March 30 Reading through the Bible

DEUTERONOMY 13:1-15:23
LUKE 8:40-9:6
PSALM 71:1-24
PROVERBS 12:5-7

DEUTERONOMY 13:1-15:23
" Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, 2 and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, ` Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,' 3 do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. 4 Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. 5 The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you. 6 " Suppose your brother, son, daughter, beloved wife, or closest friend comes to you secretly and says, ` Let us go worship other gods'--gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known. 7 They might suggest that you worship the gods of peoples who live nearby or who come from the ends of the earth. 8 If they do this, do not give in or listen, and have no pity. Do not spare or protect them. 9 You must put them to death! You must be the one to initiate the execution; then all the people must join in. 10 Stone the guilty ones to death because they have tried to draw you away from the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear about it and be afraid, and such wickedness will never again be done among you. 12 " Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you 13 that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. 14 In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, 15 you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. 16 Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. 17 Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. 18 " The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him.14:1 " SINCE you are the people of the LORD your God, never cut yourselves or shave the hair above your foreheads for the sake of the dead. 2 You have been set apart as holy to the LORD your God, and he has chosen you to be his own special treasure from all the nations of the earth. 3 " You must not eat animals that are ceremonially unclean. 4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 " Any animal that has split hooves and chews the cud may be eaten, 7 but if the animal doesn't have both, it may not be eaten. So you may not eat the camel, the hare, or the rock badger. They chew the cud but do not have split hooves. 8 And the pig may not be eaten, for though it has split hooves, it does not chew the cud. All these animals are ceremonially unclean for you. You may not eat or even touch the dead bodies of such animals. 9 " As for marine animals, you may eat whatever has both fins and scales. 10 You may not, however, eat marine animals that do not have both fins and scales. They are ceremonially unclean for you. 11 " You may eat any bird that is ceremonially clean. 12 These are the birds you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, 13 the buzzard, kites of all kinds, 14 ravens of all kinds, 15 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the seagull, hawks of all kinds, 16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, 17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, 18 the stork, herons of all kinds, the hoopoe, and the bat. 19 " All flying insects are ceremonially unclean for you and may not be eaten. 20 But you may eat any winged creature that is ceremonially clean. 21 " Do not eat anything that has died a natural death. You may give it to a foreigner living among you, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But do not eat it yourselves, for you are set apart as holy to the LORD your God. " Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. 22 " You must set aside a tithe of your crops--one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year. 23 Bring this tithe to the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored, and eat it there in his presence. This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to fear the LORD your God. 24 Now the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored might be a long way from your home. 25 If so, you may sell the tithe portion of your crops and herds and take the money to the place the LORD your God chooses. 26 When you arrive, use the money to buy anything you want--an ox, a sheep, some wine, or beer. Then feast there in the presence of the LORD your God and celebrate with your household. 27 And do not forget the Levites in your community, for they have no inheritance as you do. 28 " At the end of every third year bring the tithe of all your crops and store it in the nearest town. 29 Give it to the Levites, who have no inheritance among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all your work.15:1 " AT the end of every seventh year you must cancel your debts. 2 This is how it must be done. Creditors must cancel the loans they have made to their fellow Israelites. They must not demand payment from their neighbors or relatives, for the LORD's time of release has arrived. 3 This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites--not to the foreigners living among you. 4 There should be no poor among you, for the LORD your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. 5 You will receive this blessing if you carefully obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today. 6 The LORD your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow! You will rule many nations, but they will not rule over you! 7 " But if there are any poor people in your towns when you arrive in the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. 9 Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year of release is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the LORD, you will be considered guilty of sin. 10 Give freely without begrudging it, and the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. 11 There will always be some among you who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share your resources freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need. 12 " If an Israelite man or woman voluntarily becomes your servant and serves you for six years, in the seventh year you must set that servant free.13 " When you release a male servant, do not send him away empty-handed. 14 Give him a generous farewell gift from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. Share with him some of the bounty with which the LORD your God has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you! That is why I am giving you this command. 16 But suppose your servant says, ` I will not leave you,' because he loves you and your family, and he is well off with you. 17 In that case, take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door. After that, he will be your servant for life. " You must do the same for your female servants.18 " Do not consider it a hardship when you release your servants. Remember that for six years they have given you the services worth double the wages of hired workers, and the LORD your God will bless you in all you do. 19 " You must set aside for the LORD your God all the firstborn males from your flocks and herds. Do not use the firstborn of your herds to work your fields, and do not shear the firstborn of your flocks. 20 Instead, you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the LORD your God each year at the place he chooses. 21 But if this firstborn animal has any defect, such as being lame or blind, or if anything else is wrong with it, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. 22 Instead, use it for food for your family at home. Anyone may eat it, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, just as anyone may eat a gazelle or deer. 23 But do not eat the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.

LUKE 8:40-9:6
On the other side of the lake the crowds received Jesus with open arms because they had been waiting for him. 41 And now a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell down at Jesus' feet, begging him to come home with him. 42 His only child was dying, a little girl twelve years old. As Jesus went with him, he was surrounded by the crowds. 43 And there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent everything she had on doctors and still could find no cure. 44 She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped. 45 " Who touched me?" Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, " Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you." 46 But Jesus told him, " No, someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me." 47 When the woman realized that Jesus knew, she began to tremble and fell to her knees before him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. 48 " Daughter," he said to her, " your faith has made you well. Go in peace." 49 While he was still speaking to her, a messenger arrived from Jairus's home with the message, " Your little girl is dead. There's no use troubling the Teacher now." 50 But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, " Don't be afraid. Just trust me, and she will be all right." 51 When they arrived at the house, Jesus wouldn't let anyone go in with him except Peter, James, John, and the little girl's father and mother. 52 The house was filled with people weeping and wailing, but he said, " Stop the weeping! She isn't dead; she is only asleep."53 But the crowd laughed at him because they all knew she had died. 54 Then Jesus took her by the hand and said in a loud voice, " Get up, my child!" 55 And at that moment her life returned, and she immediately stood up! Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were overwhelmed, but Jesus insisted that they not tell anyone what had happened. 9:1 ONE day Jesus called together his twelve apostles and gave them power and authority to cast out demons and to heal all diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the coming of the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 " Don't even take along a walking stick," he instructed them, " nor a traveler's bag, nor food, nor money. Not even an extra coat. 4 When you enter each village, be a guest in only one home. 5 If the people of the village won't receive your message when you enter it, shake off its dust from your feet as you leave. It is a sign that you have abandoned that village to its fate." 6 So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.

PSALM 71:1-24
O LORD, you are my refuge;
never let me be disgraced.
2 Rescue me! Save me from my enemies, for you are just.
Turn your ear to listen and set me free.
3 Be to me a protecting rock of safety,
where I am always welcome.
Give the order to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 My God, rescue me from the power of the wicked,
from the clutches of cruel oppressors.
5 O Lord, you alone are my hope.
I've trusted you, O LORD, from childhood.
6 Yes, you have been with me from birth;
from my mother's womb you have cared for me.
No wonder I am always praising you!
7 My life is an example to many,
because you have been my strength and protection.
8 That is why I can never stop praising you;
I declare your glory all day long.
9 And now, in my old age, don't set me aside.
Don't abandon me when my strength is failing.
10 For my enemies are whispering against me.
They are plotting together to kill me.
11 They say, " God has abandoned him.
Let's go and get him,
for there is no one to help him now."
12 O God, don't stay away.
My God, please hurry to help me.
13 Bring disgrace and destruction on those who accuse me.
May humiliation and shame cover
those who want to harm me.
14 But I will keep on hoping for you to help me;
I will praise you more and more.
15 I will tell everyone about your righteousness.
All day long I will proclaim your saving power,
for I am overwhelmed by how much you have done for me.
16 I will praise your mighty deeds, O Sovereign LORD.
I will tell everyone that you alone are just and good.
17 O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood,
and I have constantly told others about the wonderful things you do.
18 Now that I am old and gray,
do not abandon me, O God.
Let me proclaim your power to this new generation,
your mighty miracles to all who come after me.
19 Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the highest heavens.
You have done such wonderful things.
Who can compare with you, O God?
20 You have allowed me to suffer much hardship,
but you will restore me to life again
and lift me up from the depths of the earth.
21 You will restore me to even greater honor
and comfort me once again.
22 Then I will praise you with music on the harp,
because you are faithful to your promises, O God.
I will sing for you with a lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 I will shout for joy and sing your praises,
for you have redeemed me.
24 I will tell about your righteous deeds
all day long,
for everyone who tried to hurt me
has been shamed and humiliated.

PROVERBS 12:5-7

The plans of the godly are just; the advice of the wicked is treacherous. The words of the wicked are like a murderous ambush, but the words of the godly save lives. The wicked perish and are gone, but the children of the godly stand firm. 

March 29 Reading through the Bible

 

DEUTERONOMY 11:1-12:32
LUKE 8:22-39
PSALM 70:1-5
PROVERBS 12:4

DEUTERONOMY 11:1-12:32
" You must love the LORD your God and obey all his requirements, laws, regulations, and commands. 2 Listen! I am not talking now to your children, who have never experienced the discipline of the LORD your God or seen his greatness and awesome power. 3 They weren't there to see the miraculous signs and wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land. 4 They didn't see what the LORD did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots--how he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you, and how he has kept them devastated to this very day! 5 They didn't see how the LORD cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here. 6 They weren't there to see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Reuben) when the earth opened up and swallowed them, along with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them. 7 But you have seen all the LORD's mighty deeds with your own eyes! 8 " Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and occupy the land you are about to enter. 9 If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants--a land flowing with milk and honey! 10 For the land you are about to enter and occupy is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and dug out irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 It is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain--12 a land that the LORD your God cares for. He watches over it day after day throughout the year! 13 " If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul, and if you worship him, 14 then he will send the rains in their proper seasons so you can harvest crops of grain, grapes for wine, and olives for oil. 15 He will give you lush pastureland for your cattle to graze in, and you yourselves will have plenty to eat. 16 " But do not let your heart turn away from the LORD to worship other gods. 17 If you do, the LORD's anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and your harvests will fail. Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is now giving you. 18 So commit yourselves completely to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. 20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors. 22 " Be careful to obey all the commands I give you; show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and clinging to him. 23 Then the LORD will drive out all the nations in your land, though they are much greater and stronger than you. 24 Wherever you set your feet, the land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 25 No one will be able to stand against you, for the LORD your God will send fear and dread ahead of you, as he promised you, wherever you go in the whole land. 26 " Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! 27 You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today. 28 You will receive a curse if you reject the commands of the LORD your God and turn from his way by worshiping foreign gods. 29 " When the LORD your God brings you into the land to possess it, you must pronounce a blessing from Mount Gerizim and a curse from Mount Ebal. 30 (These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley, near the town of Gilgal. They are located toward the west, not far from the oaks of Moreh.) 31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to occupy the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you are living in that land, 32 you must be careful to obey all the laws and regulations I am giving you today.12:1 " THESE are the laws and regulations you must obey as long as you live in the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 " When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods--high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree. 3 Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Erase the names of their gods from those places! 4 " Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. 5 Rather, you must seek the LORD your God at the place he himself will choose from among all the tribes for his name to be honored. 6 There you will bring to the LORD your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your freewill offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your flocks and herds. 7 There you and your families will feast in the presence of the LORD your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 " Today you are doing whatever you please, but that is not how it will be 9 when you arrive in the place of rest the LORD your God is giving you. 10 You will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession. When he gives you rest and security from all your enemies, 11 you must bring everything I command you--your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, and your offerings to fulfill a vow--to the place the LORD your God will choose for his name to be honored. 12 You must celebrate there with your sons and daughters and all your servants in the presence of the LORD your God. And remember the Levites who live in your towns, for they will have no inheritance of land as their own. 13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere. 14 You may do so only at the place the LORD will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you. 15 " But you may butcher animals for meat in any town, wherever you want, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. You may eat as many animals as the LORD your God gives you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat. 16 The only restriction is that you are not to eat the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water. 17 " But your offerings must not be eaten at home--neither the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your flocks and herds, nor an offering to fulfill a vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor your special gifts. 18 You must eat these in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose. Eat them there with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns, celebrating in the presence of the LORD your God in all you do. 19 Be very careful never to forget the Levites as long as you live in your land. 20 " When the LORD your God enlarges your territory as he has promised, you may eat meat whenever you want. 21 It might happen that the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored is a long way from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle or sheep the LORD has given you, and you may eat the meat at your home as I have commanded you. 22 Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. 23 The only restriction is never to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. 24 Instead, pour out the blood on the ground like water. 25 Do not eat the blood; then all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD. 26 Take your sacred gifts and your offerings given to fulfill a vow to the place the LORD chooses to dwell. 27 You must offer the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. 28 Be careful to obey all my commands so that all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD your God. 29 " When the LORD your God destroys the nations and you drive them out and occupy their land, 30 do not be trapped into following their example in worshiping their gods. Do not say, ` How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.' 31 You must not do this to the LORD your God. These nations have committed many detestable acts that the LORD hates, all in the name of their gods. They have even burned their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods. 32 Carefully obey all the commands I give you. Do not add to them or subtract from them."

LUKE 8:22-39
One day Jesus said to his disciples, " Let's cross over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and started out. 23 On the way across, Jesus lay down for a nap, and while he was sleeping the wind began to rise. A fierce storm developed that threatened to swamp them, and they were in real danger. 24 The disciples woke him up, shouting, " Master, Master, we're going to drown!" So Jesus rebuked the wind and the raging waves. The storm stopped and all was calm! 25 Then he asked them, " Where is your faith?" And they were filled with awe and amazement. They said to one another, " Who is this man, that even the winds and waves obey him?"26 So they arrived in the land of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee. 27 As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. Homeless and naked, he had lived in a cemetery for a long time. 28 As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell to the ground before him, screaming, " Why are you bothering me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don't torture me!" 29 For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was shackled with chains, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon's power. 30 " What is your name?" Jesus asked. " Legion," he replied--for the man was filled with many demons. 31 The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the Bottomless Pit. 32 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons pleaded with him to let them enter into the pigs. Jesus gave them permission. 33 So the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake, where they drowned.34 When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby city and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. 35 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, for they wanted to see for themselves what had happened. And they saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting quietly at Jesus' feet, clothed and sane. And the whole crowd was afraid. 36 Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 And all the people in that region begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them. So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake. 38 The man who had been demon possessed begged to go, too, but Jesus said, 39 " No, go back to your family and tell them all the wonderful things God has done for you." So he went all through the city telling about the great thing Jesus had done for him.

PSALM 70:1-5
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to bring us to the LORD's remembrance.
1 Please, God, rescue me!
Come quickly, LORD, and help me.
2 May those who try to destroy me
be humiliated and put to shame.
May those who take delight in my trouble
be turned back in disgrace.
3 Let them be horrified by their shame,
for they said, " Aha! We've got him now!"
4 But may all who search for you
be filled with joy and gladness.
May those who love your salvation
repeatedly shout, " God is great!"
5 But I am poor and needy;
please hurry to my aid, O God.
You are my helper and my savior;
O LORD, do not delay!

PROVERBS 12:4
A worthy wife is her husband's joy and crown; a shameful wife saps his strength.

March 28 Reading through the Bible

 

DEUTERONOMY 9:1-10:22
LUKE 8:4-21
PSALM 69:19-36
PROVERBS 12:2-3

DEUTERONOMY 9:1-10:22
" Hear, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to occupy the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky! 2 They are strong and tall--descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You've heard the saying, ` Who can stand up to the Anakites?' 3 But the LORD your God will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them. He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the LORD has promised. 4 " After the LORD your God has done this for you, don't say to yourselves, ` The LORD has given us this land because we are so righteous!' No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is doing it. 5 It is not at all because you are such righteous, upright people that you are about to occupy their land. The LORD your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he had sworn to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 I will say it again: The LORD your God is not giving you this good land because you are righteous, for you are not--you are a stubborn people. 7 " Remember how angry you made the LORD your God out in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until now, you have constantly rebelled against him. 8 Remember how angry you made the LORD at Mount Sinai, where he was ready to destroy you. 9 That was when I was on the mountain receiving the tablets of stone inscribed with the covenant that the LORD had made with you. I was there for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I ate nothing and drank no water. 10 The LORD gave me the covenant, the tablets on which God himself had written all the words he had spoken to you from the fire on the mountain. 11 " At the end of the forty days and nights, the LORD handed me the two stone tablets with the covenant inscribed on them. 12 Then the LORD said to me, ` Go down immediately because the people you led out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have already turned from the way I commanded them to live and have cast an idol for themselves from gold.' 13 " The LORD said to me, ` I have been watching this people, and they are extremely stubborn. 14 Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.' 15 " So I came down from the fiery mountain, holding in my hands the two stone tablets of the covenant. 16 There below me I could see the gold calf you had made in your terrible sin against the LORD your God. How quickly you had turned from the path the LORD had commanded you to follow! 17 So I raised the stone tablets and dashed them to the ground. I smashed them before your very eyes. 18 Then for forty days and nights I lay prostrate before the LORD, neither eating bread nor drinking water. I did this because you had sinned by doing what the LORD hated, thus making him very angry. 19 How I feared for you, for the LORD was ready to destroy you. But again he listened to me. 20 The LORD was so angry with Aaron that he wanted to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron, and the LORD spared him. 21 I took your sin--the calf you had made--and I melted it in the fire and ground it into fine dust. I threw the dust into the stream that cascades down the mountain. 22 " You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah. 23 And at Kadesh-barnea the LORD sent you out with this command: ` Go up and take the land I have given you.' But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to trust him or obey him. 24 Yes, you have been rebelling against the LORD as long as I have known you.25 " That is why I fell down and lay before the LORD for forty days and nights when he was ready to destroy you. 26 I prayed to the LORD and said, ` O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy your own people. They are your special possession, redeemed from Egypt by your mighty power and glorious strength. 27 Overlook the stubbornness and sin of these people, but remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 28 If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say, " The LORD destroyed them because he wasn't able to bring them to the land he had sworn to give them." Or they might say, " He destroyed them because he hated them; he brought them into the wilderness to slaughter them." 29 But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought from Egypt by your mighty power and glorious strength.' 10:1 " AT that time the LORD said to me, ` Prepare two stone tablets like the first ones, and make a sacred chest of wood to keep them in. Return to me on the mountain, 2 and I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the ones you smashed. Then place the tablets in the sacred chest--the Ark of the Covenant.' 3 " So I made a chest of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first two, and I took the tablets up the mountain. 4 The LORD again wrote the terms of the covenant--the Ten Commandments--on them and gave them to me. They were the same words the LORD had spoken to you from the heart of the fire on the mountain as you were assembled below. 5 Then I came down and placed the tablets in the Ark of the Covenant, which I had made, just as the LORD commanded me. And the tablets are still there in the Ark. 6 " The people of Israel set out from the wells of the people of Jaakan and traveled to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried. His son Eleazar became the high priest in his place. 7 Then they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from there to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. 8 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the LORD's covenant, to minister before the LORD, and to pronounce blessings in his name. These are still their duties. 9 That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance reserved for them among the other Israelite tribes. The LORD himself is their inheritance, as the LORD your God told them. 10 " As I said before, I stayed on the mountain in the LORD's presence for forty days and nights, as I had done the first time. And once again the LORD yielded to my pleas and didn't destroy you. 11 But the LORD said to me, ` Get up and lead the people into the land I swore to give their ancestors, so they may take possession of it.'12 " And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires you to fear him, to live according to his will, to love and worship him with all your heart and soul, 13 and to obey the LORD's commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good. 14 The highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the LORD your God. 15 Yet the LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above every other nation, as is evident today. 16 Therefore, cleanse your sinful hearts and stop being stubborn. 17 " The LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and takes no bribes. 18 He gives justice to orphans and widows. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. 19 You, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You must fear the LORD your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. 21 He is your God, the one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done mighty miracles that you yourselves have seen. 22 When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky!"

LUKE 8:4-21
One day Jesus told this story to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: 5 " A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds came and ate it. 6 Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. This seed began to grow, but soon it withered and died for lack of moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades. 8 Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop one hundred times as much as had been planted." When he had said this, he called out, " Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!" 9 His disciples asked him what the story meant. 10 He replied, " You have been permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I am using these stories to conceal everything about it from outsiders, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ` They see what I do,
but they don't really see;
they hear what I say,
but they don't understand.'
11 " This is the meaning of the story: The seed is God's message. 12 The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the message, but then the Devil comes and steals it away and prevents them from believing and being saved. 13 The rocky soil represents those who hear the message with joy. But like young plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep. They believe for a while, but they wilt when the hot winds of testing blow. 14 The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. 15 But the good soil represents honest, good-hearted people who hear God's message, cling to it, and steadily produce a huge harvest. 16 " No one would light a lamp and then cover it up or put it under a bed. No, lamps are mounted in the open, where they can be seen by those entering the house. 17 For everything that is hidden or secret will eventually be brought to light and made plain to all. 18 So be sure to pay attention to what you hear. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they think they have will be taken away from them."19 Once when Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, they couldn't get to him because of the crowds. 20 Someone told Jesus, " Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to see you." 21 Jesus replied, " My mother and my brothers are all those who hear the message of God and obey it."

PSALM 69:19-36
You know the insults I endure--
the humiliation and disgrace.
You have seen all my enemies
and know what they have said.
20 Their insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
If only one person would show some pity;
if only one would turn and comfort me.
21 But instead, they give me poison for food;
they offer me sour wine to satisfy my thirst.
22 Let the bountiful table set before them become a snare,
and let their security become a trap.
23 Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see,
and let their bodies grow weaker and weaker.
24 Pour out your fury on them;
consume them with your burning anger.
25 May their homes become desolate
and their tents be deserted.
26 To those you have punished, they add insult to injury;
they scoff at the pain of those you have hurt.
27 Pile their sins up high,
and don't let them go free.
28 Erase their names from the Book of Life;
don't let them be counted among the righteous.
29 I am suffering and in pain.
Rescue me, O God, by your saving power.
30 Then I will praise God's name with singing,
and I will honor him with thanksgiving.
31 For this will please the LORD more than sacrificing an ox
or presenting a bull with its horns and hooves.
32 The humble will see their God at work and be glad.
Let all who seek God's help live in joy.
33 For the LORD hears the cries of his needy ones;
he does not despise his people who are oppressed.
34 Praise him, O heaven and earth,
the seas and all that move in them.
35 For God will save Jerusalem
and rebuild the towns of Judah.
His people will live there
and take possession of the land.
36 The descendants of those who obey him will inherit the land,
and those who love him will live there in safety.

PROVERBS 12:2-3
The LORD approves of those who are good, but he condemns those who plan wickedness. Wickedness never brings stability; only the godly have deep roots.

March 27 Reading through the Bible

 

DEUTERONOMY 7:1-8:20
LUKE 7:36-8:3
PSALM 69:1-18
PROVERBS 12:1

DEUTERONOMY 7:1-8:20
" When the LORD your God brings you [the Israelites] into the land you are about to enter and occupy, he will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are all more powerful than you. 2 When the LORD your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them, and don't let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters. 4 They will lead your young people away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and he will destroy you. 5 Instead, you must break down their pagan altars and shatter their sacred pillars. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols. 6 For you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. 7 " The LORD did not choose you and lavish his love on you because you were larger or greater than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! 8 It was simply because the LORD loves you, and because he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the LORD rescued you with such amazing power from your slavery under Pharaoh in Egypt. 9 Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and constantly loves those who love him and obey his commands. 10 But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who hate him. 11 Therefore, obey all these commands, laws, and regulations I am giving you today. 12 " If you listen to these regulations and obey them faithfully, the LORD your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he solemnly promised your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you and make you into a great nation. He will give you many children and give fertility to your land and your animals. When you arrive in the land he swore to give your ancestors, you will have large crops of grain, grapes, and olives, and great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. 14 You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth. None of your men or women will be childless, and all your livestock will bear young. 15 And the LORD will protect you from all sickness. He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will bring them all on your enemies! 16 " You must destroy all the nations the LORD your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy and do not worship their gods. If you do, they will trap you. 17 Perhaps you will think to yourselves, ` How can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are?' 18 But don't be afraid of them! Just remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all the land of Egypt. 19 Remember the great terrors the LORD your God sent against them. You saw it all with your own eyes! And remember the miraculous signs and wonders, and the amazing power he used when he brought you out of Egypt. The LORD your God will use this same power against the people you fear. 20 And then the LORD your God will send hornets to drive out the few survivors still hiding from you! 21 " No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the LORD your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. 22 The LORD your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, for if you did, the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you. 23 But the LORD your God will hand them over to you. He will throw them into complete confusion until they are destroyed. 24 He will put their kings in your power, and you will erase their names from the face of the earth. No one will be able to stand against you, and you will destroy them all. 25 " You must burn their idols in fire, and do not desire the silver or gold with which they are made. Do not take it or it will become a snare to you, for it is detestable to the LORD your God. 26 Do not bring any detestable objects into your home, for then you will be set apart for destruction just like them. You must utterly detest such things, for they are set apart for destruction.8:1 " BE careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would really obey his commands. 3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people need more than bread for their life; real life comes by feeding on every word of the LORD. 4 For all these forty years your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell. 5 So you should realize that just as a parent disciplines a child, the LORD your God disciplines you to help you. 6 " So obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with springs that gush forth in the valleys and hills. 8 It is a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, olives, and honey. 9 It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. 10 When you have eaten your fill, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.11 " But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and laws. 12 For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, 13 and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, 14 that is the time to be careful. Do not become proud at that time and forget the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. 15 Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! 16 He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. 17 He did it so you would never think that it was your own strength and energy that made you wealthy. 18 Always remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you power to become rich, and he does it to fulfill the covenant he made with your ancestors. 19 " But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. 20 Just as the LORD has destroyed other nations in your path, you also will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God."

LUKE 7:36-8:3
One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home for a meal, so Jesus accepted the invitation and sat down to eat. 37 A certain immoral woman heard he was there and brought a beautiful jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who was the host saw what was happening and who the woman was, he said to himself, " This proves that Jesus is no prophet. If God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!" 40 Then Jesus spoke up and answered his thoughts. " Simon," he said to the Pharisee, " I have something to say to you." " All right, Teacher," Simon replied, " go ahead." 41 Then Jesus told him this story: " A man loaned money to two people--five hundred pieces of silver to one and fifty pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?" 43 Simon answered, " I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt." " That's right," Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, " Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn't give me a kiss of greeting, but she has kissed my feet again and again from the time I first came in. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47 I tell you, her sins--and they are many--have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love." 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, " Your sins are forgiven." 49 The men at the table said among themselves, " Who does this man think he is, going around forgiving sins?"50 And Jesus said to the woman, " Your faith has saved you; go in peace." 8:1 NOT long afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby cities and villages to announce the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women he had healed and from whom he had cast out evil spirits. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

PSALM 69:1-18
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be sung to the tune " Lilies."
1 Save me, O God,
for the floodwaters are up to my neck.
2 Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire;
I can't find a foothold to stand on.
I am in deep water,
and the floods overwhelm me.
3 I am exhausted from crying for help;
my throat is parched and dry.
My eyes are swollen with weeping,
waiting for my God to help me.
4 Those who hate me without cause
are more numerous than the hairs on my head.
These enemies who seek to destroy me
are doing so without cause.
They attack me with lies,
demanding that I give back what I didn't steal.
5 O God, you know how foolish I am;
my sins cannot be hidden from you.
6 Don't let those who trust in you stumble because of me,
O Sovereign LORD Almighty.
Don't let me cause them to be humiliated,
O God of Israel.
7 For I am mocked and shamed for your sake;
humiliation is written all over my face.
8 Even my own brothers pretend they don't know me;
they treat me like a stranger.
9 Passion for your house burns within me,
so those who insult you are also insulting me.
10 When I weep and fast before the LORD,
they scoff at me.
11 When I dress in sackcloth to show sorrow,
they make fun of me.
12 I am the favorite topic of town gossip,
and all the drunkards sing about me.
13 But I keep right on praying to you, LORD,
hoping this is the time you will show me favor.
In your unfailing love, O God,
answer my prayer with your sure salvation.
14 Pull me out of the mud;
don't let me sink any deeper!
Rescue me from those who hate me,
and pull me from these deep waters.
15 Don't let the floods overwhelm me,
or the deep waters swallow me,
or the pit of death devour me.
16 Answer my prayers, O LORD,
for your unfailing love is wonderful.
Turn and take care of me,
for your mercy is so plentiful.
17 Don't hide from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in deep trouble!
18 Come and rescue me;
free me from all my enemies.

PROVERBS 12:1
To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.

March 26 Reading through the Bible

 

DEUTERONOMY 5:1-6:25
LUKE 7:11-35
PSALM 68:19-35
PROVERBS 11:29-31

DEUTERONOMY 5:1-6:25
Moses called all the people of Israel together and said, " Listen carefully to all the laws and regulations I am giving you today. Learn them and be sure to obey them! 2 " While we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God made a covenant with us. 3 The LORD did not make this covenant long ago with our ancestors, but with all of us who are alive today. 4 The LORD spoke to you face to face from the heart of the fire on the mountain. 5 I stood as an intermediary between you and the LORD, for you were afraid of the fire and did not climb the mountain. He spoke to me, and I passed his words on to you. This is what he said: 6 " ` I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. 7 " ` Do not worship any other gods besides me. 8 " ` Do not make idols of any kind, whether in the shape of birds or animals or fish. 9 You must never worship or bow down to them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any other god! I do not leave unpunished the sins of those who hate me, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations. 10 But I lavish my love on those who love me and obey my commands, even for a thousand generations. 11 " ` Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. 12 " ` Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 Six days a week are set apart for your daily duties and regular work, 14 but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any kind of work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. 15 Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out with amazing power and mighty deeds. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. 16 " ` Honor your father and mother, as the LORD your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God will give you. 17 " ` Do not murder. 18 " ` Do not commit adultery. 19 " ` Do not steal. 20 " ` Do not testify falsely against your neighbor. 21 " ` Do not covet your neighbor's wife. Do not covet your neighbor's house or land, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else your neighbor owns.'22 " The LORD spoke these words with a loud voice to all of you from the heart of the fire, surrounded by clouds and deep darkness. This was all he said at that time, and he wrote his words on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 23 But when you heard the voice from the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire, all your tribal leaders came to me. 24 They said, ` The LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the heart of the fire. Today we have seen God speaking to humans, and yet we live! 25 But now, why should we die? If the LORD our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire. 26 Can any living thing hear the voice of the living God from the heart of the fire and yet survive? 27 You go and listen to what the LORD our God says. Then come and tell us everything he tells you, and we will listen and obey.' 28 " The LORD heard your request and said to me, ` I have heard what the people have said to you, and they are right. 29 Oh, that they would always have hearts like this, that they might fear me and obey all my commands! If they did, they and their descendants would prosper forever. 30 Go and tell them to return to their tents. 31 But you stay here with me so I can give you all my commands, laws, and regulations. You will teach them to the people so they can obey them in the land I am giving to them as their inheritance.' " 32 So Moses told the people, " You must obey all the commands of the LORD your God, following his instructions in every detail. 33 Stay on the path that the LORD your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.6:1 " THESE are all the commands, laws, and regulations that the LORD your God told me to teach you so you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, 2 and so you and your children and grandchildren might fear the LORD your God as long as you live. If you obey all his laws and commands, you will enjoy a long life. 3 Listen closely, Israel, to everything I say. Be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 " Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. 8 Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 " The LORD your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land filled with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. 11 The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, 12 be careful not to forget the LORD, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. 13 You must fear the LORD your God and serve him. When you take an oath, you must use only his name. 14 " You must not worship any of the gods of neighboring nations, 15 for the LORD your God, who lives among you, is a jealous God. His anger will flare up against you and wipe you from the face of the earth. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did when you complained at Massah. 17 You must diligently obey the commands of the LORD your God--all the stipulations and laws he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so all will go well with you. Then you will enter and occupy the good land that the LORD solemnly promised to give your ancestors. 19 You will drive out all the enemies living in your land, just as the LORD said you would. 20 " In the future your children will ask you, ` What is the meaning of these stipulations, laws, and regulations that the LORD our God has given us?' 21 Then you must tell them, ` We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with amazing power. 22 Before our eyes the LORD did miraculous signs and wonders, dealing terrifying blows against Egypt and Pharaoh and all his people. 23 He brought us out of Egypt so he could give us this land he had solemnly promised to give our ancestors. 24 And the LORD our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to fear him for our own prosperity and well-being, as is now the case. 25 For we are righteous when we obey all the commands the LORD our God has given us.'"

LUKE 7:11-35
Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, with a great crowd following him. 12 A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The boy who had died was the only son of a widow, and many mourners from the village were with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. " Don't cry!" he said. 14 Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. " Young man," he said, " get up." 15 Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk to those around him! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. 16 Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, " A mighty prophet has risen among us," and " We have seen the hand of God at work today." 17 The report of what Jesus had done that day spread all over Judea and even out across its borders. 18 The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, 19 and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, " Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?" 20 John's two disciples found Jesus and said to him, " John the Baptist sent us to ask, ` Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?' " 21 At that very time, he cured many people of their various diseases, and he cast out evil spirits and restored sight to the blind. 22 Then he told John's disciples, " Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard--the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. 23 And tell him, ` God blesses those who are not offended by me.' " 24 After they left, Jesus talked to the crowd about John. " Who is this man in the wilderness that you went out to see? Did you find him weak as a reed, moved by every breath of wind? 25 Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people who wear beautiful clothes and live in luxury are found in palaces, not in the wilderness. 26 Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet. 27 John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, ` Look, I am sending my messenger before you,
and he will prepare your way before you.'
28 I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the most insignificant person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!" 29 When they heard this, all the people, including the unjust tax collectors, agreed that God's plan was right, for they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and experts in religious law had rejected God's plan for them, for they had refused John's baptism. 31 " How shall I describe this generation?" Jesus asked. " With what will I compare them? 32 They are like a group of children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, ` We played wedding songs, and you weren't happy, so we played funeral songs, but you weren't sad.' 33 For John the Baptist didn't drink wine and he often fasted, and you say, ` He's demon possessed.' 34 And I, the Son of Man, feast and drink, and you say, ` He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of the worst sort of sinners!' 35 But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it."

PSALM 68:19-35
Praise the Lord; praise God our savior!
For each day he carries us in his arms.
Interlude20 Our God is a God who saves!
The Sovereign LORD rescues us from death.
21 But God will smash the heads of his enemies,
crushing the skulls of those who love their guilty ways.
22 The Lord says, " I will bring my enemies down from Bashan;
I will bring them up from the depths of the sea.
23 You, my people, will wash your feet in their blood,
and even your dogs will get their share!"
24 Your procession has come into view, O God--
the procession of my God and King
as he goes into the sanctuary.
25 Singers are in front, musicians are behind;
with them are young women playing tambourines.
26 Praise God, all you people of Israel;
praise the LORD, the source of Israel's life.
27 Look, the little tribe of Benjamin leads the way.
Then comes a great throng of rulers from Judah
and all the rulers of Zebulun and Naphtali.
28 Summon your might, O God.
Display your power, O God, as you have in the past.
29 The kings of the earth are bringing tribute
to your Temple in Jerusalem.
30 Rebuke these enemy nations--
these wild animals lurking in the reeds,
this herd of bulls among the weaker calves.
Humble those who demand tribute from us.
Scatter the nations that delight in war.
31 Let Egypt come with gifts of precious metals;
let Ethiopia bow in submission to God.
32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth.
Sing praises to the Lord.
Interlude33 Sing to the one who rides across the ancient heavens,
his mighty voice thundering from the sky.
34 Tell everyone about God's power.
His majesty shines down on Israel;
his strength is mighty in the heavens.
35 God is awesome in his sanctuary.
The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.
Praise be to God!

PROVERBS 11:29-31
Those who bring trouble on their families inherit only the wind. The fool will be a servant to the wise. The godly are like trees that bear life-giving fruit, and those who save lives are wise. If the righteous are rewarded here on earth, how much more true that the wicked and the sinner will get what they deserve!

March 25 Reading through the Bible

 

DEUTERONOMY 4:1-49
LUKE 6:39-7:10
PSALM 68:1-18
PROVERBS 11:28

DEUTERONOMY 4:1-49
" And now, Israel, listen carefully to these laws and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you from the LORD your God. Just obey them. 3 You saw what the LORD did to you at Baal-peor, where the LORD your God destroyed everyone who had worshiped the god Baal of Peor. 4 But all of you who were faithful to the LORD your God are still alive today. 5 " You must obey these laws and regulations when you arrive in the land you are about to enter and occupy. The LORD my God gave them to me and commanded me to pass them on to you. 6 If you obey them carefully, you will display your wisdom and intelligence to the surrounding nations. When they hear about these laws, they will exclaim, ` What other nation is as wise and prudent as this!' 7 For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him? 8 And what great nation has laws and regulations as fair as this body of laws that I am giving you today? 9 " But watch out! Be very careful never to forget what you have seen the LORD do for you. Do not let these things escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren. 10 Tell them especially about the day when you stood before the LORD your God at Mount Sinai, where he told me, ` Summon the people before me, and I will instruct them. That way, they will learn to fear me as long as they live, and they will be able to teach my laws to their children.' 11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain was burning with fire. Flames shot into the sky, shrouded in black clouds and deep darkness. 12 And the LORD spoke to you from the fire. You heard his words but didn't see his form; there was only a voice. 13 He proclaimed his covenant, which he commanded you to keep--the Ten Commandments--and wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 It was at that time that the LORD commanded me to issue the laws and regulations you must obey in the land you are about to enter and occupy. 15 " But be careful! You did not see the LORD's form on the day he spoke to you from the fire at Mount Sinai. 16 So do not corrupt yourselves by making a physical image in any form--whether of a man or a woman, 17 an animal or a bird, 18 a creeping creature or a fish. 19 And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars--all the forces of heaven--don't be seduced by them and worship them. The LORD your God designated these heavenly bodies for all the peoples of the earth. 20 Remember that the LORD rescued you from the burning furnace of Egypt to become his own people and special possession; that is what you are today.21 " But the LORD was very angry with me because of you. He vowed that I would never cross the Jordan River into the good land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession. 22 Though you will cross the Jordan to occupy the land, I will die here on this side of the river. 23 So be careful not to break the covenant the LORD your God has made with you. You will break it if you make idols of any shape or form, for the LORD your God has absolutely forbidden this. 24 The LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God. 25 " In the future, when you have children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, do not corrupt yourselves by making idols of any kind. This is evil in the sight of the LORD your God and will arouse his anger. 26 " Today I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you. If you disobey me, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be utterly destroyed. 27 For the LORD will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive. 28 There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone, gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 From there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. 30 " When those bitter days have come upon you far in the future, you will finally return to the LORD your God and listen to what he tells you. 31 For the LORD your God is merciful--he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors. 32 " Search all of history, from the time God created people on the earth until now. Then search from one end of the heavens to the other. See if anything as great as this has ever happened before. 33 Has any nation ever heard the voice of God speaking from fire--as you did--and survived? 34 Has any other god taken one nation for himself by rescuing it from another by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, awesome power, and terrifying acts? Yet that is what the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, right before your very eyes.35 " He showed you these things so you would realize that the LORD is God and that there is no other god. 36 He let you hear his voice from heaven so he could instruct you. He let you see his great fire here on earth so he could speak to you from it. 37 Because he loved your ancestors, he chose to bless their descendants and personally brought you out of Egypt with a great display of power. 38 He drove out nations far greater than you, so he could bring you in and give you their land as a special possession, as it is today. 39 So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The LORD is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other god! 40 If you obey all the laws and commands that I will give you today, all will be well with you and your children. Then you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you for all time." 41 Then Moses set apart three cities of refuge east of the Jordan River, 42 where anyone who had accidentally killed someone without having any previous hostility could flee for safety. 43 These were the cities: Bezer on the wilderness plateau for the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad; Golan in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh. 44 This is the law that Moses handed down to the Israelites. 45 These are the stipulations, laws, and regulations that Moses gave to the people of Israel when they left Egypt, 46 and as they camped in the valley near Beth-peor east of the Jordan River. (This land was formerly occupied by the Amorites under King Sihon of Heshbon. He and his people had been destroyed by Moses and the Israelites as they came up from Egypt. 47 Israel conquered his land and that of King Og of Bashan--the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan. 48 So Israel conquered all the area from Aroer at the edge of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Sirion, also called Mount Hermon. 49 And they took the eastern bank of the Jordan Valley as far south as the Dead Sea, below the slopes of Pisgah.)

LUKE 6:39-7:10
Then Jesus gave the following illustration: " What good is it for one blind person to lead another? The first one will fall into a ditch and pull the other down also. 40 A student is not greater than the teacher. But the student who works hard will become like the teacher. 41 " And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye* when you have a log in your own? 42 How can you think of saying, ` Friend,* let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye. 43 " A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. 44 A tree is identified by the kind of fruit it produces. Figs never grow on thornbushes or grapes on bramble bushes. 45 A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart. Whatever is in your heart determines what you say.46 " So why do you call me ` Lord,' when you won't obey me? 47 I will show you what it's like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then obeys me. 48 It is like a person who builds a house on a strong foundation laid upon the underlying rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against the house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who listens and doesn't obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will crumble into a heap of ruins." 7:1 WHEN Jesus had finished saying all this, he went back to Capernaum. 2 Now the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal his slave. 4 So they earnestly begged Jesus to come with them and help the man. " If anyone deserves your help, it is he," they said, 5 " for he loves the Jews and even built a synagogue for us." 6 So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, " Lord, don't trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. 7 I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 8 I know because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ` Go,' and they go, or ` Come,' and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ` Do this or that,' they do it."9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd, he said, " I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel!" 10 And when the officer's friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.

PSALM 68:1-18
For the choir director: A psalm of David. A song.
1 Arise, O God, and scatter your enemies.
Let those who hate God run for their lives.
2 Drive them off like smoke blown by the wind.
Melt them like wax in fire.
Let the wicked perish in the presence of God.
3 But let the godly rejoice.
Let them be glad in God's presence.
Let them be filled with joy.
4 Sing praises to God and to his name!
Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds.
His name is the LORD--
rejoice in his presence!
5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows--
this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
6 God places the lonely in families;
he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.
But for rebels, there is only famine and distress.
7 O God, when you led your people from Egypt,
when you marched through the wilderness,
Interlude8 the earth trembled, and the heavens poured rain
before you, the God of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
9 You sent abundant rain, O God,
to refresh the weary Promised Land.
10 There your people finally settled,
and with a bountiful harvest, O God,
you provided for your needy people.
11 The Lord announces victory,
and throngs of women shout the happy news.
12 Enemy kings and their armies flee,
while the women of Israel divide the plunder.
13 Though they lived among the sheepfolds,
now they are covered with silver and gold,
as a dove is covered by its wings.
14 The Almighty scattered the enemy kings
like a blowing snowstorm on Mount Zalmon.
15 The majestic mountains of Bashan
stretch high into the sky.
16 Why do you look with envy, O rugged mountains,
at Mount Zion, where God has chosen to live,
where the LORD himself will live forever?
17 Surrounded by unnumbered thousands of chariots,
the Lord came from Mount Sinai into his sanctuary.
18 When you ascended to the heights,
you led a crowd of captives.
You received gifts from the people,
even from those who rebelled against you.
Now the LORD God will live among us here.

PROVERBS 11:28
Trust in your money and down you go! But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.

March 24 Reading through the Bible

 

DEUTERONOMY 2:1-3:29
LUKE 6:12-38
PSALM 67:1-7
PROVERBS 11:27

DEUTERONOMY 2:1-3:29
" Then we [Moses and the Israelites] turned around and set out across the wilderness toward the Red Sea, just as the LORD had instructed me, and we wandered around Mount Seir for a long time. 2 Then at last the LORD said to me, 3 ` You have been wandering around in this hill country long enough; turn northward. 4 Give these orders to the people: " You will be passing through the country belonging to your relatives the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. The Edomites will feel threatened, so be careful. 5 Don't bother them, for I have given them all the hill country around Mount Seir as their property, and I will not give you any of their land. 6 Pay them for whatever food or water you use. 7 The LORD your God has blessed everything you have done and has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the LORD your God has been with you and provided for your every need so that you lacked nothing."' 8 So we went past our relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and avoided the road through the Arabah Valley that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber. " Then as we traveled northward along the desert route through Moab, 9 the LORD warned us, ` Do not bother the Moabites, the descendants of Lot, or start a war with them. I have given them Ar as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.' " 10 (A numerous and powerful race of giants called the Emites had once lived in the area of Ar. They were as tall as the Anakites, another race of giants. 11 Both the Emites and the Anakites are often referred to as the Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites. 12 In earlier times the Horites had lived at Mount Seir, but they were driven out and displaced by the descendants of Esau. In a similar way the peoples in Canaan were driven from the land that the LORD had assigned to Israel.) 13 Moses continued, " Then the LORD told us to cross Zered Brook, and we did. 14 So thirty-eight years passed from the time we first arrived at Kadesh-barnea until we finally crossed Zered Brook! For the LORD had vowed that this could not happen until all the men old enough to fight in battle had died in the wilderness. 15 The LORD had lifted his hand against them until all of them had finally died. 16 " When all the men of fighting age had died, 17 the LORD said to me, 18 ` Today you will cross the border of Moab at Ar 19 and enter the land of Ammon. But do not bother the Ammonites, the descendants of Lot, or start a war with them. I have given the land of Ammon to them as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.' " 20 (That area, too, was once considered the land of the Rephaites, though the Ammonites referred to them as Zamzummites. 21 They were a numerous and powerful race, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them so the Ammonites could occupy their land. 22 He had similarly helped the descendants of Esau at Mount Seir, for he destroyed the Horites so they could settle there in their place. The descendants of Esau live there to this day. 23 A similar thing happened when the Caphtorites from Crete invaded and destroyed the Avvites, who had lived in villages in the area of Gaza.) 24 Moses continued, " Then the LORD said, ` Now cross the Arnon Gorge! Look, I will help you defeat Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and I will give you his land. Attack him and begin to occupy the land. 25 Beginning today I will make all people throughout the earth terrified of you. When they hear reports about you, they will tremble with dread and fear.' 26 " Then from the wilderness of Kedemoth I sent ambassadors to King Sihon of Heshbon with this proposal of peace: 27 ` Let us pass through your land. We will stay on the main road and won't turn off into the fields on either side. 28 We will pay for every bite of food we eat and all the water we drink. All we want is permission to pass through your land. 29 The descendants of Esau at Mount Seir allowed us to go through their country, and so did the Moabites, who live in Ar. Let us pass through until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God has given us.' 30 But King Sihon refused to allow you to pass through, because the LORD your God made Sihon stubborn and defiant so he could help you defeat them, as he has now done.31 " Then the LORD said to me, ` Look, I have begun to hand King Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to conquer and occupy his land.' 32 Then King Sihon declared war on us and mobilized his forces at Jahaz. 33 But the LORD our God handed him over to us, and we crushed him, his sons, and all his people. 34 We conquered all his towns and completely destroyed everyone--men, women, and children. Not a single person was spared. 35 We took all the livestock as plunder for ourselves, along with anything of value from the towns we ransacked. 36 " The LORD our God helped us conquer Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Gorge, the town in the gorge, and the whole area as far as Gilead. No town had walls too strong for us. 37 However, we stayed away from the Ammonites along the Jabbok River and the towns in the hill country--all the places the LORD our God had commanded us to leave alone.3:1 " NEXT we headed for the land of Bashan, where King Og and his army attacked us at Edrei. 2 But the LORD told me, ` Do not be afraid of him, for I have given you victory over Og and his army, giving you his entire land. Treat him just as you treated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.' 3 So the LORD our God handed King Og and all his people over to us, and we killed them all. 4 We conquered all sixty of his towns, the entire Argob region in his kingdom of Bashan. 5 These were all fortified cities with high walls and barred gates. We also took many unwalled villages at the same time. 6 We completely destroyed the kingdom of Bashan, just as we had destroyed King Sihon of Heshbon. We destroyed* all the people in every town we conquered--men, women, and children alike. 7 But we kept all the livestock for ourselves and took plunder from all the towns. 8 " We now possessed all the land of the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River--from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon. 9 (Mount Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.) 10 We had now conquered all the cities on the plateau, and all Gilead and Bashan as far as the towns of Salecah and Edrei, which were part of Og's kingdom in Bashan. 11 (Incidentally, King Og of Bashan was the last of the giant Rephaites. His iron bed was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It can still be seen in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.) 12 " When we took possession of this land, I gave the territory beyond Aroer along the Arnon Gorge, plus half of the hill country of Gilead with its towns, to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. 13 Then I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan--Og's former kingdom--to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The Argob region of Bashan used to be known as the land of the Rephaites. 14 Jair, a leader from the tribe of Manasseh, acquired the whole Argob region in Bashan all the way to the borders of the Geshurites and Maacathites. Jair renamed this region after himself, calling it the Towns of Jair, as it is still known today.) 15 I gave Gilead to the clan of Makir. 16 And to the tribes of Reuben and Gad I gave the area extending from Gilead to the middle of the Arnon Gorge, all the way to the Jabbok River on the Ammonite frontier. 17 They also received the Jordan Valley, including the Jordan River and its eastern banks, all the way from the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea, with the slopes of Pisgah on the east. 18 " At that time I gave this command to the tribes that will live east of the Jordan: ` Although the LORD your God has given you this land as your property, all your fighting men must cross the Jordan, armed and ready to protect your Israelite relatives. 19 Your wives, children, and numerous livestock, however, may stay behind in the towns I have given you. 20 When the LORD has given security to the rest of the Israelites, as he has to you, and when they occupy the land the LORD your God is giving them across the Jordan River, then you may return here to the land I have given you.' 21 " At that time I said to Joshua, ` You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. He will do the same to all the kingdoms on the west side of the Jordan. 22 Do not be afraid of the nations there, for the LORD your God will fight for you.' 23 " At that time I pleaded with the LORD and said, 24 ` O Sovereign LORD, I am your servant. You have only begun to show me your greatness and power. Is there any god in heaven or on earth who can perform such great deeds as yours? 25 Please let me cross the Jordan to see the wonderful land on the other side, the beautiful hill country and the Lebanon mountains.' 26 " But the LORD was angry with me because of you, and he would not listen to me. ` That's enough!' he ordered. ` Speak of it no more. 27 You can go to Pisgah Peak and view the land in every direction, but you may not cross the Jordan River. 28 But commission Joshua and encourage him, for he will lead the people across the Jordan. He will give them the land you now see before you.' 29 So we stayed in the valley near Beth-peor."

LUKE 6:12-38
One day soon afterward Jesus went to a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. 13 At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names: 14 Simon (he also called him Peter), Andrew (Peter's brother), James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the Zealot), 16 Judas (son of James), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him). 17 When they came down the slopes of the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed, and Jesus cast out many evil spirits. 19 Everyone was trying to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and they were all cured. 20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, " God blesses you who are poor,
for the Kingdom of God is given to you.
21 God blesses you who are hungry now,
for you will be satisfied.
God blesses you who weep now,
for the time will come when you will laugh with joy.
22 God blesses you who are hated and excluded and mocked and cursed
because you are identified with me, the Son of Man.
23 " When that happens, rejoice! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were also treated that way by your ancestors. 24 " What sorrows await you who are rich,
for you have your only happiness now.
25 What sorrows await you who are satisfied and prosperous now,
for a time of awful hunger is before you.
What sorrows await you who laugh carelessly,
for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
26 What sorrows await you who are praised by the crowds,
for their ancestors also praised false prophets.
27 " But if you are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. 28 Pray for the happiness of those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other cheek. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. 30 Give what you have to anyone who asks you for it; and when things are taken away from you, don't try to get them back. 31 Do for others as you would like them to do for you. 32 " Do you think you deserve credit merely for loving those who love you? Even the sinners do that! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, is that so wonderful? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, what good is that? Even sinners will lend to their own kind for a full return. 35 " Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don't be concerned that they might not repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. 37 " Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven. 38 If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving--large or small--it will be used to measure what is given back to you."

PSALM 67:1-7
For the choir director: A psalm, to be accompanied by stringed instruments. A song.
1 May God be merciful and bless us.
May his face shine with favor upon us.
Interlude2 May your ways be known throughout the earth,
your saving power among people everywhere.
3 May the nations praise you, O God.
Yes, may all the nations praise you.
4 How glad the nations will be, singing for joy,
because you govern them with justice
and direct the actions of the whole world.
Interlude5 May the nations praise you, O God.
Yes, may all the nations praise you.
6 Then the earth will yield its harvests,
and God, our God, will richly bless us.
7 Yes, God will bless us,
and people all over the world will fear him.

PROVERBS 11:27
If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!

March 23 Reading through the Bible

 

NUMBERS 36:1--DEUTERONOMY 1:46
LUKE 5:29-6:11
PSALM 66:1-20
PROVERBS 11:24-26

NUMBERS 36:1--DEUTERONOMY 1:46
Then the heads of the clan of Gilead--descendants of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph--came to Moses and the family leaders of Israel with a petition. 2 They said, " Sir, the LORD instructed you to divide the land by sacred lot among the people of Israel. You were told by the LORD to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 But if any of them marries a man from another tribe, their inheritance of land will go with them to the tribe into which they marry. In this way, the total area of our tribal land will be reduced. 4 Then when the Year of Jubilee comes, their inheritance of land will be added to that of the new tribe, causing it to be lost forever to our ancestral tribe." 5 So Moses gave the Israelites this command from the LORD: " The men of the tribe of Joseph are right. 6 This is what the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry anyone they like, as long as it is within their own ancestral tribe. 7 None of the inherited land may pass from tribe to tribe, for the inheritance of every tribe must remain fixed as it was first allotted. 8 The daughters throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property. 9 No inheritance may pass from one tribe to another; each tribe of Israel must hold on to its allotted inheritance of land." 10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD commanded Moses. 11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah all married cousins on their father's side. 12 They married into the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. Thus, their inheritance of land remained within their ancestral tribe. 13 These are the commands and regulations that the LORD gave to the people of Israel through Moses while they were camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.1:1 THIS book records the words that Moses spoke to all the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were camped in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between Paran on one side and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab on the other. 2 Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. 3 But forty years after the Israelites left Mount Sinai, on a day in midwinter, Moses gave these speeches to the Israelites, telling them everything the LORD had commanded him to say. 4 This was after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who had ruled in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who had ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei. 5 So Moses addressed the people of Israel while they were in the land of Moab east of the Jordan River. He began to explain the law as follows: 6 " When we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God said to us, ` You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7 It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the neighboring regions--the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Negev, and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, and all the way to the great Euphrates River. 8 I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.' 9 " At that time I told you, ` You are too great a burden for me to carry all by myself. 10 The LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars! 11 And may the LORD, the God of your ancestors, multiply you a thousand times more and bless you as he promised! 12 But how can I settle all your quarrels and problems by myself? 13 Choose some men from each tribe who have wisdom, understanding, and a good reputation, and I will appoint them as your leaders.' 14 " You agreed that my plan was a good one. 15 So I took the wise and respected men you had selected from your tribes and appointed them to serve as judges and officials over you. Some were responsible for a thousand people, some for a hundred, some for fifty, and some for ten. 16 I instructed the judges, ` You must be perfectly fair at all times, not only to fellow Israelites, but also to the foreigners living among you. 17 When you make decisions, never favor those who are rich; be fair to lowly and great alike. Don't be afraid of how they will react, for you are judging in the place of God. Bring me any cases that are too difficult for you, and I will handle them.' 18 And at that time I gave you instructions about everything you were to do. 19 " Then, just as the LORD our God directed us, we left Mount Sinai and traveled through the great and terrifying wilderness, which you yourselves saw, and headed toward the hill country of the Amorites. When we arrived at Kadesh-barnea, 20 I said to you, ` You have now reached the land that the LORD our God is giving us. 21 Look! He has placed it in front of you. Go and occupy it as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don't be afraid! Don't be discouraged!'22 " But you responded, ` First, let's send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and decide which towns we should capture.' 23 This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes. 24 They crossed into the hills and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it. 25 They picked some of its fruit and brought it back to us. And they reported that the land the LORD our God had given us was indeed a good land. 26 " But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to go in. 27 You murmured and complained in your tents and said, ` The LORD must hate us, bringing us here from Egypt to be slaughtered by these Amorites. 28 How can we go on? Our scouts have demoralized us with their report. They say that the people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are, and that the walls of their towns rise high into the sky! They have even seen giants there--the descendants of Anak!' 29 " But I said to you, ` Don't be afraid! 30 The LORD your God is going before you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt. 31 And you saw how the LORD your God cared for you again and again here in the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.' 32 But even after all he did, you refused to trust the LORD your God, 33 who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you by a pillar of fire at night and a pillar of cloud by day. 34 " When the LORD heard your complaining, he became very angry. So he solemnly swore, 35 ` Not one of you from this entire wicked generation will live to see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, 36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see this land because he has followed the LORD completely. I will give to him and his descendants some of the land he walked over during his scouting mission.' 37 " And the LORD was also angry with me because of you. He said to me, ` You will never enter the Promised Land! 38 Instead, your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will lead the people into the land. Encourage him as he prepares to enter it. 39 I will give the land to your innocent children. You were afraid they would be captured, but they will be the ones who occupy it. 40 As for you, turn around now and go on back through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.' 41 " Then you confessed, ` We have sinned against the LORD! We will go into the land and fight for it, as the LORD our God has told us.' So your men strapped on their weapons, thinking it would be easy to conquer the hill country. 42 " But the LORD said to me, ` Tell them not to attack, for I will not go with them. If they do, they will be crushed by their enemies.' 43 This is what I told you, but you would not listen. Instead, you again rebelled against the LORD's command and arrogantly went into the hill country to fight. 44 But the Amorites who lived there came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased and battered you all the way from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before the LORD, but he refused to listen. 46 So you stayed there at Kadesh for a long time."

LUKE 5:29-6:11
Soon Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi's fellow tax collectors and other guests were there. 30 But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus' disciples, " Why do you eat and drink with such scum?" 31 Jesus answered them, " Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do. 32 I have come to call sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend my time with those who think they are already good enough." 33 The religious leaders complained that Jesus' disciples were feasting instead of fasting. " John the Baptist's disciples always fast and pray," they declared, " and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are yours always feasting?" 34 Jesus asked, " Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? 35 Someday he will be taken away from them, and then they will fast." 36 Then Jesus gave them this illustration: " No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be torn, and the patch wouldn't even match the old garment. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The new wine would burst the old skins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. 38 New wine must be put into new wineskins. 39 But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the fresh and the new. ` The old is better,' they say."6:1 ONE Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of wheat, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grains. 2 But some Pharisees said, " You shouldn't be doing that! It's against the law to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath." 3 Jesus replied, " Haven't you ever read in the Scriptures what King David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He went into the house of God, ate the special bread reserved for the priests alone, and then gave some to his friends. That was breaking the law, too." 5 And Jesus added, " I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath." 6 On another Sabbath day, a man with a deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching. 7 The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched closely to see whether Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath, because they were eager to find some legal charge to bring against him. 8 But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, " Come and stand here where everyone can see." So the man came forward. 9 Then Jesus said to his critics, " I have a question for you. Is it legal to do good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing harm? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?" 10 He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, " Reach out your hand." The man reached out his hand, and it became normal again! 11 At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.

PSALM 66:1-20
For the choir director: A psalm.A song.
1 Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth!
2 Sing about the glory of his name!
Tell the world how glorious he is.
3 Say to God, " How awesome are your deeds!
Your enemies cringe before your mighty power.
4 Everything on earth will worship you;
they will sing your praises,
shouting your name in glorious songs."
Interlude5 Come and see what our God has done,
what awesome miracles he does for his people!
6 He made a dry path through the Red Sea,
and his people went across on foot.
Come, let us rejoice in who he is.
7 For by his great power he rules forever.
He watches every movement of the nations;
let no rebel rise in defiance.
Interlude8 Let the whole world bless our God
and sing aloud his praises.
9 Our lives are in his hands,
and he keeps our feet from stumbling.
10 You have tested us, O God;
you have purified us like silver melted in a crucible.
11 You captured us in your net
and laid the burden of slavery on our backs.
12 You sent troops to ride across our broken bodies.
We went through fire and flood.
But you brought us to a place of great abundance.
13 Now I come to your Temple with burnt offerings
to fulfill the vows I made to you--
14 yes, the sacred vows you heard me make
when I was in deep trouble.
15 That is why I am sacrificing burnt offerings to you--
the best of my rams as a pleasing aroma.
And I will sacrifice bulls and goats.
Interlude16 Come and listen, all you who fear God,
and I will tell you what he did for me.
17 For I cried out to him for help,
praising him as I spoke.
18 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
my Lord would not have listened.
19 But God did listen!
He paid attention to my prayer.
20 Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer
and did not withdraw his unfailing love from me.

PROVERBS 11:24-26
It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything. The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. People curse those who hold their grain for higher prices, but they bless the one who sells to them in their time of need.