Sunday, October 24, 2021

October 24


John 7:14-24


[14] About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. [15] The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” [16] So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. [17] If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. [18] The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. [19] Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” [20] The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” [21] Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. [22] Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. [23] If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? [24] Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”


1 Peter 5:1-7


[1] So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: [2] shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; [3] not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. [4] And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. [5] Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”


[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.


Song of Solomon 8:1-7


    [1] Oh that you were like a brother to me

        who nursed at my mother’s breasts!

    If I found you outside, I would kiss you,

        and none would despise me. 

    [2] I would lead you and bring you

        into the house of my mother—

        she who used to teach me.

    I would give you spiced wine to drink,

        the juice of my pomegranate. 

    [3] His left hand is under my head,

        and his right hand embraces me! 

    [4] I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

        that you not stir up or awaken love

        until it pleases.


    [5] Who is that coming up from the wilderness,

        leaning on her beloved?


    Under the apple tree I awakened you.

    There your mother was in labor with you;

        there she who bore you was in labor.


    [6] Set me as a seal upon your heart,

        as a seal upon your arm,

    for love is strong as death,

        jealousy is fierce as the grave.

    Its flashes are flashes of fire,

        the very flame of the LORD. 

    [7] Many waters cannot quench love,

        neither can floods drown it.

    If a man offered for love

        all the wealth of his house,

        he would be utterly despised.


Lamentations 3


    [1] I am the man who has seen affliction

        under the rod of his wrath; 

    [2] he has driven and brought me

        into darkness without any light; 

    [3] surely against me he turns his hand

        again and again the whole day long.


    [4] He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;

        he has broken my bones; 

    [5] he has besieged and enveloped me

        with bitterness and tribulation; 

    [6] he has made me dwell in darkness

        like the dead of long ago.


    [7] He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;

        he has made my chains heavy; 

    [8] though I call and cry for help,

        he shuts out my prayer; 

    [9] he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;

        he has made my paths crooked.


    [10] He is a bear lying in wait for me,

        a lion in hiding; 

    [11] he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;

        he has made me desolate; 

    [12] he bent his bow and set me

        as a target for his arrow.


    [13] He drove into my kidneys

        the arrows of his quiver; 

    [14] I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,

        the object of their taunts all day long. 

    [15] He has filled me with bitterness;

        he has sated me with wormwood.


    [16] He has made my teeth grind on gravel,

        and made me cower in ashes; 

    [17] my soul is bereft of peace;

        I have forgotten what happiness is; 

    [18] so I say, “My endurance has perished;

        so has my hope from the LORD.”


    [19] Remember my affliction and my wanderings,

        the wormwood and the gall! 

    [20] My soul continually remembers it

        and is bowed down within me. 

    [21] But this I call to mind,

        and therefore I have hope:


    [22] The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

        his mercies never come to an end; 

    [23] they are new every morning;

        great is your faithfulness. 

    [24] “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,

        “therefore I will hope in him.”


    [25] The LORD is good to those who wait for him,

        to the soul who seeks him. 

    [26] It is good that one should wait quietly

        for the salvation of the LORD. 

    [27] It is good for a man that he bear

        the yoke in his youth.


    [28] Let him sit alone in silence

        when it is laid on him; 

    [29] let him put his mouth in the dust—

        there may yet be hope; 

    [30] let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,

        and let him be filled with insults.


    [31] For the Lord will not

        cast off forever, 

    [32] but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion

        according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 

    [33] for he does not afflict from his heart

        or grieve the children of men.


    [34] To crush underfoot

        all the prisoners of the earth, 

    [35] to deny a man justice

        in the presence of the Most High, 

    [36] to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

        the Lord does not approve.


    [37] Who has spoken and it came to pass,

        unless the Lord has commanded it? 

    [38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

        that good and bad come? 

    [39] Why should a living man complain,

        a man, about the punishment of his sins?


    [40] Let us test and examine our ways,

        and return to the LORD! 

    [41] Let us lift up our hearts and hands

        to God in heaven: 

    [42] “We have transgressed and rebelled,

        and you have not forgiven.


    [43] “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,

        killing without pity; 

    [44] you have wrapped yourself with a cloud

        so that no prayer can pass through. 

    [45] You have made us scum and garbage

        among the peoples.


    [46] “All our enemies

        open their mouths against us; 

    [47] panic and pitfall have come upon us,

        devastation and destruction; 

    [48] my eyes flow with rivers of tears

        because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.


    [49] “My eyes will flow without ceasing,

        without respite, 

    [50] until the LORD from heaven

        looks down and sees; 

    [51] my eyes cause me grief

        at the fate of all the daughters of my city.


    [52] “I have been hunted like a bird

        by those who were my enemies without cause; 

    [53] they flung me alive into the pit

        and cast stones on me; 

    [54] water closed over my head;

        I said, ‘I am lost.’


    [55] “I called on your name, O LORD,

        from the depths of the pit; 

    [56] you heard my plea, ‘Do not close

        your ear to my cry for help!’ 

    [57] You came near when I called on you;

        you said, ‘Do not fear!’


    [58] “You have taken up my cause, O Lord;

        you have redeemed my life. 

    [59] You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD;

        judge my cause. 

    [60] You have seen all their vengeance,

        all their plots against me.


    [61] “You have heard their taunts, O LORD,

        all their plots against me. 

    [62] The lips and thoughts of my assailants

        are against me all the day long. 

    [63] Behold their sitting and their rising;

        I am the object of their taunts.


    [64] “You will repay them, O LORD,

        according to the work of their hands. 

    [65] You will give them dullness of heart;

        your curse will be on them. 

    [66] You will pursue them in anger and destroy them

        from under your heavens, O LORD.”

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