#but i am also a vessel of righteous fury filled with the texts of those who suffered by the hands of those who inspired Kuvira's character

[wilcze-kudly]

My fascination and love for kuvira as a complex character vs my absolute and utter disgust for everything she stands for and represents

[loveofyhwh]

October 4: Isaiah 20–22; Hebrews 10:19–39; Psalm 88; Proverbs 24:28–29

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October 4: Isaiah 20–22; Hebrews 10:19–39; Psalm 88; Proverbs 24:28–29

Old Testament:

Isaiah 20–22

Isaiah 20–22 (Listen)

A Sign Against Egypt and Cush

20 In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it—2 at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

3 Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,Probably Nubia‘>1 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. 5 Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

21 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.

  As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,     it comes from the wilderness,     from a terrible land. 2   A stern vision is told to me;     the traitor betrays,     and the destroyer destroys.   Go up, O Elam;     lay siege, O Media;   all the sighing she has caused     I bring to an end. 3   Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;     pangs have seized me,     like the pangs of a woman in labor;   I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;     I am dismayed so that I cannot see. 4   My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;     the twilight I longed for     has been turned for me into trembling. 5   They prepare the table,     they spread the rugs,Or they set the watchman‘>2     they eat, they drink.   Arise, O princes;     oil the shield! 6   For thus the Lord said to me:   “Go, set a watchman;     let him announce what he sees. 7   When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,     riders on donkeys, riders on camels,   let him listen diligently,     very diligently.” 8   Then he who saw cried out:Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac; Masoretic Text Then a lion cried out, or Then he cried out like a lion‘>3   “Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,     continually by day,   and at my post I am stationed     whole nights. 9   And behold, here come riders,     horsemen in pairs!”   And he answered,     “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;   and all the carved images of her gods     he has shattered to the ground.” 10   O my threshed and winnowed one,     what I have heard from the LORD of hosts,     the God of Israel, I announce to you.

11 The oracle concerning Dumah.

  One is calling to me from Seir,     “Watchman, what time of the night?     Watchman, what time of the night?” 12   The watchman says:   “Morning comes, and also the night.     If you will inquire, inquire;     come back again.”

13 The oracle concerning Arabia.

  In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge,     O caravans of Dedanites. 14   To the thirsty bring water;     meet the fugitive with bread,     O inhabitants of the land of Tema. 15   For they have fled from the swords,     from the drawn sword,   from the bent bow,     and from the press of battle.

16 For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. 17 And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem

22 The oracle concerning the valley of vision.

  What do you mean that you have gone up,     all of you, to the housetops, 2   you who are full of shoutings,     tumultuous city, exultant town?   Your slain are not slain with the sword     or dead in battle. 3   All your leaders have fled together;     without the bow they were captured.   All of you who were found were captured,     though they had fled far away. 4   Therefore I said:   “Look away from me;     let me weep bitter tears;   do not labor to comfort me     concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.” 5   For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day     of tumult and trampling and confusion     in the valley of vision,   a battering down of walls     and a shouting to the mountains. 6   And Elam bore the quiver     with chariots and horsemen,     and Kir uncovered the shield. 7   Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,     and the horsemen took their stand at the gates. 8   He has taken away the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, 10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

12   In that day the Lord GOD of hosts     called for weeping and mourning,     for baldness and wearing sackcloth; 13   and behold, joy and gladness,     killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,     eating flesh and drinking wine.   “Let us eat and drink,     for tomorrow we die.” 14   The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:   “Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,”     says the Lord GOD of hosts.

15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: 16 What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you 18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. 19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. 20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. 24 And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25 In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.”

Footnotes

[1] 20:3 Probably Nubia [2] 21:5 Or they set the watchman [3] 21:8 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac; Masoretic Text Then a lion cried out, or Then he cried out like a lion

(ESV)

New Testament:

Hebrews 10:19–39

Hebrews 10:19–39 (Listen)

The Full Assurance of Faith

19 Therefore, brothers,Or brothers and sisters‘>1 since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,

  “Yet a little while,     and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38   but my righteous one shall live by faith,     and if he shrinks back,   my soul has no pleasure in him.”

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Footnotes

[1] 10:19 Or brothers and sisters

(ESV)

Psalm:

Psalm 88

Psalm 88 (Listen)

I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A MaskilProbably musical or liturgical terms‘>1 of Heman the Ezrahite.

88   O LORD, God of my salvation,     I cry out day and night before you. 2   Let my prayer come before you;     incline your ear to my cry! 3   For my soul is full of troubles,     and my life draws near to Sheol. 4   I am counted among those who go down to the pit;     I am a man who has no strength, 5   like one set loose among the dead,     like the slain that lie in the grave,   like those whom you remember no more,     for they are cut off from your hand. 6   You have put me in the depths of the pit,     in the regions dark and deep. 7   Your wrath lies heavy upon me,     and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah 8   You have caused my companions to shun me;     you have made me a horrorOr an abomination‘>2 to them.   I am shut in so that I cannot escape; 9     my eye grows dim through sorrow.   Every day I call upon you, O LORD;     I spread out my hands to you. 10   Do you work wonders for the dead?     Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah 11   Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,     or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12   Are your wonders known in the darkness,     or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13   But I, O LORD, cry to you;     in the morning my prayer comes before you. 14   O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?     Why do you hide your face from me? 15   Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,     I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain‘>3 16   Your wrath has swept over me;     your dreadful assaults destroy me. 17   They surround me like a flood all day long;     they close in on me together. 18   You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;     my companions have become darkness.Or darkness has become my only companion‘>4

Footnotes

[1] 88:1 Probably musical or liturgical terms [2] 88:8 Or an abomination [3] 88:15 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain [4] 88:18 Or darkness has become my only companion

(ESV)

Proverb:

Proverbs 24:28–29

Proverbs 24:28–29 (Listen)

28   Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause,     and do not deceive with your lips. 29   Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;     I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

(ESV)

[dailybiblelessons]

Wednesday: Reflection on the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Revised Common Lectionary Proper 28 Roman Catholic Proper 33

Complementary Hebrew Scripture from the Latter Prophets: Ezekiel 43:1-12

Then he brought me to the gate, the gate facing east. And there, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east; the sound was like the sound of mighty waters; and the earth shone with his glory.¹ The vision I saw was like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and like the vision that I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the inner court; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me out of the temple. He said to me: Mortal, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will reside among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their whoring, and by the corpses of their kings at their death. When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they were defiling my holy name by their abominations that they committed; therefore I have consumed them in my anger. Now let them put away their idolatry and the corpses of their kings far from me, and I will reside among them forever.

As for you, mortal, describe the temple to the house of Israel, and let them measure the pattern; and let them be ashamed of their iniquities. When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the plan of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, and its whole form—all its ordinances and its entire plan and all its laws; and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe and follow the entire plan and all its ordinances. This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. This is the law of the temple.

¹The sound of Christ's voice is like the rush of mighty waters in the vision of Christ in Revelation 1:13-15.

Semi-continuous Hebrew Scripture Lesson from the Latter Prophets: Isaiah 66:14-24

You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;  your bodies shall flourish like the grass; and it shall be known that the hand of the Lord is with his servants,  and his indignation is against his enemies. For the Lord will come in fire,  and his chariots like the whirlwind, to pay back his anger in fury,  and his rebuke in flames of fire.¹ For by fire will the Lord execute judgment,  and by his sword, on all flesh;  and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens,  following the one in the center, eating the flesh of pigs, vermin, and rodents,  shall come to an end together,    says the Lord.

For I know their works and their thoughts,  and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory,  and I will set a sign among them. From them I will send survivors to the nations,  to Tarshish, Put, and Lud—which draw the bow— to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away  that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory;  and they shall declare my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your kindred  from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters,  and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord,  just as the Israelites bring a grain offering  in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. And I will also take some of them  as priests and as Levites, says the Lord.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make,  shall remain before me, says the Lord;  so shall your descendants and your name remain.² From new moon to new moon,  and from sabbath to sabbath,  all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.

And they shall go out and look at the dead bodies  of the people who have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die,  their fire shall not be quenched,  and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

¹Paul uses this image in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 part of a passage about judgment at Christ's coming. ²This passage is used twice in the New Testatment, once at 2 Peter 3:13, part of a passage about the promise of Christ's coming, and again in Revelation 21:1, part of a passage about John's vision of the new heaven and the new earth.

Complementary Psalm 141

I call upon you, O Lord; come quickly to me;  give ear to my voice when I call to you. Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,  and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.

Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;  keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not turn my heart to any evil,  to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with those who work iniquity;  do not let me eat of their delicacies.

Let the righteous strike me;  let the faithful correct me. Never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head,  for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds. When they are given over to those who shall condemn them,  then they shall learn that my words were pleasant. Like a rock that one breaks apart and shatters on the land,  so shall their bones be strewn at the mouth of Sheol.

But my eyes are turned toward you, O God, my Lord;  in you I seek refuge; do not leave me defenseless. Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me,  and from the snares of evildoers.

Let the wicked fall into their own nets,  while I alone escape.

Semi-continuous Psalm 76

In Judah God is known,  his name is great in Israel. His abode has been established in Salem,  his dwelling place in Zion. There he broke the flashing arrows,  the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Glorious are you, more majestic  than the everlasting mountains. The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;  they sank into sleep; none of the troops was able to lift a hand.

At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,  both rider and horse lay stunned. But you indeed are awesome!  Who can stand before you  when once your anger is roused? From the heavens you uttered judgment;  the earth feared and was still when God rose up to establish judgment,  to save all the oppressed of the earth.

Human wrath serves only to praise you,  when you bind the last bit of your wrath around you. Make vows to the Lord your God, and perform them;  let all who are around him bring gifts  to the one who is awesome, who cuts off the spirit of princes,  who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.

New Testament Gospel Lesson: Matthew 23:37—24:14

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.¹’”

As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. Then he asked them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

“Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.”

¹Psalm 118:26

Year C Ordinary 33, RCL Proper 28, Catholic Proper 33: Wednesday

Selections are from Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings copyright © 1995 by the Consultation on Common Texts. Unless otherwise indicated, Bible text is from New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV) copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Image Credit: Painting by Josef Untersberger, image via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.