October 1, 2026

21Pity me, pity me, you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me! 22Why do you pursue me like God, and prey insatiably upon me? 23Oh, would that my words were written down! Would that they were inscribed in a record: 24That with an iron chisel and with lead they were cut in the rock forever! 25As for me, I know that my vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust. 26This will happen when my skin has been stripped off, and from my flesh I will see God: 27I will see for myself, my own eyes, not another’s, will behold him: my inmost being is consumed with longing.

7B - I Hear my voice, LORD, when I call; have mercy on me and answer me. 8“Come,” says my heart, “seek his face”; your face, LORD, do I seek! 9Do not hide your face from me; do not repel your servant in anger. You are my salvation; do not cast me off; do not forsake me, God my savior! 13I believe I shall see the LORD’s goodness in the land of the living. 14Wait for the LORD, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the LORD!

15“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” The Call of the First Disciples.

1After this the Lord appointed seventy[-two] others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. 2He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. 3Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. 4Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. 5Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ 6If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. 8Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, 9cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ 10Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, 11‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. 12I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town. Reproaches to Unrepentant Towns.