Baramhat 9, 1741

¹I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, ²with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, ³endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. ⁷But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. ⁸Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men." ⁹(Now this, "He ascended"--what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) ¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 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.

²And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. ⁴For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ⁵and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; ⁷and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked ⁸(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)--

¹And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment. ²So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. ³And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care.

⁶I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God; Incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech.

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." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." ⁶⁰Jesus 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."

Genesis 28

¹⁰Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. ¹²Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. ¹⁴Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ¹⁵Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." ¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." ¹⁷And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!" ¹⁸Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. ²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, ²¹so that I come back to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. ²²And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You."

Isaiah 25

¹O LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. ²For You have made a city a ruin, A fortified city a ruin, A palace of foreigners to be a city no more; It will never be rebuilt. ³Therefore the strong people will glorify You; The city of the terrible nations will fear You. ⁴For You have been a strength to the poor, A strength to the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, A shade from the heat; For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. ⁵You will reduce the noise of aliens, As heat in a dry place; As heat in the shadow of a cloud, The song of the terrible ones will be diminished. ⁶And in this mountain The LORD of hosts will make for all people A feast of choice pieces, A feast of wines on the lees, Of fat things full of marrow, Of well-refined wines on the lees. ⁷And He will destroy on this mountain The surface of the covering cast over all people, And the veil that is spread over all nations. ⁸He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. ⁹And it will be said in that day: "Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." ¹⁰For on this mountain the hand of the LORD will rest, And Moab shall be trampled down under Him, As straw is trampled down for the refuse heap. ¹¹And He will spread out His hands in their midst As a swimmer reaches out to swim, And He will bring down their pride Together with the trickery of their hands. ¹²The fortress of the high fort of your walls He will bring down, lay low, And bring to the ground, down to the dust.

Isaiah 26

¹In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks. ²Open the gates, That the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. ³You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. ⁴Trust in the LORD forever, For in Yah, the LORD, is everlasting strength. ⁵For He brings down those who dwell on high, The lofty city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He brings it down to the dust. ⁶The foot shall tread it down-- The feet of the poor And the steps of the needy." ⁷The way of the just is uprightness; O Most Upright, You weigh the path of the just. ⁸Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O LORD, we have waited for You; The desire of our soul is for Your name And for the remembrance of You.

Job 18

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: ²"How long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak. ³Why are we counted as beasts, And regarded as stupid in your sight? ⁴You who tear yourself in anger, Shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place? ⁵"The light of the wicked indeed goes out, And the flame of his fire does not shine. ⁶The light is dark in his tent, And his lamp beside him is put out. ⁷The steps of his strength are shortened, And his own counsel casts him down. ⁸For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walks into a snare. ⁹The net takes him by the heel, And a snare lays hold of him. ¹⁰A noose is hidden for him on the ground, And a trap for him in the road. ¹¹Terrors frighten him on every side, And drive him to his feet. ¹²His strength is starved, And destruction is ready at his side. ¹³It devours patches of his skin; The firstborn of death devours his limbs. ¹⁴He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, And they parade him before the king of terrors. ¹⁵They dwell in his tent who are none of his; Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. ¹⁶His roots are dried out below, And his branch withers above. ¹⁷The memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name among the renowned. ¹⁸He is driven from light into darkness, And chased out of the world. ¹⁹He has neither son nor posterity among his people, Nor any remaining in his dwellings. ²⁰Those in the west are astonished at his day, As those in the east are frightened. ²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God."