Luke 18:9-14

Common English Bible

The Pharisee and the tax collector

⁹Jesus told this parable to certain people who had convinced themselves that they were righteous and who looked on everyone else with disgust: ¹⁰“Two people went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself with these words, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I receive.’ ¹³But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”

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Habakkuk 2:18-20

Common English Bible

¹⁸Of what value is an idol, when its potter carves it,
        or a cast image that has been shaped?
It is a teacher of lies,
        for the potter trusts the pottery, though it is incapable of speaking.
¹⁹Doom to the one saying to the tree, “Wake up!”
        or “Get up” to the silent stone.
Does it teach?
Look, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
        but there is no breath within it.
²⁰But the Lord is in his holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before him.

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Habakkuk 3:1-6

Common English Bible

The Lord’s victory

3 The prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth:

²Lord, I have heard your reputation.
        I have seen your work.
Over time, revive it.
        Over time, make it known.
Though angry, remember compassion.
³God comes from Teman
        and the holy one from the mountain of Paran. Selah
His majesty covers the heavens
        and his praise fills the earth.
⁴His radiance is like the sunlight,
        with rays flashing from his hand.
        That is the hiding place of his power.
⁵Pestilence walks in front of him.
        Plague marches at his feet.
⁶He stops and measures the earth.
        He looks and sets out against the nations.
The everlasting mountains collapse;
        the eternal hills bow down;
        the eternal paths belong to him.