Wednesday, April 19, 2023

 Proverbs 2

¹My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, ²turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, ³and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, ⁴and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, ⁵then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. ⁶For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. ⁷He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, ⁸for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

⁹Then you will understand what is right and just and fair--every good path. ¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. ¹¹Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

¹²Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, ¹³who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, ¹⁴who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, ¹⁵whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.

¹⁶It will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words, ¹⁷who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. ¹⁸For her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. ¹⁹None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. ²⁰Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous. ²¹For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; ²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

 

 

Psalm 98

¹A psalm. Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. ²The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. ³He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ⁴Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; ⁵make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, ⁶with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn-- shout for joy before the LORD, the King. ⁷Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. ⁸Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; ⁹let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

 

 

Hebrews 7:1–10

¹This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, ²and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "king of righteousness"; then also, "king of Salem" means "king of peace." ³Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.

⁴Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! ⁵Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people--that is, their brothers--even though their brothers are descended from Abraham. ⁶This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. ⁷And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater. ⁸In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. ⁹One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, ¹⁰because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.