Psalm 119:65-72
The Voice
Teth
65 You have handled Your servant well,
O Eternal One, as You promised.
66 Help me to learn good judgment and knowledge
because I believe Your commandments.
67 Before I had trouble, I strayed from the true path, the path of righteousness,
but now I live according to Your word.
68 You are truly good, and Your acts are too;
teach me what You require.
69 The proud smear me with their lies;
I will keep Your instructions wholeheartedly.
70 Their hearts are dull and callous;
I am delighted to study Your teaching.
71 It is a good thing that I was humbled
because it helped me learn Your limits.
72 Your teachings are more valuable to me
than a fortune in gold and silver.
Psalm 119:65-72
King James Version
65 Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word.
66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
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Isaiah 57:14-21
The Voice
14 For those who cling to the true God, it is said,
“Clear the way that they travel; widen the roads and make them smooth!
Take away any difficulty so that they may go easily!”
15 For the highest God above,
who is and always will be, the only One who is holy has this to say:
Eternal One: I live in the high and holy place,
yet I am with the low, the weak, and the humble.
I renew their vitality and revive their strength.
16 For I will not struggle against them forever,
and I won’t always be angry.
For the human spirit would grow faint—
the breath of life I created would soon grow weak.
17 Yes, they infuriated Me with how they profited from their greed and violence,
so I struck them down and turned My back on them,
And still they persisted in their wrongdoing.
18 I have seen how they act, but I will still bind them up and make them well again.
I will show them the way, comfort and console them.
19 I will create in them a desire to praise.
“Peace, peace, to those far away.
All will be well, wherever you are.”
And I will heal them.
20 By contrast, the wicked are all riled up
like a storm-tossed sea that cannot be calmed.
Its crashing waves wash up muck and dirt on the shore.
21 But there will be no peace for the wicked.
So says my God.
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Isaiah 57:14-21
King James Version
14 And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.
15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.
19 I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him.
20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
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Luke 14:15-24
The Voice
Guest: 15 Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!
Jesus: 16 A man once hosted a huge banquet and invited many guests. 17 When the time came, he sent his servant to tell the guests who had agreed to come, “We’re ready! Come now!” 18 But then every single guest began to make excuses. One said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I just bought some land, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.” 19 Another said, “So sorry. I just bought five pairs of oxen. I need to go check them out. Please excuse me.” 20 Another said, “I just got married, so I can’t come.”
21 The servant returned and reported their responses to his master. His master was angry and told the servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and alleys around town and bring the poor, the amputees, the blind, and the cripples.”
22 The servant came back again: “Sir, I’ve done as you said, but there is still more room.” 23 And the host said, “Well then, go out to the highways and hedges and bring in the complete strangers you find there, until my house is completely full. 24 One thing is for sure, not one single person on the original guest list shall enjoy this banquet.”
Luke 14:15-24
King James Version
15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
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