Bible Readings for August 19, 2014

Today our passages are Esther 4:1–7:10; 1 Corinthians 12:1-26; Psalm 36:1-12; and Proverbs 21:21-22. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. If you missed a day, you can find all the readings at our blog, The Bible in a Year.

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Esther 4-7:10 (The Message)

Esther 4

 ^1-3 When Mordecai learned what had been done, he ripped his clothes to shreds and put on sackcloth and ashes. Then he went out in the streets of the city crying out in loud and bitter cries. He came only as far as the King's Gate, for no one dressed in sackcloth was allowed to enter the King's Gate. As the king's order was posted in every province, there was loud lament among the Jews—fasting, weeping, wailing. And most of them stretched out on sackcloth and ashes.  ^4-8 Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her. The queen was stunned. She sent fresh clothes to Mordecai so he could take off his sackcloth but he wouldn't accept them. Esther called for Hathach, one of the royal eunuchs whom the king had assigned to wait on her, and told him to go to Mordecai and get the full story of what was happening. So Hathach went to Mordecai in the town square in front of the King's Gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him. He also told him the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to deposit in the royal bank to finance the massacre of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the bulletin that had been posted in Susa ordering the massacre so he could show it to Esther when he reported back with instructions to go to the king and intercede and plead with him for her people.
 ^9-11 Hathach came back and told Esther everything Mordecai had said. Esther talked it over with Hathach and then sent him back to Mordecai with this message: "Everyone who works for the king here, and even the people out in the provinces, knows that there is a single fate for every man or woman who approaches the king without being invited: death. The one exception is if the king extends his gold scepter; then he or she may live. And it's been thirty days now since I've been invited to come to the king."
 ^12-14 When Hathach told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai sent her this message: "Don't think that just because you live in the king's house you're the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this."
 ^15-16 Esther sent back her answer to Mordecai: "Go and get all the Jews living in Susa together. Fast for me. Don't eat or drink for three days, either day or night. I and my maids will fast with you. If you will do this, I'll go to the king, even though it's forbidden. If I die, I die."
 ¹⁷ Mordecai left and carried out Esther's instructions.

Esther 5

 ^1-3 Three days later Esther dressed in her royal robes and took up a position in the inner court of the palace in front of the king's throne room. The king was on his throne facing the entrance. When he noticed Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased to see her; the king extended the gold scepter in his hand. Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. The king asked, "And what's your desire, Queen Esther? What do you want? Ask and it's yours—even if it's half my kingdom!"  ⁴ "If it please the king," said Esther, "let the king come with Haman to a dinner I've prepared for him."
 ^5-6"Get Haman at once," said the king, "so we can go to dinner with Esther."
    So the king and Haman joined Esther at the dinner she had arranged. As they were drinking the wine, the king said, "Now, what is it you want? Half of my kingdom isn't too much to ask! Just ask."
 ^7-8 Esther answered, "Here's what I want. If the king favors me and is pleased to do what I desire and ask, let the king and Haman come again tomorrow to the dinner that I will fix for them. Then I'll give a straight answer to the king's question."

^9-13 Haman left the palace that day happy, beaming. And then he saw Mordecai sitting at the King's Gate ignoring him, oblivious to him. Haman was furious with Mordecai. But he held himself in and went on home. He got his friends together with his wife Zeresh and started bragging about how much money he had, his many sons, all the times the king had honored him, and his promotion to the highest position in the government. "On top of all that," Haman continued, "Queen Esther invited me to a private dinner she gave for the king, just the three of us. And she's invited me to another one tomorrow. But I can't enjoy any of it when I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King's Gate."
 ¹⁴ His wife Zeresh and all his friends said, "Build a gallows seventy-five feet high. First thing in the morning speak with the king; get him to order Mordecai hanged on it. Then happily go with the king to dinner."
    Haman liked that. He had the gallows built.

Esther 6

 ^1-2 That night the king couldn't sleep. He ordered the record book, the day-by-day journal of events, to be brought and read to him. They came across the story there about the time that Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh—the two royal eunuchs who guarded the entrance and who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.  ³ The king asked, "What great honor was given to Mordecai for this?"
    "Nothing," replied the king's servants who were in attendance. "Nothing has been done for him."
 ⁴ The king said, "Is there anybody out in the court?"
    Now Haman had just come into the outer court of the king's palace to talk to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had built for him.
 ⁵ The king's servants said, "Haman is out there, waiting in the court."
    "Bring him in," said the king.
 ^6-9 When Haman entered, the king said, "What would be appropriate for the man the king especially wants to honor?"
    Haman thought to himself, "He must be talking about honoring me— who else?" So he answered the king, "For the man the king delights to honor, do this: Bring a royal robe that the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crown on its head. Then give the robe and the horse to one of the king's most noble princes. Have him robe the man whom the king especially wants to honor; have the prince lead him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him, 'This is what is done for the man whom the king especially wants to honor!'"
 ¹⁰ "Go and do it," the king said to Haman. "Don't waste another minute. Take the robe and horse and do what you have proposed to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the King's Gate. Don't leave out a single detail of your plan."
 ¹¹ So Haman took the robe and horse; he robed Mordecai and led him through the city square, proclaiming before him, "This is what is done for the man whom the king especially wants to honor!"
 ^12-13 Then Mordecai returned to the King's Gate, but Haman fled to his house, thoroughly mortified, hiding his face. When Haman had finished telling his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his knowledgeable friends who were there and his wife Zeresh said, "If this Mordecai is in fact a Jew, your bad luck has only begun. You don't stand a chance against him—you're as good as ruined."
 ¹⁴ While they were still talking, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman off to the dinner that Esther had prepared.

Esther 7

 ^1-2 So the king and Haman went to dinner with Queen Esther. At this second dinner, while they were drinking wine the king again asked, "Queen Esther, what would you like? Half of my kingdom! Just ask and it's yours."  ³ Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor in your eyes, O King, and if it please the king, give me my life, and give my people their lives.
 ⁴ "We've been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed—sold to be massacred, eliminated. If we had just been sold off into slavery, I wouldn't even have brought it up; our troubles wouldn't have been worth bothering the king over."
 ⁵ King Xerxes exploded, "Who? Where is he? This is monstrous!"
 ⁶ "An enemy. An adversary. This evil Haman," said Esther.
    Haman was terror-stricken before the king and queen.
 ^7-8 The king, raging, left his wine and stalked out into the palace garden.
    Haman stood there pleading with Queen Esther for his life—he could see that the king was finished with him and that he was doomed. As the king came back from the palace garden into the banquet hall, Haman was groveling at the couch on which Esther reclined. The king roared out, "Will he even molest the queen while I'm just around the corner?"
    When that word left the king's mouth, all the blood drained from Haman's face.
 ⁹ Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, spoke up: "Look over there! There's the gallows that Haman had built for Mordecai, who saved the king's life. It's right next to Haman's house—seventy-five feet high!"
    The king said, "Hang him on it!"
 ¹⁰ So Haman was hanged on the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai. And the king's hot anger cooled.

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1 Corinthians 12:1-26 (The Message)

1 Corinthians 12

Spiritual Gifts

 ^1-3 What I want to talk about now is the various ways God's Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often mis-understood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn't know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It's different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say "Jesus be damned!" Nor would anyone be inclined to say "Jesus is Master!" without the insight of the Holy Spirit.  ^4-11God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:
   wise counsel
   clear understanding
   simple trust
   healing the sick
   miraculous acts
   proclamation
   distinguishing between spirits
   tongues
   interpretation of tongues.
   All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.
 ^12-13You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.
 ^14-18I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.
 ^19-24But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?
 ^25-26The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

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Psalm 36:1-12 (The Message)

Psalm 36

A David Psalm

 ^1-4 The God-rebel tunes in to sedition— all ears, eager to sin.
   He has no regard for God,
      he stands insolent before him.
   He has smooth-talked himself
      into believing
   That his evil
      will never be noticed.
   Words gutter from his mouth,
      dishwater dirty.
   Can't remember when he
      did anything decent.
   Every time he goes to bed,
      he fathers another evil plot.
   When he's loose on the streets,
      nobody's safe.
   He plays with fire
      and doesn't care who gets burned.

 ^5-6 God's love is meteoric,
      his loyalty astronomic,
   His purpose titanic,
      his verdicts oceanic.
   Yet in his largeness
      nothing gets lost;
   Not a man, not a mouse,
      slips through the cracks.

 ^7-9 How exquisite your love, O God!
      How eager we are to run under your wings,
   To eat our fill at the banquet you spread
      as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.
   You're a fountain of cascading light,
      and you open our eyes to light.

 ^10-12 Keep on loving your friends;
      do your work in welcoming hearts.
   Don't let the bullies kick me around,
      the moral midgets slap me down.
   Send the upstarts sprawling
      flat on their faces in the mud.

 

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Proverbs 21:21-22 (The Message)

 ²¹ Whoever goes hunting for what is right and kind
   finds life itself—glorious life!

 ²² One sage entered a whole city of armed soldiers—
   their trusted defenses fell to pieces!

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Verse of the Day

“And so, if we have God's Son, we have this life. But if we don't have the Son, we don't have this life.” - 1 John 5:12

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

 

American singer-songwriter, musician and composer, Ray Charles wrote, “What is a soul? It’s like electricity–we don’t really know what it is, but it’s a force that can light a room.”

Bible Readings for September 23, 2013

Today our passages are Isaiah  41:17–43:13; Ephesians 2:1-22; Psalm 67:1-7; and Proverbs 23:29-35. The readings are the Contemporary English Version.

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Isaiah 41:17-43:13 (Contemporary English Version)

The LORD Helps the Poor

 ¹⁷When the poor and needy    are dying of thirst
   and cannot find water,
   I, the LORD God of Israel,
   will come to their rescue.
   I won't forget them.
    ¹⁸I will make rivers flow
   on mountain peaks.
   I will send streams
   to fill the valleys.
   Dry and barren land
   will flow with springs
   and become a lake.
    ¹⁹I will fill the desert
   with all kinds of trees--
   cedars, acacias, and myrtles;
   olive and cypress trees;
   fir trees and pines.
    ²⁰Everyone will see this
   and know that I,
   the holy LORD God of Israel,
   created it all.
   

Idols Are Useless

 ²¹I am the LORD,    the King of Israel!
   Come argue your case with me.
   Present your evidence.
    ²²Come near me, you idols. ^[a] Tell us about the past,
   and we will think about it.
   Tell us about the future,
   so we will know
   what is going to happen.
    ²³Prove that you are gods
   by making your predictions
   come true.
   Do something good or evil,
   so we can be amazed
   and terrified. ^{[b] 24}You idols are nothing,
   and you are powerless. ^[c] To worship you
   would be disgusting.
    ²⁵I, the LORD, appointed a ruler
   in the north;
   now he comes from the east
   to honor my name.
   He tramples ^[d] kings like mud, as potters trample clay. ^{[e] 26}Did any of you idols predict
   what would happen?
   Did any of you get it right?
   None of you told about this
   or even spoke a word.
    ²⁷I was the first to tell
   the people of Jerusalem,
   "Look, it's happening!" ^[f] I was the one who announced
   this good news to Zion.
    ²⁸None of these idols
   are able to give advice
   or answer questions.
    ²⁹They are nothing, ^[g] and they can do nothing--
   they are less
   than a passing breeze.
   

Isaiah 42

The LORD's Servant

 ¹Here is my servant!    I have made him strong.
   He is my chosen one;
   I am pleased with him.
   I have given him my Spirit,
   and he will bring justice
   to the nations.
    ²He won't shout or yell
   or call out in the streets.
    ³He won't break off a bent reed
   or put out a dying flame,
   but he will make sure
   that justice is done.
    ⁴He won't quit or give up
   until he brings justice
   everywhere on earth,
   and people in foreign nations
   long for his teaching.
    ⁵I am the LORD God.
   I created the heavens
   like an open tent above.
   I made the earth and everything
   that grows on it.
   I am the source of life
   for all who live on this earth,
   so listen to what I say.
    ⁶I chose you to bring justice,
   and I am here at your side.
   I selected and sent you ^[h] to bring light
   and my promise of hope
   to the nations.
    ⁷You will give sight
   to the blind;
   you will set prisoners free
   from dark dungeons.
    ⁸My name is the LORD!
   I won't let idols or humans
   share my glory and praise.
    ⁹Everything has happened
   just as I said it would;
   now I will announce
   what will happen next.
   

Sing Praises to the LORD

 ¹⁰Tell the whole world to sing    a new song to the LORD!
   Tell those who sail the ocean
   and those who live far away
   to join in the praise.
    ¹¹Tell the tribes of the desert
   and everyone in the mountains ^[i] to celebrate and sing.
    ¹²Let them announce
   his praises everywhere.
    ¹³The LORD is marching out
   like an angry soldier,
   shouting with all his might
   while attacking his enemies.
   

The LORD Will Help His People

 ¹⁴For a long time, I, the LORD,    have held my temper;
   now I will scream and groan
   like a woman giving birth.
    ¹⁵I will destroy the mountains
   and what grows on them;
   I will dry up rivers and ponds.
    ¹⁶I will lead the blind on roads
   they have never known;
   I will guide them on paths
   they have never traveled.
   Their road is dark and rough,
   but I will give light
   to keep them from stumbling.
   This is my solemn promise.
    ¹⁷Everyone who worships idols
   as though they were gods
   will be terribly ashamed.
   

God's People Won't Obey

 ¹⁸You people are deaf and blind,    but the LORD commands you
   to listen and to see.
    ¹⁹No one is as blind or deaf
   as his messenger,
   his chosen servant,
    ²⁰who sees and hears so much,
   but pays no attention.
    ²¹The LORD always does right,
   and so he wanted his Law
   to be greatly praised. ^{[j] 22}But his people were trapped
   and imprisoned in holes
   with no one to rescue them.
   All they owned had been taken,
   and no one was willing
   to give it back.
    ²³Why won't his people
   ever learn to listen?
    ²⁴Israel sinned and refused
   to obey the LORD
   or follow his instructions.
   So the LORD let them be robbed
   of everything they owned.
    ²⁵He was furious with them
   and punished their nation
   with the fires of war.
   Still they paid no attention.
   They didn't even care
   when they were surrounded
   and scorched by flames.
   

Isaiah 43

The LORD Has Rescued His People

 ¹Descendants of Jacob,    I, the LORD, created you
   and formed your nation.
   Israel, don't be afraid.
   I have rescued you.
   I have called you by name;
   now you belong to me.
    ²When you cross deep rivers,
   I will be with you,
   and you won't drown.
   When you walk through fire,
   you won't be burned
   or scorched by the flames.
    ³I am the LORD, your God,
   the Holy One of Israel,
   the God who saves you.
   I gave up Egypt, Ethiopia, ^[k] and the region of Seba ^[l] in exchange for you.
    ⁴To me, you are very dear,
   and I love you.
   That's why I gave up nations
   and people to rescue you.
    ⁵Don't be afraid! I am with you.
   From both east and west
   I will bring you together.
    ⁶I will say to the north
   and to the south,
   "Free my sons and daughters!
   Let them return
   from distant lands.
    ⁷They are my people--
   I created each of them
   to bring honor to me."
   
   

The LORD Alone Is God

The LORD said:

 ⁸Bring my people together.    They have eyes and ears,
   but they can't see or hear.
    ⁹Tell everyone of every nation
   to gather around.
   None of them can honestly say,
   "We told you so!"
   If someone heard them say this,
   then tell us about it now.
    ¹⁰My people, you are my witnesses
   and my chosen servant.
   I want you to know me,
   to trust me,
   and understand
   that I alone am God.
   I have always been God;
   there can be no others.
    ¹¹I alone am the LORD;
   only I can rescue you.
    ¹²I promised to save you,
   and I kept my promise.
   You are my witnesses
   that no other god did this.
   I, the LORD, have spoken.
    ¹³I am God now and forever.
   No one can snatch you from me
   or stand in my way.
   

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 41:22 Come near. . . idols: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
2. Isaiah 41:23 and terrified: Or "when we see it."
3. Isaiah 41:24 powerless: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
4. Isaiah 41:25 tramples: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
5. Isaiah 41:25 trample clay: This was done to soften the clay and make it easier to shape.
6. Isaiah 41:27 Look. . . happening: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
7. Isaiah 41:29 nothing: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
8. Isaiah 42:6 I selected. . . you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
9. Isaiah 42:11 desert. . . mountains: The Hebrew text includes the place names of Kedar in the desert and Sela in the mountains.
10. Isaiah 42:21 greatly praised: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 21.
11. Isaiah 43:3 Ethiopia: See the note at 11.11.
12. Isaiah 43:3 Seba: A region in southwest Arabia. Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba probably stood for all that was known of Africa in biblical times.

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Ephesians 2:1-22 (Contemporary English Version)

Ephesians 2

From Death to Life

 ¹In the past you were dead because you sinned and fought against God. ²You followed the ways of this world and obeyed the devil. He rules the world, and his spirit has power over everyone who doesn't obey God. ³Once we were also ruled by the selfish desires of our bodies and minds. We had made God angry, and we were going to be punished like everyone else.     ^4-5But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ, and God's wonderful kindness is what saves you. ⁶God raised us from death to life with Christ Jesus, and he has given us a place beside Christ in heaven. ⁷God did this so that in the future world he could show how truly good and kind he is to us because of what Christ Jesus has done. ⁸You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. ^[a] This is God's gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. ⁹It isn't something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about. ¹⁰God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. That's why he sent Christ to make us what we are.

United by Christ

 ¹¹Don't forget that you are Gentiles. In fact, you used to be called "uncircumcised" by those who take pride in being circumcised. ¹²At that time you did not know about Christ. You were foreigners to the people of Israel, and you had no part in the promises that God had made to them. You were living in this world without hope and without God, ¹³and you were far from God. But Christ offered his life's blood as a sacrifice and brought you near God.     ¹⁴Christ has made peace between Jews and Gentiles, and he has united us by breaking down the wall of hatred that separated us. Christ gave his own body ¹⁵to destroy the Law of Moses with all its rules and commands. He even brought Jews and Gentiles together as though we were only one person, when he united us in peace. ¹⁶On the cross Christ did away with our hatred for each other. He also made peace ^[b] between us and God by uniting Jews and Gentiles in one body. ¹⁷Christ came and preached peace to you Gentiles, who were far from God, and peace to us Jews, who were near God. ¹⁸And because of Christ, all of us can come to the Father by the same Spirit. ¹⁹You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God. ²⁰You are like a building with the apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone. ²¹Christ is the one who holds the building together and makes it grow into a holy temple for the Lord. ²²And you are part of that building Christ has built as a place for God's own Spirit to live.
   

Footnotes:

1. Ephesians 2:8 treats us much better than we deserve: The Greek word charis, traditionally rendered grace, is translated here and other places in the CEV to express the overwhelming kindness of God.
2. Ephesians 2:16 He also made peace: Or The cross also made peace.

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Psalm 67:1-7 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 67

(A psalm and a song for the music leader. Use with stringed instruments.)

Tell the Nations To Praise God

 ¹Our God, be kind and bless us!    Be pleased and smile.
    ²Then everyone on earth
   will learn to follow you,
   and all nations will see
   your power to save us.
    ³Make everyone praise you
   and shout your praises.
    ⁴Let the nations celebrate
   with joyful songs,
   because you judge fairly
   and guide all nations.
    ⁵Make everyone praise you
   and shout your praises.
    ⁶Our God has blessed the earth
   with a wonderful harvest!
    ⁷Pray for his blessings
   to continue
   and for everyone on earth
   to worship our God.

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Proverbs 23:29-35 (Contemporary English Version)

-18-

 ²⁹ Who is always in trouble?    Who argues and fights?
   Who has cuts and bruises?
   Whose eyes are red?
    ³⁰Everyone who stays up late,
   having just one more drink.
    ³¹Don't even look
   at that colorful stuff
   bubbling up in the glass!
   It goes down so easily,
    ³²but later it bites
   like a poisonous snake.
    ³³You will see weird things,
   and your mind
   will play tricks on you.
    ³⁴You will feel tossed about
   like someone trying to sleep
   on a ship in a storm.
    ³⁵You will be bruised all over,
   without even remembering
   how it all happened.
   And you will lie awake asking,
   "When will morning come,
   so I can drink some more?"

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Verse of the Day

“But that's not all! We gladly suffer, because we know that suffering helps us to endure. And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope” - Romans 5:3-4

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter, musician and composer, wrote, “Soul is when you take a song and make it a part of you — a part that's so true, so real, people think it must have happened to you. … It's like electricity — we don't really know what it is, do we? But it's a force that can light a room. Soul is like electricity, like a spirit, a drive, a power.”