Saturday, January 14, 2034

^1:3We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ⁴having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have toward all the saints, ⁵because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News ⁶which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth,

^16:10He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. ¹¹If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? ¹²If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? ¹³No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him. ¹⁵He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

^8:22The Lord made me the beginning of his ways for his works. ²³He established me before time was in the beginning, before he made the earth: ²⁴even before he made the depths; before the fountains of water came forth: ²⁵before the mountains were settled, and before all hills, he begets me. ²⁶The Lord made countries and uninhabited tracts, and the highest inhabited parts of the world. ²⁷When he prepared the heaven, I was present with him; and when he prepared his throne upon the winds: ²⁸and when he strengthened the clouds above; and when he secured the fountains of the earth: ²⁹and when he strengthened the foundations of the earth: ³⁰I was by him, suiting myself to him, I was that wherein he took delight; and daily I rejoiced in his presence continually.

^10:31The mouth of the righteous drops wisdom: but the tongue of the unjust shall perish. ³²The lips of just men drop grace: but the mouth of the ungodly is perverse. ^11:1False balances are an abomination before the Lord: but a just weight is acceptable unto him. ²Wherever pride enters, there will be also disgrace: but the mouth of the lowly meditates wisdom. ³When a just man dies he leaves regret: but the destruction of the ungodly is speedy, and causes joy. ⁵Righteousness traces out blameless paths: but ungodliness encounters unjust dealing.

⁶The righteousness of upright men delivers them: but transgressors are caught in their own destruction. ⁷At the death of a just man his hope does not perish: but the boast of the ungodly perishes. ⁸A righteous man escapes from a snare, and the ungodly man is delivered up in his place. ⁹In the mouth of ungodly men is a snare to citizens: but the understanding of righteous men is prosperous. ¹⁰In the prosperity of righteous men a city prospers: ¹¹but by the mouths of ungodly men it is overthrown. ¹²A man void of understanding sneers at his fellow citizens: but a sensible man is quiet.

^10:9I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out and will find pasture. ¹⁰The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them.

¹³The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; ¹⁵even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.

^3:14These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly, ¹⁵but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. ¹⁶Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory. ^4:1But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, ²through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron,

³forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. ⁵For it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.

^2:8Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ. ⁹For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power. ¹¹In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

^7:26For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; ²⁷who doesn’t need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself. ²⁸For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son forever who has been perfected. ^8:1Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ²a servant of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man.

^3:1In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ²“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” ³For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make the way of the Lord ready! Make his paths straight!” ⁴Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him.

⁶They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! ⁹Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire. ¹¹“I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

^2:20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them. ²¹When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. ⁴⁰The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. ⁴¹His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover. ⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast; ⁴³and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Joseph and his mother didn’t know it,

⁴⁴but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey; and they looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵When they didn’t find him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him. ⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸When they saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”

⁴⁹He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰They didn’t understand the saying which he spoke to them. ⁵¹And he went down with them and came to Nazareth. He was subject to them, and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. ⁵²And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

^6:17He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, ¹⁸as well as those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and they were being healed. ¹⁹All the multitude sought to touch him, for power came out of him and healed them all. ²⁰He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for God’s Kingdom is yours.

²¹Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ²²Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. ²³Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.