Readings for February 28, 2028: Clean Monday: beginning of Great Lent

1 The vision which Esaias the son of Amos saw, which he saw against Juda and against Jerusalem, in the reign of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, who reigned over Judea. 2 Hear, O heaven, and hearken, O earth: for the Lord has spoken, [saying], I have begotten and reared up children, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel does not know me, and the people has not regarded me. 4 Ah sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children: ye have forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. 5 Why should ye be smitten [any] more, transgressing more and more? the whole head is pained, and the whole heart sad. 6 From the feet to the head, there is no soundness in them; neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering ulcer [are healed]: it is not possible to apply a plaister, nor oil, nor bandages. 7 Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is made desolate, overthrown by strange nations. 8 The daughter of Sion shall be deserted as a tent in a vineyard, and as a storehouse of fruits in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9 And if the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we should have been as Sodoma, and we should have been made like to Gomorrha. 10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodoma; attend to the law of God, thou people of Gomorrha. 11 Of what [value] to me is the abundance of your sacrifices? saith the Lord: I am full of whole-burnt-offerings of rams; and I delight not in the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats: 12 neither shall ye come [with these] to appear before me; for who has required these things at your hands? Ye shall no more tread my court. 13 Though ye bring fine flour, [it is] vain; incense is an abomination to me; I cannot bear your new moons, and your sabbaths, and the great day; 14 [your] fasting, and rest from work, your new moons also, and your feasts my soul hates: ye have become loathsome to me; I will no more pardon your sins. 15 When ye stretch forth your hands, I will turn away mine eyes from you: and though ye make many supplications, I will not hearken to you; for your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash you, be clean; remove your iniquities from your souls before mine eyes; cease from your iniquities; 17 learn to do well; diligently seek judgment, deliver him that is suffering wrong, plead for the orphan, and obtain justice for the widow. 18 And come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make [them] white as wool. 19 And if ye be willing, and hearken to me, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 but if ye be not willing, nor hearken to me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.

1 In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. 2 But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water. 3 And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. 4 And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be a division between water and water, and it was so. 7 And God made the firmament, and God divided between the water which was under the firmament and the water which was above the firmament. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 And God said, Let the water which is under the heaven be collected into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And the water which was under the heaven was collected into its places, and the dry land appeared. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gatherings of the waters he called Seas, and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

1 The Proverbs of Solomon son of David, who reigned in Israel; 2 to know wisdom and instruction, and to perceive words of understanding; 3 to receive also hard sayings, and to understand true justice, and [how] to direct judgment; 4 that he might give subtlety to the simple, and to the young man discernment and understanding. 5 For by the hearing of these a wise man will be wiser, and the man of understanding will gain direction; 6 and will understand a parable, and a dark speech; the sayings of the wise also, and riddles. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and [there is] good understanding to all that practise it: and piety toward God is the beginning of discernment; but the ungodly will set at nought wisdom and instruction. 8 Hear, [my] son, the instruction of thy father, and reject not the rules of thy mother. 9 For thou shalt receive for thine head a crown of graces, and a chain of gold round thy neck. 10 [My] son, let not ungodly men lead thee astray, neither consent thou [to them]. 11 If they should exhort thee, saying, Come with us, partake in blood, and let us unjustly hide the just man in the earth: 12 and let us swallow him alive, as Hades [would], and remove the memorial of him from the earth: 13 let us seize on his valuable property, and let us fill our houses with spoils: 14 but do thou cast in thy lot with us, and let us all provide a common purse, and let us have one pouch: 15 go not in the way with them, but turn aside thy foot from their paths: 17 for nets are not without cause spread for birds. 18 For they that are concerned in murder store up evils for themselves; and the overthrow of transgressors is evil. 19 These are the ways of all that perform lawless deeds; for by ungodliness they destroy their own life. 20 Wisdom sings aloud in passages, and in the broad places speaks boldly.