Monday, April 24, 2023

Proverbs 6:1–19

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another, ²if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth, ³then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor! ⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. ⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! ⁷It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, ⁸yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

⁹How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? ¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-- ¹¹and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

¹²A scoundrel and villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, ¹³who winks with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, ¹⁴who plots evil with deceit in his heart-- he always stirs up dissension. ¹⁵Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed--without remedy.

¹⁶There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: ¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, ¹⁹a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

 

 

Psalm 103

¹Of David. Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. ²Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- ³who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, ⁴who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, ⁵who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. ⁶The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. ⁷He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: ⁸The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. ⁹He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; ¹⁰he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; ¹²as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; ¹⁴for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. ¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; ¹⁶the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. ¹⁷But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- ¹⁸with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. ¹⁹The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. ²⁰Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. ²¹Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. ²²Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

 

 

Hebrews 10:1–10

¹The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. ²If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. ³But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, ⁴because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; ⁶with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. ⁷Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.' "

⁸First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). ⁹Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.