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Psalm 81

God’s Appeal to Stubborn Israel

To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
   shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
   the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
   at the full moon, on our festal day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
   an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph,
   when he went out over* the land of Egypt.


I hear a voice I had not known:
6 ‘I relieved your* shoulder of the burden;
   your* hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I rescued you;
   I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
   I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
          Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
   O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
   you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
   who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
   Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.


11 ‘But my people did not listen to my voice;
   Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
   to follow their own counsels.
13 O that my people would listen to me,
   that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
   and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
   and their doom would last for ever.
16 I would feed you* with the finest of the wheat,
   and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.’

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Ecclesiasticus 17

17The Lord created human beings out of earth,
   and makes them return to it again.
2 He gave them a fixed number of days,
   but granted them authority over everything on the earth.*
3 He endowed them with strength like his own,*
   and made them in his own image.
4 He put the fear of them* in all living beings,
   and gave them dominion over beasts and birds.*
6 Discretion and tongue and eyes,
   ears and a mind for thinking he gave them.
7 He filled them with knowledge and understanding,
   and showed them good and evil.
8 He put the fear of him into* their hearts
   to show them the majesty of his works.*
10 And they will praise his holy name,
9   to proclaim the grandeur of his works.
11 He bestowed knowledge upon them,
   and allotted to them the law of life.*
12 He established with them an eternal covenant,
   and revealed to them his decrees.
13 Their eyes saw his glorious majesty,
   and their ears heard the glory of his voice.
14 He said to them, ‘Beware of all evil.’
   And he gave commandment to each of them concerning a neighbour.
15 Their ways are always known to him;
   they will not be hid from his eyes.*
17 He appointed a ruler for every nation,
   but Israel is the Lord’s own portion.*
19 All their works are as clear as the sun before him,
   and his eyes are ever upon their ways.
20 Their iniquities are not hidden from him,
   and all their sins are before the Lord.*
22 One’s almsgiving is like a signet ring with the Lord,*
   and he will keep a person’s kindness like the apple of his eye.*
23 Afterwards he will rise up and repay them,
   and he will bring their recompense on their heads.
24 Yet to those who repent he grants a return,
   and he encourages those who are losing hope.

A Call to Repentance


25 Turn back to the Lord and forsake your sins;
   pray in his presence and lessen your offence.
26 Return to the Most High and turn away from iniquity,*
   and hate intensely what he abhors.
27 Who will sing praises to the Most High in Hades
   in place of the living who give thanks?
28 From the dead, as from one who does not exist, thanksgiving has ceased;
   those who are alive and well sing the Lord’s praises.
29 How great is the mercy of the Lord,
   and his forgiveness for those who return to him!
30 For not everything is within human capability,
   since human beings are not immortal.
31 What is brighter than the sun? Yet it can be eclipsed.
   So flesh and blood devise evil.
32 He marshals the host of the height of heaven;
   but all human beings are dust and ashes.

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Acts 24:24-25:12

Paul Held in Custody

24 Some days later when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak concerning faith in Christ Jesus. 25And as he discussed justice, self-control, and the coming judgement, Felix became frightened and said, ‘Go away for the present; when I have an opportunity, I will send for you.’ 26At the same time he hoped that money would be given to him by Paul, and for that reason he used to send for him very often and converse with him.

27 After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and since he wanted to grant the Jews a favour, Felix left Paul in prison.

Paul Appeals to the Emperor

25Three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem 2where the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews gave him a report against Paul. They appealed to him 3and requested, as a favour to them against Paul,* to have him transferred to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, planning an ambush to kill him along the way. 4Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and that he himself intended to go there shortly. 5‘So’, he said, ‘let those of you who have the authority come down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them accuse him.’

After he had stayed among them for not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea; the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. 7When he arrived, the Jews who had gone down from Jerusalem surrounded him, bringing many serious charges against him, which they could not prove. 8Paul said in his defence, ‘I have in no way committed an offence against the law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against the emperor.’ 9But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favour, asked Paul, ‘Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and be tried there before me on these charges?’ 10Paul said, ‘I am appealing to the emperor’s tribunal; this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you very well know. 11Now if I am in the wrong and have committed something for which I deserve to die, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can turn me over to them. I appeal to the emperor.’ 12Then Festus, after he had conferred with his council, replied, ‘You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.’

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Psalm 83

Prayer for Judgement on Israel’s Foes

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not keep silence;
   do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2 Even now your enemies are in tumult;
   those who hate you have raised their heads.
3 They lay crafty plans against your people;
   they consult together against those you protect.
4 They say, ‘Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
   let the name of Israel be remembered no more.’
5 They conspire with one accord;
   against you they make a covenant—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
   Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
   Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also has joined them;
   they are the strong arm of the children of Lot.
          Selah


9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
   as to Sisera and Jabin at the Wadi Kishon,
10 who were destroyed at En-dor,
   who became dung for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
   all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, ‘Let us take the pastures of God
   for our own possession.’


13 O my God, make them like whirling dust,*
   like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire consumes the forest,
   as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so pursue them with your tempest
   and terrify them with your hurricane.
16 Fill their faces with shame,
   so that they may seek your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever;
   let them perish in disgrace.
18 Let them know that you alone,
   whose name is the Lord,
   are the Most High over all the earth.

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Isa 45

Cyrus, God’s Instrument

45Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
   whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him
   and strip kings of their robes,
to open doors before him—
   and the gates shall not be closed:
2 I will go before you
   and level the mountains,*
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
   and cut through the bars of iron,
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
   and riches hidden in secret places,
so that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
   the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
   and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
   I surname you, though you do not know me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other;
   besides me there is no god.
   I arm you, though you do not know me,
6 so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
   and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
   I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness,
   I make weal and create woe;
   I the Lord do all these things.


8 Shower, O heavens, from above,
   and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,*
   and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;
   I the Lord have created it.


9 Woe to you who strive with your Maker,
   earthen vessels with the potter!*
Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’
   or ‘Your work has no handles’?
10 Woe to anyone who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
   or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labour?’
11 Thus says the Lord,
   the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Will you question me* about my children,
   or command me concerning the work of my hands?
12 I made the earth,
   and created humankind upon it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
   and I commanded all their host.
13 I have aroused Cyrus* in righteousness,
   and I will make all his paths straight;
he shall build my city
   and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,
   says the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus says the Lord:
The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia,*
   and the Sabeans, tall of stature,
shall come over to you and be yours,
   they shall follow you;
   they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you, saying,
   ‘God is with you alone, and there is no other;
   there is no god besides him.’
15 Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
   O God of Israel, the Saviour.
16 All of them are put to shame and confounded,
   the makers of idols go in confusion together.
17 But Israel is saved by the Lord
   with everlasting salvation;
you shall not be put to shame or confounded
   to all eternity.


18 For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
   (he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
   (he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
   he formed it to be inhabited!):
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 I did not speak in secret,
   in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
   ‘Seek me in chaos.’
I the Lord speak the truth,
   I declare what is right.

Idols Cannot Save Babylon


20 Assemble yourselves and come together,
   draw near, you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge—
   those who carry about their wooden idols,
and keep on praying to a god
   that cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case;
   let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
   Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
   There is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Saviour;
   there is no one besides me.


22 Turn to me and be saved,
   all the ends of the earth!
   For I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn,
   from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness
   a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
   every tongue shall swear.’


24 Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
   are righteousness and strength;
all who were incensed against him
   shall come to him and be ashamed.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
   shall triumph and glory.

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Luke 9:51-end

A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’* 55But he turned and rebuked them. 56Then* they went on to another village.

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ 58And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ 59To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ 60But Jesus* said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ 61Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ 62Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

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