Thursday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. “Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin; flee from Jerusalem! Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; send up a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, even great destruction. 2Verse 2. Though she is beautiful and delicate, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion. 3Verse 3. Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her, each tending his own portion: 4Verse 4. ‘Prepare for battle against her; rise up, let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the daylight is fading; the evening shadows grow long. 5Verse 5. Rise up, let us attack by night and destroy her fortresses!’” 6Verse 6. For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Cut down the trees and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her midst. 7Verse 7. As a well gushes its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her; sickness and wounds are ever before Me. 8Verse 8. Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.” 9Verse 9. This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.” 10Verse 10. To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. 11Verse 11. But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very old alike. 12Verse 12. Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well, for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” 13Verse 13. “For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit. 14Verse 14. They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all. 15Verse 15. Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse,” 16Verse 16. This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’ 17Verse 17. I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.’ But they answered, ‘We will not listen!’ 18Verse 18. Therefore hear, O nations, and learn, O congregations, what will happen to them. 19Verse 19. Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction.

32Verse 32. While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33Verse 33. Those who found the man gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation, 34Verse 34. and because it had not been declared what should be done to him, they placed him in custody. 35Verse 35. And the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.” 36Verse 36. So the whole congregation took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 37Verse 37. And the LORD said to Moses, 38Verse 38. “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout the generations to come they are to make for themselves tassels for the corners of their garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39Verse 39. These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes. 40Verse 40. Then you will remember and obey all My commandments, and you will be holy to your God. 41Verse 41. I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.”