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18 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.

19 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord.

20 Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.

21 Defend the poor and fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy.

22 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

23 If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry?

24 Ye shall not oppress one another; but ye shall fear your God: for I am the Lord your God.

25 Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgements, and do them: I am the Lord.

26 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven let it be diligently done.

27 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them but the transgressors shall fall therein.

28 Thus saith the Lord, Execute ye judgement and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, and do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless,

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LESSON XXXIX.

WHEREWITH shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burntofferings, with calves of a year old:

2 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

3 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

4 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

and to hearken, than the fat of

rams.

5 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of hegoats.

6 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts ?

7 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meet

ing.

8 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me: I am weary to bear them.

9 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

10 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

11 Learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

12 Thou shalt not wrest judgement: thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

13 That which is altogether

just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

14 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates, in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother;

15 But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.

16 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

17 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

18 And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given untó thee and unto thine house.

19 Know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind.

20 If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

21 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and

judgement, and wait on thy God continually; and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor.

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22 Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

¶ 23 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts.

24 Is the spirit of the Lord straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

25 For I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee.

26 And if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute judgement between a man and his neighbour;

27 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood;

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see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

33 The Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these. statutes and judgements: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart and with all thy soul.

34 The Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers;

35 If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and his statutes, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul.

LESSON XL.

LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart:

3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour:

4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord: he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

5 He that doeth these things, shall never be moved.

¶ 6 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place?

7 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not

lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

8 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righte, ousness from the God of his salvation.

9 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

10 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure.

11 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

12 The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies.

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13 The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

14 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

15 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

16 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?

17 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

18 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

19 The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself:

20 The meek will he guide in judgement: and the meek will he teach his way.

21 What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.

SECTION II.-Threatenings of God.

LESSON XLI.

Wo to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds : when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away; so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

3 Are there yet the trea

sures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?

4 Is not destruction to the wicked, and a strange punishment to the workers of iniqui ty? Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

5 For the rich men are full of violence, and have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceit, ful in their mouth.

¶ 6 Wo unto them that call

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10 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

¶11 Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

12 To turn aside the needy from judgement, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless.

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13 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

14 Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary God also?

15 Because ye have forgotten the God of your salvation, and

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19 What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.

20 For your hands are de filed with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness...

21 And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgements.

¶ 22 Wo unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth.

23 Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.

¶24 Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink, and continue until night, till wine inflame them.

25 And the harp and the

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