Today's Readings and Stuff -- Tuesday, 01 April 2014
almost warm out there today. Almost. 60's, anyway. Beats the high of 12 that we had a week ago.
Off to the dentist this morning. Not looking good, They were half way through a root canal on a badly chipped tooth, when pretty much the whole tooth broke off. They dealt with the remainder, until Next Time. This is going to be a long term project, evidently. And they need approval from the insurance people for a post and crown in the newly vacant space. Since I was expecting them to just start yanking teeth in preparation for a partial denture, it may be a good sign. Maybe. With all the pain killer stuff, it was probably a good idea that Dear Wife had arranged for Dear Niece to drive me there and back. I could probably have done it, but the risk was too great.
Came home waited through a couple hours of local anesthesia to wear off, then took wife to Wally World. She had some prescriptions to pick up, courtesy of yesterday's doctor visit, and wanted some Earl Gray tea. Had seen a report that tea with bergamot in it, and Earl Gray was in the name, had some of the same anti-cholesterol properties as the statins they have me on for the same issue. Worth a couple bucks to try, and I like that type of tea anyway, so there's really no downside.
Just had some soup, something that doesn't required much chewing, and set down to the keyboard.
Wild life we lead around here. Two weeks until the retirement check is due, and I still have $30 left, so it could be worse.
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The Old Testament reading today is chapters 6 and 7 of the book of the Judges. This is the first part of the story of Gideon.
1
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The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
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2
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And
the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people
of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and
the caves and the strongholds.
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3
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For
whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the
Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.
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4
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They
would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as
Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey.
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5
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For
they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would
come like locusts in number–both they and their camels could not be
counted–so that they laid waste the land as they came in.
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6
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And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
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7
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When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites,
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8
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the
Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus
says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought
you out of the house of slavery.
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9
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“And
I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all
who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their
land.
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10
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“And
I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of
the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my
voice.”
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11
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Now
the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which
belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out
wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
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12
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And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
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13
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And
Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has
all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our
fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from
Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of
Midian.”
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14
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And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
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15
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And
he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan
is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
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16
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And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
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17
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And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.
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18
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“Please
do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present
and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
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19
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So
Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened
cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth
he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and
presented them.
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20
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And
the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes,
and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so.
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21
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Then
the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his
hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up
from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the
angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
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22
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Then
Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said,
“Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to
face.”
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23
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But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”
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24
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Then
Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is
Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the
Abiezrites.
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25
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That
night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second
bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father
has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it
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26
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“and
build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here,
with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as
a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.”
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27
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So
Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him.
But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to
do it by day, he did it by night.
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28
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When
the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of
Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the
second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.
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29
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And
they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had
searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done
this thing.”
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30
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Then
the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may
die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah
beside it.”
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31
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But
Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or
will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by
morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar
has been broken down.”
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32
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Therefore
on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal
contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.
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33
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Now
all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came
together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of
Jezreel.
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34
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But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.
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35
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And
he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called
out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and
Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.
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36
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Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said,
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37
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“behold,
I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on
the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know
that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”
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38
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And
it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he
wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.
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39
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Then
Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak
just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece.
Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there
be dew.”
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40
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And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
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1
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Then
Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose
early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian
was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
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2
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The
Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give
the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My
own hand has saved me.’
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3
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“Now
therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is
fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount
Gilead.’” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
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4
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And
the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down
to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom
I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and
anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not
go.”
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5
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So
he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon,
“Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall
set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.”
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6
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And
the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths,
was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.
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7
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And
the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you
and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every
man to his home.”
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8
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So
the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he
sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300
men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
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9
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That same night the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.
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10
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“But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant.
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11
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“And
you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be
strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah
his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp.
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12
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And
the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay
along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were
without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance.
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13
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When
Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he
said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread
tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so
that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.”
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14
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And
his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the
son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and
all the camp.”
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15
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As
soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation,
he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise,
for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.”
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16
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And
he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the
hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars.
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17
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And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.
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18
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“When
I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets
also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for
Gideon.’”
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19
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So
Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of
the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set
the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in
their hands.
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20
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Then
the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in
their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to
blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
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21
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Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.
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22
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When
they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his
comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as
Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by
Tabbath.
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23
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And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.
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24
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Gideon
sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying,
“Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them,
as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim
were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and
also the Jordan.
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25
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And
they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed
Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb.
Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb
to Gideon across the Jordan.
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=================================
The New Testament reading is verses 1-21 in the 8th chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
1
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Soon
afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and
bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with
him,
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2
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and
also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities:
Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
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3
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and
Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and
many others, who provided for them out of their means.
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4
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And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable,
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5
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“A sower
went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and
was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.
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6
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“And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.
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7
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“And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.
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8
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“And
some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he
said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him
hear.”
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9
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And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant,
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10
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he
said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of
God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not
see, and hearing they may not understand.’
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11
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“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
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12
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“The
ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and
takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and
be saved.
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13
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“And
the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it
with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time
of testing fall away.
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14
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“And
as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they
go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures
of life, and their fruit does not mature.
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15
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“As
for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold
it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
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16
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“No
one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed,
but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.
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17
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“For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
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18
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“Take
care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and
from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken
away.”
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19
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Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.
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20
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And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.”
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21
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But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
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