SEPTEMBER 22
PSALMS: 22, 52, 82, 112, 142
PROVERBS: 22
OLD TESTAMENT: AMOS 7:1 - 9:14
NEW TESTAMENT: REVELATION 3:7 - 22
PSALMS: 22
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me,
and from the words of my groaning?
2 My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don't answer;
In the night season, and am not silent.
3 But you are holy,
You who inhabit the praises of Yisra'el.
4 Our fathers trusted in you.
They trusted, and you delivered them.
5 They cried to you, and were delivered.
They trusted in you, and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see me mock me.
They insult me with their lips.
They shake their heads, saying,
8 "He trusts in the LORD; Let him deliver him;
Let him rescue him, since he delights in him."
9 But you brought me out of the womb.
You made me trust at my mother's breasts.
10 I was thrown on you from my mother's womb.
You are my God since my mother bore me.
11 Don't be far from me, for trouble is near.
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded me.
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
13 They open their mouths wide against me,
Lions tearing prey and roaring.
14 I am poured out like water.
All my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You have brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded me.
A company of evil-doers have enclosed me.
They pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all of my bones.
They look and stare at me.
18 They divide my garments among them.
They cast lots for my clothing.
19 But don't be far off, LORD.
You are my help: hurry to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion's mouth;
Yes, from the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me.
22 I will declare your name to my brothers.
In the midst of the assembly, will I praise you.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Ya`akov, glorify him!
Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Yisra'el!
24 For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,
Neither has he hid his face from him;
But when he cried to him, he heard.
25 Of you comes my praise in the great assembly.
I will pay my vows before those who fear him.
26 The humble shall eat and be satisfied.
They shall praise the LORD who seek after him.
Let your hearts live forever.
27 All the ends of the eretz shall remember and turn to the LORD.
All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD's.
He is the ruler over the nations.
29 All the rich ones of the eretz shall eat and worship.
All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him,
Even he who can't keep his soul alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him.
Future generations shall be told about the Lord.
31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, For he has done it.
PSALMS: 52
1 Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man?
God's loving kindness endures continually.
2 Your tongue plots destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 You love evil more than good,
Lying rather than speaking the truth.
Selah.
4 You love all devouring words,
You deceitful tongue.
5 God will likewise destroy you forever.
He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent,
And root you out of the land of the living.
Selah.
6 The righteous also will see it, and fear,
And laugh at him, saying,
7 "Behold, this is the man who didn't make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his wickedness."
8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God's house.
I trust in God's loving kindness forever and ever.
9 I will give you thanks forever, because you have done it.
I will hope in your name, for it is good,
In the presence of your holy ones.
PSALMS: 82
1 God presides in the great assembly.
He judges among the gods.
2 "How long will you judge unjustly,
And show partiality to the wicked?"
Selah.
3 "Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless.
Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and needy.
Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked."
5 They don't know, neither do they understand.
They walk back and forth in darkness.
All the foundations of the eretz are shaken.
6 I said, "You are gods,
All of you are sons of Ha`Elyon.
7 Nevertheless you shall die like men,
And fall like one of the rulers."
8 Arise, God, judge the eretz,
For you inherit all of the nations.
PSALMS: 112
1 Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
Who delights greatly in his mitzvot.
2 His seed will be mighty on eretz.
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house.
His righteousness endures forever.
4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright,
Gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends.
He will maintain his cause in judgment.
6 For he will never be shaken.
The righteous will be remembered forever.
7 He will not be afraid of evil news.
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is established.
He will not be afraid in the end when he sees his adversaries.
9 He has dispersed, he has given to the poor.
His righteousness endures forever.
His horn will be exalted with honor.
10 The wicked will see it, and be grieved.
He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away.
The desire of the wicked will perish.
PSALMS: 142
1 I cry with my voice to the LORD.
With my voice, I ask the LORD for mercy.
2 I pour out my complaint before him.
I tell him my troubles.
3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
You knew my path.
In the way in which I walk,
They have hidden a snare for me.
4 Look on my right, and see;
For there is no one who is concerned for me.
Refuge has fled from me.
No one cares for my soul.
5 I cried to you, the LORD.
I said, "You are my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living."
6 Listen to my cry,
For I am in desperate need.
Deliver me from my persecutors,
For they are stronger than me.
7 Bring my soul out of prison,
That I may give thanks to your name.
The righteous will surround me,
For you will be good to me.
PROVERBS: 22
1 A good name is more desirable than great riches;
Loving favor rather than silver and gold.
2 The rich and the poor have this in common:
The LORD is the maker of them all.
3 A prudent man sees danger, and hides himself;
But the simple pass on, and suffer for it.
4 The result of humility and the fear of the LORD
Is wealth, honor, and life.
5 Thorns and snares are in the path of the wicked:
Whoever guards his soul stays from them.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
7 The rich rules over the poor.
The borrower is servant to the lender.
8 He who sows wickedness reaps trouble,
And the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
9 He who has a generous eye will be blessed;
For he shares his food with the poor.
10 Drive out the mocker, and strife will go out;
Yes, quarrels and insults will stop.
11 He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully Is the king's friend.
12 The eyes of the LORD watch over knowledge;
But he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.
13 The sluggard says,
"There is a lion outside!
I will be killed in the streets!"
14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit:
He who is under the LORD's wrath will fall into it.
15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child:
The rod of discipline drives it far from him.
16 Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich,
Both come to poverty.
17 Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise.
Apply your heart to my teaching.
18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you,
If all of them are ready on your lips.
19 That your trust may be in the LORD,
I teach you today, even you.
20 Haven't I written to you thirty excellent things
Of counsel and knowledge,
21 To teach you truth, reliable words,
To give sound answers to the ones who sent you?
22 Don't exploit the poor, because he is poor;
And don't crush the needy in court;
23 For the LORD will plead their case,
And plunder the life of those who plunder them.
24 Don't befriend a hot-tempered man,
And don't associate with one who harbors anger:
25 Lest you learn his ways,
And ensnare your soul.
26 Don't you be one of those who strike hands,
Of those who are collateral for debts.
27 If you don't have means to pay,
Why should he take away your bed from under you?
28 Don't move the ancient boundary stone,
Which your fathers have set up.
29 Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will serve kings;
He won't serve obscure men.
OLD TESTAMENT: AMOS 7:1 - 9:14
7:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, behold, it was the latter growth after the king's harvest. 2 It happened that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, "Lord GOD, forgive, I beg you! How could Ya`akov stand? For he is small." 3 The LORD relented concerning this. "It shall not be," says the LORD. 4 Thus the Lord GOD showed me and, behold, the Lord GOD called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land. 5 Then I said, "Lord GOD, stop, I beg you! How could Ya`akov stand? For he is small." 6 The LORD relented concerning this. "This also shall not be," says the Lord GOD. 7 Thus he showed me and, behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 The LORD said to me, "`Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Yisra'el. I will not again pass by them any more. 9 The high places of Yitzchak will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Yisra'el will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Yarov`am with the sword." 10 Then Amatzyah the Kohen of Beit-El sent to Yarov`am king of Yisra'el, saying, "`Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Yisra'el. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For `Amos says, 'Yarov`am will die by the sword, and Yisra'el shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'" 12 Amatzyah also said to `Amos, "You seer, go, flee away into the land of Yehudah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13 but don't prophesy again any more at Beit-El; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house!" 14 Then `Amos answered Amatzyah, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore trees; 15 and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Yisra'el.' 16 Now therefore listen to the word of the LORD: 'You say, Don't prophesy against Yisra'el, and don't preach against the house of Yitzchak.'
17 Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Yisra'el shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'"
8:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, "`Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come on my people Yisra'el. I will not again pass by them any more.
3 The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day," says the Lord GOD. "The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence. 4 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, And cause the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Shabbat, that we may market wheat, Making the efah small, and the shekel large, And dealing falsely with balances of deceit; 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes, And sell the sweepings with the wheat?'" 7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Ya`akov, "Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Won't the land tremble for this, And everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; And it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Mitzrayim. 9 "It will happen in that day," says the Lord GOD, "That I will cause the sun to go down at noon, And I will darken the eretz in the clear day. 10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, And all your songs into lamentation; And I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, And baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, And the end of it like a bitter day. 11 Behold, the days come," says the Lord GOD, "That I will send a famine in the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 They will wander from sea to sea, And from the north even to the east; They will run back and forth to seek the word of the LORD, And will not find it. 13 In that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint for thirst. 14 Those who swear by the sin of Shomron, And say, 'As your god, Dan, lives;' And, 'As the way of Be'er-Sheva lives;' They will fall, and never rise up again."
9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, "Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape. 2 Though they dig into She'ol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down. 3 Though they hide themselves in the top of Karmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them. 4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good. 5 For the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Mitzrayim. 6 It is he who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the eretz; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the eretz; the LORD is his name. 7 Are you not like the children of the Kushim to me, children of Yisra'el?" says the LORD. "Haven't I brought up Yisra'el out of the land of Mitzrayim, and the Pelishtim from Kaftor, and the Aram from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the eretz; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Ya`akov," says the LORD. 9 "For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Yisra'el among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the eretz. 10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, 'Evil won't overtake nor meet us.' 11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name," says the LORD who does this. 13 "Behold, the days come," says the LORD, "That the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the one treading grapes him who sows seed; And sweet wine will drip from the mountains, And flow from the hills. 14 I will bring back the captivity of my people Yisra'el, And they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, And eat the fruit of them.
NEW TESTAMENT: REVELATION 3:7 - 22
3:7 "To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: "He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and that shuts and no one opens, says these things:
8 "I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn't deny my name.
9 Behold, I give of the synagogue of Hasatan, of those who say they are Yehudim, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 Because you kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the eretz.
11 I come quickly. Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown.
12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Yerushalayim, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
14 "To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: "The Amein, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God's creation, says these things:
15 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot.
16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.
17 Because you say, 'I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;' and don't know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.
19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.
21 He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies."
John 3:16-21 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, F that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. G 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." H
