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Psalm 117

Universal Call to Worship

¹ Praise the Lord, all you nations!
   Extol him, all you peoples!
² For great is his steadfast love towards us,
   and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever.
Praise the Lord!

Amos

1The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years^* before the earthquake.

Judgement on Israel’s Neighbours

²And he said:
The Lord roars from Zion,
   and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds wither,
   and the top of Carmel dries up.

³ Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Damascus,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because they have threshed Gilead
   with threshing-sledges of iron.
⁴ So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael,
   and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
⁵ I will break the gate-bars of Damascus,
   and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven,
and the one who holds the sceptre from Beth-eden;
   and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Kir,

says the Lord.

2Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Moab,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because he burned to lime
   the bones of the king of Edom.
² So I will send a fire on Moab,
   and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
   amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
³ I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
   and will kill all its officials with him,

says the Lord.

7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’

10 And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ ¹¹In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ ¹²Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ ¹³He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’

15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,^{* 16}John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with^* the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the ruler,^* who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰added to them all by shutting up John in prison.

The Baptism of Jesus

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved;^* with you I am well pleased.’^*

THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE

Galatians

Salutation

1Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— ²and all the members of God’s family^* who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

There Is No Other Gospel

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel^* from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! ⁹As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!

10 Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant^* of Christ.

Paul’s Vindication of His Apostleship

11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters,^* that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin;