Friday, January 9, 2026

^2:1My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. ²For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, ³and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” ⁴haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts? ⁷Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? ⁸However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ¹¹For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom. ¹³For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

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^9:33He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?” ³⁴But they were silent, for they had disputed with one another on the way about who was the greatest. ³⁵He sat down and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.” ³⁶He took a little child and set him in the middle of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷“Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, doesn’t receive me, but him who sent me.” ³⁸John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.” ³⁹But Jesus said, “Don’t forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name and be able quickly to speak evil of me. ⁴⁰For whoever is not against us is on our side. ⁴¹For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name because you are Christ’s, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.

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^2:1My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. ²For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, ³and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” ⁴haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts? ⁷Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? ⁸However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ¹¹For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom. ¹³For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

WEB, public domain

^6:8Stephen, full of faith and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹But some of those who were of the synagogue called “The Libertines”, and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen. ¹⁰They weren’t able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. ¹¹Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹²They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and came against him and seized him, then brought him in to the council, ¹³and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. ¹⁴For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” ¹⁵All who sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face like it was the face of an angel. ^7:1The high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³and said to him, ‘Get out of your land and away from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’ ⁴Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land where you are now living. ⁵He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child. ⁴⁷But Solomon built him a house. ⁴⁸However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says, ⁴⁹‘heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord. ‘Or what is the place of my rest? ⁵⁰Didn’t my hand make all these things?’ ⁵¹“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. ⁵²Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. ⁵³You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!” ⁵⁴Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, ⁵⁶and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ⁵⁷But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, then rushed at him with one accord. ⁵⁸They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰He kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

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^12:1He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country. ²When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard. ³They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty. ⁴Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. ⁵Again he sent another, and they killed him, and many others, beating some, and killing some. ⁶Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. ⁹What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner. ¹¹This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes’?” ¹²They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him and went away.

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^21:33“Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country. ³⁴When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers to receive his fruit. ³⁵The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they treated them the same way. ³⁷But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and seize his inheritance.’ ³⁹So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, then killed him. ⁴⁰When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?” ⁴¹They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruit in its season.” ⁴²Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes’?

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