John 15:18-27
The Hatred of the World
[18] “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. [20] Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. [21] But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. [22] If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. [23] Whoever hates me hates my Father also. [24] If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. [25] But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
[26] “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. [27] And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Revelation 3:14-22
To the Church in Laodicea
[14] “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
[15] “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! [16] So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. [17] For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. [18] I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. [19] Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. [20] Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. [21] The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. [22] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Job 29
Job’s Summary Defense
[1] And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
[2] “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
[3] when his lamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
[4] as I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
[5] when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my children were all around me,
[6] when my steps were washed with butter,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
[7] When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
[8] the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
[9] the princes refrained from talking
and laid their hand on their mouth;
[10] the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
[11] When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
[12] because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
[13] The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
[14] I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
[15] I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
[16] I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
[17] I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
[18] Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
[19] my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches,
[20] my glory fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.’
[21] “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
[22] After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them.
[23] They waited for me as for the rain,
and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
[24] I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my face they did not cast down.
[25] I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
Joel 1
[1] The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
An Invasion of Locusts
[2] Hear this, you elders;
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
[3] Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
[4] What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
[5] Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
[6] For a nation has come up against my land,
powerful and beyond number;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
[7] It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
[8] Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
[9] The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the LORD.
The priests mourn,
the ministers of the LORD.
[10] The fields are destroyed,
the ground mourns,
because the grain is destroyed,
the wine dries up,
the oil languishes.
[11] Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished.
[12] The vine dries up;
the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and gladness dries up
from the children of man.
A Call to Repentance
[13] Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
Because grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
[14] Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the LORD your God,
and cry out to the LORD.
[15] Alas for the day!
For the day of the LORD is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
[16] Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
[17] The seed shrivels under the clods;
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because the grain has dried up.
[18] How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer.
[19] To you, O LORD, I call.
For fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
[20] Even the beasts of the field pant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.
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