Friday in Season after Pentecost

16Verse 16. But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked and did not obey Your commandments. 17Verse 17. They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them. 18Verse 18. Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies, 19Verse 19. You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go. 20Verse 20. You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst. 21Verse 21. For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. 22Verse 22. You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land. So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and of Og king of Bashan. 23Verse 23. You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land You had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24Verse 24. So their descendants went in and possessed the land; You subdued before them the Canaanites dwelling in the land. You delivered into their hands the kings and peoples of the land, to do with them as they wished. 25Verse 25. They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.

12Verse 12. But we ask you, brothers, to acknowledge those who work diligently among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13Verse 13. In love, hold them in highest regard because of their work. Live in peace with one another. 14Verse 14. And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone. 15Verse 15. Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people. 16Verse 16. Rejoice at all times. 17Verse 17. Pray without ceasing. 18Verse 18. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19Verse 19. Do not extinguish the Spirit. 20Verse 20. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, 21Verse 21. but test all things. Hold fast to what is good. 22Verse 22. Abstain from every form of evil.