Isaiah 55
1 “You who are thirsty, go to the water, and all who have no money, go and buy wine and fat, and eat and drink without money and price.
2 Why do you value at the price of money, and give your toil for what does not satisfy? Listen to Me and eat good things, and your soul will delight in good things.
bookmarked3 Incline your ears and follow my ways. Listen to Me, and your soul shall live in good things; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the holy and faithful things of David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness among the Gentiles, a ruler and commander to the Gentiles.
5 The Gentiles, which did not know you, shall call upon you, and the peoples who did not understand you shall take refuge in you, because of your God, the Holy One of Israel; for He glorified you.”
6 Seek God, and when you find Him, call upon Him when He draws near to you.
7 Let the ungodly man abandon his ways, and the lawless man his counsels; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; for He shall forgive your sins abundantly.
8 “For My counsels are not as your counsels, neither are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.†
9 “But as heaven is distant from earth, so is My way distant from your ways, and your thoughts from My mind.
10 For as rain comes down, or snow from heaven, and does not return until it saturates the earth, and it brings forth and produces, and gives seed to the sower and bread for food,†
11 so shall My word be, whatever proceeds from My mouth. It shall not return until it accomplishes whatever I willed, and I shall prosper your ways and My commandments.
12 For you shall go forth with gladness and shall be taught with joy, for the mountains and hills shall exult to receive you with joy; and all the trees of the field shall applaud with their branches.
13 Instead of the broom-tree shall come up the cypress, and instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle; and the Lord shall be for a name and for an everlasting sign, and He shall not fail.”
Psalms 97
1 A psalm by David. †Sing a new song to the Lord, For He did wondrous things; His right hand and His holy arm Saved peoples for Him.
2 The Lord made known His salvation; He revealed His righteousness in the sight of the Gentiles.
3 He remembered His mercy to Jacob And His truth to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth saw the salvation of our God.
4 Shout aloud to God, all the earth; Sing and greatly rejoice, and sing psalms;
5 Sing to the Lord on a lyre, On a lyre and with the voice of a psalm;
6 With trumpets of metal and the sound of a trumpet of horn, Shout aloud before the Lord our King.
7 Let the sea be shaken and its fullness, The world and those who dwell in it.
8 The rivers shall clap their hands together; The mountains shall greatly rejoice;
9 For He comes to judge the earth; He shall judge the world in righteousness And the peoples with uprightness.
Psalms 98
1 A psalm by David. †The Lord reigns; let the peoples be angry; The Lord sits upon the cherubim; let the earth be shaken.
2 The Lord is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the peoples;
3 Let them give thanks to Your great name, For it is fearful and holy.
4 The King’s honor loves judgment; You prepare uprightness; You work judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Exalt the Lord our God, And worship at the footstool of His feet; For He is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron are among His priests, And Samuel is among those who call upon His name; They called upon the Lord, and He heard them;
7 He spoke to them in a pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the ordinances He gave them.
8 O Lord our God, You listened to them; O God, You were very merciful to them, While avenging all their ways of living.
9 Exalt the Lord our God And worship at His holy mountain; For the Lord our God is holy.
Proverbs of Solomon 21
6 Destruction shall entertain the ungodly, For they are not willing to do righteous things.†
7 To the crooked, God sends crooked ways, For His works are pure and upright.
8 It is better to dwell in a corner in the open air Than with wrongdoing in plastered rooms and in a shared house.
9 The soul of the ungodly will not be shown mercy by anyone among men.
10 When the intemperate man is punished, the simple man becomes more astute, And a wise man of understanding shall receive knowledge.†
1 Timothy 5
General Pastoral Care
1 Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers,
2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.
Care for Widows
3 Honor widows who are really widows.†
4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God.
5 Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
6 But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.
7 And these things command, that they may be blameless.
8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9 Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man,
10 well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.
11 But refuse the younger widows; for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry,
12 having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith.
13 And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
14 Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
15 For some have already turned aside after Satan.
16 If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows.
Care for Elders
17 Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.
18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”†
19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses.
20 Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.
21 I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.
22 Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.
23 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.†
24 Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later.
25 Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden.