October 5th Readings

4:19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

4:20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, [and] my curtains in a moment.

4:21 How long shall I see the standard, [and] hear the sound of the trumpet?

4:22 For my people [is] foolish, they have not known me; they [are] sottish children, and they have none understanding: they [are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, [it was] without form, and void; and the heavens, and they [had] no light.

4:24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

4:25 I beheld, and, lo, [there was] no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

4:26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place [was] a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, [and] by his fierce anger.

4:27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

4:28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken [it], I have purposed [it], and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

4:29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city [shall be] forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.

4:30 And [when] thou [art] spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

4:31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, [and] the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, [that] bewaileth herself, [that] spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe [is] me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

5:1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be [any] that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

5:2 And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.

5:3 O LORD, [are] not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, [but] they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

5:4 Therefore I said, Surely these [are] poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, [nor] the judgment of their God.

5:5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, [and] the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, [and] burst the bonds.

5:6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, [and] a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, [and] their backslidings are increased.

5:7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.

5:8 They were [as] fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.

5:9 Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

5:10 Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they [are] not the LORD’S.

5:11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.

5:12 They have belied the LORD, and said, [It is] not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

5:13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word [is] not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

5:15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it [is] a mighty nation, it [is] an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

5:16 Their quiver [is] as an open sepulchre, they [are] all mighty men.

5:17 And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, [which] thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.

5:18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.

5:19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these [things] unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land [that is] not yours.

5:20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

5:21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

5:22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand [for] the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

5:23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

5:25 Your iniquities have turned away these [things], and your sins have withholden good [things] from you.

5:26 For among my people are found wicked [men]: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

5:27 As a cage is full of birds, so [are] their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

5:28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

5:29 Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

5:30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;

5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

6:1 O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

6:2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate [woman].

6:3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch [their] tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.

6:4 Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

6:5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

6:6 For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this [is] the city to be visited; she [is] wholly oppression in the midst of her.

6:7 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually [is] grief and wounds.

6:8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

6:9 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.

6:10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear [is] uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

6:11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with [him that is] full of days.

6:12 And their houses shall be turned unto others, [with their] fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.

6:13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one [is] given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

6:14 They have healed also the hurt [of the daughter] of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace.

6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time [that] I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence.

1:19 For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell;

1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.

1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

1:26 [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

1:27 To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

2:1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and [for] them at Laodicea, and [for] as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

2:3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

2:4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.

2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.

2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk ye in him:

2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

77:1 To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice, [even] unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

77:2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

77:3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

77:4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

77:5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

77:6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

77:7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

77:8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth [his] promise fail for evermore?

77:9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

77:10 And I said, This [is] my infirmity: [but I will remember] the years of the right hand of the most High.

77:11 I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

77:12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

77:13 Thy way, O God, [is] in the sanctuary: who [is so] great a God as [our] God?

77:14 Thou [art] the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

77:15 Thou hast with [thine] arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

77:16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

77:17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

77:18 The voice of thy thunder [was] in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

77:19 Thy way [is] in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

77:20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

24:23 These [things] also [belong] to the wise. [It is] not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

24:24 He that saith unto the wicked, Thou [art] righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him:

24:25 But to them that rebuke [him] shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.