1 Thessalonians 5, Leviticus 18, Psalm 109

Sep 29, 2025

The Day of the Lord

[1] Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. [2] For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. [3] While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. [4] But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. [5] For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. [6] So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. [7] For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. [8] But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. [9] For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, [10] who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. [11] Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Final Instructions and Benediction

[12] We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, [13] and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. [14] And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. [15] See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. [16] Rejoice always, [17] pray without ceasing, [18] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. [19] Do not quench the Spirit. [20] Do not despise prophecies, [21] but test everything; hold fast what is good. [22] Abstain from every form of evil.

[23] Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

[25] Brothers, pray for us.

[26] Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

[27] I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

[28] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 

Unlawful Sexual Relations

[1] And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [2] “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. [3] You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. [4] You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. [5] You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

[6] “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD. [7] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. [8] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. [9] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. [10] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. [11] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister. [12] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative. [13] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative. [14] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. [15] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. [16] You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. [17] You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. [18] And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

[19] “You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. [20] And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. [21] You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. [22] You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. [23] And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.

[24] “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, [25] and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. [26] But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you [27] (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), [28] lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. [29] For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. [30] So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.” 

Help Me, O LORD My God
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
[1] Be not silent, O God of my praise!
[2] For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
[3] They encircle me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
[4] In return for my love they accuse me,
but I give myself to prayer.
[5] So they reward me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
[6] Appoint a wicked man against him;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
[7] When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;
let his prayer be counted as sin!
[8] May his days be few;
may another take his office!
[9] May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow!
[10] May his children wander about and beg,
seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
[11] May the creditor seize all that he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
[12] Let there be none to extend kindness to him,
nor any to pity his fatherless children!
[13] May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
[14] May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
[15] Let them be before the LORD continually,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
[16] For he did not remember to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy
and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
[17] He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!
He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!
[18] He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;
may it soak into his body like water,
like oil into his bones!
[19] May it be like a garment that he wraps around him,
like a belt that he puts on every day!
[20] May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD,
of those who speak evil against my life!
[21] But you, O GOD my Lord,
deal on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
[22] For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is stricken within me.
[23] I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.
[24] My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt, with no fat.
[25] I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they wag their heads.
[26] Help me, O LORD my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love!
[27] Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O LORD, have done it!
[28] Let them curse, but you will bless!
They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
[29] May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
[30] With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
[31] For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death. (ESV)

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