AME Zion Universal Reading August 14th 2022

Sunday School Zoom Link

Vision of The New Jerusalem (Rev 21:9-22:5)

A(21:9-11)

21:10 the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. (21:10)

B(21:12-21)

21:12 It had a massive, high wall, with twelve gates where twelve angels were stationed (21:12)" (δώδεκα)

C(21:22-25)

21:25 there will be no night there. (21:25) (νὺχ)

A'(21:26-27)

21:26 The treasure and wealth of the nations will be brought there, (21:26)

B'(22:1-4)

22:2 the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year (22:2) (δώδεκα)

C'(22:5)

22:5 Night will be no more (22:5) (νὺχ)

A: Coming. B: Twelve. C: There will be no night

Revelation 21:9–22:5 (NKJV): The New Jerusalem

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. 17 Then he

measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.

21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

The Glory of the New Jerusalem

22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Chapter 22

The River of Life

1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

First Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 3

23I entreated the Lord at that time, saying,24"O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand, for who is [like] God in heaven or on earth who can do as Your deeds and Your might?25Pray let me cross over and see the good land that is on the other side of the Jordan, this good mountain and the Lebanon."26But the Lord was angry with me because of you, and He did not listen to me, and the Lord said to me, "It is enough for you; speak to Me no more regarding this matter.27Go up to the top of the hill and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan.28But command Joshua and strengthen him and encourage him, for he will cross over before this people, and he will make them inherit the land which you will see.29And we abided in the valley opposite Beth Peor.

Deuteronomy Chapter 4

1And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you to do, in order that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord, God of your forefathers, is giving you.2Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, to observe the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor, for every man who went after Baal Peor, the Lord your God has exterminated from your midst.4But you who cleave to the Lord your God are alive, all of you, this day.

Monday

Isaiah 66:6–14 (NLT):

6 What is all the commotion in the city?

What is that terrible noise from the Temple?

It is the voice of the Lord

taking vengeance against his enemies.

7 “Before the birth pains even begin,

Jerusalem gives birth to a son.

8 Who has ever seen anything as strange as this?

Who ever heard of such a thing?

Has a nation ever been born in a single day?

Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?

But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin,

her children will be born.

9 Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth

and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord.

“No! I would never keep this nation from being born,”

says your God.

10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem!

Be glad with her, all you who love her

and all you who mourn for her.

11 Drink deeply of her glory

even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”

12 This is what the Lord says:

“I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity.

The wealth of the nations will flow to her.

Her children will be nursed at her breasts,

carried in her arms, and held on her lap.

13 I will comfort you there in Jerusalem

as a mother comforts her child.”

14 When you see these things, your heart will rejoice.

You will flourish like the grass!

Everyone will see the Lord’s hand of blessing on his servants—

and his anger against his enemies.

Second Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 4

5Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the Lord, my God, commanded me, to do so in the midst of the land to which you are coming to possess.6And you shall keep [them] and do [them], for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, "Only this great nation is a wise and understanding people. "7For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is at all times that we call upon Him?8And which great nation is it that has just statutes and ordinances, as this entire Torah, which I set before you this day?9But beware and watch yourself very well, lest you forget the things that your eyes saw, and lest these things depart from your heart, all the days of your life, and you shall make them known to your children and to your children's children,10the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, "Assemble the people for Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.11And you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire up to the midst of the heavens, with darkness, a cloud, and opaque darkness.12The Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of the words, but saw no image, just a voice.13And He told you His covenant, which He commanded you to do, the Ten Commandments, and He inscribed them on two stone tablets.14And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, so that you should do them in the land to which you are crossing, to possess.15And you shall watch yourselves very well, for you did not see any image on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire.16Lest you become corrupt and make for yourselves a graven image, the representation of any form, the likeness of male or female,17the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heaven,18the likeness of anything that crawls on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters, beneath the earth.19And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, which the Lord your God assigned to all peoples under the entire heaven, and be drawn away to prostrate yourselves before them and worship them.20But the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron crucible, out of Egypt, to be a people of His possession, as of this day.21And the Lord was angry with me because of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and that I would not come into the good land the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.22For I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. You, however, will cross, and you will possess this good land.23Beware, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image, the likeness of anything, which the Lord your God has forbidden you.24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a zealous God.25When you beget children and children's children, and you will be long established in the land, and you become corrupt and make a graven image, the likeness of anything, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, to provoke Him to anger,26I call as witness against you this very day the heaven and the earth, that you will speedily and utterly perish from the land to which you cross the Jordan, to possess; you will not prolong your days upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.27And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will remain few in number among the nations to where the Lord will lead you.28And there you will worship gods, man's handiwork, wood and stone, which neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.29And from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.30When you are distressed, and all these things happen upon you in the end of days, then you will return to the Lord your God and obey Him.31For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not let you loose or destroy you; neither will He forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them.32For ask now regarding the early days that were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens, whether there was anything like this great thing, or was the likes of it heard?33Did ever a people hear God's voice speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard, and live?34Or has any god performed miracles to come and take him a nation from the midst of a[nother] nation, with trials, with signs, and with wonders, and with war and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great awesome deeds, as all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?35You have been shown, in order to know that the Lord He is God; there is none else besides Him.36From the heavens, He let you hear His voice to instruct you, and upon the earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire,37and because He loved your forefathers and chose their seed after them, and He brought you out of Egypt before Him with His great strength,38to drive out from before you nations greater and stronger than you, to bring you and give you their land for an inheritance, as this day.39And you shall know this day and consider it in your heart, that the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth below; there is none else.40And you shall observe His statutes and His commandments, which I command you this day, that it may be well with you and your children after you, and that you may prolong your days upon the earth which the Lord your God gives you forever.

Tuesday

Isaiah 66:18–22 (NLT):

18 “I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory. 19 I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations. 20 They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. 21 “And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites. I, the Lord, have spoken!

22 “As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain,

so will you always be my people,

with a name that will never disappear,”

says the Lord.

Third Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 4

41Then Moses decided to separate three cities on the side of the Jordan towards the sunrise,42so that a murderer might flee there, he who murders his fellow man unintentionally, but did not hate him in time past, that he may flee to one of these cities, so that he might live:43Bezer in the desert, in the plain country of the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites, and Golan in the Bashan of the Menassites.44And this is the teaching which Moses set before the children of Israel:45These are the testimonies, statutes and ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they went out of Egypt,46on the side of the Jordan in the valley, opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they went out of Egypt.47And they possessed his land and the land of Og, king of the Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were on the side of the Jordan, towards the sunrise,48from Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, to Mount Sion, which is Hermon,49and all the plain across the Jordan eastward as far as the sea of the plain, under the waterfalls of the hill.

Wednesday

Hebrews 12:18–29 (NLT):

18 You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. 19 For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. 20 They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”

22 No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. 23 You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. 24 You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.

25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! 26 When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” 27 This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.

28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.

Fourth Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 5

1And Moses called all Israel and said to them, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, and learn them, and observe [them] to do them.2The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.3Not with our forefathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, we, all of whom are here alive today.4Face to face, the Lord spoke with you at the mountain out of the midst of the fire:5(and I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to tell you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid of the fire, and you did not go up on the mountain) saying,6"I am the Lord your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.7You shall not have the gods of others in My presence.8You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness which is in the heavens above, which is on the earth below, or which is in the water beneath the earth.9You shall not prostrate yourself before them, nor worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a zealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.10And [I] perform loving kindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and to those who keep My commandments.11You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not hold blameless anyone who takes His name in vain.12Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord your God commanded you.13Six days may you work, and perform all your labor,14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall perform no labor, neither you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your ox, your donkey, any of your livestock, nor the stranger who is within your cities, in order that your manservant and your maidservant may rest like you.15And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God took you out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord, your God, commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.16Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God commanded you, in order that your days be lengthened, and that it may go well with you on the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you.17You shall not murder. And you shall not commit adultery. And you shall not steal. And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.18And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor shall you desire your neighbor's house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Thursday

Psalm 48:1–14 (NLT): Psalm 48

A song. A psalm of the descendants of Korah.

1 How great is the Lord,

how deserving of praise,

in the city of our God,

which sits on his holy mountain!

2 It is high and magnificent;

the whole earth rejoices to see it!

Mount Zion, the holy mountain,

is the city of the great King!

3 God himself is in Jerusalem’s towers,

revealing himself as its defender.

4 The kings of the earth joined forces

and advanced against the city.

5 But when they saw it, they were stunned;

they were terrified and ran away.

6 They were gripped with terror

and writhed in pain like a woman in labor.

7 You destroyed them like the mighty ships of Tarshish

shattered by a powerful east wind.

8 We had heard of the city’s glory,

but now we have seen it ourselves—

the city of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

It is the city of our God;

he will make it safe forever.

Interlude

9 O God, we meditate on your unfailing love

as we worship in your Temple.

10 As your name deserves, O God,

you will be praised to the ends of the earth.

Your strong right hand is filled with victory.

11 Let the people on Mount Zion rejoice.

Let all the towns of Judah be glad

because of your justice.

12 Go, inspect the city of Jerusalem.

Walk around and count the many towers.

13 Take note of the fortified walls,

and tour all the citadels,

that you may describe them

to future generations.

14 For that is what God is like.

He is our God forever and ever,

and he will guide us until we die.

Fifth Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 5

19The Lord spoke these words to your entire assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the opaque darkness, with a great voice, which did not cease. And He inscribed them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.20And it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.21And you said, "Behold, the Lord, our God, has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we saw this day that God speaks with man, yet [man] remains alive.22So now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we continue to hear the voice of the Lord, our God, anymore, we will die.23For who is there of all flesh, who heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?24You approach, and hear all that the Lord, our God, will say, and you speak to us all that the Lord, our God, will speak to you, and we will hear and do.25And the Lord heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, "I have heard the sound of the words of this people that they have spoken to you; they have done well in all that they have spoken.26Would that their hearts be like this, to fear Me and to keep all My commandments all the days, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!27Go say to them, 'Return to your tents.'28But as for you, stand here with Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which you will teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.29Keep them to perform [them] as the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside either to the right or to the left.30In all the way which the Lord, your God, has commanded you, you shall go, in order that you may live and that it may be well with you, and so that you may prolong your days in the land you will possess.

Deuteronomy Chapter 6

1This is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances that the Lord, your God, commanded to teach you, to perform in the land into which you are about to pass, to possess it.2In order that you fear the Lord, your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments that I command you, you, your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life, and in order that your days may be lengthened.3And you shall, [therefore,] hearken, O Israel, and be sure to perform, so that it will be good for you, and so that you may increase exceedingly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, spoke to you, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Sixth Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 6

4Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God; the Lord is one.5And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your means.6And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart.7And you shall teach them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.8And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for ornaments between your eyes.9And you shall inscribe them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.10And it will be, when the Lord, your God, brings you to the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and good cities that you did not build,11and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you will eat and be satisfied.12Beware, lest you forget the Lord, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.13You shall fear the Lord, your God, worship Him, and swear by His name.14Do not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you.15For the Lord, your God, is a zealous God among you, lest the wrath of the Lord, your God, be kindled against you, and destroy you off the face of the earth.16You shall not try the Lord, your God, as you tried Him in Massah.17Diligently keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, and His testimonies. and His statutes, which He has commanded you.18And you shall do what is proper and good in the eyes of the Lord, in order that it may be well with you, and that you may come and possess the good land which the Lord swore to your forefathers,19to drive out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.20If your son asks you in time to come, saying, "What are the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the Lord our God has commanded you?"21You shall say to your son, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand.22And the Lord gave signs and wonders, great and terrible, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes.23And he brought us out of there, in order that He might bring us and give us the land which He swore to our fathers.24And the Lord commanded us to perform all these statutes, to fear the Lord, our God, for our good all the days, to keep us alive, as of this day.25And it will be for our merit that we keep to observe all these commandments before the Lord, our God, as He has commanded us."

Friday

Zechariah 8:1–8 (NLT): Chapter 8: Promised Blessings for Jerusalem

Then another message came to me from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: 2 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem!

3 “And now the Lord says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.

4 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem’s streets with their canes and will sit together in the city squares. 5 And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play.

6 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

7 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. 8 I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.

Seventh Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 7

1When the Lord, your God, brings you into the land to which you are coming to possess it, He will cast away many nations from before you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you.2And the Lord, your God, will deliver them to you, and you shall smite them. You shall utterly destroy them; neither shall you make a covenant with them, nor be gracious to them.3You shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son.4For he will turn away your son from following Me, and they will worship the gods of others, and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you.5But so shall you do to them: You shall demolish their altars and smash their monuments, and cut down their asherim trees, and burn their graven images with fire.6For you are a holy people to the Lord, your God: the Lord your God has chosen you to be His treasured people, out of all the peoples upon the face of the earth.7Not because you are more numerous than any people did the Lord delight in you and choose you, for you are the least of all the peoples.8But because of the Lord's love for you, and because He keeps the oath He swore to your forefathers, the Lord took you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.9Know, therefore, that the Lord, your God He is God, the faithful God, Who keeps the covenant and loving kindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.10And He repays those who hate Him, to their face, to cause them to perish; He will not delay the one who hates Him, but he will repay him to his face.11You shall therefore, observe the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day to do.

Saturday

1 Timothy 6:11–16 (NLT): Paul’s Final Instructions

11 But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. 13 And I charge you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you obey this command without wavering. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 15 For at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. 16 He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen.

Maftir Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 7

9Know, therefore, that the Lord, your God He is God, the faithful God, Who keeps the covenant and loving kindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.10And He repays those who hate Him, to their face, to cause them to perish; He will not delay the one who hates Him, but he will repay him to his face.11You shall therefore, observe the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day to do.

Haftarah

Isaiah Chapter 4

01"Console, console My people," says your God.2Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her, for she has become full [from] her host, for her iniquity has been appeased, for she has taken from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.3A voice calls, "In the desert, clear the way of the Lord, straighten out in the wilderness, a highway for our God."4Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill shall be lowered, and the crooked terrain shall become a plain and the close mountains a champaign.5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see that the mouth of the Lord spoke.6A voice says, "Call!" and it says, "What shall I call?" "All flesh is grass, and all its kindness is like the blossom of the field.7The grass shall dry out, the blossom shall wilt, for a wind from the Lord has blown upon it; behold the people is grass.8The grass shall dry out, the blossom shall wilt, but the word of our God shall last forever.9Upon a lofty mountain ascend, O herald of Zion, raise your voice with strength, O herald of Jerusalem; raise [your voice], fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"10Behold the Lord God shall come with a strong [hand], and His arm rules for Him; behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense is before Him.11Like a shepherd [who] tends his flock, with his arm he gathers lambs, and in his bosom he carries [them], the nursing ones he leads.12Who measured water with his gait, and measured the heavens with his span, and measured by thirds the dust of the earth, and weighed mountains with a scale and hills with a balance?13Who meted the spirit of the Lord, and His adviser who informs Him?14With whom did He take counsel give him to understand, and teach him in the way of justice, and teach him knowledge, and the way of understandings did He let him know?15Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and like dust on a balance are they counted; behold the islands are like fine [dust] that blows away.16And the Lebanon-there is not enough to burn, and its beasts-there is not enough for burnt offerings.17All the nations are as nought before Him; as things of nought and vanity are they regarded by Him.18And to whom do you compare God, and what likeness do you arrange for Him?19The graven image, the craftsman has melted, and the smith plates it with gold, and chains of silver he attaches.20He who is accustomed to select, chooses a tree that does not rot; he seeks for himself a skilled craftsman, to prepare a graven image, which will not move.21Do you not know, have you not heard has it not been told to you from the beginning? Do you not understand the foundations of the earth?22It is He Who sits above the circle of the earth, and whose inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heaven like a curtain, and He spread them out like a tent to dwell.23Who brings princes to nought, judges of the land He made like a thing of nought.24Even [as though] they were not planted, even [as though] they were not sown, even [as though] their trunk was not rooted in the earth; and also He blew on them, and they dried up, and a tempest shall carry them away like straw.25"Now, to whom will you compare Me that I should be equal?" says the Holy One.26Lift up your eyes on high and see, who created these, who takes out their host by number; all of them He calls by name; because of His great might and because He is strong in power, no one is missing.