Daily Readings for August 4

Daily Readings for August 4
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2Samuel 22

1.David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 2.and he said, "Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; 3.God, my rock, in him I will take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence. 4.I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from my enemies. 5.For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 6.The cords of Sheol⁴ were around me. The snares of death caught me. 7.In my distress I called on Yahweh. Yes, I called to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came into his ears. 8.Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. 9.Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. 10.He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. 11.He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind. 12.He made darkness pavilions around himself: gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies. 13.At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled. 14.Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice. 15.He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them. 16.Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils. 17.He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters. 18.He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 19.They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh was my support. 20.He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me. 21.Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands. 22.For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 23.For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them. 24.I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity. 25.Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight. 26.With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect. 27.With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd. 28.You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down. 29.For you are my lamp, Yahweh. Yahweh will light up my darkness. 30.For by you, I run against a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall. 31.As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Yahweh is tested. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. 32.For who is God, besides Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God? 33.God is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect. 34.He makes his feet like hinds' feet, and sets me on my high places. 35.He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass. 36.You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentleness has made me great. 37.You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped. 38.I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I didn't turn again until they were consumed. 39.I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can't arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet. 40.For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. 41.You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. 42.They looked, but there was none to save; even to Yahweh, but he didn't answer them. 43.Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad. 44.You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known will serve me. 45.The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me. 46.The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of their close places. 47.Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, 48.even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me, 49.who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man. 50.Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations. Will sing praises to your name. 51.He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore."

Jeremiah 25

1.The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2.which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 3.From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened. 4.Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened, nor inclined your ear to hear) 5.saying, Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forevermore; 6.and don't go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don't provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no harm. 7.Yet you have not listened to me, says Yahweh; that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt. 8.Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies: Because you have not heard my words, 9.behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Yahweh, and [I will send] to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10.Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11.This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12.It shall happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says Yahweh, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever. 13.I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14.For many nations and great kings shall make bondservants of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands. 15.For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16.They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17.Then took I the cup at Yahweh's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me: 18.[to wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 19.Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 20.and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21.Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon; 22.and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; 23.Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners [of their hair] cut off; 24.and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness; 25.and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; 26.and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27.You shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 28.It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: You shall surely drink. 29.For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies. 30.Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and tell them, Yahweh will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he will mightily roar against his fold; he will give a shout, as those who tread [the grapes], against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31.A noise shall come even to the end of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with the nations; he will enter into judgment with all flesh: as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword, says Yahweh. 32.Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 33.The slain of Yahweh shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground. 34.Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow [in ashes], you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel. 35.The shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. 36.A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the flock! for Yahweh lays waste their pasture. 37.The peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of Yahweh. 38.He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressing [sword], and because of his fierce anger.

Romans 13

1.Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. 2.Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment. 3.For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the same, 4.for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn't bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil. 5.Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake. 6.For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God's service, attending continually on this very thing. 7.Give therefore to everyone what you owe: taxes to whom taxes are due; customs to whom customs; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor. 8.Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

9.For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not give false testimony," "You shall not covet,"[60][61] and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."[62] 10.Love doesn't harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law. 11.Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed. 12.The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let's therefore throw off the works of darkness, and let's put on the armor of light. 13.Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy. 14.But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.

Romans 14

1.Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. 2.One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3.Don't let him who eats despise him who doesn't eat. Don't let him who doesn't eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. 4.Who are you who judge another's servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

5.One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. 6.He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn't eat, to the Lord he doesn't eat, and gives God thanks. 7.For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. 8.For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord's. 9.For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10.But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11.For it is written, "'As I live,' says the Lord, 'to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.'"[63]

12.So then each one of us will give account of himself to God. 13.Therefore let's not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way, or an occasion for falling. 14.I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15.Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don't destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. 16.Then don't let your good be slandered, 17.for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18.For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19.So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up. 20.Don't overthrow God's work for food's sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating. 21.It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.

22.Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn't judge himself in that which he approves. 23.But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn't of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

24.Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages, 25.but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations; 26.to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.⁶⁴