Tuesday, 18 June

1.   "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2.   Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass. 3.   For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. 4.   He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. 5.   "They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation. 6.   Do you thus deal with the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you? 7.   "Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you: 8.   When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. 9.   For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. 10.   "He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. 11.   As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings, 12.   So the LORD alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him. 13.   "He made him ride in the heights of the earth, That he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock; 14.   Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs; And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the choicest wheat; And you drank wine, the blood of the grapes. 15.   "But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16.   They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods ; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. 17.   They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods , new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. 18.   Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you. 19.   "And when the LORD saw it , He spurned them , Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. 20.   And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be , For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith. 21.   They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation. 22.   For a fire is kindled by my anger, And shall burn to the lowest hell; It shall consume the earth with her increase, And set on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23.   ‘I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them. 24.   They shall be wasted with hunger, Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction; I will also send against them the teeth of beasts, With the poison of serpents of the dust. 25.   The sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within For the young man and virgin, The nursing child with the man of gray hairs. 26.   I would have said, "I will dash them in pieces, I will make the memory of them to cease from among men," 27.   Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misunderstand, Lest they should say, "Our hand is high; And it is not the LORD who has done all this."’ 28.   "For they are a nation void of counsel, Nor is there any understanding in them. 29.   Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end! 30.   How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had surrendered them? 31.   For their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges. 32.   For their vine is of the vine of Sodom And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter. 33.   Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of cobras. 34.   ‘ Is this not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up among My treasures? 35.   Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.’ 36.   "For the LORD will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining , bond or free. 37.   He will say: ‘Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge? 38.   Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise and help you, And be your refuge. 39.   ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. 40.   For I raise My hand to heaven, And say, " As I live forever, 41.   If I whet My glittering sword, And My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, And repay those who hate Me. 42.   I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the heads of the leaders of the enemy."’ 43.   "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people."

1.   The burden against Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste And destroyed, Because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste And destroyed, 2.   He has gone up to the temple and Dibon, To the high places to weep. Moab will wail over Nebo and over Medeba; On all their heads will be baldness, And every beard cut off. 3.   In their streets they will clothe themselves with sackcloth; On the tops of their houses And in their streets Everyone will wail, weeping bitterly. 4.   Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out, Their voice shall be heard as far as Jahaz; Therefore the armed soldiers of Moab will cry out; His life will be burdensome to him. 5.   "My heart will cry out for Moab; His fugitives shall flee to Zoar, Like a three–year–old heifer. For by the Ascent of Luhith They will go up with weeping; For in the way of Horonaim They will raise up a cry of destruction, 6.   For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate, For the green grass has withered away; The grass fails, there is nothing green. 7.   Therefore the abundance they have gained, And what they have laid up, They will carry away to the Brook of the Willows. 8.   For the cry has gone all around the borders of Moab, Its wailing to Eglaim And its wailing to Beer Elim. 9.   For the waters of Dimon will be full of blood; Because I will bring more upon Dimon, Lions upon him who escapes from Moab, And on the remnant of the land."

1.   Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela to the wilderness, To the mount of the daughter of Zion. 2.   For it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest; So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. 3.   "Take counsel, execute judgment; Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day; Hide the outcasts, Do not betray him who escapes. 4.   Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab; Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, Devastation ceases, The oppressors are consumed out of the land. 5.   In mercy the throne will be established; And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, Judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness." 6.   We have heard of the pride of Moab–– He is very proud––Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath; But his lies shall not be so. 7.   Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab; Everyone shall wail. For the foundations of Kir Hareseth you shall mourn; Surely they are stricken. 8.   For the fields of Heshbon languish, And the vine of Sibmah; The lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants, Which have reached to Jazer And wandered through the wilderness. Her branches are stretched out, They are gone over the sea. 9.   Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah, With the weeping of Jazer; I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; For battle cries have fallen Over your summer fruits and your harvest. 10.   Gladness is taken away, And joy from the plentiful field; In the vineyards there will be no singing, Nor will there be shouting; No treaders will tread out wine in the presses; I have made their shouting cease. 11.   Therefore my heart shall resound like a harp for Moab, And my inner being for Kir Heres. 12.   And it shall come to pass, When it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, That he will come to his sanctuary to pray; But he will not prevail. 13.   This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning Moab since that time. 14.   But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble."

1.   Then He began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it , dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 2.   "Now at vintage–time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. 3.   "And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty–handed. 4.   "Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 5.   "And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. 6.   "Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7.   "But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8.   "So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. 9.   "Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others. 10.   "Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. 11.   This was the LORD’S doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?" 12.   And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away. 13.   Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. 14.   When they had come, they said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15.   "Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?" But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it ." 16.   So they brought it . And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar’s." 17.   And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." And they marveled at Him. 18.   Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying: 19.   "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 20.   "Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring. 21.   "And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring. And the third likewise. 22.   "So the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also. 23.   "Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife." 24.   Jesus answered and said to them, "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25.   "For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26.   "But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage , how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27.   "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken."