Friday in Epiphany

19Verse 19. Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me. 20Verse 20. But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” 21Verse 21. A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God. 22Verse 22. “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God. 23Verse 23. Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God. 24Verse 24. From our youth, that shameful god has consumed what our fathers have worked for— their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters. 25Verse 25. Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”

1Verse 1. Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good to abstain from sexual relations. 2Verse 2. But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3Verse 3. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4Verse 4. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. 5Verse 5. Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control. 6Verse 6. I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7Verse 7. I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.