Tuesday 10 February 2009<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span><!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal">DAILY LECTIONARY</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Isaiah 59:1-15a</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>nor his ear too dull to hear.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rather, your iniquities have been barriers</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>between you and your God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and your sins have hidden his face from you</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that he does not hear.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For your hands are defiled with blood,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your fingers with iniquity;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">your lips have spoken lies,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your tongue mutters wickedness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No one brings suit justly,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>no one goes to law honestly;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>conceiving mischief and begetting iniquity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They hatch adders’ eggs,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and weave the spider’s web;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">whoever eats their eggs dies,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the crushed egg hatches out a viper.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their webs cannot serve as clothing;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they cannot cover themselves with what they make.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their works are works of iniquity,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and deeds of violence are in their hands.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their feet run to evil,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and they rush to shed innocent blood;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>desolation and destruction are in their highways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The way of peace they do not know,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and there is no justice in their paths.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their roads they have made crooked;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>no one who walks in them knows peace.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore justice is far from us,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and righteousness does not reach us;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We grope like the blind along a wall,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>groping like those who have no eyes;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">we stumble at noon as in the twilight,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>among the vigorous* as though we were dead.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We all growl like bears;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>like doves we moan mournfully.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We wait for justice, but there is none;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for salvation, but it is far from us.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For our transgressions before you are many,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and our sins testify against us.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our transgressions indeed are with us,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and we know our iniquities:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">transgressing, and denying the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and turning away from following our God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">talking oppression and revolt,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Justice is turned back,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and righteousness stands at a distance;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for truth stumbles in the public square,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and uprightness cannot enter.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Truth is lacking,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord saw it, and it displeased him</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that there was no justice.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2 Timothy 1:1-14</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>To Timothy, my beloved child:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher,* and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.* Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us. ******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mark 9:42-50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me,* it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell,* to the unquenchable fire.* And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.*,* And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,* where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘For everyone will be salted with fire.* Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?* Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Psalm 78:1-39</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 78:1-39</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>incline your ears to the words of my mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will open my mouth in a parable;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will utter dark sayings from of old,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">things that we have heard and known,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that our ancestors have told us.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We will not hide them from their children;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>we will tell to the coming generation</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the wonders that he has done.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He established a decree in Jacob,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and appointed a law in Israel,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">which he commanded our ancestors</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to teach to their children;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that the next generation might know them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the children yet unborn,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and rise up and tell them to their children,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that they should set their hope in God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and not forget the works of God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but keep his commandments;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and that they should not be like their ancestors,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a stubborn and rebellious generation,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">a generation whose heart was not steadfast,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>whose spirit was not faithful to God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Ephraimites, armed with* the bow,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>turned back on the day of battle.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They did not keep God’s covenant,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but refused to walk according to his law.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They forgot what he had done,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the miracles that he had shown them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He divided the sea and let them pass through it,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and made the waters stand like a heap.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the daytime he led them with a cloud,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all night long with a fiery light.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He split rocks open in the wilderness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He made streams come out of the rock,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and caused waters to flow down like rivers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet they sinned still more against him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>rebelling against the Most High in the desert.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They tested God in their heart</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>by demanding the food they craved.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They spoke against God, saying,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and torrents overflowed,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">can he also give bread,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or provide meat for his people?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a fire was kindled against Jacob,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>his anger mounted against Israel,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because they had no faith in God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and did not trust his saving power.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet he commanded the skies above,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and opened the doors of heaven;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he rained down on them manna to eat,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and gave them the grain of heaven.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mortals ate of the bread of angels;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he sent them food in abundance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and by his power he led out the south wind;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he rained flesh upon them like dust,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>winged birds like the sand of the seas;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he let them fall within their camp,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all around their dwellings.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And they ate and were well filled,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for he gave them what they craved.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But before they had satisfied their craving,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>while the food was still in their mouths,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the anger of God rose against them</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he killed the strongest of them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and laid low the flower of Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In spite of all this they still sinned;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they did not believe in his wonders.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So he made their days vanish like a breath,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and their years in terror.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When he killed them, they sought for him;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they repented and sought God earnestly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They remembered that God was their rock,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the Most High God their redeemer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But they flattered him with their mouths;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they lied to him with their tongues.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their heart was not steadfast towards him;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they were not true to his covenant.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet he, being compassionate,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>forgave their iniquity,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and did not destroy them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">often he restrained his anger,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and did not stir up all his wrath.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He remembered that they were but flesh,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a wind that passes and does not come again.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 78:40-72</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 78:40-72</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and grieved him in the desert!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They tested God again and again,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and provoked the Holy One of Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They did not keep in mind his power,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">when he displayed his signs in Egypt,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He turned their rivers to blood,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that they could not drink of their streams.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and frogs, which destroyed them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He gave their crops to the caterpillar,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the fruit of their labour to the locust.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He destroyed their vines with hail,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and their sycomores with frost.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He gave over their cattle to the hail,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and their flocks to thunderbolts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He let loose on them his fierce anger,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>wrath, indignation, and distress,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a company of destroying angels.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He made a path for his anger;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he did not spare them from death,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but gave their lives over to the plague.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then he led out his people like sheep,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And he brought them to his holy hill,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to the mountain that his right hand had won.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He drove out nations before them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he apportioned them for a possession</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet they tested the Most High God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and rebelled against him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They did not observe his decrees,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they twisted like a treacherous bow.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For they provoked him to anger with their high places;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they moved him to jealousy with their idols.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When God heard, he was full of wrath,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he utterly rejected Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the tent where he dwelt among mortals,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and delivered his power to captivity,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>his glory to the hand of the foe.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He gave his people to the sword,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and vented his wrath on his heritage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fire devoured their young men,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and their girls had no marriage song.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their priests fell by the sword,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and their widows made no lamentation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>like a warrior shouting because of wine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He put his adversaries to rout;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he put them to everlasting disgrace.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He rejected the tent of Joseph,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but he chose the tribe of Judah,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Mount Zion, which he loves.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>like the earth, which he has founded for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He chose his servant David,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and took him from the sheepfolds;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from tending the nursing ewes he brought him</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>of Israel, his inheritance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With upright heart he tended them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and guided them with skilful hand.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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