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Daily Readings for September 27
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1Chronicles 10
1.Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa. 2.The Philistines followed hard after Saul and after his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 3.The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was distressed by reason of the archers. 4.Then Saul said to his armor bearer, "Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me."
But his armor bearer would not; for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it. 5.When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died. 6.So Saul died, and his three sons; and all his house died together. 7.When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them. 8.It happened on the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9.They stripped him, and took his head, and his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to carry the news to their idols, and to the people. 10.They put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon. 11.When all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12.all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. 13.So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of the word of Yahweh, which he didn't keep; and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire, 14.and didn't inquire of Yahweh: therefore he killed him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.
Ezekiel 23
1.The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 2.Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: 3.and they played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity. 4.Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah. 5.Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians [her] neighbors, 6.who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7.She bestowed her prostitution on them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself. 8.Neither has she left her prostitution since [the days of] Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity; and they poured out their prostitution on her. 9.Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted. 10.These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they killed with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her. 11.Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her prostitution which were more than the prostitution of her sister. 12.She doted on the Assyrians, governors and rulers, [her] neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13.I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way. 14.She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, 15.dressed with girdles on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them princes to look on, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. 16.As soon as she saw them she doted on them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. 17.The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them. 18.So she uncovered her prostitution, and uncovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister. 19.Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt. 20.She doted on their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 21.Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the handling of your bosom by the Egyptians for the breasts of your youth. 22.Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side: 23.the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, [and] all the Assyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24.They shall come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples; they shall set themselves against you with buckler and shield and helmet all around; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. 25.I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury; they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your residue shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be devoured by the fire. 26.They shall also strip you of your clothes, and take away your beautiful jewels. 27.Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your prostitution [brought] from the land of Egypt; so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more. 28.For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated; 29.and they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your prostitution shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution. 30.These things shall be done to you, because you have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols. 31.You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore will I give her cup into your hand. 32.Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You will drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and large; you will be ridiculed and held in derision; it contains much. 33.You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria. 34.You shall even drink it and drain it out, and you shall gnaw the broken pieces of it, and shall tear your breasts; for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh. 35.Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution. 36.Yahweh said moreover to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? then declare to them their abominations. 37.For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through [the fire] to them to be devoured. 38.Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 39.For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house. 40.Furthermore you have sent for men who come from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you did wash yourself, paint your eyes, and decorate yourself with ornaments, 41.and sit on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil. 42.The voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their hands [twain], and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43.Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, Now will they play the prostitute with her, and she [with them]. 44.They went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute: so went they in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. 45.Righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 46.For thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed. 47.The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 48.Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. 49.They shall recompense your lewdness on you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols; and you shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.
Luke 20
1.It happened on one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, that the 49priests and scribes came to him with the elders. 2.They asked him, "Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?"
3.He answered them, "I also will ask you one question. Tell me: 4.the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?"
5.They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why didn't you believe him?' 6.But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet." 7.They answered that they didn't know where it was from.
8.Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."
9.He began to tell the people this parable. "A 50man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time. 10.At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him, and sent him away empty. 11.He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. 12.He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him, and threw him out. 13.The lord of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.'
14."But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.' 15.They threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them? 16.He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others."
When they heard it, they said, "May it never be!"
17.But he looked at them, and said, "Then what is this that is written, 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the chief cornerstone?'51 18.Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust."
19.The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people--for they knew he had spoken this parable against them. 20.They watched him, and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor. 21.They asked him, "Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren't partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. 22.Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"
23.But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test me? 24.Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?"
They answered, "Caesar's."
25.He said to them, "Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
26.They weren't able to trap him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer, and were silent. 27.Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection. 28.They asked him, "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife, and raise up children for his brother. 29.There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless. 30.The second took her as wife, and he died childless. 31.The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died. 32.Afterward the woman also died. 33.Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife."
34.Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry, and are given in marriage. 35.But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. 36.For they can't die any more, for they are like the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37.But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord 'The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'52 38.Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him."
39.Some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you speak well." 40.They didn't dare to ask him any more questions.
41.He said to them, "Why do they say that the Christ is David's son? 42.David himself says in the book of Psalms, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, 43.until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet."'53
44."David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?"
45.In the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, 46."Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts; 47.who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these will receive greater condemnation."