Wednesday, August 16

4And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,

6who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,

8how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

9For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

10For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.

11For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

12giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

13He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

14in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

16For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

17And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

18And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

29'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

30and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'

31'Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

32Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.

33Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

34Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

35that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

36Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

37'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

38See! Your house is left to you desolate;

39for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' '

51Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,

52and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.

53But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.

54And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?'

55But He turned and rebuked them, and said, 'You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.

56For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them.' And they went to another village.

57Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, 'Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.'

58And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.'

59Then He said to another, 'Follow Me.'

60But he said, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.'

61And another also said, 'Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.'

62But Jesus said to him, 'No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'

1After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.

2Then He said to them, 'The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

3Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.

4Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.

5But whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house.'

6And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you.

7And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house.

8Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.

9And heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

10But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say,

11'The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.'

12But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city.

13'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

14But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

15And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.

16He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.'

17Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.'

18And He said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

19Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

20Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.'

21In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, 'I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.

22All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.'

23Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, 'Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see;

24for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.'