John 9:1-12
[1]
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. [2] And his disciples
asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind?” [3] Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his
parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. [4] We
must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming,
when no one can work. [5] As long as I am in the world, I am the light
of the world.” [6] Having said these things, he spit on the ground and
made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud
[7] and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means
Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
[8]
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were
saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” [9] Some said,
“It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am
the man.” [10] So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”
[11] He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes
and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and
received my sight.” [12] They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do
not know.”
1 John 1:1-4
[1]
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our
hands, concerning the word of life—[2] the life was made manifest, and
we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life,
which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—[3] that which we
have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have
fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and
with his Son Jesus Christ. [4] And we are writing these things so that
our joy may be complete.
Job 8
[1] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
[2] “How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
[3] Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
[4] If your children have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
[5] If you will seek God
and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
[6] if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
[7] And though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
[8] “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,
and consider what the fathers have searched out.
[9] For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
for our days on earth are a shadow.
[10] Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?
[11] “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
[12] While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.
[13] Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless shall perish.
[14] His confidence is severed,
and his trust is a spider’s web.
[15] He leans against his house, but it does not stand;
he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
[16] He is a lush plant before the sun,
and his shoots spread over his garden.
[17] His roots entwine the stone heap;
he looks upon a house of stones.
[18] If he is destroyed from his place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
[19] Behold, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the soil others will spring.
[20] “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
[21] He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouting.
[22] Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
Ezekiel 22
[1]
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, [2] “And you, son of man,
will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to her all
her abominations. [3] You shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD: A city that
sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and that makes
idols to defile herself! [4] You have become guilty by the blood that
you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have
brought your days near, the appointed time of your years has come.
Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to
all the countries. [5] Those who are near and those who are far from you
will mock you; your name is defiled; you are full of tumult.
[6]
“Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his
power, have been bent on shedding blood. [7] Father and mother are
treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your
midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. [8] You have
despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths. [9] There are men in
you who slander to shed blood, and people in you who eat on the
mountains; they commit lewdness in your midst. [10] In you men uncover
their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in
their menstrual impurity. [11] One commits abomination with his
neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in
you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. [12] In you they take
bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your
neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord
GOD.
[13]
“Behold, I strike my hand at the dishonest gain that you have made, and
at the blood that has been in your midst. [14] Can your courage endure,
or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I
the LORD have spoken, and I will do it. [15] I will scatter you among
the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume
your uncleanness out of you. [16] And you shall be profaned by your own
doing in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the
LORD.”
[17]
And the word of the LORD came to me: [18] “Son of man, the house of
Israel has become dross to me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron
and lead in the furnace; they are dross of silver. [19] Therefore thus
says the Lord GOD: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold,
I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. [20] As one gathers
silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the
fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in
my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. [21] I will gather you and
blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the
midst of it. [22] As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be
melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the LORD; I have
poured out my wrath upon you.”
[23]
And the word of the LORD came to me: [24] “Son of man, say to her, You
are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of
indignation. [25] The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a
roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have
taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her
midst. [26] Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned
my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the
common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and
the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned
among them. [27] Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the
prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. [28] And
her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and
divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD
has not spoken. [29] The people of the land have practiced extortion and
committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have
extorted from the sojourner without justice. [30] And I sought for a man
among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before
me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. [31]
Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed
them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their
heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
Ezekiel 23
[1]
The word of the LORD came to me: [2] “Son of man, there were two women,
the daughters of one mother. [3] They played the whore in Egypt; they
played the whore in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and
their virgin bosoms handled. [4] Oholah was the name of the elder and
Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons
and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is
Jerusalem.
[5]
“Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after her
lovers the Assyrians, warriors [6] clothed in purple, governors and
commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.
[7] She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all
of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after
whom she lusted. [8] She did not give up her whoring that she had begun
in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin
bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. [9] Therefore I
delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the
Assyrians, after whom she lusted. [10] These uncovered her nakedness;
they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her
with the sword; and she became a byword among women, when judgment had
been executed on her.
[11]
“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her
sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her
sister. [12] She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders,
warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them
desirable young men. [13] And I saw that she was defiled; they both took
the same way. [14] But she carried her whoring further. She saw men
portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in
vermilion, [15] wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on
their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness
of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. [16] When she saw them,
she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. [17] And
the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her
with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, she turned
from them in disgust. [18] When she carried on her whoring so openly and
flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned
in disgust from her sister. [19] Yet she increased her whoring,
remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land
of Egypt [20] and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were
like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. [21]
Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians
handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts.”
[22]
Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will stir up
against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will
bring them against you from 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 commanders all of them, officers and
men of renown, all of them riding on horses. [24] And they shall come
against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of
peoples. They shall set themselves against you on every side with
buckler, shield, and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and
they shall judge you according to their judgments. [25] And I will
direct my jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in fury.
They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall
fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and
your survivors shall be devoured by fire. [26] They shall also strip you
of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. [27] Thus I will
put an end to your lewdness and your whoring begun in the land of Egypt,
so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt
anymore.
[28]
“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands
of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in
disgust, [29] and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all
the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness
of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring [30]
have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the
nations and defiled yourself with their idols. [31] You have gone the
way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. [32]
Thus says the Lord GOD:
“You shall drink your sister’s cup
that is deep and large;
you shall be laughed at and held in derision,
for it contains much;
[33] you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
A cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of your sister Samaria;
[34] you shall drink it and drain it out,
and gnaw its shards,
and tear your breasts;
for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. [35] Therefore thus says
the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your
back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and
whoring.”
[36]
The LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah?
Declare to them their abominations. [37] For they have committed
adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have
committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the
children whom they had borne to me. [38] Moreover, this they have done
to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my
Sabbaths. [39] For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice
to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane
it. And behold, this is what they did in my house. [40] They even sent
for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and behold,
they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned
yourself with ornaments. [41] You sat on a stately couch, with a table
spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil. [42] The
sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common
sort, drunkards were brought from the wilderness; and they put bracelets
on the hands of the women, and beautiful crowns on their heads.
[43]
“Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will
continue to use her for a whore, even her!’ [44] For they have gone in
to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to
Oholibah, lewd women! [45] But righteous men shall pass judgment on
them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women
who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their
hands.”
[46]
For thus says the Lord GOD: “Bring up a vast host against them, and
make them an object of terror and a plunder. [47] And the host shall
stone them and cut them down with their swords. They shall kill their
sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. [48] Thus will I put
an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not
commit lewdness as you have done. [49] And they shall return your
lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful
idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”
