Monday, 28 Nissan 5784 / May 6, 2024
Day 492 Readings
Torah: Parshat Kedoshim, 2nd Portion (Vayikra (Leviticus) 19:15-19:22)
Bible Study Together
Hosea 12-13
English Standard Version
12 Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long;they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.
The Lord's Indictment of Israel and Judah
2 The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds.3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God.4 He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor.He met God[a] at Bethel, and there God spoke with us—5 the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name:6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”
7 A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress.8 Ephraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself;in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.”9 I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt;I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast.
10 I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables.11 If there is iniquity in Gilead, they shall surely come to nothing:in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; their altars also are like stone heaps on the furrows of the field.12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram; there Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep.13 By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was guarded.14 Ephraim has given bitter provocation; so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.
The Lord's Relentless Judgment on Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel, but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.2 And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves metal images,idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen.It is said of them, “Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”3 Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away,like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window.
4 But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt;you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.5 It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought;6 but when they had grazed,[b] they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.7 So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.8 I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast,and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open.
9 He destroys[c] you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper.10 Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers—those of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?11 I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is kept in store.13 The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son,for at the right time he does not present himself at the opening of the womb.
14 I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death.[d]O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
15 Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come, rising from the wilderness,and his fountain shall dry up; his spring shall be parched;it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing.16 [e] Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God;they shall fall by the sword; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
ESV Readings
Scripture
Psalm 125
English Standard Version
The Lord Surrounds His People
A Song of Ascents.
1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts!
5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways the Lord will lead away with evildoers! Peace be upon Israel!
Numbers 6
Isaiah 42
English Standard Version
The Lord's Chosen Servant
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights;I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged[a] till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.
5 Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it,who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:6 “I am the Lord; I have called you[b] in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you;I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,7 to open the eyes that are blind,to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare;before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
Sing to the Lord a New Song
10 Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth,you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits;let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains.12 Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands.13 The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14 For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself;now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation;I will turn the rivers into islands,[c] and dry up the pools.16 And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know,in paths that they have not known I will guide them.I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.17 They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols,who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”
Israel's Failure to Hear and See
18 Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send?Who is blind as my dedicated one,[d] or blind as the servant of the Lord?20 He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.22 But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons;they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, “Restore!”23 Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come?24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers?Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle;it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand; it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.
Philippians 2:12-30
English Standard Version
Lights in the World
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
Timothy and Epaphroditus
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy's[a] proven worth, how as a son[b] with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died[c] for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.