Bible Readings for February 28, 2019

Today our passages are Leviticus 22:17–23:44; Mark 9:30–10:12; Psalm 44:1-8; and Proverbs 10:19. The readings are the Contemporary English Version. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal by using the link below.

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Leviticus 22:17-23:44 (Contemporary English Version)

Acceptable Sacrifices

 ¹⁷The LORD told Moses ¹⁸to tell Aaron and his sons and everyone else the rules for offering sacrifices. He said:    The animals that are to be completely burned on the altar ^19-20must have nothing wrong with them, or else I won't accept them. Bulls or rams or goats ^[a] are the animals to be used for these sacrifices. ²¹When you offer a sacrifice to ask my blessing, ^[b] there must be nothing wrong with the animal. This is true, whether the sacrifice is part of a promise or something you do voluntarily. ²²Don't offer an animal that is blind or injured or that has an infection or a skin disease. ²³If one of your cattle or lambs has a leg that is longer or shorter than the others, you may offer it voluntarily, but not as part of a promise. ²⁴As long as you live in this land, don't offer an animal with injured testicles. ²⁵And don't bring me animals you bought from a foreigner. I won't accept them, because they are no better than one that has something wrong with it. ²⁶The LORD told Moses to say:
    ²⁷Newborn cattle, sheep, or goats must remain with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day, you may send them up in smoke to me, and I will accept the offering. ²⁸Don't sacrifice a newborn animal and its mother on the same day.
    ²⁹When you offer a sacrifice to give thanks ^[c] to me, you must do it in a way that is acceptable. ³⁰Eat all of the meat that same day and don't save any for the next day. I am the LORD your God! ³¹Obey my laws and teachings--I am the LORD. ^32-33I demand respect from the people of Israel, so don't disgrace my holy name. Remember--I am the one who chose you to be priests and rescued all of you from Egypt, so that I would be your LORD.
    

Leviticus 23

Religious Festivals

 ¹The LORD told Moses ²to say to the community of Israel:    I have chosen certain times for you to come together and worship me.
    ³You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week is holy because it belongs to me. No matter where you live, you must rest on the Sabbath and come together for worship. This law will never change.
   The LORD said: 
    

Passover and the Festival of Thin Bread

(Numbers 28.16-25)

 ^4-5Passover is another time when you must come together to worship me, and it must be celebrated on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month ^[d] of each year. ⁶The Festival of Thin Bread begins on the fifteenth day of that same month; it lasts seven days, and during this time you must honor me by eating bread made without yeast. ⁷On the first day of this festival you must rest from your work and come together for worship. ⁸Each day of this festival you must offer sacrifices. Then on the final day you must once again rest from your work and come together for worship.     

Offering the First Part of the Harvest

 ⁹The LORD told Moses ¹⁰to say to the community of Israel:    After you enter the land I am giving you, the first bundle of wheat from each crop must be given to me. So bring it to a priest ¹¹on the day after the Sabbath. He will lift it up ^[e] in dedication to me, and I will accept you. ¹²You must also offer a sacrifice to please me. ^[f] So bring the priest a one-year-old lamb that has nothing wrong with it ¹³and four pounds of your finest flour mixed with olive oil. Then he will place these on the bronze altar and send them up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. Together with these, you must bring a quart of wine as a drink offering. ¹⁴I am your God, and I forbid you to eat any new grain or anything made from it until you have brought these offerings. This law will never change. The LORD said: 
    

The Harvest Festival

(Numbers 28.26-31)

 ¹⁵Seven weeks after you offer this bundle of grain, each family must bring another offering of new grain. ¹⁶Do this exactly fifty days later, which is the day following the seventh Sabbath. ¹⁷Bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up ^[g] in dedication to me. Each loaf is to be made with yeast and with four pounds of the finest flour from the first part of your harvest. ¹⁸At this same time, the entire community of Israel must bring seven lambs that are a year old, a young bull, and two rams. These animals must have nothing wrong with them, and they must be offered as a sacrifice to please me. ^[h] You must also offer the proper grain and wine sacrifices with each animal. ^[i] ¹⁹Offer a goat ^[j] as a sacrifice for sin, and two rams a year old as a sacrifice to ask my blessing. ^[k] ²⁰The priest will lift up ^[l] the rams together with the bread in dedication to me. These offerings are holy and are my gift to the priest. ²¹This is a day of celebration and worship, a time of rest from your work. You and your descendants must obey this law. ²²When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing around the edges of your fields and don't pick up what falls on the ground. Leave it for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the LORD your God!     

The Festival of Trumpets

(Numbers 29.1-6)

 ²³The LORD told Moses ^24-25to say to the people of Israel:    The first day of the seventh month ^[m] must be a day of complete rest. Then at the sound of the trumpets, you will come together to worship and to offer sacrifices on the altar. 

The Great Day of Forgiveness

(Numbers 29.7-11)

 ²⁶The LORD God said to Moses:     ²⁷The tenth day of the seventh month ^[n] is the Great Day of Forgiveness. ^[o] It is a solemn day of worship; everyone must go without eating to show sorrow for their sins, and sacrifices must be burned. ²⁸No one is to work on that day--it is the Great Day of Forgiveness, when sacrifices will be offered to me, so that I will forgive your sins. ²⁹I will destroy anyone who refuses to go without eating. ^30-31None of my people are ever to do any work on that day--not now or in the future. And I will wipe out those who do! ³²This is a time of complete rest just like the Sabbath, and everyone must go without eating from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth. 

The Festival of Shelters

(Numbers 29.12-40)

 ³³The LORD told Moses ³⁴to say to the community of Israel:    Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, ^[p]and continuing for seven days, everyone must celebrate the Festival of Shelters in honor of me. ³⁵No one is to do any work on the first day of the festival--it is a time when everyone must come together for worship. ³⁶For seven days, sacrifices must be offered on the altar. The eighth day is also to be a day of complete rest, as well as a time of offering sacrifices on the altar and of coming together for worship. ³⁷I have chosen these festivals as times when my people must come together for worship and when animals, grain, and wine are to be offered on the proper days. ³⁸These festivals must be celebrated in addition to the Sabbaths and the times when you offer special gifts or sacrifices to keep a promise or as a voluntary offering.
    ³⁹Remember to begin the Festival of Shelters on the fifteenth day of the seventh month after you have harvested your crops. Celebrate this festival for seven days in honor of me and don't do any work on the first day or on the day following the festival. ⁴⁰Pick the best fruit from your trees ^[q] and cut leafy branches to use during the time of this joyous celebration in my honor. ⁴¹I command you and all of your descendants to celebrate this festival during the seventh month of each year. ⁴²For seven days every Israelite must live in a shelter, ⁴³so future generations will know that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. ⁴⁴This is how Moses instructed the people of Israel to celebrate the LORD's festivals.
    

Footnotes:

1. Leviticus 22:19 goats: See the note at 1.1-3.
2. Leviticus 22:21 sacrifice to ask my blessing: See the note at 3.1.
3. Leviticus 22:29 sacrifice to give thanks: See 7.12.
4. Leviticus 23:4 first month: Abib (also called Nisan), the first month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-March to mid-April.
5. Leviticus 23:11 lift it up: See the note at 7.29,30.
6. Leviticus 23:12 sacrifice to please me: See the note at 1.1-3.
7. Leviticus 23:17 lifted up: See the note at 7.29,30.
8. Leviticus 23:18 sacrifice to please me: See the note at 1.1-3.
9. Leviticus 23:18 proper grain. . . animal: See Numbers 15.1-16.
10. Leviticus 23:19 goat: See the note at 1.1-3.
11. Leviticus 23:19 sacrifice to ask my blessing: See the note at 3.1.
12. Leviticus 23:20 lift up: See the note at 7.29,30.
13. Leviticus 23:24 seventh month: See the note at 16.29.
14. Leviticus 23:27 seventh month: See the note at 16.29.
15. Leviticus 23:27 Great Day of Forgiveness: See the note at 16.34.
16. Leviticus 23:34 seventh month: See the note at 16.29.
17. Leviticus 23:40 best fruit from your trees: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

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Mark 9:30-10:12 (Contemporary English Version)

Jesus Again Speaks about His Death

(Matthew 17.22,23; Luke 9.43b-45)

 ³⁰Jesus left with his disciples and started through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know about it, ³¹because he was teaching the disciples that the Son of Man would be handed over to people who would kill him. But three days later he would rise to life. ³²The disciples did not understand what Jesus meant, and they were afraid to ask.     

Who Is the Greatest?

(Matthew 18.1-5; Luke 9.46-48)

 ³³Jesus and his disciples went to his home in Capernaum. After they were inside the house, Jesus asked them, "What were you arguing about along the way?" ³⁴They had been arguing about which one of them was the greatest, and so they did not answer.     ³⁵After Jesus sat down and told the twelve disciples to gather around him, he said, "If you want the place of honor, you must become a slave and serve others!"
    ³⁶Then Jesus had a child stand near him. He put his arm around the child and said, ³⁷"When you welcome even a child because of me, you welcome me. And when you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me."     

For or against Jesus

(Luke 9.49,50)

 ³⁸John said, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to force demons out of people. But he wasn't one of us, and we told him to stop."     ³⁹Jesus said to his disciples:
   Don't stop him! No one who works miracles in my name will soon turn and say something bad about me. ⁴⁰Anyone who isn't against us is for us. ⁴¹And anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name, just because you belong to me, will surely be rewarded. 

Temptations To Sin

(Matthew 18.6-9; Luke 17.1,2)

 ⁴²It will be terrible for people who cause even one of my little followers to sin. Those people would be better off thrown into the ocean with a heavy stone tied around their necks. ^43-44So if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! You would be better off to go into life crippled than to have two hands and be thrown into the fires of hell that never go out. ^[a] ^45-46If your foot causes you to sin, chop it off. You would be better off to go into life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. ^[b] ⁴⁷If your eye causes you to sin, get rid of it. You would be better off to go into God's kingdom with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁸The worms there never die, and the fire never stops burning.     ⁴⁹Everyone must be salted with fire. ^[c]
    ⁵⁰Salt is good. But if it no longer tastes like salt, how can it be made salty again? Have salt among you and live at peace with each other. ^[d]
    

Mark 10

Teaching about Divorce

(Matthew 19.1-12; Luke 16.18)

 ¹After Jesus left, he went to Judea and then on to the other side of the Jordan River. Once again large crowds came to him, and as usual, he taught them.     ²Some Pharisees wanted to test Jesus. So they came up to him and asked if it was right for a man to divorce his wife. ³Jesus asked them, "What does the Law of Moses say about that?"
    ⁴They answered, "Moses allows a man to write out divorce papers and send his wife away."
    ⁵Jesus replied, "Moses gave you this law because you are so heartless. ⁶But in the beginning God made a man and a woman. ⁷That's why a man leaves his father and mother and gets married. ⁸He becomes like one person with his wife. Then they are no longer two people, but one. ⁹And no one should separate a couple that God has joined together."
    ¹⁰When Jesus and his disciples were back in the house, they asked him about what he had said. ¹¹He told them, "A man who divorces his wife and marries someone else is unfaithful to his wife. ¹²A woman who divorces her husband ^[e]and marries again is also unfaithful."
    

Footnotes:

1. Mark 9:43 never go out: Some manuscripts add, "The worms there never die, and the fire never stops burning."
2. Mark 9:45 thrown into hell: Some manuscripts add, "The worms there never die, and the fire never stops burning."
3. Mark 9:49 salted with fire: Some manuscripts add "and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt." The verse may mean that Christ's followers must suffer because of their faith.
4. Mark 9:50 Have salt among you and live at peace with each other: This may mean that when Christ's followers have to suffer because of their faith, they must still try to live at peace with each other.
5. Mark 10:12 A woman who divorces her husband: Roman law let a woman divorce her husband, but Jewish law did not let a woman do this.

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Psalm 44:1-8 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 44

(A special psalm for the people of Korah and for the music leader.)

A Prayer for Help

 ¹Our God, our ancestors told us    what wonders you worked
   and we listened carefully.
    ²You chased off the nations
   by causing them trouble
   with your powerful arm.
   Then you let our ancestors
   take over their land.
    ³Their strength and weapons
   were not
   what won the land
   and gave them victory!
   You loved them and fought
   with your powerful arm
   and your shining glory.
    ⁴You are my God and King,
   and you give victory ^[a] to the people of Jacob.
    ⁵By your great power,
   we knocked our enemies down
   and stomped on them.
    ⁶I don't depend on my arrows
   or my sword to save me.
    ⁷But you saved us
   from our hateful enemies,
   and you put them to shame.
    ⁸We boast about you, our God,
   and we are always grateful.
    

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 44:4 and. . . victory: One ancient translation; Hebrew " please give victory."

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Proverbs 10:19 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁹You will say the wrong thing
   if you talk too much--
   so be sensible and watch
   what you say.

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Verse of the Day

“God's Spirit doesn't make cowards out of us. The Spirit gives us power, love, and self-control.” - 2 Timothy 1:7 

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker, Marcel Pagnol wrote, “The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.”

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A Joke for Today

A truck driver was driving along on the freeway. A sign comes up that reads "Low bridge ahead!" Before he knows it, the bridge is right ahead of him and he gets stuck under the bridge. Cars are backed up for miles. 

Finally, a police car comes up. The cop gets out of his car and walks around to the truck driver, puts his hands on his hips and says, "Got stuck, huh?" 

The truck driver says, "No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas."

Bible Readings for February 3, 2014

Today our passages are Exodus 17:8–19:15; Matthew 22:34–23:12; Psalm 27:7-14; and Proverbs 6:27-35. The readings are from The Message  by Eugene H. Peterson.

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Exodus 17:8-19:15 (The Message)

^8-9 Amalek came and fought Israel at Rephidim. Moses ordered Joshua: "Select some men for us and go out and fight Amalek. Tomorrow I will take my stand on top of the hill holding God's staff."
 ^10-13 Joshua did what Moses ordered in order to fight Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. It turned out that whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel was winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek was winning. But Moses' hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down. Joshua defeated Amalek and its army in battle.
 ¹⁴ God said to Moses, "Write this up as a reminder to Joshua, to keep it before him, because I will most certainly wipe the very memory of Amalek off the face of the Earth."
 ^15-16 Moses built an altar and named it "God My Banner." He said,

   Salute God's rule!
   God at war with Amalek
   Always and forever!

Exodus 18

 ^1-4 Jethro, priest of Midian and father-in-law to Moses, heard the report of all that God had done for Moses and Israel his people, the news that God had delivered Israel from Egypt. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses' wife who had been sent back home, and her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (Sojourner) for he had said, "I'm a sojourner in a foreign land"; the name of the other was Eliezer (God's-Help) because "The God of my father is my help and saved me from death by Pharaoh."  ^5-6 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought Moses his sons and his wife there in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God. He had sent a message ahead to Moses: "I, your father-in-law, am coming to you with your wife and two sons."
 ^7-8 Moses went out to welcome his father-in-law. He bowed to him and kissed him. Each asked the other how things had been with him. Then they went into the tent. Moses told his father-in-law the story of all that God had done to Pharaoh and Egypt in helping Israel, all the trouble they had experienced on the journey, and how God had delivered them.
 ^9-11 Jethro was delighted in all the good that God had done for Israel in delivering them from Egyptian oppression. Jethro said, "Blessed be God who has delivered you from the power of Egypt and Pharaoh, who has delivered his people from the oppression of Egypt. Now I know that God is greater than all gods because he's done this to all those who treated Israel arrogantly."
 ¹² Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a Whole-Burnt-Offering and sacrifices to God. And Aaron, along with all the elders of Israel, came and ate the meal with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God.
 ^13-14 The next day Moses took his place to judge the people. People were standing before him all day long, from morning to night. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What's going on here? Why are you doing all this, and all by yourself, letting everybody line up before you from morning to night?"
 ^15-16 Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me with questions about God. When something comes up, they come to me. I judge between a man and his neighbor and teach them God's laws and instructions."
 ^17-23 Moses' father-in-law said, "This is no way to go about it. You'll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you—you can't do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men—men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible—and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They'll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They'll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they'll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you'll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also."
 ^24-27 Moses listened to the counsel of his father-in-law and did everything he said. Moses picked competent men from all Israel and set them as leaders over the people who were organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They took over the everyday work of judging among the people. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but in the routine cases they were the judges. Then Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law who went home to his own country.

Exodus 19

Mount Sinai

 ^1-2 Three months after leaving Egypt the Israelites entered the Wilderness of Sinai. They followed the route from Rephidim, arrived at the Wilderness of Sinai, and set up camp. Israel camped there facing the mountain.  ^3-6 As Moses went up to meet God, God called down to him from the mountain: "Speak to the House of Jacob, tell the People of Israel: 'You have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to me. If you will listen obediently to what I say and keep my covenant, out of all peoples you'll be my special treasure. The whole Earth is mine to choose from, but you're special: a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.'
   "This is what I want you to tell the People of Israel."
 ⁷ Moses came back and called the elders of Israel together and set before them all these words which God had commanded him.
 ⁸ The people were unanimous in their response: "Everything God says, we will do." Moses took the people's answer back to God.

⁹ God said to Moses, "Get ready. I'm about to come to you in a thick cloud so that the people can listen in and trust you completely when I speak with you." Again Moses reported the people's answer to God.
 ^10-13 God said to Moses, "Go to the people. For the next two days get these people ready to meet the Holy God. Have them scrub their clothes so that on the third day they'll be fully prepared, because on the third day God will come down on Mount Sinai and make his presence known to all the people. Post boundaries for the people all around, telling them, 'Warning! Don't climb the mountain. Don't even touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain dies—a certain death. And no one is to touch that person, he's to be stoned. That's right—stoned. Or shot with arrows, shot to death. Animal or man, whichever—put to death.'
   "A long blast from the horn will signal that it's safe to climb the mountain."
 ^14-15 Moses went down the mountain to the people and prepared them for the holy meeting. They gave their clothes a good scrubbing. Then he addressed the people: "Be ready in three days. Don't sleep with a woman."

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Matthew 22:34-23:12 (The Message)

The Most Important Command

 ^34-36When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?"

 ^37-40Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

David's Son and Master

 ^41-42As the Pharisees were regrouping, Jesus caught them off balance with his own test question: "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said, "David's son."

 ^43-45Jesus replied, "Well, if the Christ is David's son, how do you explain that David, under inspiration, named Christ his 'Master'?

   God said to my Master,
         "Sit here at my right hand
      until I make your enemies your footstool."
"Now if David calls him 'Master,' how can he at the same time be his son?"

 ⁴⁶That stumped them, literalists that they were. Unwilling to risk losing face again in one of these public verbal exchanges, they quit asking questions for good.

Matthew 23

Religious Fashion Shows

 ^1-3 Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer.

 ^4-7"Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.'

 ^8-10"Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.

 ^11-12"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

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Psalm 27:7-14 (The Message)

 ^7-9 Listen, God, I'm calling at the top of my lungs:
      "Be good to me! Answer me!"
   When my heart whispered, "Seek God,"
      my whole being replied,
   "I'm seeking him!"
      Don't hide from me now!

 ^9-10 You've always been right there for me;
      don't turn your back on me now.
   Don't throw me out, don't abandon me;
      you've always kept the door open.
   My father and mother walked out and left me,
      but God took me in.

 ^11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
      direct me along a well-lighted street;
      show my enemies whose side you're on.
   Don't throw me to the dogs,
      those liars who are out to get me,
      filling the air with their threats.

 ^13-14 I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness
      in the exuberant earth.
   Stay with God!
      Take heart. Don't quit.
   I'll say it again:
      Stay with God.

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Proverbs 6:27-35 (The Message)

 ^24-35 They'll protect you from wanton women,
   from the seductive talk of some temptress.
Don't lustfully fantasize on her beauty,
   nor be taken in by her bedroom eyes.
You can buy an hour with a whore for a loaf of bread,
   but a wanton woman may well eat you alive.
Can you build a fire in your lap
   and not burn your pants?
Can you walk barefoot on hot coals
   and not get blisters?
It's the same when you have sex with your neighbor's wife:
   Touch her and you'll pay for it. No excuses.
Hunger is no excuse
   for a thief to steal;
When he's caught he has to pay it back,
   even if he has to put his whole house in hock.
Adultery is a brainless act,
   soul-destroying, self-destructive;
Expect a bloody nose, a black eye,
   and a reputation ruined for good.
For jealousy detonates rage in a cheated husband;
   wild for revenge, he won't make allowances.
Nothing you say or pay will make it all right;
   neither bribes nor reason will satisfy him.

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Verse of the Day

“But I will sing about your strength, my God, and I will celebrate because of your love. You are my fortress, my place of protection in times of trouble.” - Psalm 59:16

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker, Marcel Pagnol wrote, “Honor is like a match, you can only use it once.”