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Today's Readings
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Monday, 1st April 2024 --- 23 Baramhat 1740
Matins
Genesis 27 : 1 - 41 Isaiah 14 : 24 - 32 Job 16 : 1 - 17 : 16
Genesis 27 : 1 - 41
Chapter 27
| 1 | Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." And he answered him, "Here I am."
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| 2 | Then he said, "Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death.
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| 3 | Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me.
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| 4 | And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die."
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| 5 | Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.
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| 6 | So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
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| 7 | "Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.'
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| 8 | Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you.
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| 9 | Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves.
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| 10 | Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death."
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| 11 | And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man.
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| 12 | Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing."
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| 13 | But his mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me."
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| 14 | And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved.
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| 15 | Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
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| 16 | And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
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| 17 | Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
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| 18 | So he went to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"
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| 19 | Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me."
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| 20 | But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God brought it to me."
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| 21 | Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not."
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| 22 | So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
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| 23 | And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.
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| 24 | Then he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I am."
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| 25 | He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's game, so that my soul may bless you." So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
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| 26 | Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near now and kiss me, my son."
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| 27 | And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: "Surely, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field Which the LORD has blessed.
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| 28 | Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine.
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| 29 | Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!"
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| 30 | Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
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| 31 | He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that your soul may bless me."
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| 32 | And his father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" So he said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
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| 33 | Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, "Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him--and indeed he shall be blessed."
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| 34 | When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me--me also, O my father!"
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| 35 | But he said, "Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing."
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| 36 | And Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!" And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"
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| 37 | Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?"
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| 38 | And Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me--me also, O my father!" And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
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| 39 | Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: "Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, And of the dew of heaven from above.
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| 40 | By your sword you shall live, And you shall serve your brother; And it shall come to pass, when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck."
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| 41 | So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob."
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Isaiah 14 : 24 - 32
Chapter 14
| 24 | The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand:
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| 25 | That I will break the Assyrian in My land, And on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, And his burden removed from their shoulders.
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| 26 | This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
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| 27 | For the LORD of hosts has purposed, And who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, And who will turn it back?"
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| 28 | This is the burden which came in the year that King Ahaz died.
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| 29 | "Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent's roots will come forth a viper, And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.
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| 30 | The firstborn of the poor will feed, And the needy will lie down in safety; I will kill your roots with famine, And it will slay your remnant.
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| 31 | Wail, O gate! Cry, O city! All you of Philistia are dissolved; For smoke will come from the north, And no one will be alone in his appointed times."
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| 32 | What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, And the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.
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Job 16 : 1 - 17 : 16
Chapter 16
| 1 | Then Job answered and said:
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| 2 | "I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all!
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| 3 | Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?
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| 4 | I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul's place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you;
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| 5 | But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.
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| 6 | "Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
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| 7 | But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company.
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| 8 | You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face.
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| 9 | He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.
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| 10 | They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me.
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| 11 | God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
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| 12 | I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target,
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| 13 | His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground.
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| 14 | He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior.
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| 15 | "I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust.
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| 16 | My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
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| 17 | Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure.
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| 18 | "O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place!
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| 19 | Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high.
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| 20 | My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God.
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| 21 | Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor!
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| 22 | For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return.
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Chapter 17
| 1 | "My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me.
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| 2 | Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?
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| 3 | "Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me?
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| 4 | For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them.
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| 5 | He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail.
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| 6 | "But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit.
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| 7 | My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows.
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| 8 | Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.
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| 9 | Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.
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| 10 | "But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you.
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| 11 | My days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart.
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| 12 | They change the night into day; "The light is near,' they say, in the face of darkness.
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| 13 | If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness,
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| 14 | If I say to corruption, "You are my father,' And to the worm, "You are my mother and my sister,'
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| 15 | Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?
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| 16 | Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?"
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Acknowledgement
Opening page