Psalm 130

[1] Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.   

[2] Lord, hear my voice!   

    Let your ears be attentive   

         to the voice of my supplications!

[3] If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,   

         Lord, who could stand?   

[4] But there is forgiveness with you,   

         so that you may be revered.

[5] I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,   

         and in his word I hope;   

[6] my soul waits for the Lord   

         more than those who watch for the morning,   

         more than those who watch for the morning.

[7] O Israel, hope in the LORD!   

         For with the LORD there is steadfast love,   

         and with him is great power to redeem.   

[8] It is he who will redeem Israel   

         from all its iniquities.

Psalm 36

[1] Transgression speaks to the wicked            deep in their hearts;   

    there is no fear of God   

         before their eyes.   

[2] For they flatter themselves in their own eyes   

         that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.   

[3] The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;   

         they have ceased to act wisely and do good.   

[4] They plot mischief while on their beds;   

         they are set on a way that is not good;   

         they do not reject evil.

[5] Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,   

         your faithfulness to the clouds.   

[6] Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,   

         your judgments are like the great deep;   

         you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.

[7] How precious is your steadfast love, O God!   

         All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.   

[8] They feast on the abundance of your house,   

         and you give them drink from the river of your delights.   

[9] For with you is the fountain of life;   

         in your light we see light.

[10] O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,   

         and your salvation to the upright of heart!   

[11] Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,   

         or the hand of the wicked drive me away.   

[12] There the evildoers lie prostrate;   

         they are thrust down, unable to rise.

 

Psalm 15

[1]   O LORD, who may abide in your tent?  
          Who may dwell on your holy hill?

[2]   Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,  
          and speak the truth from their heart;  
[3]   who do not slander with their tongue,  
          and do no evil to their friends,  
          nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;  
[4]   in whose eyes the wicked are despised,  
          but who honor those who fear the LORD;  
     who stand by their oath even to their hurt;  
[5]   who do not lend money at interest,  
          and do not take a bribe against the innocent.  
     Those who do these things shall never be moved.

Psalm 123

[1]   To you I lift up my eyes,  
          O you who are enthroned in the heavens!  
[2]   As the eyes of servants  
          look to the hand of their master,  
     as the eyes of a maid  
          to the hand of her mistress,  
     so our eyes look to the LORD our God,  
          until he has mercy upon us.

[3]   Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us,  
          for we have had more than enough of contempt.  
[4]   Our soul has had more than its fill  
          of the scorn of those who are at ease,  
          of the contempt of the proud.

Deuteronomy 4:9-14

[9]But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children - [10]how you once stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, 'Assemble the people for me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me as long as they live on the earth, and may teach their children to do so'; [11]you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds. [12]Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. [13]He declared to you his covenant, which he charged you to observe, that is, the ten commandments; and he wrote them on two stone tablets. [14]And the Lord charged me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy. 

Psalm 104

[1] Bless the LORD, O my soul.   

         O LORD my God, you are very great.   

    You are clothed with honor and majesty,   

[2] wrapped in light as with a garment.   

    You stretch out the heavens like a tent,   

[3] you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,   

    you make the clouds your chariot,   

         you ride on the wings of the wind,   

[4] you make the winds your messengers,   

         fire and flame your ministers.

[5] You set the earth on its foundations,   

         so that it shall never be shaken.   

[6] You cover it with the deep as with a garment;   

         the waters stood above the mountains.   

[7] At your rebuke they flee;   

         at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.   

[8] They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys   

         to the place that you appointed for them.   

[9] You set a boundary that they may not pass,   

         so that they might not again cover the earth.

[10] You make springs gush forth in the valleys;   

         they flow between the hills,   

[11] giving drink to every wild animal;   

         the wild asses quench their thirst.   

[12] By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;   

         they sing among the branches.   

[13] From your lofty abode you water the mountains;   

         the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

[14] You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,   

         and plants for people to use,   

    to bring forth food from the earth,   

[15] and wine to gladden the human heart,   

    oil to make the face shine,   

         and bread to strengthen the human heart.   

[16] The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,   

         the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.   

[17] In them the birds build their nests;   

         the stork has its home in the fir trees.   

[18] The high mountains are for the wild goats;   

         the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.   

[19] You have made the moon to mark the seasons;   

         the sun knows its time for setting.   

[20] You make darkness, and it is night,   

         when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.   

[21] The young lions roar for their prey,   

         seeking their food from God.   

[22] When the sun rises, they withdraw   

         and lie down in their dens.   

[23] People go out to their work   

         and to their labor until the evening.

[24] O LORD, how manifold are your works!   

         In wisdom you have made them all;   

         the earth is full of your creatures.   

[25] Yonder is the sea, great and wide,   

         creeping things innumerable are there,   

         living things both small and great.   

[26]There go the ships,   

         and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

[27] These all look to you   

         to give them their food in due season;   

[28] when you give to them, they gather it up;   

         when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.   

[29] When you hide your face, they are dismayed;   

         when you take away their breath, they die   

         and return to their dust.   

[30] When you send forth your spirit, they are created;   

         and you renew the face of the ground.

[31] May the glory of the LORD endure for ever;   

         may the LORD rejoice in his works --   

[32] who looks on the earth and it trembles,   

         who touches the mountains and they smoke.   

[33] I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;   

         I will sing praise to my God while I have being.   

[34] May my meditation be pleasing to him,   

         for I rejoice in the LORD.   

[35] Let sinners be consumed from the earth,   

         and let the wicked be no more.   

    Bless the LORD, O my soul.   

    Praise the Lord!

  

Luke 14:1-11

[1]On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. [2]Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. [3]And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?" [4]But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. [5]Then he said to them, "If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?" [6]And they could not reply to this. 

[7]When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. [8]"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; [9]and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. [10]But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. [11]For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."