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SEPTEMBER 22
gods of these lands have delivered their coun- 2 Corinthians 13:1–14
tries from my hand, that the LORD should This will be the third time I am coming to
deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ” 13 you. “By the mouth of two or three wit-
21 But they held their peace and answered 2
him not a word; for the king’s commandment nesses every word shall be established.” I
have told you before, and foretell as if I were
was, “Do not answer him.” Then Eliakim the present the second time, and now being
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son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, absent I write to those who have sinned before,
Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not
the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their spare— since you seek a proof of Christ
3
clothes torn, and told him the words of the speaking in me, who is not weak toward you,
Rabshakeh.
but mighty in you. For though He was cruci-
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Psalm 109:6–13 fied in weakness, yet He lives by the power of
God. For we also are weak in Him, but we
6 Set a wicked man over him, shall live with Him by the power of God
And let an accuser stand at his right toward you.
hand. 5
Examine yourselves as to whether you are
7 When he is judged, let him be found in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know
guilty, yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—un-
And let his prayer become sin. 6
8 Let his days be few, less indeed you are disqualified. But I trust
that you will know that we are not disqualified.
And let another take his office. 7
Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not
9 Let his children be fatherless, that we should appear approved, but that you
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children continually be should do what is honorable, though we may
seem disqualified. For we can do nothing
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vagabonds, and beg; against the truth, but for the truth. For we are
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Let them seek their bread also from glad when we are weak and you are strong.
their desolate places.
11 Let the creditor seize all that he has, And this also we pray, that you may be made
complete. Therefore I write these things
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And let strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to being absent, lest being present I should use
sharpness, according to the authority which
him, the Lord has given me for edification and not
Nor let there be any to favor his for destruction.
fatherless children. 11
Finally, brethren, farewell. Become com-
13 Let his posterity be cut off, plete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live
And in the generation following let in peace; and the God of love and peace will be
their name be blotted out.
with you.
Proverbs 25:27–28 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
13 All the saints greet you.
27 It is not good to eat much honey; 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
So to seek one’s own glory is not glory.
the love of God, and the communion of the
28 Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Is like a city broken down, without walls.
13:12 a holy kiss.A sign of greeting in biblical
25:28 city broken down. Such are exposed times (Matt. 26:49; Luke 7:45), much like the
and vulnerable to the incursion of evil modern handshake. For Christians, it further
thoughts and successful temptations. expressed brotherly love and unity (Rom.
16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 1 Thess. 5:26; 1 Pet. 5:14).
DAY 22:What was Paul’s final warning to the Corinthians?

In 2 Corinthians 12:20,21, it is clear that when he visited them, Paul did not want to find the
Corinthians in the same sorry spiritual condition as on his last visit (the “painful visit,” 2:1). If he
found that they were not what he wished (i.e.,still practicing the sins he listed),they would find him
not as they wished—he would have had to discipline them (13:2).To find the Corinthians still living

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