Thus Yahweh said to me: “Go and buy for yourself a loincloth of linen and put it on your loins, but you must not ?place? it in water.” 2 So I bought the loincloth according to the word of Yahweh and I put it on my loins. 3 Now the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, ?saying?, 4 “Take the loincloth that you bought, that is on your loins, and stand up, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in the cleft of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates just as Yahweh had commanded me.
+ DAILY PRAYER +
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;
He will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 135:1-4, 8-9
Psa 135:1 Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD,
give praise, O servants of the LORD,
Psa 135:2 who stand in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God!
Psa 135:3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing to his name, for it is pleasant!
Psa 135:4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his own possession.
Psa 135:8 He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
both of man and of beast;
Psa 135:9 who in your midst, O Egypt,
sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants;
Reading for Friday April 3rd Jeremiah 13:1-17
The Linen Loincloth
13 Thus Yahweh said to me: “Go and buy for yourself a loincloth of linen and put it on your loins, but you must not ?place? it in water.” 2 So I bought the loincloth according to the word of Yahweh and I put it on my loins.
3 Now the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, ?saying?, 4 “Take the loincloth that you bought, that is on your loins, and stand up, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in the cleft of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates just as Yahweh had commanded me.
6 ?And then?, ?after a long time?, then Yahweh said to me, “Stand up, go to the Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and I dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it, and look, the loincloth was ruined; it was not good for anything.
8 ?And then? the word of Yahweh came to me, ?saying?, 9 “Thus says Yahweh: ‘So I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to listen to my words, who go in the stubbornness of their hearts, and have gone after other gods, to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, let them be like this loincloth which is not good for anything. 11 For as the loincloth clings to the loins of a person, so I caused to cling to me all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah,’ ?declares? Yahweh, ‘to be for me a people, and a name, and a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.’
12 “Therefore, you shall say to them this word, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “Every jar must be filled with wine.” ’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every jar should be filled with wine?’ 13 Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Look, I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit on David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness. 14 And I will smash them, each one against his brother, and the fathers and the sons together,” ?declares? Yahweh. “I will not have compassion, and I will not take pity, and I will not show compassion from destroying them.” ’ ”
15 Listen, and pay attention,
you must not be haughty, for Yahweh has spoken.
16 Give glory to Yahweh your God ?before? he brings darkness,
and ?before? your feet stumble on the mountains at twilight.
And you will hope for light, but he makes it as gloom,
he makes it as thick darkness.
17 But if you will not listen to it,
my inner self will weep in secret places,
because of ?the presence of? your pride.
And my eyes will weep bitterly,
and they will melt in tears,
because the flock of Yahweh has been taken captive.
Lord’s Prayer
Daily Prayer
Almighty God, graciously behold this Your family for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and delivered into the hands of sinful men to suffer death upon the cross; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Concluding Prayer
Heavenly Father, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts to direct and rule us to do Your will, to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
