November 13, 2026

Lamentations4

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

1 How the gold has grown dim,

how the pure gold is changed!

The holy stones lie scattered

at the head of every street.

2 The precious sons of Zion,

worth their weight in fine gold,

how they are regarded as earthen pots,

the work of a potter’s hands!

3 Even jackals offer the breast;

they nurse their young;

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4 The tongue of the nursing infant sticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

the children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

5 Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

those who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

6 For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment of Sodom,

which was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.

7 Her princes were purer than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than coral,

the beauty of their form was like sapphire.

8 Now their face is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets;

their skin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as wood.

9 Happier were the victims of the sword

than the victims of hunger,

who wasted away, pierced

by lack of the fruits of the field.

10 The hands of compassionate women

have boiled their own children;

they became their food

during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11 The Lord gave full vent to his wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and he kindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any of the inhabitants of the world,

that foe or enemy could enter

the gates of Jerusalem.

13 This was for the sins of her prophets

and the iniquities of her priests,

who shed in the midst of her

the blood of the righteous.

14 They wandered, blind, through the streets;

they were so defiled with blood

that no one was able to touch

their garments.

15 “Away! Unclean!” people cried at them.

“Away! Away! Do not touch!”

So they became fugitives and wanderers;

people said among the nations,

“They shall stay with us no longer.”

16 The Lord himself has scattered them;

he will regard them no more;

no honor was shown to the priests,

no favor to the elders.

17 Our eyes failed, ever watching

vainly for help;

in our watching we watched

for a nation which could not save.

18 They dogged our steps

so that we could not walk in our streets;

our end drew near; our days were numbered,

for our end had come.

19 Our pursuers were swifter

than the eagles in the heavens;

they chased us on the mountains;

they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20 The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed,

was captured in their pits,

of whom we said, “Under his shadow

we shall live among the nations.”

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in the land of Uz;

but to you also the cup shall pass;

you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

22 The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;

he will keep you in exile no longer;

but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;

he will uncover your sins.

Lamentations5

Restore Us to Yourself, O ndLord

1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

look, and see our disgrace!

2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our homes to foreigners.

3 We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are like widows.

4 We must pay for the water we drink;

the wood we get must be bought.

5 Our pursuers are at our necks;

we are weary; we are given no rest.

6 We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria,

to get bread enough.

7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

and we bear their iniquities.

8 Slaves rule over us;

there is none to deliver us from their hand.

9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives,

because of the sword in the wilderness.

10 Our skin is hot as an oven

with the burning heat of famine.

11 Women are raped in Zion,

young women in the towns of Judah.

12 Princes are hung up by their hands;

no respect is shown to the elders.

13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,

and boys stagger under loads of wood.

14 The old men have left the city gate,

the young men their music.

15 The joy of our hearts has ceased;

our dancing has been turned to mourning.

16 The crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

17 For this our heart has become sick,

for these things our eyes have grown dim,

18 for Mount Zion which lies desolate;

jackals prowl over it.

19 But you, O Lord, reign forever;

your throne endures to all generations.

20 Why do you forget us forever,

why do you forsake us for so many days?

21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!

Renew our days as of old—

22 unless you have utterly rejected us,

and you remain exceedingly angry with us.

Ezekiel1

Ezekiel in Babylon

1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), 3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

The Glory of the ndLord

4 As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. 5 And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, 6 but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: 9 their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. 12 And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14 And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.

15 Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. 16 As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. 17 When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. 18 And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. 19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. 20 Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. 23 And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body. 24 And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings.

26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Hebrews10

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

but a body have you prepared for me;

6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings

you have taken no pleasure.

7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them

after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my laws on their hearts,

and write them on their minds,”

17 then he adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

The Full Assurance of Faith

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,

“Yet a little while,

and the coming one will come and will not delay;

38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,

and if he shrinks back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.”

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.