Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Proverbs 7

¹My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. ²Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. ³Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call understanding your kinsman; ⁵they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.

⁶At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. ⁷I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. ⁸He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house ⁹at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in.

¹⁰Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. ¹¹(She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; ¹²now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.) ¹³She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said:

¹⁴"I have fellowship offerings at home; today I fulfilled my vows. ¹⁵So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! ¹⁶I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. ¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. ¹⁸Come, let's drink deep of love till morning; let's enjoy ourselves with love! ¹⁹My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. ²⁰He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon."

²¹With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. ²²All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose ²³till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

²⁴Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. ²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. ²⁶Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. ²⁷Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.

 

 

Psalm 105

¹Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. ²Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. ³Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. ⁴Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. ⁵Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, ⁶O descendants of Abraham his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. ⁷He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. ⁸He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, ⁹the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. ¹⁰He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: ¹¹"To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit." ¹²When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, ¹³they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. ¹⁴He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: ¹⁵"Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm." ¹⁶He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; ¹⁷and he sent a man before them-- Joseph, sold as a slave. ¹⁸They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, ¹⁹till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the LORD proved him true. ²⁰The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. ²¹He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, ²²to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom. ²³Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham. ²⁴The LORD made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes, ²⁵whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants. ²⁶He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. ²⁷They performed his miraculous signs among them, his wonders in the land of Ham. ²⁸He sent darkness and made the land dark-- for had they not rebelled against his words? ²⁹He turned their waters into blood, causing their fish to die. ³⁰Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers. ³¹He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country. ³²He turned their rain into hail, with lightning throughout their land; ³³he struck down their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country. ³⁴He spoke, and the locusts came, grasshoppers without number; ³⁵they ate up every green thing in their land, ate up the produce of their soil. ³⁶Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their manhood. ³⁷He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold, and from among their tribes no one faltered. ³⁸Egypt was glad when they left, because dread of Israel had fallen on them. ³⁹He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night. ⁴⁰They asked, and he brought them quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹He opened the rock, and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert. ⁴²For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham. ⁴³He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy; ⁴⁴he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for-- ⁴⁵that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws. Praise the LORD.

 

 

Hebrews 10:19–31

¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

²⁶If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." ³¹It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.