Daily Readings for week of August 10
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Learn to do good
The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats.
When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more!
Bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation-- I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil;
learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.
Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: If your sins are like scarlet, will they become like snow? If they are red like crimson, will they become like wool?
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land,
but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
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The salvation of God
The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
Our God comes and does not keep silent; before him is a devouring fire and a mighty tempest all around him.
He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
"Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!"
The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah
"Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way, I will show the salvation of God."
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God's promise of a child
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."
But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"
And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir."
But the word of the LORD came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir."
He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be."
And he believed the LORD, and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.
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Let your lovingkindness be upon us
Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.
The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all humankind.
From where he sits enthroned he watches all the inhabitants of the earth--
he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save.
Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and shield.
Our heart is glad in him because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
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Abraham's faith
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out, not knowing where he was going.
By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
By faith, with Sarah's involvement, he received power of procreation even though he was too old, because he considered him faithful who had promised.
Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore."
All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth,
for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return.
But as it is, they desire a better homeland, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
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The treasure of the kingdom
"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;
be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.
If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
