Monday, December 27

20But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.

21Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

22Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

23But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.

24And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,

25in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,

26and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

8And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

9Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen.

10And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

11Then they secretly induced men to say, 'We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.'

12And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council.

13They also set up false witnesses who said, 'This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law;

14for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.'

15And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

1Then the high priest said, 'Are these things so?'

2And he said, 'Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,

3and said to him, 'Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.'

4Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.

5And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.

6But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years.

7'And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,' said God, 'and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.'

8Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

9'And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him

10and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance.

12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

13And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh.

14Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people.

15So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers.

16And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

17'But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt

18till another king arose who did not know Joseph.

19This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live.

20At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father's house for three months.

21But when he was set out, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son.

22And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

23'Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.

24And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.

25For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.

26And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?'

27But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

28Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?'

29Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.

30'And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.

31When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him,

32saying, 'I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and dared not look.

33'Then the Lord said to him, 'Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

34I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.' '

35'This Moses whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

37'This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.'

38'This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,

39whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt,

40saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

41And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

42Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: 'Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.'

44'Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,

45which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David,

46who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob.

47But Solomon built Him a house.

48'However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

49'Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest?

50Has My hand not made all these things?'

51' You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

52Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,

46Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.

47And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!'

48Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!'

49So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.

50Then they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.' And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

51So Jesus answered and said to him, 'What do you want Me to do for you?'

52The blind man said to Him, 'Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Go your way; your faith has made you well.' And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

33'Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Jesus said to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.

34Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.

35And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

36Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.

37Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

38But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'

39So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40'Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?'

41They said to Him, 'He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.'

42Jesus said to them, 'Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes'?'