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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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 like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; From…
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Thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them…
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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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So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent…
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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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Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from…
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