Friday in Epiphany

20Verse 20. Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride? 21Verse 21. What will you say when He sets over you close allies whom you yourself trained? Will not pangs of anguish grip you, as they do a woman in labor? 22Verse 22. And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed. 23Verse 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good — you who are accustomed to doing evil. 24Verse 24. “I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind. 25Verse 25. This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood. 26Verse 26. So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen. 27Verse 27. Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields — I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”

17Verse 17. Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners. 18Verse 18. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, 19Verse 19. but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. 20Verse 20. He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake. 21Verse 21. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God. 22Verse 22. Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart. 23Verse 23. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24Verse 24. For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25Verse 25. but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you. 1Verse 1. Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.