Our first reading is from Isaiah 10:12-20

May the Lord bless you as you receive his word.

When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the wilful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. For he says:

“‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.

I removed the boundaries of nations; I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their kings.

As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations;

as people gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries;

not one flapped a wing or opened its mouth to chirp.’”

Does the axe raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it?

As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood!

Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors;

under his pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame.

The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame;

in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and his briers.

The splendour of his forests and fertile fields it will completely destroy,

as when a sick person wastes away.

And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down.

In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob,

will no longer rely on him who struck them down

but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

Our Second Reading is from John 7:14-17

Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”

Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. As you journey on, go with his blessing:

Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping, that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep rest in his peace. May Almighty God bless, preserve, and keep us, this day and forevermore. Amen.