Daily Readings for April 26

Daily Readings for April 26
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Deuteronomy 12

1.These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth. 2.You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree: 3.and you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place. 4.You shall not do so to Yahweh your God. 5.But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation you shall seek, and there you shall come; 6.and there you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock: 7.and there you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you. 8.You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes; 9.for you haven't yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Yahweh your God gives you. 10.But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety; 11.then it shall happen that to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Yahweh. 12.You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your male servants, and your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13.Take heed to yourself that you don't offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14.but in the place which Yahweh shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. 15.Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. 16.Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth as water. 17.You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand; 18.but you shall eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God in all that you put your hand to. 19.Take heed to yourself that you don't forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

20.When Yahweh your God shall enlarge your border, as he has promised you, and you shall say, "I want to eat meat," because your soul desires to eat meat; you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul. 21.If the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to put his name there, is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul. 22.Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so you shall eat of it: the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike. 23.Only be sure that you don't eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. 24.You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth as water. 25.You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh. 26.Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which Yahweh shall choose: 27.and you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Yahweh your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God; and you shall eat the flesh. 28.Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

29.When Yahweh your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land; 30.take heed to yourself that you not be ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise." 31.You shall not do so to Yahweh your God: for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods. 32.Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Ecclesiastes 5

1.Guard your steps when you go to God's house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don't know that they do evil. 2.Don't be rash with your mouth, and don't let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3.For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool's speech with a multitude of words. 4.When you vow a vow to God, don't defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow. 5.It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay. 6.Don't allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Don't protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands? 7.For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words: but you must fear God.

8.If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don't marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them. 9.Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.

10.He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity. 11.When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?

12.The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

13.There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. 14.Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand. 15.As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. 16.This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind? 17.All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.

18.Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. 19.Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor--this is the gift of God. 20.For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life; because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.

Acts 2

1.Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2.Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3.Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. 4.They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. 5.Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. 6.When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. 7.They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Behold, aren't all these who speak Galileans? 8.How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? 9.Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10.Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11.Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!" 12.They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying one to another, "What does this mean?" 13.Others, mocking, said, "They are filled with new wine."

14.But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, "You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words. 15.For these aren't drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day³. 16.But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel: 17.'It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. 18.Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy. 19.I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and billows of smoke. 20.The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 21.It will be, that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.'⁴

22."Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as you yourselves know, 23.him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed; 24.whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. 25.For David says concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. 26.Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope; 27.because you will not leave my soul in Hades⁵, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay. 28.You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.'⁶

29."Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30.Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31.he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his soul left in Hades⁷, nor did his flesh see decay. 32.This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses. 33.Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear. 34.For David didn't ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit by my right hand, 35.until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."'⁸

36."Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."

37.Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

38.Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39.For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself." 40.With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation!"

41.Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls. 42.They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer. 43.Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44.All who believed were together, and had all things in common. 45.They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need. 46.Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, 47.praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.