May 10 – Hands to the Plow

Psalm 45

ጽሑፍ አሳይ

¹ To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah; a love song. My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.
² You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.
³ Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty!
⁴ In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!
⁵ Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; the peoples fall under you.
⁶ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
⁷ you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
⁸ your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
⁹ daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
¹⁰ Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father's house,
¹¹ and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.
¹² The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people.
¹³ All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.
¹⁴ In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her.
¹⁵ With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.
¹⁶ In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth.
¹⁷ I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.

2 Kings 16

ጽሑፍ አሳይ

¹ In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.
² Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done,
³ but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.
⁴ And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
⁵ Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.
⁶ At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day.
⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”
⁸ Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria.
⁹ And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.
¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.
¹¹ And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.
¹² And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it
¹³ and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.
¹⁴ And the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar.
¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”
¹⁶ Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.
¹⁷ And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal.
¹⁸ And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria.
¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
²⁰ And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

መዝሙር 143

ጽሑፍ አሳይ

¹ የዳዊት መዝሙር። አቤቱ፥ ጸሎቴን ስማ፤ የምሕረት ልመናዬንም አድምጥ፤ በታማኝነትህ በጽድቅህ መልስልኝ!
² ሕያው ሰው በፊትህ ጻድቅ አይደለምና ከባሪያህ ጋር ወደ ፍርድ አትግባ።
³ ጠላት ነፍሴን አሳድዶኛልና፤ ሕይወቴንም ወደ ምድር አደቀቃት፤ እንደ ሞቱት ሰዎች በጨለማ ውስጥ አስቀመጠኝ።
⁴ ስለዚህ መንፈሴ በውስጤ ይዝላል፤ ልቤም በውስጤ ደነገጠ።
⁵ የጥንት ዘመንን አስታውሳለሁ፤ የሠራኸውንም ሁሉ አሰላስላለሁ፤ የእጅህንም ሥራ አሰላስላለሁ።
⁶ እጆቼን ወደ አንተ እዘረጋለሁ፤ ነፍሴ እንደ ደረቀ ምድር አንተን ተጠማች። ሴላ
⁷ አቤቱ፥ ፈጥነህ መልስልኝ! መንፈሴ ደከመ! ፊትህን ከእኔ አትሰውር፥ ወደ ጕድጓድ እንደሚወርዱ እንዳልሆን።
⁸ በአንተ እታመናለሁና በማለዳ የጽኑ ፍቅርህን ስማኝ፤ ነፍሴን ወደ አንተ አነሣለሁና የምሄድበትን መንገድ አሳየኝ።
⁹ አቤቱ፥ ከጠላቶቼ አድነኝ፤ ለመሸሸግ ወደ አንተ ሸሽቻለሁ።
¹⁰ አንተ አምላኬ ነህና ፈቃድህን እንድፈጽም አስተምረኝ፤ ቸር መንፈስህ በቀና ምድር ይምራኝ!
¹¹ አቤቱ፥ ስለ ስምህ ሕይወቴን ጠብቅ! በጽድቅህ ነፍሴን ከመከራ አውጣት!
¹² በጽኑ ፍቅርህ ጠላቶቼን ታጠፋቸዋለህ፥ የነፍሴንም ጠላቶች ሁሉ ታጠፋቸዋለህ፥ እኔ ባሪያህ ነኝና።

John 10

ጽሑፍ አሳይ

¹ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.
² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
⁵ A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
⁶ This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
¹² He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
¹⁹ There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.
²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?”
²¹ Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
²² At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,
²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
²⁴ So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me,
²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
³⁰ I and the Father are one.”
³¹ The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
³² Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
³³ The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?
³⁵ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—
³⁶ do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
³⁷ If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
³⁸ but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
³⁹ Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
⁴⁰ He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.
⁴¹ And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”
⁴² And many believed in him there.