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In this episode I teach about how conjugate regular verbs in Spanish. Also I talk about different key questions for communicating with Colombians. Finally I discuss about different Colombian pacific rhythms! If you want to learn more contact me at contact@spanishwithedgar.com and follow me on Instagram.com/spanishwithedgar and check out my website www.spanishwithedgar.com #expats #spanishwithedgar #colombia #expats #Foreigners #espanol #bogota #Medellín #adopted #learning #onlinelessons #onlinespanish #oneononelessons #onlinelearning #spanishteachers #studySpanish #learnspanish #spanish #spanishtips

Kent and KT talk about all the news regarding the real estate market. You can find all the links they used for their research below for a further look into what is happening in the real estate industry.https://eedition.charlotteobserver.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=8f7599ea-ac70-456b-99a4-d0271ca9a8d2https://eedition.charlotteobserver.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=5df2b755-57ca-41a5-9415-f2acc8adc125https://therealdeal.com/2023/01/08/meta-updates-property-listing-policy-riling-agents/https://eedition.charlotteobserver.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=d4c4d022-07c5-41b3-8788-4828309ffa36

Old Testament: Genesis 34–35 Genesis 34–35 (Listen) The Defiling of Dinah 34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your1 daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride-price2 and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” 13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” 18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father's house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,3 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.4 9 God appeared5 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:6 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.7 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance8 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;9 but his father called him Benjamin.10 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Footnotes [1] 34:8 The Hebrew for your is plural here [2] 34:12 Or engagement present [3] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [4] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [5] 35:9 Or had appeared [6] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [7] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [8] 35:16 Or about two hours' distance [9] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [10] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand (ESV) New Testament: Matthew 12 Matthew 12 (Listen) Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath 12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” A Man with a Withered Hand 9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. God's Chosen Servant 15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18   “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,    my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.  I will put my Spirit upon him,    and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.19   He will not quarrel or cry aloud,    nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;20   a bruised reed he will not break,    and a smoldering wick he will not quench,  until he brings justice to victory;21     and in his name the Gentiles will hope.” Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit 22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit 33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” The Sign of Jonah 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Return of an Unclean Spirit 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” Jesus' Mother and Brothers 46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers1 stood outside, asking to speak to him.2 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Footnotes [1] 12:46 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 48, 49 [2] 12:46 Some manuscripts insert verse 47: Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you” (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 18:25–50 Psalm 18:25–50 (Listen) 25   With the merciful you show yourself merciful;    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;26   with the purified you show yourself pure;    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.27   For you save a humble people,    but the haughty eyes you bring down.28   For it is you who light my lamp;    the LORD my God lightens my darkness.29   For by you I can run against a troop,    and by my God I can leap over a wall.30   This God—his way is perfect;1    the word of the LORD proves true;    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 31   For who is God, but the LORD?    And who is a rock, except our God?—32   the God who equipped me with strength    and made my way blameless.33   He made my feet like the feet of a deer    and set me secure on the heights.34   He trains my hands for war,    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35   You have given me the shield of your salvation,    and your right hand supported me,    and your gentleness made me great.36   You gave a wide place for my steps under me,    and my feet did not slip.37   I pursued my enemies and overtook them,    and did not turn back till they were consumed.38   I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;    they fell under my feet.39   For you equipped me with strength for the battle;    you made those who rise against me sink under me.40   You made my enemies turn their backs to me,2    and those who hated me I destroyed.41   They cried for help, but there was none to save;    they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.42   I beat them fine as dust before the wind;    I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 43   You delivered me from strife with the people;    you made me the head of the nations;    people whom I had not known served me.44   As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;    foreigners came cringing to me.45   Foreigners lost heart    and came trembling out of their fortresses. 46   The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,    and exalted be the God of my salvation—47   the God who gave me vengeance    and subdued peoples under me,48   who rescued me from my enemies;    yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;    you delivered me from the man of violence. 49   For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,    and sing to your name.50   Great salvation he brings to his king,    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,    to David and his offspring forever. Footnotes [1] 18:30 Or blameless [2] 18:40 Or You gave me my enemies' necks (ESV) Proverb: Proverbs 6:20–35 Proverbs 6:20–35 (Listen) Warnings Against Adultery 20   My son, keep your father's commandment,    and forsake not your mother's teaching.21   Bind them on your heart always;    tie them around your neck.22   When you walk, they1 will lead you;    when you lie down, they will watch over you;    and when you awake, they will talk with you.23   For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,    and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,24   to preserve you from the evil woman,2    from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.325   Do not desire her beauty in your heart,    and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;26   for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,4    but a married woman5 hunts down a precious life.27   Can a man carry fire next to his chest    and his clothes not be burned?28   Or can one walk on hot coals    and his feet not be scorched?29   So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;    none who touches her will go unpunished.30   People do not despise a thief if he steals    to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,31   but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;

Old Testament: Genesis 34–35 Genesis 34–35 (Listen) The Defiling of Dinah 34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your1 daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride-price2 and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” 13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” 18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father's house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,3 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.4 9 God appeared5 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:6 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.7 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance8 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;9 but his father called him Benjamin.10 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Footnotes [1] 34:8 The Hebrew for your is plural here [2] 34:12 Or engagement present [3] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [4] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [5] 35:9 Or had appeared [6] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [7] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [8] 35:16 Or about two hours' distance [9] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [10] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 18:25–50 Psalm 18:25–50 (Listen) 25   With the merciful you show yourself merciful;    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;26   with the purified you show yourself pure;    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.27   For you save a humble people,    but the haughty eyes you bring down.28   For it is you who light my lamp;    the LORD my God lightens my darkness.29   For by you I can run against a troop,    and by my God I can leap over a wall.30   This God—his way is perfect;1    the word of the LORD proves true;    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 31   For who is God, but the LORD?    And who is a rock, except our God?—32   the God who equipped me with strength    and made my way blameless.33   He made my feet like the feet of a deer    and set me secure on the heights.34   He trains my hands for war,    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35   You have given me the shield of your salvation,    and your right hand supported me,    and your gentleness made me great.36   You gave a wide place for my steps under me,    and my feet did not slip.37   I pursued my enemies and overtook them,    and did not turn back till they were consumed.38   I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;    they fell under my feet.39   For you equipped me with strength for the battle;    you made those who rise against me sink under me.40   You made my enemies turn their backs to me,2    and those who hated me I destroyed.41   They cried for help, but there was none to save;    they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.42   I beat them fine as dust before the wind;    I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 43   You delivered me from strife with the people;    you made me the head of the nations;    people whom I had not known served me.44   As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;    foreigners came cringing to me.45   Foreigners lost heart    and came trembling out of their fortresses. 46   The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,    and exalted be the God of my salvation—47   the God who gave me vengeance    and subdued peoples under me,48   who rescued me from my enemies;    yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;    you delivered me from the man of violence. 49   For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,    and sing to your name.50   Great salvation he brings to his king,    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,    to David and his offspring forever. Footnotes [1] 18:30 Or blameless [2] 18:40 Or You gave me my enemies' necks (ESV) New Testament: Matthew 22 Matthew 22 (Listen) The Parable of the Wedding Feast 22 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants1 to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”' 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.' 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” Paying Taxes to Caesar 15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.2 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.3 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away. Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection 23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.' 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.” 29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. The Great Commandment 34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Whose Son Is the Christ? 41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44   “‘The Lord said to my Lord,  “Sit at my right hand,    until I put your enemies under your feet”'? 45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. Footnotes [1] 22:3 Or bondservants; also verses 4, 6, 8, 10 [2] 22:16 Greek for you do not look at people's faces [3] 22:19 A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer (ESV)

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 18 Psalm 18 (Listen) The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: 18   I love you, O LORD, my strength.2   The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.3   I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,    and I am saved from my enemies. 4   The cords of death encompassed me;    the torrents of destruction assailed me;15   the cords of Sheol entangled me;    the snares of death confronted me. 6   In my distress I called upon the LORD;    to my God I cried for help.  From his temple he heard my voice,    and my cry to him reached his ears. 7   Then the earth reeled and rocked;    the foundations also of the mountains trembled    and quaked, because he was angry.8   Smoke went up from his nostrils,2    and devouring fire from his mouth;    glowing coals flamed forth from him.9   He bowed the heavens and came down;    thick darkness was under his feet.10   He rode on a cherub and flew;    he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.11   He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,    thick clouds dark with water.12   Out of the brightness before him    hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. 13   The LORD also thundered in the heavens,    and the Most High uttered his voice,    hailstones and coals of fire.14   And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;    he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.15   Then the channels of the sea were seen,    and the foundations of the world were laid bare  at your rebuke, O LORD,    at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 16   He sent from on high, he took me;    he drew me out of many waters.17   He rescued me from my strong enemy    and from those who hated me,    for they were too mighty for me.18   They confronted me in the day of my calamity,    but the LORD was my support.19   He brought me out into a broad place;    he rescued me, because he delighted in me. 20   The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;    according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.21   For I have kept the ways of the LORD,    and have not wickedly departed from my God.22   For all his rules3 were before me,    and his statutes I did not put away from me.23   I was blameless before him,    and I kept myself from my guilt.24   So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. 25   With the merciful you show yourself merciful;    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;26   with the purified you show yourself pure;    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.27   For you save a humble people,    but the haughty eyes you bring down.28   For it is you who light my lamp;    the LORD my God lightens my darkness.29   For by you I can run against a troop,    and by my God I can leap over a wall.30   This God—his way is perfect;4    the word of the LORD proves true;    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 31   For who is God, but the LORD?    And who is a rock, except our God?—32   the God who equipped me with strength    and made my way blameless.33   He made my feet like the feet of a deer    and set me secure on the heights.34   He trains my hands for war,    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35   You have given me the shield of your salvation,    and your right hand supported me,    and your gentleness made me great.36   You gave a wide place for my steps under me,    and my feet did not slip.37   I pursued my enemies and overtook them,    and did not turn back till they were consumed.38   I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;    they fell under my feet.39   For you equipped me with strength for the battle;    you made those who rise against me sink under me.40   You made my enemies turn their backs to me,5    and those who hated me I destroyed.41   They cried for help, but there was none to save;    they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.42   I beat them fine as dust before the wind;    I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 43   You delivered me from strife with the people;    you made me the head of the nations;    people whom I had not known served me.44   As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;    foreigners came cringing to me.45   Foreigners lost heart    and came trembling out of their fortresses. 46   The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,    and exalted be the God of my salvation—47   the God who gave me vengeance    and subdued peoples under me,48   who rescued me from my enemies;    yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;    you delivered me from the man of violence. 49   For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,    and sing to your name.50   Great salvation he brings to his king,    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,    to David and his offspring forever. Footnotes [1] 18:4 Or terrified me [2] 18:8 Or in his wrath [3] 18:22 Or just decrees [4] 18:30 Or blameless [5] 18:40 Or You gave me my enemies' necks (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Genesis 18:16–33 Genesis 18:16–33 (Listen) 16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen1 him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” 20 Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether2 according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” Abraham Intercedes for Sodom 22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. Footnotes [1] 18:19 Hebrew known [2] 18:21 Or they deserve destruction; Hebrew they have made a complete end (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: 1 Chronicles 21:1–17 1 Chronicles 21:1–17 (Listen) David's Census Brings Pestilence 21 Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me a report, that I may know their number.” 3 But Joab said, “May the LORD add to his people a hundred times as many as they are! Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord's servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?” 4 But the king's word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came back to Jerusalem. 5 And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, and in Judah 470,000 who drew the sword. 6 But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king's command was abhorrent to Joab. 7 But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel. 8 And David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” 9 And the LORD spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying, 10 “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.'” 11 So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Choose what you will: 12 either three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the LORD, pestilence on the land, with the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.' Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 13 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” 14 So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell. 15 And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. 17 And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father's house. But do not let the plague be on your people.” (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: Luke 11:37–12:12 Luke 11:37–12:12 (Listen) Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers 37 While Jesus1 was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. 42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” 45 One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” 46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,' 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” 53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees 12 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. Have No Fear 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.2 Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?3 And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. Acknowledge Christ Before Men 8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Footnotes [1] 11:37 Greek he [2] 12:5 Greek Gehenna [3] 12:6 Greek two assaria; an assarion was a Roman copper coin worth about 1/16 of a denarius (which was a day's wage for a laborer) (ESV)

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1 Epiphany First Psalm: Psalm 18:1–20 Psalm 18:1–20 (Listen) The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: 18   I love you, O LORD, my strength.2   The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.3   I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,    and I am saved from my enemies. 4   The cords of death encompassed me;    the torrents of destruction assailed me;15   the cords of Sheol entangled me;    the snares of death confronted me. 6   In my distress I called upon the LORD;    to my God I cried for help.  From his temple he heard my voice,    and my cry to him reached his ears. 7   Then the earth reeled and rocked;    the foundations also of the mountains trembled    and quaked, because he was angry.8   Smoke went up from his nostrils,2    and devouring fire from his mouth;    glowing coals flamed forth from him.9   He bowed the heavens and came down;    thick darkness was under his feet.10   He rode on a cherub and flew;    he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.11   He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,    thick clouds dark with water.12   Out of the brightness before him    hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. 13   The LORD also thundered in the heavens,    and the Most High uttered his voice,    hailstones and coals of fire.14   And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;    he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.15   Then the channels of the sea were seen,    and the foundations of the world were laid bare  at your rebuke, O LORD,    at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 16   He sent from on high, he took me;    he drew me out of many waters.17   He rescued me from my strong enemy    and from those who hated me,    for they were too mighty for me.18   They confronted me in the day of my calamity,    but the LORD was my support.19   He brought me out into a broad place;    he rescued me, because he delighted in me. 20   The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;    according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. Footnotes [1] 18:4 Or terrified me [2] 18:8 Or in his wrath (ESV) Second Psalm: Psalm 18:21–50 Psalm 18:21–50 (Listen) 21   For I have kept the ways of the LORD,    and have not wickedly departed from my God.22   For all his rules1 were before me,    and his statutes I did not put away from me.23   I was blameless before him,    and I kept myself from my guilt.24   So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. 25   With the merciful you show yourself merciful;    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;26   with the purified you show yourself pure;    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.27   For you save a humble people,    but the haughty eyes you bring down.28   For it is you who light my lamp;    the LORD my God lightens my darkness.29   For by you I can run against a troop,    and by my God I can leap over a wall.30   This God—his way is perfect;2    the word of the LORD proves true;    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 31   For who is God, but the LORD?    And who is a rock, except our God?—32   the God who equipped me with strength    and made my way blameless.33   He made my feet like the feet of a deer    and set me secure on the heights.34   He trains my hands for war,    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35   You have given me the shield of your salvation,    and your right hand supported me,    and your gentleness made me great.36   You gave a wide place for my steps under me,    and my feet did not slip.37   I pursued my enemies and overtook them,    and did not turn back till they were consumed.38   I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;    they fell under my feet.39   For you equipped me with strength for the battle;    you made those who rise against me sink under me.40   You made my enemies turn their backs to me,3    and those who hated me I destroyed.41   They cried for help, but there was none to save;    they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.42   I beat them fine as dust before the wind;    I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 43   You delivered me from strife with the people;    you made me the head of the nations;    people whom I had not known served me.44   As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;    foreigners came cringing to me.45   Foreigners lost heart    and came trembling out of their fortresses. 46   The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,    and exalted be the God of my salvation—47   the God who gave me vengeance    and subdued peoples under me,48   who rescued me from my enemies;    yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;    you delivered me from the man of violence. 49   For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,    and sing to your name.50   Great salvation he brings to his king,    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,    to David and his offspring forever. Footnotes [1] 18:22 Or just decrees [2] 18:30 Or blameless [3] 18:40 Or You gave me my enemies' necks (ESV) Old Testament: Isaiah 41:17–29 Isaiah 41:17–29 (Listen) 17   When the poor and needy seek water,    and there is none,    and their tongue is parched with thirst,  I the LORD will answer them;    I the God of Israel will not forsake them.18   I will open rivers on the bare heights,    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.  I will make the wilderness a pool of water,    and the dry land springs of water.19   I will put in the wilderness the cedar,    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.  I will set in the desert the cypress,    the plane and the pine together,20   that they may see and know,    may consider and understand together,  that the hand of the LORD has done this,    the Holy One of Israel has created it. The Futility of Idols 21   Set forth your case, says the LORD;    bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.22   Let them bring them, and tell us    what is to happen.  Tell us the former things, what they are,    that we may consider them,  that we may know their outcome;    or declare to us the things to come.23   Tell us what is to come hereafter,    that we may know that you are gods;  do good, or do harm,    that we may be dismayed and terrified.124   Behold, you are nothing,    and your work is less than nothing;    an abomination is he who chooses you. 25   I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,    from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;  he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,    as the potter treads clay.26   Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,    and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?  There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,    none who heard your words.27   I was the first to say2 to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”    and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.28   But when I look, there is no one;    among these there is no counselor    who, when I ask, gives an answer.29   Behold, they are all a delusion;    their works are nothing;    their metal images are empty wind. Footnotes [1] 41:23 Or that we may both be dismayed and see [2] 41:27 Or Formerly I said (ESV) New Testament: Ephesians 2:11–22 Ephesians 2:11–22 (Listen) One in Christ 11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,1 but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by2 the Spirit. Footnotes [1] 2:19 Or sojourners [2] 2:22 Or in (ESV) Gospel: Mark 2:1–12 Mark 2:1–12 (Listen) Jesus Heals a Paralytic 2 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (ESV)

Eyes Wide Open. Steve talks about government spending and how our debt is speeding up. Foreigners are taking back investments? Our goal is to apply Biblical Truth to the big issues of the day and to spread the Good News of the Gospel to as many people as possible through the airwaves as well as digitally. This mission, like others, requires funding. So, if you feel led to help support this effort, you can make a tax-deductible donation online HERE.   Thank You! 

Abraham purchased a field and cave in Hebron in order to bury his wife Sarah. This is an important passage to us in the free foothold Abraham establishes in the Promised Land.

Have you heard about our FREE online prayer conference? Mark your calendars for January 23, 24 and 25th for the second Praying Christian Women Online Conference: Battle Plan for the New Year, where you'll get to hear from 23 speakers over 3 days, bringing you encouragement for your prayer life. Sign up today at www.prayingchristianwomen.com/conference2023! Mabel Ninan joins us on the podcast this week to talk about her book "Far From Home: Discovering Your Identity as Foreigners on Earth." Mabel talks about her own experience as an immigrant from India to America in 2008, and how her relationship with God carried her through the most difficult times. She draws parallels between her experience as an immigrant and our own identity as foreigners on earth - and citizens of heaven, talks about the importance of unity in the Body of Christ, and so much more. Visit MabelNinan.com to connect with Mabel and find out more about her book and podcast!

A new MP3 sermon from Reformation Church of Elizabeth is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: A Message to the Foreigners, Outcasts, and Eunuchs Subtitle: Isaiah Speaker: Kevin Swanson Broadcaster: Reformation Church of Elizabeth Event: Sunday Service Date: 1/8/2023 Bible: Isaiah 56:1-8 Length: 63 min.

She never had an American man (what a shame)...and she doesn't know what she's missing Feel free to donate to CashApp @ $nahsunthegreat or PayPal @ paypal.me/nahsunthegreat

As of January 1st, Canada enacted a wide-ranging ban on the purchase of residential property by non-Canadians for two years. It's all with a view to tackling surging house prices in the country, but what does this policy hope to achieve? And how exactly does it work? Kieran was joined by May Warren, Housing Reporter with The Toronto Star to discuss…

Luke Mogelson, a contributing writer at The New Yorker, is one of the rare reporters who has seen the war in Ukraine from the front lines. He recently spent two weeks embedded with a group of fighters from around the world who had chosen to travel to Ukraine and join the war against Russia. In a new story in the magazine, he writes about the sophisticated and incessant violence of the war, and the mentality that keeps these volunteer soldiers there, fighting on behalf of a country that is not their own. He joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss what he witnessed.

Self-determination means the ability to make laws for one's own community free from intervention by Washington, DC. Most of the world can do this. Why can't Americans? Original Article: "Secession: Why the Regime Tolerates Self-Determination for Foreigners but Not for Americans" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

Self-determination means the ability to make laws for one's own community free from intervention by Washington, DC. Most of the world can do this. Why can't Americans? Original Article: "Secession: Why the Regime Tolerates Self-Determination for Foreigners but Not for Americans" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

Former Congressman Jason Lewis guest hosts. "Journalists" are operatives of a big, Democrat press room. Foreigners who come here illegally cost us money, but leftists refuse to enforce the border. Blue states refuse to enforce the law, which unleashed a crime wave. Another shooting in the Mall of America, gun-free zone. Jason speaks to Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research center, author of ten books on guns, policing and crime.Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuckSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christmas First Psalm: Psalm 18:1–20 Psalm 18:1–20 (Listen) The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: 18   I love you, O LORD, my strength.2   The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.3   I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,    and I am saved from my enemies. 4   The cords of death encompassed me;    the torrents of destruction assailed me;15   the cords of Sheol entangled me;    the snares of death confronted me. 6   In my distress I called upon the LORD;    to my God I cried for help.  From his temple he heard my voice,    and my cry to him reached his ears. 7   Then the earth reeled and rocked;    the foundations also of the mountains trembled    and quaked, because he was angry.8   Smoke went up from his nostrils,2    and devouring fire from his mouth;    glowing coals flamed forth from him.9   He bowed the heavens and came down;    thick darkness was under his feet.10   He rode on a cherub and flew;    he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.11   He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,    thick clouds dark with water.12   Out of the brightness before him    hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. 13   The LORD also thundered in the heavens,    and the Most High uttered his voice,    hailstones and coals of fire.14   And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;    he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.15   Then the channels of the sea were seen,    and the foundations of the world were laid bare  at your rebuke, O LORD,    at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 16   He sent from on high, he took me;    he drew me out of many waters.17   He rescued me from my strong enemy    and from those who hated me,    for they were too mighty for me.18   They confronted me in the day of my calamity,    but the LORD was my support.19   He brought me out into a broad place;    he rescued me, because he delighted in me. 20   The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;    according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. Footnotes [1] 18:4 Or terrified me [2] 18:8 Or in his wrath (ESV) Second Psalm: Psalm 18:21–50 Psalm 18:21–50 (Listen) 21   For I have kept the ways of the LORD,    and have not wickedly departed from my God.22   For all his rules1 were before me,    and his statutes I did not put away from me.23   I was blameless before him,    and I kept myself from my guilt.24   So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. 25   With the merciful you show yourself merciful;    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;26   with the purified you show yourself pure;    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.27   For you save a humble people,    but the haughty eyes you bring down.28   For it is you who light my lamp;    the LORD my God lightens my darkness.29   For by you I can run against a troop,    and by my God I can leap over a wall.30   This God—his way is perfect;2    the word of the LORD proves true;    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 31   For who is God, but the LORD?    And who is a rock, except our God?—32   the God who equipped me with strength    and made my way blameless.33   He made my feet like the feet of a deer    and set me secure on the heights.34   He trains my hands for war,    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35   You have given me the shield of your salvation,    and your right hand supported me,    and your gentleness made me great.36   You gave a wide place for my steps under me,    and my feet did not slip.37   I pursued my enemies and overtook them,    and did not turn back till they were consumed.38   I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;    they fell under my feet.39   For you equipped me with strength for the battle;    you made those who rise against me sink under me.40   You made my enemies turn their backs to me,3    and those who hated me I destroyed.41   They cried for help, but there was none to save;    they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.42   I beat them fine as dust before the wind;    I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 43   You delivered me from strife with the people;    you made me the head of the nations;    people whom I had not known served me.44   As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;    foreigners came cringing to me.45   Foreigners lost heart    and came trembling out of their fortresses. 46   The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,    and exalted be the God of my salvation—47   the God who gave me vengeance    and subdued peoples under me,48   who rescued me from my enemies;    yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;    you delivered me from the man of violence. 49   For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,    and sing to your name.50   Great salvation he brings to his king,    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,    to David and his offspring forever. Footnotes [1] 18:22 Or just decrees [2] 18:30 Or blameless [3] 18:40 Or You gave me my enemies' necks (ESV) Old Testament: Isaiah 12 Isaiah 12 (Listen) The Lord Is My Strength and My Song 12   You1 will say in that day:  “I will give thanks to you, O LORD,    for though you were angry with me,  your anger turned away,    that you might comfort me. 2   “Behold, God is my salvation;    I will trust, and will not be afraid;  for the LORD GOD2 is my strength and my song,    and he has become my salvation.” 3 With joy you3 will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day:   “Give thanks to the LORD,    call upon his name,  make known his deeds among the peoples,    proclaim that his name is exalted. 5   “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;    let this be made known4 in all the earth.6   Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,    for great in your5 midst is the Holy One of Israel.” Footnotes [1] 12:1 The Hebrew for you is singular in verse 1 [2] 12:2 Hebrew for Yah, the Lord [3] 12:3 The Hebrew for you is plural in verses 3, 4 [4] 12:5 Or this is made known [5] 12:6 The Hebrew for your in verse 6 is singular, referring to the inhabitant of Zion (ESV) New Testament: Revelation 1:1–8 Revelation 1:1–8 (Listen) Prologue 1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants1 the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Greeting to the Seven Churches 4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail2 on account of him. Even so. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Footnotes [1] 1:1 for the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; likewise for servant later in this verse [2] 1:7 Or mourn (ESV) Gospel: John 7:37–52 John 7:37–52 (Listen) Rivers of Living Water 37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as1 the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Division Among the People 40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. 45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” Footnotes [1] 7:38 Or let him come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As (ESV)

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 147 Psalm 147 (Listen) He Heals the Brokenhearted 147   Praise the LORD!  For it is good to sing praises to our God;    for it is pleasant,1 and a song of praise is fitting.2   The LORD builds up Jerusalem;    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.3   He heals the brokenhearted    and binds up their wounds.4   He determines the number of the stars;    he gives to all of them their names.5   Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;    his understanding is beyond measure.6   The LORD lifts up the humble;2    he casts the wicked to the ground. 7   Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;    make melody to our God on the lyre!8   He covers the heavens with clouds;    he prepares rain for the earth;    he makes grass grow on the hills.9   He gives to the beasts their food,    and to the young ravens that cry.10   His delight is not in the strength of the horse,    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,11   but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,    in those who hope in his steadfast love. 12   Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!    Praise your God, O Zion!13   For he strengthens the bars of your gates;    he blesses your children within you.14   He makes peace in your borders;    he fills you with the finest of the wheat.15   He sends out his command to the earth;    his word runs swiftly.16   He gives snow like wool;    he scatters frost like ashes.17   He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;    who can stand before his cold?18   He sends out his word, and melts them;    he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.19   He declares his word to Jacob,    his statutes and rules3 to Israel.20   He has not dealt thus with any other nation;    they do not know his rules.4  Praise the LORD! Footnotes [1] 147:1 Or for he is beautiful [2] 147:6 Or afflicted [3] 147:19 Or and just decrees [4] 147:20 Or his just decrees (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Job 36:22–37:24 Job 36:22–37:24 (Listen) 22   Behold, God is exalted in his power;    who is a teacher like him?23   Who has prescribed for him his way,    or who can say, ‘You have done wrong'? 24   “Remember to extol his work,    of which men have sung.25   All mankind has looked on it;    man beholds it from afar.26   Behold, God is great, and we know him not;    the number of his years is unsearchable.27   For he draws up the drops of water;    they distill his mist in rain,28   which the skies pour down    and drop on mankind abundantly.29   Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,    the thunderings of his pavilion?30   Behold, he scatters his lightning about him    and covers the roots of the sea.31   For by these he judges peoples;    he gives food in abundance.32   He covers his hands with the lightning    and commands it to strike the mark.33   Its crashing declares his presence;1    the cattle also declare that he rises. Elihu Proclaims God's Majesty 37   “At this also my heart trembles    and leaps out of its place.2   Keep listening to the thunder of his voice    and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.3   Under the whole heaven he lets it go,    and his lightning to the corners of the earth.4   After it his voice roars;    he thunders with his majestic voice,    and he does not restrain the lightnings2 when his voice is heard.5   God thunders wondrously with his voice;    he does great things that we cannot comprehend.6   For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,'    likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.7   He seals up the hand of every man,    that all men whom he made may know it.8   Then the beasts go into their lairs,    and remain in their dens.9   From its chamber comes the whirlwind,    and cold from the scattering winds.10   By the breath of God ice is given,    and the broad waters are frozen fast.11   He loads the thick cloud with moisture;    the clouds scatter his lightning.12   They turn around and around by his guidance,    to accomplish all that he commands them    on the face of the habitable world.13   Whether for correction or for his land    or for love, he causes it to happen. 14   “Hear this, O Job;    stop and consider the wondrous works of God.15   Do you know how God lays his command upon them    and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?16   Do you know the balancings3 of the clouds,    the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,17   you whose garments are hot    when the earth is still because of the south wind?18   Can you, like him, spread out the skies,    hard as a cast metal mirror?19   Teach us what we shall say to him;    we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.20   Shall it be told him that I would speak?    Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up? 21   “And now no one looks on the light    when it is bright in the skies,    when the wind has passed and cleared them.22   Out of the north comes golden splendor;    God is clothed with awesome majesty.23   The Almighty—we cannot find him;    he is great in power;    justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.24   Therefore men fear him;    he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”4 Footnotes [1] 36:33 Hebrew declares concerning him [2] 37:4 Hebrew them [3] 37:16 Or hoverings [4] 37:24 Hebrew in heart (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 60 Isaiah 60 (Listen) The Future Glory of Israel 60   Arise, shine, for your light has come,    and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.2   For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,    and thick darkness the peoples;  but the LORD will arise upon you,    and his glory will be seen upon you.3   And nations shall come to your light,    and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4   Lift up your eyes all around, and see;    they all gather together, they come to you;  your sons shall come from afar,    and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.5   Then you shall see and be radiant;    your heart shall thrill and exult,1  because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,    the wealth of the nations shall come to you.6   A multitude of camels shall cover you,    the young camels of Midian and Ephah;    all those from Sheba shall come.  They shall bring gold and frankincense,    and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.7   All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;    the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;  they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,    and I will beautify my beautiful house. 8   Who are these that fly like a cloud,    and like doves to their windows?9   For the coastlands shall hope for me,    the ships of Tarshish first,  to bring your children from afar,    their silver and gold with them,  for the name of the LORD your God,    and for the Holy One of Israel,    because he has made you beautiful. 10   Foreigners shall build up your walls,    and their kings shall minister to you;  for in my wrath I struck you,    but in my favor I have had mercy on you.11   Your gates shall be open continually;    day and night they shall not be shut,  that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations,    with their kings led in procession.12   For the nation and kingdom    that will not serve you shall perish;    those nations shall be utterly laid waste.13   The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,    the cypress, the plane, and the pine,  to beautify the place of my sanctuary,    and I will make the place of my feet glorious.14   The sons of those who afflicted you    shall come bending low to you,  and all who despised you    shall bow down at your feet;  they shall call you the City of the LORD,    the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15   Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,    with no one passing through,  I will make you majestic forever,    a joy from age to age.16   You shall suck the milk of nations;    you shall nurse at the breast of kings;  and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 17   Instead of bronze I will bring gold,    and instead of iron I will bring silver;  instead of wood, bronze,    instead of stones, iron.  I will make your overseers peace    and your taskmasters righteousness.18   Violence shall no more be heard in your land,    devastation or destruction within your borders;  you shall call your walls Salvation,    and your gates Praise. 19   The sun shall be no more    your light by day,  nor for brightness shall the moon    give you light;2  but the LORD will be your everlasting light,    and your God will be your glory.320   Your sun shall no more go down,    nor your moon withdraw itself;  for the LORD will be your everlasting light,    and your days of mourning shall be ended.21   Your people shall all be righteous;    they shall possess the land forever,  the branch of my planting, the work of my hands,    that I might be glorified.422   The least one shall become a clan,    and the smallest one a mighty nation;  I am the LORD;    in its time I will hasten it. Footnotes [1] 60:5 Hebrew your heart shall tremble and grow wide [2] 60:19 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Targum add by night [3] 60:19 Or your beauty [4] 60:21 Or that I might display my beauty (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: Revelation 18 Revelation 18 (Listen) The Fall of Babylon 18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice,   “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!    She has become a dwelling place for demons,  a haunt for every unclean spirit,    a haunt for every unclean bird,    a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.3   For all nations have drunk1    the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,  and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,    and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,   “Come out of her, my people,    lest you take part in her sins,  lest you share in her plagues;5   for her sins are heaped high as heaven,    and God has remembered her iniquities.6   Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,    and repay her double for her deeds;    mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.7   As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,    so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,  since in her heart she says,    ‘I sit as a queen,  I am no widow,    and mourning I shall never see.'

Last time we spoke tension was brewing within the Taiping capital between the the heavenly king and his subordinate kings. The Foreigners were debating who would win the civil war for China and who would be the best bet for trade. The new Yung-Ying armies, such as the Xiang army of Zeng Guofan began to encircle Nanjing in an effort to strangle the Taiping. Within the Taiping capital, conflict finally broke out and Yang Xiuqing was murdered by his comrade King Wei Changhui. When Shi Dakai found out he demanded blood, leading to Wei Changhui's death and almost his own, but he fled Nanjing, taking a large army with him to campaign in exile. Now Hong Xiuquan fell into a depression and fell into seclusion, who would lead the movement now that the great taiping kings were all gone? #28 This episode is The Taiping Rebellion part 5: Out with the old kings, in with the new   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.   With Shi Dakai's departure, Hong was put in quite a pickle, as one of his commanders, General Li said “morale declined and there was no unified policy. Each went his own way. The Sovereign did not place complete confidence in anyone. He had been frightened by the East, North and Flank Kings and dared not trust other ministers, but placed all his trust in members of his own clan”. Thus the Taiping fortune had turned dramatically, the period of swift campaigns and sweeping victories had ended. They would not be able to exploit the blitzkrieg like momentum they once held. Now the Qing provincial armies would organize and begin the process of wrestling back control over vital and strategic territories in the upper Yangtze valley. Hong Xiuquan was alone in Nanjing with none of his original comrades to pick up the much needed leadership roles. As bad as Yang XIuqing had been, he was at least effective as an organizer and strategist.    On the other side of the coin, the Qing were unable to take advantage of all the Taiping upheaval. Their main besieging camps around Nanjing were smashed in 1856 and they faced two other large threats. The first ws another rebellion taking place in northern CHina, that of the Nian rebellion. The Nian rebellion was severing lines of communications from north to south making it extremely difficult to coordinate against the Taiping. The second was of course the second Opium war which threatened the eastern coast and cut off contact with the sea, effectively leaving local regional commanders in the south and center of China to have to formulate their own strategies against the Taiping. The financial records show at this time Emperor Xianfengs treasuries were significantly reduced. The Qing court had begun suspending orders for silk and porcelain and these sort of goods were necessary to showcase imperial glory. Alongside this, weddings and funeral stipends for Manchu Banner troops were canceled, golden bells, buddhist statues and other items made of gold, silver and such were melted down to make coins. The Qing court forced officials to reduce staff, canceled repairs to palace buildings and by 1857 some Imperial Banner families had reached starvation levels of just a few pounds of relief grain per month. The Emperor was allowing his Banner troops to use their own banks and rice stores in an attempt to shield military personnel from the effects of inflation. Despite the economic hard times, and enemies left right and center, the Qing armies could have crushed the Taiping altogether during this turbulent time, had it not been for the Qing leaders insistence on the policy of having veteran Taiping troops executed if captured without exception. There was really little incentive to stop serving the Taiping.   Now Hong Xiuquan did not stop at just placing his two brothers in high positions. There was Hong's sister, his wife Lai and his children, the 8 sons of his eldest brother, 2 from his second eldest brother. Hong also had 8 daughters from various consorts, many of whom were married. Hong also had a dozen or so cousins, the Hong family had roots in Guangdong and Guangxi and many had made the trek from Thistle mountain to Nanjing. Now that Yang was dead, Hong was able to do things with less scrutiny, thus he began to extend his family as he saw fit. Hong's palace was run entirely by women under his general supervision. Allegedly 2000 women worked for him divided into 3 categories, female ministers and bureaucrats, maids and attendants and the women of his immediate family. That last group included consorts of which according to his son Tiangui, Hong Xiuquan had 88 consorts in Nanjing. Tiangui was around 9 years old in 1857 is told he is too old to remain in the palace and is forced to live in an outer palace and given 4 wives. He is forbidden from seeing his mother or sisters, bound by stern rules set forth by his father. Hong Xiuquan dictated at four, his sons are no longer allowed close contact with their older sisters; at seven, they can no longer sleep in their mothers' or other consorts' beds; they must also stay ten feet or more away from their sisters, and learn to bathe themselves; by nine they should not even see their grandmothers. Their sisters' separation from their brothers is similar: after five, they must never be touched by their brothers, and after nine they stay entirely with the women and are not meant to see even their younger brothers any more. In 1857, a year after the assasination ordeal, Hong Xiuquan issued the only official publication of the time known as “poems by the heavenly father”. They show us how Hong Xiuquan concerned himself with maintaining order and harmony among his hundreds of concubines and maids in his giant harem. He then explained “heavenly principles” admonishing his women to please their master and to follow his ordained rules. The mixture of fantastic ideas and fanatical beliefs in these writing to his women showcase the decline of the heavenly king. He was so concerned with having his own personal religious experience, that to ascent to heaven, rather than focus on the Taiping revolution. Whatever governmental structure existed was handled by Hong Xiuquans family rather than him, most at the hands of Hong Rengfa/Rengfu. Later on when one of the leading Taiping commanders, General Li Xiucheng is captured by Zeng Guofan he tells him “In Nanjing there was no one at court to carry on the government, the morale of the soldiers and people was broken and troubled. The military leaders were greatly displeased with the Hong brothers as both men were deficient in talent and had no plans”.   Yet the Hong clan did not seem to have anyone who could pull everything together. Hong Renfa and Renfu were said to be “deficient in talent and military tactics. THey were obstinately bent on carrying out their own views, and were obsessed with the notion that Heaven would support them in everything”. Shi Dakai was the last real hope for the revolution and when he left he also took with a significant part of the military and some of the best commanders. When the Qing court received news of Shi Dakai's departure they instructed Zeng Guofan to invite Shi Dakai into the fold. Shi Dakai refused to surrender to the Qing and instead marched his army through Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian and then westward into Hunan. From Hunan he tried to gain entry to Sichuan. Shi Dakai had thus conducted a ceaseless and exhausting campaign across 15 different provinces over a distance of more than 6000 miles, seeking first a permanent base, and then it became more of a game of survival. Countless troops got sick, died or deserted. By June, Shi Dakai found himself cornered, helpless and exhausted, so he simply walked into the encampment of the commanding Qing general pursuing him and gave himself up. He hoped by forfeiting his life he could have 2000 other Taiping veterans be pardoned. He prepared for all of this by having having his 5 wives commit suicide and his drowned, to save them from the inevitable shame and agony they would have faced at the hands of the Qing troops. He was interrogated for over 6 months by Luo Bingzhang who had directed the defenses at Changsha which killed the west king. Shi Dakai was executed slowly via dismemberment and his 2000 of his most loyal followers who had been held under guard at a local temple were slaughtered. Though Shi Dakai had assumed new titles and gave many to his commanders, he never promulgated any new political programs, nor did he have any grand purpose for his military campaign, and thus he was more of a military adventurer rather than a revolutionary leader in the end.   Shi's forces would remain a threat to the Qing and Zeng Guofan's Hunan forces. Shi had permitted many of his men to leave for home and the Taiping who went back to Guangxi province would survive to the end of the rebellion, slaughtering many more Qing. Shi also continuously recruiting as he marched his forces, in 1858 Shi's forces were said to be several hundred thousand strong before Zeng Guofans armies decimated them. Shi Dakai's force was quite the diversionary campaign, forcing Zeng Guofan to dispatch many of his best commanders to deal with him, but he was never distracted from his main target, the Taiping stronghold of Nanjing. Initially when the Qing ordered Zeng Guofan to march into Sichuan to stop Shi's invasion of the provin, he refused the follow the Qing strategy. He argued with the Qing court stating the difference between the rebels who occupied and developed strategic areas for economic bases, ie: the main Taiping force in the lower Yangtze versus what he called the “roaming bandits” who never settled down. Those roamers were Shi Dakai and the Nian rebels. The real threat he insisted was the Taiping in Nanjing and Anhwei and they must be dealt with first. The Qing government…well they had no real way to coerce Zeng Guofan at this point and just followed his advice.    Meanwhile in Nanjing, Hong Xiuquan's choice to appoint his own kin as officials was backfiring. He had made this appointment in the hopes of re-establishing a working organization. However the proliferation of titles contributed to disorganization and chaos. He had appointed Meng De'en as chief of staff. Meng had been a member of the administrative staff and Taiping documents indicate he was an official responsible for providing women for the heavenly king's harem but had no experience in military matters. And despite his nominal role in the central administration and his new military authority he really held no real influence over either the courts or the armies. Alongside this Hong's brothers were using their positions to amass wealth and live lives of luxury. So the field commanders became the only ones making actually military decisions. The attitudes of these commanders towards the new appoints in Nanjing can be seen strongly be the remarks of Li Xiucheng who again as a prisoner under Zeng Guofan wrote “there was no one at court to carry on the government, the morale of the soldiers and people was broken and troubled”. From his perspective, the military leaders were very dissatisfied with the Hong brothers and distrustful of Meng who in his words “was a great favorite of the heavenly king and had not been outside the capital. He alongside his second in command Li Kaifang were both men without ability and moreover kept in hand by the Hong brothers”.   Its easy to see the Taiping were in a major crisis and Li Xiucheng wrote one passage that shows us that it could have very well fallen to pieces by 1858. “The feeling of the people has undergone a great change. Government affairs were in disorder, and each man was pursuing his own course. The sovereign had become mistrustful of others. The affairs between the kings had so alarmed him that he was distrustful of ministers of other surnames and put his confidence in his own family and relations. There was a unanimous desire at this time to separate. However, they did not dare to separate on their own, since they had heard that whenever the Qing generals and soldiers capture Guangxi men they decapitated them, not sparing a single one. Hence they banded closely together instead of dispersing. Had the Qing dynasty been willing at this early date to spare Guangxi men, a breakup would have taken place long ago”. A very revealing passage to be sure. The inability of the Hong brothers and Meng De'en to manage military campaigns forced Hong Xiuquan to give the military leaders a free hand and he even created new titles and positions for them within the Taiping hierarchy. The first two important men to emerge in 1856 were Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng who received the titles of second chief commandant and deputy commandant. Left to their own by the useless Taiping court, they were forced to make their own strategic decisions and coordinate based on their need for self preservation.    The military situation for the Taiping was critical. Control over the Yangtze had been lost to Zeng Guofan's Xiang army and with it came the loss of transportation for military supplies and provisions. In december of 1856, Wuhan had been recovered by the Qing which threatened Taiping control over the south Yangtze areas. The 2 Taiping commander thus came together in January of 1857 at a conference in Anqing to figure out how to coordinate a campaign. This led to a joint strategy to strengthen the Taiping military position in the Yangtze area. Now neither commander had played a large role in the Taiping campaigns prior to taking Nanjing. Chen Yucheng was too young to take an active role during the march from Guangxi to Nanjing. At Nanjing he was appointed to the rank of corps superintendent in charge of provisions for the Taiping left fourth army, to be blunt it was a desk job. By 1854 he petitioned for combat duty and got his wish in june that year to occupy Wuchang. He distinguished himself as the 38th commander then the 13 senior secretary commanding the Taiping rear 13th army and front 4th army of river troops. His military achievements and personal bravery earned him fame amongst the Taiping, and he also became well known to the Qing who targeted him as an important Taiping commander.   Li Xiucheng was a fellow villager of Chen Yucheng. He did fight during the march from Guangxi to Nanjing, but was not promoted to important military positions until later on. At Nanjing he became an assistant to another Taiping leader, Hu I-Kuang before receiving an appointment by Yang Xuiqing as a new corps general and later corps superintendents leading troops in 1853. Before the power struggle, Li had been sent with other Taiping officers to Chenchiang in Guangxi. After the power struggle Li was in command at Tongcheng in Anhwei and found himself in quite a struggle. He had a small force of less than 3000 men in a city isolated by Qing forces, he was surrounded, by his own account by over 10,000 Qing troops in over a 100 camps. To break out of this terrible position, Li cooperated with Chen Yucheng and collaborated with a Nian rebel force.    I have not spoken too much about the Nian, but at this time the area of northern Anhwei along the borders of Henan, Shandong and Jiangsu were under their control. They had started as groups of local corps formed during all the disarray of the 1840's and 1850's. They rose up to defend their villages against local bandits and raids from neighboring forces. By the mid 1850's these groups banded together into a regional force held together by a secret society affiliation and by support from some local gentry clans. They held a formidable cavalry force and used a system of defense in depth, allowing them to perform campaigns into neighboring areas. They were anti-Qing and thus rebels, making it easy for them to cooperate with the Taiping when possible. Honestly I am contemplating writing an episode on the Nian rebellion and on many of the other lesser known rebellions of the 19th century, but my god there are many and its easy to become sidetracked. Who knows maybe at some point I will have to make a patreon to produce exclusive content, wink wink, anyone who might be interested in such things let me know, comment on my private channel, the pacific war channel or catch me in the KNG discord perhaps, really want to hear from you guys and gals what you want to hear more about.   There does not seem to be significant coordination between the Nian and Taiping prior to this, and perhaps that can be explained by a simple difference in goals of the two movements. The Nian were a local rebel group that had little program nor major political purpose beyond control and exploitation of the area their forces dominated. They did not hold the ambition to establish a new dynasty, let alone some sort of proto-marxist revolution like the Taiping sought. The Taiping for their part had little interest in local bandit or rebel groups who were unwilling to submit to the Taiping faith. At the start of the Taiping rebellion in Guangxi province they had already alienated many secret society and bandit groups who were quasi interested in the Taiping cause. Yang Xiuqing in Nanjing did little to change this policy. But after the breakdown of centralized command in Nanjing, men like Li Xuicheng who held purely military interests to heart saw joint action with groups like the Nian.   Thus the first significant joint action between the Taiping and Nian came about in early 1856 when the Nian leader Li Chaozhou from southern Huai area joined up with Li Xiucheng to perform a campaign in Chenchiang. When Li's position was in crisis at Tongcheng he quickly tried to establish contact with Li Chaozhou the southern Nian leader, but also the northern Nian leader Zhang Luoxing. Zhang pledged collaboration with the Taiping forces under Li Xiucheng, claiming the Nian forces under his control to be a million strong. This forced the Qing in northern Anhwei to go on the defensive easing the pressure upon Li Xiuchang. The military alliance also raised Li Xiuchangs status amongst the Taiping, earning him a promotion in rank. The joint military campaign led to a number of cities in the Huai area to be taken between 1857 and 1859. But this cooperation remained purley on a military basis and would not last. It never extended beyond the Huai area and even within the area it was quite nominal in scale as a result of the Nian not having any real political structure. The Nian were more of a federation of autonomous communal units and the incapability with the Taiping ideology made any further integration impossible. The southern Nian leaders such as Li Chaozhou who had been the chief collaborators with Li Xiucheng could not be trusted for very long. They were not Guangxi men like Li Xiucheng, and thus could surrender to the Qing and keep their heads, which they eventually did. The cities they were defending were handed over much to Li Xiuchengs despair.    Li ascribed their surrender to be a result of undisciplined troops stating “Li Chaozhous troops were a disorderly lot; they were constantly troubling the people and plundering any city that was taken, and when this could not be effected they vented their rage on the peoples themselves. Li chastised the assistant generals of the districts until he was ashamed to meet me and finally sent his submission to the Qing”. Li was also dissatisfied with the northern Nian leader Zhang Luoxing who according to him “His men were only interested in promotions but not in serving when called”. Li was angered by the lack of cooperation or to be more blunt the fact the Nian's disobeyed Taiping directions as to why the Taiping campaigns failed. However the push to perform joint actions led to Taiping victories in the central Yangtze area which most definitely helped their cause.   For one thing the joint actions led the Nian to hit Qing supply lines which further contributed to a major victory over the Qing at Tongcheng on february 24th of 1857. After this victory the Taiping leaders pursued the retreating Qing forces northwards alongside their Nian allies. But then many Nian forces attempted a western campaign and lost ground in Hubei. There were 2 major thrusts made in April and september of 1857 and then april and may of 1858, but both were frustrated by the Xiang army and other Qing forces. The Nian began a general retreat back into northern Anhwei which was their economic base. Meanwhile Li Xiucheng acquired a base closer to Nanjing establishing supply lines and from then on took on a key role defending the Nanjing region.    Though the Taiping/Nian joint operations slowed the advance of the Xiang army in Hunan, Zeng Guofan's strategic plan still proved itself and his forces slowly but surely advanced in the Yangtze area. In may of 1858 contingents of the Xiang army recovered the city of JiuJiang which was the last remaining Taiping strategic base in the center of the Yangtze area. It was a vital base that provided them with resources from the provinces of Jiangxi and Hunan as well as a major recruitment point. From Jiujiang, Zeng Guofans army could prepare to march into Anhwei. Zeng Guofan also sought to advance forces into the upper Yangtze area to strangle the Taiping, while other Qing forces rebuilt the camps that were surrounding Nanjing in 1856. The northern and southern blockading camps were rebuilt in 1857 under the command of the Manchu generals He Chun and Zhang Guoliang. By the end of 1857 their forces were marching upon the city of Chenchiang which the Taiping had been holding since 1853.   To face the new threat, a Taiping military conference was held and alongside Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng a number of other Taiping generals gained prominence. Two of the most important were Yang Fuqing and Li Shixian. Yang was actually a cousin of Yang Xiuqing who escaped the slaughter by being in Jiangxi province performing a military campaign. Li Shixian wsa a cousin of Li Xiucheng and fought under him, until 1858 when he assumed his own command campaigning in southern Anhwei. The Taiping government depended on the loyalty of these key generals rather than any efforts made by Meng De'en and other useless Taiping administrators within Nanjing. In August of 1858 when the Qing began to strangle Nanjing, Hong Xiuquan gave the military commanders new titles and assignments. Now ever since the Yong'an campaign way back when, the Taiping military was more or less divided as such: the forward army, rear army, central army and left army. Chen Yucheng was appointed chief general of the forward army, which originally had been Feng Yunshans title; Li Xiucheng became chief general of the rear army; Yang Fuqing became the chief general of the center army, but was forced to share this position with Meng De'en who somehow was going to command men from Nanjing; and last Li Shixian was made chief general of the left army previously held by Shi Dakai.   At the conference Li Xiucheng called for unified action, here is some of what he said in his own words “I then wrote to the garrison generals of the different places, calling on all officers of the Heavenly dynasty to hold a council of war on an appointed day at Ts'ung-yang near Anqing. The generals and officers of the various places responded to my call…we each took an oath that we would support each other and agreed to join forces in the conflict before us”. The result of the conference led Chen Yucheng to march upon Shuch'eng, luzhou, chuzhou, then to link up with Li Xiucheng at the Anhwei-Jiangsu border to hit the Qing forces at Wuxi and Pukou dealing a complete defeat to the northern Qing camp trying to strangle Nanjing. The Taiping broke the northern half of the Qing blockading forces ending a large threat to Nanjing.   However these forces the Taiping defeated at the northern blockade were regular Qing forces. Fresh from that victory the Taiping now had to face the Xiang army who were marching into Anhwei. These forces were being led by Li Xubin who was accompanied by Zeng Guofans brother, Zeng Guohua. Their Xiang army was threatening the entire Taiping position in Anhwei and to face it Chen Yucheng rushed his army over to its defense, followed by Li Xiucheng. A major battle occurred on November 15th of 1858, resulting in the complete annihilation of the Xiang force and the deaths of Li Xubin and Zeng Guohua. Thus the Taiping control over Anhwei remained firm and Zeng Guofan suffered a terrible setback. Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng quickly recaptured all the lost territories in Anhwei and parted ways. Chen Yucheng chose to establish a base in the northern and western parts of Anhwei around Anqing, while Li Xiucheng took the eastern section closer to Nanjing.    Because Li Xiucheng was closer to Nanjing he was able to assert more control and began to introduce some order to the chaotic Taiping capital. According to his own account Li Xiucheng requested of the heavenly king ‘to select men according to talent, enact laws for the relief of the people, promulgate strict decrees, renovate court discipline, enforce rewards and punishments, treat the people with compassion, reduce taxes in grain and money”. Apparently the only response he got was a demotion, though he was soon promoted right back. A demotion really did nothing to affect any of the field generals actual power as they were basically the only ones doing anything. Later in 1858 when Nanjing was yet again under siege, Li Xiucheng went to Nanjing where he claimed he succeeded in re-establishing order and control. He convinced the heavenly king that to save Tianjin, they must collect forces outside for its relief. Each of the leaders continued thus to hold their own areas of supply, until messengers from Nanjing showed up demanding their armies come help break another blockade against Nanjing at the cities of Chianpu and Pukou.    Now during the years of 1856 to 1859, the Taiping were firmly on the defensive. Their military actions were almost always done by commanders working amongst themselves without any regard for the Nanjing government. These commanders thought in military terms and were no longer really concerned with the Taiping ideology, thus their revolutionary purpose was dying. This also resulted in each commander becoming shortsighted and their focus shifted simply to their own respective regions. They only coordinated with each other during times of immediate threat and had proven themselves capable of defeating not just the regular Qing forces, but that of Zeng Guofan. No attempt was made by the Taiping leaders to regain the initiative and the disintegration of central control was crumbling Nanjing. Transporting supplies to Nanjing had become an issue as Zeng Guofan began attacking riverways, especially along the Yangtze. Earlier, Tianjin enjoyed dominion over the Yangtze river and supplies poured in from 50-100 miles away inland. Yet by 1856 the Yangtze and other lakes were severed from Tianjin, and this resulted in a large loss for communication and the supply network. Even though the Taiping held numerous important cities on the banks of the Yangtze, the waterway itself was denied to them.   The general decline of the Taiping became quite apparent to foreign observers, between the years of 1857 and 1859 only one significant foreign mission would journey up the Yangtze and it was led by Lord Elgin. Yes if you remember from our Second Opium War series, Elgin tried to go up the Yangtze to navigate the commercial prospects of the region and to investigate the political situation. Elgin departed from the new treaty port of Hankou which was in the hands of the Qing and the furthest up the Yangtze river. Elgin wanted to test if the Chinese authorities would respect the status of the British flag under the new treaty of Tianjin, but it was also a chance to investigate the Taiping. Elgin had only heard rumors in SHanghai about the rebels and he wanted to gauge them first hand. As Elgin wrote to the foreign secretary “As we have seen fit to affect neutrality between the Emperor of China and the rebels. We could not, of course, without absurdity, require him to give us rights and protection in places actually occupied by a Power which we treat with the same respect as his own.” When Elgin could see from the bridge of his ship, the Furious and a few inland excursions, it looked like the civil war was more devastating than any rumors in SHanghai led one to believe. He reported this about the state of the city of Zhenjiang “I never before saw such a scene of desolation. heaps of ruins, intersected by a few straggling streets.“[We] might have imagined ourselves in Pompeii. We walked along deserted streets, between roofless houses, and walls overgrown with rank, tangled weeds; heaps of rubbish blocked up the thoroughfares, but they obstructed nobody.In order to save repetition I may here observe, once for all, that with certain differences of degree, this was the condition of every city which I visited on my voyage up and down the Yang-tze.”   Elgins first direct contact with the Taiping came in the form of a cannonball that roared over the deck of his ship as they passed by Nanjing on November 20th. Elgin did not expect hostilities and thought they would merely pass by unmolested. In response he sent a few gunships back downriver to hammer the rebel forts. The Taiping then sent messengers offering an apology for firing upon Elgins ships and asked for aid in fighting the Qing dynasty. A month later on Christmas day of 1858, as Elgins fleet was passing the city of Anqing on their way back to Shanghai he received a letter from Hong Xiuquan inviting him to join the Taiping in their divine mission to destroy the Manchu. “The Father and the Elder Brother led me to rule the Heavenly Kingdom, to sweep away and exterminate the devilish spirits, bestowing on me great honor. Foreign younger brothers of the western ocean, listen to my words. Join us in doing service to the Father and Elder Brother and extinguishing the stinking reptiles.” There were many attempts at communication and trade. Many individual Taiping commanders sent letters expressing hope to procure foreign rifles and cannons, but the British continuously stated they were abiding by a neutrality stance. Many of the Taiping tried to appeal to the British on the basis of their shared religion. “are both sons of the Heavenly Father, God, and are both younger brothers of the Heavenly Elder Brother, Jesus. Our feelings towards each other are like those of brothers, and our friendship is as intimate as that of two brothers of the same parentage.” The shared christianity between the two remained a sticky situation. There were many in Britain who pointed out the need to help the Christians in China. At a time when Britain and France were at war with the Qing, it seemed like there was quite a rationale for simply allying with the Taiping. But there were two major obstacles in the way, the first being the principle of neutrality. If they helped the Taiping, they may lose any relations they had left with the Qing. The second issue was that it was hard to understand if the Taiping were really christian or not. Multiple missionaries tried to investigate this matter and they were not convinced. It also did not help that the Heavenly King began sending the foreigners a manifesto demanding their come pay their respects to him as god's son.   The foreigners in the end would have little sympathy for the Taiping cause and it would actually lead to them contributing to the Qing side of the war in the end. The rationale for this was to secure the treaties they signed with the Qing and quite honestly, the Taiping did not look like they were going to win the war by the late 1850s. But were the Taiping defeated? Many would argue this is not the case, they could have reorganized and revamped their revolutionary purpose, and in 1859 a man arrived to Nanjing to do just that.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me.  The Taiping found new leadership figures in Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng. The Nian rebels proved valuable allies initially, but in the end it simply was not working out. The Taiping desperately needed foreign support but were burning those bridges.   

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 144 Psalm 144 (Listen) My Rock and My Fortress Of David. 144   Blessed be the LORD, my rock,    who trains my hands for war,    and my fingers for battle;2   he is my steadfast love and my fortress,    my stronghold and my deliverer,  my shield and he in whom I take refuge,    who subdues peoples1 under me. 3   O LORD, what is man that you regard him,    or the son of man that you think of him?4   Man is like a breath;    his days are like a passing shadow. 5   Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down!    Touch the mountains so that they smoke!6   Flash forth the lightning and scatter them;    send out your arrows and rout them!7   Stretch out your hand from on high;    rescue me and deliver me from the many waters,    from the hand of foreigners,8   whose mouths speak lies    and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 9   I will sing a new song to you, O God;    upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,10   who gives victory to kings,    who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.11   Rescue me and deliver me    from the hand of foreigners,  whose mouths speak lies    and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 12   May our sons in their youth    be like plants full grown,  our daughters like corner pillars    cut for the structure of a palace;13   may our granaries be full,    providing all kinds of produce;  may our sheep bring forth thousands    and ten thousands in our fields;14   may our cattle be heavy with young,    suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;2  may there be no cry of distress in our streets!15   Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!    Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD! Footnotes [1] 144:2 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Dead Sea Scroll, Jerome, Syriac, Aquila; most Hebrew manuscripts subdues my people [2] 144:14 Hebrew with no breaking in or going out (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Job 33 Job 33 (Listen) Elihu Rebukes Job 33   “But now, hear my speech, O Job,    and listen to all my words.2   Behold, I open my mouth;    the tongue in my mouth speaks.3   My words declare the uprightness of my heart,    and what my lips know they speak sincerely.4   The Spirit of God has made me,    and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.5   Answer me, if you can;    set your words in order before me; take your stand.6   Behold, I am toward God as you are;    I too was pinched off from a piece of clay.7   Behold, no fear of me need terrify you;    my pressure will not be heavy upon you. 8   “Surely you have spoken in my ears,    and I have heard the sound of your words.9   You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression;    I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.10   Behold, he finds occasions against me,    he counts me as his enemy,11   he puts my feet in the stocks    and watches all my paths.' 12   “Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you,    for God is greater than man.13   Why do you contend against him,    saying, ‘He will answer none of man's1 words'?214   For God speaks in one way,    and in two, though man does not perceive it.15   In a dream, in a vision of the night,    when deep sleep falls on men,    while they slumber on their beds,16   then he opens the ears of men    and terrifies3 them with warnings,17   that he may turn man aside from his deed    and conceal pride from a man;18   he keeps back his soul from the pit,    his life from perishing by the sword. 19   “Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed    and with continual strife in his bones,20   so that his life loathes bread,    and his appetite the choicest food.21   His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,    and his bones that were not seen stick out.22   His soul draws near the pit,    and his life to those who bring death.23   If there be for him an angel,    a mediator, one of the thousand,    to declare to man what is right for him,24   and he is merciful to him, and says,    ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;    I have found a ransom;25   let his flesh become fresh with youth;    let him return to the days of his youthful vigor';26   then man4 prays to God, and he accepts him;    he sees his face with a shout of joy,  and he restores to man his righteousness.27     He sings before men and says:  ‘I sinned and perverted what was right,    and it was not repaid to me.28   He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit,    and my life shall look upon the light.' 29   “Behold, God does all these things,    twice, three times, with a man,30   to bring back his soul from the pit,    that he may be lighted with the light of life.31   Pay attention, O Job, listen to me;    be silent, and I will speak.32   If you have any words, answer me;    speak, for I desire to justify you.33   If not, listen to me;    be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.” Footnotes [1] 33:13 Hebrew his [2] 33:13 Or He will not answer for any of his own words [3] 33:16 Or seals [4] 33:26 Hebrew he (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 56–57 Isaiah 56–57 (Listen) Salvation for Foreigners 56   Thus says the LORD:  “Keep justice, and do righteousness,  for soon my salvation will come,    and my righteousness be revealed.2   Blessed is the man who does this,    and the son of man who holds it fast,  who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,    and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” 3   Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say,    “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”;  and let not the eunuch say,    “Behold, I am a dry tree.”4   For thus says the LORD:  “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,    who choose the things that please me    and hold fast my covenant,5   I will give in my house and within my walls    a monument and a name    better than sons and daughters;  I will give them an everlasting name    that shall not be cut off. 6   “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,    to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,    and to be his servants,  everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,    and holds fast my covenant—7   these I will bring to my holy mountain,    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;  their burnt offerings and their sacrifices    will be accepted on my altar;  for my house shall be called a house of prayer    for all peoples.”8   The Lord GOD,    who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,  “I will gather yet others to him    besides those already gathered.” Israel's Irresponsible Leaders 9   All you beasts of the field, come to devour—    all you beasts in the forest.10   His watchmen are blind;    they are all without knowledge;  they are all silent dogs;    they cannot bark,  dreaming, lying down,    loving to slumber.11   The dogs have a mighty appetite;    they never have enough.  But they are shepherds who have no understanding;    they have all turned to their own way,    each to his own gain, one and all.12   “Come,” they say, “let me get wine;    let us fill ourselves with strong drink;  and tomorrow will be like this day,    great beyond measure.” Israel's Futile Idolatry 57   The righteous man perishes,    and no one lays it to heart;  devout men are taken away,    while no one understands.  For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;2     he enters into peace;  they rest in their beds    who walk in their uprightness.3   But you, draw near,    sons of the sorceress,    offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.4   Whom are you mocking?    Against whom do you open your mouth wide    and stick out your tongue?  Are you not children of transgression,    the offspring of deceit,5   you who burn with lust among the oaks,1    under every green tree,  who slaughter your children in the valleys,    under the clefts of the rocks?6   Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion;    they, they, are your lot;  to them you have poured out a drink offering,    you have brought a grain offering.    Shall I relent for these things?7   On a high and lofty mountain    you have set your bed,    and there you went up to offer sacrifice.8   Behind the door and the doorpost    you have set up your memorial;  for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed,    you have gone up to it,    you have made it wide;  and you have made a covenant for yourself with them,    you have loved their bed,    you have looked on nakedness.29   You journeyed to the king with oil    and multiplied your perfumes;  you sent your envoys far off,    and sent down even to Sheol.10   You were wearied with the length of your way,    but you did not say, “It is hopeless”;  you found new life for your strength,    and so you were not faint.3 11   Whom did you dread and fear,    so that you lied,  and did not remember me,    did not lay it to heart?  Have I not held my peace, even for a long time,    and you do not fear me?12   I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,    but they will not profit you.13   When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!    The wind will carry them all off,    a breath will take them away.  But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land    and shall inherit my holy mountain. Comfort for the Contrite 14   And it shall be said,  “Build up, build up, prepare the way,    remove every obstruction from my people's way.”15   For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:  “I dwell in the high and holy place,    and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,  to revive the spirit of the lowly,    and to revive the heart of the contrite.16   For I will not contend forever,    nor will I always be angry;  for the spirit would grow faint before me,    and the breath of life that I made.17   Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry,    I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,    but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.18   I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;    I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,19     creating the fruit of the lips.  Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD,    “and I will heal him.20   But the wicked are like the tossing sea;    for it cannot be quiet,    and its waters toss up mire and dirt.21   There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” Footnotes [1] 57:5 Or among the terebinths [2] 57:8 Or on a monument (see 56:5); Hebrew on a hand [3] 57:10 Hebrew and so you were not sick (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: Revelation 15 Revelation 15 (

Denise gets chaotic with her two good friends and actors, Jelly and Levi Bernhardt, who have spent significant time as foreigners working in entertainment and living in Korea. They get real about the challenges foreigners face in getting into the K-Pop industry, the expectations people should have going in, and what it's actually like to move and live in a new country. FOLLOW JELLYInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jelleismFOLLOW LEVI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/levibernhardtFOLLOW DENISEhttps://www.instagram.com/denisekimsays/https://twitter.com/denisekimsayshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEnUuVOAlkPb2l7_EczzTUghttps://soundcloud.com/denisekimsingsCreditsAmateur Hour with Denise Kim is a production of DK EntertainmentProduced by Diane Kang, Melisa D. Monts, and Diamond MPrint ProductionsPost Production Sound by Chris HenryAdvertisement Partnership with Acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Born and raised in India, Mabel discovered the stress of assimilating to a new culture when she and her husband moved to America. Mabel's immigrant journey overlapped with her spiritual journey, leading to a deeper connection with God. Her experience as a stranger in a strange land eventually inspired her book, "Far From Home: Discovering Your Identity as Foreigners on Earth." For more from Mabel, visit https://mabelninan.com or follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MabelNinan/

Catalonia goes to the polls next May 28th but foreigners eligible to vote need to be registered much sooner. Cristina Tomàs White gives the lowdown on who has the right to vote and how to register. Cillian Shields chats to Pere Moradell, mayor of Torroella de Fluvià since 1979. Maxime Van Cleven compares voting rights across Europe and beyond. Plus a look at some of the intriguing mayoral battles across Catalonia. This week's Catalan phrase is 'Embolica que fa fort'. Literally something like 'wrap to make strong', it means a situation is becoming more complicated. Presented by Lorcan Doherty. 

A Second Exodus is coming: “The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners will join them and unite with the descendants of Jacob. Nations will take them and bring them to their own place..” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭14‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ A 2nd Exodus Is Coming: ““ ‘So do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel,' declares the Lord. ‘I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. I am with you and will save you,' declares the Lord. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. ” Jeremiah‬ ‭30‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭ Send a Tithe, Donation, and/or Offering at: https://leodunson.com/donate/ or CASH APP $LeoDunson Subscribe for Exclusive Content & Early Release messages at https://ministries.leodunson.com/ “Gods Laws, Commandments, & Statutes” (Book): https://tinyurl.com/33j95pbc “Precept Upon Precept” (Book) on Amazon at: https://tinyurl.com/z2uu46ez Connect with Leo on https://www.facebook.com/LeoDunsonjr Connect with Leo on https://www.instagram.com/LeoDunson Connect with Leo on https://tiktok.com/LeoDunson #Exodus #Egypt #Bible #Israelites #LeoDunson

In the latest episode of our Sweden in Focus podcast, host Paul O'Mahony is joined by regular panelists Becky Waterton, Richard Orange and James Savage, as well as guest Anna Troberg, chairman of the DIK union for culture sector workers and an opponent of the government's plans for a cultural canon. We also have an interview with Pakistan's ambassador to Sweden, Zahoor Ahmed, to find out about the Pakistani community in Sweden and some cultural differences between the countries. For our main topic this week we look at Sweden's plans to introduce a state-mandated cultural canon and what it will mean for foreigners. Here are a couple of recent articles on the canon plan if you'd like to learn more. KEY POINTS: What do we know about the plans for a future Swedish cultural canon?What books and art can we expect to be in Sweden's future cultural canon?We also chat about the Nobel banquet and the upcoming St. Lucia celebrations.The dinner that proves Sweden is anything but lagomParenting in Sweden: How to prepare for your child's Lucia celebrationAnd we round up some of the week's main news stories: ‘Work permit holders will not lose permanent residency': Swedish Migration MinisterSwedish terror attacker sentenced to psychiatric careTurkey calls Sweden's extradition of PKK militant ‘a start' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of our Sweden in Focus podcast, host Paul O'Mahony is joined by regular panelists Becky Waterton, Richard Orange and James Savage. We also have interviews with the Irish Ambassador to Sweden, Austin Gormley, and psychologist Mona Lindqvist from the Stockholm region's Transcultural Center. For our main topic this week we look at how Swedes and foreigners can overcome their cultural differences to make relationships work. We received some fascinating responses when we asked about this in a survey: What are the barriers to a successful relationship with a Swede?Other stories we talk about:Five key julbord points: A beginner's guide to the Swedish Christmas mealSweden's best Christmas markets for 2022Swedish parliament votes through work permit and ID number lawsThe ultimate guide to getting a work permit in SwedenWhat is a Swedish coordination number?Turkey calls for 'concrete steps' before backing Sweden's Nato bidWho will get Sweden's electricity subsidy and when will it be paid out?Swedish youths launch landmark climate lawsuit against governmentBaby, it's mörv outside: Sweden's 13th month is hereWill Gävle's Christmas goat survive this year? How this Swedish-band helped me learn the languageWhen do Swedes throw out their Christmas trees? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss common toxic misconceptions that people have about Filipinas who date foreigners (usually Westerners) with the aid of Kach Umandap's article on her blog. https://twomonkeystravelgroup.com/filipina-dating-foreigner/

1 Advent First Psalm: Psalm 18:1–20 Psalm 18:1–20 (Listen) The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: 18   I love you, O LORD, my strength.2   The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.3   I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,    and I am saved from my enemies. 4   The cords of death encompassed me;    the torrents of destruction assailed me;15   the cords of Sheol entangled me;    the snares of death confronted me. 6   In my distress I called upon the LORD;    to my God I cried for help.  From his temple he heard my voice,    and my cry to him reached his ears. 7   Then the earth reeled and rocked;    the foundations also of the mountains trembled    and quaked, because he was angry.8   Smoke went up from his nostrils,2    and devouring fire from his mouth;    glowing coals flamed forth from him.9   He bowed the heavens and came down;    thick darkness was under his feet.10   He rode on a cherub and flew;    he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.11   He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,    thick clouds dark with water.12   Out of the brightness before him    hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. 13   The LORD also thundered in the heavens,    and the Most High uttered his voice,    hailstones and coals of fire.14   And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;    he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.15   Then the channels of the sea were seen,    and the foundations of the world were laid bare  at your rebuke, O LORD,    at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 16   He sent from on high, he took me;    he drew me out of many waters.17   He rescued me from my strong enemy    and from those who hated me,    for they were too mighty for me.18   They confronted me in the day of my calamity,    but the LORD was my support.19   He brought me out into a broad place;    he rescued me, because he delighted in me. 20   The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;    according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. Footnotes [1] 18:4 Or terrified me [2] 18:8 Or in his wrath (ESV) Second Psalm: Psalm 18:21–50 Psalm 18:21–50 (Listen) 21   For I have kept the ways of the LORD,    and have not wickedly departed from my God.22   For all his rules1 were before me,    and his statutes I did not put away from me.23   I was blameless before him,    and I kept myself from my guilt.24   So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. 25   With the merciful you show yourself merciful;    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;26   with the purified you show yourself pure;    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.27   For you save a humble people,    but the haughty eyes you bring down.28   For it is you who light my lamp;    the LORD my God lightens my darkness.29   For by you I can run against a troop,    and by my God I can leap over a wall.30   This God—his way is perfect;2    the word of the LORD proves true;    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 31   For who is God, but the LORD?    And who is a rock, except our God?—32   the God who equipped me with strength    and made my way blameless.33   He made my feet like the feet of a deer    and set me secure on the heights.34   He trains my hands for war,    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35   You have given me the shield of your salvation,    and your right hand supported me,    and your gentleness made me great.36   You gave a wide place for my steps under me,    and my feet did not slip.37   I pursued my enemies and overtook them,    and did not turn back till they were consumed.38   I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;    they fell under my feet.39   For you equipped me with strength for the battle;    you made those who rise against me sink under me.40   You made my enemies turn their backs to me,3    and those who hated me I destroyed.41   They cried for help, but there was none to save;    they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.42   I beat them fine as dust before the wind;    I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 43   You delivered me from strife with the people;    you made me the head of the nations;    people whom I had not known served me.44   As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;    foreigners came cringing to me.45   Foreigners lost heart    and came trembling out of their fortresses. 46   The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,    and exalted be the God of my salvation—47   the God who gave me vengeance    and subdued peoples under me,48   who rescued me from my enemies;    yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;    you delivered me from the man of violence. 49   For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,    and sing to your name.50   Great salvation he brings to his king,    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,    to David and his offspring forever. Footnotes [1] 18:22 Or just decrees [2] 18:30 Or blameless [3] 18:40 Or You gave me my enemies' necks (ESV) Old Testament: Isaiah 2:12–22 Isaiah 2:12–22 (Listen) 12   For the LORD of hosts has a day    against all that is proud and lofty,    against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;13   against all the cedars of Lebanon,    lofty and lifted up;    and against all the oaks of Bashan;14   against all the lofty mountains,    and against all the uplifted hills;15   against every high tower,    and against every fortified wall;16   against all the ships of Tarshish,    and against all the beautiful craft.17   And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,    and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,    and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.18   And the idols shall utterly pass away.19   And people shall enter the caves of the rocks    and the holes of the ground,1  from before the terror of the LORD,    and from the splendor of his majesty,    when he rises to terrify the earth. 20   In that day mankind will cast away    their idols of silver and their idols of gold,  which they made for themselves to worship,    to the moles and to the bats,21   to enter the caverns of the rocks    and the clefts of the cliffs,  from before the terror of the LORD,    and from the splendor of his majesty,    when he rises to terrify the earth.22   Stop regarding man    in whose nostrils is breath,    for of what account is he? Footnotes [1] 2:19 Hebrew dust (ESV) New Testament: 1 Thessalonians 3 1 Thessalonians 3 (Listen) 3 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker1 in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 3 that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4 For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. 5 For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. Timothy's Encouraging Report 6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you—7 for this reason, brothers,2 in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? 11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Footnotes [1] 3:2 Some manuscripts servant [2] 3:7 Or brothers and sisters (ESV) Gospel: Luke 20:27–40 Luke 20:27–40 (Listen) Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection 27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man1 must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons2 of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” 39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question. Footnotes [1] 20:28 Greek his brother [2] 20:36 Greek huioi; see Preface (ESV)

Old Testament: Ezekiel 29–31 Ezekiel 29–31 (Listen) Prophecy Against Egypt 29 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; 3 speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:   “Behold, I am against you,    Pharaoh king of Egypt,  the great dragon that lies    in the midst of his streams,  that says, ‘My Nile is my own;    I made it for myself.'4   I will put hooks in your jaws,    and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales;  and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams,    with all the fish of your streams    that stick to your scales.5   And I will cast you out into the wilderness,    you and all the fish of your streams;  you shall fall on the open field,    and not be brought together or gathered.  To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens    I give you as food. 6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD. “Because you1 have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, 7 when they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.2 8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, 9 and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD. “Because you3 said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it,' 10 therefore, behold, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries. 13 “For thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, 14 and I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. 15 It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. 16 And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.” 17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth4 and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord GOD. 21 “On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” A Lament for Egypt 30 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:   “Wail, ‘Alas for the day!'3     For the day is near,    the day of the LORD is near;  it will be a day of clouds,    a time of doom for5 the nations.4   A sword shall come upon Egypt,    and anguish shall be in Cush,  when the slain fall in Egypt,    and her wealth6 is carried away,    and her foundations are torn down. 5 Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya,7 and the people of the land that is in league,8 shall fall with them by the sword. 6   “Thus says the LORD:  Those who support Egypt shall fall,    and her proud might shall come down;  from Migdol to Syene    they shall fall within her by the sword,  declares the Lord GOD.7   And they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries,    and their cities shall be in the midst of cities that are laid waste.8   Then they will know that I am the LORD,    when I have set fire to Egypt,    and all her helpers are broken. 9 “On that day messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting people of Cush, and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt's doom;9 for, behold, it comes! 10 “Thus says the Lord GOD:   “I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt,    by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.11   He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations,    shall be brought in to destroy the land,  and they shall draw their swords against Egypt    and fill the land with the slain.12   And I will dry up the Nile    and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers;  I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it,    by the hand of foreigners;  I am the LORD; I have spoken. 13 “Thus says the Lord GOD:   “I will destroy the idols    and put an end to the images in Memphis;  there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;    so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.14   I will make Pathros a desolation    and will set fire to Zoan    and will execute judgments on Thebes.15   And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,    the stronghold of Egypt,    and cut off the multitude10 of Thebes.16   And I will set fire to Egypt;    Pelusium shall be in great agony;  Thebes shall be breached,    and Memphis shall face enemies11 by day.17   The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,    and the women12 shall go into captivity.18   At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark,    when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt,  and her proud might shall come to an end in her;    she shall be covered by a cloud,    and her daughters shall go into captivity.19   Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt.    Then they will know that I am the LORD.” Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon 20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. 22 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” Pharaoh to Be Slain 31 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude:   “Whom are you like in your greatness?3     Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,  with beautiful branches and forest shade,    and of towering height,    its top among the clouds.134   The waters nourished it;    the deep made it grow tall,  making its rivers flow    around the place of its planting,  sending forth its streams    to all the trees of the field.5   So it towered high    above all the trees of the field;  its boughs grew large    and its branches long    from abundant water in its shoots.6   All the birds of the heavens    made their nests in its boughs;  under its branches all the beasts of the field    gave birth to their young,  and under its shadow    lived all great nations.7   It was beautiful in its greatness,    in the length of its branches;  for its roots went down    to abundant waters.8   The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,    nor the fir trees equal its boughs;  neither were the plane trees    like its branches;  no tree in the garden of God    was its equal in beauty.9   I made it beautiful    in the mass of its branches,  and all the trees of Eden envied it,    that were in the garden of God. 10 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it14 towered high and set its top among the clouds,15 and its heart was proud of its height, 11 I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. 12 Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13 On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,16 and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, to the world below, among the children of man,17 with those who go down to the pit. 15 “Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day the cedar18 went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the nations. 18 “Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.” Footnotes [1] 29:6 Hebrew they [2] 29:7 Syriac (compare Psalm 69:23); Hebrew to stand [3] 29:9 Hebrew he [4] 29:19 Or multitude [5] 30:3 Hebrew lacks doom for [6] 30:4 Or multitude; also verse 10 [7] 30:5 With Septuagint; Hebrew Cub [8] 30:5 Hebrew and the sons of the land of the covenant [9] 30:9 Hebrew the day of Egypt [10] 30:15 Or wealth [11] 30:16 Or distress [12] 30:17 Or the cities; Hebrew they [13] 31:3 Or its top went through the thick boughs [14] 31:10 Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew you [15] 31:10 Or its top through the thick boughs [16] 31:14 Or their tops through the thick boughs [17] 31:14 Or of Adam [18] 31:15 Hebrew it (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 120 Psalm 120 (Listen) Deliver Me, O Lord A Song of Ascents. 120   In my distress I called to the LORD,    and he answered me.2   Deliver me, O LORD,    from lying lips,    from a deceitful tongue. 3   What shall be given to you,    and what more shall be done to you,    you deceitful tongue?4   A warrior's sharp arrows,    with glowing coals of the broom tree! 5   Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,    that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!6   Too long have I had my dwelling    among those who hate peace.7   I am for peace,    but when I speak, they are for war! (ESV) New Testament: 2 Thessalonians 2–3 2 Thessalonians 2–3 (Listen) The Man of Lawlessness 2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,1 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness2 is revealed, the son of destruction,3 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Stand Firm 13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits4 to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Pray for Us 3 Finally, brothers,5 pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored,6 as happened among you, 2 and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.7 4 And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Warning Against Idleness 6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.8 13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Benediction 16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. 17 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in eve

Old Testament: Ezekiel 29–31 Ezekiel 29–31 (Listen) Prophecy Against Egypt 29 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; 3 speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:   “Behold, I am against you,    Pharaoh king of Egypt,  the great dragon that lies    in the midst of his streams,  that says, ‘My Nile is my own;    I made it for myself.'4   I will put hooks in your jaws,    and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales;  and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams,    with all the fish of your streams    that stick to your scales.5   And I will cast you out into the wilderness,    you and all the fish of your streams;  you shall fall on the open field,    and not be brought together or gathered.  To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens    I give you as food. 6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD. “Because you1 have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, 7 when they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.2 8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, 9 and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD. “Because you3 said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it,' 10 therefore, behold, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries. 13 “For thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, 14 and I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. 15 It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. 16 And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.” 17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth4 and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord GOD. 21 “On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” A Lament for Egypt 30 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:   “Wail, ‘Alas for the day!'3     For the day is near,    the day of the LORD is near;  it will be a day of clouds,    a time of doom for5 the nations.4   A sword shall come upon Egypt,    and anguish shall be in Cush,  when the slain fall in Egypt,    and her wealth6 is carried away,    and her foundations are torn down. 5 Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya,7 and the people of the land that is in league,8 shall fall with them by the sword. 6   “Thus says the LORD:  Those who support Egypt shall fall,    and her proud might shall come down;  from Migdol to Syene    they shall fall within her by the sword,  declares the Lord GOD.7   And they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries,    and their cities shall be in the midst of cities that are laid waste.8   Then they will know that I am the LORD,    when I have set fire to Egypt,    and all her helpers are broken. 9 “On that day messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting people of Cush, and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt's doom;9 for, behold, it comes! 10 “Thus says the Lord GOD:   “I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt,    by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.11   He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations,    shall be brought in to destroy the land,  and they shall draw their swords against Egypt    and fill the land with the slain.12   And I will dry up the Nile    and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers;  I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it,    by the hand of foreigners;  I am the LORD; I have spoken. 13 “Thus says the Lord GOD:   “I will destroy the idols    and put an end to the images in Memphis;  there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;    so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.14   I will make Pathros a desolation    and will set fire to Zoan    and will execute judgments on Thebes.15   And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,    the stronghold of Egypt,    and cut off the multitude10 of Thebes.16   And I will set fire to Egypt;    Pelusium shall be in great agony;  Thebes shall be breached,    and Memphis shall face enemies11 by day.17   The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,    and the women12 shall go into captivity.18   At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark,    when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt,  and her proud might shall come to an end in her;    she shall be covered by a cloud,    and her daughters shall go into captivity.19   Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt.    Then they will know that I am the LORD.” Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon 20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. 22 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” Pharaoh to Be Slain 31 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude:   “Whom are you like in your greatness?3     Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,  with beautiful branches and forest shade,    and of towering height,    its top among the clouds.134   The waters nourished it;    the deep made it grow tall,  making its rivers flow    around the place of its planting,  sending forth its streams    to all the trees of the field.5   So it towered high    above all the trees of the field;  its boughs grew large    and its branches long    from abundant water in its shoots.6   All the birds of the heavens    made their nests in its boughs;  under its branches all the beasts of the field    gave birth to their young,  and under its shadow    lived all great nations.7   It was beautiful in its greatness,    in the length of its branches;  for its roots went down    to abundant waters.8   The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,    nor the fir trees equal its boughs;  neither were the plane trees    like its branches;  no tree in the garden of God    was its equal in beauty.9   I made it beautiful    in the mass of its branches,  and all the trees of Eden envied it,    that were in the garden of God. 10 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it14 towered high and set its top among the clouds,15 and its heart was proud of its height, 11 I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. 12 Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13 On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,16 and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, to the world below, among the children of man,17 with those who go down to the pit. 15 “Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day the cedar18 went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the nations. 18 “Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.” Footnotes [1] 29:6 Hebrew they [2] 29:7 Syriac (compare Psalm 69:23); Hebrew to stand [3] 29:9 Hebrew he [4] 29:19 Or multitude [5] 30:3 Hebrew lacks doom for [6] 30:4 Or multitude; also verse 10 [7] 30:5 With Septuagint; Hebrew Cub [8] 30:5 Hebrew and the sons of the land of the covenant [9] 30:9 Hebrew the day of Egypt [10] 30:15 Or wealth [11] 30:16 Or distress [12] 30:17 Or the cities; Hebrew they [13] 31:3 Or its top went through the thick boughs [14] 31:10 Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew you [15] 31:10 Or its top through the thick boughs [16] 31:14 Or their tops through the thick boughs [17] 31:14 Or of Adam [18] 31:15 Hebrew it (ESV) New Testament: John 1:1–18 John 1:1–18 (Listen) The Word Became Flesh 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life,1 and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own,2 and his own people3 did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son4 from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.5 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God,6 who is at the Father's side,7 he has made him known. Footnotes [1] 1:4 Or was not any thing made. That which has been made was life in him [2] 1:11 Greek to his own things; that is, to his own domain, or to his own people [3] 1:11 People is implied in Greek [4] 1:14 Or only One, or unique One [5] 1:16 Or grace in place of grace [6] 1:18 Or the only One, who is God; some manuscripts the only Son [7] 1:18 Greek in the bosom of the Father (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 120 Psalm 120 (Listen) Deliver Me, O Lord A Song of Ascents. 120   In my distress I called to the LORD,    and he answered me.2   Deliver me, O LORD,    from lying lips,    from a deceitful tongue. 3   What shall be given to you,    and what more shall be done to you,    you deceitful tongue?4   A warrior's sharp arrows,    with glowing coals of the broom tree! 5   Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,    that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!6   Too long have I had my dwelling    among those who hate peace.7   I am for peace,    but when I speak, they are for war! (ESV) Proverb: Proverbs 28:23–24 Proverbs 28:23–24 (Listen) 23   Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor    than he who flatters with his tongue.24   Whoever robs his father or his mother    and says, “That is no transgression,”    is a companion to a man who destroys. (ESV)

8 DELICIOUS cantonese food foreigners might find gross, Debunking all concepts of "weird" food in Macau or Hong Kong! It's understandable that some dishes don't look so appetizing BUT that's because Chinese prioritize flavors and health benefits

Have you ever thought about working for a Japanese company in Japan, but were turned off by all the stories of long hours, low pay, slow career path, no incentives for performance, archaic hierarchy rule setting, social drinking requirements and more? Then this episode is for you. Alvin Tan is here to discuss his recent  controversial article on Medium titled “Why More Foreigners in Japan Should Work for Japanese Companies, Six reasons why you should consider working for one”. It was quite the combustible article in that it generated nearly 100 negative comments on Social Media. It seems that most of the Twitter-verse Japan experts firmly believe working for a Japanese company is a career death sentence. We discuss his 6 reasons why this is not the case. In fact I have also worked for two Japanese companies and I would not be where I am today without this great experience. Thus, I was inspired to offer my own 6 reasons why foreigners should work for Japanese companies. So together we examine 12 reasons why foreigners should work for Japanese companies.  Other topics we discuss:Was he surprised about the backlash to his article?Learning a lot about real Japan via Japanese corporate cultureMastering the Japanese concept of QC, Customer Service, or HospitalityThe difference between Otsukaresama and Gokorosama?Why Japanese companies don't have clear job descriptionsCredentials being less important than on-the-job training and a can-do attitudeUnless you seriously mess up, one is unlikely to get firedThe pay isn't good, but the benefits are usually greatGaining a new circle of friends and meeting a significant otherYou get paid to practice JapaneseBeing a great stepping stone for better job opportunitiesAlvin's two favorite untranslatable Japanese wordsAlvin Tan on Medium: https://medium.com/@alvintwrites Alvin Tan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvin-tanMore Now and Zen episodes: https://www.nowandzen.jp/gugu Mattress Company: https://gugu.jpDream Drive: https://www.dreamdrive.life

Morning: Ezekiel 29–31 Ezekiel 29–31 (Listen) Prophecy Against Egypt 29 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; 3 speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:   “Behold, I am against you,    Pharaoh king of Egypt,  the great dragon that lies    in the midst of his streams,  that says, ‘My Nile is my own;    I made it for myself.'4   I will put hooks in your jaws,    and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales;  and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams,    with all the fish of your streams    that stick to your scales.5   And I will cast you out into the wilderness,    you and all the fish of your streams;  you shall fall on the open field,    and not be brought together or gathered.  To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens    I give you as food. 6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD. “Because you1 have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, 7 when they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.2 8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, 9 and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD. “Because you3 said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it,' 10 therefore, behold, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries. 13 “For thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, 14 and I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. 15 It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. 16 And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.” 17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth4 and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord GOD. 21 “On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” A Lament for Egypt 30 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:   “Wail, ‘Alas for the day!'3     For the day is near,    the day of the LORD is near;  it will be a day of clouds,    a time of doom for5 the nations.4   A sword shall come upon Egypt,    and anguish shall be in Cush,  when the slain fall in Egypt,    and her wealth6 is carried away,    and her foundations are torn down. 5 Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya,7 and the people of the land that is in league,8 shall fall with them by the sword. 6   “Thus says the LORD:  Those who support Egypt shall fall,    and her proud might shall come down;  from Migdol to Syene    they shall fall within her by the sword,  declares the Lord GOD.7   And they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries,    and their cities shall be in the midst of cities that are laid waste.8   Then they will know that I am the LORD,    when I have set fire to Egypt,    and all her helpers are broken. 9 “On that day messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting people of Cush, and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt's doom;9 for, behold, it comes! 10 “Thus says the Lord GOD:   “I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt,    by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.11   He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations,    shall be brought in to destroy the land,  and they shall draw their swords against Egypt    and fill the land with the slain.12   And I will dry up the Nile    and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers;  I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it,    by the hand of foreigners;  I am the LORD; I have spoken. 13 “Thus says the Lord GOD:   “I will destroy the idols    and put an end to the images in Memphis;  there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;    so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.14   I will make Pathros a desolation    and will set fire to Zoan    and will execute judgments on Thebes.15   And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,    the stronghold of Egypt,    and cut off the multitude10 of Thebes.16   And I will set fire to Egypt;    Pelusium shall be in great agony;  Thebes shall be breached,    and Memphis shall face enemies11 by day.17   The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,    and the women12 shall go into captivity.18   At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark,    when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt,  and her proud might shall come to an end in her;    she shall be covered by a cloud,    and her daughters shall go into captivity.19   Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt.    Then they will know that I am the LORD.” Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon 20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. 22 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” Pharaoh to Be Slain 31 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude:   “Whom are you like in your greatness?3     Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,  with beautiful branches and forest shade,    and of towering height,    its top among the clouds.134   The waters nourished it;    the deep made it grow tall,  making its rivers flow    around the place of its planting,  sending forth its streams    to all the trees of the field.5   So it towered high    above all the trees of the field;  its boughs grew large    and its branches long    from abundant water in its shoots.6   All the birds of the heavens    made their nests in its boughs;  under its branches all the beasts of the field    gave birth to their young,  and under its shadow    lived all great nations.7   It was beautiful in its greatness,    in the length of its branches;  for its roots went down    to abundant waters.8   The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,    nor the fir trees equal its boughs;  neither were the plane trees    like its branches;  no tree in the garden of God    was its equal in beauty.9   I made it beautiful    in the mass of its branches,  and all the trees of Eden envied it,    that were in the garden of God. 10 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it14 towered high and set its top among the clouds,15 and its heart was proud of its height, 11 I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. 12 Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13 On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,16 and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, to the world below, among the children of man,17 with those who go down to the pit. 15 “Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day the cedar18 went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the nations. 18 “Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.” Footnotes [1] 29:6 Hebrew they [2] 29:7 Syriac (compare Psalm 69:23); Hebrew to stand [3] 29:9 Hebrew he [4] 29:19 Or multitude [5] 30:3 Hebrew lacks doom for [6] 30:4 Or multitude; also verse 10 [7] 30:5 With Septuagint; Hebrew Cub [8] 30:5 Hebrew and the sons of the land of the covenant [9] 30:9 Hebrew the day of Egypt [10] 30:15 Or wealth [11] 30:16 Or distress [12] 30:17 Or the cities; Hebrew they [13] 31:3 Or its top went through the thick boughs [14] 31:10 Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew you [15] 31:10 Or its top through the thick boughs [16] 31:14 Or their tops through the thick boughs [17] 31:14 Or of Adam [18] 31:15 Hebrew it (ESV) Evening: James 5 James 5 (Listen) Warning to the Rich 5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. Patience in Suffering 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,1 until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. The Prayer of Faith 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.2 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. Footnotes [1] 5:7 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 9, 10, 12, 19 [2] 5:16 Or The effective prayer of a righteous person has great power (ESV)