Thursday, September 28

15But the righteous live forever, And their reward is with the Lord; And their care is by the Most High.

16Therefore they shall receive a kingly dwelling of dignity And a crown of beauty from the hand of the Lord, Because He will shelter them with His right hand And protect them with His arm.

17He will take His zeal as His full armor And will turn His creation into weapons against His enemies.

18He will wear righteousness as a breastplate And put on impartial judgment as a helmet.

19He will take holiness as an unconquerable shield

20And sharpen His relentless wrath for a sword; And creation will fight with Him against the senseless.

21Well-aimed flashes of lightning will strike And leap to their object as from a well-drawn bow of clouds;

22And hailstones full of anger will be hurled As from an engine of war. The water of the sea will be vexed with them, And the rivers will wash over them severely.

23A powerful wind will oppose them, And like a storm it will winnow them away. Lawlessness will lay waste all the earth, And wrongdoing will overturn the thrones of rulers.

1Listen therefore, O kings, and understand; Learn, O judges of the ends of the earth.

2Give ear, you that rule over multitudes, And take pride in yourself over a multitude of nations.

3For power was given to you from the Lord, And your lordship from the Most High, Who will make a careful search of your works And examine closely your plans.

1But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, And no torture will ever touch them.

2In the eyes of the undiscerning they seemed to have died, And their departure was considered to be misfortune,

3And their passage from us to be their destruction; But they are at peace.

4For though in man's view they were punished, Their hope is full of immortality.

5Though chastened in a few things, Great kindness will be shown them, For God tested them and found them worthy of Himself.

6He tested them like gold in a furnace And accepted them as a whole burnt offering.

7In the time of their visitation they will shine forth, And they will run about like sparks through straw.

8They will judge nations and rule over peoples, And the Lord shall reign over them unto the ages.

9Those who trust in Him will understand truth, And the faithful shall continue with Him in love, Because grace and mercy are upon His elect.

7But though a righteous man may die before his time, He shall be at rest.

8For old age is not honored for its length of existence, Nor measured by its number of years;

9But discernment is gray hair for mankind, And a spotless life is the maturity of old age.

10There was once a man pleasing to God and loved by Him, And while living among sinners he was taken up.

11He was caught up lest evil change his understanding Or deceit deceive his soul.

12For envy arising from lack of judgment obscures what is good, And a whirling of desire undermines an innocent heart.

13He was made perfect, For in a short time he fulfilled long years,

14For his soul was pleasing to the Lord; Therefore, He took him early from the midst of evil. Yet peoples saw this but did not understand, Nor take such a thing to heart,

15That the Lord's grace and mercy are with His elect And that He watches over His holy ones.

25Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

1And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.

2Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

3'Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

5Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

7Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

8Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

9Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.

10Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11'Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.

12Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ

16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

17This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

18having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

19who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

6For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

8We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—

10always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

11For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

12So then death is working in us, but life in you.

13And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak,

14knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.

15For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

12Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

13And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:

14Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew;

15Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;

16Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.

17And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases,

18as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed.

19And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

17And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases,

18as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed.

19And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

20'Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God.

21Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh.

22Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake.

23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.