Friday, August 14, 2026

¹Again the LORD's word came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations;

³and say, 'The Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: "Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.

⁴As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren't washed in water to cleanse you. You weren't salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all.

⁵No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born.

⁶"'"When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, 'Though you are in your blood, live!' Yes, I said to you, 'Though you are in your blood, live!'

⁷I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent beauty. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare.

⁸"'"Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my garment over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you," says the Lord GOD, "and you became mine.

⁹"'"Then I washed you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.

¹⁰I clothed you also with embroidered work and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

¹¹I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck.

¹²I put a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

¹³Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate.

¹⁴Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you," says the Lord GOD.

¹⁵"'"But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his.

⁶⁰Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

⁶³that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done," says the Lord GOD.'"

¹Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

²but his delight is in the LORD's law. On his law he meditates day and night.

³He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.

⁴The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

⁶For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.

³Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?"

⁴He answered, "Haven't you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,

⁵and said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh'?

⁶So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don't let man tear apart."

⁷They asked him, "Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce and divorce her?"

⁸He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.

⁹I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery."

¹⁰His disciples said to him, "If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry."

¹¹But he said to them, "Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given.

¹²For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it."