Evensong

The Preces 

 

 

 O Lord, open thou our lips.

And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

O God, make speed to save us.

O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Praise ye the Lord.

The Lord's Name be praised. 

 

 

 

 

 Psalm 69 

I will vpraise the name of God with a song;

I will wmagnify him with xthanksgiving.

31  This will yplease the Lord more than an ox

or a bull zwith horns and hoofs.

32  When athe humble see it they will be glad;

you who seek God, alet your hearts revive.

33  For the Lord hears the needy

and bdoes not despise his own people who are prisoners.

34  Let cheaven and earth praise him,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

35  For dGod will save Zion

and build up the cities of Judah,

and people shall dwell there and possess it;

36  ethe offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

 

My soul magnifies the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
Because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid;
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed;
Because He who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His name;
And His mercy is from generation to generation
on those who fear Him.
He has shown might with His arm,
He has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has given help to Israel, his servant, mindful of His mercy
Even as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Nunc Dimittis

 

 

Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace:

your word has been fulfilled.

My own eyes have seen the salvation

which you have prepared in the sight of every people;

A light to reveal you to the nations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
 I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
Amen.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Gospel according to Mathew 13

Matthew 13 

 

The Parable of the Sower

13  

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 

² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ^#

 ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 

⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  

⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 

⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  

⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 

⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  

⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  
¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.  
¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  

¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:  
¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  


²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”


The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Prototype destroyed - Progressive judgement

DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM , 922 bc

1 Kings v1-20






Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  
¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”


 

Israel Exiled Because of Sin - 2 Kings 17

The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. 
From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns.  
¹⁰ They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
 ¹¹ At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger.  
¹² They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.” 
¹³ The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: 





“Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”




¹⁴ But they would NOT LISTEN and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God.  
¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”

 


¹⁶ They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. ¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.




 ¹⁸ So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left,  
¹⁹ and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.  
²⁰ Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.

2 Kings 21 

Manasseh King of Judah

²⁴ Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place.
²⁵ As for the other events of Amon’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king.


 
2 Kings 25 - no more offspring??

 They fled toward the Arabah,
 ⁵ but the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,
⁶ and he was captured.

He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. ⁷ They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon





2 Kings 24 - No more temple???

 ¹³ As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord.
¹⁴ He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.

2 Kings 25 
 

⁹ He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.  
¹⁰ The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.


 

The prototype destroyed

David : 2 Samuel 11




²⁵ David said to the messenger, “Tell Yo’av, ‘Don’t let this matter get you down — the sword devours in one way or another. Intensify your battle against the city, and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

²⁶ When the wife of Uriyah heard that Uriyah her husband was dead, she mourned her husband. ²⁷ When the mourning was over, David sent and took her home to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son.
But Adonai saw what David had done as evil.













Solomon 1 Kings 11

11

King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
²from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the Israelites, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you; for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods;’ Solomon clung to these in love.
³Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
⁴For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.
⁵For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

⁶So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not completely follow the Lord, as his father David had done.
⁷Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.


⁸He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 Then the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
¹⁰and had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord commanded.
¹¹Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.

¹²Yet for the sake of your father David I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

¹³I will not, however, tear away the entire kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.’



2 Chronicles

¹¹ Moreover, he built high places in the hills of Y’hudah, caused the people living in Yerushalayim to prostitute themselves and drew Y’hudah away.

¹² A letter came to him from Eliyahu the prophet which said, “Here is what Adonai, the God of David your ancestor, says: ‘You have not lived by the examples of Y’hoshafat your father or Asa king of Y’hudah. 
 
 
 
¹³ Instead you have lived by the example of the kings of Isra’el and have caused Y’hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ach’av caused [Isra’el] to prostitute themselves. Moreover, you killed your brothers from your father’s house, men better than you. 







¹⁴ Because of all this, Adonai is going to strike your people with a terrible disease, also your children, your wives and everything you have. 
¹⁵ You will be very ill from a disease in your intestines, until your intestines protrude, because of the effects of this disease, day after day.’”

A Book about Exile - Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 30 (RY: ii, LY: iv) 

“When the time arrives that all these things have come upon you, both the blessing and the curse which I have presented to you; and you are there among the nations to which Adonai your God has driven you; then, at last, you will start thinking about what has happened to you;  

² and you will return to Adonai your God and pay attention to what he has said, which will be exactly what I am ordering you to do today — you and your children, with all your heart and all your being.  

³ At that point, Adonai your God will reverse your exile and show you mercy; he will return and gather you from all the peoples to which Adonai your God scattered you.  

⁴ If one of yours was scattered to the far end of the sky, Adonai your God will gather you even from there; he will go there and get you.

⁵ Adonai your God will bring you back into the land your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you prosper there, and you will become even more numerous than your ancestors.

⁶ Then Adonai your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your children, so that you will love Adonai your God with all your heart and all your being, and thus you will live. 

 (RY: iii, LY: v)  

⁷ Adonai your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hated and persecuted you;  

⁸ but you will return and pay attention to what Adonai says and obey all his mitzvot which I am giving you today.  

⁹ Then Adonai your God will give you more than enough in everything you set out to do — the fruit of your body, the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your land will all do well; for Adonai will once again rejoice to see you do well, just as he rejoiced in your ancestors.

¹⁰ “However, all this will happen only if you pay attention to what Adonai your God says, so that you obey his mitzvot and regulations which are written in this book of the Torah, if you turn to Adonai your God with all your heart and all your being. 

(LY: vi) 

¹¹ For this mitzvah which I am giving you today is not too hard for you, it is not beyond your reach. 
¹² It isn’t in the sky, so that you need to ask, ‘Who will go up into the sky for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?’  


¹³ Likewise, it isn’t beyond the sea, so that you need to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?’  


¹⁴ On the contrary, the WORD is very close to you — in your MOUTH, even in your HEART; therefore, you can do it!

Deuteronomy 32

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

32 “Hear, oh heavens, as I speak!
Listen, earth, to the words from my mouth!

² May my teaching fall like rain.
May my speech condense like dew,
like light rain on blades of grass,
or showers on growing plants.

³ “For I will proclaim the name of Adonai.
Come, declare the greatness of our God!
⁴ The Rock! His work is perfect,
for all his ways are just.

A trustworthy God who does no wrong,
he is righteous and straight.

⁵ “He is not corrupt; the defect is in his children,
a crooked and perverted generation.
⁶ You foolish people, so lacking in wisdom,
is this how you repay Adonai?
He is your father, who made you his!
It was he who formed and prepared you!