Monday, July 24, 2028

^43:9All the nations are gathered together, and princes shall be gathered out of them: who will declare these things? or who will declare to you things from the beginning? let them bring forth their witnesses, and be justified; and let them hear, and declare the truth. ¹⁰Be ye my witnesses, and I too am a witness, saith the Lord God, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know, and believe, and understand that I am he: before me there was no other God, and after me there shall be none.

¹¹I am God; and beside me there is no Saviour. ¹²I have declared, and have saved; I have reproached, and there was no strange god among you: ye are my witnesses, and I am the Lord God, ¹³even from the beginning; and there is none that can deliver out of my hands: I will work, and who shall turn it back? ¹⁴Thus saith the Lord God that redeems you, the Holy One of Israel; For your sakes I will send to Babylon, and I will stir up all that flee, and the Chaldeans shall be bound in ships.

^4:7But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. ⁸For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. ⁹But wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. ¹⁰He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated. ¹¹Yea, speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. ¹²For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind.

¹³He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: ¹⁴for his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked. ¹⁵This the people saw, and understood not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.

^21:12But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. ¹³It will turn out as a testimony for you. ¹⁴Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to answer, ¹⁵for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict. ¹⁶You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death. ¹⁷You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake. ¹⁸And not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹“By your endurance you will win your lives.

^9:13Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar? ¹⁴Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News. ¹⁵But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void. ¹⁶For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News.

¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. ¹⁸What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.

^8:28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified. ³¹What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

³³Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

^16:1The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ²But he answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times! ⁴An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them and departed. ⁵The disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread. ⁶Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

^15:17“I command these things to you, that you may love one another. ¹⁸If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

²¹But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³He who hates me, hates my Father also. ²⁴If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁶“When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. ²⁷You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. ^16:1“I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble. ²They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

^9:13Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar? ¹⁴Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News. ¹⁵But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void. ¹⁶For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News.

¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. ¹⁸What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.

^16:1The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ²But he answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times! ⁴An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them and departed. ⁵The disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread. ⁶Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”