Sunday 28 August 2016

17My son, go on with your business in humility;so you will be loved by an acceptable man.18The greater you are, humble yourself the more,and you will find favor before the Lord.· · · verse 19 is not read20Don’t seek things that are too hard for you,and don’t search out things that are above your strength.· · · verses 21–27 are not read28The heart of the prudent will understand a proverb.A wise man desires the ear of a listener.29Water will quench a flaming fire;almsgiving will make atonement for sins.

4But let the righteous be glad.Let them rejoice before God.Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.5Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!Extol him who rides on the clouds:to the Lord, his name!Rejoice before him!

6A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows,is God in his holy habitation.7God sets the lonely in families.He brings out the prisoners with singing,but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

10You, God, sent a plentiful rain.You confirmed your inheritance when it was weary.11Your congregation lived therein.You, God, prepared your goodness for the poor.

18For you have not come to a mountainthat might be touched and that burned with fire,and to blackness, darkness, storm,19the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words;which those who heard it beggedthat not one more word should be spoken to them,

· · · verses 20–21 are not read22But you have come to Mount Zionand to the city of the living God,the heavenly Jerusalem,and to innumerable multitudes of angels,23to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstbornwho are enrolled in heaven,to God the Judge of all,to the spirits of just men made perfect,24to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,and to the blood of sprinklingthat speaks better than that of Abel.

1When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread,they were watching him.

· · · verses 2–6 are not read7He spoke a parable to those who were invited,when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,8“When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast,don’t sit in the best seat,since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,9and he who invited both of you would come and tell you,‘Make room for this person.’Then you would begin,with shame, to take the lowest place.10But when you are invited,go and sit in the lowest place,so that when he who invited you comes,he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’Then you will be honored in the presence of allwho sit at the table with you.11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

12He also said to the one who had invited him,“When you make a dinner or a supper,don’t call your friends,nor your brothers,nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors,or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.13But when you make a feast,ask the poor, the maimed,the lame, or the blind;14and you will be blessed,because they don’t have the resources to repay you.For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”