Ezekiel 2
1 Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.”
2 The Spirit then came upon me, took me up, raised me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me.
3 So He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the house of Israel, to the ones provoking Me. They have provoked Me, they and their fathers, up to this very day.
4 Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord.’
5 Now then, if they listen or are put off—for they are a rebellious house—still they will know you are a prophet in their midst.
6 “But you, Son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be dismayed by their looks, for they will swarm and sting you, and crowd against you on every side. You will live in the midst of scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, for they are a house of provocation.
7 You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or are put off, because they are a house of provocation.
8 You, son of man, listen to the One who speaks to you. Do not be one who rebels like the house of provocation, but open your mouth wide, and eat what I give you.”
9 Then I looked, and behold, there was a hand reaching out to me, and the roll of a book was in it.†
10 He unrolled it before me, and there written on the inside and the outside were words of lamentation and mourning and woe.
Psalms 108
1 For the End; a psalm by David. †O God, do not pass over my praise in silence,
2 For the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful man opened against me; They spoke against me with a deceitful tongue;
3 And they surrounded me with words of hatred, And warred against me without cause.
4 Instead of loving me, they falsely accused me, But I continued to pray;
5 So they repaid me evil for good, And hatred for my love.
6 Set a sinner over him, And let the devil stand at his right hand.
7 And when he is judged, may he go forth condemned, And let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be very few, And may a different man receive his office;
9 Let his children be fatherless And his wife a widow;
10 Let his children wander about and be beggars; Let them be cast out of their houses.
11 Let the creditor search out whatever possessions he has; Let strangers plunder his labors;
12 Let there be no helper for him, Nor a compassionate one for his fatherless children;
13 Let his children be utterly destroyed; In a single generation, let his name be blotted out.
14 May the lawlessness of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, And may the sin of his mother not be blotted out;
15 Let them be continually before the Lord, And may the remembrance of them be utterly destroyed from the earth,
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy, But persecuted a poor and needy man, And one pierced to the heart, that he might kill him.
17 And he loved cursing, and it came to him, And he did not desire blessing, so it shall be far from him.
18 So he clothed himself with cursing like a garment, And it entered like water into his bowels And like oil into his bones;
19 Let it be for him like a garment that clothes him, And like a belt that girds him continually.
20 This is the work of those who falsely accuse me before the Lord, And of those who speak evil things against my soul.
Proverbs of Solomon 24
Issues of Life and Death
1 My son, do not envy evil men, Neither desire to be with them;
2 For their heart ponders a lie, And their lips speak of sufferings.
3 A house is built with wisdom, And it is built up with understanding.†
4 Storehouses are filled with perception From all honorable and good riches.
5 It is better to be a wise man of strength And a man having discernment, than to be a man who has a large estate.
6 War comes with the skill of a commander, But help comes with the heart of a counselor.
Hebrews 9
The Earthly Sanctuary and Liturgy
1 Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.
2 For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary;†
3 and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All,
4 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;†
5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.†
6 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. †
7 But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;
8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—
10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
The Heavenly Sanctuary and Liturgy
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.†
12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,
14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?†
The New Covenant: The Blood of Christ
15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.†
16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.
18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.
19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”
21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.†
22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
The New Worship Is Heavenly Reality
23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.†
24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—
26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.