April 5 Reading through the Bible Day 96

DEUTERONOMY 28:1-68
LUKE 11:14-36
PSALM 77:1-20
PROVERBS 12:18

DEUTERONOMY 28:1-68
" If you fully obey the LORD your God by keeping all the commands I am giving you today, the LORD your God will exalt you above all the nations of the world. 2 You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God: 3 You will be blessed in your towns and in the country. 4 You will be blessed with many children and productive fields. You will be blessed with fertile herds and flocks. 5 You will be blessed with baskets overflowing with fruit, and with kneading bowls filled with bread. 6 You will be blessed wherever you go, both in coming and in going. 7 " The LORD will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven! 8 " The LORD will bless everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. 9 " If you obey the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways, the LORD will establish you as his holy people as he solemnly promised to do. 10 Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you.11 " The LORD will give you an abundance of good things in the land he swore to give your ancestors--many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. 12 The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens to bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. 13 If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God and carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always have the upper hand. 14 You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today to follow after other gods and worship them. 15 " But if you refuse to listen to the LORD your God and do not obey all the commands and laws I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you:16 You will be cursed in your towns and in the country. 17 You will be cursed with baskets empty of fruit, and with kneading bowls empty of bread. 18 You will be cursed with few children and barren fields. You will be cursed with infertile herds and flocks. 19 You will be cursed wherever you go, both in coming and in going. 20 " The LORD himself will send against you curses, confusion, and disillusionment in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and forsaking me. 21 The LORD will send diseases among you until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy. 22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These devastations will pursue you until you die. 23 The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. 24 The LORD will turn your rain into sand and dust, and it will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed. 25 " The LORD will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your dead bodies will be food for the birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away. 27 " The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The LORD will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. 29 You will grope around in broad daylight, just like a blind person groping in the darkness, and you will not succeed at anything you do. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you. 30 " You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will ravish her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you won't get a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be driven away, never to be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you. 32 You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break as you long for them, but nothing you do will help. 33 A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment. 34 You will go mad because of all the tragedy around you. 35 The LORD will cover you from head to foot with incurable boils. 36 " The LORD will exile you and the king you crowned to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. Then in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! 37 You will become an object of horror, a proverb and a mockery among all the nations to which the LORD sends you. 38 " You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops. 39 You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines. 40 You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the trees will drop the fruit before it is ripe. 41 You will have sons and daughters, but you will not keep them, for they will be led away into captivity. 42 Swarms of insects will destroy your trees and crops. 43 The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker. 44 They will lend money to you, not you to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail! 45 " If you refuse to listen to the LORD your God and to obey the commands and laws he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed. 46 These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever. 47 Because you have not served the LORD your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, 48 you will serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. They will oppress you harshly until you are destroyed. 49 " The LORD will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth, and it will swoop down on you like an eagle. It is a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young. 51 Its armies will devour your livestock and crops, and you will starve to death. They will leave you no grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, or lambs, bringing about your destruction. 52 They will lay siege to your cities until all the fortified walls in your land--the walls you trusted to protect you--are knocked down. They will attack all the towns in the land the LORD your God has given you. 53 The siege will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you. 54 The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children. 55 He will refuse to give them a share of the flesh he is devouring--the flesh of one of his own children--because he has nothing else to eat during the siege that your enemy will inflict on all your towns. 56 The most tender and delicate woman among you--so delicate she would not so much as touch her feet to the ground--will be cruel to the husband she loves and to her own son or daughter. 57 She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns. 58 " If you refuse to obey all the terms of this law that are written in this book, and if you do not fear the glorious and awesome name of the LORD your God, 59 then the LORD will overwhelm both you and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, making you miserable and unbearably sick. 60 He will bring against you all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and they will claim you. 61 The LORD will bring against you every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 62 Though you are as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not listen to the LORD your God. 63 " Just as the LORD has found great pleasure in helping you to prosper and multiply, the LORD will find pleasure in destroying you, until you disappear from the land you are about to enter and occupy. 64 For the LORD will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone! 65 There among those nations you will find no place of security and rest. And the LORD will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. 66 Your lives will hang in doubt. You will live night and day in fear, with no reason to believe that you will see the morning light. 67 In the morning you will say, ` If only it were night!' And in the evening you will say, ` If only it were morning!' You will say this because of your terror at the awesome horrors you see around you. 68 Then the LORD will send you back to Egypt in ships, a journey I promised you would never again make. There you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will want to buy you."

LUKE 11:14-36
One day Jesus cast a demon out of a man who couldn't speak, and the man's voice returned to him. The crowd was amazed, 15 but some said, " No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons!" 16 Trying to test Jesus, others asked for a miraculous sign from heaven to see if he was from God. 17 He knew their thoughts, so he said, " Any kingdom at war with itself is doomed. A divided home is also doomed. 18 You say I am empowered by the prince of demons. But if Satan is fighting against himself by empowering me to cast out his demons, how can his kingdom survive? 19 And if I am empowered by the prince of demons, what about your own followers? They cast out demons, too, so they will judge you for what you have said. 20 But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 21 For when Satan, who is completely armed, guards his palace, it is safe--22 until someone who is stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings. 23 " Anyone who isn't helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.24 " When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ` I will return to the person I came from.' 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and clean. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before." 27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, " God bless your mother--the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!" 28 He replied, " But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice." 29 As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, " These are evil times, and this evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. 30 What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to me will be a sign that God has sent me, the Son of Man, to these people.31 " The queen of Sheba will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And now someone greater than Solomon is here--and you refuse to listen to him. 32 The people of Nineveh, too, will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now someone greater than Jonah is here--and you refuse to repent. 33 " No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, it is put on a lampstand to give light to all who enter the room. 34 Your eye is a lamp for your body. A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul. But an evil eye shuts out the light and plunges you into darkness. 35 Make sure that the light you think you have is not really darkness. 36 If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight is shining on you."

PSALM 77:1-20
For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of Asaph.
1 I cry out to God without holding back.
Oh, that God would listen to me!
2 When I was in deep trouble,
I searched for the Lord.
All night long I pray, with hands lifted toward heaven, pleading.
There can be no joy for me until he acts.
3 I think of God, and I moan,
overwhelmed with longing for his help.
Interlude4 You don't let me sleep.
I am too distressed even to pray!
5 I think of the good old days, long since ended,
6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs.
I search my soul and think about the difference now.
7 Has the Lord rejected me forever?
Will he never again show me favor?
8 Is his unfailing love gone forever?
Have his promises permanently failed?
9 Has God forgotten to be kind?
Has he slammed the door on his compassion?
Interlude10 And I said, " This is my fate,
that the blessings of the Most High have changed to hatred."
11 I recall all you have done, O LORD;
I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
12 They are constantly in my thoughts.
I cannot stop thinking about them.
13 O God, your ways are holy.
Is there any god as mighty as you?
14 You are the God of miracles and wonders!
You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.
15 You have redeemed your people by your strength,
the descendants of Jacob and of Joseph by your might.
Interlude16 When the Red Sea saw you, O God,
its waters looked and trembled!
The sea quaked to its very depths.
17 The clouds poured down their rain;
the thunder rolled and crackled in the sky.
Your arrows of lightning flashed.
18 Your thunder roared from the whirlwind;
the lightning lit up the world!
The earth trembled and shook.
19 Your road led through the sea,
your pathway through the mighty waters--
a pathway no one knew was there!
20 You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep,
with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.

PROVERBS 12:18
Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing.

April 4 Reading through the Bible Day 95

DEUTERONOMY 26:1-27:26
LUKE 10:38-11:13
PSALM 76:1-12
PROVERBS 12:15-17

DEUTERONOMY 26:1-27:26
" When you [the Israelites] arrive in the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession and you have conquered it and settled there, 2 put some of the first produce from each harvest into a basket and bring it to the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored. 3 Go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, ` With this gift I acknowledge that the LORD your God has brought me into the land he swore to give our ancestors.' 4 The priest will then take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of the LORD your God. 5 You must then say in the presence of the LORD your God, ` My ancestor Jacob was a wandering Aramean who went to live in Egypt. His family was few in number, but in Egypt they became a mighty and numerous nation. 6 When the Egyptians mistreated and humiliated us by making us their slaves, 7 we cried out to the LORD, the God of our ancestors. He heard us and saw our hardship, toil, and oppression. 8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with amazing power, overwhelming terror, and miraculous signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey! 10 And now, O LORD, I have brought you a token of the first crops you have given me from the ground.' Then place the produce before the LORD your God and worship him. 11 Afterward go and celebrate because of all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household. Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration. 12 " Every third year you must offer a special tithe of your crops. You must give these tithes to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows so that they will have enough to eat in your towns. 13 Then you must declare in the presence of the LORD your God, ` I have taken the sacred gift from my house and have given it to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows, just as you commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten any of your commands. 14 I have not eaten any of it while in mourning; I have not touched it while I was ceremonially unclean; and I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God and have done everything you commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us--a land flowing with milk and honey--just as you solemnly promised our ancestors.' 16 " Today the LORD your God has commanded you to obey all these laws and regulations. You must commit yourself to them without reservation. 17 You have declared today that the LORD is your God. You have promised to obey his laws, commands, and regulations by walking in his ways and doing everything he tells you. 18 The LORD has declared today that you are his people, his own special treasure, just as he promised, and that you must obey all his commands. 19 And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation. Then you will receive praise, honor, and renown. You will be a nation that is holy to the LORD your God, just as he promised."27:1 THEN Moses and the leaders of Israel charged the people as follows: " Keep all these commands that I am giving you today. 2 When you cross the Jordan River and enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. 3 Then write all the terms of this law on them. I repeat, you will soon cross the river to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 When you cross the Jordan, set up these stones at Mount Ebal and coat them with plaster, as I am commanding you today. 5 Then build an altar there to the LORD your God, using natural stones. 6 Do not shape the stones with an iron tool. On the altar you must offer burnt offerings to the LORD your God. 7 Sacrifice peace offerings on it also, and feast there with great joy before the LORD your God. 8 On the stones coated with plaster, you must clearly write all the terms of this law." 9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests addressed all Israel as follows: " O Israel, be quiet and listen! Today you have become the people of the LORD your God. 10 So obey the LORD your God by keeping all these commands and laws that I am giving you today." 11 That same day Moses gave this charge to the people: 12 " When you cross the Jordan River, the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin must stand on Mount Gerizim to proclaim a blessing over the people. 13 And the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali must stand on Mount Ebal to proclaim a curse. 14 Then the Levites must shout to all the people of Israel: 15 ` Cursed is anyone who carves or casts idols and secretly sets them up. These idols, the work of craftsmen, are detestable to the LORD.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 16 ` Cursed is anyone who despises father or mother.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 17 ` Cursed is anyone who steals property from a neighbor by moving a boundary marker.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 18 ` Cursed is anyone who leads a blind person astray on the road.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 19 ` Cursed is anyone who is unjust to foreigners, orphans, and widows.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 20 ` Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his father's wife, for he has violated his father.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 21 ` Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with an animal.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 22 ` Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his sister, whether she is the daughter of his father or his mother.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 23 ` Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his mother-in-law.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 24 ` Cursed is anyone who kills another person in secret.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 25 ` Cursed is anyone who accepts payment to kill an innocent person.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' 26 ` Cursed is anyone who does not affirm the terms of this law by obeying them.' And all the people will reply, ` Amen.' "

LUKE 10:38-11:13
As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, " Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me." 41 But the Lord said to her, " My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! 42 There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it--and I won't take it away from her."11:1 ONCE when Jesus had been out praying, one of his disciples came to him as he finished and said, " Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." 2 He said, " This is how you should pray: " Father, may your name be honored.
May your Kingdom come soon.
3 Give us our food day by day.
4 And forgive us our sins--
just as we forgive those who have sinned against us.
And don't let us yield to temptation."
5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this illustration: " Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You would say to him, 6 ` A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.' 7 He would call out from his bedroom, ` Don't bother me. The door is locked for the night, and we are all in bed. I can't help you this time.' 8 But I tell you this--though he won't do it as a friend, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you what you want so his reputation won't be damaged. 9 " And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks. 11 " You fathers--if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."

PSALM 76:1-12
For the choir director: A psalm of Asaph, to be accompanied by stringed instruments. A song.
1 God is well known in Judah;
his name is great in Israel.
2 Jerusalem is where he lives;
Mount Zion is his home.
3 There he breaks the arrows of the enemy,
the shields and swords and weapons of his foes.
Interlude4 You are glorious and more majestic
than the everlasting mountains.
5 The mightiest of our enemies have been plundered.
They lie before us in the sleep of death.
No warrior could lift a hand against us.
6 When you rebuked them, O God of Jacob,
their horses and chariots stood still.
7 No wonder you are greatly feared!
Who can stand before you when your anger explodes?
8 From heaven you sentenced your enemies;
the earth trembled and stood silent before you.
9 You stand up to judge those who do evil, O God,
and to rescue the oppressed of the earth.
Interlude10 Human opposition only enhances your glory,
for you use it as a sword of judgment.
11 Make vows to the LORD your God, and fulfill them.
Let everyone bring tribute to the Awesome One.
12 For he breaks the spirit of princes
and is feared by the kings of the earth.

PROVERBS 12:15-17
Fools think they need no advice, but the wise listen to others. A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted. An honest witness tells the truth; a false witness tells lies.