Today's Readings and Stuff -- Monday, 02 April 2018

Happy Monday to all.
We are now in our 2nd week of so-called "Spring".  So, as a result of "catastrophic global warming", we had snow last night.  SNOW!  Snow is evil.  Snow is despicable.  Snow is vile.  I truly hate, loathe, despise, abhor, and detest snow.  Even the word is revolting, the sight is ghastly, and the reality of it just outside that window is awful.

 And having weather conditions that will support a snowfall, and leave it on the ground, are just not in keeping what my ideal of what Spring should look like, or feel like either.

What is almost funny is that the state transportation folks, ODOT to you, an astonishingly incompetent bunch  (I had some involvement with them going back more than 40 years: I can't speak for the current levels of bribery and corruption, but the ineptitude is something that they seem to hire for), have decided that today, yes, TODAY, with cold temperatures and several inches of snow on the ground, is the day to begin an resurfacing job on a major local road.  For the uninitiated, asphalt application and repairs in general, don't do well on cold surfaces, so paving work around here is generally planned for the all-too-brief warm weather period.  This isn't one of them.
As the signs used  to proclaim, "Your Tax Dollars At Work".  Well, money is certainly being spent.  One doubts that much worthwhile is being accomplished, unless you count spending taxpayer money as an accomplishment in itself.  That leaves me out.
So whenever I hear one of the usual nitwits cry that "the Government" (all hail! and all that ) should "do something about .......",  I think of occasions such as this (and have seen MANY, some worse) and realize that the person shouting is either an idiot, or has a vested interest in the matter, or both.
Remember this example, knowing that there are many more like it, whenever you hear some politico type wailing about the need to "invest" gobs and gobs of money for "failing infrastructure".

Wife's up, and on the recliner.  She did get some sleep, between coughing fits.  So I did as well, some. She does sound a teeny bit better than she did last week, a teeny bit.  Another full week of antibiotics ahead of us, so we shall see.  This is her second round of this "crud" this winter.  Better, I guess, than the years that she'd have pneumonia two or three times a year.  Yes, real pneumonia, got very "real" a couple of times.  But this is no fun either, and not a trivial matter for someone whose immune system is a total mess.  Autoimmune disease, in a wide spectrum, will do that.  But we have hope for the future.  And we've been worse off, several times.



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Deuteronomy 31

1  And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel.

2  And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

3  The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said.

4  And the Lord shall do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them, whom he destroyed.

5  And the Lord shall give them up before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you.

6  Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

7  And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

8  And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

9  And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel.

10  And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,

11  When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

12  Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:

13  And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

14  And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.

15  And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.

16  And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

17  Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?

18  And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.

19  Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.

20  For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.

21  And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.

22  Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.

23  And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.

24  And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,

25  That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

26  Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.

27  For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death?

28  Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.

29  For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

30  And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.

Deuteronomy 32

1  Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2  My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

3  Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

5  They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

6  Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

7  Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8  When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9  For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10  He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11  As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

12  So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

13  He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

14  Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

15  But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16  They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

17  They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

18  Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

19  And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20  And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

21  They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22  For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23  I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

24  They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

25  The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

26  I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

27  Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this.

28  For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

29  O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

30  How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?

31  For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

32  For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

33  Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

34  Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

35  To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

36  For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37  And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38  Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

39  See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

40  For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

41  If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42  I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

43  Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

44  And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.

45  And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:

46  And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

47  For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

48  And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

49  Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

50  And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

51  Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah–kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

52  Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

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Psalm 67

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song.

 

1  God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.

2  That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.

3  Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

4  O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah

5  Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

6  Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.

7  God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

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Luke 22

1  Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.

2  And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.

3  Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

4  And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.

5  And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.

6  And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

7  Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.

8  And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.

9  And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?

10  And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.

11  And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?

12  And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.

13  And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.

14  And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.

15  And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:

16  For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

17  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:

18   For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

19  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

21 But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.

22  And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!

23  And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.

24  And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

25  And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.

26  But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

27  For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

28   Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.

29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

30  That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

33  And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.

34  And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

35  And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.

36  Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

37  For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.

38  And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

39  And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

40  And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

45  And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,

46  And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

47  And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.

48  But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?

49  When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?

50  And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.

51 And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.

52  Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?

53 When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

54  Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off.

55  And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.

56  But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him.

57  And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.

58  And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.

59  And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean.

60  And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.

61  And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

62  And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

63  And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.

64  And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?

65  And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.

66  And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying,

67  Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe:

68  And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go.

69  Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.

70  Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am.

71  And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.