Thursday, 23 Elul 5784 / September 26, 2024
Day 636 Readings
Torah: Parshat Nitzavim-Vayelech, 5th Portion (Devarim (Deuteronomy) 31:7-31:13)
Deuteronomy 31:7-13
English Standard Version
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
The Reading of the Law
9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
Bible Study Together
Lamentations 5
English Standard Version
Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord
1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
4 We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.
5 Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest.
6 We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities.
8 Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine.
11 Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders.
13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim,
18 for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it.
19 But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.
20 Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?
21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old—
22 unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.
Psalm 79
New American Standard Bible
Grieving over the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Prayer for Help.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God, the nations have [a]invaded Your inheritance; They have defiled Your holy temple; They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the dead bodies of Your servants to the birds of the sky as food, The flesh of Your godly ones to the animals of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem; And there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a disgrace before our neighbors, An object of derision and ridicule to those around us.
5 How long, Lord? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You, And upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob And laid waste his [b]settlement.
8 Do not [c]hold us responsible for [d]the guilty deeds of our forefathers; Let Your compassion come quickly to meet us, For we have become very low.
9 Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; And save us and [e]forgive our sins for the sake of Your name.
10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”Let vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed Be known among the nations in our sight.
11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You; According to the greatness of Your [f]power, let [g]those who are doomed to die remain.
12 And return to our neighbors seven times as much into their lapTheir taunts with which they have taunted You, Lord.
13 So we Your people and the sheep of Your [h]pastureWill give thanks to You forever;To all generations we will tell of Your praise.
Acts 16
English Standard Version
Timothy Joins Paul and Silas
1 Paul[a] came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.
2 He was well spoken of by the brothers[b] at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.
The Macedonian Call
6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul[c] had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
ESV Readings
Scripture
Psalms 55
English Standard Version
Cast Your Burden on the Lord
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil[a] of David.
1 Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
2 Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
3 because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.
6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
7 yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
8 I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.”
9 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it;
11 ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.
12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.
14 We used to take sweet counsel together; within God's house we walked in the throng.
15 Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
16 But I call to God, and the Lord will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.
18 He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.
19 God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, Selah because they do not chang and do not fear God.
20 My companion[b] stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant.
21 His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
23 But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.
2 Samuel 14:25-33
2 Samuel 15:1-12
Ezekiel 16
New American Standard Bible
God’s Grace to Unfaithful Jerusalem
1 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, ‘This is what the Lord [a]God says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. 5 No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the [b]open field, [c]for you were abhorred on the day you were born.
6 “When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 I made you [d]very numerous, like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine jewelry; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.
8 “Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, [e]you were at the time for love; so I spread My [f]garment over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord God. 9 “Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil. 10 I also clothed you with colorfully woven cloth and put sandals of [g]fine leather on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with jewelry, put bracelets on your wrists, and a necklace around your neck. 12 I also put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and colorfully woven cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 Then your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord God.
15 “But you trusted in your beauty and became unfaithful because of your fame, and you poured out your [h]obscene practices on every passer-by to whom it might be tempting. 16 You took some of your clothes, made for yourself [i]high places of various colors, and committed prostitution on them, which should not come about nor happen.
49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, plenty of food, and carefree ease, but she did not [ab]help the poor and needy. 50 So they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them [ac]when I saw it.
Luke 18:1-30
English Standard Version
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man,
5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”
6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.
7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed[a] thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Let the Children Come to Me
15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
The Rich Ruler
18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” 29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers[b] or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”