June 16

Deuteronomy 21
Psalms 108
Psalms 109
Isaiah 48
Revelation 18

Daily Readings:

Deuteronomy 21

1 ¶  If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him:

2  Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:

3  And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke;

4  And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley:

5  And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:

6  And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:

7  And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

8  Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.

9  So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

10 ¶  When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,

11  And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;

12  Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;

13  And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

14  And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

15 ¶  If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:

16  Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:

17  But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

18 ¶  If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:

19  Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;

20  And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

21  And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

22  And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:

23  His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Psalm 108

1 ¶  « A Song or Psalm of David. » O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.

2  Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

3  I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

4  For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.

5  Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;

6 ¶  That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.

7  God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.

8  Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;

9  Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.

10  Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?

11  Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts?

12  Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.

13  Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.

Psalm 109

1 ¶  « To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. » Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;

2  For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

3  They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.

4  For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

5  And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

6 ¶  Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.

7  When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

8  Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

9  Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

10  Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

11  Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

12  Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.

13  Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

14  Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15  Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

16  Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

17  As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.

18  As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.

19  Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.

20  Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

21 ¶  But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.

22  For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

23  I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.

24  My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.

25  I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.

26  Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:

27  That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it.

28  Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.

29  Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.

30  I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.

31  For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.

Isaiah 48

1 ¶  Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

2  For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.

3  I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

4  Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

5  I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

6  Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

7  They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

8  Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

9 ¶  For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

10  Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

11  For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

12  Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

13  Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

14  All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

15  I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

16 ¶  Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

17  Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

18  O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

19  Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

20  Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

21  And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

22  There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.

Revelation 18

1 ¶  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

9 ¶  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

14  And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,

16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

19  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

20  Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

21  And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

22  And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;

23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Mediation of the Day: from Charles J Rolls’ book, ‘Time’s Noblest Name’

L12-L01 The Lowly1 L12-L02 The Lowly2 L12-L03 The Lowly3 L12-L04 The Lowly4

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