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Today's Readings
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Sunday, 2nd June 2024 --- 25 Bashans 1740
Deuteronomy 8 : 19 - 9 : 24
Chapter 8
| 19 | Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.
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| 20 | As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God.
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Chapter 9
| 1 | "Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven,
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| 2 | a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, "Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?'
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| 3 | Therefore understand today that the LORD your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said to you.
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| 4 | "Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out before you, saying, "Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land'; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out from before you.
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| 5 | It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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| 6 | Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
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| 7 | "Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
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| 8 | Also in Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry enough with you to have destroyed you.
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| 9 | When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.
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| 10 | Then the LORD delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
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| 11 | And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
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| 12 | "Then the LORD said to me, "Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molded image.'
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| 13 | "Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, "I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people.
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| 14 | Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'
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| 15 | "So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
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| 16 | And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God--had made for yourselves a molded calf! You had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you.
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| 17 | Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.
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| 18 | And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.
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| 19 | For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was angry with you, to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me at that time also.
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| 20 | And the LORD was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him; so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
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| 21 | Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.
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| 22 | "Also at Taberah and Massah and Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.
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| 23 | Likewise, when the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, "Go up and possess the land which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and you did not believe Him nor obey His voice.
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| 24 | You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
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Isaiah 1 : 2 - 9
Chapter 1
| 2 | Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me;
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| 3 | The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master's crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider."
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| 4 | Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.
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| 5 | Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.
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| 6 | From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment.
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| 7 | Your country is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire; Strangers devour your land in your presence; And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
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| 8 | So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, As a hut in a garden of cucumbers, As a besieged city.
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| 9 | Unless the LORD of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.
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Isaiah 2 : 10 - 21
Chapter 2
| 10 | Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty.
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| 11 | The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
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| 12 | For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up--And it shall be brought low--
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| 13 | Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, And upon all the oaks of Bashan;
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| 14 | Upon all the high mountains, And upon all the hills that are lifted up;
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| 15 | Upon every high tower, And upon every fortified wall;
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| 16 | Upon all the ships of Tarshish, And upon all the beautiful sloops.
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| 17 | The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
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| 18 | But the idols He shall utterly abolish.
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| 19 | They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
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| 20 | In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats,
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| 21 | To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
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Jeremiah 22 : 29 - 23 : 6
Chapter 22
| 29 | O earth, earth, earth, Hear the word of the LORD!
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| 30 | Thus says the LORD: "Write this man down as childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days; For none of his descendants shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling anymore in Judah."'
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Chapter 23
| 1 | "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD.
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| 2 | Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: "You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings," says the LORD.
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| 3 | "But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
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| 4 | I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking," says the LORD.
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| 5 | "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
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| 6 | In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
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Isaiah 24 : 1 - 13
Chapter 24
| 1 | Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface And scatters abroad its inhabitants.
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| 2 | And it shall be: As with the people, so with the priest; As with the servant, so with his master; As with the maid, so with her mistress; As with the buyer, so with the seller; As with the lender, so with the borrower; As with the creditor, so with the debtor.
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| 3 | The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, For the LORD has spoken this word.
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| 4 | The earth mourns and fades away, The world languishes and fades away; The haughty people of the earth languish.
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| 5 | The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant.
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| 6 | Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, And few men are left.
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| 7 | The new wine fails, the vine languishes, All the merry-hearted sigh.
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| 8 | The mirth of the tambourine ceases, The noise of the jubilant ends, The joy of the harp ceases.
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| 9 | They shall not drink wine with a song; Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
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| 10 | The city of confusion is broken down; Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
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| 11 | There is a cry for wine in the streets, All joy is darkened, The mirth of the land is gone.
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| 12 | In the city desolation is left, And the gate is stricken with destruction.
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| 13 | When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.
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Wisdom 2 : 12 - 22
Chapter 2
| 12 | Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life.
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| 13 | He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God.
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| 14 | He is become a censurer of our thoughts.
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| 15 | He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, and his ways are very different.
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| 16 | We are esteemed by him as triflers, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and he preferreth the latter end of the just, and glorieth that he hath God for his father.
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| 17 | Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him, and we shall know what his end shall be.
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| 18 | For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies.
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| 19 | Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness and try his patience.
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| 20 | Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.
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| 21 | These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them.
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| 22 | And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls.
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Job 12 : 18 - 13 : 1
Chapter 12
| 18 | He loosens the bonds of kings, And binds their waist with a belt.
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| 19 | He leads princes away plundered, And overthrows the mighty.
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| 20 | He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders.
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| 21 | He pours contempt on princes, And disarms the mighty.
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| 22 | He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings the shadow of death to light.
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| 23 | He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them.
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| 24 | He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, And makes them wander in a pathless wilderness.
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| 25 | They grope in the dark without light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
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Chapter 13
| 1 | "Behold, my eye has seen all this, My ear has heard and understood it.
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Zechariah 11 : 11 - 14
Chapter 11
| 11 | So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD.
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| 12 | Then I said to them, "If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
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| 13 | And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"--that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter.
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| 14 | Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
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Micah 1 : 16 - 2 : 3
Chapter 1
| 16 | Make yourself bald and cut off your hair, Because of your precious children; Enlarge your baldness like an eagle, For they shall go from you into captivity.
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Chapter 2
| 1 | Woe to those who devise iniquity, And work out evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it, Because it is in the power of their hand.
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| 2 | They covet fields and take them by violence, Also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.
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| 3 | Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, From which you cannot remove your necks; Nor shall you walk haughtily, For this is an evil time.
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Micah 7 : 1 - 8
Chapter 7
| 1 | Woe is me! For I am like those who gather summer fruits, Like those who glean vintage grapes; There is no cluster to eat Of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires.
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| 2 | The faithful man has perished from the earth, And there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; Every man hunts his brother with a net.
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| 3 | That they may successfully do evil with both hands--The prince asks for gifts, The judge seeks a bribe, And the great man utters his evil desire; So they scheme together.
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| 4 | The best of them is like a brier; The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge; The day of your watchman and your punishment comes; Now shall be their perplexity.
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| 5 | Do not trust in a friend; Do not put your confidence in a companion; Guard the doors of your mouth From her who lies in your bosom.
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| 6 | For son dishonors father, Daughter rises against her mother, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man's enemies are the men of his own household.
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| 7 | Therefore I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.
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| 8 | Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The LORD will be a light to me.
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Acknowledgement
Opening page