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Daily Readings for September 20
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1Chronicles 3
1.Now these were the sons of David, who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second, Daniel, of Abigail the Carmelitess; 2.the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; 3.the fifth, Shephatiah of Abital; the sixth, Ithream by Eglah his wife: 4.six were born to him in Hebron; and there he reigned seven years and six months. In Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years; 5.and these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel; 6.and Ibhar, and Elishama, and Eliphelet, 7.and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, 8.and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. 9.All these were the sons of David, besides the sons of the concubines; and Tamar was their sister. 10.Solomon's son was Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, 11.Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, 12.Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son, 13.Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, 14.Amon his son, Josiah his son. 15.The sons of Josiah: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. 16.The sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son. 17.The sons of Jeconiah, the captive: Shealtiel his son, 18.and Malchiram, and Pedaiah, and Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. 19.The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel, and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam, and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister; 20.and Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, Jushab Hesed, five. 21.The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah, and Jeshaiah; the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of Shecaniah. 22.The sons of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. The sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, and Igal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat, six. 23.The sons of Neariah: Elioenai, and Hizkiah, and Azrikam, three. 24.The sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, and Eliashib, and Pelaiah, and Akkub, and Johanan, and Delaiah, and Anani, seven.
Ezekiel 16
1.Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2.Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; 3.and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your birth and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite. 4.As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you weren't salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 5.No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, for that your person was abhorred, in the day that you were born. 6.When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, [Though you are] in your blood, live; yes, I said to you, [Though you are] in your blood, live. 7.I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent ornament; your breasts were fashioned, and your hair was grown; yet you were naked and bare. 8.Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Yahweh, and you became mine. 9.Then washed I you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. 10.I clothed you also with embroidered work, and shod you with sealskin, and I dressed you about with fine linen, and covered you with silk. 11.I decked you with ornaments, and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck. 12.I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13.Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you were exceeding beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. 14.Your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you, says the Lord Yahweh. 15.But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by; his it was. 16.You took of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them: [the like things] shall not come, neither shall it be [so]. 17.You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them; 18.and you took your embroidered garments, and covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 19.My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and [thus] it was, says the Lord Yahweh. 20.Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter, 21.that you have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through [the fire] to them? 22.In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood. 23.It has happened after all your wickedness, (woe, woe to you! says the Lord Yahweh), 24.that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street. 25.You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution. 26.You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger. 27.See therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary [food], and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. 28.You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren't satisfied. 29.You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren't satisfied with this. 30.How weak is your heart, says the Lord Yahweh, since you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute; 31.in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay. 32.A wife who commits adultery! who takes strangers instead of her husband! 33.They give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution. 34.You are different from [other] women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different. 35.Therefore, prostitute, hear the word of Yahweh: 36.Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them; 37.therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated; I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38.I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39.I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places; and they shall strip you of your clothes, and take your beautiful jewels; and they shall leave you naked and bare. 40.They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. 41.They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you shall also give no hire any more. 42.So will I cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. 43.Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head, says the Lord Yahweh: and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations. 44.Behold, everyone who uses proverbs shall use [this] proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 45.You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 46.Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47.Yet have you not walked in their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, as [if that were] a very little [thing], you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48.As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. 49.Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50.They were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw [good]. 51.Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done. 52.You also, bear you your own shame, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous that you: yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters. 53.I will turn again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives in their midst; 54.that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them. 55.Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; and you and your daughters shall return to your former estate. 56.For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, 57.before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who do despite to you all around. 58.You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says Yahweh. 59.For thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. 60.Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. 61.Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder [sisters] and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. 62.I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am Yahweh; 63.that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done, says the Lord Yahweh.
Luke 12
1.Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2.But there is nothing covered up, that will not be revealed, nor hidden, that will not be known. 3.Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
4."I tell you, my friends, don't be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5.But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him, who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna.29 Yes, I tell you, fear him.
6."Aren't five sparrows sold for two assaria coins30? Not one of them is forgotten by God. 7.But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.
8."I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God; 9.but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God. 10.Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11.When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don't be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say; 12.for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say."
13.One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
14.But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" 15.He said to them, "Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man's life doesn't consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses."
16.He spoke a parable to them, saying, "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly. 17.He reasoned within himself, saying, 'What will I do, because I don't have room to store my crops?' 18.He said, 'This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19.I will tell my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry."'
20."But God said to him, 'You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared--whose will they be?' 21.So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
22.He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, don't be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. 23.Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24.Consider the ravens: they don't sow, they don't reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! 25.Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height? 26.If then you aren't able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest? 27.Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28.But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? 29.Don't seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. 30.For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. 31.But seek God's Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you. 32.Don't be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. 33.Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don't grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn't fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys. 34.For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
35."Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning. 36.Be like men watching for their lord, when he returns from the marriage feast; that, when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him. 37.Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you, that he will dress himself, and make them recline, and will come and serve them. 38.They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch, and finds them so. 39.But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into. 40.Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don't expect him."
41.Peter said to him, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?"
42.The Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times? 43.Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes. 44.Truly I tell you, that he will set him over all that he has. 45.But if that servant says in his heart, 'My lord delays his coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, 46.then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn't expecting him, and in an hour that he doesn't know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful. 47.That servant, who knew his lord's will, and didn't prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes, 48.but he who didn't know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.
49."I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled. 50.But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! 51.Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. 52.For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53.They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."31
54.He said to the multitudes also, "When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it happens. 55.When a south wind blows, you say, 'There will be a scorching heat,' and it happens. 56.You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you don't interpret this time? 57.Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? 58.For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59.I tell you, you will by no means get out of there, until you have paid the very last penny.32"