3.07.2012

Today's Bible story

March 7, 2012

We hope that today is a good day.

Today's Bible story based on the calendar of the Catholic Church.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/calendar.php

Most of these contents are things of The World English Bible.
http://ebible.org/web/

We hope that everyone in the peace of the Lord.

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+ Saints: Sts. Perpetua and Felicity and their Companions

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+ First Reading: Jeremiah 18:18-20

18 Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

19 Give heed to me, Yahweh, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.

20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

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+ Psalm: Psalms 31:4-5,13-15

4 Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,
for you are my stronghold.

5 Into your hand I commend my spirit.
You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.

13 For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,
while they conspire together against me,
they plot to take away my life.

14 But I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, "You are my God."

15 My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

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+ Gospel: Matthew 20:17-28

17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,

18 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,

19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up."

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.

21 He said to her, "What do you want?"
She said to him, "Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom."

22 But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"
They said to him, "We are able."

23 He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

24 When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.

25 But Jesus summoned them, and said, "You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

26 It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be**your servant.

27 Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,

28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

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+ Today's Reading: Exodus 17:1-16

1 All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to Yahweh's commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.

2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink."
Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?"

3 The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?"

4 Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, "What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."

5 Yahweh said to Moses, "Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go.

6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7 He called the name of the place Massah,* and Meribah,† because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, "Is Yahweh among us, or not?"

8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

9 Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God's rod in my hand."

10 So Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

11 When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

12 But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until sunset.

13 Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

14 Yahweh said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky."

15 Moses built an altar, and called its name Yahweh our Banner.‡

16 He said, "Yah has sworn: 'Yahweh will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.'"

*17:7: Massah means testing.

†17:7: Meribah means quarreling.

‡17:15: Hebrew, Yahweh Nissi

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