 28
Chapter 10
| 12 | "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
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| 13 | and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?
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| 14 | Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it.
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| 15 | The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.
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| 16 | Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.
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| 17 | For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.
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| 18 | He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.
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| 19 | Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
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| 20 | You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.
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| 21 | He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.
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| 22 | Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.
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Chapter 11
| 1 | "Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.
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| 2 | Know today that I do not speak with your children, who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of the LORD your God, His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm--
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| 3 | His signs and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to all his land;
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| 4 | what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots: how He made the waters of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day;
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| 5 | what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place;
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| 6 | and what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel--
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| 7 | but your eyes have seen every great act of the LORD which He did.
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| 8 | "Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess,
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| 9 | and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, "a land flowing with milk and honey.'
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| 10 | For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden;
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| 11 | but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven,
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| 12 | a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.
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| 13 | "And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,
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| 14 | then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.
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| 15 | And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.'
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| 16 | Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them,
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| 17 | lest the LORD's anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you.
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| 18 | "Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
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| 19 | You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
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| 20 | And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
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| 21 | that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.
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| 22 | "For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do--to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him--
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| 23 | then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves.
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| 24 | Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory.
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| 25 | No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.
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| 26 | "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
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| 27 | the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today;
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| 28 | and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.
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Isaiah 29 : 12 - 23
Chapter 29
| 12 | Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, "Read this, please." And he says, "I am not literate."
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| 13 | Therefore the Lord said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
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| 14 | Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden."
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| 15 | Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, And their works are in the dark; They say, "Who sees us?" and, "Who knows us?"
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| 16 | Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, "He did not make me"? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?
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| 17 | Is it not yet a very little while Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
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| 18 | In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
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| 19 | The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel.
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| 20 | For the terrible one is brought to nothing, The scornful one is consumed, And all who watch for iniquity are cut off--
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| 21 | Who make a man an offender by a word, And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, And turn aside the just by empty words.
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| 22 | Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall not now be ashamed, Nor shall his face now grow pale;
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| 23 | But when he sees his children, The work of My hands, in his midst, They will hallow My name, And hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And fear the God of Israel.
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Job 21 : 1 - 34
Chapter 21
| 1 | Then Job answered and said:
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| 2 | "Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your consolation.
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| 3 | Bear with me that I may speak, And after I have spoken, keep mocking.
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| 4 | "As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
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| 5 | Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth.
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| 6 | Even when I remember I am terrified, And trembling takes hold of my flesh.
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| 7 | Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?
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| 8 | Their descendants are established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes.
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| 9 | Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them.
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| 10 | Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage.
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| 11 | They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance.
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| 12 | They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute.
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| 13 | They spend their days in wealth, And in a moment go down to the grave.
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| 14 | Yet they say to God, "Depart from us, For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
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| 15 | Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?'
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| 16 | Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
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| 17 | "How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, The sorrows God distributes in His anger?
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| 18 | They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away.
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| 19 | They say, "God lays up one's iniquity for his children'; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
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| 20 | Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
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| 21 | For what does he care about his household after him, When the number of his months is cut in half?
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| 22 | "Can anyone teach God knowledge, Since He judges those on high?
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| 23 | One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and secure;
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| 24 | His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moist.
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| 25 | Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, Never having eaten with pleasure.
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| 26 | They lie down alike in the dust, And worms cover them.
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| 27 | "Look, I know your thoughts, And the schemes with which you would wrong me.
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| 28 | For you say, "Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, The dwelling place of the wicked?'
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| 29 | Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs?
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| 30 | For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.
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| 31 | Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done?
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| 32 | Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the tomb.
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| 33 | The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; Everyone shall follow him, As countless have gone before him.
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| 34 | How then can you comfort me with empty words, Since falsehood remains in your answers?"
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Daniel 1 : 1 - 42
Chapter 1
| 1 | In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
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| 2 | And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god.
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| 3 | Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles,
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| 4 | young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.
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| 5 | And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king.
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| 6 | Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
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| 7 | To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego.
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| 8 | But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
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| 9 | Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.
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| 10 | And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, "I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king."
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| 11 | So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
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| 12 | "Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.
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| 13 | Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants."
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| 14 | So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days.
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| 15 | And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies.
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| 16 | Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
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| 17 | As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
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| 18 | Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
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| 19 | Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king.
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| 20 | And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.
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| 21 | Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus.
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Acknowledgement
Opening page