August 2

Luke 13:10-21

A Woman with a Disabling Spirit

[10] Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. [11] And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. [12] When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” [13] And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. [14] But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” [15] Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? [16] And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” [17] As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

[18] He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? [19] It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

[20] And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? [21] It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

1 Timothy 1:12-20

Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners

[12] I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, [13] though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, [14] and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. [15] The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. [16] But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. [17] To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

[18] This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, [19] holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, [20] among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Proverbs 2

The Value of Wisdom

    [1] My son, if you receive my words

        and treasure up my commandments with you, 

    [2] making your ear attentive to wisdom

        and inclining your heart to understanding; 

    [3] yes, if you call out for insight

        and raise your voice for understanding, 

    [4] if you seek it like silver

        and search for it as for hidden treasures, 

    [5] then you will understand the fear of the LORD

        and find the knowledge of God. 

    [6] For the LORD gives wisdom;

        from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 

    [7] he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

        he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 

    [8] guarding the paths of justice

        and watching over the way of his saints. 

    [9] Then you will understand righteousness and justice

        and equity, every good path; 

    [10] for wisdom will come into your heart,

        and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 

    [11] discretion will watch over you,

        understanding will guard you, 

    [12] delivering you from the way of evil,

        from men of perverted speech, 

    [13] who forsake the paths of uprightness

        to walk in the ways of darkness, 

    [14] who rejoice in doing evil

        and delight in the perverseness of evil, 

    [15] men whose paths are crooked,

        and who are devious in their ways.

    [16] So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,

        from the adulteress with her smooth words, 

    [17] who forsakes the companion of her youth

        and forgets the covenant of her God; 

    [18] for her house sinks down to death,

        and her paths to the departed; 

    [19] none who go to her come back,

        nor do they regain the paths of life.

    [20] So you will walk in the way of the good

        and keep to the paths of the righteous. 

    [21] For the upright will inhabit the land,

        and those with integrity will remain in it, 

    [22] but the wicked will be cut off from the land,

        and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Ezra 3

Rebuilding the Altar

[1] When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. [2] Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. [3] They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening. [4] And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, [5] and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the LORD, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the LORD. [6] From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. [7] So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Rebuilding the Temple

[8] Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to supervise the work of the house of the LORD. [9] And Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and brothers.

[10] And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the directions of David king of Israel. [11] And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, 

    “For he is good,

        for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”

    And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.  [12] But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, [13] so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.