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Daily Readings for April 30
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Deuteronomy 17
1.You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox, or a sheep, in which is a blemish, or anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God. 2.If there be found in the midst of you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, man or woman, who does that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, in transgressing his covenant, 3.and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the army of the sky, which I have not commanded; 4.and it be told you, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire diligently; and behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel, 5.then you shall bring forth that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, to your gates, even the man or the woman; and you shall stone them to death with stones. 6.At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he who is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7.The hand of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you. 8.If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose; 9.and you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days: and you shall inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment. 10.You shall do according to the tenor of the sentence which they shall show you from that place which Yahweh shall choose; and you shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you: 11.according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12.The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13.All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
14.When you have come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, "I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me;" 15.you shall surely set him king over yourselves, whom Yahweh your God shall choose: one from among your brothers you shall set king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16.Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because Yahweh has said to you, "You shall not go back that way again." 17.Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
18.It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19.and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; 20.that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.
Ecclesiastes 9
1.For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn't know it; all is before them. 2.All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn't sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath. 3.This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4.For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5.For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten. 6.Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.
7.Go your way--eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works. 8.Let your garments be always white, and don't let your head lack oil. 9.Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun. 10.Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol2, where you are going.
11.I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. 12.For man also doesn't know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.
13.I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me. 14.There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. 15.Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. 16.Then I said, "Wisdom is better than strength." Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. 17.The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools. 18.Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.
Acts 8
1.Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. 2.Devout men buried Stephen, and lamented greatly over him. 3.But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison. 4.Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word. 5.Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6.The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he did. 7.For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. 8.There was great joy in that city.
9.But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one, 10.to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is that great power of God." 11.They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries. 12.But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13.Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.
14.Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15.who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16.for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. 17.Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18.Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19.saying, "Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit." 20.But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21.You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn't right before God. 22.Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23.For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity."
24.Simon answered, "Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me."
25.They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans. 26.But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert."
27.He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship. 28.He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29.The Spirit said to Philip, "Go near, and join yourself to this chariot."
30.Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
31.He said, "How can I, unless someone explains it to me?" He begged Philip to come up and sit with him. 32.Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn't open his mouth. 33.In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth."29
34.The eunuch answered Philip, "Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?"
35.Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Jesus. 36.As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?"
37.30 38.He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39.When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn't see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing. 40.But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.