Readings for February 23, 2028: Wednesday of Cheesefare Week

12 Now therefore, saith the Lord your God, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamentation: 13 and rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy, and repents of evils. 14 Who knows if he will return, and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink-offering to the Lord your God? 15 Sound the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a [solemn] service: 16 gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the infants at the breast: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Between the porch and the altar let the priests that minister to the Lord weep, and say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them, lest they should say among the heathen, Where is their God? 18 But the Lord was jealous of his land, and spared his people. 19 And the Lord answered and said to his people, Behold, I [will] send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied with them: and I will no longer make you a reproach among the Gentiles. 20 And I will chase away from you the northern [adversary], and will drive him away into a dry land, and I will sink his face in the former sea, and his back parts in the latter sea, and his ill savour shall come up, and his stink shall come up, because he has wrought great things. 21 Be of good courage, O land; rejoice and be glad: for the Lord has done great things. 22 Be of good courage, ye beasts of the plain, for the plains of the wilderness have budded, for the trees have borne their fruit, the fig-tree and the vine have yielded their strength. 23 Rejoice then and be glad, ye children of Sion, in the Lord your God: for he has given you food fully, and he will rain on you the early and the latter rain, as before. 24 And the floors shall be filled with corn, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will recompense you for the years which the locust, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, and the cankerworm have eaten, [even] my great army, which I sent against you. 26 And ye shall eat abundantly, and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of the Lord your God [for the things] which he has wrought wonderfully with you: and my people shall not be ashamed for ever.

12 Let them be aroused, let all the nations go up to the valley of Josaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the Gentiles round about. 13 Bring forth the sickles, for the vintage is come: go in, tread [the grapes], for the press is full: cause the vats to overflow; for their wickedness is multiplied. 14 Noises have resounded in the valley of judgment: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of judgment. 15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light. 16 And the Lord shall cry out of Sion, and shall utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heaven and the earth shall be shaken, but the Lord shall spare his people, and shall strengthen the children of Israel. 17 And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall not pass through her any more. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day [that] the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the fountains of Juda shall flow with water, and a fountain shall go forth of the house of the Lord, and water the valley of flags. 19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Idumea shall be a desolate plain, because of the wrongs of the children of Juda, because they have shed righteous blood in their land. 20 But Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to all generations. 21 And I will make inquisition for their blood, and will by no means leave it unavenged: and the Lord shall dwell in Sion.