September 18 (Proverbs 25–26; Psalm 73; John 15)

0:00A reading from the Book of Proverbs. These also were Proverbs of Solomon, which the man of Hezekiah, King of Judah, copied. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsurczable. Take away the dross from the silver, and the Smith has material for a vessel. Take away the wicked from the presence of a king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great, where it is better to be told, come up here, than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. What your eyes have seen, do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame. Arque your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another's secret, lest he

1:04who hears you bring shame upon you, and your ill-repute have no end. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold, is a wise reprover to a listening ear. But the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him. He refreshes the soul of his masters. Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give. With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone. If you have found honey, eat only enough for you lest you have your fill of it, and vomit it. Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you. A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp

2:08arrow. Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth, or a foot that slips. Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day and like vinegar on soda. If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will keep burning colds on his head, and the Lord will reward you. The north wind brings forth rain, and the back-biting tongue angrily looks. It is better to live in a corner of the house top than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Like a muddied spring or a polluted sountain, is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.

3:08It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory. A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool. Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not elite. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. Whoever sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off his own feet and drinks violence. Like a lame man's legs which hang useless is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

4:08Like one who binds the stone in the sling is one who gives honor to a fool. Like a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of fools. Like an archer who wounds everyone is the one who hires a passing fool or drunkard. Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. The sluggard says, there is a lion in the road, there is a lion in the streets. As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. Whoever medals in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.

5:12Like a madman who throws firebrands arrows and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, I am only joking. For lack of wood the fire goes out and where there is no whisperer quarreling ceases. As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire so as a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels. They go down into the inner parts of the body. But the glaze covering an earthen vessel are fervent lips with an evil heart. Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart. When he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart. Though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it and a stone will come back on him who starts

6:18it rolling. A lying tongue hates its victims and a flattering mouth works ruin. A reading from the Psalms. A Psalm of Asif. Truly God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death, their bodies are fat and sleek, they are not in trouble as others are, they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace, violence covers them as a garment, their eyes swell out through fatness, their hearts overflow with follies, they scoth and speak with malice, loftily they threaten oppression, they set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue

7:22struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them, and they say, how can God know, is their knowledge in the Most High? They hold, these are the wicked, always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence, for all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. And when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a weary sump task, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places, you make them fall to ruin, how they are destroyed

8:26in a moment swept away utterly by terrors like a dream when one wakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant, I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you, you hold my right hand, you guide me with your counsel and afterward, you will receive me to glory. Some have I in heaven but you, and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish, you put an end to everyone who was unfaithful to you.

9:27It is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. A reading from the gospel according to John. I am the true vine, and my father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

10:27For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.

11:29Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

12:31Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me, hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my father. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. But when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth,

13:31who proceeds from the father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.