The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backwards.I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced;therefore I have set my face…
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And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.’… And now the Lord says… ‘It is too light a thing…
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Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights;I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. From Isaiah 42:1-7, NRSV Today’s Old Testament Reading is from the first of Isaiah’s four “Servant Songs”. Whilst it may not be certain who Isaiah’s subject was,…
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But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail.They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed.Their eternal dishonour will never be forgotten. From Jeremiah 20:10-13, NRSV Jeremiah had to pay a great price to remain true to his prophetic calling. Despite his reservations about…
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Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly…
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Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.’ From Daniel 3:14-20, 24-25,28, NRSV The names of Shadrach, Meshach…
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But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from…
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Taking his stand among them he said, “Are you such fools, O Israelites, as to condemn a daughter of Israel without examination and without learning the facts?” From Daniel 13:41-62, NRSV Today’s reading tells the intriguing tale of a crime committed by two elders against a Hebrew woman called Susanna. This beautiful young woman was…
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But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. From Jeremiah 31:31-34, NRSV In today’s reading, we hear…
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And I did not know it was against me that they devised schemes, saying,‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will no longer be remembered!’ But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously, who try the heart and the mind,…
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