October 17

John 5:31-47

[31] If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. [32] There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. [33] You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. [34] Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. [35] He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. [36] But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. [37] And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, [38] and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. [39] You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, [40] yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. [41] I do not receive glory from people. [42] But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. [43] I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. [44] How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? [45] Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. [46] For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. [47] But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

1 Peter 2:9-17

[9] But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [10] Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

[11] Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. [12] Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

[13] Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, [14] or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. [15] For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. [16] Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. [17] Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Song of Solomon 2

    [1] I am a rose of Sharon,

        a lily of the valleys.

    [2] 

    As a lily among brambles,

        so is my love among the young women.

    [3] 

    As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

        so is my beloved among the young men.

    With great delight I sat in his shadow,

        and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 

    [4] 

    He brought me to the banqueting house,

        and his banner over me was love. 

    [5] 

    Sustain me with raisins;

        refresh me with apples,

        for I am sick with love. 

    [6] 

    His left hand is under my head,

        and his right hand embraces me! 

    [7] 

    I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

        by the gazelles or the does of the field,

    that you not stir up or awaken love

        until it pleases.

    [8] The voice of my beloved!

        Behold, he comes,

    leaping over the mountains,

        bounding over the hills. 

    [9] My beloved is like a gazelle

        or a young stag.

    Behold, there he stands

        behind our wall,

    gazing through the windows,

        looking through the lattice. 

    [10] My beloved speaks and says to me:

    “Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

        and come away, 

    [11] for behold, the winter is past;

        the rain is over and gone. 

    [12] The flowers appear on the earth,

        the time of singing has come,

    and the voice of the turtledove

        is heard in our land. 

    [13] The fig tree ripens its figs,

        and the vines are in blossom;

        they give forth fragrance.

    Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

        and come away. 

    [14] O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

        in the crannies of the cliff,

    let me see your face,

        let me hear your voice,

    for your voice is sweet,

        and your face is lovely. 

    [15] Catch the foxes for us,

        the little foxes

    that spoil the vineyards,

        for our vineyards are in blossom.”

    [16] My beloved is mine, and I am his;

        he grazes among the lilies. 

    [17] Until the day breathes

        and the shadows flee,

    turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle

        or a young stag on cleft mountains.

Jeremiah 47

[1] The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.

    [2] “Thus says the LORD:

    Behold, waters are rising out of the north,

        and shall become an overflowing torrent;

    they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,

        the city and those who dwell in it.

    Men shall cry out,

        and every inhabitant of the land shall wail. 

    [3] At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,

        at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,

    the fathers look not back to their children,

        so feeble are their hands, 

    [4] because of the day that is coming to destroy

        all the Philistines,

    to cut off from Tyre and Sidon

        every helper that remains.

    For the LORD is destroying the Philistines,

        the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor. 

    [5] Baldness has come upon Gaza;

        Ashkelon has perished.

    O remnant of their valley,

        how long will you gash yourselves? 

    [6] Ah, sword of the LORD!

        How long till you are quiet?

    Put yourself into your scabbard;

        rest and be still! 

    [7] How can it be quiet

        when the LORD has given it a charge?

    Against Ashkelon and against the seashore

        he has appointed it.”

Jeremiah 48

[1] Concerning Moab. 

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 

    “Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste!

        Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;

    the fortress is put to shame and broken down; 

    [2]     the renown of Moab is no more.

    In Heshbon they planned disaster against her:

        ‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’

    You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;

        the sword shall pursue you.

    [3] “A voice! A cry from Horonaim,

        ‘Desolation and great destruction!’ 

    [4] Moab is destroyed;

        her little ones have made a cry. 

    [5] For at the ascent of Luhith

        they go up weeping;

    for at the descent of Horonaim

        they have heard the distressed cry of destruction. 

    [6] Flee! Save yourselves!

        You will be like a juniper in the desert! 

    [7] For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures,

        you also shall be taken;

    and Chemosh shall go into exile

        with his priests and his officials. 

    [8] The destroyer shall come upon every city,

        and no city shall escape;

    the valley shall perish,

        and the plain shall be destroyed,

        as the LORD has spoken.

    [9] “Give wings to Moab,

        for she would fly away;

    her cities shall become a desolation,

        with no inhabitant in them.

    [10] “Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

    [11] “Moab has been at ease from his youth

        and has settled on his dregs;

    he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,

        nor has he gone into exile;

    so his taste remains in him,

        and his scent is not changed.

    [12] “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces. [13] Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

    [14] “How do you say, ‘We are heroes

        and mighty men of war’? 

    [15] The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,

        and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,

        declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. 

    [16] The calamity of Moab is near at hand,

        and his affliction hastens swiftly. 

    [17] Grieve for him, all you who are around him,

        and all who know his name;

    say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken,

        the glorious staff.’

    [18] “Come down from your glory,

        and sit on the parched ground,

        O inhabitant of Dibon!

    For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;

        he has destroyed your strongholds. 

    [19] Stand by the way and watch,

        O inhabitant of Aroer!

    Ask him who flees and her who escapes;

        say, ‘What has happened?’ 

    [20] Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;

        wail and cry!

    Tell it beside the Arnon,

        that Moab is laid waste.

    [21] “Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, [22] and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, [23] and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, [24] and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. [25] The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the LORD.

[26] “Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the LORD, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. [27] Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

    [28] “Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,

        O inhabitants of Moab!

    Be like the dove that nests

        in the sides of the mouth of a gorge. 

    [29] We have heard of the pride of Moab—

        he is very proud—

    of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,

        and the haughtiness of his heart. 

    [30] I know his insolence, declares the LORD;

        his boasts are false,

        his deeds are false. 

    [31] Therefore I wail for Moab;

        I cry out for all Moab;

        for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn. 

    [32] More than for Jazer I weep for you,

        O vine of Sibmah!

    Your branches passed over the sea,

        reached to the Sea of Jazer;

    on your summer fruits and your grapes

        the destroyer has fallen. 

    [33] Gladness and joy have been taken away

        from the fruitful land of Moab;

    I have made the wine cease from the winepresses;

        no one treads them with shouts of joy;

        the shouting is not the shout of joy.

    [34] “From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. [35] And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the LORD, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god. [36] Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.

[37] “For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth. [38] On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the LORD. [39] How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.”

    [40] For thus says the LORD:

    “Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle

        and spread his wings against Moab; 

    [41] the cities shall be taken

        and the strongholds seized.

    The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day

        like the heart of a woman in her birth pains; 

    [42] Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people,

        because he magnified himself against the LORD. 

    [43] Terror, pit, and snare

        are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!

    declares the LORD. 

    [44] He who flees from the terror

        shall fall into the pit,

    and he who climbs out of the pit

        shall be caught in the snare.

    For I will bring these things upon Moab,

        the year of their punishment,

    declares the LORD.

    [45] “In the shadow of Heshbon

        fugitives stop without strength,

    for fire came out from Heshbon,

        flame from the house of Sihon;

    it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,

        the crown of the sons of tumult. 

    [46] Woe to you, O Moab!

        The people of Chemosh are undone,

    for your sons have been taken captive,

        and your daughters into captivity. 

    [47] Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab

        in the latter days, declares the LORD.”

    Thus far is the judgment on Moab.