AME Zion Universal Reading October 8th 2022

Sunday School Zoom Link

First Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

1Listen, O heavens, and I will speak! And let the earth hear the words of my mouth!2My lesson will drip like rain; my word will flow like dew; like storm winds on vegetation and like raindrops on grass.3When I call out the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God.4The deeds of the [Mighty] Rock are perfect, for all His ways are just; a faithful God, without injustice He is righteous and upright.5Destruction is not His; it is His children's defect you crooked and twisted generation.6Is this how you repay the Lord, you disgraceful, unwise people?! Is He not your Father, your Master? He has made you and established you.

Deuteronomy 32:3–6 (NLT):

3 I will proclaim the name of the Lord;

how glorious is our God!

4 He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.

Everything he does is just and fair.

He is a faithful God who does no wrong;

how just and upright he is!

5 “But they have acted corruptly toward him;

when they act so perversely,

are they really his children?

They are a deceitful and twisted generation.

6 Is this the way you repay the Lord,

you foolish and senseless people?

Isn’t he your Father who created you?

Has he not made you and established you?

Deuteronomy 32:10–14 (NLT):

10 He found them in a desert land,

in an empty, howling wasteland.

He surrounded them and watched over them;

he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes.

11 Like an eagle that rouses her chicks

and hovers over her young,

so he spread his wings to take them up

and carried them safely on his pinions.

12 The Lord alone guided them;

they followed no foreign gods.

13 He let them ride over the highlands

and feast on the crops of the fields.

He nourished them with honey from the rock

and olive oil from the stony ground.

14 He fed them yogurt from the herd

and milk from the flock,

together with the fat of lambs.

He gave them choice rams from Bashan, and goats,

together with the choicest wheat.

You drank the finest wine,

made from the juice of grapes.

Deuteronomy 32:18 (NLT):

18 You neglected the Rock who had fathered you;

you forgot the God who had given you birth.

Second Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

7Remember the days of old; reflect upon the years of [other] generations. Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will inform you.8When the Most High gave nations their lot, when He separated the sons of man, He set up the boundaries of peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.9Because the Lord's portion is His people Jacob, the lot of His inheritance.10He found them in a desert land, and in a desolate, howling wasteland. He encompassed them and bestowed understanding upon them; He protected them as the pupil of His eye.11As an eagle awakens its nest, hovering over its fledglings, it spreads its wings, taking them and carrying them on its pinions.12[So] the Lord guided them alone, and there was no alien deity with Him.

Monday

Exodus 3:1–15 (NLT): Moses and the Burning Bush

One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”

4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

“Here I am!” Moses replied.

5 “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. 9 Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

12 God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”

13 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

14 God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.

Third Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

13He made them ride upon the high places of the earth, that they would eat the produce of the field. He let them suck honey from a rock, and oil from the mighty part of the crag.14The cream of cattle and the milk of sheep, with the fat of lambs and rams of Bashan and he goats, with kidneys of wheat, and it [the congregation of Israel] would drink the blood of grapes [which was] as the finest wine.15And Jeshurun became fat and rebelled; you grew fat, thick and rotund; [Israel] forsook the God Who made them, and spurned the [Mighty] Rock of their salvation.16They provoked His zeal with alien worship; they made Him angry with abominations deeds.17They sacrificed to demons, which have no power, deities they did not know, new things that only recently came, which your forefathers did not fear.18You forgot the [Mighty] Rock Who bore you; you forgot the God Who delivered you.

Tuesday

Exodus 14:21–31 (NLT):

21 Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land. 22 So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side!

23 Then the Egyptians—all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and charioteers—chased them into the middle of the sea. 24 But just before dawn the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army from the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw their forces into total confusion. 25 He twisted their chariot wheels, making their chariots difficult to drive. “Let’s get out of here—away from these Israelites!” the Egyptians shouted. “The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!”

26 When all the Israelites had reached the other side, the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the sea again. Then the waters will rush back and cover the Egyptians and their chariots and charioteers.” 27 So as the sun began to rise, Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the water rushed back into its usual place. The Egyptians tried to escape, but the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers—the entire army of Pharaoh. Of all the Egyptians who had chased the Israelites into the sea, not a single one survived.

29 But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. 30 That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. 31 When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Fourth Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

19And the Lord saw this and became angry, provoked by His sons and daughters.20And He said, "I will hide My face from them. I will see what their end will be, for they are a generation of changes; they are not [recognizable] as My children whom I have reared.21They have provoked My jealousy with a non god, provoked My anger with their vanities. Thus, I will provoke their jealousy with a non people, provoke their anger with a foolish nation.22For a fire blazed in My wrath, and burned to the lowest depths. It consumed the land and its produce, setting aflame the foundations of mountains.23I will link evils upon them. I will use up My arrows on them.24They will sprout hair from famine, attacked by demons, excised by Meriri. I will incite the teeth of livestock upon them, with the venom of creatures that slither in the dust.25From outside, the sword will bereave, and terror from within; young men and maidens, suckling babes with venerable elders.26I said that I would make an end of them, eradicate their remembrance from mankind.27Were it not that the enemy's wrath was heaped up, lest their adversaries distort; lest they claim, "Our hand was triumphant! The Lord did none of this!"28For they are a nation devoid of counsel, and they have no understanding.

Wednesday

Psalm 105:26–27 (NLT):

26 But the Lord sent his servant Moses,

along with Aaron, whom he had chosen.

27 They performed miraculous signs among the Egyptians,

and wonders in the land of Ham.

Psalm 105:37–45 (NLT):

37 The Lord brought his people out of Egypt, loaded with silver and gold;

and not one among the tribes of Israel even stumbled.

38 Egypt was glad when they were gone,

for they feared them greatly.

39 The Lord spread a cloud above them as a covering

and gave them a great fire to light the darkness.

40 They asked for meat, and he sent them quail;

he satisfied their hunger with manna—bread from heaven.

41 He split open a rock, and water gushed out

to form a river through the dry wasteland.

42 For he remembered his sacred promise

to his servant Abraham.

43 So he brought his people out of Egypt with joy,

his chosen ones with rejoicing.

44 He gave his people the lands of pagan nations,

and they harvested crops that others had planted.

45 All this happened so they would follow his decrees

and obey his instructions.

Praise the Lord!

Fifth Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

29If they were wise, they would understand this; they would reflect upon their fate.30How can one [person] pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their [Mighty] Rock has sold them out, and the Lord has given them over?31For their rock is not like our [Mighty] Rock. Nevertheless, our enemies sit in judgment.32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the field of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of rosh, and they have bitter clusters.33Their wine is the bitterness of serpents, and the bitterness of the ruthless cobras.34Is it not stored up with Me, sealed up in My treasuries?35Vengeance is poised with Me, and it will pay at the time their foot stumbles. For the appointed day of their reckoning is near, and what is destined for them hastens.36When the Lord will judge His people, and will reconsider His servants, when He sees that the power is increasing, and none is controlled or strengthened.37Then He will say, "Where is their deity, the rock in which they trusted,38who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations? Let them arise and help you! Let them be your shelter!39See now that it is I! I am the One, and there is no god like Me! I cause death and grant life. I strike, but I heal, and no one can rescue from My Hand!

Thursday

Hebrews 3:7–19 (NLT):

7 That is why the Holy Spirit says,

“Today when you hear his voice,

8 don’t harden your hearts

as Israel did when they rebelled,

when they tested me in the wilderness.

9 There your ancestors tested and tried my patience,

even though they saw my miracles for forty years.

10 So I was angry with them, and I said,

‘Their hearts always turn away from me.

They refuse to do what I tell them.’

11 So in my anger I took an oath:

‘They will never enter my place of rest.’ ”

12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 15 Remember what it says:

“Today when you hear his voice,

don’t harden your hearts

as Israel did when they rebelled.”

16 And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? 19 So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.

Sixth Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

40For I raise up My hand to heaven, and say, 'As I live forever.'41When I sharpen the blade of My sword, and My hand grasps judgment, I will bring vengeance upon My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.42I will intoxicate My arrows with blood, and My sword will consume flesh, from the blood of the slain and the captives, from the first breach of the enemy.'43Sing out praise, O you nations, for His people! For He will avenge the blood of His servants, inflict revenge upon His adversaries, and appease His land [and] His people.

Friday

Hebrews 4:1–11 (NLT): Promised Rest for God’s People

God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. 3 For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,

“In my anger I took an oath:

‘They will never enter my place of rest,’ ”

even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” 5 But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”

6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:

“Today when you hear his voice,

don’t harden your hearts.”

8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. 9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

Seventh Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

44And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song into the ears of the people he and Hoshea the son of Nun.45And Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel.46And he said to them, "Set your hearts to all of the words which I bear witness for you this day, so that you may command your children to observe to do all the words of this Torah.47For it is not an empty thing for you, for it is your life, and through this thing, you will lengthen your days upon the land to which you are crossing over the Jordan, to possess it."48And the Lord spoke to Moses on that very day, saying,49Go up this Mount Avarim [to] Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is facing Jericho, and see the Land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel as a possession,50And die on the mountain upon which you are climbing and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.51Because you betrayed Me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Merivath Kadesh, [in] the desert of Zin, [and] because you did not sanctify Me in the midst of the children of Israel.52For from afar, you will see the land, but you will not come there, to the land I am giving the children of Israel.

Saturday

Deuteronomy 1:1–8 (NLT): Introduction to Moses’ First Address

These are the words that Moses spoke to all the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were camped in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between Paran on one side and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab on the other.

2 Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. 3 But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the Lord had commanded him to say. 4 This took place after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth.

5 While the Israelites were in the land of Moab east of the Jordan River, Moses carefully explained the Lord’s instructions as follows.

The Command to Leave Sinai

6 “When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7 It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the neighboring regions—the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Negev, and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, and all the way to the great Euphrates River. 8 Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.’ ”

Maftir Portion

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

48And the Lord spoke to Moses on that very day, saying,49Go up this Mount Avarim [to] Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is facing Jericho, and see the Land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel as a possession,50And die on the mountain upon which you are climbing and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.51Because you betrayed Me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Merivath Kadesh, [in] the desert of Zin, [and] because you did not sanctify Me in the midst of the children of Israel.52For from afar, you will see the land, but you will not come there, to the land I am giving the children of Israel.

Haftarah

II Samuel Chapter 22

1And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song, on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul;2And he said, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and a rescuer to me.3God is my rock, under whom I take cover; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my support, and my refuge; [He is] my savior Who saves me from violence.4With praise, I call to the Lord, for from my enemies I shall be saved.5For the pains of death have encompassed me; streams of scoundrels would affright me.6Bands of [those that shall inherit] the nether world have surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me.7When I am in distress, I call upon the Lord, yes I call upon my God: and out of His abode He hears my voice, and my cry enters His ears.8Then the earth shook and quaked, the [very] foundations of heaven did tremble; and they were shaken when he was angered.9Smoke went up in His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth did devour; coals flamed forth from Him.10And He bent the heavens and He came down; and thick darkness was under His feet.11And He rode upon a cherub and did fly; He was seen upon the wings of the wind.12And He fixed darkness about Him as booths; gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.13From the brightness before Him flamed forth coals of fire.14The Lord thundered from heaven; and the Most High gave forth His voice.15And He sent out arrows and He scattered them, lightning and He discomfited them.16And the depths of the sea appeared; the foundations of the world were laid bare, by the rebuke of the Lord and the blast of the breath of His nostrils.17He sent from on high [and] He took me; He drew me out of many waters.18He delivered me from my mighty enemy; from them that hated me; for they were too powerful for me.19They confronted me on the day of my calamity; but the Lord was a support to me.20And He brought me forth into a wide place; He delivered me because He took delight in me.21The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He recompensed me.22For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from [the commandments of] my God.23For all His ordinances were before me; and [as for] His statutes, I did not depart from it.24And I was single-hearted toward Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity.25And the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness before His eyes.26With a kind one, You show Yourself kind. With an upright mighty man, You show Yourself upright.27With a pure one, You show Yourself pure; But with a perverse one, You deal crookedly.28And the humble people You do deliver; But Your eyes are upon the haughty [in order] to humble them.29For You are my lamp, O' Lord; And the Lord does light my darkness.30For by You I run upon a troop; By my God I scale a wall.31[He is] the God Whose way is perfect; The word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield unto all them that trust in him.32For who is God, save the Lord? And who is a rock, save our God?33God is He who has fortified me with strength; and He looseth perfectly my path.34He makes my feet like hinds; And sets me upon my high places.35He trains my hand for war, so that mine arms do bend a brass bow.36And You have given me the shield of Your salvation; And You have increased Your modesty for me.37You have enlarged my step[s] beneath me; And my ankles have not slipped.38I have pursued my enemies and have destroyed them; Never turning back until they were consumed.39And I have consumed them, and I have crushed them that they cannot rise; Yes, they are fallen under my feet.40For You have girded me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me those that rose up against me.41And of my enemies You have given me the back of their necks; them that hate me, that I may cut them off.42They looked about, but there was no one to save them; [Even] to the Lord, but He answered them not.43Then I ground them as the dust of the earth, as the mud of the streets I did tread upon them, I did stamp them down.44And You have allowed me to escape from the contenders amongst my people; You shall keep me as head of nations; a people whom I have not known serve me.45Strangers lie to me; as soon as their ears hear, they obey me.46The strangers will wilt, and become lame from their bondage.47The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock; And exalted be the God, [who is] my rock of salvation.48The God who takes vengeance for me; And brings down peoples under me.49And that brings me forth from my enemies; And above those that rise against me, You have lifted me; from the violent man You deliver me.50Therefore I will give thanks to You, O' Lord, among the nations, and to your name I will sing praises.51He gives great salvation to His king, and He performs kindness to His anointed; to David and to his seed, forevermore.