Once-A-Day Bible for Teens

DAY 1

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GENESIS 1:1 — 2:17 The Beginning

1

In the be­g in­n ing God cre­at­ed the heav­ens and the e­ arth. 2 Now the ­earth was form­less and emp­ty, dark­ness was over the sur­face of the deep, and the Spir­ it of God was hov­er­ing over the wa­ters.

mark ­sacred times, and days and y­ ears, 15 and let them be ­lights in the ­v ault of the sky to give ­light on the ­earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two ­g reat ­lights — ​ the great­er l­ight to gov­ern the day and the less­er ­light to gov­ern the ­night. He also made the s­ tars. 17 God set them in the ­vault of the sky to give ­light on the ­earth, 18 to gov­ern the day and the ­night, and to sep­a ­rate l­ ight from dark­ness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And ­t here was eve­ning, and ­t here was morn­ing — ​ the ­fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the wa­ter teem with liv­ing crea­t ures, and let ­birds fly ­above the ­earth ­across the ­v ault of the sky.” 21 So God cre­ at­ed the ­g reat crea­tures of the sea and ev­ery liv­ing t­hing with ­which the wa­ter ­teems and that moves about in it, ac­cord­ing to ­their ­k inds, and ev­ery ­w inged bird ac­cord­ing to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God ­blessed them and said, “Be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber and fill the wa­ter in the seas, and let the ­birds in­crease on the ­earth.” 23 And ­there was eve­n ing, and ­there was morn­ing  — ​the ­f ifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the land pro­duce liv­ing crea­t ures ac­cord­ing to ­t heir ­k inds: the live­stock, the crea­t ures that move ­a long the ­g round, and the wild an­i­mals, each ac­cord­ing to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild an­ i ­mals ac­cord­ ing to t­ heir k­ inds, the live­stock ac­cord­ ing to t­ heir ­k inds, and all the crea­t ures that move a­ long the ­g round ac­cord­ing to ­their ­k inds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man­ kind in our im­a ge, in our like­ness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the ­birds in the sky, over the live­stock and all the wild an­i­mals, a and over all the crea­t ures that move ­a long the ground.”

3 And God said, “Let ­there be ­light,” and ­there was ­light. 4 God saw that the ­light was good, and he sep­a ­rat­ed the l­ight from the dark­ ness. 5 God ­c alled the­ light “day,” and the dark­ness he ­called “night.” And t­here was eve­n ing, and ­there was morn­ing  — ​the ­f irst day. 6 And God said, “Let t­here be a ­v ault be­ tween the wa­ters to sep­a ­rate wa­ter from wa­ter.” 7 So God made the ­vault and sep­ a­rat­ed the wa­ter un­der the v­ ault from the wa­ter ­above it. And it was so. 8 God ­called the ­vault “sky.” And ­there was eve­ ning, and ­there was morn­ing — ​the sec­ ond day. 9 And God said, “Let the wa­ter un­der the sky be gath­ered to one ­place, and let dry ­g round ap­pear.” And it was so. 10 God ­c alled the dry ­g round “land,” and the gath­ered wa­ters he c­ alled “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land pro­ duce veg­e­ta­tion: seed-bear­ing ­plants and ­trees on the land that bear f­ ruit with seed in it, ac­cord­ing to ­t heir var ­i­ous ­k inds.” And it was so. 12 The land pro­duced veg­ e­ta­tion: ­plants bear­ing seed ac­cord­ing to ­t heir ­k inds and ­t rees bear­ing ­fruit with seed in it ac­cord­ing to t­ heir k­ inds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And ­t here was eve­ning, and ­t here was morn­ing — ​ the ­third day. 27 So God created mankind in his own image, 14 And God said, “Let ­t here be ­lights in the ­vault of the sky to sep­a ­rate the day from in the image of God he created them; the ­night, and let them ­serve as ­signs to male and female he created them. a 26  Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see Syriac); Masoretic Text the earth   

DAY 1 28 God ­blessed them and said to them, “Be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber; fill the e­ arth and sub­due it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the ­birds in the sky and over ev­ery liv­ing crea­t ure that ­moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you ev­ery seed-bear­ing p ­ lant on the face of the ­whole ­earth and ev­ery tree that has ­fruit with seed in it. They will be y­ ours for food. 30 And to all the ­beasts of the ­earth and all the ­birds in the sky and all the crea­t ures that move along the ­ground — ​ ev­ery­thing that has the ­breath of life in it — ​I give ev­ery ­g reen p ­ lant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And ­there was eve­ning, and ­there was morn­ing — ​the ­sixth day.

2

Thus the heav­ens and the ­earth were com­plet­ed in all ­their vast ar­ray.

2 By the sev­enth day God had fin­ished the work he had been do­ing; so on the sev­ enth day he rest­ed from all his work. 3 Then God ­blessed the sev­enth day and made it holy, be­cause on it he rest­ed from all the work of cre­at­ing that he had done. Adam and Eve

2 t­ rees that were pleas­ing to the eye and good for food. In the mid­d le of the gar­den were the tree of life and the tree of the knowl­edge of good and evil. 10 A riv­er wa­ter­ing the gar­den ­f lowed from Eden; from ­there it was sep­a ­rat­ed into four head­w a­ters. 11 The name of the f­irst is the Pi­shon; it ­w inds ­through the en­tire land of Hav ­i ­lah, ­where ­t here is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; ar­o­mat­ic res­in d and onyx are also ­there.) 13 The name of the sec­ond riv­er is the Gi­hon; it ­w inds ­through the en­tire land of Cush. e 14 The name of the t­ hird riv­er is the Ti­ gris; it runs ­a long the east side of Ash­ur. And the ­fourth riv­er is the Eu­phra­tes. 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Gar­den of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God com­mand­ed the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the gar­den; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowl­edge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will cer­tain­ly die.”

MATTHEW 1:1 — 1:25 The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

1

This is the ge­ne­a l­o­g y    f of ­Jesus the Mes­ si­a h  g the son of Da­v id, the son of Abra­ ham:

2 Abra­ham was the fa­ther of Isaac, Isaac the fa­ther of Ja­cob, Ja­cob the fa­ther of Ju­d ah and his broth­ers, 5 Now no s 3 Ju­d ah the fa­t her of Pe­rez and Ze­rah, ­hrub had yet ap­peared on the ­earth a and no ­plant had yet s­ prung up, for the ­whose moth­er was Ta­mar, Lord God had not sent rain on the e­ arth and Pe­rez the fa­ther of Hez­ron, ­there was no one to work the g­ round, 6 but Hez­ron the fa­ther of Ram, 4 Ram the fa­t her of Am­m in­a­dab, ­streams  b came up from the e­ arth and wa­tered 7  the ­whole sur­face of the ­g round. Then the Am­min­a­dab the fa­ther of Nah­shon, Lord God ­formed a man c from the dust of the Nah­shon the fa­ther of Sal­mon, 5 Sal­ ­ground and ­breathed into his nos­trils the ­breath mon the fa­ther of Boaz, w ­ hose of life, and the man be­came a liv­ing be­ing. moth­er was Ra­hab, 8 Now the Lord God had plant­ ed a gar­ Boaz the fa­ther of Obed, ­whose moth­ den in the east, in Eden; and ­there he put the er was Ruth, man he had ­formed. 9 The Lord God made Obed the fa­ther of Jes­se, 6 and Jes­se the fa­t her of King Da­v id. all ­k inds of ­trees grow out of the ­g round — ​ 4 This

is the ac­count of the heav­ens and the ­earth when they were cre­at­ed, when the Lord God made the ­earth and the heav­ens.

a 5 Or land  ; also in verse 6    b 6 Or mist    c 7  The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground (adamah) ; it is also the name Adam (see verse 20).    d 12 Or good; pearls    e 13 Possibly southeast Mesopotamia    f 1 Or is an account of the origin    g 1 Or Jesus Christ. Messiah

(Hebrew) and Christ (Greek) both mean Anointed One; also in verse 18.   

DAY 1

3 Da­v id was the fa­ther of Sol­o­mon, ­whose moth­er had been Uri­ah’s wife, 7 Sol­o­mon the fa­t her of Re­ho­bo­a m, Re­ho­bo­am the fa­ther of Abi­jah, Abi­jah the fa­ther of Asa, 8 Asa the fa­t her of Je­hosh­a­phat, Je­hosh­a­phat the fa­ther of Je­ho­ram, Je­ho­ram the fa­ther of Uz­zi­ah, 9 Uz­zi­a h the fa­t her of Jo­t ham, Jo­tham the fa­ther of Ahaz, Ahaz the fa­ther of Hez­e­k i­ah, 10 Hez­e­k i­a h the fa­t her of Ma­nas­seh, Ma­nas­seh the fa­ther of Amon, Amon the fa­ther of Jo­si­ah, 11 and Jo­si­a h the fa­t her of Jec­o­n i­a h  a and his broth­ers at the time of the ex­ile to Bab­ylon. 12 Af­ter the ex­ile to Bab­ylon: Jec­o­ni­a h was the fa­ther of She­a l­ti­el, She­a l­ti­el the fa­ther of Ze­r ub­ba­bel, 13 Ze­r ub­ba­bel the fa­t her of Abi­hud, Abi­hud the fa­ther of Eli­a­k im, Eli­a­k im the fa­ther of Azor, 14 Azor the fa­t her of Za­dok, Za­dok the fa­ther of Akim, Akim the fa­ther of Eli­hud, 15 Eli­hud the fa­t her of El­e­a­z ar, El­e­a­zar the fa­ther of Mat­than, Mat­than the fa­ther of Ja­cob, 16 and Ja­ cob the fa­ther of Jo­seph, the hus­band of Mary, and Mary was the moth­er of J­esus who is ­called the Mes­si­a h. 17 Thus ­t here were four ­teen gen­er­a­t ions in all from Abra­ham to Da­v id, four­teen from Da­v id to the ex­ile to Bab­ylon, and four­teen from the ex­ile to the Mes­si­ah.

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son 18 This is how the b ­ irth of ­Jesus the Mes­si­ah came ­about  b: His moth­er Mary was ­pledged to be mar­ried to Jo­seph, but be­fore they came to­ geth­er, she was ­found to be preg­nant t­ hrough the Holy Spir­it. 19 Be­cause Jo­seph her hus­band was faith­f ul to the law, and yet c did not want to ex­pose her to pub­lic dis­g race, he had in mind to di­vorce her qui­et­ly.

20 But af­ter he had con­sid­ered this, an an­gel of the Lord ap­peared to him in a d ­ ream and said, “Jo­seph son of Da­v id, do not be ­a fraid to take Mary home as your wife, be­cause what is con­ceived in her is from the Holy Spir­it. 21 She will give ­birth to a son, and you are to give him the name ­Jesus, d be­cause he will save his peo­ple from ­their sins.” 22 All this took ­ place to ful­fill what the Lord had said ­through the proph­et: 23 “The vir­g in will con­ceive and give ­birth to a son, and they will call him Im­man­u­el” e (which ­means “God with us”). 24 When Jo­ seph woke up, he did what the an­gel of the Lord had com­mand­ed him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not con­sum­mate their mar­riage un­til she gave ­birth to a son. And he gave him the name J­ esus.

PSALM 1:1 — 1:6 Psalm 1 1 Blessed

is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — ​ whatever they do prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

a 11  That is, Jehoiachin; also in verse 12    b 18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this    c 19 Or was a righteous man and    d 21  Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.    e 23  Isaiah 7:14   

DAY 2

REWIND Genesis 1:1 – 2:17; Matthew 1; Psalm 1

IT’S ALL ABOUT BEGINNINGS. Genesis 1 – 2 describes the origination of the universe, from nothingness to God’s creation of everything you see. The story moves from the beginning of space and time to the start of every plant, animal, and person on earth. Matthew 1 traces ­Jesus’ roots from Abraham to Joseph, his earthly father, and tells of his miraculous birth to a virgin, Mary. And Psalm 1 explains how you can make your first moves toward a life close to God. D

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GENESIS 2:18 — 4:16 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be ­a lone. I will make a help­er suit­ able for him.” 19 Now the Lord God had ­ formed out of the ­g round all the wild an­i­mals and all the ­birds in the sky. He ­brought them to the man to see what he ­would name them; and what­ ev­er the man ­called each liv­ing crea­t ure, that was its name. 20 So the man gave ­names to all the live­stock, the ­birds in the sky and all the wild an­i­mals. But for Adam a no suit­able help­er was f­ ound. 21 So the Lord God c ­ aused the man to fall into a deep ­sleep; and ­while he was sleep­ing, he took one of the ­man’s ribs b and then ­closed up the p ­ lace with ­f lesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a wom­an from the rib c he had tak­en out of the man, and he ­brought her to the man.

4 23 The

man said,

“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 That

is why a man ­leaves his fa­ther and moth­er and is unit­ed to his wife, and they be­ come one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both na­ked, and they felt no shame. The Fall

3

Now the ser­pent was more ­c rafty than any of the wild an­i­mals the Lord God had made. He said to the wom­an, “Did God real­ly say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the gar­den’?” 2 The wom­a n said to the ser­pent, “We may eat ­fruit from the ­trees in the gar­den, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat ­fruit from the tree that is in the mid­d le of the gar­den, and you must not ­touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not cer­ tain­ly die,” the ser­pent said to the wom­a n. 5 “For God ­k nows that when you eat from it your eyes will be ­opened, and you will be like God, know­ing good and evil.” 6 When the wom­a n saw that the ­f ruit of the tree was good for food and pleas­ing to the eye, and also de­sir­able for gain­ing wis­dom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her hus­band, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were ­opened, and they re­a l­ized they were na­ked; so they ­sewed fig ­leaves to­geth­er and made cov­er­ings for them­selves. 8 Then the man and his wife ­ heard the ­sound of the Lord God as he was walk­ing in the gar­den in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God a­ mong the t­rees of the gar­den. 9 But the Lord God ­called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He an­ s wered, “I ­heard you in the gar­ den, and I was ­a fraid be­cause I was na­ked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were na­ked? Have you eat­en from the tree that I com­mand­ed you not to eat from?”

a 20 Or the man    b 21 Or took part of the man’s side    c 22 Or part   

DAY 2

5 12 The man said, “The wom­a n you put here with me — ​she gave me some f­ruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the wom­a n, “What is this you have done?” The wom­a n said, “The ser­pent de­ceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the ser­ pent, “Be­cause you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring a and hers; he will crush b your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To

the wom­an he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Be­ cause you lis­tened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree ­about ­which I com­mand­ed you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 20 Adam c ­named his wife Eve, d be­cause she ­would be­come the moth­er of all the liv­ing.

21 The Lord God made gar­ments of skin for Adam and his wife and ­c lothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now be­come like one of us, know­ing good and evil. He must not be al­lowed to ­reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for­ev­er.” 23 So the Lord God ban­ished him from the Gar­den of Eden to work the ­ground from ­which he had been tak­ en. 24 Af­ter he ­drove the man out, he p ­ laced on the east side e of the Gar­den of Eden cher­u­bim and a flam­ing ­sword flash­ing back and f­orth to ­g uard the way to the tree of life.

Cain and Abel

4

Adam c made love to his wife Eve, and she be­came preg­nant and gave ­birth to Cain.  f She said, “With the help of the Lord I have ­brought ­forth  g a man.” 2 Lat­er she gave b ­ irth to his broth­er Abel. Now Abel kept f­ locks, and Cain ­worked the soil. 3 In the ­course of time Cain ­brought some of the ­fruits of the soil as an of­fer­ing to the Lord. 4 And Abel also ­brought an of­fer­ ing — ​fat por­tions from some of the first­born of his ­f lock. The Lord ­looked with fa­vor on Abel and his of­fer­ing, 5 but on Cain and his of­fer­ing he did not look with fa­vor. So Cain was very an­gry, and his face was down­cast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you an­g ry? Why is your face down­cast? 7 If you do what is ­r ight, will you not be ac­cept­ ed? But if you do not do what is ­r ight, sin is crouch­ing at your door; it de­sires to have you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Now Cain said to his broth­er Abel, “Let’s go out to the ­f ield.” h ­W hile they were in the ­field, Cain at­tacked his broth­er Abel and ­k illed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your broth­er Abel?” “I d ­ on’t know,” he re­plied. “Am I my broth­ er’s keep­er?” 10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Lis­ten! Your broth­er’s ­blood ­c ries out to me from the ­ground. 11 Now you are un­der a ­curse and driv­en from the ­g round, ­which ­opened

a 15 Or seed    b 15 Or strike    c 20,1  Or The man    d 20  Eve probably means living.    e 24 Or placed in front    f 1  Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought forth or acquired.    g 1 Or have acquired    h 8  Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text does not have “Let’s go out to

the field.”   

DAY 2 its ­mouth to re­ceive your broth­er’s ­blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ­g round, it will no lon­ger y­ ield its ­crops for you. You will be a rest­less wan­der­er on the earth.” 13 Cain said to the Lord, “My pun­ish­ment is more than I can bear. 14 To­day you are driv­ing me from the land, and I will be hid­den from your pres­ence; I will be a rest­less wan­der­er on the ­earth, and who­ev­er ­f inds me will kill me.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so a; any­ one who ­k ills Cain will suf­fer ven­geance sev­en ­times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who ­found him ­would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s pres­ence and ­lived in the land of Nod, b east of Eden.

MATTHEW 2:1 — 2:18 The Magi Visit the Messiah

2

Af­ter J­esus was born in Beth­le­hem in Ju­dea, dur­ing the time of King Her­od, Magi c from the east came to Je­r u­sa­lem 2 and ­asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to wor­ship him.” 3 When King Her­od ­heard this he was dis­ turbed, and all Je­r u­sa­lem with him. 4 When he had ­called to­geth­er all the peo­ple’s ­c hief ­priests and teach­ers of the law, he ­asked them ­where the Mes­si­a h was to be born. 5 “In Beth­ le­hem in Ju­dea,” they re­plied, “for this is what the proph­et has writ­ten: 6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ d  ”

6 it rose went ­ahead of them un­til it ­stopped over the ­place w ­ here the c­ hild was. 10 When they saw the star, they were over­joyed. 11 On com­ ing to the ­house, they saw the ­child with his moth­er Mary, and they ­bowed down and wor­ shiped him. Then they ­opened t­ heir trea­sures and pre­sent­ed him with ­gifts of gold, frank­in­ cense and ­myrrh. 12 And hav­ing been w ­ arned in a d ­ ream not to go back to Her­od, they re­ turned to ­their coun­try by an­oth­er route. The Escape to Egypt 13 When they had gone, an an­ gel of the Lord ap­peared to Jo­seph in a ­dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the ­c hild and his moth­er and es­cape to ­Egypt. Stay ­there un­til I tell you, for Her­od is go­ing to s­ earch for the ­child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the c ­hild and his moth­er dur­ing the n ­ ight and left for ­Egypt, 15 where he ­stayed un­t il the ­death of Her­o d. And so was ful­f illed what the Lord had said ­t hrough the proph­et: “Out of E ­ gypt I ­called my son.” e 16 When Her­o d re­a l­ized that he had been out­w it­ted by the Magi, he was fu­r i­ous, and he gave or­ders to kill all the boys in Beth­le­ hem and its vi­cin­i­t y who were two ­years old and un­der, in ac­cor­dance with the time he had ­learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said ­through the proph­et Jer­e­mi­ah was ful­f illed:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” f

PSALM 2:1 — 2:12

7 Then

Her­od ­called the Magi se­cret­ly and f­ound out from them the ex­act time the star had ap­peared. 8 He sent them to Beth­le­hem and said, “Go and ­search care­ful­ly for the ­child. As soon as you find him, re­port to me, so that I too may go and wor­ship him.” 9 Af­ter they had ­heard the king, they went on ­their way, and the star they had seen when

Psalm 2 1 Why

do the nations conspire g and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,

a 15  Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew Very well    b 16  Nod means wandering (see verses 12 and 14).    c 1 Traditionally wise men     d 6 Micah 5:2,4    e 15 Hosea 11:1    f 18 Jer. 31:15    g 1 Hebrew;

Septuagint rage   

DAY 3

7 3 “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I

will pro­claim the Lord’s de­cree:

He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. 8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will break them with a rod of iron a; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. 12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

REWIND Genesis 2:18 – 4:16; Matthew 2:1 – 18; Psalm 2

SIN RUINS GOOD THINGS. Genesis 2 – 4 displays God’s flawless plan for human beings to get along with him and each other. But it also shows Adam and Eve rebelling against the Lord’s command, shattering the relationships they enjoyed. Matthew 2 describes ­Jesus’ wondrous birth and the worship he receives from awestruck Magi. Yet the young family has to flee murderous Herod. Psalm 2 offers a surprising Old Testament picture of ­Jesus reigning as king. But it also exposes a world rising up to oppose him. D

day3

GENESIS 4:17 — 6:22 17 Cain

made love to his wife, and she be­ came preg­nant and gave ­birth to ­Enoch. Cain was then build­ing a city, and he ­named it af­ ter his son ­Enoch. 18 To ­Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the fa­ther of Me­hu­ja­el, and Me­ hu­ja­el was the fa­ther of Me­thu­sha­el, and Me­ thu­sha­el was the fa­ther of La­mech. 19 La­mech mar­r ied two wom­en, one ­named Adah and the oth­er Zil­lah. 20 Adah gave ­birth to Ja­bal; he was the fa­ther of ­those who live in ­tents and ­raise live­stock. 21 His broth­er’s name was Ju­bal; he was the fa­ther of all who play ­stringed in­stru­ments and ­pipes. 22 Zil­lah also had a son, Tu­bal-Cain, who ­forged all ­k inds of ­tools out of b ­bronze and iron. Tu­bal-­Cain’s sis­ter was Na­a­mah. 23 La­mech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. 24 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.” 25 Adam

made love to his wife ­again, and she gave ­birth to a son and ­named him Seth, c say­ing, “God has grant­ed me an­oth­er ­child in ­place of Abel, s­ ince Cain k­ illed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he ­named him Enosh. At that time peo­ple be­gan to call on d the name of the Lord. From Adam to Noah

5

This is the writ­ten ac­count of ­Adam’s fam­i­ly line.

a 9 Or will rule them with an iron scepter (see Septuagint and Syriac)    b 22 Or who instructed all who work in    c 25  Seth probably means granted.    d 26 Or to proclaim   

DAY 3 When God cre­at­ed man­k ind, he made them in the like­ness of God. 2 He cre­at­ed them male and fe­male and ­blessed them. And he named them “Man­k ind” a when they were created. 3 When Adam had ­l ived 130 ­years, he had a son in his own like­ness, in his own im­age; and he ­named him Seth. 4 Af­ter Seth was born, Adam ­lived 800 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 5 Al­to­geth­er, Adam ­lived a to­tal of 930 ­years, and then he died. 6 When Seth had ­l ived 105 ­years, he be­came the fa­ther  b of ­Enosh. 7 Af­ter he be­came the fa­ ther of ­Enosh, Seth ­lived 807 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 8 Al­to­geth­er, Seth ­lived a to­tal of 912 ­years, and then he died. 9 When ­ Enosh had l­ived 90 ­years, he be­ came the fa­ther of Ke­nan. 10 Af­ter he be­came the fa­ther of Ke­nan, ­Enosh ­lived 815 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 11 Al­to­ geth­er, E ­ nosh ­lived a to­tal of 905 ­years, and then he died. 12 When Ke­nan had ­lived 70 ­years, he be­ came the fa­ther of Ma­ha­la­lel. 13 Af­ter he be­ came the fa­t her of Ma ­ha ­la ­lel, Ke­nan ­l ived 840 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 14 Al­to­geth­er, Ke­nan ­l ived a to­tal of 910 ­years, and then he died. 15 When Ma­ha­la­lel had ­lived 65 ­years, he be­came the fa­ther of Ja­red. 16 Af­ter he be­came the fa­ther of Ja­red, Ma­ha­la­lel ­lived 830 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters.17 Al­to­geth­ er, Ma­ha­la­lel l­ived a to­tal of 895 y­ ears, and then he died. 18 When Ja­red had ­lived 162 ­years, he be­ came the fa­ther of ­Enoch. 19 Af­ter he be­came the fa­ther of ­Enoch, Ja­red ­lived 800 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 20 Al­to­geth­er, Ja­red ­lived a to­tal of 962 ­years, and then he died. 21 When E ­ noch had ­lived 65 ­years, he be­ came the fa­ther of Me­thu­se­lah. 22 Af­ter he be­ came the fa­ther of Me­thu­se­lah, ­Enoch ­walked faith­f ul­ly with God 300 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 23 Al­to­geth­er, ­Enoch ­lived a to­tal of 365 ­years. 24 Enoch ­walked faith­f ul­ly with God; then he was no more, be­cause God took him away.

8 25 When Me­t hu­s e­l ah had ­l ived 187 ­y ears, he be­came the fa­t her of La­mech. 26 Af­ter he be­came the fa­t her of La­mech, Me­t hu­se­l ah ­lived 782 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ ters. 27 Al­to­geth­er, Me­thu­se­lah ­lived a to­tal of 969 ­years, and then he died. 28 When La­ mech had ­lived 182 ­years, he had a son. 29 He ­named him Noah c and said, “He will com­fort us in the la­bor and pain­f ul toil of our ­hands ­caused by the g­ round the Lord has c­ ursed.” 30 Af­ter Noah was born, La­mech ­lived 595 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 31 Al­to­geth­er, La­mech ­l ived a to­tal of 777 ­years, and then he died. 32 Af­ter Noah was 500 ­years old, he be­came the fa­ther of Shem, Ham and Ja­pheth.

Wickedness in the World

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When hu­man be­ings be­gan to in­c rease in num­ber on the ­earth and daugh­ters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daugh­ters of hu­mans were beau­ti­f ul, and they mar­r ied any of them they ­chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spir­it will not con­tend with d hu­mans for­e v­er, for they are mor­tal e; ­their days will be a hun­dred and twen­t y years.” 4 The Neph­i­lim were on the ­earth in ­t hose days — ​a nd also af­ter­ward — ​when the sons of God went to the daugh­ters of hu­mans and had chil­d ren by them. They were the he­roes of old, men of re­nown. 5 The Lord saw how g ­ reat the wick­ed­ness of the hu­man race had be­come on the ­earth, and that ev­ery in­c li­na­t ion of the t­ houghts of the hu­man ­heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord re­g ret­ted that he had made hu­ man be­ings on the ­earth, and his ­heart was deep­ly trou­bled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the ­earth the hu­man race I have cre­at­ed — ​and with them the an­ i­mals, the ­birds and the crea­t ures that move ­a long the ­g round — ​for I re­g ret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah ­found fa­vor in the eyes of the Lord. Noah and the Flood 9 This is the ac­ c ount of Noah and his­ fam­i­ly.

a 2 Hebrew adam    b 6  Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 7-26.    c 29  Noah sounds like the Hebrew for comfort.    d 3 Or My spirit will not remain in    e 3 Or corrupt   

DAY 3

9 Noah was a righ­ t eous man, blame­ l ess a­ mong the peo­ple of his time, and he ­walked faith­f ul ­ly with God. 10 Noah had ­t hree sons: Shem, Ham and Ja­pheth. 11 Now the ­earth was cor­r upt in ­God’s ­sight and was full of vi­o­lence. 12 God saw how cor­ rupt the ­earth had be­come, for all the peo­ ple on ­earth had cor­r upt­ed ­their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am go­ing to put an end to all peo­ple, for the ­earth is ­f illed with vi­o­ lence be­cause of them. I am sure­ly go­ing to de­stroy both them and the ­earth. 14 So make your­self an ark of cy­press a wood; make r­ ooms in it and coat it with ­pitch in­side and out. 15 This is how you are to b ­ uild it: The ark is to be ­three hun­d red cu­bits long, fif­t y cu­bits wide and thir­t y cu­bits high. b 16 Make a roof for it, leav­ing be­low the roof an open­ing one cu­bit c high all a­ round. d Put a door in the side of the ark and make low­er, mid­d le and up­per ­decks.17 I am go­ing to ­bring f lood­wa­ters on the ­earth to de­stroy all life un­der the heav­ens, ev­ery crea­t ure that has the ­breath of life in it. Ev­ery ­thing on ­earth will per­ish. 18 But I will es­tab­lish my cov­enant with you, and you will en­ter the ark — ​you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ ­w ives with you. 19 You are to ­bring into the ark two of all liv­ing crea­ tures, male and fe­male, to keep them a­ live with you. 20 Two of ev­ery kind of bird, of ev­ery kind of an­i­mal and of ev­ery kind of crea­t ure that ­moves ­a long the ­g round will come to you to be kept a­ live. 21 You are to take ev­ery kind of food that is to be eat­en and ­store it away as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did ev­ ery­thing just as God com­ mand­ed him.

MATTHEW 2:19 — 3:17 The Return to Nazareth 19 Af­ter Her­od died, an an­gel of the Lord ap­peared in a ­dream to Jo­seph in ­Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the ­c hild and his moth­ er and go to the land of Is­ra­el, for t­ hose who were try­ing to take the ­child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the ­ c hild and his

moth­er and went to the land of Is­ra­el. 22 But when he ­heard that Ar­c he­la­us was reign­ing in Ju­dea in ­place of his fa­ther Her­od, he was ­a fraid to go ­t here. Hav­ing been ­warned in a ­dream, he with­drew to the dis­trict of Gal­i­lee, 23 and he went and ­l ived in a town ­called Naz­ a­reth. So was ful­f illed what was said ­through the proph­ets, that he would be ­called a Naz­ a­rene. John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3

In ­those days John the Bap­tist came, preach­ing in the wil­der­ness of Ju­dea 2 and say­ing, “Re­pent, for the king­dom of heav­en has come near.” 3 This is he who was spo­ken of ­through the proph­et Isa­iah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” e 4 John’s

­c lothes were made of cam­el’s hair, and he had a leath­er belt ­a round his ­waist. His food was lo­custs and wild hon­ey. 5 Peo­ple went out to him from Je­r u­sa­lem and all Ju­dea and the ­whole re­g ion of the Jor­dan. 6 Con­fess­ing ­their sins, they were bap­tized by him in the Jor­dan Riv­er. 7 But when he saw many of the Phar­ i­sees and Sad­du­cees com­ing to ­where he was bap­ tiz­ing, he said to them: “You ­brood of vi­pers! Who w ­ arned you to f lee from the com­ing ­w rath? 8 Pro­duce ­fruit in keep­ing with re­pen­ tance. 9 And do not ­think you can say to your­ selves, ‘We have Abra­ham as our fa­ther.’ I tell you that out of ­these ­stones God can ­raise up chil­d ren for Abra­ham. 10 The ax is al­ready at the root of the ­trees, and ev­ery tree that does not pro­duce good ­fruit will be cut down and ­thrown into the fire. 11 “I bap­t ize you with  f wa­ter for re­pen­tance. But af­ter me ­comes one who is more pow­er­f ul than I, ­whose san­dals I am not wor­thy to car­ ry. He will bap­tize you with  f the Holy Spir­it and fire. 12 His win­now­ing fork is in his hand, and he will ­c lear his thresh­ing ­f loor, gath­er­ ing his ­wheat into the barn and burn­ing up the ­chaff with un­quench­able fire.”

a 14  The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.    b 15  That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high    c 16  That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters    d 16  The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.    e 3 Isaiah 40:3    f 11  Or in   

DAY 4

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The Baptism of Jesus 13 Then

­Jesus came from Gal­i­lee to the Jor­ dan to be bap­tized by John. 14 But John ­t ried to de­ter him, say­ing, “I need to be bap­tized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus re­plied, “Let it be so now; it is prop­ er for us to do this to ful­f ill all righ­teous­ness.” Then John con­sent­ed. 16 As soon as ­ Jesus was bap­tized, he went up out of the wa­ter. At that mo­ment heav­en was ­opened, and he saw the Spir­it of God de­ s cend­ i ng like a dove and alight­ i ng on him. 17 And a v­ oice from heav­en said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

REWIND Genesis 4:17 – 6:22; Matthew 2:19 – 3:17; Psalm 3

ALL ­PEOPLE SIN. By the days of Noah in Genesis 4 – 6, the horror of human wickedness deeply troubles God’s heart. The Lord grows so sorry he made ­people that he decides to wipe them from the face of earth. Matthew 2 – 3 pictures John the Baptist telling everyone they need to repent — ​to stop sinning and turn back to God. And Psalm 3 came straight from King David’s heart when his son Absalom tried to topple him from the throne. No one is without sin. D

PSALM 3:1 — 3:8 Psalm 3 a A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.

1 Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” b 3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. 4 I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. 5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. 6 I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. 7 Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.

day4 GENESIS 7:1 — 9:17

7

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your ­whole fam­i­ly, be­ cause I have ­found you righ­teous in this gen­ er­a­t ion. 2 Take with you sev­en p ­ airs of ev­ery kind of ­clean an­i­mal, a male and its mate, and one pair of ev­ery kind of un­c lean an­i­mal, a male and its mate, 3 and also sev­en ­pairs of ev­ery kind of bird, male and fe­male, to keep ­their var­i­ous ­k inds ­a live through­out the ­earth. 4 Sev­en days from now I will send rain on the ­earth for for­t y days and for­t y ­nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ­earth ev­ery liv­ing crea­t ure I have made.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord com­ mand­ed him. 6 Noah was six hun­d red ­years old when the f lood­wa­ters came on the ­earth. 7 And Noah

a In Hebrew texts 3:1-8 is numbered 3:2-9.    b 2  The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here

and at the end of verses 4 and 8.   

DAY 4

11 and his sons and his wife and his sons’ w ­ ives en­tered the ark to es­cape the wa­ters of the ­f lood. 8 Pairs of ­c lean and un­c lean an­i­mals, of ­birds and of all crea­t ures that move ­a long the ­ground, 9 male and fe­male, came to Noah and en­tered the ark, as God had com­mand­ed Noah. 10 And af­ter the sev­en days the flood­ wa­ters came on the earth. 11 In the six hun­d redth year of No­a h’s life, on the sev­en­teenth day of the sec­ond ­month — ​ on that day all the ­springs of the ­g reat deep ­burst ­forth, and the flood­gates of the heav­ens were ­opened. 12 And rain fell on the ­earth for­ ty days and for­t y nights. 13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Ja­pheth, to­geth­er with his wife and the ­w ives of his t­ hree sons, en­tered the ark. 14 They had with them ev­ery wild an­i­ mal ac­cord­ing to its kind, all live­stock ac­cord­ ing to t­ heir k­ inds, ev­ery crea­t ure that m ­ oves ­a long the ­g round ac­cord­ing to its kind and ev­ery bird ac­cord­ing to its kind, ev­ery­thing with ­w ings. 15 Pairs of all crea­t ures that have the ­breath of life in them came to Noah and en­tered the ark. 16 The an­i­mals go­ing in were male and fe­male of ev­ery liv­ing ­thing, as God had com­mand­ed Noah. Then the Lord shut him in. 17 For for­t y days the ­f lood kept com­i ng on the ­e arth, and as the wa­ters in­c reased they lift­e d the ark high a­ bove the e­ arth. 18 The wa­ters rose and in­creased great­ly on the ­earth, and the ark f loat­ed on the sur­face of the wa­ter. 19 They rose great­ly on the ­earth, and all the high moun­tains un­der the en­t ire heav­ens were cov­ered. 20 The wa­ters rose and cov­ered the moun­tains to a ­depth of more than fif ­teen cu­bits.  a , b  21 Ev­ery liv ­i ng ­t hing that m ­ oved on land per­ished — ​­birds, live­ stock, wild an­i­m als, all the crea­tures that ­swarm over the e­arth, and all man­k ind. 22 Ev­ery­t hing on dry land that had the ­breath of life in its nos­trils died. 23 Ev­e ry liv ­i ng ­t hing on the face of the ­earth was ­w iped out; peo­ple and an­i­m als and the crea­tures that move a­ long the ­g round and the ­birds were ­w iped from the ­earth. Only Noah was left, and ­t hose with him in the ark.

24 The wa­ters flood­ed the ­earth for a hun­ dred and fif­t y days. But God re­mem­bered Noah and all the wild an­i­mals and the live­stock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the ­earth, and the wa­ters re­ced­ed. 2 Now the ­springs of the deep and the flood­gates of the heav­ens had been ­c losed, and the rain had ­stopped fall­ing from the sky. 3 The wa­ter re­ ced­ed steadi­ly from the ­earth. At the end of the hun­d red and fif­t y days the wa­ter had gone down, 4 and on the sev­en­teenth day of the sev­enth ­month the ark came to rest on the moun­tains of Ar­a ­rat. 5 The wa­ters con­tin­ued to re­cede un­til the ­tenth ­month, and on the ­f irst day of the ­tenth m ­ onth the tops of the moun­tains be­came vis­i­ble. 6 Af­ter for­t y days Noah ­opened a win­dow he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a ra­ven, and it kept fly­ing back and ­forth un­til the wa­ ter had ­dried up from the ­earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the wa­ter had re­ced­ed from the sur­face of the ­ground. 9 But the dove ­could find no­where to ­perch be­cause ­there was wa­ ter over all the sur­face of the e­ arth; so it re­ turned to Noah in the ark. He ­reached out his hand and took the dove and ­brought it back to him­self in the ark. 10 He wait­ed sev­en more days and ­again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove re­t urned to him in the eve­ ning, t­here in its beak was a fresh­ly ­plucked ol­ive leaf  ! Then Noah knew that the wa­ter had re­ced­ed from the ­earth. 12 He wait­ed sev­ en more days and sent the dove out ­again, but this time it did not re­t urn to him. 13 By the ­f irst day of the ­f irst ­month of No­ ah’s six hun­dred and ­f irst year, the wa­ter had ­dried up from the ­earth. Noah then re­moved the cov­er­ing from the ark and saw that the sur­ face of the g­ round was dry. 14 By the twen­t ysev­enth day of the sec­ond ­month the e­ arth was com­plete­ly dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and ­t heir ­w ives. 17 Bring out ev­ery kind of liv­ing crea­t ure that is with you — ​the ­birds, the an­ i­mals, and all the crea­t ures that move ­a long the ­g round — ​so they can mul­ti­ply on the

8

a 20  That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters    b 20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains

were covered   

DAY 4 e­ arth and be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber on it.” 18 So Noah came out, to­geth­er with his sons and his wife and his sons’ ­w ives. 19 All the an­ i­mals and all the crea­tures that move ­a long the ­g round and all the ­birds — ​ev­ery­thing that ­moves on land — ​came out of the ark, one kind af­ter an­oth­er. 20 Then Noah b ­ uilt an al­tar to the Lord and, tak­ing some of all the ­clean an­i­mals and ­c lean ­birds, he sac­r i­f iced ­burnt of ­fer ­ings on it. 21 The Lord ­smelled the pleas­ing aro­ma and said in his ­heart: “Nev­er ­again will I ­curse the ­ground be­cause of hu­mans, even ­though a ­ev­ery in­c li­na­t ion of the hu­man ­heart is evil from child­hood. And nev­er a­ gain will I de­ stroy all liv­ing crea­t ures, as I have done. 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” God’s Covenant With Noah

9

Then God b ­ lessed Noah and his sons, say­ing to them, “Be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber and fill the e­ arth. 2 The fear and ­d read of you will fall on all the ­beasts of the ­earth, and on all the ­birds in the sky, on ­ev­ery crea­ture that ­moves ­a long the g­ round, and on all the fish in the sea; they are giv­en into your ­hands. 3 Ev­ery ­thing that ­lives and ­moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the ­green ­plants, I now give you ev­ery­thing. 4 “But you must not eat meat that has its life­ blood ­still in it. 5 And for your life­blood I will sure­ly de­mand an ac­count­ing. I will de­mand an ac­count­ing from ev­ery an­i­mal. And from each hu­man be­ing, too, I will de­mand an ac­ count­ing for the life of an­oth­er hu­man be­ing. 6 “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. 7 As for you, be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber;

mul­ti­ply on the ­earth and in­crease upon it.”

12 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now es­tab­lish my cov­enant with you and with your de­scen­dants af­ter you 10 and with ev­ery liv­ing crea­t ure that was with you — ​the ­birds, the live­stock and all the wild an­i­mals, all ­those that came out of the ark with you  — ​ev­ery liv­ing crea­t ure on ­earth. 11 I es­tab­lish my cov­enant with you: Nev­er ­again will all life be de­stroyed by the wa­ters of a ­f lood; nev­er a­ gain will ­there be a ­f lood to de­ stroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the cov­enant I am mak­ing be­t ween me and you and ev­ery liv­ing crea­t ure with you, a cov­enant for all gen­er­a­tions to come: 13 I have set my rain­bow in the ­clouds, and it will be the sign of the cov­enant be­tween me and the ­earth. 14 When­ev­er I b ­ ring ­clouds over the ­earth and the rain­bow ap­pears in the ­c louds, 15 I will re­mem­ber my cov­enant be­t ween me and you and all liv­ing crea­t ures of ev­ery kind. Nev­er ­again will the wa­ters be­come a f­ lood to de­ stroy all life. 16 When­ev­er the rain­bow ap­pears in the ­c louds, I will see it and re­mem­ber the ever­last­ing cov­enant be­t ween God and all liv­ ing crea­t ures of ev­ery kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the cov­enant I have es­tab­lished be­t ween me and all life on the earth.”

MATTHEW 4:1 — 4:22 Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

4

Then ­Jesus was led by the Spir­it into the wil­der­ness to be tempt­ed  b by the dev­il. 2 Af­ter fast­ing for­t y days and for­t y n ­ ights, he was hun­g ry. 3 The tempt­er came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell ­these ­stones to be­come bread.” 4 Jesus an­s wered, “It is writ­ten: ‘Man shall not live on ­bread ­a lone, but on ev­ery word that ­comes from the ­mouth of God.’ c  ” 5 Then the dev­il took him to the holy city and had him ­stand on the high­est ­point of the tem­ple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw your­self down. For it is writ­ten: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,

a 21 Or humans, for    b 1  The Greek for tempted can also mean tested.    c 4 Deut. 8:3   

DAY 4

13 and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ a ” 7 Jesus an­ s wered him, “It is also writ­ten: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ b ” 8 Again, the dev­il took him to a very high moun­tain and ­showed him all the king­doms of the w ­ orld and ­their splen­dor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and wor­ship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Sa­tan! For it is writ­ten: ‘Wor­ship the Lord your God, and ­serve him only.’ c  ” 11 Then the dev­i l left him, and an­gels came and at­tend­ed him.

Jesus Begins to Preach 12 When

­Jesus h ­ eard that John had been put in pris­on, he with­d rew to Gal­i­lee. 13 Leav­ing Naz­a ­reth, he went and ­l ived in Ca­per­na­um, ­which was by the lake in the area of Zeb­u­ lun and Naph­ta­li  — ​ 14 to ful­f ill what was said ­through the proph­et Isa­iah: 15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — ​ 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” d 17 From

that time on ­Jesus be­gan to ­preach, “Re­pent, for the king­dom of heav­en has come near.” Jesus Calls His First Disciples 18 As

­Jesus was walk­ing be­side the Sea of Gal­i­lee, he saw two broth­ers, Si­mon ­called Pe­ter and his broth­er An­d rew. They were cast­ing a net into the lake, for they were fish­ er­men. 19 “Come, fol­low me,” ­Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for peo­ple.” 20 At once they left ­their nets and fol­lowed him. 21 Go­ing on from ­t here, he saw two oth­er

broth­ers, ­James son of Zeb­e­dee and his broth­ er John. They were in a boat with t­ heir fa­ther Zeb­e­dee, pre­par ­i ng ­t heir nets. ­Jesus ­c alled them, 22 and im­me­d i­ate­ly they left the boat and ­their fa­ther and fol­lowed him.

PROVERBS 1:1 — 1:7

1

The prov­erbs of Sol­o­mon son of Da­v id, king of Is­ra­el:

2 for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; 3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to those who are simple, e knowledge and discretion to the young — ​ 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance — ​ 6 for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.  f 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools g despise wisdom and instruction.

REWIND Genesis 7:1 – 9:17; Matthew 4:1 – 22; Proverbs 1:1 – 7

GOD STRIKES BACK AT SIN. In Genesis 7 – 9 God sends a flood to cover the entire world, then offers humankind a fresh start and a promise never again to flood the earth and destroy all life. In Matthew 4 ­Jesus battles temptation by hitting back at the devil with God’s powerful words. The Lord announces the end of darkness and the arrival of his kingdom, and he calls his first followers to help him spread the news. Proverbs 1 invites you to listen closely to God’s wisdom and learn to do right. D

a 6 Psalm 91:11,12    b 7 Deut. 6:16    c 10 Deut. 6:13    d 16 Isaiah 9:1,2    e 4  The Hebrew word

rendered simple in Proverbs denotes a person who is gullible, without moral direction and inclined to evil.    f 6 Or understanding a proverb, namely, a parable, / and the sayings of the wise, their riddles    g 7 The  Hebrew words rendered fool in Proverbs, and often elsewhere in the Old Testament, denote a person who is morally deficient.   

DAY 5

14 and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.” 28 Af­ ter

29 Noah

died.

the ­flood Noah ­lived 350 ­years. l­ived a to­tal of 950 ­years, and then he

The Table of Nations

day5

GENESIS 9:18 — 11:9 The Sons of Noah 18 The

sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Ja­pheth. (Ham was the fa­ther of Ca­naan.) 19 These were the t­ hree sons of Noah, and from them came the peo­ple who were scat­tered over the ­whole earth. 20 Noah, a man of the soil, pro­ ceed­ed a to ­plant a vine­yard. 21 When he ­d rank some of its wine, he be­came ­drunk and lay un­cov­ered in­side his tent. 22 Ham, the fa­ther of Ca­naan, saw his fa­ther na­ked and told his two broth­ers out­side. 23 But Shem and Ja­pheth took a gar­ ment and laid it ­across ­their shoul­ders; then they ­walked in back­ward and cov­ered ­their fa­t her’s na­ked body. T ­ heir fac­es were t­ urned the oth­er way so that they ­would not see ­their fa­ther na­ked. 24 When Noah ­ awoke from his wine and ­found out what his youn­gest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” 26 He

also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. 27 May God extend Japheth’s b territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,

10

This is the ac­count of Shem, Ham and Ja­pheth, No­ah’s sons, who them­ selves had sons af­ter the flood. The Japhethites

2 The sons c of Ja­pheth: Go­mer, Ma­gog, Mad­ai, Ja­van, Tu­bal, Me­shek and Ti­ras. 3 The sons of Go­mer: Ash­ke­naz, Ri­phath and To­gar­mah. 4 The sons of Ja­van: Eli­shah, Tar­shish, the Kit­tites and the Rod­a­n ites.  d 5 (From ­ t hese the mar­i­time peo­ples ­spread out into ­their ter ­r i­to­r ies by ­t heir ­c lans with­in ­t heir na­tions, each with its own lan­g uage.) The Hamites

6 The sons of Ham: Cush, ­Egypt, Put and Ca­naan. 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Hav ­i ­lah, Sab­tah, Ra­a­mah and Sab­te­k a. The sons of Ra­a­mah: She­ba and De­dan. 8 Cush was the fa­t her e of Nim­rod, who be­ came a ­mighty war­rior on the ­earth. 9 He was a ­mighty hunt­er be­fore the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nim­rod, a ­mighty hunt­er be­fore the Lord.” 10 The ­f irst cen­ters of his king­dom were Bab­ylon, Uruk, Ak­k ad and Kal­neh, in  f Shi­nar. g 11 From that land he went to As­syr­ia, ­where he ­built Nin­e­veh, Re­ho­both Ir,  h Ca­lah 12 and Re­sen, ­which is be­t ween Nin­e ­veh and Ca­lah  — ​­which is the ­great city.

13 Egypt was the fa­ther of the Lu­d ites, An­a­m ites, Le­h a­bites, Naph­t u­h ites, 14 Path ­r u­sites, Kas­lu­

a 20 Or soil, was the first    b 27  Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.    c 2  Sons may mean descendants or successors or nations; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31.    d 4  Some manuscripts of the

Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Dodanites    e 8  Father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26.    f 10 Or Uruk and Akkad — ​all of them in    g 10  That is, Babylonia    h 11 Or Nineveh with its city squares   

DAY 5

15 hites (from whom the Phi­ l is­ t ines came) and Caph­to­rites. 15 Ca­naan was the fa­ther of Si­don his first­born, a and of the Hit­tites, 16 Jeb­u ­s ites, Am­o­r ites, Gir ­g a ­s hites, 17 Hi­v ites, Ar­k ites, Si­nites,18 Ar ­vad­ites, Zem­a­rites and Ha­math­ites. Lat­er the Ca­naan­ite ­c lans scat ­tered 19 and the bor­ders of Ca­naan ­reached from Si­don to­ ward Ge­rar as far as Gaza, and then to­ward Sod­om, Go­mor­rah, Ad­mah and Ze­boy­im, as far as La­sha. 20 These are the sons of Ham by ­t heir ­c lans and lan­g uag­es, in ­their ter­ri­to­ries and na­tions. The Semites 21 Sons were also born to Shem, ­whose old­er broth­er was  b Ja­pheth; Shem was the an­ces­tor of all the sons of Eber.

22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Ash­u r, Ar­phax­ad, Lud and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Ge­ther and Me­shek. c 24 Ar­phax­ad was the fa­ther of d She­lah, and She­lah the fa­ther of Eber. 25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was ­named Pe­leg, e be­cause in his time the ­earth was di­v id­ed; his broth­ er was ­named Jok­tan. 26 Jok­tan was the fa­ther of Al­mo­d ad, She­l eph, Ha­z ar­m a­v eth, Je­r ah, 27 Ha­d o­r am, Uzal, Dik ­l ah, 28 Obal, Abim­a­e l, She­b a, 29 Ophir, Hav­i­lah and Jo­bab. All t­hese were sons of Jok­tan. 30 The

re­gion ­where they ­lived ­stretched from Me­sha to­w ard Se­phar, in the east­ern hill coun­try. 31 These are the sons of Shem by ­t heir ­c lans and lan­g uag­es, in ­their ter­ri­to­ries and na­tions. 32 These are the ­ c lans of No­a h’s sons, ac­ cord­ing to ­their ­lines of de­scent, with­in ­their na­tions. From ­these the na­tions ­spread out over the ­earth af­ter the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11

Now the w ­ hole w ­ orld had one lan­ guage and a com­mon ­speech. 2 As peo­ple ­moved east­ward,   f they ­found a ­plain in Shi­nar  g and set­t led there. 3 They said to each oth­er, “Come, ­let’s make ­bricks and bake them thor­ough­ly.” They used ­brick in­stead of ­stone, and tar for mor­tar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us ­ build our­ selves a city, with a tow­er that reach­es to the heav­ens, so that we may make a name for our­ selves; other­w ise we will be scat­tered over the face of the ­whole earth.” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tow­er the peo­ple were build­ing. 6 The Lord said, “If as one peo­ple speak­ing the same lan­g uage they have be­g un to do this, then noth­ing they plan to do will be im­pos­ si­ble for them. 7 Come, let us go down and con­f use ­their lan­g uage so they will not un­der­ stand each oth­er.” 8 So the Lord scat­ tered them from t­here over all the ­earth, and they ­stopped build­ing the city. 9 That is why it was c­ alled Ba­bel h  — ​ be­cause ­there the Lord con­f used the lan­g uage of the w ­ hole w ­ orld. From ­there the Lord scat­ tered them over the face of the ­whole earth.

MATTHEW 4:23 — 5:20 Jesus Heals the Sick 23 Jesus

went through­out Gal ­i ­lee, teach­ing in ­t heir syn­a­gogues, pro­c laim­i ng the good news of the king­dom, and heal­ing ev­ery dis­ease and sick­ness ­among the peo­ple. 24 News ­about him ­spread all over Syr­ia, and peo­ple ­brought to him all who were ill with var­i­ous ­dis­eas­es, ­t hose suf­fer­i ng se­v ere pain, the de­monpos­sessed, ­those hav­ing sei­zures, and the par­ a­lyzed; and he h ­ ealed them. 25 Large ­crowds from Gal ­i ­l ee, the De­c ap­o­l is,  i Je­r u­s a­l em,­ Ju­dea and the re­g ion a­ cross the Jor­dan fol­ lowed him. Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

5

Now when ­Jesus saw the ­crowds, he went up on a moun­tain­side and sat down. His

a 15 Or of the Sidonians, the foremost    b 21 Or Shem, the older brother of    c 23  See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:17; Hebrew Mash.    d 24  Hebrew; Septuagint father of Cainan, and Cainan was the father of    e 25  Peleg means division.    f 2 Or from the east ; or in the east    g 2  That is, Babylonia    h 9  That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.    i 25  That is, the Ten Cities   

DAY 5

16

dis­ci­ples came to him, 2 and he be­gan to ­teach them. The Beatitudes

He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed

are you when peo­ple in­sult you, per­se­cute you and false­ly say all ­k inds of evil ­against you be­cause of me. 12 Re­joice and be glad, be­cause g­ reat is your re­ward in heav­ en, for in the same way they per­se­c ut­ed the proph­ets who were be­fore you. Salt and Light 13 “You

are the salt of the ­earth. But if the salt los­es its salt­i­ness, how can it be made ­salty ­again? It is no lon­ger good for any­t hing, ex­ cept to be ­thrown out and tram­pled un­der­foot. 14 “You are the ­light of the ­world. A town built on a hill can­not be hid­den. 15 Nei­ther do peo­ple l­ight a lamp and put it un­der a bowl. In­stead they put it on its ­stand, and it g­ ives ­light to ev­ery­one in the ­house. 16 In the same way, let your l­ight s­hine be­fore oth­ers, that they may see your good ­deeds and glo­ri­f y your Fa­ther in heav­en. The Fulfillment of the Law 17 “Do

not ­think that I have come to abol­ish

the Law or the Proph­ets; I have not come to abol­ish them but to ful­f ill them. 18 For tru­ly I tell you, un­til heav­en and ­earth dis­ap­pear, not the small­est let­ter, not the ­least s­troke of a pen, will by any ­means dis­ap­pear from the Law un­t il ev­ery ­t hing is ac­com­plished. 19 There­fore any­one who sets ­aside one of the ­least of ­these com­mands and teach­es oth­ers ac­cord­ing­ly will be ­called l­east in the king­ dom of heav­en, but who­e v­er prac­tic­e s and teach­es t­ hese com­mands will be c­ alled g­ reat in the king­dom of heav­en. 20 For I tell you that un­less your righ­teous­ness sur­pass­es that of the Phar­i­sees and the teach­ers of the law, you will cer­tain­ly not en­ter the king­dom of heav­en.”

PSALM 4:1 — 4:8 Psalm 4 a For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.

1 Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. 2 How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods b? c 3 Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. 4 Tremble and d do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. 5 Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord. 6 Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?” Let the light of your face shine on us. 7 Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound. 8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

a In Hebrew texts 4:1-8 is numbered 4:2-9.    b 2 Or seek lies    c 2  The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 4.    d 4 Or In your anger (see Septuagint)   

DAY 6

17

REWIND Genesis 9:18 – 11:9; Matthew 4:23 – 5:20; Psalm 4

THE LORD LOOKS OUT FOR YOUR GOOD. Genesis 9 – 11 details the spread of Noah’s descendants after the flood, concluding with the sad story of Babel, where p­ eople once again arrogantly challenge God. But Matthew 4 – 5 lets you glimpse how the Lord intends to remake the world for the better. ­Jesus declares good news. He heals the sick, frees the oppressed, and details the best blessings of his kingdom. Psalm 4 shows that God never leaves you alone in your distress. He gives joy and peaceful sleep. D

day6

GENESIS 11:10 — 13:18 From Shem to Abram 10 This

is the ac­count of ­Shem’s fam­i­ly line.

Two y­ ears af­ter the f­ lood, when Shem was 100 ­years old, he be­came the fa­ther a of Ar­ phax­ad. 11 And af­ter he be­came the fa­ther of Ar­phax­ad, Shem ­lived 500 ­years and had ­oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 12 When Ar­ phax­ad had ­lived 35 ­years, he be­came the fa­t her of She­lah. 13 And af­ter he be­c ame the fa­ther of She­lah, Ar­phax­ad ­lived 403 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ ters. b 14 When She­ l ah had ­lived 30 ­years, he be­c ame the fa­ther of Eber. 15 And af­ter he

­ e­came the fa­ther of Eber, She­lah ­lived 403 b ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 16 When Eber had ­l ived 34 y ­ ears, he be­came the fa­ther of Pe­leg. 17 And af­ter he ­be­came the fa­ther of Pe­leg, Eber l­ived 430 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 18 When Pe­ leg had l­ived 30 y­ ears, he be­ came the fa­ther of Reu. 19 And af­ter he ­be­came the fa­ther of Reu, Pe­leg ­lived 209 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 20 When Reu had ­l ived 32 ­years, he be­came the fa­ther of Se­r ug. 21 And af­ter he be­came the fa­ther of Se­r ug, Reu ­lived 207 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 22 When Se­r ug had l­ived 30 y ­ ears, he be­ came the fa­ther of Na­hor. 23 And af­ter he ­be­came the fa­ther of Na­hor, Se­r ug ­lived 200 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 24 When Na­hor had ­lived 29 ­years, he be­ came the fa­ther of Te­rah. 25 And af­ter he ­be­came the fa­ther of Te­rah, Na­hor ­lived 119 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 26 Af­ ter Te­rah had ­lived 70 y­ ears, he be­ came the fa­ther of ­Abram, Na­hor and Ha­ran. Abram’s Family 27 This

is the ac­count of Te­rah’s fam­i­ly line.

Te­rah be­came the fa­ther of ­Abram, Na­hor and Ha­ran. And Ha­ran be­came the fa­ther of Lot. 28 While his fa­ther Te­rah was ­still ­a live, Ha­ran died in Ur of the Chal­de­a ns, in the land of his ­birth. 29 Abram and Na­hor both mar­r ied. The name of ­Abram’s wife was Sa­ rai, and the name of Na­hor’s wife was Mil­ kah; she was the daugh­ter of Ha­ran, the fa­ther of both Mil­k ah and Is­k ah. 30 Now Sa­rai was child­less be­cause she was not able to con­ceive. 31 Te­rah took his son ­Abram, his grand­son Lot son of Ha­ran, and his daugh­ter-in-law Sa­rai, the wife of his son ­Abram, and to­geth­er they set out from Ur of the Chal­de­ans to go to Ca­naan. But when they came to Har­ran, they set­t led there. 32 Te­ rah ­lived 205 ­years, and he died in Har­ran.

a 10  Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25.    b 12,13  Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35, 36

and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. 13And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters   

DAY 6

18

The Call of Abram

12

The Lord had said to ­Abram, “Go from your coun­try, your peo­ple and your fa­ther’s house­hold to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. a 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” b 4 So ­Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. ­Abram was sev­en­t yfive ­years old when he set out from Har­ran. 5 He took his wife Sa­rai, his neph­e w Lot, all the pos­ses­sions they had ac­cu­mu­lat­ed and the peo­ple they had ac­quired in Har­ran, and they set out for the land of Ca­naan, and they ar­ rived there. 6 Abram trav­eled ­t hrough the land as far as the site of the ­great tree of Mo­reh at She­chem. At that time the Ca­naan­ites were in the land. 7 The Lord ap­peared to A ­ bram and said, “To your off­spring  c I will give this land.” So he ­built an al­tar t­ here to the Lord, who had ap­ peared to him. 8 From ­ t here he went on to­ward the ­h ills east of Beth­el and ­pitched his tent, with Beth­ el on the west and Ai on the east. ­T here he ­built an al­tar to the Lord and ­called on the name of the Lord. 9 Then A ­ bram set out and con­tin­ued to­ ward the Ne­gev.

Abram in Egypt 10 Now

­there was a fam­ine in the land, and ­ bram went down to ­Egypt to live ­there for a A ­while be­cause the fam­ine was se­vere. 11 As he was ­about to en­ter ­Egypt, he said to his wife Sa­rai, “I know what a beau­ti­ful wom­a n you are. 12 When the Egyp­tians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sis­ter, so that I will be treat­ed well for your sake and my life will be ­spared be­cause of you.” 14 When ­Abram came to ­Egypt, the Egyp­

tians saw that Sa­rai was a very beau­ti­f ul wom­ an. 15 And when Phar­aoh’s of­f i­cials saw her, they ­praised her to Phar­aoh, and she was tak­ en into his pal­ace. 16 He treat­ed ­Abram well for her sake, and ­Abram ac­quired ­sheep and cat­t le, male and fe­male don­keys, male and fe­ male ser­vants, and cam­els. 17 But the Lord in­f lict­ed se­r i­ous ­d is­e as­e s on Phar­aoh and his house­hold be­cause of ­Abram’s wife Sa­rai. 18 So Phar­aoh sum­moned ­Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why d ­ idn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sis­ter,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Phar­aoh gave or­ders ­about ­Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and ev­ery­ thing he had. Abram and Lot Separate

13

So ­Abram went up from ­Egypt to the Ne­gev, with his wife and ev­ery­t hing he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had be­come very ­wealthy in live­stock and in sil­ver and gold. 3 From the Ne­ gev he went from ­place to ­place un­til he came to Beth­el, to the p ­ lace be­tween Beth­el and Ai ­where his tent had been ear­l i­er 4 and ­where he had ­f irst ­built an al­tar. ­There ­Abram ­called on the name of the Lord. 5 Now Lot, who was mov­ i ng ­about with ­Abram, also had ­f locks and ­herds and ­tents. 6 But the land ­could not sup­p ort them ­while they ­stayed to­g eth­er, for ­t heir pos­s es­sions were so ­g reat that they were not able to stay to­g eth­e r. 7 And quar ­r el ­i ng ­a rose be­t ween ­Abram’s herd­ers and Lot’s. The Ca­naan­ites and Per­iz­zites were also liv­ing in the land at that time. 8 So ­Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quar­rel­ing be­t ween you and me, or be­t ween your herd­ers and mine, for we are ­c lose rel­a­ tives. 9 Is not the ­whole land be­fore you? ­Let’s part com­pa­ny. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the ­right; if you go to the ­right, I’ll go to the left.” 10 Lot ­ looked ­around and saw that the ­whole ­plain of the Jor­dan to­ward Zoar was

a 2 Or be seen as blessed    b 3 Or earth / will use your name in blessings (see 48:20)    c 7  Or seed   

DAY 6

19 well wa­tered, like the gar­den of the Lord, like the land of ­Egypt. (This was be­fore the Lord de­stroyed Sod­om and Go­mor­rah.) 11 So Lot ­chose for him­self the ­whole ­plain of the Jor­dan and set out to­ward the east. The two men part­ed com­pa­ny: 12 Abram l­ived in the land of Ca­naan, ­while Lot l­ived ­a mong the cit­ies of the ­plain and ­pitched his ­tents near Sod­om. 13 Now the peo­ple of Sod­om were wick­ed and were sin­n ing great­ly a­ gainst the Lord. 14 The Lord said to ­A bram af­ter Lot had part­ed from him, “Look ­a round from ­where you are, to the n ­ orth and ­south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your off­spring a for­e v­er. 16 I will make your off­spring like the dust of the ­earth, so that if any­one ­could ­count the dust, then your off­spring c­ ould be count­ed. 17 Go, walk ­through the ­length and b ­ readth of the land, for I am giv­ing it to you.” 18 So A ­ bram went to live near the ­g reat ­trees of Mam­re at He­bron, ­where he p ­ itched his ­tents. ­There he ­built an al­tar to the Lord.

MATTHEW 5:21 — 5:42 Murder 21 “You

have ­heard that it was said to the peo­ple long ago, ‘You s­ hall not mur­der, b and any­one who mur­ders will be sub­ject to judg­ ment.’ 22 But I tell you that any­one who is ­a n­g ry with a broth­er or sis­ter c , d will be sub­ ject to judg­ment. ­Again, any­one who says to a broth­er or sis­ter, ‘Raca,’ e is an­swer­able to the court. And any­one who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in dan­ger of the fire of hell. 23 “There­fore, if you are of­fer­ing your gift at the al­tar and ­there re­mem­ber that your broth­ er or sis­ter has some­thing ­against you, 24 leave your gift t­here in ­front of the al­tar. ­F irst go and be rec­on­ciled to them; then come and of­ fer your gift. 25 “Set­t le mat­ters quick­ly with your ad­ver­ sary who is tak­ing you to ­court. Do it ­while you are ­still to­geth­er on the way, or your ad­

ver­sary may hand you over to the ­judge, and the j­udge may hand you over to the of­f i­cer, and you may be ­thrown into pris­on. 26 Tru­ly I tell you, you will not get out un­til you have paid the last pen­ny. Adultery 27 “You

have h ­ eard that it was said, ‘You ­shall not com­m it adul­tery.’  f 28 But I tell you that any­one who ­looks at a wom­a n lust­ful­ ly has al­ready com­m it­ted adul­tery with her in his ­heart. 29 If your ­right eye caus­es you to stum­ble, ­gouge it out and ­throw it away. It is bet­ter for you to lose one part of your body than for your ­whole body to be ­thrown into hell. 30 And if your r­ ight hand caus­es you to stum­ble, cut it off and ­throw it away. It is bet­ ter for you to lose one part of your body than for your ­whole body to go into hell. Divorce 31 “It has been said, ‘Any­one who di­vorc­e s his wife must give her a cer­tif­i­cate of di­vorce.’ g 32 But I tell you that any­one who di­vorc­es his wife, ex­cept for sex­u­a l im­mo­ral­i­t y, makes her the vic­tim of adul­tery, and any­one who mar­ ries a di­vorced wom­an com­mits adul­tery.

Oaths 33 “Again, you have ­heard that it was said to the peo­ple long ago, ‘Do not ­break your oath, but ful­fill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not ­swear an oath at all: ei­ther by heav­en, for it is ­God’s ­throne; 35 or by the ­earth, for it is his foot­stool; or by Je­r u­sa­lem, for it is the city of the ­Great King. 36 And do not ­ s wear by your head, for you can­not make even one hair ­white or ­black. 37 All you need to say is sim­ply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; any­thing be­yond this ­comes from the evil one. h

Eye for Eye 38 “You have ­heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and ­tooth for ­tooth.’ i 39 But I tell you, do not re­sist an evil per­son. If any­one s­ laps you on the r­ight c­ heek, turn to them the oth­er

a 15 Or seed ; also in verse 16    b 21 Exodus 20:13    c 22  The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman; also in verse 23.    d 22  Some manuscripts brother or sister without cause    e 22 An Aramaic term of contempt    f 27 Exodus 20:14    g 31 Deut. 24:1    h 37 Or from evil    i 38  Exodus 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21   

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c­ heek also. 40 And if any­one ­wants to sue you and take your ­shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If any­one forc­es you to go one mile, go with them two ­miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who ­wants to bor­row from you.”

PSALM 5:1 — 5:12 Psalm 5 a For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David.

1 Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. 2 Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 3 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. 4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. 5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; 6 you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest. 7 But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple. 8 Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies — ​ make your way straight before me. 9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies. 10 Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.

11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. 12 Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

REWIND Genesis 11:10 – 13:18; Matthew 5:21 – 42; Psalm 5

GOD WON’T GIVE UP ON HUMANKIND. Just when it looks like p­ eople might be trapped in sin forever, Genesis 11 – 13 reveals the first steps of God’s plan to save us. The Lord commands Abraham to leave his home country, promising him land and countless descendants. In Matthew 5 ­Jesus gives fresh ideas for getting along with adversaries and the opposite sex. And Psalm 5 offers hope in a cruel world. God hears your prayers, and because of his great love, he lets you come close to him. D

day7

GENESIS 14:1 — 16:16 Abram Rescues Lot

14

At the time when Am­ra­phel was king of Shi­nar,  b Ar­i­och king of El ­l a­sar, Ked­or­la­o­mer king of Elam and Ti­dal king of Goy ­im, 2 these ­k ings went to war a­ gainst Bera king of Sod­om, Bir­sha king of Go­mor­ rah, Shi­nab king of Ad­mah, Shem­e­ber king of Ze­boy­im, and the king of Bela (that is,

a In Hebrew texts 5:1-12 is numbered 5:2-13.    b 1  That is, Babylonia; also in verse 9   

DAY 7

21 Zoar). 3 All ­these lat­ter ­k ings ­joined forc­es in the Val­ley of Sid­d im (that is, the Dead Sea Val­ley). 4 For ­t welve y­ ears they had been sub­ ject to Ked­or­la­o­mer, but in the thir­teenth year they re­belled. 5 In the four ­teenth year, Ked­or­l a­o­mer and the ­k ings al­lied with him went out and de­ feat­ed the Reph­a ­ites in Ash­te­roth Kar­na ­im, the Zu­zites in Ham, the E ­ mites in Sha­veh Kir­ia­tha­im 6 and the Ho­rites in the hill coun­ try of Seir, as far as El Pa­ran near the des­ ert. 7 Then they t­ urned back and went to En Mish­pat (that is, Ka­desh), and they con­quered the ­whole ter­ri­to­r y of the Am­a ­lek­ites, as well as the Am­o­rites who were liv­ing in Haz­e­z on Ta­mar. 8 Then the king of Sod­ om, the king of Go­mor­rah, the king of Ad­mah, the king of Ze­boy­im and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) ­marched out and drew up t­ heir bat­t le ­lines in the Val­ley of Sid­d im 9 against Ked­or­la­o­mer king of Elam, Ti­dal king of Goy­im, Am­ra­ phel king of Shi­nar and Ar­i­och king of El­la­ sar  — ​four ­k ings ­against five. 10 Now the Val­ ley of Sid­d im was full of tar pits, and when the ­k ings of Sod­om and Go­mor­rah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the ­hills. 11 The four ­k ings ­seized all the ­goods of Sod­om and Go­mor­rah and all t­ heir food; then they went away. 12 They also car­r ied off ­A bram’s neph­ew Lot and his pos­ses­sions, ­since he was liv­ing in Sod­om. 13 A man who had es­caped came and re­port­ ed this to A ­ bram the He­brew. Now A ­ bram was liv­ing near the ­g reat ­trees of Mam­re the Am­o­r ite, a broth­er  a of Esh­kol and Aner, all of whom were al­lied with ­A bram. 14 When ­Abram ­heard that his rel­a­tive had been tak­ en cap­tive, he ­called out the 318 ­trained men born in his house­hold and went in pur­suit as far as Dan. 15 Dur­ing the ­n ight ­A bram di­ vid­ed his men to at­tack them and he rout­ed them, pur­su­ing them as far as Ho­bah, n ­ orth of Da­mas­c us. 16 He re­cov­ered all the ­goods and ­brought back his rel­a­tive Lot and his pos­ ses­sions, to­geth­er with the wom­en and the oth­er peo­ple. 17 Af ­t er ­A bram re­t urned from de­feat ­i ng

Ked­or­la­o­mer and the ­k ings al ­l ied with him, the king of Sod­om came out to meet him in the Val­ley of Sha­veh (that is, the ­K ing’s Val­ ley). 18 Then Mel­c hiz ­e­d ek king of Sa ­l em ­brought out ­bread and wine. He was p ­ riest of God Most High, 19 and he ­blessed A ­ bram, say ­ing, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then ­Abram gave him a ­tenth of ev­ery­thing. 21 The king of Sod­om said to ­Abram, “Give me the peo­ple and keep the ­goods for your­ self.” 22 But ­ Abram said to the king of Sod­om, “With ­raised hand I have ­s worn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Cre­a­tor of heav­ en and ­earth, 23 that I will ac­cept noth­ing be­ long­ing to you, not even a ­thread or the ­strap of a san­dal, so that you will nev­er be able to say, ‘I made ­Abram rich.’ 24 I will ac­cept noth­ ing but what my men have eat­en and the ­share that be­longs to the men who went with me — ​ to Aner, Esh­kol and Mam­re. Let them have ­their share.” The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

15

Af­ter this, the word of the Lord came to ­Abram in a vi­sion:

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, b your very great reward. c  ” 2 But ­A bram said, “Sov­er­eign Lord, what can you give me s­ ince I re­main child­less and the one who will in­her­it d my es­tate is El­i­e­ zer of Da­mas­c us?” 3 And ­A bram said, “You have giv­en me no chil­dren; so a ser­vant in my house­hold will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him out­side and said, “Look up at the sky and ­count the s­tars — ​if in­deed you

a 13 Or a relative; or an ally    b 1 Or sovereign    c 1 Or shield; / your reward will be very great    d 2  The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.   

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can ­count them.” Then he said to him, “So ­shall your off­spring  a be.” 6 Abram be­lieved the Lord, and he cred­it­ ed it to him as righ­teous­ness. 7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who ­brought you out of Ur of the Chal­de­ans to give you this land to take pos­ses­sion of it.” 8 But ­A bram said, “Sov­er­eign Lord, how can I know that I will gain pos­ses­sion of it?” 9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heif­er, a goat and a ram, each ­three ­years old, ­a long with a dove and a ­young pi­geon.” 10 Abram ­brought all ­t hese to him, cut them in two and ar­ranged the ­halves op­po­site each oth­er; the b ­ irds, how­ev­er, he did not cut in half. 11 Then b ­ irds of prey came down on the car­cass­es, but ­Abram ­drove them away. 12 As the sun was set­t ing, ­A bram fell into a deep s­ leep, and a t­ hick and dread­f ul dark­ ness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for cer­tain that for four hun­ dred ­years your de­scen­dants will be strang­ ers in a coun­t ry not ­t heir own and that they will be en­slaved and mis­treat­ed t­here. 14 But I will pun­ish the na­t ion they ­serve as ­slaves, and af­ter­ward they will come out with ­g reat pos­ses­sions. 15 You, how­ev­er, will go to your an­ces­tors in ­peace and be bur­ied at a good old age. 16 In the ­fourth gen­er­a­t ion your de­scen­ dants will come back here, for the sin of the Am­o­rites has not yet ­reached its full mea­sure.” 17 When the sun had set and dark­ness had fall­en, a smok­ing fire­pot with a blaz­ing t­ orch ap­p eared and ­p assed be­t ween the ­piec­e s. 18 On that day the Lord made a cov­ enant with ­Abram and said, “To your de­scen­dants I give this land, from the Wadi b of ­Egypt to the ­great riv­er, the Eu­phra­tes  — ​ 19 the land of the Ke­nites, Ken­iz­zites, Kad­mon­ites, 20 Hit­t ites, Per­iz­zites, Reph­a­ites, 21 Am­o­r ites, Ca­naan­ ites, Gir­ga­shites and Jeb­u­sites.” Hagar and Ishmael

16

Now Sa­rai, A ­ bram’s wife, had ­borne him no chil­d ren. But she had an Egyp­tian slave ­named Ha­gar; 2 so she said to ­Abram, “The Lord has kept me from hav­ing chil­d ren. Go, ­sleep with my slave; per­haps I can ­build a fam­i­ly ­through her.”

Abram ­agreed to what Sa­rai said. 3 So af­ter ­ bram had been liv­ing in Ca­naan ten ­years, A Sa­rai his wife took her Egyp­tian slave Ha­gar and gave her to her hus­band to be his wife. 4 He ­slept with Ha­gar, and she con­ceived. When she knew she was preg­nant, she be­ gan to de­spise her mis­tress. 5 Then Sa­rai said to ­Abram, “You are re­spon­si­ble for the ­w rong I am suf­fer­ing. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she ­k nows she is preg­nant, she de­spis­es me. May the Lord ­judge be­t ween you and me.” 6 “Your slave is in your ­hands,” ­Abram said. “Do with her what­ev­er you ­think best.” Then Sa­rai mis­treat­ed Ha­gar; so she fled from her. 7 The an­gel of the Lord ­found Ha­gar near a ­spring in the des­ert; it was the ­spring that is be­side the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Ha­gar, slave of Sa­rai, ­where have you come from, and ­where are you go­ing?” “I’m run­ning away from my mis­tress Sa­rai,” she an­swered. 9 Then the an­ g el of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mis­tress and sub­mit to her.” 10 The an­gel add­ed, “I will in­c rease your de­ scen­dants so much that they will be too nu­ mer­ous to count.” 11 The an­gel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, c for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility d all his brothers.” toward  13 She gave this name to the Lord who s­ poke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen e the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was ­called Beer La­hai Roi  f ; it is ­still ­there, be­t ween Ka­ desh and Be­red. 15 So Ha­gar bore ­Abram a son, and ­Abram gave the name Ish­ma­el to the son she had ­borne. 16 Abram was ­eighty-six y­ ears old when Ha­gar bore him Ish­ma­el.

a 5  Or seed    b 18 Or river    c 11  Ishmael means God hears.    d 12 Or live to the east / of    e 13 Or seen the back of    f 14  Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.   

23

MATTHEW 5:43 — 6:24 Love for Enemies 43 “You have ­ heard that it was said, ‘Love your neigh­bor  a and hate your en­e­my.’ 44 But I tell you, love your en­e­mies and pray for ­those who per­se­cute you, 45 that you may be chil­dren of your Fa­ther in heav­en. He caus­es his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and ­sends rain on the righ­teous and the un­righ­teous. 46 If you love ­those who love you, what re­w ard will you get? Are not even the tax col­lec­tors do­ing that? 47 And if you ­greet only your own peo­ple, what are you do­ing more than oth­ers? Do not even pa­gans do that? 48 Be per­fect, there­fore, as your heav­en­ly Fa­ther is per­fect.

DAY 7

“ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, b but deliver us from the evil one. c   ’ 14 For

if you for­g ive oth­er peo­ple when they sin ­against you, your heav­en­ly Fa­ther will also for­give you. 15 But if you do not for­give oth­ers ­their sins, your Fa­ther will not for­g ive your sins.

Giving to the Needy

Fasting

“Be care­ful not to prac­tice your righ­ teous­ness in ­front of oth­ers to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no re­ward from your Fa­ther in heav­en. 2 “So when you give to the ­ needy, do not an­nounce it with trum­pets, as the hyp­o­crites do in the syn­a­gogues and on the ­streets, to be hon­ored by oth­ers. Tru­ly I tell you, they have re­ceived ­t heir re­ward in full. 3 But when you give to the ­needy, do not let your left hand know what your ­right hand is do­ing, 4 so that your giv­ing may be in se­cret. Then your Fa­ ther, who sees what is done in se­cret, will re­ ward you.

16 “When you fast, do not look som­ ber as the hyp­o­crites do, for they dis­fig­u re ­their ­fac­es to show oth­ers they are fast­ing. Tru­ ly I tell you, they have re­ceived t­ heir re­ward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be ob­v i­ous to oth­ers that you are fast­ing, but only to your Fa­ther, who is un­seen; and your Fa­t her, who sees what is done in se­cret, will re­ward you.

6

Prayer 5 “And

when you pray, do not be like the hyp­o­c rites, for they love to pray stand­ing in the syn­a­gogues and on the ­street cor­ners to be seen by oth­ers. Tru­ly I tell you, they have re­ceived ­t heir re­ward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, ­c lose the door and pray to your Fa­ther, who is un­seen. Then your Fa­t her, who sees what is done in se­cret, will re­ward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on bab­bling like pa­gans, for they ­t hink they will be ­heard be­cause of ­their many ­words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Fa­t her k ­ nows what you need be­fore you ask him. 9 “This, then, is how you ­should pray:

Treasures in Heaven 19 “Do not ­store up for your­selves trea­sures on ­earth, ­where moths and ver­m in de­stroy, and ­where t­hieves b ­ reak in and s­teal. 20 But ­store up for your­selves trea­sures in heav­ en, w ­ here moths and ver­min do not de­stroy, and ­where t­ hieves do not ­break in and ­steal. 21 For ­where your trea­sure is, ­t here your ­heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are ­healthy, d your ­whole body will be full of ­l ight. 23 But if your eyes are un­healthy, e your w ­ hole body will be full of dark­ness. If then the ­light with­in you is dark­ness, how ­great is that dark­ness! 24 “No one can ­ serve two mas­ters. Ei­ther you will hate the one and love the oth­er, or you will be de­vot­ed to the one and de­spise the oth­ er. You can­not ­serve both God and mon­ey.”

a 43 Lev. 19:18    b 13  The Greek for temptation can also mean testing.    c 13 Or from evil ; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.    d 22  The Greek for healthy here implies generous.    e 23  The Greek for unhealthy here implies stingy.   

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PSALM 6:1 — 6:10 Psalm

6 a

as your master. And Psalm 6 promises that the Lord hears your crying when you flood your bed with tears. D

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith. b A psalm of David.

1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. 3 My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? 4 Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. 5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? 6 I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. 7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. 8 Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. 9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

REWIND Genesis 14 – 16; Matthew 5:43 – 6:24; Psalm 6

THE LORD KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING. In Genesis 14 – 16 Abraham doesn’t understand how God can make a childless man the father of a mighty nation, so he sleeps with a slave to produce a son. But in Matthew 5 – 6 God dares you to do life his way. ­Jesus challenges you to love your enemies like he does, to trust him with your needs, and to choose him

day8

GENESIS 17:1 — 18:33 The Covenant of Circumcision

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When ­Abram was nine­t y-nine y­ ears old, the Lord ap­peared to him and said, “I am God Al­mighty c; walk be­fore me faith­f ul ­ly and be blame­less. 2 Then I will make my cov­enant be­t ween me and you and will great­ly in­crease your num­bers.” 3 Abram fell face­ down, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my cov­enant with you: You will be the fa­t her of many na­t ions. 5 No lon­ger will you be ­c alled ­A bram d ; your name will be Abra­ham, e for I have made you a fa­ther of many na­tions. 6 I will make you very fruit­f ul; I will make na­tions of you, and ­k ings will come from you. 7 I will es­tab­lish my cov­ enant as an ever­last­ing cov­enant be­t ween me and you and your de­scen­dants af­ter you for the gen­er­a­tions to come, to be your God and the God of your de­scen­dants af­ter you. 8 The ­whole land of Ca­naan, ­where you now re­side as a for­eign­er, I will give as an ever­last­ing pos­ ses­sion to you and your de­scen­dants af­ter you; and I will be ­their God.” 9 Then God said to Abra­ham, “As for you, you must keep my cov­enant, you and your de­scen­dants af ­ter you for the gen­er­a­t ions to come. 10 This is my cov­enant with you and your de­scen­dants af­ter you, the cov­enant you are to keep: Ev­ery male ­a mong you ­shall be cir­cum­cised. 11 You are to un­der­go cir­cum­ci­

a In Hebrew texts 6:1-10 is numbered 6:2-11.    b Title: Probably a musical term    c 1 Hebrew El-Shaddai    d 5  Abram means exalted father.    e 5  Abraham probably means father of many.   

25 sion, and it will be the sign of the cov­enant be­tween me and you. 12 For the gen­er­a­t ions to come ev­ery male a­ mong you who is e­ ight days old must be cir­cum­cised, in­clud­ing t­ hose born in your house­hold or ­bought with mon­ ey from a for­eign­er — ​­those who are not your off­spring. 13 Wheth­er born in your house­hold or ­bought with your mon­ey, they must be cir­ cum­cised. My cov­enant in your ­f lesh is to be an ever­last­ing cov­enant. 14 Any un­cir­cum­cised male, who has not been cir­c um­c ised in the ­f lesh, will be cut off from his peo­ple; he has bro­ken my cov­enant.” 15 God also said to Abra­ham, “As for Sa­rai your wife, you are no lon­ger to call her Sa­rai; her name will be Sar­a h. 16 I will ­bless her and will sure­ly give you a son by her. I will ­bless her so that she will be the moth­er of na­tions; ­k ings of peo­ples will come from her.” 17 Abra­ham fell face­down; he ­laughed and said to him­self, “Will a son be born to a man a hun­d red ­years old? Will Sar­a h bear a ­child at the age of nine­t y?” 18 And Abra­ham said to God, “If only Ish­ma­el ­might live un­der your bless­ing!” 19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sar­ ah will bear you a son, and you will call him ­Isaac.  a I will es­tab­lish my cov­enant with him as an ever­last­ing cov­enant for his de­scen­dants af­ter him. 20 And as for Ish­ma­el, I have ­heard you: I will sure­ly ­bless him; I will make him fruit­f ul and will great­ly in­crease his num­bers. He will be the fa­t her of ­t welve rul­ers, and I will make him into a ­g reat na­t ion. 21 But my cov­enant I will es­tab­lish with ­Isaac, whom Sar­ah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had fin­ished speak­ing with Abra­ ham, God went up from him. 23 On that very day Abra­ham took his son Ish­ma­el and all t­hose born in his house­hold or b ­ ought with his mon­ey, ev­ery male in his house­hold, and cir­cum­cised them, as God told him. 24 Abra­ham was nine­t y-nine ­years old when he was cir­c um­cised, 25 and his son Ish­ma­el was thir­teen; 26 Abra­ham and his son Ish­ma­el were both cir­c um­cised on that very day. 27 And ev­ery male in Abra­ham’s house­ hold, in­c lud­ing t­hose born in his house­hold

or ­bought from a for­eign­er, was cir­cum­cised with him. The Three Visitors

18

The Lord ap­peared to Abra­ham near the g­ reat ­trees of Mam­re ­while he was sit­t ing at the en­t rance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abra­ham ­looked up and saw ­three men stand­ing near­by. When he saw them, he hur­ried from the en­trance of his tent to meet them and ­bowed low to the ground. 3 He said, “If I have ­ found fa­vor in your eyes, my lord, b do not pass your ser­vant by. 4 Let a lit­t le wa­ter be ­brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest un­der this tree. 5 Let me get you some­t hing to eat, so you can be re­freshed and then go on your way — ​now that you have come to your ser­vant.” “Very well,” they an­swered, “do as you say.” 6 So Abra­ h am hur­ried into the tent to Sar­a h. “Quick,” he said, “get ­three se­a hs c of the fin­est f­ lour and ­k nead it and bake some bread.” 7 Then he ran to the herd and se­ lect­ed a ­choice, ten­der calf and gave it to a ser­vant, who hur­ried to pre­pare it. 8 He then ­brought some ­curds and milk and the calf that had been pre­ pared, and set ­these be­fore them. ­W hile they ate, he ­stood near them un­der a tree. 9 “Where is your wife Sar­ a h?” they ­asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. 10 Then one of them said, “I will sure­ ly re­t urn to you ­about this time next year, and ­Sar­ah your wife will have a son.” Now Sar­ah was lis­ten­ing at the en­trance to the tent, ­which was be­hind him. 11 Abra­ham and Sar­a h were al­ready very old, and Sar­a h was past the age of child­bear­ing. 12 So Sar­a h ­laughed to her­self as she ­thought, “Af­ter I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this plea­sure?” 13 Then the Lord said to Abra­ham, “Why did Sar­ah ­laugh and say, ‘Will I real­ly have a ­child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is any­thing too hard for the Lord? I will re­t urn to you at the ap­point­ed time next year, and Sar­ah will have a son.”

a 19  Isaac means he laughs.    b 3 Or eyes, Lord    c 6  That is, probably about 36 pounds or about

16 kilograms   

DAY 8

DAY 8

26

15 Sar­a h was ­a fraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

Abraham Pleads for Sodom 16 When the men got up to l­eave, they l­ooked down to­ward Sod­om, and Abra­ham ­walked ­a long with them to see them on ­their way. 17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abra­ham what I am ­about to do? 18 Abra­ham will sure­ly be­come a ­g reat and pow­er­ful na­ tion, and all na­tions on e­ arth will be ­blessed ­t hrough him.  a 19 For I have cho­sen him, so that he will di­rect his chil­dren and his house­ hold af­ter him to keep the way of the Lord by do­ing what is ­right and just, so that the Lord will ­bring ­about for Abra­ham what he has prom­ised him.” 20 Then the Lord said, “The out­c ry ­against Sod­om and Go­mor­rah is so g­ reat and ­their sin so griev­ous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the out­c ry that has ­reached me. If not, I will know.” 22 The men t­ urned away and went to­w ard Sod­om, but Abra­ham re­mained stand­ing be­ fore the Lord. b 23 Then Abra­ham ap­proached him and said: “Will you ­sweep away the righ­ teous with the wick­ed? 24 What if ­there are fif­ty righ­teous peo­ple in the city? Will you real­ly ­sweep it away and not ­spare c the p ­ lace for the sake of the fif­t y righ­teous peo­ple in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a ­t hing — ​to kill the righ­teous with the wick­ed, treat­ing the righ­teous and the wick­ed ­a like. Far be it from you! Will not the ­Judge of all the ­earth do right?” 26 The Lord said, “If I find fif­t y righ­teous peo­ple in the city of Sod­om, I will s­ pare the ­whole ­place for ­their sake.” 27 Then Abra­ ham ­spoke up a­ gain: “Now that I have been so bold as to ­speak to the Lord, ­though I am noth­ing but dust and ash­ es, 28 what if the num­ber of the righ­teous is five less than fif­ty? Will you de­stroy the ­whole city for lack of five peo­ple?” “If I find for­t y-five t­ here,” he said, “I will not de­stroy it.”

29 Once ­ again he ­spoke to him, “What if only for­t y are ­found there?” He said, “For the sake of for­t y, I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be an­ gry, but let me ­speak. What if only thir­t y can be ­found there?” He an­swered, “I will not do it if I find thir­ ty there.” 31 Abra­ ham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to ­speak to the Lord, what if only twen­t y can be ­found there?” He said, “For the sake of twen­t y, I will not de­stroy it.” 32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be an­ gry, but let me ­speak just once more. What if only ten can be ­found there?” He an­s wered, “For the sake of ten, I will not de­stroy it.” 33 When the Lord had fin­ished speak­ing with Abra­h am, he left, and Abra­h am re­ turned home.

MATTHEW 6:25 — 7:23 Do Not Worry 25 “There­fore

I tell you, do not wor­r y ­about your life, what you will eat or ­drink; or ­about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than ­c lothes? 26 Look at the ­birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or ­store away in ­barns, and yet your heav­en­ly Fa­ther f­ eeds them. Are you not much more valu­able than they? 27 Can any one of you by wor­r y­ing add a sin­gle hour to your life d ? 28 “And why do you wor­ r y ­about ­c lothes? See how the flow­ers of the ­f ield grow. They do not la­bor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Sol­o­mon in all his splen­dor was ­dressed like one of ­these. 30 If that is how God ­clothes the ­grass of the ­f ield, ­which is here to­day and to­mor­row is ­thrown into the fire, will he not much more c­ lothe you — ​you of lit­tle ­faith? 31 So do not wor­ r y, say­ing, ‘What ­shall we eat?’ or ‘What ­shall we ­drink?’ or ‘What ­shall we wear?’ 32 For the pa­gans run af­ter all t­ hese ­things, and your heav­en­ly Fa­ther ­k nows that

a 18 Or will use his name in blessings (see 48:20)    b 22  Masoretic Text; an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition but the Lord remained standing before Abraham    c 24 Or forgive; also in verse 26    d 27 Or single cubit to

your height   

27 you need them. 33 But seek ­f irst his king­dom and his righ­teous­ness, and all ­these ­things will be giv­en to you as well. 34 There­fore do not wor­r y ­about to­mor­row, for to­mor­row will wor­r y a­ bout it­self. Each day has ­enough trou­ ble of its own. Judging Others

7

“Do not ­judge, or you too will be ­judged. 2 For in the same way you j­udge oth­ers, you will be ­judged, and with the mea­sure you use, it will be mea­sured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the ­speck of saw­dust in your broth­er’s eye and pay no at­ten­tion to the ­plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your broth­er, ‘Let me take the ­speck out of your eye,’ when all the time ­there is a ­plank in your own eye? 5 You hyp­o­crite, f­ irst take the p ­ lank out of your own eye, and then you will see clear­ ly to re­move the ­speck from your broth­er’s eye. 6 “Do not give dogs what is sa­c red; do not ­throw your ­pearls to pigs. If you do, they may tram­ple them un­der ­t heir feet, and turn and tear you to piec­es. Ask, Seek, Knock 7 “Ask

and it will be giv­en to you; seek and you will find; ­k nock and the door will be ­opened to you. 8 For ev­ery­one who asks re­ ceives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who ­k nocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for ­bread, will give him a ­stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a s­nake? 11 If you, then, ­t hough you are evil, know how to give good ­g ifts to your chil­d ren, how much more will your Fa­ther in heav­en give good ­gifts to ­those who ask him! 12 So in ev­ery­thing, do to oth­ers what you ­would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Proph­ets. The Narrow and Wide Gates 13 “En­ter ­t hrough the nar­row gate. For wide is the gate and ­broad is the road that ­leads to de­struc­tion, and many en­ter ­through it. 14 But ­small is the gate and nar­row the road that ­leads to life, and only a few find it.

True and False Prophets 15 “Watch

out for ­false proph­ets. They come to you in ­sheep’s cloth­ing, but in­ward­ly they

DAY 8

are fe­ro­cious ­wolves. 16 By t­ heir ­fruit you will rec­og­nize them. Do peo­ple pick ­g rapes from thorn­bush­es, or figs from this­tles? 17 Like­w ise, ev­ery good tree b ­ ears good f­ ruit, but a bad tree ­bears bad ­fruit. 18 A good tree can­not bear bad ­fruit, and a bad tree can­not bear good f­ruit. 19 Ev­ery tree that does not bear good ­f ruit is cut down and ­thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by ­their ­fruit you will rec­og­nize them.” True and False Disciples 21 “Not ev­ ery­one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will en­ter the king­dom of heav­en, but only the one who does the will of my Fa­t her who is in heav­en. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not proph­e­sy in your name and in your name ­drive out de­mons and in your name per­form many mir­a­c les?’ 23 Then I will tell them plain­ly, ‘I nev­er knew you. Away from me, you evil­do­ers!’ ”

PROVERBS 1:8 — 1:19 Warning Against the Invitation of Sinful Men

8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 9 They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. 10 My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them. 11 If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for innocent blood, let’s ambush some harmless soul; 12 let’s swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; 14 cast lots with us; we will all share the loot” — ​ 15 my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; 16 for their feet rush into evil, they are swift to shed blood. 17 How useless to spread a net where every bird can see it! 18 These men lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush only themselves!

DAY 9

28

19 Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the life of those who get it.

REWIND Genesis 17 – 18; Matthew 6:25 – 7:23; Proverbs 1:8 – 19

GOD NEVER BREAKS HIS PROMISES. When God swears in Genesis 17 – 18 that Abraham and Sarah will produce a son, the elderly woman laughs. But God himself reminds her nothing is too hard for him. Matthew 6 – 7 declares that the Lord cares for you far more than flowers, which he clothes with magnificent splendor. He won’t leave you unfed or unclothed, and he grants your good requests. Proverbs 1 assures you that God’s wisdom keeps you from joining in evil ­people’s sins. D

day9

GENESIS 19:1 — 20:18 Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

19

The two an­gels ar­r ived at Sod­om in the eve­n ing, and Lot was sit­ting in the gate­way of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and ­bowed down with his face to the ­g round. 2 “My ­lords,” he said, “please turn ­aside to your ser­vant’s ­house. You can wash your feet and ­spend the ­n ight and then go on your way ear­ly in the morn­ing.” “No,” they an­swered, “we will ­spend the ­night in the square.” 3 But he in­sist­ed so strong­ly that they did a 14 Or were married to   

go with him and en­tered his ­house. He pre­ pared a meal for them, bak­ing ­bread with­out ­yeast, and they ate. 4 Be­fore they had gone to bed, all the men from ev­ery part of the city of Sod­om  — ​both ­young and old  — ​sur ­round­ed the ­house. 5 They ­called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you to­night? ­Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” 6 Lot went out­side to meet them and shut the door be­h ind him 7 and said, “No, my ­friends. ­Don’t do this wick­ed ­thing. 8 Look, I have two daugh­ters who have nev­er ­slept with a man. Let me ­bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But ­don’t do any­thing to ­these men, for they have come un­der the pro­tec­tion of my roof.” 9 “Get out of our way,” they re­plied. “This fel­low came here as a for­eign­er, and now he ­wants to play the ­judge! ­We’ll ­treat you ­worse than them.” They kept bring­ing pres­sure on Lot and ­moved for­ward to b ­ reak down the door. 10 But the men in­ side r­eached out and ­pulled Lot back into the ­house and shut the door. 11 Then they ­struck the men who were at the door of the ­house, ­young and old, with blind­ness so that they ­could not find the door. 12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have any­one else here — ​sons-in-law, sons or daugh­ters, or any­one else in the city who be­ longs to you? Get them out of here, 13 be­cause we are go­ing to de­stroy this ­place. The out­cry to the Lord ­against its peo­ple is so ­great that he has sent us to de­stroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and ­spoke to his sons-inlaw, who were ­pledged to mar­r y a his daugh­ ters. He said, “Hur­r y and get out of this ­place, be­cause the Lord is ­about to de­stroy the city!” But his sons-in-law ­thought he was jok­ing. 15 With the com­ i ng of dawn, the an­gels ­u rged Lot, say­ing, “Hur­ry! Take your wife and your two daugh­ters who are here, or you will be ­swept away when the city is pun­ished.” 16 When he hes­i­tat­ed, the men g ­ rasped his hand and the ­hands of his wife and of his two daugh­ters and led them safe­ly out of the city, for the Lord was mer­ci­f ul to them. 17 As soon as they had ­brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your ­lives! ­Don’t look back, and

29 ­ on’t stop any­where in the ­plain! Flee to the d moun­tains or you will be ­swept away!” 18 But Lot said to them, “No, my l­ords, a ­please! 19 Your b ser­v ant has f­ound fa­vor in your b eyes, and you b have s­ hown g­ reat kind­ ness to me in spar­ing my life. But I ­can’t flee to the moun­tains; this di­sas­ter will over­take me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near ­enough to run to, and it is ­small. Let me flee to it — ​it is very ­small, ­isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” 21 He said to him, “Very well, I will ­g rant this re­quest too; I will not over­throw the town you ­speak of. 22 But flee ­there quick­ly, be­cause I can­not do any­thing un­til you r­ each it.” (That is why the town was ­called Zoar. c ) 23 By the time Lot ­ reached Zoar, the sun had ris­en over the land. 24 Then the Lord ­rained down burn­ing sul­fur on Sod­om and Go­mor­rah  — ​from the Lord out of the heav­ ens. 25 Thus he over­threw ­those cit­ies and the en­tire ­plain, de­stroy­ing all ­those liv­ing in the cit­ies — ​a nd also the veg­e­ta­tion in the land. 26 But ­L ot’s wife ­looked back, and she be­came a pil­lar of salt. 27 Ear­ly the next morn­ing Abra­ham got up and re­t urned to the ­place ­where he had ­stood be­fore the Lord. 28 He l­ooked down to­ward Sod­om and Go­mor­rah, to­ward all the land of the ­plain, and he saw ­dense ­smoke ris­ing from the land, like ­smoke from a fur­nace. 29 So when God de­ stroyed the cit­ies of the ­plain, he re­mem­bered Abra­ham, and he ­brought Lot out of the ca­tas­tro­phe that over­ threw the cit­ies ­where Lot had lived. Lot and His Daughters 30 Lot and his two daugh­ters left Zoar and set­t led in the moun­tains, for he was ­a fraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daugh­ters ­lived in a cave. 31 One day the old­er daugh­ter said to the youn­ger, “Our fa­ther is old, and t­here is no man ­a round here to give us chil­dren — ​as is the cus­tom all over the ­earth. 32 Let’s get our fa­ther to ­drink wine and then ­sleep with him and pre­serve our fam­i­ly line ­t hrough our fa­ ther.”

DAY 9

33 That n ­ ight they got ­their fa­ther to ­drink wine, and the old­er daugh­ter went in and s­ lept with him. He was not a­ ware of it when she lay down or when she got up. 34 The next day the old­er daugh­ter said to the youn­ger, “Last n ­ ight I s­ lept with my fa­ ther. ­L et’s get him to ­d rink wine a­ gain to­ night, and you go in and ­sleep with him so we can pre­serve our fam­i­ly line ­through our fa­t her.” 35 So they got ­their fa­ther to ­d rink wine that ­night also, and the youn­ger daugh­ ter went in and ­slept with him. ­Again he was not ­aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. 36 So both of ­L ot’s daugh­ters be­came preg­ nant by t­ heir fa­ther. 37 The old­er daugh­ter had a son, and she ­named him Moab d ; he is the fa­ ther of the Mo­ab­ites of to­day. 38 The youn­ger daugh­ter also had a son, and she ­named him Ben-Ammi e; he is the fa­ther of the Am­mon­ ites   f of to­day.

Abraham and Abimelek

20

Now Abra­ham ­moved on from ­there into the re­gion of the Ne­gev and ­lived be­tween Ka­desh and Shur. For a ­while he ­stayed in Ge­rar, 2 and ­there Abra­ham said of his wife Sar­ah, “She is my sis­ter.” Then Abim­ e­lek king of Ge­rar sent for Sar­ah and took her. 3 But God came to Abim­ e­lek in a d ­ ream one ­night and said to him, “You are as good as dead be­cause of the wom­an you have tak­en; she is a mar­ried wom­an.” 4 Now Abim­e­lek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you de­stroy an in­no­cent na­tion? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sis­ ter,’ and ­didn’t she also say, ‘He is my broth­er’? I have done this with a ­c lear con­science and ­clean hands.” 6 Then God said to him in the ­d ream, “Yes, I know you did this with a ­c lear con­science, and so I have kept you from sin­ning ­against me. That is why I did not let you t­ouch her. 7 Now re­t urn the ­man’s wife, for he is a proph­ et, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not re­t urn her, you may be sure that you and all who be­long to you will die.”

a 18 Or No, Lord ; or No, my lord    b 19  The Hebrew is singular.    c 22  Zoar means small.    d 37  Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father.    e 38  Ben-Ammi means son of my father’s people.    f 38 Hebrew

Bene-Ammon   

DAY 9

30

8 Ear­ ly the next morn­ing Abim­e­lek sum­ moned all his of­f i­cials, and when he told them all that had hap­pened, they were very much ­a fraid. 9 Then Abim­e­lek ­called Abra ­ham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I w ­ ronged you that you have b ­ rought such ­g reat ­g uilt upon me and my king­dom? You have done ­things to me that ­should nev­ er be done.” 10 And Abim­e­lek ­asked Abra­ham, “What was your rea­son for do­ing this?” 11 Abra­ h am re­ plied, “I said to my­ s elf, ‘There is sure­ly no fear of God in this p ­ lace, and they will kill me be­c ause of my wife.’ 12 Be­sides, she real­ly is my sis­ter, the daugh­ter of my fa­ther ­though not of my moth­er; and she be­came my wife. 13 And when God had me wan­der from my fa­ther’s house­hold, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Ev­ery­where we go, say of me, “He is my broth­er.” ’ ” 14 Then Abim­e­lek ­brought ­sheep and cat­t le and male and fe­male ­slaves and gave them to Abra­ham, and he re­t urned Sar­a h his wife to him. 15 And Abim­e­lek said, “My land is be­fore you; live wher­ev­er you like.” 16 To Sar­ a h he said, “I am giv­ing your broth­er a thou­sand shek­els  a of sil­ver. This is to cov­er the of­fense ­against you be­fore all who are with you; you are com­plete­ly vin­di­cat­ed.” 17 Then Abra­ham ­prayed to God, and God ­healed Abim­e­lek, his wife and his fe­male ­slaves so they ­could have chil­dren ­again, 18 for the Lord had kept all the wom­en in Abim­ e­lek’s house­hold from con­ceiv ­ing be­cause of Abra­ham’s wife Sar­ah.

MATTHEW 7:24 — 8:22 The Wise and Foolish Builders 24 “There­fore

ev­ery­one who ­hears ­t hese ­ ords of mine and puts them into prac­tice is w like a wise man who ­built his h ­ ouse on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the ­streams rose, and the w ­ inds blew and beat a­ gainst that ­house; yet it did not fall, be­cause it had its foun­da­tion on the rock. 26 But ev­ery­one who ­hears t­ hese ­words of mine and does not put them into prac­tice is like a fool­ish man

who ­built his ­house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the s­ treams rose, and the w ­ inds blew and beat a­ gainst that ­house, and it fell with a ­g reat crash.” 28 When ­ Jesus had fin­ished say­ing t­hese t­ hings, the ­crowds were ­amazed at his teach­ ing, 29 be­cause he ­taught as one who had au­ thor­i­t y, and not as ­their teach­ers of the law.

Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy

8

When ­Jesus came down from the moun­ tain­side, ­large ­crowds fol ­lowed him. 2 A man with lep­ro­sy  b came and ­k nelt be­fore him and said, “Lord, if you are will­ing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus r ­eached out his hand and t­ouched the man. “I am will­ing,” he said. “Be c­ lean!” Im­me­d i­ate­ly he was ­c leansed of his lep­ro­s y. 4 Then ­Jesus said to him, “See that you ­don’t tell any­one. But go, show your­self to the ­priest and of­fer the gift Mo­ses com­mand­ed, as a tes­ ti­mo­ny to them.” The Faith of the Centurion 5 When ­J esus had en­t ered Ca­p er ­n a­u m, a cen­tu­ri­on came to him, ask­ing for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my ser­vant lies at home par­ a­lyzed, suf­fer­ing ter­ri­bly.” 7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” 8 The cen­t u­r i­on re­plied, “Lord, I do not de­ serve to have you come un­der my roof. But just say the word, and my ser­vant will be ­healed. 9 For I my­self am a man un­der au­t hor­i­t y, with sol­diers un­der me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he c­ omes. I say to my ser­vant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When J­esus ­ heard this, he was ­a mazed and said to ­those fol­low­ing him, “Tru­ly I tell you, I have not ­found any­one in Is­ra­el with such ­great ­faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take ­their plac­es at the ­feast with Abra­ham, ­Isaac and Ja­cob in the king­dom of heav­en. 12 But the sub­jects of the king­dom will be t­hrown out­side, into the dark­ness, ­where ­there will be weep­ing and gnash­ing of teeth.” 13 Then ­ Jesus said to the cen­tu­ri­on, “Go!

a 16  That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms    b 2  The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy

was used for various diseases affecting the skin.   

DAY 9

31 Let it be done just as you be­lieved it ­would.” And his ser­vant was ­healed at that mo­ment. Jesus Heals Many 14 When

­Jesus came into Pe­ter’s h ­ ouse, he saw Pe­ter’s moth­er-in-law ly­ing in bed with a fe­ver. 15 He ­touched her hand and the fe­ver left her, and she got up and be­gan to wait on him. 16 When eve­n ing came, many who were de­ mon-pos­sessed were ­brought to him, and he ­d rove out the spir­its with a word and ­healed all the sick. 17 This was to ful­fill what was spo­ken ­through the proph­et Isa­iah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” a The Cost of Following Jesus 18 When ­Jesus saw the ­c rowd ­a round him, he gave or­ders to ­cross to the oth­er side of the lake. 19 Then a teach­er of the law came to him and said, “Teach­er, I will fol­low you wher­ev­er you go.” 20 Jesus re­plied, “Fox­es have d ­ ens and b ­ irds have n ­ ests, but the Son of Man has no ­place to lay his head.” 21 An­oth­er dis­c i­ple said to him, “Lord, ­f irst let me go and bury my fa­ther.” 22 But ­Jesus told him, “Fol­low me, and let the dead bury ­their own dead.”

PSALM 7:1 — 7:9 Psalm 7 b A shiggaion c of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite.

1 Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, 2 or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust. d 6 Arise, Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice. 7 Let the assembled peoples gather around you, while you sit enthroned over them on high. 8 Let the Lord judge the peoples. Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High. 9 Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure — ​ you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts.

REWIND Genesis 19 – 20; Matthew 7:24 – 8:22; Psalm 7:1 – 9

IT’S WISE TO LISTEN AND OBEY. Genesis 19 – 20 shows the Lord destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their disobedience. In Matthew 7:24 – 27 ­Jesus warns that ­people who ignore his words are like a man who builds a house on sand. When a storm blows hard, his home crashes down. But anyone who acts on his words stays safe. Psalm 7 says those who do good can go to God and find refuge, a place where no one can tear them to pieces. D

3 Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands — ​ 4 if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe — ​ a 17 Isaiah 53:4 (see Septuagint)    b In Hebrew texts 7:1-17 is numbered 7:2-18.    c Title: Probably a literary or musical term    d 5  The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.   

DAY 10

32

day10 GENESIS 21:1 — 23:20 The Birth of Isaac

21

Now the Lord was gra­cious to Sar­ah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sar­a h what he had prom­ised. 2 Sar­ah be­came preg­nant and bore a son to Abra­ham in his old age, at the very time God had prom­ised him. 3 Abra­ ham gave the name ­Isaac a to the son Sar­ah bore him. 4 When his son ­Isaac was ­eight days old, Abra­ham cir­cum­cised him, as God com­mand­ed him. 5 Abra­ham was a hun­d red ­years old when his son ­Isaac was born to him. 6 Sar­a h said, “God has ­brought me laugh­ter, and ev­ery­one who ­hears ­about this will ­laugh with me.” 7 And she add­ed, “Who ­would have said to Abra­ham that Sar­a h ­would ­nurse chil­ dren? Yet I have b ­ orne him a son in his old age.” Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away 8 The

c­ hild grew and was ­weaned, and on the day I­saac was w ­ eaned Abra­ham held a ­great ­feast. 9 But Sar­a h saw that the son whom Ha­gar the Egyp­tian had b ­ orne to Abra­ham was mock ­i ng, 10 and she said to Abra­ham, “Get rid of that ­slave wom­an and her son, for that wom­a n’s son will nev­er ­share in the in­ her­i­tance with my son Isaac.” 11 The mat ­ter dis­t ressed Abra ­ham great ­ly be­cause it con­cerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so dis­tressed ­about the boy and your slave wom­an. Lis­ten to what­ever Sar­a h ­tells you, be­cause it is ­through ­Isaac that your off­spring b will be reck­oned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a na­t ion also, be­cause he is your off­spring.” 14 Ear­ ly the next morn­ing Abra­ham took some food and a skin of wa­ter and gave them to Ha­gar. He set them on her shoul­ders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wan­dered in the Des­ert of Be­ er­she­ba.

15 When the wa­ter in the skin was gone, she put the boy un­der one of the bush­es. 16 Then she went off and sat down ­about a bow­shot away, for she ­thought, “I can­not ­watch the boy die.” And as she sat ­there, she c be­gan to sob. 17 God ­heard the boy cry­ing, and the an­gel of God c­ alled to Ha­gar from heav­en and said to her, “What is the mat­ter, Ha­gar? Do not be ­a fraid; God has ­heard the boy cry­ing as he lies ­there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a ­great na­tion.” 19 Then God ­opened her eyes and she saw a well of wa­ter. So she went and ­f illed the skin with wa­ter and gave the boy a drink. 20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He ­lived in the des­ert and be­came an ar­cher. 21 While he was liv­ing in the Des­ert of Pa­ran, his moth­er got a wife for him from Egypt.

The Treaty at Beersheba 22 At that time Abim­ e­lek and Phi­col the com­mand­er of his forc­es said to Abra­ham, “God is with you in ev­ery­thing you do. 23 Now ­swear to me here be­fore God that you will not deal false­ly with me or my chil­dren or my de­ scen­dants. Show to me and the coun­try ­where you now re­side as a for­eign­er the same kind­ ness I have ­shown to you.” 24 Abra­ham said, “I ­s wear it.” 25 Then Abra­ham com­plained to Abim­e­lek ­about a well of wa­ter that Abim­e­lek’s ser­vants had ­s eized. 26 But Abim­e­lek said, “I ­don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I ­heard ­about it only to­day.” 27 So Abra­ ham b ­ rought s­heep and cat­tle and gave them to Abim­e­lek, and the two men made a trea­t y. 28 Abra­ham set ­apart sev­en ewe ­lambs from the f­ lock, 29 and Abim­e­lek ­asked Abra­ham, “What is the mean­ing of ­these sev­en ewe l­ambs you have set a­ part by them­ selves?” 30 He re­plied, “Ac­c ept ­t hese sev­en ­l ambs from my hand as a wit­ness that I dug this well.” 31 So that ­place was ­called Be­er­she­ba,  d be­ cause the two men ­swore an oath there. 32 Af­ter the trea­t y had been made at Be­er­ she­ba, Abim­e­lek and Phi­col the com­mand­er

a 3  Isaac means he laughs.    b 12  Or seed    c 16  Hebrew; Septuagint the child    d 31  Beersheba can mean

well of seven and well of the oath.   

DAY 10

33 of his forc­es re­t urned to the land of the Phi­ lis­tines. 33 Abra­ham plant­ed a tam­a ­risk tree in Be­er­she­ba, and t­here he ­called on the name of the Lord, the Eter­nal God. 34 And Abra­ ham ­stayed in the land of the Phi­lis­t ines for a long time. Abraham Tested

22

Some time lat­er God test­ed Abra­ ham. He said to him, “Abra­ham!” “Here I am,” he re­plied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love — ​­Isaac — ​a nd go to the re­g ion of Mo­ri­a h. Sac­ri­fice him ­there as a ­burnt of­fer­ing on a moun­tain I will show you.” 3 Ear­ly the next morn­ing Abra­ham got up and load­ed his don­key. He took with him two of his ser­vants and his son I­ saac. When he had cut ­enough wood for the ­burnt of­fer­ing, he set out for the ­place God had told him ­about. 4 On the ­third day Abra­ham ­looked up and saw the ­place in the dis­tance. 5 He said to his ser­vants, “Stay here with the don­key ­while I and the boy go over ­there. We will wor­ship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abra­ham took the wood for the ­burnt of­ fer­ing and ­placed it on his son ­Isaac, and he him­self car­ried the fire and the ­k nife. As the two of them went on to­geth­er, 7 Isaac ­spoke up and said to his fa­ther Abra­ham, “Fa­ther?” “Yes, my son?” Abra­ham re­plied. “The fire and wood are here,” ­Isaac said, “but ­where is the lamb for the ­burnt of­fer­ing?” 8 Abra­ ham an­swered, “God him­self will pro­v ide the lamb for the ­burnt of­fer­ing, my son.” And the two of them went on to­geth­er. 9 When they r ­eached the ­place God had told him ­about, Abra­ham ­built an al­tar ­there and ar­ranged the wood on it. He b ­ ound his son ­Isaac and laid him on the al­tar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he r­ eached out his hand and took the ­k nife to slay his son. 11 But the an­gel of the Lord ­called out to him from heav­en, “Abra­ham! Abra­ham!” “Here I am,” he re­plied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do any­thing to him. Now I know that

you fear God, be­cause you have not with­held from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abra­ham ­looked up and ­t here in a thick­ et he saw a ram a ­caught by its ­horns. He went over and took the ram and sac­r i­f iced it as a ­burnt of­fer­ing in­stead of his son. 14 So Abra­ ham ­called that ­place The Lord Will Pro­ vide. And to this day it is said, “On the moun­ tain of the Lord it will be pro­v id­ed.” 15 The an­g el of the Lord ­c alled to Abra­ ham from heav­en a sec­ond time 16 and said, “I ­swear by my­self, de­c lares the Lord, that be­ cause you have done this and have not with­ held your son, your only son, 17 I will sure­ly ­bless you and make your de­scen­dants as nu­ mer­ous as the ­stars in the sky and as the sand on the sea­shore. Your de­scen­dants will take pos­ses­sion of the cit­ies of ­their en­e­mies, 18 and ­t hrough your off­spring  b all na­t ions on ­earth will be ­blessed, c be­cause you have ­obeyed me.” 19 Then Abra­ham re­t urned to his ser­vants, and they set off to­geth­er for Be­er­she­ba. And Abra­ham ­stayed in Be­er­she­ba. Nahor’s Sons 20 Some

time lat­ e r Abra­ h am was told, “Mil­k ah is also a moth­er; she has b ­ orne sons to your broth­er Na­hor: 21 Uz the first­born, Buz his broth­er, Kem­u­el (the fa­ther of Aram), 22 Ke­sed, Hazo, Pil­d ash, Jid­laph and Be­t hu­ el.” 23 Be­thu­el be­came the fa­ther of Re­bek­a h. Mil­k ah bore ­these e­ ight sons to Abra­ham’s broth­er Na­hor. 24 His con­cu­bine, ­whose name was Reu­mah, also had sons: Te­bah, Ga­ham, Ta­hash and Ma­a­k ah. The Death of Sarah

23

Sar­ah ­lived to be a hun­d red and twen­t y-sev­en ­y ears old. 2 She died at Kir­i­ath Arba (that is, He­bron) in the land of Ca­naan, and Abra­ham went to ­mourn for Sar­ah and to weep over her. 3 Then Abra­ham rose from be­side his dead wife and ­spoke to the Hit­t ites. d He said, 4 “I am a for­eign­er and strang­er ­a mong you. Sell me some prop­er­t y for a buri­a l site here so I can bury my dead.”

a 13  Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text a ram behind him    b 18  Or seed    c 18 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)    d 3 Or the descendants of Heth; also in verses 5, 7, 10,

16, 18 and 20   

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34

5 The Hit­ t ites re­plied to Abra­ham, 6 “Sir, lis­ten to us. You are a ­mighty ­prince ­a mong us. Bury your dead in the choic­est of our ­tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for bury­ing your dead.” 7 Then Abra­ham rose and ­bowed down be­ fore the peo­ple of the land, the Hit­tites. 8 He said to them, “If you are will­ing to let me bury my dead, then lis­ten to me and in­ter­cede with ­Ephron son of Zo­har on my be­half  9 so he will sell me the cave of Mach­pe­lah, ­which be­longs to him and is at the end of his ­f ield. Ask him to sell it to me for the full ­price as a buri­a l site ­among you.” 10 Ephron the Hit­ t ite was sit­ting ­a mong his peo­ple and he re­plied to Abra­ham in the hear­ing of all the Hit­t ites who had come to the gate of his city. 11 “No, my lord,” he said. “Lis­ten to me; I give a you the ­field, and I give a you the cave that is in it. I give a it to you in the pres­ence of my peo­ple. Bury your dead.” 12 Again Abra­ham b ­ owed down be­fore the peo­ple of the land 13 and he said to ­Ephron in ­their hear­ing, “Lis­ten to me, if you will. I will pay the ­price of the ­f ield. Ac­cept it from me so I can bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron an­s wered Abra­ham, 15 “Lis­ten to me, my lord; the land is w ­ orth four hun­d red shek­els  b of sil­ver, but what is that be­t ween you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abra­ham ­a greed to ­Ephron’s ­terms and ­weighed out for him the p ­ rice he had n ­ amed in the hear­ing of the Hit­tites: four hun­d red shek­els of sil­ver, ac­cord­ing to the ­weight cur­ rent ­among the mer­chants. 17 So ­ Ephron’s f­ield in Mach­p e­lah near Mam­re — ​both the ­f ield and the cave in it, and all the t­rees with­in the bor­ders of the ­f ield  — ​was deed­e d 18 to Abra­h am as his prop­er­t y in the pres­ence of all the Hit­tites who had come to the gate of the city. 19 Af­ ter­w ard Abra­h am bur­ied his wife Sar­ah in the cave in the ­f ield of Mach­p e­lah near Mam­re (which is at He­bron) in the land of Ca­naan. 20 So the ­f ield and the cave in it were deed­ed to Abra­ham by the Hit­t ites as a buri­ al site.

MATTHEW 8:23 — 9:13 Jesus Calms the Storm 23 Then he got into the boat and his dis­c i­ ples fol­lowed him. 24 Sud­den­ly a fu­ri­ous ­storm came up on the lake, so that the ­waves s­ wept over the boat. But ­Jesus was sleep­ing. 25 The dis­ci­ples went and woke him, say­ing, “Lord, save us! ­We’re go­ing to drown!” 26 He re­plied, “You of lit­t le ­faith, why are you so ­a fraid?” Then he got up and re­buked the ­w inds and the ­waves, and it was com­plete­ ly calm. 27 The men were ­a mazed and ­asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the w ­ inds and the ­waves obey him!”

Jesus Restores Two DemonPossessed Men 28 When he ar­ r ived at the oth­e r side in the re­g ion of the Gad­a ­renes, c two de­monpos­ s essed men com­ i ng from the ­ t ombs met him. They were so vi­o­lent that no one ­could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shout­ed. “Have you come here to tor­t ure us be­fore the ap­ point­ed time?” 30 Some dis­tance from them a ­large herd of pigs was feed­ing. 31 The de­mons ­begged ­Jesus, “If you ­d rive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the ­whole herd ­rushed down the ­steep bank into the lake and died in the wa­ter. 33 Those tend­ing the pigs ran off, went into the town and re­port­ ed all this, in­c lud­ing what had hap­pened to the ­de­mon-pos­sessed men. 34 Then the ­whole town went out to meet ­Jesus. And when they saw him, they plead­ed with him to ­leave ­their re­gion.

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

9

Jesus ­stepped into a boat, ­c rossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men ­brought to him a par­a ­lyzed man, ly­ing on a mat. When ­Jesus saw ­their f­ aith, he said to the man, “Take ­heart, son; your sins are for­giv­en.”

a 11  Or sell    b 15  That is, about 10 pounds or about 4.6 kilograms    c 28  Some manuscripts Gergesenes;

other manuscripts Gerasenes   

DAY 11

35 3 At this, some of the teach­ers of the law said to them­selves, “This fel­low is blas­phem­ing!” 4 Know­ing ­t heir ­t houghts, ­Jesus said, “Why do you en­ter­tain evil ­thoughts in your ­hearts? 5 Which is eas­ i­er: to say, ‘Your sins are for­ given,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has au­thor­i­t y on ­earth to for­give sins.” So he said to the par­a ­lyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the c­ rowd saw this, they were ­f illed with awe; and they ­praised God, who had giv­en such au­thor­i­t y to man.

The Calling of Matthew 9 As ­Jesus went on from t­ here, he saw a man ­ amed Mat­t hew sit­t ing at the tax col­lec­tor’s n ­booth. “Fol­low me,” he told him, and Mat­ thew got up and fol­lowed him. 10 While ­Jesus was hav­ing din­ner at Mat­ thew’s ­house, many tax col­lec­tors and sin­ ners came and ate with him and his dis­ci­ples. 11 When the Phar­i­sees saw this, they ­asked his dis­ci­ples, “Why does your teach­er eat with tax col­lec­tors and sin­ners?” 12 On hear­ing this, ­Jesus said, “It is not the ­healthy who need a doc­tor, but the sick. 13 But go and ­learn what this ­means: ‘I de­sire mer­c y, not sac­ri­f ice.’  a For I have not come to call the righ­teous, but sin­ners.”

PSALM 7:10 — 7:17 10 My shield b is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day. 12 If he does not relent, c will sharpen his sword; he  he will bend and string his bow. 13 He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows. 14 Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. 15 Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made.

16 The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads. 17 I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.

REWIND Genesis 21 – 23; Matthew 8:23 – 9:13; Psalm 7:10 – 17

GOD DESERVES YOUR TRUST. Genesis 21 – 23 shows Abraham acting on a divine command to sacrifice his much-loved son, a test agonizing beyond imagination. In Matthew 8 – 9 ­people face intense challenges like paralysis, deadly waters, and legions of demons. And in Psalm 7 David finds himself face to face with swords and flaming arrows. In each of these grim situations, God proves he’s worth trusting. No matter what you endure today, you can be sure the Lord is on your side. D

day11 GENESIS 24:1 — 24:67 Isaac and Rebekah

24

Abra­ham was now very old, and the Lord had ­blessed him in ev­ery way. 2 He said to the sen­ior ser­v ant in his house­ hold, the one in c­ harge of all that he had, “Put your hand un­der my ­thigh. 3 I want you to ­swear by the Lord, the God of heav­en and the God of ­earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daugh­ters of the

a 13  Hosea 6:6    b 10 Or sovereign    c 12 Or If anyone does not repent, / God   

DAY 11

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­Ca­naan­ites, ­a mong whom I am liv ­ing, 4 but will go to my coun­try and my own rel­a­tives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 The ser­ v ant ­asked him, “What if the wom­an is un­w ill­ing to come back with me to this land? S ­ hall I then take your son back to the coun­try you came from?” 6 “Make sure that you do not take my son back t­ here,” Abra­ham said. 7 “The Lord, the God of heav­en, who ­brought me out of my fa­ ther’s house­hold and my na­tive land and who ­spoke to me and prom­ised me on oath, say­ing, ‘To your off­spring a I will give this land’ — ​he will send his an­gel be­fore you so that you can get a wife for my son from ­there. 8 If the wom­ an is un­w ill­ing to come back with you, then you will be re­leased from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back ­there.” 9 So the ser­vant put his hand un­der the ­thigh of his mas­ter Abra­ham and ­s wore an oath to him con­cern­ing this mat­ter. 10 Then the ser­ vant left, tak­ing with him ten of his mas­ter’s cam­els load­ed with all ­k inds of good ­things from his mas­ter. He set out for Aram Na­ha­ra­im  b and made his way to the town of Na­hor. 11 He had the cam­els ­k neel down near the well out­side the town; it was to­ward eve­n ing, the time the wom­en go out to draw wa­ter. 12 Then he ­prayed, “Lord, God of my mas­ ter Abra­ham, make me suc­cess­f ul to­day, and show kind­ness to my mas­ter Abra­ham. 13 See, I am stand­ing be­side this ­spring, and the daugh­ters of the towns­peo­ple are com­ing out to draw wa­ter. 14 May it be that when I say to a young wom­an, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a ­drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll wa­ter your cam­els too’ — ​let her be the one you have cho­sen for your ser­vant I­ saac. By this I will know that you have ­shown kind­ness to my mas­ter.” 15 Be­fore he had fin­ished pray­ing, Re­bek­a h came out with her jar on her shoul­der. She was the daugh­ter of Be­t hu­el son of Mil­k ah, who was the wife of Abra­ham’s broth­er Na­hor. 16 The wom­a n was very beau­t i­f ul, a vir­g in; no man had ever ­slept with her. She went down to the ­spring, ­f illed her jar and came up again.

17 The ser­vant hur­r ied to meet her and said, “Please give me a lit­t le wa­ter from your jar.” 18 “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quick­ ly low­ered the jar to her ­hands and gave him a drink. 19 Af­ter she had giv­en him a ­d rink, she said, “I’ll draw wa­ter for your cam­els too, un­til they have had e­ nough to d ­ rink.” 20 So she quick­ly emp­tied her jar into the ­trough, ran back to the well to draw more wa­ter, and drew ­enough for all his cam­els. 21 With­out say­ing a word, the man ­watched her close­ly to ­learn wheth­er or not the Lord had made his jour­ney suc­ cess­f ul. 22 When the cam­els had fin­ished drink­ing, the man took out a gold nose ring weigh­ing a beka c and two gold brace­lets weigh­ing ten shek­els.  d 23 Then he ­asked, “Whose daugh­ter are you? ­Please tell me, is ­there room in your fa­ther’s ­house for us to ­spend the night?” 24 She an­s wered him, “I am the daugh­ter of Be­thu­el, the son that Mil­k ah bore to Na­hor.” 25 And she add­ ed, “We have plen­t y of ­straw and fod­der, as well as room for you to ­spend the night.” 26 Then the man ­ bowed down and wor­ shiped the Lord, 27 say­ing, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my mas­ter Abra­ham, who has not aban­doned his kind­ness and faith­f ul­ ness to my mas­ter. As for me, the Lord has led me on the jour­ney to the ­house of my mas­ ter’s rel­a­tives.” 28 The young wom­ a n ran and told her moth­er’s house­hold ­about ­these ­things. 29 Now Re­bek­ah had a broth­er ­named La­ban, and he hur­ried out to the man at the ­spring. 30 As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the brace­lets on his sis­ter’s arms, and had ­heard Re­bek­a h tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and ­found him stand­ing by the cam­els near the ­spring. 31 “Come, you who are b ­ lessed by the Lord,” he said. “Why are you stand­ing out here? I have pre­pared the ­house and a ­place for the cam­els.” 32 So the man went to the ­house, and the cam­els were un­load­ed. ­Straw and fod­der were ­brought for the cam­els, and wa­ter for him and his men to wash ­t heir feet. 33 Then food was

a 7  Or seed    b 10  That is, Northwest Mesopotamia    c 22  That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.7 grams    d 22  That is, about 4 ounces or about 115 grams   

37 set be­fore him, but he said, “I will not eat un­til I have told you what I have to say.” “Then tell us,” La­ban said. 34 So he said, “I am Abra­ ham’s ser­v ant. 35 The Lord has ­blessed my mas­ter abun­dant­ ly, and he has be­come ­wealthy. He has giv­en him ­sheep and cat­tle, sil­ver and gold, male and fe­male ser­vants, and cam­els and don­keys. 36 My mas­ter’s wife Sar­a h has ­borne him a son in her old age, and he has giv­en him ev­ery­ thing he owns. 37 And my mas­ter made me ­s wear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daugh­ters of the Ca­ naan­ites, in w ­ hose land I live, 38 but go to my fa­ther’s fam­i­ly and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’ 39 “Then I ­ asked my mas­ter, ‘What if the wom­an will not come back with me?’ 40 “He re­ plied, ‘The Lord, be­fore whom I have ­walked faith­ful­ly, will send his an­gel with you and make your jour­ney a suc­cess, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my fa­t her’s fam­i­ly. 41 You will be re­leased from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you — ​ then you will be re­leased from my oath.’ 42 “When I came to the ­ spring to­d ay, I said, ‘Lord, God of my mas­ter Abra­ham, if you will, ­please ­g rant suc­cess to the jour­ney on ­which I have come. 43 See, I am stand­ing be­side this ­spring. If a y­ oung wom­a n ­comes out to draw wa­ter and I say to her, “Please let me ­drink a lit­t le wa­ter from your jar,” 44 and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw wa­ter for your cam­els too,” let her be the one the Lord has cho­sen for my mas­ter’s son.’ 45 “Be­ fore I fin­ished pray­ing in my h ­ eart, Re­bek­ah came out, with her jar on her shoul­ der. She went down to the ­spring and drew wa­ter, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ 46 “She quick­ ly low­ered her jar from her shoul­der and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll wa­ter your cam­els too.’ So I d ­ rank, and she wa­tered the cam­els also. 47 “I ­asked her, ‘Whose daugh­ter are you?’ “She said, ‘The daugh­ter of Be­thu­el son of Na­hor, whom Mil­k ah bore to him.’ “Then I put the ring in her nose and the a 55 Or she   

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brace­lets on her arms, 48 and I ­bowed down and wor­shiped the Lord. I ­praised the Lord, the God of my mas­ter Abra­ham, who had led me on the ­right road to get the grand­daugh­ter of my mas­ter’s broth­er for his son. 49 Now if you will show kind­ness and faith­f ul­ness to my mas­ter, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know ­which way to turn.” 50 La­ ban and Be­thu­el an­swered, “This is from the Lord; we can say noth­ing to you one way or the oth­er. 51 Here is Re­bek­ah; take her and go, and let her be­come the wife of your mas­ter’s son, as the Lord has di­rect­ed.” 52 When Abra­ h am’s ser­vant ­heard what they said, he ­bowed down to the ­g round be­ fore the Lord. 53 Then the ser­vant ­brought out gold and sil­ver jew­el­r y and ar­ti­cles of cloth­ing and gave them to Re­bek­ah; he also gave cost­ly ­gifts to her broth­er and to her moth­er. 54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and ­drank and ­spent the ­night there. When they got up the next morn­ing, he said, “Send me on my way to my mas­ter.” 55 But her broth­er and her moth­er re­plied, “Let the young wom­a n re­main with us ten days or so; then you a may go.” 56 But he said to them, “Do not de­tain me, now that the Lord has grant­ed suc­cess to my jour­ney. Send me on my way so I may go to my mas­ter.” 57 Then they said, “Let’s call the young wom­an and ask her ­about it.” 58 So they ­called Re­bek­a h and ­asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she said. 59 So they sent t­ heir sis­ter Re­bek­a h on her way, ­a long with her ­nurse and Abra­ham’s ser­ vant and his men. 60 And they ­blessed Re­bek­ ah and said to her, “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.” 61 Then Re­ bek­a h and her at­ten­d ants got r­ eady and mount­ed ­the cam­els and went back with the man. So the ser­vant took Re­bek­a h and left. 62 Now I ­saac had come from Beer La­hai

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38

Roi, for he was liv­ing in the Ne­gev. 63 He went out to the ­f ield one eve­ning to med­i­tate, a and as he ­looked up, he saw cam­els ap­proach­ing. 64 Re­bek­a h also ­looked up and saw ­Isaac. She got down from her cam­el 65 and ­asked the ser­ vant, “Who is that man in the ­f ield com­ing to meet us?” “He is my mas­ter,” the ser­vant an­s wered. So she took her veil and cov­ered her­self. 66 Then the ser­v ant told ­I saac all he had done. 67 Isaac b ­ rought her into the tent of his moth­er Sar­a h, and he mar­r ied Re­bek­a h. So she be­c ame his wife, and he ­loved her; and ­Isaac was com­fort­e d af­ter his moth­er’s death.

MATTHEW 9:14 — 9:38 Jesus Questioned About Fasting 14 Then

J­ohn’s dis­ci­ples came and ­a sked him, “How is it that we and the Phar­i­sees fast of­ten, but your dis­ci­ples do not fast?” 15 Jesus an­s wered, “How can the ­g uests of the bride­g room m ­ ourn ­while he is with them? The time will come when the bride­groom will be tak­en from them; then they will fast. 16 “No one sews a ­p atch of un­shrunk ­c loth on an old gar­ment, for the p ­ atch will pull away from the gar­m ent, mak­ing the tear ­worse. 17 Nei­t her do peo­ple pour new wine into old wine­skins. If they do, the ­skins will ­burst; the wine will run out and the wine­ skins will be ru­ined. No, they pour new wine into new wine­skins, and both are pre­ served.” Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman 18 While

he was say­ing this, a syn­a­gogue lead­er came and k­ nelt be­fore him and said, “My daugh­ter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 ­Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his dis­ ci­ples. 20 Just then a wom­a n who had been sub­ject to bleed­ing for t­ welve y­ ears came up be­hind him and ­touched the edge of his ­cloak. 21 She said to her­self, “If I only ­touch his ­cloak, I will be healed.”

22 Jesus ­ t urned and saw her. “Take ­heart, daugh­ter,” he said, “your ­faith has ­healed you.” And the wom­an was ­healed at that mo­ ment. 23 When ­Jesus en­tered the syn­a­gogue lead­ er’s ­house and saw the ­noisy ­crowd and peo­ple play­ing ­pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but ­asleep.” But they ­laughed at him. 25 Af­ter the ­crowd had been put out­side, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this ­spread ­through all that re­gion.

Jesus Heals the Blind and the Mute 27 As

­Jesus went on from ­there, two ­blind men fol­lowed him, call­ing out, “Have mer­c y on us, Son of Da­v id!” 28 When he had gone in­ doors, the b ­ lind men came to him, and he a­ sked them, “Do you be­lieve that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they re­plied. 29 Then he t­ ouched t­ heir eyes and said, “Ac­ cord­ing to your ­faith let it be done to you”; 30 and t­heir ­sight was re­stored. ­Jesus ­w arned them stern­ly, “See that no one ­k nows ­about this.” 31 But they went out and ­spread the news ­about him all over that re­gion. 32 While they were go­ing out, a man who was de­mon-pos­sessed and c­ ould not talk was ­brought to ­Jesus. 33 And when the de­mon was driv­en out, the man who had been mute ­spoke. The ­c rowd was ­a mazed and said, “Noth­ing like this has ever been seen in Is­ra­el.” 34 But the Phar­i­sees said, “It is by the ­prince of de­mons that he ­drives out de­mons.” The Workers Are Few 35 Jesus went ­ t hrough all the ­towns and ­v il­lag­es, teach­ing in ­t heir syn­a­gogues, pro­ claim­ing the good news of the king­dom and heal ­ing ev­ery dis­ease and sick ­ness. 36 When he saw the ­c rowds, he had com­pas­sion on them, be­cause they were ha­rassed and help­ less, like ­sheep with­out a shep­herd. 37 Then he said to his dis­ci­ples, “The har­vest is plen­ti­f ul but the work­ers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the har­vest, there­fore, to send out work­ers into his har ­vest field.”

a 63  The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.   

39

PSALM 8:1 — 8:9 Psalm

8 a

For the director of music. According to gittith. b A psalm of David.

1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? c 5 You have made them d a little lower than the angels e and crowned them d with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their  f feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

REWIND Genesis 24; Matthew 9:14 – 38; Psalm 8

THE DETAILS BELONG TO GOD. The Lord might seem too lofty to notice your life. But Genesis 24 shows him bringing together a specific man and woman to advance his

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plans. In Matthew 9 ­Jesus says he acts in new ways that exceed our expectations, like raising the dead, healing the sick, and giving sight to the blind. And Psalm 8 says God made you and every other human being extraordinary. You’re crowned with his glory, so you can count on him to lead your life. D

day12 GENESIS 25:1 — 26:35 The Death of Abraham

25

Abra ­h am had tak­en an­oth­er wife, ­whose name was Ke­t u­rah. 2 She bore him Zim­ran, Jok ­shan, Me­dan, Mid ­i­an, Ish­ bak and Shu­a h. 3 Jok­shan was the fa­ther of She­ba and De­d an; the de­scen­d ants of De­ dan were the Ash­u r­ites, the Le­tu­shites and the Le­u m­m ites. 4 The sons of Mid­i­a n were ­Ephah, ­Epher, Ha­nok, Abi­da and El­da­ah. All ­these were de­scen­dants of Ke­t u­rah. 5 Abra­ h am left ev­ery­thing he ­owned to ­Isaac. 6 But ­while he was ­still liv­ing, he gave ­g ifts to the sons of his con­c u­bines and sent them away from his son I­ saac to the land of the east. 7 Abra­ham ­l ived a hun­d red and sev­en­t y-five ­years. 8 Then Abra­ham ­breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of ­years; and he was gath­ered to his peo­ple. 9 His sons ­Isaac and Ish­ma­el bur­ied him in the cave of Mach­pe­lah near Mam­re, in the f­ ield of ­Ephron son of Zo­har the Hit­tite, 10 the ­f ield Abra­ham had ­bought from the Hit­tites. g ­T here Abra­ham was bur­ied with his wife

a In Hebrew texts 8:1-9 is numbered 8:2-10.    b Title: Probably a musical term    c 4 Or what is a human being that you are mindful of him, / a son of man that you care for him?    d 5  Or him    e 5 Or than God    f 6 Or made him ruler . . . ; / . . . his    g 10 Or the descendants of Heth   

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­Sar­a h. 11 Af­ter Abra­ham’s ­death, God ­blessed his son ­Isaac, who then l­ived near Beer La­ hai Roi. Ishmael’s Sons 12 This is the ac­count of the fam­i­ly line of Abra­ham’s son Ish­ma­el, whom Sar­a h’s slave, Ha­gar the Egyp­tian, bore to Abra­ham. 13 These

are the n ­ ames of the sons of Ish­ ma­el, list­ed in the or­der of ­their ­birth: Ne­ba­ ioth the first­born of Ish­ma­el, Ke­dar, Ad­be­el, Mib­sam, 14 Mish­ma, Du­mah, Mas­sa, 15 Ha­ dad, Tema, Je­tur, Na­phish and Ked­e­mah. 16 These were the sons of Ish­ma­el, and ­t hese are the ­names of the t­ welve trib­a l rul­ers ac­ cord­ing to ­their set­t le­ments and ­camps. 17 Ish­ ma­el ­l ived a hun­d red and thir ­t y-sev­en ­years. He ­breathed his last and died, and he was gath­ered to his peo­ple. 18 His de­scen­dants set­ tled in the area from Hav­i­lah to Shur, near the east­ern bor­der of ­Egypt, as you go to­ward Ash­ur. And they ­lived in hos­til­i­t y to­ward  a all the ­tribes re­lat­ed to them. Jacob and Esau 19 This is the ac­count of the fam­i­ly line of Abra­ham’s son Isaac.

Abra­ham be­came the fa­ther of ­Isaac, 20 and I­ saac was for­t y ­years old when he mar­ried Re­ bek­ah daugh­ter of Be­thu­el the Ar­a­me­an from Pad­dan Aram  b and sis­ter of La­ban the Ar­a­ me­an. 21 Isaac ­prayed to the Lord on be­half of his wife, be­cause she was child­less. The Lord an­swered his ­prayer, and his wife Re­bek­a h be­came preg­nant. 22 The ba­bies jos­tled each oth­er with­in her, and she said, “Why is this hap­pen­ing to me?” So she went to in­quire of the Lord. 23 The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

24 When the time came for her to give ­birth, t­ here were twin boys in her womb. 25 The ­f irst to come out was red, and his ­whole body was like a ­hairy gar­ment; so they ­named him Esau. c 26 Af­ter this, his broth­er came out, with his hand grasp­ing ­Esau’s heel; so he was ­named Ja­cob.  d ­Isaac was six­t y ­years old when Re­bek­ah gave ­birth to them. 27 The boys grew up, and Esau be­ came a skill­ful hunt­er, a man of the open coun­try, ­while Ja­cob was con­tent to stay at home a­ mong the ­tents. 28 Isaac, who had a ­taste for wild game, ­loved Esau, but Re­bek­ah ­loved Ja­cob. 29 Once when Ja­cob was cook­ing some stew, Esau came in from the open coun­try, fam­ ished. 30 He said to Ja­cob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m fam­ished!” (That is why he was also ­called Edom. e ) 31 Ja­cob re­plied, “First sell me your birth­ right.” 32 “Look, I am ­ about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birth­right to me?” 33 But Ja­cob said, “Swear to me ­f irst.” So he ­s wore an oath to him, sell­ing his birth­r ight to Ja­cob. 34 Then Ja­ cob gave Esau some ­bread and some len­til stew. He ate and ­drank, and then got up and left. So Esau de­spised his birth­right.

Isaac and Abimelek

26

Now ­there was a fam­ine in the land — ​ be­sides the pre­v i­ous fam­ine in Abra­ ham’s time — ​and ­Isaac went to Abim­e­lek king of the Phi­lis­tines in Ge­rar. 2 The Lord ap­peared to ­Isaac and said, “Do not go down to ­Egypt; live in the land ­where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a ­while, and I will be with you and will b ­ less you. For to you and your de­scen­dants I will give all ­these ­lands and will con­firm the oath I s­wore to your fa­t her Abra ­ham. 4 I will make your de­scen­ dants as nu­mer­ous as the ­stars in the sky and will give them all ­these ­lands, and t­hrough your off­spring   f all na­tions on e­ arth will be ­blessed,  g 5 be­cause Abra­ham ­obeyed me and did ev­ery­thing I re­quired of him, keep­ing my

a 18 Or lived to the east of    b 20  That is, Northwest Mesopotamia    c 25  Esau may mean hairy.    d 26  Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives.    e 30  Edom means red.    f 4  Or seed    g 4 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)   

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41 com­mands, my de­crees and my in­struc­tions.” 6 So ­Isaac ­stayed in Ge­rar. 7 When the men of that ­ place ­asked him ­about his wife, he said, “She is my sis­ter,” be­ cause he was ­a fraid to say, “She is my wife.” He ­thought, “The men of this ­place ­m ight kill me on ac­count of Re­bek­a h, be­cause she is beau­ti­f ul.” 8 When I ­ saac had been ­there a long time, Abim­e­lek king of the Phi­lis­tines ­looked down from a win­dow and saw I­saac ca­ress­ing his wife Re­b ek ­a h. 9 So Abim­e­lek sum­moned ­Isaac and said, “She is real­ly your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sis­ter’?” Isaac an­s wered him, “Be­cause I ­t hought I ­might lose my life on ac­count of her.” 10 Then Abim­e­lek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men ­might well have ­slept with your wife, and you ­would have ­brought ­g uilt upon us.” 11 So Abim­e­lek gave or­ders to all the peo­ ple: “Any­one who ­harms this man or his wife ­shall sure­ly be put to death.” 12 Isaac plant­ed c ­ rops in that land and the same year ­reaped a hun­d red­fold, be­cause the Lord ­blessed him. 13 The man be­came rich, and his ­wealth con­tin­ued to grow un­til he be­ came very w ­ ealthy. 14 He had so many f­ locks and ­herds and ser­vants that the Phi­lis­tines en­ vied him. 15 So all the ­wells that his fa­ther’s ser­v ants had dug in the time of his fa­ther Abra ­ham, the Phi­l is­t ines ­stopped up, fill ­ing them with earth. 16 Then Abim­ e ­lek said to ­Isaac, “Move away from us; you have be­come too pow­er­f ul for us.” 17 So ­Isaac ­moved away from ­t here and en­ camped in the Val­ley of Ge­rar, ­where he set­ tled. 18 Isaac re­opened the ­wells that had been dug in the time of his fa­ther Abra­ham, ­which the Phi­lis­tines had ­stopped up af­ter Abra­ham died, and he gave them the same n ­ ames his fa­ther had giv­en them. 19 Isaac’s ser­vants dug in the val­ley and dis­ cov­ered a well of ­fresh wa­ter t­ here. 20 But the herd­ers of Ge­rar quar­reled with ­those of ­Isaac and said, “The wa­ter is ours!” So he ­named the well Esek, a be­cause they dis­put­ed with

him. 21 Then they dug an­oth­er well, but they quar­reled over that one also; so he ­named it Sit­nah.  b 22 He m ­ oved on from ­t here and dug an­oth­er well, and no one quar­reled over it. He ­named it Re­ho­both,  c say­ing, “Now the Lord has giv­en us room and we will flour­ish in the land.” 23 From ­ t here he went up to Be­er­she­ba. 24 That ­n ight the Lord ap­peared to him and said, “I am the God of your fa­ther Abra­ham. Do not be a­ fraid, for I am with you; I will ­bless you and will in­crease the num­ber of your de­scen­dants for the sake of my ser­vant Abra­ ham.” 25 Isaac ­built an al­tar ­t here and ­called on the name of the Lord. ­There he ­pitched his tent, and ­there his ser­vants dug a well. 26 Mean­while, Abim­e­lek had come to him from Ge­rar, with Ahuz­zath his per­son­a l ad­ vis­er and Phi­col the com­mand­er of his forc­es. 27 Isaac a ­ sked them, “Why have you come to me, ­since you were hos­tile to me and sent me away?” 28 They an­s wered, “We saw clear­ly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ­ought to be a ­sworn agree­ment be­tween us’ — ​be­ tween us and you. Let us make a trea­t y with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but al­ways treat­ed you well and sent you away peace­ful­ly. And now you are ­blessed by the Lord.” 30 Isaac then made a ­ feast for them, and they ate and d ­ rank. 31 Ear­ly the next morn­ing the men ­s wore an oath to each oth­er. Then ­Isaac sent them on t­heir way, and they went away peace­f ul­ly. 32 That day ­Isaac’s ser­v ants came and told him ­about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve ­found wa­ter!” 33 He ­called it Shi­bah, d and to this day the name of the town has been Be­er­she­ba.  e Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing 34 When Esau was for­t y ­years old, he mar­ ried Ju­dith daugh­ter of Be­e­ri the Hit­tite, and also Bas­e­math daugh­ter of Elon the Hit­t ite. 35 They were a ­source of ­g rief to ­Isaac and Re­ bek­ah.

a 20  Esek means dispute.    b 21  Sitnah means opposition.    c 22  Rehoboth means room.    d 33  Shibah can mean oath or seven.    e 33  Beersheba can mean well of the oath and well of seven.   

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MATTHEW 10:1 — 10:31 Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

10

Jesus ­called his ­twelve dis­ci­ples to him and gave them au­thor­i­t y to ­drive out im­pure spir­its and to heal ev­ery dis­ease and sick ­ness. 2 These are the ­names of the ­t welve apos­ tles: ­f irst, Si­mon (who is ­called Pe­ter) and his broth­er An­d rew; ­James son of Zeb­e­dee, and his broth­er John; 3 Phil ­ip and Bar ­t hol­o­mew; Thom­as and Mat­thew the tax col­lec­tor; ­James son of Al­phae­us, and Thad­dae­us; 4 Si­mon the Zeal­ot and Ju­das Is­car­i­ot, who be­trayed him. 5 These ­t welve ­Jesus sent out with the fol­ low­ing in­struc­tions: “Do not go a­ mong the Gen­tiles or en­ter any town of the Sa­mar­i­tans. 6 Go rath­er to the lost ­sheep of Is­ra­el. 7 As you go, pro­c laim this mes­sage: ‘The king­dom of heav­en has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, ­raise the dead, ­c leanse ­those who have lep­ro­sy, a ­d rive out de­mons. Free­ly you have re­ceived; free­ly give. 9 “Do not get any gold or sil­ ver or cop­per to take with you in your ­belts — ​10 no bag for the jour­ney or ex­tra ­shirt or san­dals or a ­staff, for the work­er is ­worth his keep. 11 What­ev­ er town or vil­lage you en­ter, ­search there for some wor­thy per­son and stay at their ­house un­til you ­leave. 12 As you en­ter the home, give it your greet­ing. 13 If the home is de­serv­ing, let your ­peace rest on it; if it is not, let your ­peace re­turn to you. 14 If any­one will not wel­come you or lis­ten to your ­words, ­leave that home or town and ­shake the dust off your feet. 15 Tru­ly I tell you, it will be more bear­able for Sod­om and Go­mor­rah on the day of judg­ment than for that town. 16 “I am send­ing you out like s ­ heep a­ mong ­wolves. There­fore be as ­shrewd as ­snakes and as in­no­cent as doves. 17 Be on your ­g uard; you will be hand­ed over to the lo­cal coun­cils and be f­ logged in the syn­a­gogues. 18 On my ac­ count you will be ­brought be­fore gov­er­nors and ­k ings as wit­ness­es to them and to the Gen­tiles. 19 But when they ar­rest you, do not wor­r y ­about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be giv­en what to say, 20 for it

will not be you speak­ing, but the Spir­it of your Fa­ther speak­ing ­through you. 21 “Broth­er will be­t ray broth­er to ­death, and a fa­ther his c­ hild; chil­d ren will re­bel a­ gainst ­their par­ents and have them put to ­death. 22 You will be ­ hated by ev­ery­one be­cause of me, but the one who ­stands firm to the end will be ­saved. 23 When you are per­se­cut­ed in one ­place, flee to an­oth­er. Tru­ly I tell you, you will not fin­ish go­ing ­through the ­towns of Is­ ra­el be­fore the Son of Man comes. 24 “The stu­dent is not ­above t­ he teach­er, nor a ser­vant a­ bove his mas­ter. 25 It is ­enough for stu­dents to be like ­their teach­ers, and ser­vants like ­their mas­ters. If the head of the ­house has been ­called Be­el­z e­bul, how much more the mem­bers of his house­hold! 26 “So do not be ­a fraid of them, for there is noth­ing con­cealed that will not be dis­c losed, or hid­den that will not be made k­ nown. 27 What I tell you in the dark, ­ speak in the day­light; what is whis­pered in your ear, pro­ claim from the ­roofs. 28 Do not be ­a fraid of ­those who kill the body but can­not kill the soul. Rath­er, be a­ fraid of the One who can de­stroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two spar­rows sold for a pen­ny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ­ground out­side your Fa­ ther’s care. b 30 And even the very ­hairs of your head are all num­bered. 31 So d ­ on’t be a­ fraid; you are ­worth more than many spar­rows.”

PROVERBS 1:20 — 1:33 Wisdom’s Rebuke

20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; 21 on top of the wall c she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: 22 “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? 23 Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,

a 8  The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.    b 29 Or will ; or knowledge    c 21  Septuagint; Hebrew / at noisy street corners   

43 I will make known to you my teachings. 24 But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, 25 since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, 26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you — ​ 27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. 28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, 29 since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. 30 Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, 31 they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. 32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

REWIND Genesis 25 – 26; Matthew 10:1 – 31; Proverbs 1:20 – 33

DON’T MISS GOD’S BEST. Genesis 25 – 26 tells the story of one of history’s most foolish trades, where Esau swaps his privileges as firstborn son for a pot of red stew. In Matthew 10 ­Jesus warns against letting yourself be scared by ­people rather than respecting the God who leads you home to heaven. And Proverbs 1 shows calamity overtaking p­ eople who don’t live by God’s wisdom. When you go against the Lord’s commands, you risk missing out on good things he plans for you. D

DAY 13

day13 GENESIS 27:1 — 28:22

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When ­Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he c­ ould no lon­ger see, he ­called for Esau his old­er son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he an­swered. 2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and ­don’t know the day of my d ­ eath. 3 Now then, get your equip­ment  — ​your quiv­er and bow  — ​and go out to the open coun­try to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Pre­pare me the kind of ­tasty food I like and ­bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my bless­ing be­fore I die.” 5 Now Re­bek­a h was lis­ten­ing as ­Isaac ­spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open coun­try to hunt game and ­bring it back, 6 Re­ bek­a h said to her son Ja­cob, “Look, I over­ heard your fa­ther say to your broth­er Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some game and pre­pare me some ­tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my bless­ing in the pres­ence of the Lord be­fore I die.’ 8 Now, my son, lis­ten care­f ul­ly and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the ­f lock and ­bring me two ­choice ­young g­ oats, so I can pre­pare some ­tasty food for your fa­t her, just the way he l­ ikes it. 10 Then take it to your fa­ther to eat, so that he may give you his bless­ing be­fore he dies.” 11 Ja­cob said to Re­b ek­a h his moth­er, “But my broth­er Esau is a ­hairy man ­while I have ­smooth skin. 12 What if my fa­ther touch­es me? Iw ­ ould ap­pear to be trick­ing him and ­would ­bring down a c­ urse on my­self rath­er than a bless­ing.” 13 His moth­er said to him, “My son, let the ­curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” 14 So he went and got them and ­brought them

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to his moth­er, and she pre­pared some ­tasty food, just the way his fa­ther ­liked it. 15 Then Re­bek­ah took the best ­clothes of Esau her old­er son, w ­ hich she had in the ­house, and put them on her youn­ger son Ja­cob. 16 She also cov­ered his ­hands and the ­smooth part of his neck with the goat­skins. 17 Then she hand­ed to her son Ja­cob the ­tasty food and the ­bread she had made. 18 He went to his fa­t her and said, “My fa­ ther.” “Yes, my son,” he an­swered. “Who is it?” 19 Ja­cob said to his fa­t her, “I am Esau your first­born. I have done as you told me. P ­ lease sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your bless­ing.” 20 Isaac ­asked his son, “How did you find it so quick­ly, my son?” “The Lord your God gave me suc­cess,” he re­plied. 21 Then ­Isaac said to Ja­cob, “Come near so I can ­touch you, my son, to know wheth­er you real­ly are my son Esau or not.” 22 Ja­cob went ­c lose to his fa­t her ­Isaac, who ­touched him and said, “The ­voice is the ­voice of Ja­cob, but the ­hands are the ­hands of Esau.” 23 He did not rec­ og­n ize him, for his ­hands were ­hairy like ­t hose of his broth­er Esau; so he pro­ceed­ed to b ­ less him. 24 “Are you real­ly my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he re­plied. 25 Then he said, “My son, ­ bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my bless­ing.” Ja­cob ­brought it to him and he ate; and he ­brought some wine and he ­drank. 26 Then his fa­ther ­Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” 27 So he went to him and ­k issed him. When ­Isaac ­caught the ­smell of his ­clothes, he ­blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. 28 May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness — ​ an abundance of grain and new wine. 29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.

Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” 30 Af­ter

­Isaac fin­ished bless­ing him, and Ja­ cob had scarce­ly left his fa­ther’s pres­ence, his broth­er Esau came in from hunt­ing. 31 He too pre­pared some ­tasty food and ­brought it to his fa­t her. Then he said to him, “My fa­t her, ­please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your bless­ing.” 32 His fa­ t her ­Isaac ­a sked him, “Who are you?” “I am your son,” he an­swered, “your first­ born, Esau.” 33 Isaac trem­bled vi­o­lent­ly and said, “Who was it, then, that hunt­ed game and ­brought it to me? I ate it just be­fore you came and I ­blessed him — ​and in­deed he will be blessed!” 34 When Esau ­heard his fa­t her’s ­words, he ­burst out with a loud and bit­ter cry and said to his fa­ther, “Bless me — ​me too, my fa­ther!” 35 But he said, “Your broth­er came de­ceit­ ful­ly and took your bless­ing.” 36 Esau said, “Isn’t he right­ ly ­named Ja­ cob a ? This is the sec­ond time he has tak­en ad­van­tage of me: He took my birth­right, and now he’s tak­en my bless­ing!” Then he a­ sked, “Haven’t you re­served any bless­ing for me?” 37 Isaac an­s wered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his rel­a­t ives his ser­vants, and I have sus­tained him with ­grain and new wine. So what can I pos­si­bly do for you, my son?” 38 Esau said to his fa­t her, “Do you have only one bless­ing, my fa­ther? ­Bless me too, my fa­ ther!” Then Esau wept aloud. 39 His fa­t her ­Isaac an­s wered him, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. 40 You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”

a 36  Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.   

45 41 Esau held a ­g rudge ­against Ja­cob be­cause of the bless­ing his fa­t her had giv­en him. He said to him­self, “The days of mourn­ing for my fa­ther are near; then I will kill my broth­er ­Ja­cob.” 42 When Re­ bek­a h was told what her old­ er son Esau had said, she sent for her youn­ ger son Ja­cob and said to him, “Your broth­er Esau is plan­ning to a­ venge him­self by kill­ing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my broth­er La­ban in Har­ran. 44 Stay with him for a ­while un­til your broth­er’s fury sub­sides. 45 When your broth­er is no lon­ger an­ gry with you and for­gets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from ­there. Why ­should I lose both of you in one day?” 46 Then Re­ bek­a h said to I­saac, “I’m dis­ gust­ed with liv­ing be­cause of ­these Hit­tite wom­en. If Ja­cob ­takes a wife from ­among the wom­en of this land, from Hit­tite wom­en like ­these, my life will not be ­worth liv­ing.” So ­Isaac c­ alled for Ja­cob and b ­ lessed him. Then he com­mand­ed him: “Do not mar­r y a Ca­naan­ite wom­a n. 2 Go at once to Pad­dan Aram, a to the ­house of your moth­ er’s fa­ther Be­thu­el. Take a wife for your­self ­there, from ­a mong the daugh­ters of La­ban, your moth­er’s broth­er. 3 May God Al­mighty b ­bless you and make you fruit­f ul and in­crease your num­bers un­til you be­come a com­mu­ni­t y of peo­ples. 4 May he give you and your de­scen­ dants the bless­ing giv­en to Abra­ham, so that you may take pos­ses­sion of the land ­where you now re­side as a for­eign­er, the land God gave to Abra­ham.” 5 Then ­Isaac sent Ja­cob on his way, and he went to Pad­dan Aram, to La­ban son of Be­thu­el the Ar­a­me­an, the broth­er of Re­bek­ ah, who was the moth­er of Ja­cob and Esau. 6 Now Esau ­learned that I ­ saac had b ­ lessed Ja­cob and had sent him to Pad­dan Aram to take a wife from t­here, and that when he ­blessed him he com­mand­ed him, “Do not mar ­r y a Ca­naan­ite wom­a n,” 7 and that Ja­cob had ­obeyed his fa­ther and moth­er and had gone to Pad­dan Aram. 8 Esau then re­a l ­ized how dis­pleas­ing the Ca­naan­ite wom­en were

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to his fa­ther ­Isaac; 9 so he went to Ish­ma­el and mar­ried Ma­ha­lath, the sis­ter of Ne­ba­ioth and daugh­ter of Ish­ma­el son of Abra­ham, in ad­di­ tion to the ­w ives he al­ready had. Jacob’s Dream at Bethel 10 Ja­cob left Be­er­she­ba and set out for Har­ ran. 11 When he ­reached a cer­tain ­place, he ­stopped for the ­night be­cause the sun had set. Tak­ing one of the ­stones ­there, he put it un­ der his head and lay down to ­sleep. 12 He had a ­d ream in ­which he saw a stair­way rest­ing on the ­earth, with its top reach­ing to heav­ en, and the an­gels of God were as­cend­ing and de­scend­ing on it. 13 There ­above it c ­stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your fa­ther Abra­ham and the God of ­Isaac. I will give you and your de­scen­dants the land on ­which you are ly­ing. 14 Your de­scen­dants will be like the dust of the ­earth, and you will ­spread out to the west and to the east, to the ­north and to the ­south. All peo­ples on ­earth will be ­blessed ­through you and your off­ spring. d 15 I am with you and will w ­ atch over you wher­ev­er you go, and I will ­bring you back to this land. I will not l­eave you un­t il I have done what I have prom­ised you.” 16 When Ja­ cob a­ woke from his ­sleep, he ­t hought, “Sure­ly the Lord is in this p ­ lace, and I was not ­aware of it.” 17 He was ­a fraid and said, “How awe­some is this ­place! This is none oth­er than the ­house of God; this is the gate of heav­en.” 18 Ear­ ly the next morn­ing Ja­cob took the ­stone he had ­placed un­der his head and set it up as a pil­lar and ­poured oil on top of it. 19 He ­called that ­place Beth­el,  e ­though the city used to be ­called Luz. 20 Then Ja­cob made a vow, say­ing, “If God will be with me and will ­watch over me on this jour­ney I am tak­ing and will give me food to eat and ­clothes to wear 21 so that I re­ turn safe­ly to my fa­ther’s house­hold, then the Lord  f will be my God 22 and g this ­stone that I have set up as a pil­lar will be ­God’s ­house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

a 2  That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verses 5, 6 and 7    b 3 Hebrew El-Shaddai    c 13 Or There beside him    d 14 Or will use your name and the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)    e 19  Bethel means house of God.    f 20,21 Or Since God . . . father’s household, the Lord    g 21,22 Or household, and the

Lord will be my God, 22then   

DAY 13

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MATTHEW 10:32 — 11:15 32 “Who­e v­er ac ­k nowl­edg­es me be­fore oth­ ers, I will also ac­k nowl­edge be­fore my Fa­ther in heav­en. 33 But who­ev­er dis­owns me be­fore others, I will dis­own be­fore my Fa­ther in heav­en. 34 “Do not sup­ p ose that I have come to ­bring ­peace to the ­earth. I did not come to ­bring p ­ eace, but a s­ word. 35 For I have come to turn

“ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-inlaw — ​ 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ a 37 “Any­one

who ­loves ­their fa­ther or moth­ er more than me is not wor­thy of me; any­one who ­loves their son or daugh­ter more than me is not wor­thy of me. 38 Who­ev­er does not take up t­ heir ­cross and fol­low me is not wor­thy of me. 39 Who­e v­er ­finds ­their life will lose it, and who­ev­er los­es ­t heir life for my sake will find it. 40 “Any­ one who wel­comes you wel­comes me, and any­one who wel­comes me wel­comes the one who sent me. 41 Who­ev­er wel­comes a proph­et as a proph­et will re­ceive a proph­et’s re­w ard, and who­e v­er wel­comes a righ­teous per­son as a righ­teous per­son will re­ceive a righ­teous per­son’s re­w ard. 42 And if any­one ­gives even a cup of cold wa­ter to one of t­ hese lit­t le ones who is my dis­ci­ple, tru­ly I tell you, that per­son will cer­tain­ly not lose their re­ ward.” Jesus and John the Baptist

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Af ­ter ­Jesus had fin­ished in­struct­ing his ­t welve dis­ci­ples, he went on from ­there to ­teach and ­preach in the ­towns of Gal­ i­lee.  b 2 When John, who was in pris­ on, heard about the deeds of the Mes­si­a h, he sent his dis­ci­ples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or ­should we ex­pect some­one else?”

4 Jesus re­plied, “Go back and re­port to John what you hear and see: 5 The ­blind re­ceive ­sight, the lame walk, ­those who have lep­ro­ sy c are ­c leansed, the deaf hear, the dead are ­raised, and the good news is pro­claimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is any­one who does not stum­ ble on ac­count of me.” 7 As ­John’s dis­c i­ples were leav­ing, ­Jesus be­ gan to s­ peak to the ­crowd ­about John: “What did you go out into the wil­der­ness to see? A reed ­s wayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man ­d ressed in fine ­c lothes? No, ­those who wear fine ­c lothes are in ­k ings’ pal­ac­es. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A proph­et? Yes, I tell you, and more than a proph­et. 10 This is the one ­about whom it is writ­ten:

“ ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ d 11 Tru­ly

I tell you, ­among ­those born of wom­ en ­there has not ris­en any­one great­er than John the Bap­tist; yet who­ev­er is ­least in the king­dom of heav­en is great­er than he. 12 From the days of John the Bap­tist un­til now, the king­dom of heav­en has been sub­ject­ed to vi­o­ lence, e and vi­o­lent peo­ple have been raid­ing it. 13 For all the Proph­ets and the Law proph­e­sied un­til John. 14 And if you are will­ing to ac­cept it, he is the Eli­jah who was to come. 15 Who­ ev­er has ears, let them hear.”

PSALM 9:1 — 9:6 Psalm 9  f , g For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.

1 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High. 3 My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you.

a 36 Micah 7:6    b 1 Greek in their towns    c 5  The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.    d 10 Mal. 3:1    e 12 Or been forcefully advancing    f Psalms 9

and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lines began with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.    g In Hebrew texts 9:1-20 is numbered 9:2-21.   

47 4 For you have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge. 5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever. 6 Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished.

REWIND Genesis 27 – 28; Matthew 10:32 – 11:15; Psalm 9:1 – 6

LET GOD RULE YOUR FAMILY. There’s not much to admire about Isaac and Rebekah’s family portrait in Genesis 27 – 28, from parents who play favorites to sons who battle to outdo each other. In Matthew 10 ­Jesus warns that families will disagree about him, possibly creating enemies within the same house. But in Psalm 9 you see God enthroned as a praiseworthy king. When you let God rule your house, you discover endless reasons to be glad and give him thanks. D

day14 GENESIS 29:1 — 30:43

Jacob Arrives in Paddan Aram

29

Then Ja­cob con­tin­ued on his jour­ney and came to the land of the east­ern peo­ples. 2 There he saw a well in the open coun­try, with t­ hree f­ locks of ­sheep ly­ing near it be­cause the ­f locks were wa­tered from that a 17 Or delicate   

DAY 14

well. The ­stone over the ­mouth of the well was ­large. 3 When all the ­f locks were gath­ered ­there, the shep­herds ­would roll the ­stone away from the ­well’s ­mouth and wa­ter the s­heep. Then they ­would re­t urn the ­stone to its ­place over the ­mouth of the well. 4 Ja­cob ­asked the shep­herds, “My broth­ers, ­where are you from?” “We’re from Har­ran,” they re­plied. 5 He said to them, “Do you know La­ ban, Na­hor’s grand­son?” “Yes, we know him,” they an­swered. 6 Then Ja­cob ­asked them, “Is he well?” “Yes, he is,” they said, “and here ­comes his daugh­ter Ra­chel with the sheep.” 7 “Look,” he said, “the sun is ­still high; it is not time for the ­f locks to be gath­ered. Wa­ter the ­sheep and take them back to pas­t ure.” 8 “We ­ c an’t,” they re­plied, “un­til all the ­f locks are gath­ered and the s­tone has been ­rolled away from the ­mouth of the well. Then we will wa­ter the sheep.” 9 While he was ­still talk­ing with them, Ra­ chel came with her fa­ther’s ­sheep, for she was a shep­herd. 10 When Ja­cob saw Ra­chel daugh­ ter of his uncle La­ban, and La­ban’s ­sheep, he went over and r­ olled the s­ tone away from the ­mouth of the well and wa­tered his un­cle’s ­sheep. 11 Then Ja­cob ­k issed Ra­chel and be­gan to weep ­a loud. 12 He had told Ra­chel that he was a rel­a­tive of her fa­ther and a son of Re­bek­ ah. So she ran and told her fa­ther. 13 As soon as La­ban ­heard the news ­about Ja­cob, his sis­ter’s son, he hur­ried to meet him. He em­braced him and ­k issed him and ­brought him to his home, and ­there Ja­cob told him all ­these ­things. 14 Then La­ban said to him, “You are my own ­f lesh and blood.” Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

Af­ter Ja­cob had ­stayed with him for a ­whole ­month, 15 La­ban said to him, “Just be­ cause you are a rel­a­tive of mine, s­hould you work for me for noth­ing? Tell me what your wag­es ­should be.” 16 Now La­ b an had two daugh­ t ers; the name of the old­er was Leah, and the name of the youn­ger was Ra­c hel. 17 Leah had weak a eyes, but Ra­chel had a love­ly fig­u re and was

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­beau­ti­f ul. 18 Ja­cob was in love with Ra­chel and said, “I’ll work for you sev­en y­ ears in re­t urn for your youn­ger daugh­ter Ra­chel.” 19 La­ban said, “It’s bet­ter that I give her to you than to some oth­er man. Stay here with me.” 20 So Ja­cob ­served sev­en ­years to get Ra­ chel, but they ­seemed like only a few days to him be­cause of his love for her. 21 Then Ja­cob said to La­ban, “Give me my wife. My time is com­plet­ed, and I want to make love to her.” 22 So La­ban ­brought to­geth­er all the peo­ ple of the ­place and gave a ­feast. 23 But when eve­ning came, he took his daugh­ter Leah and ­brought her to Ja­cob, and Ja­cob made love to her. 24 And La­ban gave his ser­vant Zil­pah to his daugh­ter as her at­ten­dant. 25 When morn­ing came, ­t here was Leah! So Ja­cob said to La­ban, “What is this you have done to me? I s­ erved you for Ra­chel, d ­ idn’t I? Why have you de­ceived me?” 26 La­ban re­plied, “It is not our cus­tom here to give the youn­ger daugh­ter in mar­riage be­ fore the old­er one. 27 Fin­ish this daugh­ter’s brid­a l week; then we will give you the youn­ ger one also, in re­t urn for an­oth­er sev­en ­years of work.” 28 And Ja­cob did so. He fin­ished the week with Leah, and then La­ban gave him his daugh­ter Ra­chel to be his wife. 29 La­ban gave his ser­vant Bil­hah to his daugh­ter Ra­chel as her at ­ten­dant. 30 Ja­cob made love to Ra­c hel also, and his love for Ra­chel was great­er than his love for Leah. And he ­worked for La­ban an­oth­er sev­en years. Jacob’s Children 31 When

the Lord saw that Leah was not l­oved, he en­abled her to con­ceive, but Ra­chel re­mained child ­less. 32 Leah be­came preg­nant and gave ­birth to a son. She ­named him Reu­ ben, a for she said, “It is be­cause the Lord has seen my mis­ery. Sure­ly my hus­band will love me now.” 33 She con­ceived ­a gain, and when she gave ­birth to a son she said, “Be­cause the Lord

­ eard that I am not ­loved, he gave me this one h too.” So she ­named him Sim­e­on. b 34 Again she con­ceived, and when she gave ­birth to a son she said, “Now at last my hus­ band will be­come at­tached to me, be­cause I have ­borne him ­three sons.” So he was ­named Levi. c 35 She con­ceived ­a gain, and when she gave ­birth to a son she said, “This time I will ­praise the Lord.” So she ­named him Ju­dah. d Then she ­stopped hav­ing chil­dren. When Ra­c hel saw that she was not bear­ing Ja­cob any chil­d ren, she be­ came jeal­ous of her sis­ter. So she said to Ja­cob, “Give me chil­dren, or I’ll die!” 2 Ja­ cob be­c ame an­g ry with her and said, “Am I in the ­place of God, who has kept you from hav­ing chil­dren?” 3 Then she said, “Here is Bil­ hah, my ser­ vant. ­Sleep with her so that she can bear chil­d ren for me and I too can ­build a fam­i­ly ­through her.” 4 So she gave him her ser­v ant Bil­hah as a wife. Ja­cob ­slept with her, 5 and she be­came preg­nant and bore him a son. 6 Then Ra­chel said, “God has vin­di­cat­ed me; he has lis­tened to my plea and giv­en me a son.” Be­cause of this she ­named him Dan. e 7 Ra­c hel’s ser ­v ant Bil ­h ah con­ceived ­a gain and bore Ja­cob a sec­ond son. 8 Then Ra­c hel said, “I have had a ­g reat strug­gle with my sis­ter, and I have won.” So she ­named him Naph­ta­li.   f 9 When Leah saw that she had ­stopped hav­ ing chil­dren, she took her ser­vant Zil­pah and gave her to Ja­cob as a wife. 10 Le­a h’s ser ­vant Zil­pah bore Ja­cob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “What good for­tune!” g So she ­named him Gad. h 12 Le­a h’s ser­v ant Zil­pah bore Ja­cob a sec­ ond son. 13 Then Leah said, “How hap­py I am! The wom­en will call me hap­py.” So she ­named him Ash­er.  i 14 Dur­ing ­wheat har­vest, Reu­ben went out into the ­fields and ­found some man­d rake ­plants, ­which he ­brought to his moth­er Leah.

30

a 32  Reuben sounds like the Hebrew for he has seen my misery; the name means see, a son.    b 33  Simeon probably means one who hears.    c 34  Levi sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for attached.    d 35  Judah sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for praise.    e 6  Dan here means he has vindicated.    f 8  Naphtali means my struggle.    g 11 Or “A troop is coming!”    h 11  Gad can mean good fortune or a troop.    i 13  Asher means happy.   

49 Ra­chel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your ­son’s man­drakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Wasn’t it ­ enough that you took away my hus­band? Will you take my ­son’s man­drakes too?” “Very well,” Ra­chel said, “he can ­sleep with you to­night in re­t urn for your ­son’s man­ drakes.” 16 So when Ja­ cob came in from the f­ields that eve­n ing, Leah went out to meet him. “You must ­sleep with me,” she said. “I have ­h ired you with my ­son’s man­d rakes.” So he ­slept with her that night. 17 God lis­ tened to Leah, and she be­came preg­nant and bore Ja­cob a ­f ifth son. 18 Then Leah said, “God has re­ward­ed me for giv­ing my ser­v ant to my hus­band.” So she ­named him Is­sa­char.  a 19 Leah con­ ceived ­again and bore Ja­cob a ­sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, “God has pre­ sent­ed me with a pre­cious gift. This time my hus­band will ­t reat me with hon­or, be­cause I have ­borne him six sons.” So she ­named him Zeb­u ­lun.  b 21 Some time lat­ e r she gave ­ birth to a daugh­ter and ­named her Di­nah. 22 Then God re­ mem­bered Ra­c hel; he lis­ tened to her and en­abled her to con­ceive. 23 She be­ came preg­nant and gave b ­ irth to a son and said, “God has tak­en away my dis­ grace.” 24 She ­named him Jo­seph, c and said, “May the Lord add to me an­oth­er son.” Jacob’s Flocks Increase 25 Af­ter Ra­c hel gave ­birth to Jo­seph, Ja­cob said to La­ban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own home­land. 26 Give me my ­w ives and chil­d ren, for whom I have s­ erved you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.” 27 But La­ban said to him, “If I have ­found fa­vor in your eyes, p ­ lease stay. I have l­earned by div ­i­na­t ion that the Lord has ­blessed me be­c ause of you.” 28 He add­ed, “Name your wag­es, and I will pay them.” 29 Ja­ cob said to him, “You know how I have ­worked for you and how your live­stock has ­fared un­der my care. 30 The lit­t le you had

DAY 14

be­fore I came has in­creased great­ly, and the Lord has ­blessed you wher­ev­er I have been. But now, when may I do some­thing for my own house­hold?” 31 “What ­shall I give you?” he asked. “Don’t give me any­thing,” Ja­cob re­plied. “But if you will do this one t­ hing for me, I will go on tend­ing your ­f locks and watch­ing over them: 32 Let me go ­through all your ­f locks to­ day and re­move from them ev­ery speck­led or spot­ted ­sheep, ev­ery dark-col­ored lamb and ev­ery spot­ted or speck­led goat. They will be my wag­es. 33 And my hon­es­t y will tes­t i­f y for me in the fu­t ure, when­ev­er you ­check on the wag­es you have paid me. Any goat in my pos­ ses­sion that is not speck­led or spot­ted, or any lamb that is not dark-col­ored, will be con­sid­ ered sto­len.” 34 “Agreed,” said La­ ban. “Let it be as you have said.” 35 That same day he re­moved all the male ­goats that were ­streaked or spot­ted, and all the speck­led or spot­ted fe­male ­goats (all that had ­white on them) and all the darkcol­ored ­lambs, and he ­placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he put a ­three-day jour­ney be­t ween him­self and Ja­cob, ­while Ja­cob con­ tin­ued to tend the rest of La­ban’s flocks. 37 Ja­cob, how­e v­er, took ­f resh-cut branch­e s from pop­lar, al­mond and p ­ lane t­ rees and made ­white s­ tripes on them by peel­ing the bark and ex­pos­ing the ­white in­ner wood of the branch­ es. 38 Then he ­placed the ­peeled branch­es in all the wa­ter­ing ­troughs, so that they w ­ ould be di­rect­ly in f­ront of the f­ locks when they came to ­drink. When the ­f locks were in heat and came to d ­ rink, 39 they mat­ed in f­ront of the branch­es. And they bore ­young that were ­streaked or speck­led or spot­ted. 40 Ja­cob set ­apart the ­young of the f­ lock by them­selves, but made the rest face the ­streaked and darkcol­ored an­i­mals that be­longed to La­ban. Thus he made sep­a ­rate f­ locks for him­self and did not put them with La­ban’s an­i­mals. 41 When­ ev­er the stron­ger fe­males were in heat, Ja­cob ­would p ­ lace the branch­es in the ­troughs in ­front of the an­i­mals so they ­would mate near the branch­es, 42 but if the an­i­mals were weak, he w ­ ould not ­place them ­t here. So the weak

a 18  Issachar sounds like the Hebrew for reward.    b 20  Zebulun probably means honor.    c 24  Joseph

means may he add.   

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an­i­mals went to La­ban and the ­strong ones to Ja­cob. 43 In this way the man grew ex­ceed­ing­ ly pros­per­ous and came to own ­large ­f locks, and fe­male and male ser­vants, and cam­els and don­keys.

MATTHEW 11:16 — 11:30 16 “To what can I com­pare this gen­er­a­t ion? They are like chil­d ren sit­ting in the mar­ket­ plac­es and call­ing out to oth­ers:

17 “ ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For

John came nei­ther eat­ing nor drink­ing, and they say, ‘He has a de­mon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eat­ing and drink­ing, and they say, ‘Here is a glut­ton and a drunk­a rd, a f­riend of tax col­lec­tors and sin­ners.’ But wis­dom is ­proved ­right by her deeds.” Woe on Unrepentant Towns 20 Then

­Jesus be­gan to de­nounce the ­towns in ­which most of his mir­a­c les had been per­ formed, be­cause they did not re­pent. 21 “Woe to you, Cho­ra­zin! Woe to you, Beth­sa­i­da! For if the mir­a­cles that were per­formed in you had been per­formed in Tyre and Si­don, they ­would have re­pent­ed long ago in sack­cloth and ash­es. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bear­able for Tyre and Si­don on the day of judg­ment than for you. 23 And you, Ca­per­na­um, will you be lift­ed to the h ­ eavens? No, you will go down to ­Hades.  a For if the mir­a­c les that were per­ formed in you had been per­formed in Sod­om, it ­would have re­mained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bear­able for Sod­om on the day of judg­ment than for you.” The Father Revealed in the Son 25 At that time ­Jesus said, “I ­praise you, Fa­ ther, Lord of heav­en and ­earth, be­cause you have hid­den ­these ­things from the wise and ­learned, and re­vealed them to lit­t le chil­d ren. 26 Yes, Fa­t her, for this is what you were ­pleased to do. 27 “All ­t hings have been com­m it­ted to me

a 23  That is, the realm of the dead   

by my Fa­t her. No one k­ nows the Son ex­cept the Fa­ther, and no one k­ nows the Fa­ther ex­cept the Son and ­those to whom the Son choos­es to re­veal him. 28 “Come to me, all you who are wea­r y and bur­dened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and ­learn from me, for I am gen­t le and hum­ble in ­heart, and you will find rest for your s­ ouls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my bur­den is light.”

PSALM 9:7 — 9:12 7 The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. 8 He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity. 9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. 11 Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. 12 For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

REWIND Genesis 29 – 30; Matthew 11:16 – 30; Psalm 9:7 – 12

RUN TO GOD AS YOUR REFUGE. In Genesis 29 – 30 Jacob the deceiver gets played, tricked into working seven years for a woman he didn’t want to marry. In Matthew 11, towns that saw scores of miracles still refuse to repent — ​to stop sinning and turn back to God — ​and J­esus warns they’re headed for Hades. When it seems like no one else wants to follow God, remember Psalm 9. The Lord protects you in troubling times. He never abandons p­ eople who seek him. D

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day15 GENESIS 31:1 — 31:55 Jacob Flees From Laban

31

Ja­cob ­heard that La­ban’s sons were say ­ing, “Ja­cob has tak­en ev­ery ­t hing our fa­ther o­ wned and has g­ ained all this ­wealth from what be­longed to our fa­ther.” 2 And Ja­cob no­t iced that La­ban’s at­t i­t ude to­ ward him was not what it had been. 3 Then the Lord said to Ja­cob, “Go back to the land of your fa­thers and to your rel­a­tives, and I will be with you.” 4 So Ja­cob sent word to Ra­c hel and Leah to come out to the ­f ields ­where his ­f locks were. 5 He said to them, “I see that your fa­t her’s at­ ti­t ude to­ward me is not what it was be­fore, but the God of my fa­ther has been with me. 6 You know that I’ve w ­ orked for your fa­ther with all my ­strength, 7 yet your fa­ther has cheat­ed me by chang­ing my wag­es ten t­imes. How­ ev­er, God has not al­lowed him to harm me. 8 If he said, ‘The speck­led ones will be your wag­es,’ then all the ­f locks gave ­birth to speck­ led ­young; and if he said, ‘The s­ treaked ones will be your wag­es,’ then all the ­f locks bore ­streaked ­young. 9 So God has tak­en away your fa­ther’s live­stock and has giv­en them to me. 10 “In breed­ing sea­son I once had a ­d ream in ­which I ­looked up and saw that the male ­goats mat­ing with the ­f lock were ­streaked, speck­ led or spot­ted. 11 The an­gel of God said to me in the ­dream, ‘Ja­cob.’ I an­swered, ‘Here I am.’ 12 And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male ­goats mat­ing with the ­f lock are ­streaked, speck­led or spot­ted, for I have seen all that La­ban has been do­ing to you. 13 I am the God of Beth­el, ­where you anoint­ed a pil­lar and a 18  That is, Northwest Mesopotamia   

­ here you made a vow to me. Now ­leave this w land at once and go back to your na­tive land.’ ” 14 Then Ra­c hel and Leah re­plied, “Do we ­still have any ­share in the in­her­i­tance of our fa­ther’s es­tate? 15 Does he not re­gard us as for­ eign­ers? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. 16 Sure­ly all the ­wealth that God took away from our fa­ther be­longs to us and our chil­d ren. So do what­ ever God has told you.” 17 Then Ja­cob put his chil­d ren and his ­w ives on cam­els, 18 and he ­d rove all his live­stock ­ahead of him, ­a long with all the ­goods he had ac­c u­mu ­lat­ed in Pad­dan Aram,  a to go to his fa­ther ­Isaac in the land of Ca­naan. 19 When La­ban had gone to s ­ hear his ­sheep, Ra­chel ­stole her fa­ther’s house­hold gods. 20 More­over, Ja­cob de­ceived La­ban the Ar­a­ me­an by not tell­ing him he was run­ning away. 21 So he fled with all he had, ­c rossed the Eu­ phra­tes Riv­er, and head­ed for the hill coun­try of Gil­e­ad. Laban Pursues Jacob 22 On the ­t hird day La­ban was told that Ja­ cob had fled. 23 Tak­ing his rel­a­tives with him, he pur­sued Ja­cob for sev­en days and ­caught up with him in the hill coun­try of Gil­e­ad. 24 Then God came to La­ban the Ar­a­me­an in a ­dream at ­night and said to him, “Be care­f ul not to say any­thing to Ja­cob, ei­ther good or bad.” 25 Ja­ cob had ­pitched his tent in the hill coun­try of Gil­e­ad when La­ban over­took him, and La­ban and his rel­a­tives c­ amped ­there too. 26 Then La­ban said to Ja­cob, “What have you done? ­You’ve de­ceived me, and ­you’ve car­ried off my daugh­ters like cap­tives in war. 27 Why did you run off se­cret­ly and de­ceive me? Why ­d idn’t you tell me, so I ­could send you away with joy and sing­ing to the mu­sic of tim­brels and ­harps? 28 You ­d idn’t even let me kiss my grand­chil­d ren and my daugh­ters goodbye. You have done a fool­ish ­thing. 29 I have the pow­er to harm you; but last ­night the God of your fa­ther said to me, ‘Be care­f ul not to say any­thing to Ja­cob, ei­ther good or bad.’ 30 Now you have gone off be­cause you l­onged to re­ turn to your fa­ther’s house­hold. But why did you ­steal my gods?”

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31 Ja­cob an­s wered La­ban, “I was ­a fraid, be­ cause I ­t hought you ­would take your daugh­ ters away from me by ­force. 32 But if you find any­one who has your gods, that per­son ­shall not live. In the pres­ence of our rel­a­t ives, see for your­self wheth­er ­there is any­thing of ­yours here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Ja­cob did not know that Ra­chel had sto­len the gods. 33 So La­ban went into Ja­cob’s tent and into Le­ah’s tent and into the tent of the two fe­male ser­vants, but he ­found noth­ing. Af­ter he came out of Le­a h’s tent, he en­tered Ra­chel’s tent. 34 Now Ra­c hel had tak­en the house­hold gods and put them in­side her cam­el’s sad­d le and was sit­ting on them. La­ban ­searched ­through ev­ery­thing in the tent but ­found noth­ing. 35 Ra­chel said to her fa­t her, “Don’t be an­g ry, my lord, that I can­not s­ tand up in your pres­ ence; I’m hav­ing my pe­r i­od.” So he s­ earched but ­could not find the house­hold gods. 36 Ja­cob was an­g ry and took La­ban to task. “What is my c­ rime?” he ­asked La­ban. “How have I ­w ronged you that you hunt me down? 37 Now that you have ­searched ­t hrough all my ­goods, what have you ­found that be­longs to your house­hold? Put it here in ­front of your rel­a­tives and mine, and let them ­judge be­ tween the two of us. 38 “I have been with you for twen­ t y ­years now. Your s­ heep and ­goats have not mis­car­ ried, nor have I eat­en rams from your f­ locks. 39 I did not b ­ ring you an­i­mals torn by wild ­beasts; I bore the loss my­self. And you de­ mand­ed pay­ment from me for what­ev­er was sto­len by day or ­night. 40 This was my sit­u­a­ tion: The heat con­sumed me in the day­time and the cold at ­night, and ­sleep fled from my eyes. 41 It was like this for the twen­t y ­years I was in your house­hold. I ­worked for you four­ teen ­years for your two daugh­ters and six ­years for your ­f locks, and you ­c hanged my ­wag­es ten ­times. 42 If the God of my fa­ther, the God of Abra­ham and the Fear of ­Isaac, had not been with me, you ­would sure­ly have sent me away emp­ty-hand­ed. But God has seen my hard­ship and the toil of my ­hands, and last ­night he re­buked you.” 43 La­ban an­s wered Ja­cob, “The wom­en are

my daugh­ters, the chil­d ren are my chil­d ren, and the ­f locks are my ­f locks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do to­day ­about ­these daugh­ters of mine, or ­about the chil­dren they have ­borne? 44 Come now, ­let’s make a cov­ enant, you and I, and let it ­serve as a wit­ness be­t ween us.” 45 So Ja­cob took a s ­ tone and set it up as a pil­lar. 46 He said to his rel­a­tives, “Gath­er some ­stones.” So they took s­ tones and ­piled them in a heap, and they ate ­there by the heap. 47 La­ban ­called it Je­gar Sa­ha­du­t ha, and Ja­cob ­called it Gal­e­ed.  a 48 La­ban said, “This heap is a wit­ness be­ tween you and me to­day.” That is why it was ­called Gal­e­ed. 49 It was also ­called Miz­pah, b be­cause he said, “May the Lord keep ­watch be­t ween you and me when we are away from each oth­er. 50 If you mis­treat my daugh­ters or if you take any w ­ ives be­sides my daugh­ters, even ­though no one is with us, re­mem­ber that God is a wit­ness be­t ween you and me.” 51 La­ ban also said to Ja­cob, “Here is this heap, and here is this pil­lar I have set up be­ tween you and me. 52 This heap is a wit­ness, and this pil­lar is a wit­ness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pil­ lar to my side to harm me. 53 May the God of Abra­ham and the God of Na­hor, the God of ­their fa­ther, ­judge be­t ween us.” So Ja­cob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his fa­ther I­ saac. 54 He of­fered a sac­ri­ fice t­ here in the hill coun­t ry and in­v it­ed his rel­a­tives to a meal. Af­ter they had eat­en, they ­spent the ­night there. 55 Ear­ly the next morn­ing La­ban ­k issed his grand­chil­d ren and his daugh­ters and b ­ lessed them. Then he left and re­t urned home. c

MATTHEW 12:1 — 12:21 Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

12

At that time J­esus went t­hrough the grain­f ields on the Sab­bath. His dis­ ci­ples were hun­g ry and be­gan to pick some ­heads of ­g rain and eat them. 2 When the Phar­i­sees saw this, they said to him, “Look!

a 47 The Aramaic Jegar Sahadutha and the Hebrew Galeed both mean witness heap.    b 49  Mizpah means watchtower.    c 55  In Hebrew texts this verse (31:55) is numbered 32:1.   

DAY 15

53 Your dis­ci­ples are do­ing what is un­law­f ul on the Sab­bath.” 3 He an­ s wered, “Haven’t you read what Da­v id did when he and his com­pan­ions were hun­g ry? 4 He en­tered the h ­ ouse of God, and he and his com­pan­ions ate the con­se­c rat­ed ­bread — ​­which was not law­f ul for them to do, but only for the ­priests. 5 Or ­haven’t you read in the Law that the ­priests on Sab­bath duty in the tem­ple des­e­crate the Sab­bath and yet are in­no­cent? 6 I tell you that some­thing great­er than the tem­ple is here. 7 If you had ­k nown what ­these w ­ ords mean, ‘I de­sire mer­c y, not sac­ri­f ice,’  a you ­would not have con­demned the in­no­cent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sab­bath.” 9 Go­ ing on from that ­place, he went into ­their syn­a­gogue, 10 and a man with a shriv­eled hand was ­there. Look­ing for a rea­son to bring charges ­against ­Jesus, they ­asked him, “Is it law­f ul to heal on the Sab­bath?” 11 He said to them, “If any of you has a ­sheep and it ­falls into a pit on the Sab­bath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valu­able is a per­son than a ­sheep! There­fore it is law­f ul to do good on the Sab­bath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he ­stretched it out and it was com­plete­ly re­stored, just as ­sound as the oth­er. 14 But the Phar­i­sees went out and plot­ted how they ­might kill ­Jesus. God’s Chosen Servant 15 Aware of this, ­Jesus with­d rew from that ­ lace. A l­arge c­ rowd fol­lowed him, and he p ­healed all who were ill. 16 He ­warned them not to tell oth­ers ­about him. 17 This was to ful­f ill what was spo­ken ­through the proph­et Isa­iah:

18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.

20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. 21 In his name the nations will put their hope.” b

PSALM 9:13 — 9:20 13 Lord, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death, 14 that I may declare your praises in the gates of Daughter Zion, and there rejoice in your salvation. 15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. 16 The Lord is known by his acts of justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. c 17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God. 18 But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish. 19 Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. 20 Strike them with terror, Lord; let the nations know they are only mortal.

REWIND Genesis 31; Matthew 12:1 – 21; Psalm 9:13 – 20

EVERYONE GETS PICKED ON. The ­people in Genesis 31 think Jacob is trying to steal from his uncle, so he packs up his family and runs. In Matthew 12 the Lord’s hungry disciples face the wrath of religious rule keepers for picking grain on a day of Sabbath rest. And in Psalm 9 David complains about his ­enemies’

a 7  Hosea 6:6    b 21 Isaiah 42:1-4    c 16  The Hebrew has Higgaion and Selah (words of uncertain

meaning) here; Selah occurs also at the end of verse 20.   

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r­elentless attacks. When you feel bullied by your world, you’re not alone. Everyone suffers, but you have a God who never forgets you need him. D

day16 GENESIS 32:1 — 33:20

Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

32

a

Ja­cob also went on his way, and the an­gels of God met him. 2 When Ja­ cob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he ­named that ­place Ma­ha­na­im. b 3 Ja­cob sent mes­sen­gers ­a head of him to his broth­er Esau in the land of Seir, the coun­try of Edom. 4 He in­struct­ed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your ser­vant Ja­cob says, I have been stay­ing with La­ban and have re­mained ­there till now. 5 I have cat­ tle and don­keys, ­sheep and g­ oats, male and fe­male ser­vants. Now I am send­ing this mes­ sage to my lord, that I may find fa­vor in your eyes.’ ” 6 When the mes­sen­gers re­t urned to Ja­cob, they said, “We went to your broth­er Esau, and now he is com­ing to meet you, and four hun­ dred men are with him.” 7 In ­g reat fear and dis­t ress Ja­cob di­v id­ed the peo­ple who were with him into two ­g roups, c and the ­f locks and ­herds and cam­els as well. 8 He ­t hought, “If Esau ­comes and at­tacks one ­group,  d the ­g roup d that is left may es­cape.” 9 Then Ja­cob p ­ rayed, “O God of my fa­ther Abra­ham, God of my fa­ther ­Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your coun­try and your rel­a­tives, and I will make you pros­per,’

10 I

am un­wor­thy of all the kind­ness and faith­ ful­ness you have s­hown your ser­vant. I had only my ­staff when I c­ rossed this Jor­dan, but now I have be­come two ­camps. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my broth­er Esau, for I am ­a fraid he will come and at­tack me, and also the moth­ers with ­their chil­d ren. 12 But you have said, ‘I will sure­ly make you pros­per and will make your de­scen­dants like the sand of the sea, ­which can­not be count­ed.’ ” 13 He ­spent the ­n ight ­t here, and from what he had with him he se­lect­ed a gift for his broth­er Esau: 14 two hun­d red fe­male ­goats and twen­ty male ­goats, two hun­d red ewes and twen­t y rams, 15 thir­t y fe­male cam­els with ­their y­ oung, for­ty cows and ten ­bulls, and twen­t y fe­male don­keys and ten male don­keys. 16 He put them in the care of his ser­vants, each herd by it­self, and said to his ser­vants, “Go ­a head of me, and keep some s­pace be­tween the herds.” 17 He in­struct­ed the one in the lead: “When my broth­er Esau ­meets you and asks, ‘Who do you be­long to, and w ­ here are you go­ing, and who owns all t­ hese an­i­mals in ­front of you?’ 18 then you are to say, ‘They be­ long to your ser­vant Ja­cob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is com­ing be­hind us.’ ” 19 He also in­struct­ed the sec­ond, the t­ hird and all the oth­ers who fol­lowed the h ­ erds: “You are to say the same ­thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, ‘Your ser­vant Ja­cob is com­ing be­h ind us.’ ” For he ­thought, “I will pac­i­f y him with ­these ­gifts I am send­ing on ­a head; lat­er, when I see him, per­haps he will re­ceive me.” 21 So Ja­cob’s ­gifts went on a­ head of him, but he him­self ­spent the ­night in the camp. Jacob Wrestles With God 22 That ­n ight Ja­cob got up and took his two ­ ives, his two fe­male ser­vants and his elev­ w en sons and ­c rossed the ford of the Jab­bok. 23 Af­ter he had sent them ­across the ­stream, he sent over all his pos­ses­sions. 24 So Ja­cob was left ­a lone, and a man wres­tled with him till day­break. 25 When the man saw that he ­could not over­pow­er him, he ­touched the sock­et of

a In Hebrew texts 32:1-32 is numbered 32:2-33.    b 2  Mahanaim means two camps.    c 7 Or camps    d 8  Or camp   

55 Ja­cob’s hip so that his hip was ­w renched as he wres­t led with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is day­break.” But Ja­cob re­plied, “I will not let you go un­ less you ­bless me.” 27 The man ­ a sked him, “What is your name?” “Ja­cob,” he an­swered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no lon­ger be Ja­cob, but Is­ra­el,  a be­cause you have strug­gled with God and with hu­mans and have over­come.” 29 Ja­cob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he re­plied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he ­blessed him there. 30 So Ja­cob ­called the ­place Pe­n i­el,  b say­ing, “It is be­cause I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” 31 The sun rose ­above him as he ­passed Pe­ ni­el,  c and he was limp­ing be­cause of his hip. 32 There­fore to this day the Is­r a­el­ites do not eat the ten­don at­tached to the sock­et of the hip, be­cause the sock­et of Ja­cob’s hip was ­touched near the ten­don. Jacob Meets Esau

33

Ja­cob ­looked up and t­ here was Esau, com­ing with his four hun­d red men; so he di­v id­ed the chil­d ren ­among Leah, Ra­ chel and the two fe­male ser­vants. 2 He put the fe­male ser­vants and ­their chil­d ren in ­front, Leah and her chil­d ren next, and Ra­chel and Jo­seph in the rear. 3 He him­self went on ­ahead and ­bowed down to the ­g round sev­en ­times as he ap­proached his broth­er. 4 But Esau ran to meet Ja­cob and em­braced him; he t­ hrew his arms ­a round his neck and ­k issed him. And they wept. 5 Then Esau ­looked up and saw the wom­en and chil­d ren. “Who are ­these with you?” he asked. Ja­cob an­swered, “They are the chil­d ren God has gra­cious­ly giv­en your ser­vant.” 6 Then the fe­male ser­v ants and t­ heir chil­ dren ap­proached and ­bowed down. 7 Next, Leah and her chil­dren came and b ­ owed down. Last of all came Jo­seph and Ra­chel, and they too ­bowed down.

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8 Esau a ­ sked, “What’s the meaning of all ­these ­f locks and ­herds I met?” “To find fa­vor in your eyes, my lord,” he said. 9 But Esau said, “I al­ready have plen­t y, my broth­er. Keep what you have for your­self.” 10 “No, ­please!” said Ja­cob. “If I have ­found fa­vor in your eyes, ac­cept this gift from me. For to see your face is like see­ing the face of God, now that you have re­ceived me fa­ vor­ably. 11 Please ac­cept the pres­ent that was ­brought to you, for God has been gra­cious to me and I have all I need.” And be­cause Ja­cob in­sist­ed, Esau ac­cept­ed it. 12 Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll ac­com­pa­ny you.” 13 But Ja­ cob said to him, “My lord ­k nows that the chil­d ren are ten­der and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nurs­ing ­their y­ oung. If they are driv­en hard just one day, all the an­i­mals will die. 14 So let my lord go on ­ahead of his ser­vant, ­while I move ­a long slow­ly at the pace of the ­f locks and ­herds be­ fore me and the pace of the chil­d ren, un­t il I come to my lord in Seir.” 15 Esau said, “Then let me ­leave some of my men with you.” “But why do that?” Ja­cob a­ sked. “Just let me find fa­vor in the eyes of my lord.” 16 So that day Esau start­ed on his way back to Seir. 17 Ja­cob, how­ev­er, went to Suk ­koth, ­where he ­built a ­place for him­self and made shel­ters for his live­stock. That is why the p ­ lace is ­called Suk­koth.  d 18 Af­ ter Ja­cob came from Pad­dan Aram, e he ar­rived safe­ly at the city of She­c hem in Ca­naan and c­ amped with­in s­ ight of the city. 19 For a hun­ d red piec­es of sil­ver,  f he ­bought from the sons of Ha­mor, the fa­ther of She­ chem, the plot of ­ground w ­ here he ­pitched his tent. 20 There he set up an al­tar and ­called it El Elo­he Is­ra­el.  g

MATTHEW 12:22 — 12:45 Jesus and Beelzebul 22 Then they b ­ rought him a de­mon-pos­sessed man who was ­blind and mute, and ­Jesus ­healed

a 28  Israel probably means he struggles with God.    b 30  Peniel means face of God.    c 31 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel    d 17  Sukkoth means shelters.    e 18  That is, Northwest Mesopotamia    f 19 Hebrew hundred kesitahs; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value.    g 20  El Elohe Israel can

mean El is the God of Israel or mighty is the God of Israel.   

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him, so that he ­could both talk and see. 23 All the peo­ple were as­ton­ished and said, “Could this be the Son of Da­vid?” 24 But when the Phar­i­sees ­heard this, they said, “It is only by Be­el­ze­bul, the p ­ rince of de­ mons, that this fel­low ­drives out de­mons.” 25 Jesus knew ­ t heir ­thoughts and said to them, “Ev­ery king­dom di­v id­ed ­against it­self will be ru­ined, and ev­ery city or house­hold di­ vid­ed a­ gainst it­self will not s­ tand. 26 If Sa­tan ­drives out Sa­tan, he is di­v id­ed a­ gainst him­self. How then can his king­dom ­stand? 27 And if I ­d rive out de­mons by Be­el­z e­bul, by whom do your peo­ple ­drive them out? So then, they will be your judg­es. 28 But if it is by the Spir­it of God that I ­d rive out de­mons, then the king­ dom of God has come upon you. 29 “Or ­again, how can any­one en­ter a ­strong ­man’s ­house and car­r y off his pos­ses­sions un­ less he f­ irst ties up the s­ trong man? Then he can plun­der his ­house. 30 “Who­e v­er is not with me is ­a gainst me, and who­ev­er does not gath­er with me scat­ters. 31 And so I tell you, ev­ery kind of sin and slan­ der can be for­g iv­en, but blas­phe­my a­ gainst the Spir­it will not be for­giv­en. 32 Any­one who ­speaks a word ­against the Son of Man will be for­g iv­en, but any­one who ­speaks ­against the Holy Spir­it will not be for­giv­en, ei­ther in this age or in the age to come. 33 “Make a tree good and its ­ f ruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its ­fruit will be bad, for a tree is rec­og­nized by its ­fruit. 34 You ­brood of vi­pers, how can you who are evil say any­thing good? For the ­mouth s­peaks what the heart is full of. 35 A good man ­brings good ­things out of the good ­stored up in him, and an evil man b ­ rings evil t­ hings out of the evil ­stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that every­one will have to give ac­count on the day of judg­ ment for ev­ery emp­t y word they have spo­ken. 37 For by your ­words you will be ac­quit­ted, and by your ­words you will be con­demned.” The Sign of Jonah 38 Then some of the Phar­i­sees and teach­ers of the law said to him, “Teach­er, we want to see a sign from you.” 39 He an­s wered, “A wick­ed and adul­ter­ous gen­er­a­tion asks for a sign! But none will be giv­en it ex­cept the sign of the proph­et Jo­nah.

40 For

as Jo­nah was ­three days and t­ hree n ­ ights in the bel­ly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be ­three days and ­three ­nights in the h ­ eart of the ­earth. 41 The men of Nin­e­veh will ­stand up at the judg­ment with this gen­er­a­t ion and con­demn it; for they re­pent­ed at the preach­ ing of Jo­nah, and now some­thing great­er than Jo­nah is here. 42 The ­Queen of the ­South will rise at the judg­ment with this gen­er­a­tion and con­demn it; for she came from the ends of the ­earth to lis­ten to Sol­o­mon’s wis­dom, and now some­thing great­er than Sol­o­mon is here. 43 “When an im­ pure spir­it ­comes out of a per­son, it goes ­through arid plac­es seek­ing rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will re­t urn to the ­house I left.’ When it ar­rives, it ­f inds the ­house un­oc­cu­pied, ­swept ­c lean and put in or­der. 45 Then it goes and ­takes with it sev­en oth­er spir­its more wick­ed than it­self, and they go in and live ­there. And the fi­nal con­d i­tion of that per­son is ­worse than the ­f irst. That is how it will be with this wick­ed gen­er­a­tion.”

PROVERBS 2:1 — 2:11 Moral Benefits of Wisdom

2

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding — ​ 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. 9 Then you will understand what is right and just and fair — ​every good path.

57 10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. 11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

REWIND Genesis 32 – 33; Matthew 12:22 – 45; Proverbs 2:1 – 11

THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY. Many years after Esau wanted to kill Jacob, they manage in Genesis 32 – 33 to patch up their friendship. Matthew 12 shows a group of religious hypocrites so blinded by sin they sneer at J­esus’ teaching and accuse him of being partners with the devil. But Proverbs 2 depicts a better way to do life. Get God’s wisdom now, then stay on his path. It’s your best chance to avoid the pain of sin. D

day17 GENESIS 34:1 — 35:29

Dinah and the Shechemites

34

Now Di­nah, the daugh­ter Leah had ­borne to Ja­cob, went out to vis­it the wom­en of the land. 2 When She­chem son of Ha­mor the Hi­v ite, the rul­er of that area, saw her, he took her and ­raped her. 3 His ­heart was ­d rawn to Di­nah daugh­ter of Ja­cob; he ­loved the ­young wom­an and ­spoke ten­der­ly to her. 4 And She­chem said to his fa­t her Ha­mor, “Get me this girl as my wife.” 5 When Ja­cob ­heard that his daugh­ter Di­

DAY 17

nah had been de­filed, his sons were in the ­fields with his live­stock; so he did noth­ing ­about it un­til they came home. 6 Then She­chem’s fa­t her Ha­mor went out to talk with Ja­cob. 7 Mean­while, Ja­cob’s sons had come in from the ­f ields as soon as they ­heard what had hap­pened. They were ­shocked and fu­ri­ous, be­cause She­chem had done an out­ra­ geous ­thing in a Is­ra­el by sleep­ing with Ja­cob’s daugh­ter — ​a ­thing that ­should not be done. 8 But Ha­ mor said to them, “My son She­ chem has his ­heart set on your daugh­ter. ­Please give her to him as his wife. 9 In­ter­mar­ ry with us; give us your daugh­ters and take our daugh­ters for your­selves. 10 You can set­t le ­among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, ­trade  b in it, and ac­quire prop­er­t y in it.” 11 Then She­c hem said to Di­nah’s fa­t her and broth­ers, “Let me find fa­vor in your eyes, and I will give you what­ev­er you ask. 12 Make the ­price for the ­bride and the gift I am to ­bring as ­great as you like, and I’ll pay what­ev­er you ask me. Only give me the ­young wom­an as my wife.” 13 Be­c ause t­ heir sis­ter Di­nah had been de­ filed, Ja­cob’s sons re­plied de­ceit­ful­ly as they ­spoke to She­chem and his fa­ther Ha­mor. 14 They said to them, “We ­ c an’t do such a ­thing; we ­can’t give our sis­ter to a man who is not cir­cum­cised. That ­would be a dis­g race to us. 15 We will en­ter into an agree­ment with you on one con­d i­tion only: that you be­come like us by cir­cum­cis­ing all your ­males. 16 Then we will give you our daugh­ters and take your daugh­ters for our­selves. ­We’ll set ­t le ­a mong you and be­come one peo­ple with you. 17 But if you will not ­agree to be cir­cum­cised, ­we’ll take our sis­ter and go.” 18 Their pro­ pos­a l s­eemed good to Ha­mor and his son She­chem. 19 The ­young man, who was the most hon­ored of all his fa­ther’s fam­i­ly, lost no time in do­ing what they said, be­cause he was de­light­ed with Ja­cob’s daugh­ter. 20 So Ha­mor and his son She­chem went to the gate of ­their city to ­speak to the men of ­their city. 21 “These men are friend­ ly to­ward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and t­ rade in it; the land has plen­t y of room for them. We can mar­r y ­their daugh­ters and they can ­mar­r y

a 7 Or against    b 10 Or move about freely; also in verse 21   

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ours. 22 But the men will ­agree to live with us as one peo­ple only on the con­d i­t ion that our ­males be cir­cum­cised, as they them­selves are. 23 Won’t ­t heir live­s tock, ­t heir prop­e r ­t y and all ­their oth­er an­i­mals be­come ours? So let us ­agree to ­their ­terms, and they will set­tle ­among us.” 24 All the men who went out of the city gate ­agreed with Ha­mor and his son She­chem, and ev­ery male in the city was cir­cum­cised. 25 Three days lat­er, ­while all of them were ­still in pain, two of Ja­cob’s sons, Sim­e­on and Levi, Di­n ah’s broth­ers, took t­heir ­swords and at­tacked the un­sus­p ect­ing city, kill­ ing ev­ery male. 26 They put Ha­mor and his son She­c hem to the ­s word and took Di­nah from She­chem’s ­house and left. 27 The sons of Ja­cob came upon the dead bod­ies and loot­ ed the city ­where a ­their sis­ter had been de­ filed. 28 They ­seized ­their f­ locks and ­herds and don­keys and ev­ery­t hing else of ­t heirs in the city and out in the ­f ields. 29 They car­r ied off all ­t heir ­wealth and all t­ heir wom­en and chil­d ren, tak­ing as plun­der ev­ery­t hing in the hous­es. 30 Then Ja­ cob said to Sim­e­on and Levi, “You have ­brought trou­ble on me by mak­ing me ob­nox­ious to the Ca­naan­ites and Per­iz­ zites, the peo­ple liv­ing in this land. We are few in num­ber, and if they join forc­es ­against me and at­tack me, I and my house­hold will be de­stroyed.” 31 But they re­plied, “Should he have treat­ed our sis­ter like a pros­ti­t ute?” Jacob Returns to Bethel

35

Then God said to Ja­cob, “Go up to Beth­e l and set­tle ­there, and ­build an al­tar ­t here to God, who ap­peared to you when you were f lee­ing from your broth­e r Esau.” 2 So Ja­cob said to his house­hold and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the for­eign gods you have with you, and pu­ri­f y your­selves and c­ hange your ­c lothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Beth­el, ­where I will ­build an al­tar to God, who an­s wered me in the day of my

dis­tress and who has been with me wher­ev­er I have gone.” 4 So they gave Ja­cob all the for­eign gods they had and the ­rings in ­their ears, and Ja­cob bur­ied them un­der the oak at She­chem. 5 Then they set out, and the ter­ror of God fell on the ­towns all ­a round them so that no one pur­sued them. 6 Ja­ cob and all the peo­ple with him came to Luz (that is, Beth­el) in the land of Ca­ naan. 7 There he b ­ uilt an al­tar, and he ­called the ­place El Beth­el, b be­cause it was ­there that God re­vealed him­self to him when he was flee­ing from his broth­er. 8 Now Deb­o­rah, Re­bek­a h’s ­nurse, died and was bur­ied un­der the oak out­side Beth­el. So it was ­named Al­lon Bak­uth.  c 9 Af­ter Ja­cob re­t urned from Pad­dan Aram, d God ap­peared to him ­again and ­blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Ja­cob, e but you will no lon­ger be ­called Ja­cob; your name will be Is­ra­el.   f   ” So he ­named him Is­ra­el. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Al­ mighty g; be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber. A na­tion and a com­mu­ni­t y of na­tions will come from you, and ­k ings will be a­ mong your de­ scen­dants. 12 The land I gave to Abra­ham and ­Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your de­scen­dants af­ter you.” 13 Then God went up from him at the ­place ­where he had ­talked with him. 14 Ja­ cob set up a s­tone pil­lar at the p ­ lace ­where God had ­talked with him, and he ­p oured out a ­d rink of­fer­ing on it; he also ­poured oil on it. 15 Ja­cob ­called the ­place ­where God had ­talked with him Beth­el. h The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they ­moved on from Beth­el. ­W hile they were ­still some dis­tance from Eph­rath, Ra­chel be­gan to give ­birth and had ­great dif­ fi­cul­t y. 17 And as she was hav­ing ­g reat dif­f i­ cul­t y in child­birth, the mid­w ife said to her, “Don’t de­spair, for you have an­oth­er son.” 18 As she ­breathed her last — ​for she was dy­ ing — ​she ­named her son Ben-Oni. i But his fa­ther ­named him Ben­ja­min.  j 19 So Ra­ c hel died and was bur­ied on the

a 27 Or because    b 7  El Bethel means God of Bethel.    c 8  Allon Bakuth means oak of weeping.    d 9 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verse 26    e 10  Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives.    f 10  Israel probably means he struggles with God.    g 11 Hebrew El-Shaddai    h 15  Bethel means house of God.    i 18  Ben-Oni means son of my trouble.    j 18  Benjamin means son of my right hand.   

DAY 17

59 way to Eph­rath (that is, Beth­le­hem). 20 Over her tomb Ja­cob set up a pil­lar, and to this day that pil­lar ­marks Ra­chel’s tomb. 21 Is­ ra­el ­moved on ­a gain and ­pitched his tent be­yond Mig­dal Eder. 22 While Is­ra­el was liv­ing in that re­gion, Reu­ben went in and ­slept with his fa­ther’s con­cu­bine Bil­hah, and Is­ra­el ­heard of it. Ja­cob had ­t welve sons: 23 The sons of Leah: Reu­ben the first­born of Ja­cob, Sim­e­on, Levi, Ju­d ah, Is­sa­c har and Zeb­u ­lun. 24 The sons of Ra­chel: Jo­seph and Ben­ja­min. 25 The sons of Ra­chel’s ser­vant Bil­hah: Dan and Naph­ta­li. 26 The sons of Le­a h’s ser­vant Zil­pah: Gad and Ash­er. These were the sons of Ja­cob, who were born to him in Pad­dan Aram. 27 Ja­ cob came home to his fa­ther ­Isaac in Mam­re, near Kir­i­ath Arba (that is, He­bron), ­where Abra­ham and ­Isaac had ­stayed. 28 Isaac ­lived a hun­d red and e­ ighty ­years. 29 Then he ­breathed his last and died and was gath­ered to his peo­ple, old and full of y­ ears. And his sons Esau and Ja­cob bur­ied him.

MATTHEW 12:46 — 13:17 Jesus’ Mother and Brothers 46 While ­ Jesus was ­ s till talk­ i ng to the c­ rowd, his moth­er and broth­ers ­stood out­side, want­ing to ­speak to him. 47 Some­one told him, “Your moth­er and broth­ers are stand­ing out­ side, want­ing to ­speak to you.” 48 He re­plied to him, “Who is my moth­er, and who are my broth­ers?” 49 Point­ing to his dis­ci­ples, he said, “Here are my moth­er and my broth­ers. 50 For who­ev­er does the will of my Fa­ther in heav­en is my broth­er and sis­ter and moth­er.”

The Parable of the Sower

13

That same day ­Jesus went out of the ­house and sat by the lake. 2 Such ­large ­crowds gath­ered ­a round him that he got into a 15 Isaiah 6:9,10 (see Septuagint)   

a boat and sat in it, ­while all the peo­ple ­stood on the s­ hore. 3 Then he told them many t­ hings in par­a­bles, say­ing: “A farm­er went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scat­ter­ing the seed, some fell a­ long the path, and the ­birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on ­rocky plac­es, ­where it did not have much soil. It ­sprang up quick­ ly, be­cause the soil was shal­low. 6 But when the sun came up, the ­plants were s­corched, and they with­ered be­cause they had no root. 7 Oth­ er seed fell ­a mong t­horns, w ­ hich grew up and ­c hoked the p ­ lants. 8 Still oth­er seed fell on good soil, w ­ here it pro­duced a crop — ​a hun­dred, six­t y or thir­t y ­times what was sown. 9 Who­ev­er has ears, let them hear.” 10 The dis­ c i­ples came to him and ­a sked, “Why do you s­ peak to the peo­ple in par­a­bles?” 11 He re­ plied, “Be­ c ause the knowl­ e dge of the se­c rets of the king­dom of heav­en has been giv­en to you, but not to them. 12 Who­ ever has will be giv­en more, and they will have an abun­dance. Who­ever does not have, even what they have will be tak­en from them. 13 This is why I ­speak to them in par­a­bles: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In

them is ful­f illed the proph­e­c y of Isa­iah:

“ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ a 16 But

­blessed are your eyes be­c ause they see, and your ears be­c ause they hear. 17 For tru­ly I tell you, many proph­ets and righ­teous peo­ ple ­longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

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PSALM 10:1 — 10:11 Psalm

10 a

1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off    ? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. 3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. 4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. 5 His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by b him; he sneers at all his enemies. 6 He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.” 7 His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. 8 He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims; 9 like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. 10 His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. 11 He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”

REWIND Genesis 34 – 35; Matthew 12:46 – 13:17; Psalm 10:1 – 11

YOU DON’T HAVE TO ADD TO THE WORLD’S EVIL. The rape, murder, and plunder recounted in Genesis 34 should make you uncomfortable. So should the thought of anyone being too cold to

understand and apply God’s words, like in Matthew 12 – 13. Psalm 10 presents more tragic pictures, like the wicked hunting the weak and murdering the innocent. You live in a world of widespread evil. But every time you choose to do good, you stand on God’s side. D

day18 GENESIS 36:1 — 37:36 Esau’s Descendants

36

This is the ac­count of the fam­i­ly line of Esau (that is, Edom).

2 Esau

took his ­w ives from the wom­en of Ca­naan: Adah daugh­ter of Elon the Hit ­t ite, and Ohol ­i­ba­mah daugh­ter of Anah and grand­daugh­ter of Zib­e­on the Hi­v ite — ​ 3 also Bas­e­math daugh­ter of Ish­ma­el and sis­ter of Ne­ba­ioth. 4 Adah bore El­ i­phaz to Esau, Bas­e­ math bore Reu­el, 5 and Ohol­i­ba­mah bore Je­ush, Ja­lam and Ko­rah. ­These were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in Ca­naan. 6 Esau took his ­ w ives and sons and daugh­ters and all the mem­bers of his house­hold, as well as his live­stock and all his oth­er an­i­mals and all the ­goods he had ac­quired in Ca­naan, and ­moved to a land some dis­tance from his broth­ er Ja­cob. 7 Their pos­ses­sions were too ­g reat for them to re­main to­geth­er; the land ­where they were stay­ing ­could not

a Psalms 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lines began with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.    b 5  See Septuagint;

Hebrew / they are haughty, and your laws are far from   

DAY 18

61 sup­port them both be­cause of ­their live­ stock. 8 So Esau (that is, Edom) set­t led in the hill coun­try of Seir. 9 This is the ac­ count of the fam­i­ly line of Esau the fa­ther of the Edom­ites in the hill coun­try of Seir.

10 These are the ­names of ­Esau’s sons: El­i­phaz, the son of ­Esau’s wife Adah, and Reu­el, the son of ­Esau’s wife Bas­ e­math. 11 The sons of El­i­phaz: Te­man, Omar, Ze­pho, Ga­tam and Ke­naz. 12 Esau’s son El­i­phaz also had a con­ cu­bine ­named Tim­na, who bore him Am­a ­lek. ­T hese were grand­s ons of ­Esau’s wife Adah. 13 The sons of Reu­el: Na­hath, Ze­rah, Sham­mah and Miz­ zah. ­T hese were grand­sons of E ­ sau’s wife Bas­e­math. 14 The sons of E ­ sau’s wife Ohol­i­ba­mah daugh­ter of Anah and grand­daugh­ter of Zib­e­on, whom she bore to Esau: Je­ush, Ja­lam and Ko­rah. 15 These were the c ­ hiefs ­among ­Esau’s de­ scen­dants: The sons of El­i­phaz the first­b orn of Esau: Chiefs Te­man, Omar, Ze­pho, Ke­naz, 16 Ko­rah,  a Ga­tam and Am­a ­lek. ­T hese were the c­ hiefs de­scend­ed from El­i­ phaz in Edom; they were grand­sons of Adah. 17 The sons of ­Esau’s son Reu­el: Chiefs Na­hath, Ze­rah, Sham­mah and Miz­z ah. ­T hese were the ­c hiefs de­ scend­ed from Reu­el in Edom; they were grand­sons of E ­ sau’s wife Bas­e­ math. 18 The sons of ­Esau’s wife Ohol­i­ba­mah: Chiefs Je­ush, Ja­lam and Ko­rah. T ­ hese were the ­chiefs de­scend­ed from ­Esau’s wife Ohol­i­ba­mah daugh­ter of Anah. 19 These were the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and ­these were ­their chiefs.

20 These were the sons of Seir the Ho­r ite, who were liv­ing in the re­gion: Lo­tan, Sho­bal, Zib­e­on, Anah, 21 Di­ shon, Ezer and Di­shan. ­These sons of Seir in Edom were Ho­rite chiefs. 22 The sons of Lo­tan: Hori and Ho­mam. b Tim­na was Lo­ tan’s sis­ter. 23 The sons of Sho­bal: Al­van, Man­a ­hath, Ebal, She­pho and Onam. 24 The sons of Zib­e­on: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who dis­cov­ered the hot ­springs c in the des­ert ­while he was graz­ing the don­ keys of his fa­ther Zib­e­on. 25 The chil­dren of Anah: Di­shon and Ohol ­i­ba­mah daugh­ter of Anah. 26 The sons of Di­shon d : Hem­dan, Esh­ban, Ith­ran and Ke­ran. 27 The sons of Ezer: Bil­han, Za­a­van and Akan. 28 The sons of Di­shan: Uz and Aran. 29 These were the Ho­rite chiefs: Lo­tan, Sho­bal, Zib­e­on, Anah, 30 Di­ shon, Ezer and Di­shan. ­T hese were the Ho­r ite ­c hiefs, ac­cord ­ing to ­t heir di­v i­sions, in the land of Seir.

The Rulers of Edom 31 These

were the ­k ings who ­reigned in Edom be­fore any Is­ra­el­ite king reigned: 32 Bela son of Beor be­came king of Edom. His city was ­named Din­ha­bah. 33 When Bela died, Jo­bab son of Ze­rah from Boz­rah suc­ceed­ed him as king. 34 When Jo­bab died, Hu­sham from the land of the Te­man­ites suc­ceed­ed him as king. 35 When Hu­ sham died, Ha­ d ad son of Be­dad, who de­feat­ed Mid­i­a n in the coun­try of Moab, suc­ceed­ed him as king. His city was ­named Avith. 36 When Ha­dad died, Sam­lah from Mas­re­ kah suc­ceed­ed him as king.

a 16  Masoretic Text; Samaritan Pentateuch (also verse 11 and 1 Chron. 1:36) does not have Korah.    b 22 Hebrew Hemam, a variant of Homam (see 1 Chron. 1:39)    c 24  Vulgate; Syriac discovered water; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.    d 26 Hebrew Dishan, a variant of Dishon   

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37 When Sam­lah died, Sha­u l from Re­ho­ both on the riv­er suc­ceed­ed him as king. 38 When Sha­u l died, Baal-Ha­nan son of Ak­bor suc­ceed­ed him as king. 39 When Baal-Ha­nan son of Ak­bor died, Ha­dad  a suc­ceed­ed him as king. His city was n ­ amed Pau, and his ­w ife’s name was Me­het­a­bel daugh­ter of Ma­ tred, the daugh­ter of Me-Za­hab. 40 These were the ­ c hiefs de­scend­ed from Esau, by name, ac­cord­ing to ­their c­ lans and re­gions: Tim­na, Al­v ah, Je­t heth, 41 Ohol ­i­ba­ mah, Elah, Pi­non, 42 Ke­naz, Te­man, Mib­z ar, 43 Mag­d i­el and Iram. ­T hese were the ­chiefs of Edom, ac­cord­ing to ­their set­t le­ments in the land they oc­ cu­pied.

This is the family line of Esau, the fa­ther of the Edom­ites. Joseph’s Dreams

37

Ja­cob ­lived in the land ­where his fa­ ther had ­stayed, the land of Ca­naan.

2 This

is the ac­count of Ja­cob’s fam­i­ly line.

Jo­seph, a y­oung man of sev­en­teen, was tend­ing the ­f locks with his broth­ers, the sons of Bil­hah and the sons of Zil­pah, his fa­ther’s ­w ives, and he b ­ rought ­their fa­ther a bad re­port ­about them. 3 Now Is­ra­el ­loved Jo­seph more than any of his oth­er sons, be­cause he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an or­nate b robe for him. 4 When his broth­ers saw that ­their fa­ther ­loved him more than any of them, they hat­ed him and ­could not ­speak a kind word to him. 5 Jo­seph had a d ­ ream, and when he told it to his broth­ers, they hat­ed him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Lis­ten to this ­d ream I had: 7 We were bind­ing s ­ heaves of ­grain out in the ­f ield when sud­den­ly my s­ heaf rose and ­stood up­r ight, ­while your ­sheaves gath­ered ­a round mine and ­bowed down to it.”

8 His broth­ers said to him, “Do you in­tend to ­reign over us? Will you ac­t u­a l­ly rule us?” And they hat­ed him all the more be­cause of his ­dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had an­oth­er ­d ream, and he told it to his broth­ers. “Lis­ten,” he said, “I had an­ oth­er ­dream, and this time the sun and moon and elev­en ­stars were bow­ing down to me.” 10 When he told his fa­ t her as well as his broth­ers, his fa­ther re­buked him and said, “What is this ­d ream you had? Will your moth­er and I and your broth­ers ac­t u­a l­ly come and bow down to the g­ round be­fore you?” 11 His broth­ers were jeal­ous of him, but his fa­ ther kept the mat­ter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers 12 Now

his broth­ers had gone to ­graze t­ heir fa­ther’s ­f locks near She­chem, 13 and Is­ra­el said to Jo­seph, “As you know, your broth­ers are graz­ing the ­f locks near She­chem. Come, I am go­ing to send you to them.” “Very well,” he re­plied. 14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your broth­ers and with the ­f locks, and ­bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Val­ley of He­bron. When Jo­seph ar­rived at She­chem, 15 a man ­found him wan­der­ing ­a round in the ­f ields and ­asked him, “What are you look­ing for?” 16 He re­plied, “I’m look­ing for my broth­ers. Can you tell me w ­ here they are graz­ing ­their flocks?” 17 “They have ­ moved on from here,” the man an­swered. “I ­heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Do­than.’ ” So Jo­seph went af­ter his broth­ers and f­ ound them near Do­than. 18 But they saw him in the dis­tance, and be­fore he r­eached them, they plot­ted to kill him. 19 “Here c ­ omes that dream­er!” they said to each oth­er. 20 “Come now, ­let’s kill him and ­t hrow him into one of ­t hese cis­terns and say that a fe­ro­cious an­i­mal de­voured him. Then ­we’ll see what ­comes of his dreams.” 21 When Reu­ben ­heard this, he ­t ried to res­ cue him from ­their ­hands. “Let’s not take his

a 39  Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch and Syriac (see also 1 Chron. 1:50); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Hadar    b 3  The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is

uncertain; also in verses 23 and 32.   

63 life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any ­blood. ­Throw him into this cis­tern here in the wil­der­ness, but ­don’t lay a hand on him.” Reu­ben said this to res­cue him from them and take him back to his fa­ther. 23 So when Jo­ seph came to his broth­ers, they ­stripped him of his robe — ​the or­nate robe he was wear­ing — ​24 and they took him and ­threw him into the cis­tern. The cis­tern was emp­t y; ­there was no wa­ter in it. 25 As they sat down to eat ­t heir meal, they ­looked up and saw a car­a­van of Ish­ma­el­ites com­ing from Gil­e­ad. ­Their cam­els were load­ ed with spic­es, balm and ­myrrh, and they were on ­their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Ju­dah said to his broth­ers, “What will we gain if we kill our broth­er and cov­er up his ­blood? 27 Come, ­let’s sell him to the Ish­ma­el­ ites and not lay our h ­ ands on him; af­ter all, he is our broth­er, our own ­f lesh and ­blood.” His broth­ers agreed. 28 So when the Mid­i­a n­ite mer­c hants came by, his broth­ers ­pulled Jo­seph up out of the cis­tern and sold him for twen­ty shek­els a of sil­ver to the Ish­ma­el­ites, who took him to Egypt. 29 When Reu­ ben re­turned to the cis­tern and saw that Jo­seph was not ­there, he tore his ­c lothes. 30 He went back to his broth­ers and said, “The boy ­isn’t ­t here! ­W here can I turn now?” 31 Then they got Jo­ s eph’s robe, slaugh­ tered a goat and ­dipped the robe in the ­blood. 32 They took the or­nate robe back to t­ heir fa­ ther and said, “We ­found this. Ex­am­ine it to see wheth­er it is your ­son’s robe.” 33 He rec­og­n ized it and said, “It is my ­son’s robe! Some fe­ro­c ious an­i­mal has de­voured him. Jo­seph has sure­ly been torn to piec­es.” 34 Then Ja­cob tore his ­c lothes, put on sack­ cloth and ­mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daugh­ters came to com­fort him, but he re­f used to be com­fort­ed. “No,” he said, “I will con­tin­ue to mourn un­til I join my son in the ­g rave.” So his fa­ther wept for him. 36 Mean­while, the Mid­i­a n­ites  b sold Jo­seph in ­Egypt to Pot­i­phar, one of Phar­aoh’s of­f i­ cials, the cap­tain of the guard.

DAY 18

MATTHEW 13:18 — 13:35 18 “Lis­ ten then to what the par­a­ble of the sow­er ­means: 19 When any­one hears the mes­ sage a­ bout the king­dom and does not un­der­ stand it, the evil one ­comes and snatch­es away what was sown in ­their ­heart. This is the seed sown ­a long the path. 20 The seed fall­ing on ­rocky ­ground re­fers to some­one who hears the word and at once re­ceives it with joy. 21 But ­since they have no root, they last only a ­short time. When trou­ble or per­s e­c u­t ion ­comes be­cause of the word, they quick­ly fall away. 22 The seed fall­ing ­a mong the ­t horns re­fers to some­one who hears the word, but the wor­ries of this life and the de­ceit­ful­ness of ­wealth ­choke the word, mak­ing it un­fruit­ful. 23 But the seed fall­ing on good soil re­fers to some­ one who hears the word and un­der­stands it. This is the one who pro­duces a crop, yield­ ing a hun­dred, six­t y or thir­t y ­times what was sown.”

The Parable of the Weeds 24 Jesus told them an­ oth­er par­a­ble: “The king­dom of heav­en is like a man who s­ owed good seed in his ­f ield. 25 But ­while ev­ery­one was sleep­ing, his en­e­my came and ­sowed ­w eeds ­among the ­wheat, and went away. 26 When the ­ w heat sprout­ e d and ­ formed ­heads, then the ­weeds also ap­peared. 27 “The own­er’s ser­v ants came to him and said, ‘Sir, ­d idn’t you sow good seed in your ­f ield? ­W here then did the ­weeds come from?’ 28 “ ‘An en­e­my did this,’ he re­plied. “The ser­vants ­asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 “ ‘No,’ he an­ s wered, ‘be­cause w ­ hile you are pull­ing the ­weeds, you may up­root the ­wheat with them. 30 Let both grow to­geth­ er un­til the har­vest. At that time I will tell the har­vest­ers: ­First col­lect the ­weeds and tie them in bun­d les to be ­burned; then gath­er the ­wheat and ­bring it into my barn.’ ”

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast 31 He told them an­oth­er par­a­ble: “The king­ dom of heav­en is like a mus­tard seed, ­which a

a 28  That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams    b 36  Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and

Syriac (see also verse 28); Masoretic Text Medanites   

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man took and plant­ed in his ­f ield. 32 Though it is the small­est of all ­seeds, yet when it ­grows, it is the larg­est of gar­den ­plants and be­comes a tree, so that the ­birds come and ­perch in its branch­es.” 33 He told them ­still an­oth­er par­a­ble: “The king­dom of heav­en is like ­yeast that a wom­an took and ­mixed into ­about six­t y ­pounds a of ­f lour un­til it ­worked all ­through the dough.” 34 Jesus ­spoke all ­t hese ­t hings to the ­c rowd in par­a­bles; he did not say any­t hing to them with­out us­ing a par­a­ble. 35 So was ful­filled what was spo­ken ­through the proph­et: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” b

REWIND Genesis 36 – 37; Matthew 13:18 – 35; Psalm 10:12 – 18

GOD IS KING FOREVER. Like other clans around it, the line of Esau detailed in Genesis 36 has centuries of chiefs and kings. The young Joseph introduced in Genesis 37 will one day grow up to work for the ruler of Egypt. ­Jesus teaches about God’s kingdom in Matthew 13. And Psalm 10 calls God the eternal king who sides with the helpless and holds evildoers accountable. All of Scripture shows God as the King of kings. Let him rule your life now and forever. D

PSALM 10:12 — 10:18 12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. 13 Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”? 14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out. 16 The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. 17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

a 33 Or about 27 kilograms    b 35 Psalm 78:2   

day19 GENESIS 38:1 — 39:23 Judah and Tamar

38

At that time, Ju­dah left his broth­ers and went down to stay with a man of Adul­lam ­named Hi­rah. 2 There Ju­dah met the daugh­ter of a Ca­naan­ite man ­named Shua. He mar­ried her and made love to her; 3 she be­ came preg­nant and gave ­birth to a son, who was ­named Er. 4 She con­ceived ­again and gave ­birth to a son and n ­ amed him Onan. 5 She gave ­birth to ­still an­oth­er son and ­named him She­lah. It was at Ke­zib that she gave ­birth to him. 6 Ju­dah got a wife for Er, his first­born, and her name was Ta­mar. 7 But Er, Ju­dah’s first­ born, was wick­ed in the Lord’s ­sight; so the Lord put him to death. 8 Then Ju­ d ah said to Onan, “Sleep with your broth­er’s wife and ful­f ill your duty to her

65 as a broth­er-in-law to r­aise up off­spring for your broth­er.” 9 But Onan knew that the ­child ­would not be his; so when­ev­er he ­slept with his broth­er’s wife, he ­spilled his se­men on the ­g round to keep from pro­v id­ing off­spring for his broth­er. 10 What he did was wick­ed in the Lord’s ­sight; so the Lord put him to ­death also. 11 Ju­ dah then said to his daugh­ter-in-law Ta­mar, “Live as a wid­ow in your fa­ther’s house­hold un­til my son She­lah ­g rows up.” For he ­thought, “He may die too, just like his broth­ers.” So Ta­mar went to live in her fa­ther’s house­hold. 12 Af­ter a long time Ju­dah’s wife, the daugh­ ter of Shua, died. When Ju­dah had re­cov­ered from his ­g rief, he went up to Tim­nah, to the men who were shear­ing his ­sheep, and his ­friend Hi­rah the Adul­lam­ite went with him. 13 When Ta­ mar was told, “Your fa­therin-law is on his way to Tim­nah to ­shear his ­sheep,” 14 she took off her wid­ow’s c­ lothes, cov­ered her­self with a veil to dis­g uise her­self, and then sat down at the en­trance to Ena­im, ­which is on the road to Tim­nah. For she saw that, ­though She­lah had now ­g rown up, she had not been giv­en to him as his wife. 15 When Ju­ d ah saw her, he t­hought she was a pros­ti­t ute, for she had cov­ered her face. 16 Not re­a l­iz­ing that she was his daugh­ter-inlaw, he went over to her by the road­side and said, “Come now, let me ­sleep with you.” “And what will you give me to ­sleep with you?” she asked. 17 “I’ll send you a ­ young goat from my ­f lock,” he said. “Will you give me some­thing as a ­pledge un­til you send it?” she asked. 18 He said, “What ­ pledge ­should I give you?” “Your seal and its cord, and the ­staff in your hand,” she an­swered. So he gave them to her and ­slept with her, and she be­came preg­nant by him. 19 Af­ter she left, she took off her veil and put on her wid­ow’s ­clothes again. 20 Mean­while Ju­dah sent the ­young goat by his ­friend the Adul­lam­ite in or­der to get his ­pledge back from the wom­an, but he did not find her. 21 He ­asked the men who ­lived ­there,

DAY 19

“Where is the ­shrine pros­t i­t ute who was be­ side the road at Ena­im?” “There h ­ asn’t been any ­shrine pros­ti­tute here,” they said. 22 So he went back to Ju­ dah and said, “I ­d idn’t find her. Be­sides, the men who ­lived ­there said, ‘There ­hasn’t been any ­shrine pros­ ti­t ute here.’  ” 23 Then Ju­dah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will be­come a laugh­ing­stock. Af­ ter all, I did send her this ­young goat, but you ­didn’t find her.” 24 About ­t hree ­months lat­er Ju­dah was told, “Your daugh­ter-in-law Ta­mar is ­g uilty of pros­t i­t u­t ion, and as a re­sult she is now preg­ nant.” Ju­dah said, “Bring her out and have her ­burned to death!” 25 As she was be­ing ­brought out, she sent a mes­sage to her fa­ther-in-law. “I am preg­nant by the man who owns ­these,” she said. And she add­ed, “See if you rec­og­n ize ­whose seal and cord and ­staff ­these are.” 26 Ju­dah rec­og­n ized them and said, “She is more righ­teous than I, s­ ince I ­wouldn’t give her to my son She­lah.” And he did not s­ leep with her again. 27 When the time came for her to give b ­ irth, ­t here were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giv­ing ­birth, one of them put out his hand; so the mid­w ife took a scar­let ­thread and tied it on his w ­ rist and said, “This one came out ­f irst.” 29 But when he drew back his hand, his broth­er came out, and she said, “So this is how you have bro­ken out!” And he was ­named Pe­rez. a 30 Then his broth­er, who had the scar­ let ­thread on his ­w rist, came out. And he was named Ze­rah.  b Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

39

Now Jo­seph had been tak­en down to ­Egypt. Pot­i­phar, an Egyp­t ian who was one of Phar­aoh’s of­f i­cials, the cap­tain of the ­g uard, ­bought him from the Ish­ma­el­ites who had tak­en him there. 2 The Lord was with Jo­ s eph so that he pros­p ered, and he ­lived in the ­house of his Egyp­t ian mas­ter. 3 When his mas­ter saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord

a 29  Perez means breaking out.    b 30  Zerah can mean scarlet or brightness.   

DAY 19

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gave him suc­cess in ev­ery­t hing he did, 4 Jo­ seph f­ound fa­vor in his eyes and be­came his at­ten­d ant. Pot­i­phar put him in ­c harge of his house­hold, and he en­t rust­ed to his care every ­t hing he ­owned. 5 From the time he put him in ­c harge of his house­hold and of all that he ­owned, the Lord ­blessed the house­ hold of the Egyp­t ian be­cause of Jo­seph. The bless­ing of the Lord was on ev­ery­t hing Pot­ i­phar had, both in the ­house and in the ­f ield. 6 So Pot­ i­phar left ev­ery­thing he had in Jo­ seph’s care; with Jo­seph in c­ harge, he did not con­c ern him­self with any­thing ex­c ept the food he ate. Now Jo­seph was well-­built and hand­some, 7 and af­ter a w ­ hile his mas­ter’s wife took no­tice of Jo­seph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8 But he re­f used. “With me in ­c harge,” he told her, “my mas­ter does not con­cern him­ self with any­thing in the ­house; ev­ery­thing he owns he has en­trust­ed to my care. 9 No one is great­er in this ­house than I am. My mas­ ter has with­held noth­ing from me ex­cept you, be­cause you are his wife. How then ­could I do such a wick­ed ­thing and sin a­ gainst God?” 10 And ­t hough she ­spoke to Jo­s eph day af­ter day, he re­f used to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the ­ house to at­ tend to his du­ties, and none of the house­hold ser ­vants was in­side. 12 She ­caught him by his ­c loak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his ­c loak in her hand and ran out of the house. 13 When she saw that he had left his ­c loak in her hand and had run out of the ­house, 14 she ­c alled her house­hold ser­v ants. “Look,” she said to them, “this He­brew has been b ­ rought to us to make ­sport of us! He came in here to s­ leep with me, but I ­screamed. 15 When he ­heard me ­scream for help, he left his ­cloak be­ side me and ran out of the house.” 16 She kept his c ­ loak be­side her un­til his mas­ter came home. 17 Then she told him this sto­ry: “That He­brew ­slave you ­brought us came to me to make ­sport of me. 18 But as soon as I ­screamed for help, he left his ­cloak be­side me and ran out of the house.” 19 When his mas­ ter h ­ eard the sto­ry his wife told him, say­ing, “This is how your ­slave

treat­ed me,” he ­burned with an­ger. 20 Jo­seph’s mas­ter took him and put him in pris­on, the ­place ­where the ­k ing’s pris­on­ers were con­ fined. But ­while Jo­seph was ­there in the pris­on, 21 the Lord was with him; he s ­howed him kind­ness and grant­ed him fa­vor in the eyes of the pris­on war­den. 22 So the war­den put Jo­ seph in ­charge of all ­those held in the pris­on, and he was made re­spon­si­ble for all that was done ­t here. 23 The war­den paid no at­ten­tion to any­t hing un­der Jo­seph’s care, be­cause the Lord was with Jo­seph and gave him suc­cess in what­ev­er he did.

MATTHEW 13:36 — 13:58 The Parable of the Weeds Explained 36 Then

he left the ­crowd and went into the ­ ouse. His dis­c i­ples came to him and said, h “Ex­plain to us the par­a­ble of the ­weeds in the field.” 37 He an­s wered, “The one who ­sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The f­ ield is the ­world, and the good seed ­stands for the peo­ple of the king­dom. The ­weeds are the peo­ple of the evil one, 39 and the en­e­my who sows them is the dev­il. The har­vest is the end of the age, and the har­vest­ers are an­gels. 40 “As the ­weeds are ­pulled up and ­burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his an­gels, and they will weed out of his king­dom ev­ ery­t hing that caus­es sin and all who do evil. 42 They will ­t hrow them into the blaz­ing fur­ nace, ­where ­there will be weep­ing and gnash­ ing of ­teeth. 43 Then the righ­teous will s­ hine like the sun in the king­dom of ­their Fa­ther. Who­ev­er has ears, let them hear. The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl 44 “The

king­dom of heav­en is like trea­sure hid­den in a ­f ield. When a man ­found it, he hid it ­again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and ­bought that field. 45 “Again, the king­dom of heav­en is like a mer­chant look­ing for fine ­pearls. 46 When he ­found one of ­g reat val­ue, he went away and sold ev­ery­thing he had and ­bought it.

DAY 19

67 The Parable of the Net 47 “Once

­again, the king­dom of heav­en is like a net that was let down into the lake and ­caught all ­k inds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fish­er­men ­pulled it up on the ­shore. Then they sat down and col­lect­ed the good fish in bas­kets, but ­threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The an­gels will come and sep­a ­rate the wick­ed from the righ­teous 50 and ­throw them into the blaz­ ing fur­nace, ­where ­there will be weep­ing and gnash­ing of teeth. 51 “Have you un­der­stood all ­t hese ­t hings?” ­Jesus asked. “Yes,” they re­plied. 52 He said to them, “There­fore ev­ery teach­ er of the law who has be­come a dis­c i­ple in the king­dom of heav­en is like the own­er of a ­house who ­brings out of his store­room new trea­sures as well as old.” A Prophet Without Honor 53 When

J­esus had fin­ished ­these par­a­ bles, he ­moved on from t­here. 54 Com­ing to his home­town, he be­gan teach­ing the peo­ple in ­their syn­a ­gogue, and they were a­ mazed. “Where did this man get this wis­dom and ­these mi­rac­u ­lous pow­ers?” they ­asked. 55 “Isn’t this the car­p en­ter’s son? ­Isn’t his moth­er’s name Mary, and ­a ren’t his broth­ers ­James, Jo­seph, Si­mon and Ju­das? 56 Aren’t all his sis­ ters with us? W ­ here then did this man get all ­these ­things?” 57 And they took of­fense at him. But ­Jesus said to them, “A proph­et is not with­out hon­or except in his own ­town and in his own ­home.” 58 And he did not do many mir­a­c les ­t here be­cause of ­their lack of faith.

PSALM 11:1 — 11:7 Psalm 11 For the director of music. Of David.

1 In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain. 2 For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings

to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3 When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” 4 The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. 5 The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. 6 On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. 7 For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face.

REWIND Genesis 38 – 39; Matthew 13:36 – 58; Psalm 11

THE WORLD CAN BE APPALLING. You live in the world of Genesis 38 – 39, a place home to ­people like Judah, Tamar, and Potiphar’s wife. In Matthew 13 ­Jesus informs you that some of the world’s inhabitants belong to the devil. And Psalm 11 asserts that wicked ­people aim to destroy the world’s foundations and wonders what good ­people can do about it. But God will put an end to evil. He will let the upright see him up close. D

DAY 20

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day20 GENESIS 40:1 — 41:40

The Cupbearer and the Baker

40

Some time lat­er, the cup­bear­er and the bak­er of the king of E ­ gypt of­ fend­ed ­their mas­ter, the king of ­Egypt. 2 Phar­ aoh was an­g ry with his two of­f i­cials, the ­chief cup­bear­er and the ­chief bak­er, 3 and put them in cus­to­dy in the ­house of the cap­tain of the ­g uard, in the same pris­on ­where Jo­seph was con­f ined. 4 The cap­tain of the ­g uard as­signed them to Jo­seph, and he at­tend­ed them. Af­ter they had been in cus­to­dy for some time, 5 each of the two men — ​t he cup­bear­er and the bak­er of the king of ­Egypt, who were be­ing held in pris­on — ​had a ­dream the same ­n ight, and each ­d ream had a mean­ing of its own. 6 When Jo­ s eph came to them the next morn­ing, he saw that they were de­ject­ed. 7 So he ­asked Phar­aoh’s of­f i­cials who were in cus­ to­dy with him in his mas­ter’s ­house, “Why do you look so sad to­day?” 8 “We both had d ­ reams,” they an­swered, “but ­there is no one to in­ter­pret them.” Then Jo­seph said to them, “Do not in­ ter­pre­ta­tions be­long to God? Tell me your dreams.” 9 So the ­ c hief cup­b ear­er told Jo­seph his ­d ream. He said to him, “In my ­d ream I saw a vine in ­front of me, 10 and on the vine were ­three branch­es. As soon as it bud­ded, it blos­ somed, and its clus­ters rip­ened into ­g rapes. 11 Phar­aoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the ­grapes, s­ queezed them into Phar­aoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.” 12 “This is what it ­ means,” Jo­seph said to him. “The ­three branch­es are ­three days. 13 With­in ­t hree days Phar­aoh will lift up your head and re­store you to your po­si­tion, and you will put Phar­aoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cup­bear­er. 14 But when all goes well with you, re­mem­ber me and show me kind­ness; men­tion me to Phar­ a 16 Or three wicker baskets   

aoh and get me out of this pris­on. 15 I was forc­ ibly car­ried off from the land of the He­brews, and even here I have done noth­ing to de­serve be­ing put in a dun­geon.” 16 When the c ­ hief bak­er saw that Jo­seph had giv­en a fa­vor­able in­ter ­pre­ta­t ion, he said to Jo­seph, “I too had a ­d ream: On my head were t­ hree bas­kets of ­bread. a 17 In the top bas­ ket were all ­k inds of ­baked g­ oods for Phar­aoh, but the ­birds were eat­ing them out of the bas­ ket on my head.” 18 “This is what it ­means,” Jo­seph said. “The ­three bas­kets are ­three days. 19 With­in ­t hree days Phar­aoh will lift off your head and im­ pale your body on a pole. And the b ­ irds will eat away your flesh.” 20 Now the ­t hird day was Phar­aoh’s birth­ day, and he gave a ­feast for all his of­f i­cials. He lift­ed up the ­heads of the ­chief cup­bear­er and the ­chief bak­er in the pres­ence of his of­f i­cials: 21 He re­stored the ­c hief cup­bear­er to his po­ si­tion, so that he once ­again put the cup into Phar­aoh’s hand  — ​ 22 but he im­paled the ­chief bak­er, just as Jo­seph had said to them in his in­ter­pre­ta­tion. 23 The ­c hief cup­bear­er, how­ev­er, did not re­ mem­ber Jo­seph; he for­got him. Pharaoh’s Dreams

41

When two full ­years had ­p assed, Phar­aoh had a ­dream: He was stand­ ing by the Nile, 2 when out of the riv­er ­t here came up sev­en cows, ­sleek and fat, and they ­g razed ­a mong the ­reeds. 3 Af ­ter them, sev­en oth­er cows, ugly and g­ aunt, came up out of the Nile and s­ tood be­side ­those on the riv­er­bank. 4 And the cows that were ugly and ­g aunt ate up the sev­en ­sleek, fat cows. Then Phar­aoh woke up. 5 He fell ­ a sleep ­a gain and had a sec­ond ­d ream: Sev­en ­heads of ­g rain, h ­ ealthy and good, were grow­ing on a sin­gle ­stalk. 6 Af­ter them, sev­en oth­er ­heads of ­g rain sprout­ed  — ​ thin and ­scorched by the east wind. 7 The thin ­heads of ­g rain swal­lowed up the sev­en ­healthy, full h ­ eads. Then Phar­aoh woke up; it had been a dream. 8 In the morn­ing his mind was trou­bled, so he sent for all the ma­gi­cians and wise men of

69 ­ gypt. Phar­aoh told them his ­dreams, but no E one ­could in­ter­pret them for him. 9 Then the ­c hief cup­bear­er said to Phar­aoh, “To­day I am re­mind­ed of my short­com­ings. 10 Phar­aoh was once an­g ry with his ser­v ants, and he im­pris­oned me and the ­chief bak­er in the ­house of the cap­tain of the ­g uard. 11 Each of us had a d ­ ream the same n ­ ight, and each ­d ream had a mean­ing of its own. 12 Now a ­young He­brew was ­there with us, a ser­vant of the cap­tain of the ­g uard. We told him our ­d reams, and he in­ter­pret­ed them for us, giv­ ing each man the in­ter­pre­ta­tion of his ­dream. 13 And t­ hings ­t urned out ex­act­ly as he in­ter­ pret­ed them to us: I was re­stored to my po­si­ tion, and the oth­er man was im­paled.” 14 So Phar­aoh sent for Jo­seph, and he was quick­ly ­brought from the dun­geon. When he had ­shaved and ­changed his ­clothes, he came be­fore Phar­aoh. 15 Phar­aoh said to Jo­seph, “I had a ­d ream, and no one can in­ter­pret it. But I have ­heard it said of you that when you hear a ­dream you can in­ter­pret it.” 16 “I can­not do it,” Jo­seph re­plied to Phar­ aoh, “but God will give Phar­aoh the an­s wer he de­sires.” 17 Then Phar­ aoh said to Jo­seph, “In my ­dream I was stand­ing on the bank of the Nile, 18 when out of the riv­er ­t here came up sev­en cows, fat and ­sleek, and they ­g razed ­a mong the ­reeds. 19 Af­ter them, sev­en oth­er cows came up — ​scraw­ny and very ugly and lean. I had nev­er seen such ugly cows in all the land of ­Egypt. 20 The lean, ugly cows ate up the sev­en fat cows that came up f­ irst. 21 But even af­ter they ate them, no one ­could tell that they had done so; they l­ ooked just as ugly as be­fore. Then I woke up. 22 “In my ­d ream I saw sev­en h ­ eads of ­grain, full and good, grow­ing on a sin­gle s­ talk. 23 Af­ ter them, sev­en oth­er ­heads sprout­ed  — ​w ith­ ered and thin and ­scorched by the east wind. 24 The thin ­heads of ­g rain swal­lowed up the sev­en good ­heads. I told this to the ma­gi­cians, but none of them ­could ex­plain it to me.” 25 Then Jo­ s eph said to Phar­ a oh, “The ­dreams of Phar­aoh are one and the same. God has re­vealed to Phar­aoh what he is ­about to a 38 Or of the gods   

DAY 20

do. 26 The sev­en good cows are sev­en ­years, and the sev­en good ­heads of ­g rain are sev­en ­years; it is one and the same ­d ream. 27 The sev­en lean, ugly cows that came up af­ter­ward are sev­en ­years, and so are the sev­en worth­ less h ­ eads of g­ rain s­ corched by the east wind: They are sev­en ­years of fam­ine. 28 “It is just as I said to Phar­ aoh: God has ­shown Phar­aoh what he is ­about to do. 29 Sev­en y ­ ears of ­great abun­dance are com­ing through­out the land of ­Egypt, 30 but sev­en ­years of fam­ine will fol­low them. Then all the abun­dance in ­Egypt will be for­got­ten, and the fam­ine will rav­age the land. 31 The abun­dance in the land will not be re­mem­bered, be­cause the fam­ine that fol­lows it will be so se­vere. 32 The rea­son the ­d ream was giv­en to Phar­aoh in two ­forms is that the mat­ter has been firm­ ly de­cid­ed by God, and God will do it soon. 33 “And now let Phar­aoh look for a dis­cern­ ing and wise man and put him in ­c harge of the land of ­Egypt. 34 Let Phar­aoh ap­p oint com­mis­sion­ers over the land to take a ­f ifth of the har­vest of ­Egypt dur­ing the sev­en ­years of abun­dance. 35 They s­ hould col­lect all the food of ­these good ­years that are com­ing and ­store up the ­g rain un­der the au­thor­i­t y of Phar­aoh, to be kept in the cit­ies for food. 36 This food ­should be held in re­serve for the coun­try, to be used dur­ing the sev­en ­years of fam­ine that will come upon ­Egypt, so that the coun­try may not be ru­ined by the fam­ine.” 37 The plan ­ seemed good to Phar­aoh and to all his of­f i­cials. 38 So Phar­aoh ­asked them, “Can we find any­one like this man, one in whom is the spir­it of God a ?” 39 Then Phar­aoh said to Jo­seph, “Since God has made all this ­k nown to you, ­there is no one so dis­cern­ing and wise as you. 40 You ­shall be in ­charge of my pal­ace, and all my peo­ple are to sub­m it to your or­ders. Only with re­ spect to the ­throne will I be great­er than you.”

MATTHEW 14:1 — 14:21 John the Baptist Beheaded

14

At that time Her­od the te­trarch ­heard the re­ports ­about ­Jesus, 2 and he said to his at­ten­dants, “This is John the Bap­tist; he

DAY 20

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has ris­en from the dead! That is why mi­rac­u­ lous pow­ers are at work in him.” 3 Now Her­od had ar­rest­ed John and ­bound him and put him in pris­on be­cause of He­ro­ di­as, his broth­er Phil­ip’s wife, 4 for John had been say­ing to him: “It is not law­f ul for you to have her.” 5 Her­od want­ed to kill John, but he was ­a fraid of the peo­ple, be­cause they con­sid­ ered John a proph­et. 6 On Her­od’s birth­day the daugh­ter of He­ ro­di­as ­danced for the guests and ­pleased Her­ od so much 7 that he prom­ised with an oath to give her what­ev­er she ­asked. 8 Prompt­ed by her moth­er, she said, “Give me here on a plat­ ter the head of John the Bap­t ist.” 9 The king was dis­tressed, but be­cause of his o­ aths and his din­ner ­g uests, he or­dered that her re­quest be grant­ed 10 and had John be­head­ed in the pris­on. 11 His head was ­brought in on a plat­ ter and giv­en to the girl, who car­ried it to her moth­er. 12 John’s dis­ci­ples came and took his body and bur­ied it. Then they went and told ­Jesus. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand 13 When ­ Jesus h ­ eard what had hap­pened, he with­d rew by boat pri­v ate­ly to a sol­i­tary ­place. Hear­ing of this, the ­c rowds fol­lowed him on foot from the ­towns. 14 When ­Jesus land­ed and saw a ­large c­ rowd, he had com­pas­ sion on them and ­healed ­their sick. 15 As eve­n ing ap­p roached, the dis­c i­p les came to him and said, “This is a re­mote ­place, and it’s al­ready get­ting late. Send the ­crowds away, so they can go to the vil­lag­es and buy them­selves some food.” 16 Jesus re­ plied, “They do not need to go away. You give them some­thing to eat.” 17 “We have here only five ­loaves of ­bread and two fish,” they an­swered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he di­rect­ed the peo­ple to sit down on the ­grass. Tak­ing the five ­loaves and the two fish and look­ing up to heav­en, he gave ­thanks and ­broke the ­loaves. Then he gave them to the dis­ci­ples, and the dis­ci­ples gave them to the peo­ple. 20 They all ate and were sat­is­f ied, and the dis­c i­ples ­picked up ­t welve bas­ket ­f uls of bro­ken piec­es that were left over. 21 The num­

a 17 Or covenant of her God   

ber of ­those who ate was ­about five thou­sand men, be­sides wom­en and chil­dren.

PROVERBS 2:12 — 2:22 12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, 13 who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, 14 who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, 15 whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. 16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, 17 who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. a 18 Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. 19 None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. 20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; 22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

REWIND Genesis 40:1 – 41:40; Matthew 14:1 – 21; Proverbs 2:12 – 22

EVERYONE NEEDS HELP. The cupbearer and baker of Genesis 40 – 41 were rotting in prison, unfortunate guys who offended Egypt’s king. John the Baptist is beheaded in Matthew 14, the victim of an evil family’s rage. And ­Jesus finds himself followed by thousands of hurting and hungry p­ eople. But Proverbs 2 explains where you can get help

DAY 21

71 when you need it. God’s wisdom saves you from wicked ­people. His insights help you find the path to life. D

day21 GENESIS 41:41 — 42:38 Joseph in Charge of Egypt 41 So

Phar­aoh said to Jo­seph, “I here­by put you in ­c harge of the ­whole land of ­Egypt.” 42 Then Phar­ aoh took his sig­net ring from his fin­ger and put it on Jo­seph’s fin­ger. He ­d ressed him in ­robes of fine lin­en and put a gold ­c hain a­ round his neck. 43 He had him ride in a char­i­ot as his sec­ond-in-com­mand, a and peo­ple shout­ed be­fore him, “Make way b !” Thus he put him in ­charge of the ­whole land of Egypt. 44 Then Phar­ aoh said to Jo­seph, “I am Phar­aoh, but with­out your word no one will lift hand or foot in all ­Egypt.” 45 Phar­aoh gave Jo­seph the name Zaph­e­nath-Pa­ne­ah and gave him As­e­nath daugh­ter of Po­tiph­era, ­priest of On, c to be his wife. And Jo­seph went through­ out the land of Egypt. 46 Jo­seph was thir­t y ­years old when he en­ tered the ser­v ice of Phar­aoh king of ­Egypt. And Jo­seph went out from Phar­aoh’s pres­ence and trav­eled through­out ­Egypt. 47 Dur­ing the sev­en ­years of abun­dance the land pro­duced plen­t i­f ul­ly. 48 Jo­seph col­lect­ed all the food pro­duced in ­those sev­en ­years of abun­dance in ­Egypt and ­stored it in the cit­ies. In each city he put the food ­g rown in the ­f ields sur­round­ ing it. 49 Jo­seph ­stored up huge quan­ti­ties of ­grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much

that he s­ topped keep­ing rec­ords be­cause it was be­yond mea­sure. 50 Be­ fore the y­ ears of fam­ine came, two sons were born to Jo­seph by As­e­nath daugh­ter of Po­tiph­era, p ­ riest of On. 51 Jo­seph ­named his first­born Ma­nas­seh  d and said, “It is be­cause God has made me for­get all my trou­ble and all my fa­ther’s house­hold.” 52 The sec­ond son he ­named Ephra ­im  e and said, “It is be­cause God has made me fruit­f ul in the land of my suf­fer­ing.” 53 The sev­en ­years of abun­d ance in ­Egypt came to an end, 54 and the sev­en ­years of fam­ ine be­gan, just as Jo­seph had said. ­There was fam­ine in all the oth­er ­lands, but in the ­whole land of ­Egypt ­there was food. 55 When all ­Egypt be­gan to feel the fam­ine, the peo­ple ­cried to Phar­aoh for food. Then Phar­aoh told all the Egyp­tians, “Go to Jo­seph and do what he ­tells you.” 56 When the fam­ i ne had s­pread over the ­whole coun­try, Jo­seph o­ pened all the store­ hous­es and sold ­g rain to the Egyp­tians, for the fam­ine was se­vere through­out ­Egypt. 57 And all the ­ world came to ­Egypt to buy ­grain from Jo­seph, be­cause the fam­ine was se­ vere ev­ery ­where. Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

42

When Ja­cob l­earned that ­there was ­g rain in ­Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep look­ing at each oth­ er?” 2 He con­tin­ued, “I have ­heard that ­there is ­grain in ­Egypt. Go down ­there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.” 3 Then ten of Jo­seph’s broth­ers went down to buy ­g rain from ­Egypt. 4 But Ja­cob did not send Ben­ja­m in, Jo­seph’s broth­er, with the oth­ers, be­cause he was ­a fraid that harm ­might come to him. 5 So Is­ra­el’s sons were ­a mong ­those who went to buy ­g rain, for there was fam­ine in the land of Ca­naan also. 6 Now Jo­ s eph was the gov­ e r­ nor of the land, the per­son who sold ­grain to all its peo­ ple. So when Jo­seph’s broth­ers ar­r ived, they ­bowed down to him with ­their fac­es to the ­ground. 7 As soon as Jo­seph saw his broth­ers,

a 43 Or in the chariot of his second-in-command ; or in his second chariot    b 43 Or Bow down    c 45  That is, Heliopolis; also in verse 50    d 51  Manasseh sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for forget.    e 52  Ephraim sounds like the Hebrew for twice fruitful.   

DAY 21

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he r­ ec­og­nized them, but he pre­tend­ed to be a strang­er and ­spoke harsh­ly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Ca­naan,” they re­plied, “to buy food.” 8 Al­t hough Jo­s eph rec­og ­n ized his broth­ ers, they did not rec­og­nize him. 9 Then he re­ mem­bered his ­dreams a­ bout them and said to them, “You are ­spies! You have come to see ­where our land is un­pro­tect­ed.” 10 “No, my lord,” they an­s wered. “Your ser­ vants have come to buy food. 11 We are all the sons of one man. Your ser­v ants are hon­est men, not spies.” 12 “No!” he said to them. “You have come to see ­where our land is un­pro­tect­ed.” 13 But they re­ plied, “Your ser­v ants were ­twelve broth­ers, the sons of one man, who ­lives in the land of Ca­naan. The youn­gest is now with our fa­ther, and one is no more.” 14 Jo­s eph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are ­spies! 15 And this is how you will be test­ed: As sure­ly as Phar­aoh l­ives, you will not ­leave this ­place un­less your youn­gest broth­er ­comes here. 16 Send one of your num­ ber to get your broth­er; the rest of you will be kept in pris­on, so that your ­words may be test­ed to see if you are tell­ing the ­truth. If you are not, then as sure­ly as Phar­aoh ­lives, you are ­spies!” 17 And he put them all in cus­to­dy for ­three days. 18 On the t­hird day, Jo­ seph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 If you are hon­est men, let one of your broth­ers stay here in pris­on, ­while the rest of you go and take ­g rain back for your starv­ing house­ holds. 20 But you must ­bring your youn­gest broth­er to me, so that your ­words may be ver­i­ fied and that you may not die.” This they pro­ ceed­ed to do. 21 They said to one an­oth­er, “Sure­ly we are be­ing pun­ished be­cause of our broth­er. We saw how dis­tressed he was when he plead­ed with us for his life, but we ­would not lis­ten; ­that’s why this dis­tress has come on us.” 22 Reu­ ben re­plied, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin a­ gainst the boy? But you ­wouldn’t lis­ ten! Now we must give an ac­count­ing for his ­blood.” 23 They did not re­a l­ize that Jo­seph a 34 Or move about freely   

c­ ould un­der­stand them, ­since he was us­ing an in­ter­pret­er. 24 He ­t urned away from them and be­gan to weep, but then came back and ­spoke to them ­again. He had Sim­e­on tak­en from them and ­bound be­fore ­their eyes. 25 Jo­seph gave or­ders to fill ­t heir bags with ­grain, to put each ­man’s sil­ver back in his sack, and to give them pro­v i­sions for ­their jour­ney. Af­ter this was done for them, 26 they load­ed ­their ­grain on ­their don­keys and left. 27 At the ­place ­where they ­stopped for the ­night one of them ­opened his sack to get feed for his don­key, and he saw his sil­ver in the ­mouth of his sack. 28 “My sil­ver has been re­ turned,” he said to his broth­ers. “Here it is in my sack.” Their h ­ earts sank and they ­t urned to each oth­er trem­bling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” 29 When they came to ­t heir fa­t her Ja­cob in the land of Ca­naan, they told him all that had hap­pened to them. They said, 30 “The man who is lord over the land ­spoke harsh­ly to us and treat­ed us as ­though we were spy­ing on the land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are hon­ est men; we are not ­spies. 32 We were ­t welve broth­ers, sons of one fa­ther. One is no more, and the youn­gest is now with our fa­ther in Ca­naan.’ 33 “Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know wheth­ er you are hon­e st men: ­L eave one of your broth­ers here with me, and take food for your starv­ing house­holds and go. 34 But ­bring your youn­gest broth­er to me so I will know that you are not s­ pies but hon­est men. Then I will give your broth­er back to you, and you can ­trade  a in the land.’ ” 35 As they were emp­t y­ing ­t heir ­sacks, ­t here in each m ­ an’s sack was his p ­ ouch of sil­ver! When they and ­their fa­ther saw the mon­ey pouch­es, they were fright­ened. 36 Their fa­ther Ja­cob said to them, “You have de­prived me of my chil­dren. Jo­seph is no more and Sim­e­on is no more, and now you want to take Ben­ja­min. Ev­ery­thing is ­against me!” 37 Then Reu­ben said to his fa­t her, “You may put both of my sons to ­death if I do not ­bring

DAY 21

73 him back to you. En­trust him to my care, and I will ­bring him back.” 38 But Ja­cob said, “My son will not go down ­t here with you; his broth­er is dead and he is the only one left. If harm ­comes to him on the jour­ney you are tak­ing, you will ­bring my gray head down to the ­g rave in sor­row.”

MATTHEW 14:22 — 15:9 Jesus Walks on the Water 22 Im­m e­d i­ate­l y

­Jesus made the dis­c i­ples get into the boat and go on ­a head of him to the oth­er side, ­while he dis­missed the ­crowd. 23 Af­ ter he had dis­m issed them, he went up on a moun­tain­side by him­self to pray. Later that night, he was ­there ­a lone, 24 and the boat was al­ready a con­sid­er­able dis­tance from land, buf­fet­ed by the ­waves be­cause the wind was ­against it. 25 Short­ ly be­fore dawn ­Jesus went out to them, walk­ing on the lake. 26 When the dis­ ci­ples saw him walk­ing on the lake, they were ter­ri­f ied. “It’s a ­ghost,” they said, and ­cried out in fear. 27 But ­J esus im­m e­d i­a te­l y said to them: “Take cour­age! It is I. ­Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Pe­ter re­plied, “tell me to come to you on the wa­ter.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Pe­ter got down out of the boat, ­walked on the wa­ter and came to­ward ­Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was ­ a fraid and, be­g in­n ing to sink, ­cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Im­me­d i­ate­ly ­Jesus ­reached out his hand and ­caught him. “You of lit­t le ­faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they ­c limbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then ­those who were in the boat wor­shiped him, say­ing, “Tru­ly you are the Son of God.” 34 When they had ­c rossed over, they land­ed at Gen­nes­a ­ret. 35 And when the men of that ­place rec­og­nized J­esus, they sent word to all the sur ­round ­ing coun­t ry. Peo­ple ­brought all ­their sick to him 36 and ­begged him to let the sick just t­ouch the edge of his c­ loak, and all who ­touched it were healed.

That Which Defiles

15

Then some Phar­i­sees and teach­ers of the law came to ­Jesus from Je­r u­sa­lem and ­asked, 2 “Why do your dis­ci­ples b ­ reak the tra­di­tion of the el­ders? They ­don’t wash ­their ­hands be­fore they eat!” 3 Jesus re­plied, “And why do you ­break the com­mand of God for the sake of your tra­d i­ tion? 4 For God said, ‘Hon­or your fa­t her and moth­er’  a and ‘Any­one who curs­es ­their fa­ther or moth­er is to be put to ­death.’ b 5 But you say that if any­one de­c lares that what ­might have been used to help ­their fa­ther or moth­er is ‘de­ vot­ed to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘hon­or ­their fa­ther or moth­er’ with it. Thus you nul­li­f y the word of God for the sake of your tra­d i­tion. 7 You hyp­ o­c rites! Isa­iah was ­right when he proph­e­sied ­about you: 8 “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ c  ”

PSALM 12:1 — 12:8 Psalm 12 d For the director of music. According to sheminith. e A psalm of David.

1 Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. 2 Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts. 3 May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue — ​ 4 those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us — ​who is lord over us?” 5 “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,

a 4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16    b 4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9    c 9 Isaiah 29:13    d In Hebrew texts 12:1-8 is numbered 12:2-9.    e Title: Probably a musical term   

DAY 22 I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” 6 And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold a refined seven times. 7 You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, 8 who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race.

REWIND Genesis 41:41 – 42:38; Matthew 14:22 – 15:9; Psalm 12

SOMETIMES YOU WIN. Joseph might have given up hope he would ever be rescued from prison, but in Genesis 41 the Lord lifts him to the top of one of the most potent nations in world history. In Matthew 14 Peter fears he’s seen a ghost, but ­Jesus gives him a shot at walking on water. And Psalm 12 notes that when the poor are plundered, God rises up to protect them. Even when you feel defeated by evil, at the right time the Lord helps you win. D

day22 GENESIS 43:1 — 44:34

The Second Journey to Egypt

43

Now the fam­ine was ­still se­vere in the land. 2 So when they had eat­en all the ­grain they had ­brought from ­Egypt, t­ heir fa­

74 ther said to them, “Go back and buy us a lit­t le more food.” 3 But Ju­dah said to him, “The man ­warned us sol­emn­ly, ‘You will not see my face ­again un­less your broth­er is with you.’ 4 If you will send our broth­er ­a long with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, be­cause the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face ­again un­less your broth­er is with you.’ ” 6 Is­ r a­el a­sked, “Why did you b ­ ring this trou­ble on me by tell­ing the man you had an­ oth­er broth­er?” 7 They re­ plied, “The man ques­tioned us close­ly a­ bout our­selves and our fam­i­ly. ‘Is your fa­ther s­ till liv­ing?’ he ­asked us. ‘Do you have an­oth­er broth­er?’ We sim­ply an­s wered his ques­tions. How were we to know he w ­ ould say, ‘Bring your broth­er down here’?” 8 Then Ju­dah said to Is­ra­el his fa­t her, “Send the boy ­a long with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our chil­dren may live and not die. 9 I my­self will guar­an­tee his safe­ ty; you can hold me per­son­a l­ly re­spon­si­ble for him. If I do not ­bring him back to you and set him here be­fore you, I will bear the ­blame be­fore you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not de­layed, we ­could have gone and re­turned twice.” 11 Then ­ t heir fa­ther Is­ra­el said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best prod­ucts of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift — ​a lit­ tle balm and a lit­tle hon­ey, some spic­es and ­myrrh, some pis­ta­chio nuts and al­monds. 12 Take dou­ble the ­a mount of sil­ver with you, for you must re­turn the sil­ver that was put back into the ­mouths of your ­sacks. Per­haps it was a mis­take. 13 Take your broth­er also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Al­mighty b ­grant you mer­c y be­fore the man so that he will let your oth­er broth­er and Ben­ja­ min come back with you. As for me, if I am be­reaved, I am be­reaved.” 15 So the men took the ­g ifts and dou­ble the ­a mount of sil­ver, and Ben­ja­m in also. They hur­r ied down to ­Egypt and pre­sent­ed them­ selves to Jo­seph. 16 When Jo­seph saw Ben­ja­ min with them, he said to the stew­a rd of his

a 6  Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text earth    b 14 Hebrew El-Shaddai   

75 ­ ouse, “Take ­these men to my ­house, slaugh­ h ter an an­i­mal and pre­pare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Jo­seph told him and took the men to Jo­seph’s ­house. 18 Now the men were fright­ened when they were tak­en to his ­house. They ­thought, “We were ­brought here be­cause of the sil­ver that was put back into our ­sacks the ­f irst time. He ­wants to at­tack us and over­pow­er us and s­ eize us as s­ laves and take our don­keys.” 19 So they went up to Jo­seph’s stew­a rd and ­spoke to him at the en­trance to the ­house. 20 “We beg your par­don, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the ­first time to buy food. 21 But at the ­place ­where we s­ topped for the ­night we ­opened our ­sacks and each of us ­found his sil­ver — ​the ex­act ­weight — ​in the ­mouth of his sack. So we have ­brought it back with us. 22 We have also ­brought ad­d i­t ion­a l sil­ver with us to buy food. We ­don’t know who put our sil­ver in our sacks.” 23 “It’s all ­r ight,” he said. “Don’t be ­a fraid. Your God, the God of your fa­ther, has giv­ en you trea­sure in your s­ acks; I re­ceived your sil­ver.” Then he ­brought Sim­e­on out to them. 24 The stew­a rd took the men into Jo­seph’s ­house, gave them wa­ter to wash ­their feet and pro­v id­ed fod­der for ­t heir don­k eys. 25 They pre­pared ­t heir ­g ifts for Jo­s eph’s ar ­r iv­a l at noon, be­cause they had ­heard that they were to eat there. 26 When Jo­seph came home, they pre­sent­ ed to him the ­gifts they had ­brought into the ­house, and they ­bowed down be­fore him to the ­ground. 27 He a­ sked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged fa­ther you told me ­about? Is he ­still liv­ing?” 28 They re­plied, “Your ser­vant our fa­t her is ­still ­a live and well.” And they ­bowed down, pros­trat­ing them­selves be­fore him. 29 As he l­ooked ­about and saw his broth­er Ben­ja­min, his own moth­er’s son, he ­asked, “Is this your youn­gest broth­er, the one you told me a­ bout?” And he said, “God be gra­cious to you, my son.” 30 Deep­ly ­moved at the ­sight of his broth­er, Jo­seph hur­ried out and ­looked for a ­place to weep. He went into his pri­vate room and wept there. 31 Af­ter he had ­washed his face, he came out and, con­trol­ling him­self, said, “Serve the food.”

DAY 22

32 They s ­ erved him by him­self, the broth­ ers by them­selves, and the Egyp­tians who ate with him by them­selves, be­cause Egyp­tians ­could not eat with He­brews, for that is de­test­ able to Egyp­tians. 33 The men had been seat­ ed be­fore him in the or­der of ­their ages, from the first­born to the youn­gest; and they ­looked at each oth­er in as­ton­ish­ment. 34 When por­ tions were s­ erved to them from Jo­seph’s ta­ble, Ben­ja­min’s por­tion was five ­times as much as any­one ­else’s. So they feast­ed and ­drank free­ly with him.

A Silver Cup in a Sack

44

Now Jo­seph gave ­t hese in­struc­t ions to the stew­a rd of his ­house: “Fill the ­men’s ­sacks with as much food as they can car­r y, and put each ­man’s sil­ver in the ­mouth of his sack. 2 Then put my cup, the sil­ver one, in the ­mouth of the youn­gest ­one’s sack, ­a long with the sil­ver for his ­g rain.” And he did as Jo­seph said. 3 As morn­ ing ­dawned, the men were sent on t­heir way with ­their don­keys. 4 They had not gone far from the city when Jo­seph said to his stew­a rd, “Go af­ter ­those men at once, and when you ­catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you re­paid good with evil? 5 Isn’t this the cup my mas­ter ­d rinks from and also uses for div­i­na­tion? This is a wick­ed t­ hing you have done.’ ” 6 When he ­ c aught up with them, he re­ peat­ed t­ hese ­words to them. 7 But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such ­things? Far be it from your ser­vants to do any­thing like that! 8 We even ­brought back to you from the land of Ca­naan the sil­ver we ­found in­side the ­mouths of our s­ acks. So why w ­ ould we s­ teal sil­ver or gold from your mas­ter’s h ­ ouse? 9 If any of your ser­vants is ­found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will be­come my ­lord’s slaves.” 10 “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Who­ev­er is f­ound to have it will be­come my ­slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.” 11 Each of them quick­ly low­ered his sack to the ­g round and ­opened it. 12 Then the stew­ ard pro­ceed­ed to s­ earch, be­g in­ning with the old­est and end­ing with the youn­gest. And the cup was f­ound in Ben­ja­min’s sack. 13 At this,

DAY 22

76

they tore t­ heir c­ lothes. Then they all load­ed ­their don­keys and re­t urned to the city. 14 Jo­ seph was ­still in the ­house when Ju­ dah and his broth­ers came in, and they ­threw them­selves to the ­ground be­fore him. 15 Jo­seph said to them, “What is this you have done? ­Don’t you know that a man like me can find ­things out by div­i­na­tion?” 16 “What can we say to my lord?” Ju­dah re­ plied. “What can we say? How can we ­prove our in­no­cence? God has un­cov­ered your ser­ vants’ ­g uilt. We are now my ­lord’s ­slaves — ​we our­selves and the one who was ­found to have the cup.” 17 But Jo­seph said, “Far be it from me to do such a ­thing! Only the man who was ­found to have the cup will be­come my s­ lave. The rest of you, go back to your fa­ther in peace.” 18 Then Ju­ d ah went up to him and said: “Par­don your ser­vant, my lord, let me ­speak a word to my lord. Do not be an­gry with your ser­v ant, ­though you are e­qual to Phar­aoh him­self. 19 My lord ­a sked his ser­v ants, ‘Do you have a fa­ther or a broth­er?’ 20 And we an­ swered, ‘We have an aged fa­ther, and ­there is a ­young son born to him in his old age. His broth­er is dead, and he is the only one of his moth­er’s sons left, and his fa­ther ­loves him.’ 21 “Then you said to your ser­v ants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for my­self.’ 22 And we said to my lord, ‘The boy can­ not ­leave his fa­ther; if he ­leaves him, his fa­ther will die.’ 23 But you told your ser­vants, ‘Un­less your youn­gest broth­er ­comes down with you, you will not see my face a­ gain.’ 24 When we went back to your ser­vant my fa­ther, we told him what my lord had said. 25 “Then our fa­t her said, ‘Go back and buy a lit­t le more food.’ 26 But we said, ‘We can­not go down. Only if our youn­gest broth­er is with us will we go. We can­not see the ­man’s face un­less our youn­gest broth­er is with us.’ 27 “Your ser­v ant my fa­t her said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has sure­ly been torn to piec­es.” And I have not seen him ­since. 29 If you take this one from me too and harm ­comes to him, you will ­bring my gray head down to the ­g rave in mis­ery.’ a 14  Some manuscripts blind guides of the blind   

30 “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your ser­vant my fa­ther, and if my fa­ther, ­whose life is close­ly ­bound up with the b ­ oy’s life, 31 sees that the boy i­sn’t t­here, he will die. Your ser­vants will ­bring the gray head of our fa­t her down to the g­ rave in sor­ row. 32 Your ser­vant guar­an­teed the ­boy’s safe­ ty to my fa­ther. I said, ‘If I do not ­bring him back to you, I will bear the ­blame be­fore you, my fa­ther, all my life!’ 33 “Now then, ­please let your ser­vant re­main here as my ­lord’s ­slave in ­place of the boy, and let the boy re­turn with his broth­ers. 34 How can I go back to my fa­ther if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the mis­ery that ­would come on my fa­ther.”

MATTHEW 15:10 — 15:39 10 Jesus ­c alled the ­c rowd to him and said, “Lis­ten and un­der­stand. 11 What goes into some­one’s ­mouth does not de­file them, but what ­comes out of their ­mouth, that is what de­f iles them.” 12 Then the dis­ c i­ples came to him and ­asked, “Do you know that the Phar­i­sees were of­fend­ed when they ­heard this?” 13 He re­ plied, “Ev­ery ­plant that my heav­ en­ly Fa­ther has not plant­ed will be p ­ ulled up by the ­roots. 14 Leave them; they are ­blind ­g uides.  a If the ­blind lead the ­blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 Pe­ter said, “Ex­plain the par­a­ble to us.” 16 “Are you ­still so dull?” ­Jesus a ­ sked them. 17 “Don’t you see that what­ e v­er en­ters the ­mouth goes into the stom­ach and then out of the body? 18 But the ­things that come out of a per­son’s m ­ outh come from the ­heart, and ­these de­f ile them. 19 For out of the ­heart come evil ­thoughts  — ​mur­der, adul­tery, sex­u­ al im­mo­ral­i­t y, ­theft, ­false tes­ti­mo­ny, slan­der. 20 These are what de­f ile a per­son; but eat­ing with un­washed ­hands does not de­f ile them.”

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman 21 Leav­ i ng that ­place, J­esus with­d rew to the re­gion of Tyre and Si­don. 22 A Ca­naan­ite wom­an from that vi­cin­i­t y came to him, cry­ing out, “Lord, Son of Da­v id, have mer­c y on me!

DAY 22

77 My daugh­ter is de­mon-pos­sessed and suf­fer­ ing ter­ri­bly.” 23 Jesus did not an­s wer a word. So his dis­ ci­ples came to him and ­urged him, “Send her away, for she ­keeps cry­ing out af­ter us.” 24 He an­s wered, “I was sent only to the lost ­sheep of Is­ra­el.” 25 The wom­a n came and k ­ nelt be­fore him. “Lord, help me!” she said. 26 He re­ plied, “It is not r­ight to take the chil­dren’s ­bread and toss it to the dogs.” 27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the ­c rumbs that fall from ­their mas­ter’s ta­ble.” 28 Then ­ Jesus said to her, “Wom­a n, you have ­great ­faith! Your re­quest is grant­ed.” And her daugh­ter was ­healed at that moment. Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand 29 Jesus left t­ here and went ­a long the Sea of Gal­i­lee. Then he went up on a moun­tain­side and sat down. 30 Great ­c rowds came to him, bring­ing the lame, the ­blind, the crip­pled, the mute and many oth­ers, and laid them at his feet; and he ­healed them. 31 The peo­ple were ­a mazed when they saw the mute speak­ing, the crip­pled made well, the lame walk­ing and the ­blind see­ing. And they ­praised the God of ­Is­ra­el. 32 Jesus ­called his dis­c i­ples to him and said, “I have com­pas­sion for ­these peo­ple; they have al­ready been with me ­three days and have noth­ing to eat. I do not want to send them away hun­g ry, or they may col­lapse on the way.” 33 His dis­c i­ples an­s wered, “Where ­could we get ­enough b ­ read in this re­mote ­place to feed such a crowd?” 34 “How many ­ loaves do you have?” ­Jesus asked. “Sev­en,” they re­plied, “and a few s­mall fish.” 35 He told the c ­ rowd to sit down on the ­ground. 36 Then he took the sev­en ­loaves and the fish, and when he had giv­en ­thanks, he ­broke them and gave them to the dis­c i­ples, and they in turn to the peo­ple. 37 They all ate and were sat­is­fied. Af­ter­w ard the dis­ ci­ples ­picked up sev­en bas­ket ­f uls of bro­ken

a In Hebrew texts 13:1-6 is numbered 13:2-6.   

piec­es that were left over. 38 The num­ber of ­those who ate was four thou­sand men, be­sides wom­en and chil­d ren. 39 Af­ter ­Jesus had sent the ­crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vi­cin­i­t y of Mag­a­dan.

PSALM 13:1 — 13:6 Psalm 13 a For the director of music. A psalm of David.



1 How

long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.

REWIND Genesis 43 – 44; Matthew 15:10 – 39; Psalm 13

THANK GOD FOR SUPPER. Genesis 43 describes a famine so severe that Jacob’s family faces starvation if they don’t go on a long journey to another country. Matthew 15 shows hungry ­people stranded in a remote place with no food. And Psalm 13 relates loud rumblings of spiritual hunger. So don’t take your food for granted today or ever. Literal food is a gift straight from God, and the Lord is also the only one able to satisfy your soul. D

DAY 23

78

day23 GENESIS 45:1 — 47:12

Joseph Makes Himself Known

45

Then Jo­seph ­could no lon­ger con­trol him­self be­fore all his at­ten­dants, and he ­c ried out, “Have ev­ery­one l­eave my pres­ ence!” So ­there was no one with Jo­seph when he made him­self k­ nown to his broth­ers. 2 And he wept so loud­ly that the Egyp­tians ­heard him, and Phar­aoh’s house­hold ­heard ­about it. 3 Jo­seph said to his broth­ers, “I am Jo­seph! Is my fa­ther s­ till liv­ing?” But his broth­ers were not able to an­swer him, be­cause they were ter­ ri­f ied at his pres­ence. 4 Then Jo­seph said to his broth­ers, “Come ­close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your broth­er Jo­seph, the one you sold into ­Egypt! 5 And now, do not be dis­tressed and do not be an­g ry with your­selves for sell­ ing me here, be­cause it was to save l­ives that God sent me a­ head of you. 6 For two y­ ears now ­there has been fam­ine in the land, and for the next five ­years ­there will be no plow­ing and reap­ing. 7 But God sent me ­a head of you to pre­serve for you a rem­nant on e­ arth and to save your ­lives by a ­g reat de­liv­er­ance. a 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me fa­ther to Phar­aoh, lord of his en­tire house­hold and rul­er of all E ­ gypt. 9 Now hur­r y back to my fa­t her and say to him, ‘This is what your son Jo­seph says: God has made me lord of all E ­ gypt. Come down to me; ­don’t de­lay. 10 You ­shall live in the re­g ion of Go­shen and be near me — ​you, your chil­dren and grand­chil­dren, your ­f locks and ­herds, and all you have. 11 I will pro­v ide for you ­there, be­

cause five ­years of fam­ine are s­till to come. Oth­er­w ise you and your house­hold and all who be­long to you will be­come des­ti­t ute.’ 12 “You can see for your­ selves, and so can my broth­er Ben­ja­min, that it is real­ly I who am speak­ing to you. 13 Tell my fa­ther ­about all the hon­or ac­cord­ed me in ­Egypt and ­about every­t hing you have seen. And b ­ ring my fa­ ther down here quick­ly.” 14 Then he ­ t hrew his arms ­ a round his broth­er Ben­ja­m in and wept, and Ben­ja­m in em­braced him, weep­ing. 15 And he ­k issed all his broth­ers and wept over them. Af­ter­ward his broth­ers ­talked with him. 16 When the news ­reached Phar­aoh’s pal­ace that Jo­seph’s broth­ers had come, Phar­aoh and all his of­f i­cials were p ­ leased. 17 Phar­aoh said to Jo­seph, “Tell your broth­ers, ‘Do this: Load your an­i­mals and re­turn to the land of Ca­ naan, 18 and b ­ ring your fa­t her and your fam­ i­lies back to me. I will give you the best of the land of E ­ gypt and you can en­joy the fat of the land.’ 19 “You are also di­rect­ed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some ­carts from E ­ gypt for your chil­d ren and your ­w ives, and get your fa­t her and come. 20 Nev­er mind a­ bout your be­long­ ings, be­cause the best of all ­Egypt will be yours.’ ” 21 So the sons of Is­ra­el did this. Jo­seph gave them ­carts, as Phar­aoh had com­mand­ed, and he also gave them pro­v i­sions for ­their jour­ney. 22 To each of them he gave new cloth­ing, but to Ben­ja­min he gave t­hree hun­d red shek­els b of sil­ver and five sets of ­clothes. 23 And this is what he sent to his fa­ther: ten don­keys load­ed with the best t­ hings of ­Egypt, and ten fe­male don­keys load­ed with ­grain and b ­ read and oth­ er pro­v i­sions for his jour­ney. 24 Then he sent his broth­ers away, and as they were leav­ing he said to them, “Don’t quar­rel on the way!” 25 So they went up out of E ­ gypt and came to ­their fa­ther Ja­cob in the land of Ca­naan. 26 They told him, “Jo­seph is ­still ­a live! In fact, he is rul­er of all ­Egypt.” Ja­cob was ­stunned; he did not be­lieve them. 27 But when they told him ev­ery­thing Jo­seph had said to them, and when he saw the ­carts Jo­seph had sent to car­r y him back, the spir­it of ­t heir fa­t her Ja­cob re­

a 7 Or save you as a great band of survivors    b 22  That is, about 7 1/2 pounds or about 3.5 kilograms   

79 vived. 28 And Is­ra­el said, “I’m con­v inced! My son Jo­seph is ­still ­a live. I will go and see him be­fore I die.” Jacob Goes to Egypt

46

So Is­ra­el set out with all that was his, and when he ­reached Be­er­she­ba, he of­fered sac­r i­f ic­es to the God of his fa­ther Isaac. 2 And God s ­poke to Is­ra­el in a vi­sion at ­night and said, “Ja­cob! Ja­cob!” “Here I am,” he re­plied. 3 “I am God, the God of your fa­ t her,” he said. “Do not be ­a fraid to go down to ­Egypt, for I will make you into a g­ reat na­tion ­there. 4 I will go down to E ­ gypt with you, and I will sure­ly ­bring you back ­again. And Jo­seph’s own hand will ­close your eyes.” 5 Then Ja­cob left Be­er­she­ba, and Is­r a­e l’s sons took t­heir fa­ther Ja­cob and t­heir chil­ dren and ­their ­w ives in the ­carts that Phar­aoh had sent to trans­port him. 6 So Ja­cob and all his off­spring went to ­Egypt, tak­ing with them ­their live­stock and the pos­ses­sions they had ac­ quired in Ca­naan. 7 Ja­cob ­brought with him to ­Egypt his sons and grand­sons and his daugh­ ters and grand­daugh­ters  — ​a ll his off­spring. 8 These

are the ­names of the sons of Is­ra­ el (Ja­cob and his de­scen­dants) who went to Egypt: Reu­ben the first­born of Ja­cob. 9 The sons of Reu­ben: Ha­nok, Pal­lu, Hez­ron and Kar­mi. 10 The sons of Sim­e­on: Je­mu­el, Ja­m in, Ohad, Ja ­k in, Zo­har and Sha­u l the son of a Ca­n aan­ite wom­an. 11 The sons of Levi: Ger­shon, Ko­hath and Me­ra­ri. 12 The sons of Ju­dah: Er, Onan, She­lah, Pe­rez and Ze­rah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Ca­naan). The sons of Pe­rez: Hez­ron and Ha­mul.

DAY 23

13 The sons of Is­sa­char: Tola, Puah, a Ja­shub  b and Shim­ron. 14 The sons of Zeb­u ­lun: Se­red, Elon and Jah­le­el. 15 These were the sons Leah bore to Ja­cob in Pad­dan Aram, c be­sides his daugh­ter Di­nah. ­These sons and daugh­ters of his were thir­t y-­ three in all. 16 The sons of Gad: Ze­phon,  d Hag­g i, Shu­ni, Ez­bon, Eri, Ar­o­di and Are­li. 17 The sons of Ash­er: Im­nah, Ish­vah, Ish­v i and Be­ri­ah. Their sis­ter was Se­rah. The sons of Be­ri­ah: He­ber and Mal­k i­el. 18 These were the chil­d ren born to Ja­cob by Zil­pah, whom La­ban had giv­en to his daugh­ ter Leah — ​six­teen in all. 19 The sons of Ja­cob’s wife Ra­chel: Jo­s eph and Ben­ja­m in. 20 In ­Egypt, Ma­nas­seh and Ephra­im were born to Jo­seph by As­e­nath daugh­ter of Po­ tiph­era, ­priest of On. e 21 The sons of Ben­ja­min: Bela, Be­ker, Ash­bel, Gera, Na­a­man, Ehi, Rosh, Mup­pim, Hup­pim and Ard. 22 These were the sons of Ra­c hel who were born to Ja­cob — ​four­teen in all. 23 The son of Dan: Hu­shim. 24 The sons of Naph­ta­li: Jah­zi­el, Guni, Je­zer and Shil­lem. 25 These were the sons born to Ja­cob by Bil­ hah, whom La­ban had giv­en to his daugh­ter Ra­chel  — ​sev­en in all. 26 All ­those who went to ­Egypt with Ja­cob — ​ t­hose who were his di­rect de­scen­dants, not count­ing his sons’ ­w ives  — ​num­bered six ­t ysix per­sons. 27 With the two sons  f who had been born to Jo­seph in ­Egypt, the mem­bers of Ja­cob’s fam­i­ly, w ­ hich went to ­Egypt, were sev­en­t y  g in all.

a 13  Samaritan Pentateuch and Syriac (see also 1 Chron. 7:1); Masoretic Text Puvah    b 13 Samaritan

Pentateuch and some Septuagint manuscripts (see also Num. 26:24 and 1 Chron. 7:1); Masoretic Text Iob    c 15  That is, Northwest Mesopotamia    d 16  Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint (see also Num. 26:15); Masoretic Text Ziphion    e 20 That is, Heliopolis    f 27  Hebrew; Septuagint the nine children    g 27  Hebrew (see also Exodus 1:5 and note); Septuagint (see also Acts 7:14) seventy-five   

DAY 23

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28 Now Ja­cob sent Ju­dah a ­ head of him to Jo­ seph to get di­rec­tions to Go­shen. When they ar­rived in the re­gion of Go­shen, 29 Jo­seph had his char­i­ot made ­ready and went to Go­shen to meet his fa­ther Is­ra­el. As soon as Jo­seph ap­ peared be­fore him, he ­threw his arms ­a round his fa­ther  a and wept for a long time. 30 Is­ra­el said to Jo­seph, “Now I am ­ready to die, ­since I have seen for my­self that you are ­still alive.” 31 Then Jo­seph said to his broth­ers and to his fa­ther’s house­hold, “I will go up and ­speak to Phar­aoh and will say to him, ‘My broth­ers and my fa­ther’s house­hold, who were liv­ing in the land of Ca­naan, have come to me. 32 The men are shep­herds; they tend live­stock, and they have ­brought ­a long ­their ­f locks and ­herds and ev­ery­thing they own.’ 33 When Phar­aoh ­calls you in and asks, ‘What is your oc­cu­pa­ tion?’ 34 you s­hould an­swer, ‘Your ser­v ants have tend­ed live­stock from our boy­hood on, just as our fa­t hers did.’ Then you will be al­ lowed to set­tle in the re­g ion of Go­shen, for all shep­herds are de­test­able to the Egyp­tians.” Jo­seph went and told Phar­aoh, “My fa­ther and broth­ers, with ­their ­f locks and h ­ erds and ev­ery­thing they own, have come from the land of Ca­naan and are now in Go­shen.” 2 He ­chose five of his broth­ers and pre­sent­ed them be­fore Phar­aoh. 3 Phar­aoh ­asked the broth­ers, “What is your oc­cu­pa­tion?” “Your ser­vants are shep­herds,” they re­plied to Phar­aoh, “just as our fa­thers were.” 4 They also said to him, “We have come to live here for a w ­ hile, be­cause the fam­ine is se­vere in Ca­naan and your ser­vants’ ­f locks have no pas­ ture. So now, ­please let your ser­vants set­t le in Go­shen.” 5 Phar­aoh said to Jo­seph, “Your fa­t her and your broth­ers have come to you, 6 and the land of ­Egypt is be­fore you; set­t le your fa­ther and your broth­ers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Go­shen. And if you know of any ­among them with spe­cial abil­i­t y, put them in ­charge of my own live­stock.” 7 Then Jo­ seph ­brought his fa­ther Ja­cob in and pre­sent­ed him be­fore Phar­aoh. Af­ter Ja­

47

cob ­blessed  b Phar­aoh, 8 Phar­aoh ­asked him, “How old are you?” 9 And Ja­cob said to Phar­aoh, “The ­years of my pil­g rim­age are a hun­d red and thir­t y. My ­years have been few and dif­f i­cult, and they do not ­equal the ­years of the pil­g rim­age of my fa­t hers.” 10 Then Ja­cob ­blessed  c Phar­aoh and went out from his pres­ence. 11 So Jo­seph set­t led his fa­t her and his broth­ ers in ­Egypt and gave them prop­er­t y in the best part of the land, the dis­trict of Ram­e­ses, as Phar­aoh di­rect­ed. 12 Jo­seph also pro­v id­ed his fa­ther and his broth­ers and all his fa­ther’s house­hold with food, ac­cord­ing to the num­ber of ­their chil­dren.

MATTHEW 16:1 — 16:20 The Demand for a Sign

16

The Phar­i­sees and Sad­du­cees came to ­Jesus and test­ed him by ask­ing him to show them a sign from heav­en. 2 He re­ plied, “When eve­n ing ­comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weath­er, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morn­ing, ‘To­day it will be ­stormy, for the sky is red and over­cast.’ You know how to in­ter­pret the ap­pear­ance of the sky, but you can­not in­ter­pret the ­signs of the ­times. d 4 A wick­ed and adul­ter­ous gen­er­a­tion ­looks for a sign, but none will be giv­en it ex­cept the sign of Jo­nah.” ­Jesus then left them and went away. The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees 5 When they went ­across the lake, the dis­c i­ ples for­got to take b ­ read. 6 “Be care­f ul,” ­Jesus said to them. “Be on your ­g uard a­ gainst the ­yeast of the Phar­i­sees and Sad­du­cees.” 7 They dis­ c ussed this ­a mong them­selves and said, “It is be­cause we ­d idn’t ­bring any bread.” 8 Aware of ­t heir dis­c us­s ion, ­Jesus ­a sked, “You of lit­tle ­faith, why are you talk­ing ­among your­selves ­about hav­ing no ­bread? 9 Do you ­still not un­der­stand? D ­ on’t you re­mem­ ber the five l­oaves for the five thou­sand, and how many bas­ket­f uls you gath­ered? 10 Or the sev­en l­oaves for the four thou­sand, and how

a 29 Hebrew around him    b 7 Or greeted    c 10 Or said farewell to    d 2,3  Some early manuscripts do

not have When evening comes . . . of the times.   

DAY 23

81 many bas­ket­f uls you gath­ered? 11 How is it you ­don’t un­der­stand that I was not talk­ing to you ­about ­bread? But be on your ­g uard ­against the ­yeast of the Phar­i­sees and Sad­du­cees.” 12 Then they un­der­stood that he was not tell­ing them to ­g uard ­against the y­ east used in ­bread, but ­against the teach­ing of the Phar­i­sees and Sad­ du­cees. Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah 13 When ­Jesus came to the re­g ion of Caes­a­ rea Phi­lip­pi, he ­asked his dis­ci­ples, “Who do peo­ple say the Son of Man is?” 14 They re­plied, “Some say John the Bap­t ist; oth­ers say Eli­jah; and ­still oth­ers, Jer­e­mi­ah or one of the proph­ets.” 15 “But what ­ about you?” he ­asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Si­mon Pe­ter an­s wered, “You are the Mes­ si­ah, the Son of the liv­ing God.” 17 Jesus re­ plied, “Blessed are you, Si­mon son of Jo­nah, for this was not re­vealed to you by f­ lesh and ­blood, but by my Fa­ther in heav­ en. 18 And I tell you that you are Pe­ter, a and on this rock I will b ­ uild my c­ hurch, and the ­gates of ­Hades  b will not over­come it. 19 I will give you the keys of the king­dom of heav­en; what­ev­er you bind on ­earth will be c ­bound in heav­en, and what­ev­er you ­loose on ­earth will be c ­loosed in heav­en.” 20 Then he or­dered his dis­c i­ples not to tell any­one that he was the Mes­si­ah.

PSALM 14:1 — 14:7 Psalm 14 For the director of music. Of David.

3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. 4 Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the Lord. 5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. 6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge. 7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

REWIND Genesis 45:1 – 47:12; Matthew 16:1 – 20; Psalm 14

FIGURE OUT WHO GOD REALLY IS. Joseph’s brothers get the surprise of their lives in Genesis 45 – 47 when their long-lost sibling reveals his identity. Famous words recorded in Matthew 16 show that, unlike the masses, ­Peter recognizes ­Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. But the fool of Psalm 14 doesn’t bother to figure out anything. He dismisses the Lord as unreal or irrelevant and refuses to rethink his conclusion. God is the one who sees us from heaven. He’s the one who saves. D

1 The fool d says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. a 18  The Greek word for Peter means rock.    b 18  That is, the realm of the dead    c 19  Or will have been    d 1  The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.   

DAY 24

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day24 GENESIS 47:13 — 48:22 Joseph and the Famine 13 There was no food, how­ev­er, in the w ­ hole re­g ion be­cause the fam­ine was se­vere; both ­Egypt and Ca­naan wast­ed away be­cause of the fam­ine. 14 Jo­seph col ­lect­ed all the mon­ey that was to be ­found in ­Egypt and Ca­naan in pay­ment for the g­ rain they were buy­ing, and he ­brought it to Phar­aoh’s pal­ace. 15 When the mon­e y of the peo­ple of E ­ gypt and Ca­naan was gone, all ­Egypt came to Jo­seph and said, “Give us food. Why ­should we die be­fore your eyes? Our mon­ey is all gone.” 16 “Then b ­ ring your live­stock,” said Jo­seph. “I will sell you food in ex­change for your live­ stock, s­ince your mon­ey is gone.” 17 So they ­brought ­their live­stock to Jo­seph, and he gave them food in ex­change for ­their hors­es, ­their ­sheep and ­goats, ­their cat­tle and don­k eys. And he ­brought them ­through that year with food in ex­change for all ­their live­stock. 18 When that year was over, they came to him the fol­low­ing year and said, “We can­ not hide from our lord the fact that ­since our mon­ey is gone and our live­stock be­longs to you, t­here is noth­ing left for our lord ex­ cept our bod­ies and our land. 19 Why ­should we per­ish be­fore your eyes — ​we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in ex­change for food, and we with our land will be in bond­age to Phar­aoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be­come des­o­late.” 20 So Jo­s eph ­bought all the land in E ­ gypt for Phar­aoh. The Egyp­tians, one and all, sold ­their ­f ields, be­cause the fam­ine was too se­vere for them. The land be­came Phar­aoh’s, 21 and Jo­seph re­duced the peo­ple to ser­v i­t ude,  a from one end of ­Egypt to the oth­er. 22 How­ev­er, he did not buy the land of the ­priests, be­cause they re­ceived a reg­u ­lar al­lot­ment from Phar­ aoh and had food ­enough from the al­lot­ment

Phar­aoh gave them. That is why they did not sell ­their land. 23 Jo­ s eph said to the peo­ple, “Now that I have ­bought you and your land to­day for Phar­aoh, here is seed for you so you can ­plant the ­g round. 24 But when the crop c­ omes in, give a f­ ifth of it to Phar­aoh. The oth­er four-­ fifths you may keep as seed for the ­f ields and as food for your­selves and your house­holds and your chil­dren.” 25 “You have s ­aved our ­lives,” they said. “May we find fa­vor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bond­age to Phar­aoh.” 26 So Jo­seph es­tab­l ished it as a law con­cern­ ing land in ­Egypt  — ​­still in ­force to­day  — ​that a ­f ifth of the pro­duce be­longs to Phar­aoh. It was only the land of the ­priests that did not be­come Phar­aoh’s. 27 Now the Is­ra­el­ites set­t led in ­Egypt in the re­g ion of Go­shen. They ac­quired prop­er ­t y ­there and were fruit­f ul and in­creased great­ly in num­ber. 28 Ja­cob ­l ived in ­Egypt sev­en­teen ­years, and the ­years of his life were a hun­dred and for­t ysev­en. 29 When the time drew near for Is­ra­el to die, he ­called for his son Jo­seph and said to him, “If I have ­found fa­vor in your eyes, put your hand un­der my ­thigh and prom­ise that you will show me kind­ness and faith­f ul­ness. Do not bury me in ­Egypt, 30 but when I rest with my fa­thers, car­r y me out of ­Egypt and bury me ­where they are bur­ied.” “I will do as you say,” he said. 31 “Swear to me,” he said. Then Jo­ s eph ­swore to him, and Is­ra­el wor­shiped as he ­leaned on the top of his staff. b Manasseh and Ephraim

48

Some time lat­er Jo­seph was told, “Your fa­ther is ill.” So he took his two sons Ma­nas­seh and Ephra­im ­a long with him. 2 When Ja­cob was told, “Your son Jo­seph has come to you,” Is­ra­el ral­lied his ­strength and sat up on the bed. 3 Ja­cob said to Jo­seph, “God Al­m ighty c ap­ peared to me at Luz in the land of Ca­naan, and ­there he ­blessed me 4 and said to me, ‘I am go­ing to make you fruit­ful and in­c rease

a 21  Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint (see also Vulgate); Masoretic Text and he moved the people into the cities    b 31 Or Israel bowed down at the head of his bed    c 3 Hebrew El-Shaddai   

DAY 24

83 your num­bers. I will make you a com­mu­n i­ ty of peo­ples, and I will give this land as an ever­last­ing pos­ses­sion to your de­scen­dants af­ ter you.’ 5 “Now then, your two sons born to you in ­Egypt be­fore I came to you here will be reck­ oned as mine; Ephra­im and Ma­nas­seh will be mine, just as Reu­ben and Sim­e­on are mine. 6 Any chil­ d ren born to you af­ter them will be ­yours; in the ter­ri­to­r y they in­her­it they will be reck­oned un­der the ­names of ­their broth­ ers. 7 As I was re­t urn­ing from Pad­dan, a to my sor­row Ra­c hel died in the land of Ca­naan ­while we were s­ till on the way, a lit­t le dis­tance from Eph­rath. So I bur­ied her ­there be­side the road to Eph­rath” (that is, Beth­le­hem). 8 When Is­ ra­el saw the sons of Jo­seph, he ­asked, “Who are these?” 9 “They are the sons God has giv­ en me here,” Jo­seph said to his fa­ther. Then Is­ra­el said, “Bring them to me so I may ­bless them.” 10 Now Is­ra­el’s eyes were fail­ing be­cause of old age, and he ­could hard­ly see. So Jo­seph ­brought his sons c­ lose to him, and his fa­ther ­k issed them and em­braced them. 11 Is­ra­el said to Jo­seph, “I nev­er ex­pect­ed to see your face ­again, and now God has al­lowed me to see your chil­dren too.” 12 Then Jo­ seph re­moved them from Is­ra­ el’s ­k nees and b ­ owed down with his face to the ­g round.13 And Jo­seph took both of them, Ephra­im on his ­right to­ward Is­ra­el’s left hand and Ma­nas­seh on his left to­ward Is­ra­el’s ­right hand, and ­brought them ­c lose to him. 14 But Is­ra­el ­reached out his ­right hand and put it on Ephra­im’s head, t­ hough he was the youn­ger, and cross­ing his arms, he put his left hand on Ma­nas­seh’s head, even ­though Ma­nas­seh was the first­born. 15 Then he ­blessed Jo­seph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, 16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm  — ​may he bless these boys.

May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.” 17 When

Jo­seph saw his fa­ther plac­ing his r­ight hand on Ephra­im’s head he was dis­ pleased; so he took hold of his fa­ther’s hand to move it from Ephra­im’s head to Ma­nas­seh’s head. 18 Jo­seph said to him, “No, my fa­ther, this one is the first­born; put your ­r ight hand on his head.” 19 But his fa­t her re­f used and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will be­come a peo­ple, and he too will be­come g­ reat. Nev­er­the­less, his youn­ger broth­er will be great­er than he, and his de­scen­dants will be­come a ­g roup of na­tions.” 20 He ­blessed them that day and said, “In your b name will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ ” So he put Ephra­im ­ahead of Ma­nas­seh. 21 Then Is­ra­el said to Jo­seph, “I am ­about to die, but God will be with you c and take you c back to the land of your c fa­thers. 22 And to you I give one more r­idge of land d than to your broth­ers, the ­ridge I took from the Am­o­rites with my ­sword and my bow.”

MATTHEW 16:21 — 17:13 Jesus Predicts His Death 21 From

that time on ­Jesus be­gan to ex­plain to his dis­ci­ples that he must go to Je­r u­sa­lem and suf­fer many t­hings at the ­hands of the ­el­ders, the ­c hief ­priests and the teach­ers of the law, and that he must be ­k illed and on the ­third day be ­raised to life. 22 Pe­ter took him ­aside and be­gan to re­buke him. “Nev­er, Lord!” he said. “This ­shall nev­er hap­pen to you!” 23 Jesus ­t urned and said to Pe­ter, “Get be­ hind me, Sa­tan! You are a stum­bling ­block to me; you do not have in mind the con­cerns of God, but mere­ly hu­man con­cerns.” 24 Then J­ esus said to his dis­ci­ples, “­W ho­ever

a 7  That is, Northwest Mesopotamia    b 20 The Hebrew is singular.    c 21  The Hebrew is plural.    d 22  The Hebrew for ridge of land is identical with the place name Shechem.   

DAY 24

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­ ants to be my dis­ci­ple must deny them­selves w and take up t­heir c­ ross and fol­low me. 25 For who­ev­er ­wants to save ­their life a will lose it, but who­ev­er los­es t­heir life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for some­one to gain the w ­ hole w ­ orld, yet for­feit their soul? Or what can any­one give in ex­c hange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is go­ing to come in his Fa­ther’s glo­r y with his an­gels, and then he will re­ward each per­son ac­cord­ing to what they have done. 28 “Tru­ly I tell you, some who are stand­ing here will not ­taste d ­ eath be­fore they see the Son of Man com­ing in his king­dom.” The Transfiguration

17

Af­ter six days J­esus took with him Pe­ter, ­James and John the broth­er of ­James, and led them up a high moun­tain by them­selves. 2 There he was trans­f ig­u red be­ fore them. His face ­shone like the sun, and his ­clothes be­came as ­white as the l­ight. 3 Just then ­there ap­peared be­fore them Mo­ses and Eli­jah, talk­ing with ­Jesus. 4 Pe­ ter said to ­Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up ­three shel­ters — ​one for you, one for Mo­ses and one for Eli­jah.” 5 While he was s ­ till speak­ing, a ­bright ­cloud cov­ered them, and a ­voice from the ­cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well ­pleased. Lis­ten to him!” 6 When the dis­ c i­ples ­heard this, they fell face­down to the ­g round, ter­ri­f ied. 7 But ­Jesus came and ­touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be ­afraid.” 8 When they ­looked up, they saw no one ex­cept ­Jesus. 9 As they were com­ing down the moun­tain, ­Jesus in­struct­ed them, “Don’t tell any­one what you have seen, un­til the Son of Man has been ­raised from the dead.” 10 The dis­c i­ples ­a sked him, “Why then do the teach­ers of the law say that Eli­jah must come first?” 11 Jesus re­plied, “To be sure, Eli­jah ­comes and will re­store all ­things. 12 But I tell you, Eli­jah has al­ready come, and they did not rec­ og­nize him, but have done to him ev­ery­thing they ­w ished. In the same way the Son of Man

is go­ing to suf­fer at ­their ­hands.” 13 Then the dis­c i­ples un­der­stood that he was talk­ing to them ­about John the Bap­tist.

PROVERBS 3:1 — 3:10 Wisdom Bestows Well-Being

3

My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, 2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. b 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. 9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

REWIND Genesis 47:13 – 48:22; Matthew 16:21 – 17:13; Proverbs 3:1 – 10

EVERYONE HAS TO TRUST. In Genesis 47 – 48 old Jacob stands before Phar­aoh, hoping for kindness from the most powerful man on earth. In Matthew 16 – 17 ­Jesus foresees his own tortured suffering and death, then gets strength from his Father’s words to face what lies ahead. Proverbs 3 tells you how to trust God right now. You count on God wholeheartedly, more than you rely on

a 25  The Greek word means either life or soul ; also in verse 26.    b 6 Or will direct your paths   

85 your own insights. When you trust yourself to his will, he makes your paths straight. D

day25 GENESIS 49:1 — 50:26 Jacob Blesses His Sons

DAY 25

9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness — ​who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, c until he to whom it belongs d shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk. e

49

13 “Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon.

2 “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

14 “Issachar is a rawboned  f donkey lying down among the sheep pens. g 15 When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.

Then Ja­cob ­called for his sons and said: “Gath­er ­a round so I can tell you what will hap­pen to you in days to come.

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. 4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it. 5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers — ​ their swords a are weapons of violence. 6 Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. 7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel. 8 “Judah, b

your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.

16 “Dan h will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan will be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward. 18 “I look for your deliverance, Lord. 19 “Gad i will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels. 20 “Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king. 21 “Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. j 22 “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. k

a 5  The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.    b 8  Judah sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for praise.    c 10 Or from his descendants    d 10 Or to whom tribute belongs; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.    e 12 Or will be dull from wine, / his teeth white from milk    f 14 Or strong    g 14 Or the campfires; or the saddlebags    h 16  Dan here means he provides justice.    i 19  Gad sounds like the Hebrew for attack and also for band of raiders.    j 21 Or free; / he utters beautiful words    k 22 Or Joseph is a wild colt, / a wild colt near a spring, / a wild donkey on a terraced hill   

DAY 25

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23 With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. 24 But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed a limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 25 because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, b who blesses you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb. 26 Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, c the bounty of the age-old than  hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among d his brothers. 27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.” 28 All

­t hese are the ­t welve ­t ribes of Is­ra­el, and this is what ­their fa­ther said to them when he ­blessed them, giv­ing each the bless­ing ap­ pro­pri­ate to him. The Death of Jacob 29 Then he gave them ­t hese in­struc­t ions: “I am ­about to be gath­ered to my peo­ple. Bury me with my fa­thers in the cave in the ­f ield of ­Ephron the Hit­tite, 30 the cave in the f­ ield of Mach­pe­lah, near Mam­re in Ca­naan, ­which Abra­ham ­bought a­ long with the ­field as a buri­a l ­place from ­Ephron the Hit­tite. 31 There Abra­ham and his wife Sar­a h were bur­ied, ­there ­Isaac and his wife Re­bek­ah were bur­ied, and ­there I bur­ied Leah. 32 The f­ ield and the cave in it were ­bought from the Hit­tites. e ” 33 When Ja­cob had fin­ished giv­ing in­struc­ tions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, ­breathed his last and was gath­ered to his peo­ple.

50

Jo­seph ­threw him­self on his fa­ther and wept over him and ­k issed him. 2 Then Jo­ seph di­rect­ed the phy­si­c ians in his ser­v ice to em­balm his fa­ther Is­ra­el. So the phy­si­cians em­balmed him, 3 tak­ing a full for­t y days, for that was the time re­quired for em­ balm­ing. And the Egyp­tians ­mourned for him sev­en­t y days. 4 When the days of mourn­ing had ­passed, Jo­seph said to Phar­aoh’s ­court, “If I have ­found fa­vor in your eyes, ­speak to Phar­aoh for me. Tell him, 5 ‘My fa­ther made me ­swear an oath and said, “I am ­about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for my­self in the land of Ca­ naan.” Now let me go up and bury my fa­ther; then I will re­t urn.’ ” 6 Phar­ aoh said, “Go up and bury your fa­ ther, as he made you ­swear to do.” 7 So Jo­seph went up to bury his fa­t her. All Phar­aoh’s of­f i­c ials ac­com­pa­n ied him  — ​t he dig­n i­tar­ies of his c­ ourt and all the dig­n i­tar­ ies of ­Egypt — ​ 8 be­sides all the mem­bers of Jo­seph’s house­hold and his broth­ers and ­those be­long­ing to his fa­ther’s house­hold. Only ­their chil­dren and t­ heir ­f locks and ­herds were left in Go­shen. 9 Char­i­ots and horse­men   f also went up with him. It was a very ­large com­ pa­ny. 10 When they ­reached the thresh­ing ­f loor of Atad, near the Jor­dan, they la­ment­ed loud­ ly and bit­ter­ly; and ­there Jo­seph ob­served a sev­en-day pe­r i­od of mourn­ing for his fa­t her. 11 When the Ca­naan­ites who ­lived ­t here saw the mourn­ing at the thresh­ing ­f loor of Atad, they said, “The Egyp­t ians are hold­ing a sol­ emn cer­e­mo­ny of mourn­ing.” That is why that ­place near the Jor­dan is ­called Abel Miz­ ra­im.g 12 So Ja­cob’s sons did as he had com­mand­ed them: 13 They car­ried him to the land of Ca­ naan and bur­ied him in the cave in the ­f ield of Mach­pe­lah, near Mam­re, ­which Abra­ham had b ­ ought ­a long with the ­field as a buri­a l ­place from ­Ephron the Hit­tite. 14 Af­ter bury­ ing his fa­t her, Jo­seph re­t urned to E ­ gypt, to­ geth­er with his broth­ers and all the oth­ers who had gone with him to bury his fa­ther.

a 23,24 Or archers will attack . . . will shoot . . . will remain . . . will stay    b 25 Hebrew Shaddai    c 26 Or of my progenitors, / as great as    d 26 Or of the one separated from    e 32 Or the descendants of Heth    f 9 Or charioteers    g 11  Abel Mizraim means mourning of the Egyptians.   

87 Joseph Reassures His Brothers 15 When

Jo­seph’s broth­ers saw that ­their fa­ther was dead, they said, “What if Jo­seph ­holds a ­g rudge ­against us and pays us back for all the ­w rongs we did to him?” 16 So they sent word to Jo­seph, say­ing, “Your fa­ther left ­t hese in­struc­t ions be­fore he died: 17 ‘This is what you are to say to Jo­seph: I ask you to for­give your broth­ers the sins and the ­w rongs they com­mit­ted in treat­ing you so bad­ly.’ Now ­please for­g ive the sins of the ser­vants of the God of your fa­ther.” When ­their mes­sage came to him, Jo­seph wept. 18 His broth­ers then came and ­t hrew them­ selves down be­fore him. “We are your ­slaves,” they said. 19 But Jo­seph said to them, “Don’t be ­a fraid. Am I in the ­place of God? 20 You in­tend­ed to harm me, but God in­tend­ed it for good to ac­ com­plish what is now be­ing done, the sav­ing of many ­lives. 21 So then, ­don’t be ­a fraid. I will pro­v ide for you and your chil­dren.” And he re­ as­sured them and ­spoke kind­ly to them. The Death of Joseph 22 Jo­ seph ­stayed in ­Egypt, ­a long with all his fa­ther’s fam­i­ly. He ­lived a hun­d red and ten ­years 23 and saw the t­hird gen­er­a­tion of Ephra­im’s chil­dren. Also the chil­dren of Ma­ kir son of Ma­nas­seh were ­placed at ­birth on Jo­seph’s knees.  a 24 Then Jo­seph said to his broth­ers, “I am ­about to die. But God will sure­ly come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he prom­ised on oath to Abra­ham, ­Isaac and Ja­cob.” 25 And Jo­seph made the Is­ra­el­ites ­swear an oath and said, “God will sure­ly come to your aid, and then you must car­r y my ­bones up from this place.” 26 So Jo­ seph died at the age of a hun­d red and ten. And af­ter they em­balmed him, he was ­placed in a cof­f in in Egypt.

DAY 25

zures and is suf­fer­ing great­ly. He of­ten f­alls into the fire or into the wa­ter. 16 I ­brought him to your dis­ci­ples, but they c­ ould not heal him.” 17 “You un­b e­l iev ­i ng and per ­v erse gen­er­a­ tion,” ­Jesus re­plied, “how long ­shall I stay with you? How long ­shall I put up with you? ­Bring the boy here to me.” 18 ­Jesus re­buked the de­ mon, and it came out of the boy, and he was ­healed at that mo­ment. 19 Then the dis­ci­ples came to J­ esus in pri­vate and ­asked, “Why ­couldn’t we ­drive it out?” 20 He re­ plied, “Be­cause you have so lit­ tle f­aith. Tru­ly I tell you, if you have ­faith as ­small as a mus­tard seed, you can say to this moun­tain, ‘Move from here to ­there,’ and it will move. Noth­ing will be im­p os­si­ble for you.” [21] b Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time 22 When they came to­geth­er in Gal­i­lee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is go­ing to be de­liv­ered in­to the h ­ ands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the ­third day he will be ­raised to life.” And the dis­c i­ples were ­f illed with grief.

The Temple Tax

MATTHEW 17:14 — 18:9

24 Af­ ter ­Jesus and his dis­c i­ples ar­rived in Ca­per­na­um, the col­lec­tors of the two-drach­ ma tem­ple tax came to Pe­ter and ­asked, “Doesn’t your teach­er pay the tem­ple tax?” 25 “Yes, he does,” he re­plied. When Pe­ter came into the ­house, ­Jesus was the ­f irst to s­peak. “What do you ­think, Si­ mon?” he ­asked. “From whom do the ­k ings of the ­earth col­lect duty and tax­es — ​from ­their own chil­dren or from oth­ers?” 26 “From oth­ers,” Pe­ter an­s wered. “Then the chil­dren are ex­empt,” J­ esus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not c­ ause of­ fense, go to the lake and ­throw out your line. Take the f­ irst fish you ­catch; open its ­mouth and you will find a four-drach­ma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy

The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

14 When

they came to the ­crowd, a man ap­ proached ­Jesus and k­ nelt be­fore him. 15 “Lord, have mer­c y on my son,” he said. “He has sei­

18

At that time the dis­c i­ples came to ­Jesus and ­asked, “Who, then, is the great­est in the king­dom of heav­en?”

a 23  That is, were counted as his    b 21  Some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 9:29.   

DAY 26

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2 He ­called a lit­t le c ­ hild to him, and ­placed the c­ hild ­among them. 3 And he said: “Tru­ly I tell you, un­less you ­change and be­come like lit­t le chil­dren, you will nev­er en­ter the king­ dom of heav­en. 4 There­fore, who­ev­er ­takes the low­ly po­si­tion of this ­child is the great­est in the king­dom of heav­en. 5 And who­ev­er wel­comes one such ­child in my name wel­comes me.

5 who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Causing to Stumble

Genesis 49 – 50; Matthew 17:14 – 18:9; Psalm 15

6 “If

any­ one caus­ e s one of t­hese lit­ t le ones — ​­those who be­lieve in me — ​to stum­ ble, it ­would be bet­ter for them to have a ­large mill­stone hung a­ round ­their neck and to be ­drowned in the d ­ epths of the sea. 7 Woe to the ­world be­cause of the ­things that ­cause peo­ple to stum­ble! Such ­things must come, but woe to the per­son ­through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot caus­es you to stum­ ble, cut it off and ­throw it away. It is bet­ter for you to en­ter life m ­ aimed or crip­pled than to have two ­hands or two feet and be ­thrown into eter­nal fire. 9 And if your eye caus­es you to stum­ble, ­gouge it out and ­throw it away. It is bet­ter for you to en­ter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be t­ hrown into the fire of hell.”

Whoever does these things will never be shaken.

REWIND

BE BLAMELESS. Jacob unleashes harsh words in Genesis 49 – 50, making a last blessing of his sons into a diary of their sins and the consequences that will befall them. ­Jesus speaks blunt truth in Matthew 17 – 18, saying it’s better to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone around your neck than to trip ­people up. Aim to be the person David describes in Psalm 15, someone who walks with God consistently. That person won’t be shaken. D

PSALM 15:1 — 15:5 Psalm 15 A psalm of David.

1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? 2 The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; 3 whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; 4 who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind;

day26 EXODUS 1:1 — 3:22

The Israelites Oppressed

1

These are the ­names of the sons of Is­ra­el who went to ­Egypt with Ja­cob, each with his fam­i­ly: 2 Reu­ben, Sim­e­on, Levi and Ju­dah; 3 Is­sa­c har, Zeb­u ­lun and Ben­ja­m in; 4 Dan and Naph­ta ­l i; Gad and Ash­er. 5 The de­scen­dants of Ja­cob num­bered sev­en­t y  a in all; Jo­seph was al­ready in Egypt. 6 Now Jo­ seph and all his broth­ers and all

a 5  Masoretic Text (see also Gen. 46:27); Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint (see also Acts 7:14 and note at

Gen. 46:27) seventy-five   

89 that gen­er­a­tion died, 7 but the Is­ra­el ­ites were ex­ceed ­ing­ly fruit ­f ul; they mul­t i­plied great ­ly, in­creased in num­bers and be­came so nu­mer­ ous that the land was ­f illed with them. 8 Then a new king, to whom Jo­seph ­meant noth­ing, came to pow­er in E ­ gypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his peo­ple, “the Is­ra­el­ites have be­come far too nu­mer­ous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewd­ly with them or they will be­come even more nu­mer­ous and, if war b ­ reaks out, will join our en­e­m ies, f­ight a­ gainst us and ­leave the coun­try.” 11 So they put ­ slave mas­ters over them to op­press them with ­forced la­bor, and they ­built Pi­thom and Ram­e­ses as ­store cit­ies for Phar­ aoh. 12 But the more they were op­pressed, the more they mul­ti­plied and ­spread; so the Egyp­ tians came to ­dread the Is­ra­el­ites 13 and ­worked them ruth­less­ly. 14 They made ­their ­lives bit­ter with h ­ arsh la­bor in ­brick and mor­tar and with all ­k inds of work in the ­f ields; in all ­their ­harsh la­bor the Egyp­tians worked them ruth­less­ly. 15 The king of ­ Egypt said to the He­brew mid­w ives, ­whose ­names were Shiph­rah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the He­brew wom­en during child­birth on the de­liv­ery ­stool, if you see that the ­baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The mid­w ives, how­ ev­er, f­ eared God and did not do what the king of ­Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of ­Egypt sum­moned the mid­w ives and ­asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” 19 The mid­w ives an­s wered Phar­aoh, “He­ brew wom­en are not like Egyp­tian wom­en; they are vig­or­ous and give b ­ irth be­fore the mid­w ives ar­rive.” 20 So God was kind to the mid­w ives and the peo­ple in­c reased and be­came even more nu­ mer­ous. 21 And be­cause the mid­w ives f­eared God, he gave them fam­i­lies of ­their own. 22 Then Phar­ aoh gave this or­der to all his peo­ple: “Ev­ery He­brew boy that is born you must t­ hrow into the Nile, but let ev­ery girl live.” The Birth of Moses

2

Now a man of the ­tribe of Levi mar­ried a Le­v ite wom­an, 2 and she be­came preg­ nant and gave ­birth to a son. When she saw

DAY 26

that he was a fine ­child, she hid him for ­three ­months. 3 But when she ­could hide him no lon­ger, she got a pa­py­r us bas­ket a for him and coat­ed it with tar and ­pitch. Then she ­placed the ­c hild in it and put it ­a mong the ­reeds ­a long the bank of the Nile. 4 His sis­ter ­stood at a dis­tance to see what ­would hap­pen to him. 5 Then Phar­ aoh’s daugh­ter went down to the Nile to ­bathe, and her at­ten­dants were walk­ing ­a long the riv­er­bank. She saw the bas­ ket ­among the ­reeds and sent her fe­male ­slave to get it. 6 She ­opened it and saw the baby. He was cry­ing, and she felt sor­r y for him. “This is one of the He­brew ba­bies,” she said. 7 Then his sis­ter ­asked Phar­aoh’s daugh­ter, “Shall I go and get one of the He­brew wom­en to ­nurse the baby for you?” 8 “Yes, go,” she an­s wered. So the girl went and got the ­baby’s moth­er. 9 Phar­aoh’s daugh­ ter said to her, “Take this baby and ­nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the wom­a n took the baby and ­nursed him. 10 When the ­child grew old­er, she took him to Phar­aoh’s daugh­ter and he be­came her son. She ­named him Mo­ses,  b say­ing, “I drew him out of the wa­ter.” Moses Flees to Midian 11 One day, af­ter Mo­ses had ­g rown up, he went out to w ­ here his own peo­ple were and ­watched them at ­their hard la­bor. He saw an Egyp­tian beat­ing a He­brew, one of his own peo­ple. 12 Look­ing this way and that and see­ ing no one, he k­ illed the Egyp­tian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two He­brews fight­ing. He ­asked the one in the ­w rong, “Why are you hit­ting your fel­low He­brew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you rul­er and ­judge over us? Are you think­ing of kill­ing me as you ­k illed the Egyp­tian?” Then Mo­ses was ­a fraid and ­thought, “What I did must have be­come known.” 15 When Phar­aoh ­heard of this, he ­t ried to kill Mo­ses, but Mo­ses fled from Phar­aoh and went to live in Mid­i­an, ­where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a ­priest of Mid­i­a n had sev­en daugh­ters, and they came to draw wa­ter and fill the ­troughs to wa­ter t­heir fa­ther’s ­f lock.

a 3  The Hebrew can also mean ark, as in Gen. 6:14.    b 10  Moses sounds like the Hebrew for draw out.   

DAY 26

90

17 Some

shep­herds came a­ long and d ­ rove them away, but Mo­ses got up and came to ­their res­ cue and wa­tered ­their flock. 18 When the ­ g irls re­turned to Reu­el ­their fa­ther, he ­a sked them, “Why have you re­ turned so ear­ly to­day?” 19 They an­s wered, “An Egyp­t ian res­c ued us from the shep­herds. He even drew wa­ter for us and wa­tered the flock.” 20 “And ­ w here is he?” Reu­ e l a­sked his daugh­ters. “Why did you ­leave him? In­v ite him to have some­thing to eat.” 21 Mo­ses ­agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daugh­ter Zip­po­rah to Mo­ses in mar­ riage. 22 Zip­p o­rah gave ­birth to a son, and Mo­ses ­named him Ger­shom,  a say­ing, “I have be­come a for­eign­er in a for­eign land.” 23 Dur­ i ng that long pe­ri­o d, the king of ­Egypt died. The Is­ra­el ­ites ­g roaned in ­t heir slav­ery and ­c ried out, and ­their cry for help be­cause of t­heir slav­ery went up to God. 24 God ­heard ­their groan­ing and he re­mem­ bered his cov­enant with Abra­ham, with ­Isaac and with Ja­cob. 25 So God ­looked on the Is­ra­ el­ites and was con­cerned ­about them. Moses and the Burning Bush

3

Now Mo­ses was tend­ing the ­flock of Jeth­ro his fa­ther-in-law, the p ­ riest of Mid­i­a n, and he led the f­ lock to the far side of the wil­der­ness and came to Ho­reb, the moun­tain of God. 2 There the an­gel of the Lord ap­peared to him in ­f lames of fire from with­in a bush. Mo­ses saw that ­though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Mo­ses ­t hought, “I will go over and see this s­ trange ­sight — ​why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God ­called to him from with­in the bush, “Mo­ses! Mo­ses!” And Mo­ses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any clos­er,” God said. “Take off your san­dals, for the ­place ­where you are stand­ing is holy ­ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your fa­ther, b the God of Abra­ham, the God of ­Isaac and the God of Ja­cob.” At this, Mo­ses hid his face, be­cause he was ­a fraid to look at God.

7 The Lord said, “I have in­ deed seen the mis­ery of my peo­ple in ­Egypt. I have ­heard them cry­ing out be­cause of ­their ­slave driv­ers, and I am con­cerned a­ bout ­their suf­fer­ing. 8 So I have come down to res­cue them from the hand of the Egyp­tians and to ­bring them up out of that land into a good and spa­cious land, a land flow­ing with milk and hon­ey — ​the home of the Ca­naan­ites, Hit­tites, Am­o­rites, Per­iz­zites, Hi­v ites and Jeb­u­sites. 9 And now the cry of the Is­ra­el­ites has ­reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyp­tians are op­press­ing them. 10 So now, go. I am send­ing you to Phar­aoh to b ­ ring my peo­ple the Is­ra­el­ites out of Egypt.” 11 But Mo­ses said to God, “Who am I that I ­should go to Phar­aoh and ­bring the Is­ra­el­ites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have b ­ rought the peo­ple out of ­Egypt, you c will wor­ship God on this moun­tain.” 13 Mo­ses said to God, “Sup­pose I go to the Is­ra­el­ites and say to them, ‘The God of your fa­thers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what ­shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Mo­ ses, “I am who I am. d This is what you are to say to the Is­ra­el­ites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Mo­ses, “Say to the Is­ra­ el­ites, ‘The Lord, e the God of your fa­thers — ​ the God of Abra­ham, the God of ­Isaac and the God of Ja­cob — ​has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. 16 “Go, as­ sem­ble the el­ders of Is­ra­el and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fa­thers — ​the God of Abra­ham, ­Isaac and Ja­cob — ​ap­p eared to me and said: I have ­watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in ­Egypt. 17 And I have prom­ised to ­bring you up out of your mis­ery in ­Egypt into the land of the Ca­naan­ites, Hit­tites, Am­ o­r ites, Per ­iz­zites, Hi­v ites and Jeb­u­sites  — ​a land flow­ing with milk and hon­ey.’

a 22  Gershom sounds like the Hebrew for a foreigner there.    b 6  Masoretic Text; Samaritan Pentateuch (see Acts 7:32) fathers    c 12 The Hebrew is plural.    d 14 Or I will be what I will be    e 15 The Hebrew

for Lord sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for I am in verse 14.   

DAY 26

91 18 “The el­ ders of Is­ra­el will lis­ten to you. Then you and the el­ders are to go to the king of ­Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the He­brews, has met with us. Let us take a ­three-day jour­ney into the wil­der­ness to of­ fer sac­r i­f ic­es to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of E ­ gypt will not let you go un­less a ­mighty hand com­pels him. 20 So I will ­stretch out my hand and ­strike the Egyp­ tians with all the won­ders that I will per­form ­among them. Af­ter that, he will let you go. 21 “And I will make the Egyp­t ians fa­vor­ably dis­posed to­ward this peo­ple, so that when you ­leave you will not go emp­t y-hand­ed. 22 Ev­ery wom­an is to ask her neigh­bor and any wom­ an liv­ing in her ­house for ar­ti­cles of sil­ver and gold and for cloth­ing, ­which you will put on your sons and daugh­ters. And so you will plun­der the Egyp­tians.”

MATTHEW 18:10 — 18:35 The Parable of the Wandering Sheep 10 “See that you do not de­spise one of ­t hese lit­t le ones. For I tell you that t­ heir an­gels in heav­en al­ways see the face of my Fa­ther in heav­en. [11] a 12 “What do you ­ t hink? If a man owns a hun­d red s­heep, and one of them wan­ders away, will he not ­leave the nine­t y-nine on the ­hills and go to look for the one that wan­dered off  ? 13 And if he ­f inds it, tru­ly I tell you, he is hap­pi­er ­about that one s­ heep than ­about the nine­t y-nine that did not wan­der off. 14 In the same way your Fa­ther in heav­en is not will­ing that any of ­these lit­t le ones ­should per­ish.

Dealing With Sin in the Church 15 “If your broth­ er or sis­ter b sins, c go and ­ oint out their f­ault, just be­t ween the two of p you. If they lis­ten to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not lis­ten, take one or two oth­ers a­ long, so that ‘ev­ery mat­ter may be es­tab­lished by the tes­t i­mo­ny of two or ­t hree wit­ness­es.’  d 17 If they s­ till refuse to lis­ten, tell it to the c­ hurch; and if they refuse to lis­ten

even to the ­church, ­treat them as you ­would a pa­gan or a tax col­lec­tor. 18 “Tru­ ly I tell you, what­ev­er you bind on ­earth will be e ­bound in heav­en, and what­ev­er you ­loose on ­earth will be e ­loosed in heav­en. 19 “Again, tru­ly I tell you that if two of you on e­ arth a­ gree ­about any­thing they ask for, it will be done for them by my Fa­ther in heav­en. 20 For ­where two or ­t hree gath­er in my name, ­there am I with them.” The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant 21 Then

Pe­ter came to ­Jesus and a­sked, “Lord, how many ­times ­shall I for­g ive my broth­er or sis­ter who sins ­against me? Up to sev­en times?” 22 Jesus an­ s wered, “I tell you, not sev­en ­times, but sev­en­t y-sev­en times.   f 23 “There­fore, the king­dom of heav­en is like a king who want­ed to set­t le ac­counts with his ser ­vants. 24 As he be­gan the set­t le­ment, a man who owed him ten thou­sand bags of gold g was ­brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the mas­ter or­dered that he and his wife and his chil­dren and all that he had be sold to re­ pay the debt. 26 “At this the ser­vant fell on his k ­ nees be­ fore him. ‘Be pa­tient with me,’ he ­begged, ‘and I will pay back ev­ery­thing.’ 27 The ser­ vant’s mas­ter took pity on him, can­celed the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that ser­ v ant went out, he ­found one of his fel­low ser­vants who owed him a hun­dred sil­ver ­coins. h He ­grabbed him and be­gan to ­choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he de­mand­ed. 29 “His fel­low ser­v ant fell to his ­k nees and ­begged him, ‘Be pa­t ient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he re­f used. In­stead, he went off and had the man ­thrown into pris­on un­til he ­could pay the debt. 31 When the oth­er ser­vants saw what had hap­pened, they were out­raged and went and told ­their mas­ter ev­ery­thing that had hap­pened. 32 “Then the mas­ ter c­ alled the ser­vant in.

a 11  Some manuscripts include here the words of Luke 19:10.    b 15  The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman; also in verses 21 and 35.    c 15 Some manuscripts sins against you    d 16 Deut. 19:15    e 18  Or will have been    f 22 Or seventy times seven    g 24 Greek ten thousand talents; a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborer’s wages.    h 28 Greek a

hundred denarii; a denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer (see 20:2).   

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‘You wick­ed ser­vant,’ he said, ‘I can­celed all that debt of ­yours be­cause you ­begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mer­c y on your fel­ low ser­vant just as I had on you?’ 34 In an­ger his mas­ter hand­ed him over to the jail­ers to be tor­t ured, un­til he ­should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heav­ en­ly Fa­ther will ­treat each of you un­less you for­g ive your broth­er or sis­ter from your heart.”

PSALM 16:1 — 16:11 Psalm 16 A miktam a of David.

1 Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. 2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” 3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” 4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips. 5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. 8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful b one see decay.

11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

REWIND Exodus 1 – 3; Matthew 18:10 – 35; Psalm 16

GOD COMES TO THE RESCUE. Exodus 1 – 3 begins one of the most famous sagas of the ancient world, the Lord freeing his ­people from slavery in Egypt. Matthew 18 contains one of the Bible’s most tender pictures, a shepherd searching for a lost lamb until he happily brings it home. That same chapter offers you the Lord’s solid help for reconnecting with friends after a fight. And Psalm 16 is a classic song of looking to God for a hand. Pray those words and make them your own. D

day27 EXODUS 4:1 — 6:12 Signs for Moses

4

Mo­ses an­s wered, “What if they do not be­lieve me or lis­ten to me and say, ‘The Lord did not ap­pear to you’?” 2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A ­staff,” he re­plied. 3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Mo­ses ­threw it on the g­ round and it be­ came a s­ nake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and

a Title: Probably a literary or musical term    b 10 Or holy   

93 take it by the tail.” So Mo­ses ­reached out and took hold of the ­snake and it ­t urned back into a ­staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may be­lieve that the Lord, the God of ­their fa­thers — ​the God of Abra­ham, the God of ­Isaac and the God of Ja­cob — ​has ap­peared to you.” 6 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand in­ side your c­ loak.” So Mo­ses put his hand into his c­ loak, and when he took it out, the skin was lep­rous  a — ​it had be­come as ­white as snow. 7 “Now put it back into your ­c loak,” he said. So Mo­ses put his hand back into his ­c loak, and when he took it out, it was re­stored, like the rest of his flesh. 8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not be­ lieve you or pay at­ten­tion to the f­ irst sign, they may be­lieve the sec­ond. 9 But if they do not be­lieve ­t hese two s­ igns or lis­ten to you, take some wa­ter from the Nile and pour it on the dry g­ round. The wa­ter you take from the riv­er will be­come ­blood on the ground.” 10 Mo­ ses said to the Lord, “Par­don your ser­v ant, Lord. I have nev­er been el­o­quent, nei­ther in the past nor ­since you have spo­ ken to your ser­vant. I am slow of ­speech and tongue.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave hu­ man be­ings ­their ­mouths? Who ­makes them deaf or mute? Who ­gives them ­sight or ­makes them ­blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you ­speak and will ­teach you what to say.” 13 But Mo­ ses said, “Par­don your ser­v ant, Lord. ­Please send some­one else.” 14 Then the Lord’s an­g er ­burned ­a gainst Mo­ses and he said, “What ­about your broth­er, Aar­on the Le­v ite? I know he can s­ peak well. He is al­ready on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. 15 You ­shall s­ peak to him and put ­words in his ­mouth; I will help both of you ­speak and will ­teach you what to do. 16 He will s­ peak to the peo­ple for you, and it will be as if he were your ­mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this ­staff in your hand so you can per­form the s­igns with it.”

DAY 27

Moses Returns to Egypt 18 Then Mo­ses went back to Jeth­ro his fa­ ther-in-law and said to him, “Let me re­t urn to my own peo­ple in ­Egypt to see if any of them are ­still alive.” Jeth­ro said, “Go, and I wish you well.” 19 Now the Lord had said to Mo­ s es in Mid­i­an, “Go back to ­Egypt, for all ­those who want­ed to kill you are dead.” 20 So Mo­ses took his wife and sons, put them on a don­key and start­ed back to E ­ gypt. And he took the ­staff of God in his hand. 21 The Lord said to Mo­ ses, “When you re­t urn to ­Egypt, see that you per­form be­fore Phar­aoh all the won­ders I have giv­en you the pow­er to do. But I will hard­en his ­heart so that he will not let the peo­ple go. 22 Then say to Phar­aoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Is­ra­el is my first­born son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may wor­ship me.” But you re­f used to let him go; so I will kill your first­born son.’ ” 24 At a lodg­ing p ­ lace on the way, the Lord met Mo­ses  b and was ­about to kill him. 25 But Zip­po­rah took a ­f lint ­k nife, cut off her ­son’s fore­skin and t­ouched Mo­ses’ feet with it. c “Sure­ly you are a bride­groom of ­blood to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let him ­a lone. (At that time she said “bride­groom of b ­ lood,” re­ fer­ring to cir­cum­ci­sion.) 27 The Lord said to Aar­ on, “Go into the wil­der­ness to meet Mo­ses.” So he met Mo­ ses at the moun­tain of God and ­k issed him. 28 Then Mo­ s es told Aar­on ev­ery­thing the Lord had sent him to say, and also ­about all the ­signs he had com­mand­ed him to per­form. 29 Mo­s es and Aar­on ­brought to­g eth­er all the el­ders of the Is­ra­el ­ites, 30 and Aar­on told them ev­ery­thing the Lord had said to Mo­ses. He also per­formed the s­ igns be­fore the peo­ ple, 31 and they be­lieved. And when they ­heard that the Lord was con­cerned ­about them and had seen t­ heir mis­ery, they ­bowed down and wor­shiped.

Bricks Without Straw

5

Af­ter­w ard Mo­ses and Aar­on went to Phar­aoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Is­ra­el, says: ‘Let my peo­ple

a 6  The Hebrew word for leprous was used for various diseases affecting the skin.    b 24 Hebrew him    c 25  The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.   

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go, so that they may hold a fes­t i­val to me in the wil­der­ness.’  ” 2 Phar­aoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I ­should obey him and let Is­ra­el go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Is­ra­el go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the He­brews has met with us. Now let us take a t­ hree-day jour­ney into the wil­der­ness to of­fer sac­ri­f ic­es to the Lord our God, or he may s­ trike us with ­plagues or with the sword.” 4 But the king of ­Egypt said, “Mo­ ses and Aar­on, why are you tak­ing the peo­ple away from t­heir la­bor? Get back to your work!” 5 Then Phar­aoh said, “Look, the peo­ple of the land are now nu­mer­ous, and you are stop­ping them from work­ing.” 6 That same day Phar­aoh gave this or­der to the ­slave driv­ers and over­seers in ­charge of the peo­ple: 7 “You are no lon­ger to sup­ply the peo­ ple with ­straw for mak­ing ­bricks; let them go and gath­er ­their own ­straw. 8 But re­quire them to make the same num­ber of ­bricks as be­fore; ­don’t re­duce the quo­ta. They are lazy; that is why they are cry­ing out, ‘Let us go and sac­ri­ fice to our God.’ 9 Make the work hard­er for the peo­ple so that they keep work­ing and pay no at­ten­tion to lies.” 10 Then the ­slave driv­ers and the over­seers went out and said to the peo­ple, “This is what Phar­aoh says: ‘I will not give you any more ­straw. 11 Go and get your own ­straw wher­ev­ er you can find it, but your work will not be re­duced at all.’ ” 12 So the peo­ple scat­tered all over E ­ gypt to gath­er stub­ble to use for ­straw. 13 The ­slave driv­ers kept press­ing them, say­ ing, “Com­plete the work re­quired of you for each day, just as when you had s­ traw.” 14 And Phar­aoh’s ­slave driv­ers beat the Is­ra­el­ite over­ seers they had ap­point­ed, de­mand­ing, “Why ­haven’t you met your quo­ta of ­bricks yes­ter­day or to­day, as be­fore?” 15 Then the Is­ r a­el­ite over­seers went and ap­pealed to Phar­aoh: “Why have you treat­ ed your ser­vants this way? 16 Your ser­vants are giv­en no s­ traw, yet we are told, ‘Make ­bricks!’ Your ser­vants are be­ing beat­en, but the ­fault is with your own peo­ple.” 17 Phar­ aoh said, “Lazy, ­that’s what you are — ​lazy! That is why you keep say­ing, ‘Let a 3 Hebrew El-Shaddai    b 3 See note at 3:15.   

us go and sac­ri­f ice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. You will not be giv­en any ­straw, yet you must pro­duce your full quo­ta of bricks.” 19 The Is­ra­el­ite over­seers re­a l­ized they were in trou­ble when they were told, “You are not to re­duce the num­ber of ­bricks re­quired of you for each day.” 20 When they left Phar­aoh, they ­found Mo­ses and Aar­on wait­ing to meet them, 21 and they said, “May the Lord look on you and ­judge you! You have made us ob­ nox­ious to Phar­aoh and his of­f i­cials and have put a ­sword in ­their hand to kill us.” God Promises Deliverance 22 Mo­ ses re­turned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you ­brought trou­ble on this peo­ple? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever ­since I went to Phar­aoh to ­speak in your name, he has ­brought trou­ble on this peo­ple, and you have not res­cued your peo­ple at all.” Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Now you will see what I will do to Phar­aoh: Be­ cause of my ­mighty hand he will let them go; be­cause of my ­mighty hand he will ­drive them out of his coun­try.” 2 God also said to Mo­ses, “I am the Lord. 3 I ap­p eared to Abra­ham, to ­Isaac and to Ja­ cob as God Al­mighty, a but by my name the Lord b I did not make my­self fully ­k nown to them. 4 I also es­tab­lished my cov­enant with them to give them the land of Ca­naan, ­where they re­sid­ed as for­eign­ers. 5 More­over, I have ­heard the groan­ing of the Is­ra­el­ites, whom the Egyp­t ians are en­slav­ing, and I have re­mem­ bered my cov­enant. 6 “There­fore, say to the Is­ra­el­ites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will ­bring you out from un­der the yoke of the Egyp­tians. I will free you from be­ ing ­slaves to them, and I will re­deem you with an out­stretched arm and with m ­ ighty acts of judg­ment. 7 I will take you as my own peo­ple, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who b ­ rought you out from un­der the yoke of the Egyp­tians. 8 And I will ­bring you to the land I ­s wore with up­lift­ed hand to give to Abra­ham, to I­saac and to Ja­cob. I will give it to you as a pos­ses­ sion. I am the Lord.’ ” 9 Mo­ses re­p ort­ed this to the Is­ra­el ­ites, but

6

DAY 27

95 they did not lis­ten to him be­cause of ­their dis­ cour­age­ment and ­harsh la­bor. 10 Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, 11 “Go, tell Phar­aoh king of ­Egypt to let the Is­ra­el­ites go out of his coun­try.” 12 But Mo­ses said to the Lord, “If the Is­ra­ el­ites will not lis­ten to me, why ­would Phar­ aoh lis­ten to me, ­since I s­ peak with fal­ter­ing lips a ?”

MATTHEW 19:1 — 19:15 Divorce

The Little Children and Jesus 13 Then peo­p le ­b rought lit ­t le chil­d ren to J­esus for him to p ­ lace his h ­ ands on them and pray for them. But the dis­ci­ples re­buked them. 14 Jesus said, “Let the lit­t le chil­d ren come to me, and do not hin­der them, for the king­dom of heav­en be­longs to such as ­these.” 15 When he had ­placed his ­hands on them, he went on from there.

PSALM 17:1 — 17:5

19

When ­Jesus had fin­ished say­ing ­these ­t hings, he left Gal­i­lee and went into the re­g ion of Ju­dea to the oth­er side of the Jor­dan. 2 Large c­ rowds fol­lowed him, and he ­healed them there. 3 Some Phar­i­sees came to him to test him. They a­ sked, “Is it law­f ul for a man to di­vorce his wife for any and ev­ery rea­son?” 4 “Haven’t you read,” he re­plied, “that at the be­g in­ning the Cre­a­tor ‘made them male and fe­male,’  b 5 and said, ‘For this rea­son a man will ­leave his fa­t her and moth­er and be unit­ed to his wife, and the two will be­come one ­f lesh’ c ? 6 So they are no lon­ ger two, but one ­flesh. There­fore what God has ­joined to­geth­er, let no one sep­a ­rate.” 7 “Why then,” they ­asked, “did Mo­ses com­ mand that a man give his wife a cer­tif­i­cate of di­vorce and send her away?” 8 Jesus re­ plied, “Mo­ses per­m it­ted you to di­vorce your w ­ ives be­cause your ­hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the be­gin­ ning. 9 I tell you that any­one who di­vorc­es his wife, ex­cept for sex ­u­a l im­mo­ral ­i­t y, and mar­ ries an­oth­er wom­an com­mits adul­tery.” 10 The dis­c i­ples said to him, “If this is the sit­u­a­tion be­tween a hus­band and wife, it is bet­ter not to mar­r y.” 11 Jesus re­ plied, “Not ev­ery­one can ac­cept this word, but only ­those to whom it has been giv­en. 12 For there are eu­nuchs who were born that way, and there are eu­nuchs who have been made eu­nuchs by others — ​and there are those who choose to live like eu­nuchs for the sake of the king­dom of heav­en. The one who can ac­cept this ­should ac­cept it.”

Psalm 17 A prayer of David. 1 Hear

me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer — ​ it does not rise from deceitful lips. 2 Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right. 3 Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed. 4 Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded. 5 My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled.

REWIND Exodus 4:1 – 6:12; Matthew 19:1 – 15; Psalm 17:1 – 5

FIGHT FOR WHAT’S RIGHT. Moses has to toughen up when the Lord tells him in Exodus 4 – 6 how to confront the powerful king of Egypt and demand freedom for the Hebrew slaves. In Matthew 19 ­Jesus commands his followers to fight to keep husbands and wives united and describes God’s stance on divorce. And David pens a rallying cry for

a 12 Hebrew I am uncircumcised of lips; also in verse 30    b 4 Gen. 1:27    c 5 Gen. 2:24   

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justice in Psalm 17, asking God to vindicate him because he’s kept his heart pure. D

day28 EXODUS 6:13 — 8:32

Family Record of Moses and Aaron 13 Now the Lord ­spoke to Mo­ses and Aar­ on ­about the Is­ra­el­ites and Phar­aoh king of ­Egypt, and he com­mand­ed them to ­bring the Is­ra­el­ites out of Egypt.

21 The sons of Iz­har were Ko­rah, Ne­ pheg and Zik­ri. 22 The sons of Uz­ zi­el were Mish­a­el, El­za­phan and Sith­ri. 23 Aar­on mar ­r ied Elish­e­ba, daugh­ter of Am­m in­a­dab and sis­ter of Nah­shon, and she bore him Na­d ab and Abi­hu, ­El­e­a­zar and Ith­a­mar. 24 The sons of Ko­r ah were As­sir, El­ ka­nah and Abi­a ­saph. ­T hese were the Ko­rah­ite clans. 25 El­e­a­z ar son of Aar­on mar­r ied one of the daugh­ters of Pu­ti­el, and she bore him Phin­e­has.

These were the ­heads of the Le­v ite fam­i­lies, clan by clan. 26 It was this Aar­on and Mo­ses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the Is­ra­el­ites out of ­Egypt by ­their di­v i­sions.” 27 They were the ones who ­spoke to Phar­aoh king of ­Egypt ­about bring­ ing the Is­ra­el­ites out of ­Egypt — ​this same Mo­ses and Aar­on.

14 These were the ­heads of ­t heir fam­i ­l ies a:

Aaron to Speak for Moses

The sons of Reu­ben the first­born son of Is­ra­el were Ha­nok and Pal­lu, Hez­ron and Kar­mi. T ­ hese were the c­ lans of Reu­ ben. 15 The sons of Sim­ e­on were Je­mu­el, Ja­m in, Ohad, Ja­k in, Zo­har and Sha­u l the son of a Ca­naan­ite wom­a n. ­T hese were the ­clans of Sim­e­on. 16 These were the n ­ ames of the sons of Levi ac­cord­ing to t­ heir rec­ords: Ger­ shon, Ko­hath and Me­ra­ri. Levi ­lived 137 years. 17 The sons of Ger­shon, by ­c lans, were Lib­ni and Shim­ei. 18 The sons of Ko­hath were Am­r am, Iz­har, He­bron and Uz­zi­el. Ko­hath ­lived 133 years. 19 The sons of Me­ra­r i were Mah­l i and Mu­shi. These were the ­c lans of Levi ac­cord­ ing to ­their rec­ords. 20 Am ­r am mar ­r ied his fa­t her’s sis­ter Joch­e­bed, who bore him Aar­on and Mo­ ses. Am­ram ­lived 137 years.

28 Now when the Lord ­spoke to Mo­ses in ­ gypt, 29 he said to him, “I am the Lord. Tell E Phar­aoh king of ­Egypt ev­ery­thing I tell you.” 30 But Mo­ ses said to the Lord, “Since I ­speak with fal­ter­ing lips, why ­would Phar­aoh lis­ten to me?” Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, “See, I have made you like God to Phar­aoh, and your broth­er Aar­on will be your proph­et. 2 You are to say ev­ery­thing I com­mand you, and your broth­er Aar­on is to tell Phar­aoh to let the Is­ra­el­ites go out of his coun­try. 3 But I will hard­en Phar­aoh’s ­heart, and ­though I mul­ti­ ply my s­ igns and won­ders in ­Egypt, 4 he will not lis­ten to you. Then I will lay my hand on ­Egypt and with m ­ ighty acts of judg­ment I will ­bring out my di­v i­sions, my peo­ple the Is­ra­el­ ites. 5 And the Egyp­tians will know that I am the Lord when I ­stretch out my hand ­against ­Egypt and ­bring the Is­ra­el­ites out of it.” 6 Mo­ ses and Aar­on did just as the Lord com­mand­ed them. 7 Mo­ses was ­eighty ­years old and Aar­on e­ ighty-­three when they s­ poke to Phar­aoh.

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a 14  The Hebrew for families here and in verse 25 refers to units larger than clans.   

DAY 28

97 Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake 8 The

Lord said to Mo­ses and Aar­on, 9 “When Phar­aoh says to you, ‘Per­form a mir­ a­cle,’ then say to Aar­on, ‘Take your ­staff and ­throw it down be­fore Phar­aoh,’ and it will be­ come a snake.” 10 So Mo­ ses and Aar­on went to Phar­aoh and did just as the Lord com­mand­ed. Aar­on ­t hrew his ­staff down in ­f ront of Phar­aoh and his of­f i­c ials, and it be­came a ­snake. 11 Phar­ aoh then sum­moned wise men and sor­cer­ ers, and the Egyp­tian ma­g i­cians also did the same ­t hings by ­t heir se­c ret arts: 12 Each one ­threw down his ­staff and it be­c ame a ­snake. But Aar­on’s s­ taff swal­lowed up ­t heir ­staffs.13 Yet Phar­aoh’s ­heart be­came hard and he ­would not lis­ten to them, just as the Lord had said. The Plague of Blood 14 Then the Lord said to Mo­ ses, “Phar­ aoh’s ­heart is un­y ield­ing; he re­f us­es to let the peo­ple go. 15 Go to Phar­aoh in the morn­ing as he goes out to the riv­er. Con­front him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the ­staff that was ­changed into a ­snake. 16 Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the He­ brews, has sent me to say to you: Let my peo­ ple go, so that they may wor­ship me in the wil­der­ness. But un­til now you have not lis­ tened. 17 This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the ­staff that is in my hand I will ­strike the wa­ter of the Nile, and it will be ­changed into ­blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the riv­er will s­ tink; the Egyp­tians will not be able to ­drink its wa­ter.’  ” 19 The Lord said to Mo­ ses, “Tell Aar­on, ‘Take your ­staff and ­stretch out your hand over the wa­ters of E ­ gypt — ​over the ­streams and ca­nals, over the ­ponds and all the res­er­ voirs — ​and they will turn to ­blood.’ ­Blood will be ev­ery­where in ­Egypt, even in vessels a of wood and ­stone.” 20 Mo­ ses and Aar­on did just as the Lord had com­mand­ed. He ­raised his s­taff in the pres­ence of Phar­aoh and his of­fi­cials and ­struck the wa­ter of the Nile, and all the wa­ ter was ­changed into ­blood. 21 The fish in the

Nile died, and the riv­er s­ melled so bad that the Egyp­tians c­ ould not d ­ rink its wa­ter. ­Blood was ev­ery­where in Egypt. 22 But the Egyp­t ian ma­g i­c ians did the same ­things by t­heir se­cret arts, and Phar­aoh’s ­heart be­c ame hard; he w ­ ould not lis­ten to Mo­ses and Aar­on, just as the Lord had said. 23 In­stead, he ­t urned and went into his pal­ace, and did not take even this to ­heart. 24 And all the Egyp­tians dug ­a long the Nile to get drink­ing wa­ter, be­cause they c­ ould not ­drink the wa­ter of the riv­er. The Plague of Frogs 25 Sev­en

days ­passed af­ter the Lord ­struck the Nile. 1 Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Go to Phar­aoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my peo­ple go, so that they may wor­ship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send a p ­ lague of f­rogs on your ­whole coun­try. 3 The Nile will teem with ­frogs. They will come up into your pal­ace and your bed­room and onto your bed, into the hous­es of your of­f i­cials and on your peo­ple, and into your ov­ens and knead­ing ­troughs. 4 The ­f rogs will come up on you and your peo­ ple and all your of­f i­cials.’ ” 5 Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Tell Aar­ on, ‘Stretch out your hand with your ­staff over the ­streams and ca­nals and ­ponds, and make ­frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’ ” 6 So Aar­on ­stretched out his hand over the wa­ters of ­Egypt, and the ­frogs came up and cov­ered the land. 7 But the ma­gi­cians did the same t­hings by ­their se­c ret arts; they also made ­frogs come up on the land of Egypt. 8 Phar­a oh sum­moned Mo­s es and Aar­on and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the ­frogs away from me and my peo­ple, and I will let your peo­ple go to of­fer sac­ri­f ic­es to the Lord.” 9 Mo­ses said to Phar­aoh, “I l­eave to you the hon­or of set­ting the time for me to pray for you and your of­fi­c ials and your peo­ple that you and your hous­es may be rid of the f­rogs, ex­cept for ­those that re­main in the Nile.” 10 “To­mor­row,” Phar­aoh said. Mo­ses re­plied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know t­ here is no one like the Lord our God. 11 The ­frogs will ­leave you and your

8

b

a 19 Or even on their idols    b In Hebrew texts 8:1-4 is numbered 7:26-29, and 8:5-32 is numbered 8:1-28.   

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hous­es, your of­f i­c ials and your peo­ple; they will re­main only in the Nile.” 12 Af­ ter Mo­ses and Aar­on left Phar­aoh, Mo­ses ­cried out to the Lord ­about the f­rogs he had b ­ rought on Phar­aoh.13 And the Lord did what Mo­ses ­asked. The ­frogs died in the hous­es, in the court­yards and in the ­fields. 14 They were ­ piled into ­heaps, and the land ­reeked of them. 15 But when Phar­aoh saw that ­there was re­lief, he hard­ened his ­heart and ­would not lis­ten to Mo­ses and Aar­on, just as the Lord had said. The Plague of Gnats 16 Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Tell Aar­ on, ‘Stretch out your ­staff and ­strike the dust of the ­ground,’ and through­out the land of ­Egypt the dust will be­come ­gnats.” 17 They did this, and when Aar­on ­stretched out his hand with the ­staff and ­struck the dust of the ­g round, ­g nats came on peo­ple and an­i­mals. All the dust through­out the land of ­Egypt be­came ­gnats. 18 But when the ma­gi­cians ­tried to pro­ duce ­gnats by ­their se­cret arts, they ­could not. Since the ­gnats were on peo­ple and an­i­mals ev­ery ­where, 19 the ma­gi­cians said to Phar­aoh, “This is the fin­ger of God.” But Phar­aoh’s ­heart was hard and he ­would not lis­ten, just as the Lord had said.

The Plague of Flies 20 Then

the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Get up ear­ly in the morn­ing and con­front Phar­aoh as he goes to the riv­er and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my peo­ple go, so that they may wor­ship me. 21 If you do not let my peo­ple go, I will send ­swarms of ­f lies on you and your of­f i­cials, on your peo­ple and into your hous­es. The hous­es of the Egyp­tians will be full of ­f lies; even the ­g round will be cov­ ered with them. 22 “ ‘But on that day I will deal dif­fer­ent­ly with the land of Go­shen, ­where my peo­ple live; no s­ warms of ­f lies will be ­there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23 I will make a dis­tinc­tion a be­t ween my peo­ple and your peo­ple. This sign will oc­cur to­mor­row.’  ”

24 And the Lord did this. ­ Dense ­s warms of ­f lies ­poured into Phar­aoh’s pal­ace and into the hous­es of his of­f i­cials; through­out ­Egypt the land was ru­ined by the flies. 25 Then Phar­ aoh sum­moned Mo­ses and Aar­on and said, “Go, sac­r i­f ice to your God here in the land.” 26 But Mo­ s es said, “That ­would not be ­r ight. The sac­r i­f ic­es we of­fer the Lord our God ­would be de­test­able to the Egyp­tians. And if we of­fer sac­ri­f ic­es that are de­test­able in ­their eyes, will they not s­ tone us? 27 We must take a ­t hree-day jour­ney into the wil­der­ness to of­fer sac­ri­f ic­es to the Lord our God, as he com­mands us.” 28 Phar­aoh said, “I will let you go to of­fer sac­r i­f ic­es to the Lord your God in the wil­ der­ness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.” 29 Mo­ses an­s wered, “As soon as I ­leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and to­mor­row the ­f lies will l­eave Phar­aoh and his of­f i­cials and his peo­ple. Only let Phar­aoh be sure that he does not act de­ceit­ful­ly ­again by not let­ting the peo­ple go to of­fer sac­ri­f ic­es to the Lord.” 30 Then Mo­ses left Phar­aoh and ­prayed to the Lord, 31 and the Lord did what Mo­ses ­asked. The ­f lies left Phar­aoh and his of­f i­cials and his peo­ple; not a fly re­mained. 32 But this time also Phar­aoh hard­ened his ­heart and ­would not let the peo­ple go.

MATTHEW 19:16 — 19:30 The Rich and the Kingdom of God 16 Just then a man came up to ­ Jesus and a­ sked, “Teach­er, what good t­hing must I do to get eter­nal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me ­about what is good?” ­Jesus re­plied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to en­ter life, keep the com­mand­ ments.” 18 “Which ones?” he in­quired. Jesus re­plied, “ ‘You ­shall not mur­der, you ­shall not com­mit adul­tery, you ­shall not s­ teal, you ­shall not give ­false tes­t i­mo­ny, 19 hon­ or your fa­ther and moth­er,’ b and ‘love your neigh­bor as your­self.’  c  ”

a 23  Septuagint and Vulgate; Hebrew will put a deliverance    b 19 Exodus 20:12-16; Deut. 5:16-20    c 19 Lev. 19:18   

DAY 28

99 20 “All ­ t hese I have kept,” the ­young man said. “What do I ­still lack?” 21 Jesus an­ s wered, “If you want to be per­ fect, go, sell your pos­ses­sions and give to the poor, and you will have trea­sure in heav­en. Then come, fol­low me.” 22 When the ­young man ­heard this, he went away sad, be­cause he had ­great wealth. 23 Then J­ esus said to his dis­c i­ples, “Tru­ly I tell you, it is hard for some­one who is rich to en­ter the king­dom of heav­en. 24 Again I tell you, it is eas­i­er for a cam­el to go ­through the eye of a nee­d le than for some­one who is rich to en­ter the king­dom of God.” 25 When the dis­c i­ples ­heard this, they were great­ly as­ton­ished and ­asked, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus l­ ooked at them and said, “With man this is im­pos­si­ble, but with God all ­things are pos­si­ble.” 27 Pe­ter an­s wered him, “We have left ev­ery­ thing to fol­low you! What then will ­there be for us?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Tru­ly I tell you, at the re­new­a l of all ­things, when the Son of Man sits on his glo­ri­ous ­throne, you who have fol­ lowed me will also sit on t­ welve ­thrones, judg­ ing the ­t welve ­tribes of Is­ra­el. 29 And ev­ery­one who has left hous­es or broth­ers or sis­ters or fa­ther or moth­er or wife a or chil­dren or ­f ields for my sake will re­ceive a hun­d red ­times as much and will in­her­it eter­nal life. 30 But many who are ­f irst will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed. 19 By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; 20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.

REWIND Exodus 6:13 – 8:32; Matthew 19:16 – 30; Proverbs 3:11 – 20

GET REAL RICHES. In Exodus 6 – 8 the Lord sends plagues of blood, frogs, gnats, and flies to force the Egyptians to free his enslaved p­ eople. Then, in Matthew 19 ­Jesus helps a rich man understand true wealth, telling him to rid himself of things he’s made more important than God. And Proverbs 3 argues that wisdom is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. You can’t get real riches in a store. You get them from God. D

PROVERBS 3:11 — 3:20 11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, 12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. b 13 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. a 29  Some manuscripts do not have or wife.    b 12  Hebrew; Septuagint loves, / and he chastens everyone he

accepts as his child   

DAY 29

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day29 EXODUS 9:1 — 10:29 The Plague on Livestock

9

Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Go to Phar­aoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the He­brews, says: “Let my peo­ple go, so that they may wor­ship me.” 2 If you refuse to let them go and con­tin­ ue to hold them back, 3 the hand of the Lord will b ­ ring a ter­r i­ble ­plague on your live­stock in the f­ield — ​on your hors­es, don­keys and cam­els and on your cat­tle, ­sheep and ­goats. 4 But the Lord will make a dis­ t inc­tion be­ tween the live­stock of Is­ra­el and that of ­Egypt, so that no an­i­mal be­long­ing to the Is­ ra­el­ites will die.’  ” 5 The Lord set a time and said, “To­mor­ row the Lord will do this in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did it: All the live­stock of the Egyp­tians died, but not one an­i­mal be­long ­i ng to the Is­r a­el ­ites died. 7 Phar­aoh in­ves­ti­gat­ed and ­found that not even one of the an­i­mals of the Is­ra­el­ites had died. Yet his ­heart was un­y ield­ing and he ­would not let the peo­ple go. The Plague of Boils 8 Then the Lord said to Mo­ ses and Aar­ on, “Take hand­f uls of soot from a fur­nace and have Mo­ses toss it into the air in the pres­ence of Phar­aoh. 9 It will be­come fine dust over the ­whole land of ­Egypt, and fes­ter­ing ­boils will ­break out on peo­ple and an­i­mals through­out the land.” 10 So they took soot from a fur­ nace and ­stood be­fore Phar­aoh. Mo­ses ­tossed it into the air, and fes­ter­ing b ­ oils b ­ roke out on peo­ ple and an­i­mals. 11 The ma­g i­cians ­could not ­stand be­fore Mo­ses be­cause of the ­boils that were on them and on all the Egyp­tians. 12 But the Lord hard­ened Phar­aoh’s ­heart and he ­would not lis­ten to Mo­ses and Aar­on, just as the Lord had said to Mo­ses.

a 16 Or have spared you   

The Plague of Hail 13 Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Get up ear­ly in the morn­ing, con­front Phar­aoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the He­brews, says: Let my peo­ple go, so that they may wor­ship me, 14 or this time I will send the full f­orce of my p ­ lagues ­against you and ­against your of­f i­cials and your peo­ ple, so you may know that ­there is no one like me in all the ­earth. 15 For by now I ­could have ­stretched out my hand and ­struck you and your peo­ple with a p ­ lague that w ­ ould have ­w iped you off the ­earth. 16 But I have r­ aised you up a for this very pur­pose, that I m ­ ight show you my pow­er and that my name ­might be pro­claimed in all the ­earth. 17 You ­still set your­self ­against my peo­ple and will not let them go. 18 There­fore, at this time to­mor­row I will send the ­worst hail­storm that has ever fall­en on E ­ gypt, from the day it was found­ed till now. 19 Give an or­der now to ­bring your live­stock and ev­ery­thing you have in the ­f ield to a p ­ lace of shel­ter, be­cause the hail will fall on ev­ery per­son and an­i­mal that has not been ­brought in and is ­still out in the ­f ield, and they will die.’ ” 20 Those of­ f i­c ials of Phar­aoh who f­eared the word of the Lord hur­r ied to ­bring ­t heir ­slaves and ­t heir live­stock in­side. 21 But ­t hose who ig­nored the word of the Lord left t­ heir ­slaves and live­stock in the field. 22 Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Stretch out your hand to­w ard the sky so that hail will fall all over E ­ gypt — ​on peo­ple and an­i­ mals and on ev­ery­thing grow­ing in the ­f ields of ­Egypt.” 23 When Mo­ses s­ tretched out his ­staff to­ward the sky, the Lord sent thun­der and hail, and light­n ing f­ lashed down to the ­ground. So the Lord ­rained hail on the land of ­Egypt; 24 hail fell and light­n ing f­lashed back and f­orth. It was the w ­ orst s­ torm in all the land of ­Egypt s­ ince it had be­come a na­ tion. 25 Through­out ­Egypt hail ­struck ev­ery­ thing in the ­f ields — ​both peo­ple and an­i­mals; it beat down ev­ery­thing grow­ing in the ­f ields and ­stripped ev­ery tree. 26 The only ­place it did not hail was the land of Go­shen, ­where the Is­ra­el­ites were. 27 Then Phar­ aoh sum­moned Mo­ses and

101 Aar­on. “This time I have ­sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the ­right, and I and my peo­ple are in the w ­ rong. 28 Pray to the Lord, for we have had ­enough thun­der and hail. I will let you go; you ­don’t have to stay any ­lon­ger.” 29 Mo­ses re­plied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will s­ pread out my h ­ ands in ­prayer to the Lord. The thun­der will stop and ­there will be no more hail, so you may know that the ­earth is the Lord’s. 30 But I know that you and your of­f i­cials ­still do not fear the Lord God.” 31 (The f lax and bar­ ley were de­stroyed, ­since the bar­ley had head­ed and the flax was in ­bloom. 32 The ­wheat and ­spelt, how­e v­er, were not de­stroyed, be­cause they rip­en lat­er.) 33 Then Mo­s es left Phar­aoh and went out of the city. He ­spread out his ­hands to­ward the Lord; the thun­der and hail ­stopped, and the rain no lon­ger ­poured down on the land. 34 When Phar­aoh saw that the rain and hail and thun­der had ­stopped, he ­sinned ­again: He and his of­f i­cials hard­ened ­t heir ­hearts. 35 So Phar­aoh’s ­heart was hard and he ­would not let the Is­ra­el­ites go, just as the Lord had said ­through Mo­ses. The Plague of Locusts

10

Then the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Go to Phar­aoh, for I have hard­ened his ­heart and the ­hearts of his of­f i­cials so that I may per­form ­these ­signs of mine ­among them 2 that you may tell your chil­d ren and grand­ chil­d ren how I ­dealt harsh­ly with the Egyp­ tians and how I per­formed my s­igns a­ mong them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.” 3 So Mo­ ses and Aar­on went to Phar­aoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the He­brews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to hum­ble your­self be­fore me? Let my peo­ple go, so that they may wor­ship me. 4 If you refuse to let them go, I will ­bring lo­custs into your coun­try to­mor­row. 5 They will cov­ er the face of the g­ round so that it can­not be seen. They will de­vour what lit­tle you have left af­ter the hail, in­c lud­ing ev­ery tree that is grow­ing in your ­f ields. 6 They will fill your hous­es and t­ hose of all your of­f i­cials and all a 10 Or Be careful, trouble is in store for you!   

DAY 29

the Egyp­tians  — ​some­thing nei­ther your par­ ents nor your an­ces­tors have ever seen from the day they set­tled in this land till now.’ ” Then Mo­ses ­t urned and left Phar­aoh. 7 Phar­aoh’s of­f i­c ials said to him, “How long will this man be a ­snare to us? Let the peo­ple go, so that they may wor­ship the Lord ­their God. Do you not yet re­a l­ize that ­Egypt is ru­ ined?” 8 Then Mo­ s es and Aar­on were b ­ rought back to Phar­aoh. “Go, wor­ship the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be go­ing.” 9 Mo­ ses an­swered, “We will go with our ­young and our old, with our sons and our daugh­ters, and with our ­flocks and ­herds, be­cause we are to cel­e­brate a fes­ti­val to the Lord.” 10 Phar­aoh said, “The Lord be with you — ​ if I let you go, ­a long with your wom­en and chil­dren! Clear­ly you are bent on evil. a 11 No! Have only the men go and wor­ship the Lord, ­since ­that’s what you have been ask­ing for.” Then Mo­ses and Aar­on were driv­en out of Phar­aoh’s pres­ence. 12 And the Lord said to Mo­ ses, “Stretch out your hand over E ­ gypt so that lo­custs ­s warm over the land and de­vour ev­ery­thing grow­ing in the ­f ields, ev­ery­thing left by the hail.” 13 So Mo­ s es ­stretched out his ­staff over ­Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow ­across the land all that day and all that ­night. By morn­ing the wind had ­brought the lo­custs; 14 they in­vad­ed all E ­ gypt and set­t led down in ev­ery area of the coun­try in ­g reat num­bers. Nev­er be­fore had ­there been such a ­plague of lo­custs, nor will ­there ever be ­again. 15 They cov­ered all the ­ground un­til it was ­black. They de­voured all that was left af­ter the hail — ​ev­ ery­thing grow­ing in the f­ ields and the f­ ruit on the ­trees. Noth­ing ­green re­mained on tree or ­plant in all the land of Egypt. 16 Phar­aoh quick ­ly sum ­moned Mo­s es and Aar­on and said, “I have ­sinned a­ gainst the Lord your God and ­against you. 17 Now for­ give my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this dead­ly ­plague away from me.”

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18 Mo­ ses then left Phar­aoh and ­prayed to the Lord. 19 And the Lord ­changed the wind to a very s­ trong west wind, ­which c­ aught up the lo­c usts and car­ried them into the Red Sea. a Not a lo­cust was left any­where in ­Egypt. 20 But the Lord hard­ened Phar­aoh’s ­heart, and he ­would not let the Is­ra­el­ites go.

The Plague of Darkness 21 Then

the Lord said to Mo­ses, “Stretch out your hand to­ward the sky so that dark­ ness ­spreads over ­Egypt — ​dark­ness that can be felt.” 22 So Mo­ses ­stretched out his hand to­w ard the sky, and to­tal dark­ness cov­ered all ­Egypt for ­t hree days. 23 No one ­could see any­one else or move ­about for ­three days. Yet all the Is­ra­el­ites had l­ight in the plac­es ­where they lived. 24 Then Phar­ aoh sum­moned Mo­ses and said, “Go, wor­ship the Lord. Even your wom­en and chil­d ren may go with you; only ­leave your ­f locks and ­herds be­hind.” 25 But Mo­ ses said, “You must al­low us to have sac­ri­f ic­es and ­burnt of­fer­ings to pre­sent to the Lord our God. 26 Our live­stock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left be­ hind. We have to use some of them in wor­ ship­ing the Lord our God, and un­til we get ­there we will not know what we are to use to wor­ship the Lord.” 27 But the Lord hard­ened Phar­aoh’s ­heart, and he was not will­ing to let them go. 28 Phar­ aoh said to Mo­ses, “Get out of my ­sight! Make sure you do not ap­pear be­fore me ­again! The day you see my face you will die.” 29 “Just as you say,” Mo­ ses re­plied. “I will nev­er ap­pear be­fore you again.”

MATTHEW 20:1 — 20:19 The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20

“For the king­dom of heav­en is like a land­own­er who went out ear­ly in the morn­ing to hire work­ers for his vine­yard. 2 He ­agreed to pay them a de­nar­i­us b for the day and sent them into his vine­yard. 3 “About nine in the morn­ing he went out and saw oth­ers stand­ing in the mar­ket­place

do­ing noth­ing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vine­yard, and I will pay you what­ev­er is ­right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out a­ gain ­about noon and ­about ­three in the af­ter­noon and did the same ­thing. 6 About five in the af­ter­noon he went out and ­found ­still oth­ers stand­ing ­a round. He ­asked them, ‘Why have you been stand­ing here all day long do­ing noth­ing?’ 7 “ ‘Be­ cause no one has ­h ired us,’ they an­ swered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vine­yard.’ 8 “When eve­ n ing came, the own­er of the vine­yard said to his fore­man, ‘Call the work­ ers and pay them ­their wag­es, be­gin­ning with the last ones ­hired and go­ing on to the first.’ 9 “The work­ers who were ­h ired a ­ bout five in the af­ter­noon came and each re­ceived a de­nar­i­us. 10 So when t­hose came who were ­hired f­ irst, they ex­pect­ed to re­ceive more. But each one of them also re­ceived a de­nar­i­us. 11 When they re­ceived it, they be­gan to grum­ ble ­against the land­own­er. 12 ‘These who were ­h ired last ­worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them ­equal to us who have ­borne the bur­den of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13 “But he an­s wered one of them, ‘I am not be­i ng un­fair to you, friend. ­Didn’t you ­a gree to work for a de­nar­i­us? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was ­h ired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the ­right to do what I want with my own mon­e y? Or are you en­v i­o us be­c ause I am gen­er­ous?’ 16 “So the last will be ­f irst, and the ­f irst will be last.” Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time 17 Now

J­ esus was go­ing up to Je­r u­sa­lem. On the way, he took the ­Twelve ­aside and said to them, 18 “We are go­ing up to Je­r u­sa­lem, and the Son of Man will be de­liv­ered over to the ­chief ­priests and the teach­ers of the law. They will con­demn him to ­death 19 and will hand him over to the Gen­tiles to be ­mocked and ­f logged and cru­c i­fied. On the ­third day he will be ­raised to life!”

a 19  Or the Sea of Reeds    b 2  A denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer.   

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PSALM 17:6 — 17:12 6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. 7 Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. 8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings 9 from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. 10 They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. 11 They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground. 12 They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a fierce lion crouching in cover.

REWIND Exodus 9 – 10; Matthew 20:1 – 19; Psalm 17:6 – 12

GOD DOES WHAT’S FAIR. The plagues God sends on Egypt in Exodus 9 – 10 look like cruel and unusual punishment, but they’re divine payback for Egypt’s harsh treatment of God’s ­people. ­Jesus offers another look at fairness in Matthew 20, telling a story of workers all getting the same wage. And in Psalm 17 David pleads for help against fierce enemies. Even when God acts in ways you don’t understand, you can always count on him to be impartial and just. D

DAY 30

day30 EXODUS 11:1 — 12:51

The Plague on the Firstborn

11

Now the Lord had said to Mo­ses, “I will b ­ ring one more ­plague on Phar­ aoh and on ­Egypt. Af­ter that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will ­drive you out com­plete­ly. 2 Tell the peo­ple that men and wom­en ­a like are to ask ­their neigh­bors for ar­ti­cles of sil­ver and gold.” 3 (The Lord made the Egyp­tians fa­vor­ably dis­posed to­ward the peo­ple, and Mo­ses him­self was high­ly re­gard­ ed in ­Egypt by Phar­aoh’s of­f i­cials and by the peo­ple.) 4 So Mo­ ses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About mid­n ight I will go through­out ­Egypt. 5 Ev­ery first­born son in ­Egypt will die, from the first­born son of Phar­aoh, who sits on the ­throne, to the first­born son of the fe­ male ­slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the first­born of the cat­t le as well. 6 There will be loud wail­ing through­out ­Egypt  — ​­worse than ­there has ever been or ever will be ­again. 7 But ­among the Is­ra­el­ites not a dog will bark at any per­son or an­i­mal.’ Then you will know that the Lord ­makes a dis­tinc­tion be­t ween ­Egypt and Is­ra­el. 8 All ­these of­f i­c ials of ­yours will come to me, bow­ing down be­fore me and say­ ing, ‘Go, you and all the peo­ple who fol­low you!’ Af­ter that I will ­leave.” Then Mo­ses, hot with an­ger, left Phar­aoh. 9 The Lord had said to Mo­ ses, “Phar­aoh will refuse to lis­ten to you — ​so that my won­ ders may be mul­ti­plied in E ­ gypt.” 10 Mo­ses and Aar­on per­formed all ­these won­ders ­be­fore Phar­aoh, but the Lord hard­ened Phar­aoh’s ­heart, and he ­would not let the Is­ra­el­ites go out of his coun­try. The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

12

The Lord said to Mo­ses and Aar­on in ­Egypt, 2 “This m ­ onth is to be for you the f­ irst m ­ onth, the f­ irst ­month of your year. 3 Tell the ­whole com­mu­ni­t y of Is­ra­el that

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on the ­tenth day of this m ­ onth each man is to take a lamb a for his fam­i­ly, one for each house­hold. 4 If any house­hold is too s­ mall for a ­whole lamb, they must ­share one with ­their near­est neigh­bor, hav ­ing tak­en into ac­count the num­ber of peo­ple ­there are. You are to de­ ter­mine the ­amount of lamb need­ed in ac­cor­ dance with what each per­son will eat. 5 The an­i­mals you ­c hoose must be year-old ­males with­out de­fect, and you may take them from the ­sheep or the ­goats. 6 Take care of them un­t il the four­teenth day of the m ­ onth, when all the mem­bers of the com­mu­n i­t y of Is­ra­el must slaugh­ter them at twi­light. 7 Then they are to take some of the ­blood and put it on the ­sides and tops of the door­frames of the hous­es ­where they eat the ­lambs. 8 That same ­night they are to eat the meat roast­ed over the fire, ­a long with bit­ter ­herbs, and ­bread made with­out ­yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or ­boiled in wa­ter, but ­roast it over a fire — ​w ith the head, legs and in­ter­nal or­gans. 10 Do not ­leave any of it till morn­ing; if some is left till morn­ing, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your ­cloak ­t ucked into your belt, your san­dals on your feet and your ­staff in your hand. Eat it in ­haste; it is the Lord’s Pass­over. 12 “On that same ­n ight I will pass ­t hrough ­Egypt and ­strike down ev­ery first­b orn of both peo­ple and an­i­mals, and I will b ­ ring judg­ment on all the gods of ­Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The ­blood will be a sign for you on the hous­es w ­ here you are, and when I see the ­blood, I will pass over you. No de­struc­tive ­plague will ­touch you when I ­strike Egypt. 14 “This is a day you are to com­mem­o­rate; for the gen­er­a­tions to come you ­shall cel­e­brate it as a fes­ti­val to the Lord  — ​a last­ing or­d i­ nance. 15 For sev­en days you are to eat ­bread made with­out ­yeast. On the ­f irst day re­move the ­yeast from your hous­es, for who­ev­er eats any­thing with y­ east in it from the ­f irst day ­through the sev­enth must be cut off from Is­ ra­el. 16 On the ­f irst day hold a sa­cred as­sem­bly, and an­oth­er one on the sev­enth day. Do no work at all on ­these days, ex­cept to pre­pare food for ev­ery­one to eat; that is all you may do. 17 “Cel­e­brate the Fes­t i­v al of Un ­l eav­e ned

­ read, be­cause it was on this very day that I B ­brought your di­v i­sions out of ­Egypt. Cel­e­ brate this day as a last­ing or­d i­nance for the gen­er­a­tions to come. 18 In the ­f irst ­month you are to eat b ­ read made with­out ­yeast, from the eve­n ing of the four­teenth day un­til the eve­ ning of the twen­t y-­f irst day. 19 For sev­en days no ­yeast is to be f­ound in your hous­es. And any­one, wheth­er for­eign­er or na­t ive-born, who eats any­thing with y­ east in it must be cut off from the com­mu­ni­t y of Is­ra­el. 20 Eat noth­ ing made with ­yeast. Wher­ev­er you live, you must eat un­leav­ened bread.” 21 Then Mo­ses sum­moned all the el­ders of Is­ra­el and said to them, “Go at once and se­lect the an­i­mals for your fam­i­lies and slaugh­ter the Pass­over lamb. 22 Take a ­bunch of hys­sop, dip it into the ­blood in the ba­sin and put some of the ­blood on the top and on both s­ ides of the door­frame. None of you ­shall go out of the door of your ­house un­til morn­ing. 23 When the Lord goes ­through the land to ­strike down the Egyp­tians, he will see the ­blood on the top and s­ides of the door­frame and will pass over that door­way, and he will not per­mit the de­stroy­er to en­ter your hous­es and ­strike you down. 24 “Obey ­ t hese in­struc­tions as a last­ing or­ d i­ n ance for you and your de­ s cen­ d ants. 25 When you en­ter the land that the Lord will give you as he prom­ised, ob­serve this cer­e­mo­ ny. 26 And when your chil­dren ask you, ‘What does this cer­e­mo­ny mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Pass­over sac­ri­f ice to the Lord, who p ­ assed over the hous­es of the Is­ra­el­ites in ­Egypt and ­spared our ­homes when he ­struck down the Egyp­ t ians.’ ” Then the peo­ ple ­bowed down and wor­shiped. 28 The Is­ra­el­ites did just what the Lord com­mand­ed Mo­ses and Aar­on. 29 At mid­ n ight the Lord ­struck down all the first­born in ­Egypt, from the first­born of Phar­aoh, who sat on the ­throne, to the first­ born of the pris­on­er, who was in the dun­geon, and the first­born of all the live­stock as well. 30 Phar­ aoh and all his of­fi­c ials and all the Egyp­tians got up dur­ing the ­night, and ­there was loud wail­ing in ­Egypt, for ­there was not a ­house with­out some­one dead.

a 3  The Hebrew word can mean lamb or kid ; also in verse 4.   

105 The Exodus 31 Dur ­i ng

the ­n ight Phar­aoh sum­moned Mo­ses and Aar­on and said, “Up! ­L eave my peo­ple, you and the Is­ra­el­ites! Go, wor­ship the Lord as you have re­quest­ed. 32 Take your ­f locks and ­herds, as you have said, and go. And also ­bless me.” 33 The Egyp­t ians ­u rged the peo­ple to hur­ ry and ­leave the coun­try. “For oth­er­w ise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the peo­ple took ­their d ­ ough be­fore the ­yeast was add­ed, and car­ried it on t­ heir shoul­ders in knead­ing ­troughs ­w rapped in cloth­ing. 35 The Is­ra­el­ites did as Mo­ses in­struct­ed and ­asked the Egyp­ tians for ar­ti­c les of sil­ver and gold and for cloth­ing. 36 The Lord had made the Egyp­ tians fa­vor­ably dis­posed to­ward the peo­ple, and they gave them what they ­asked for; so they plun­dered the Egyp­tians. 37 The Is­r a­e l ­ites jour ­neyed from Ram­e­s es to Suk­koth. ­T here were ­about six hun­d red thou­sand men on foot, be­sides wom­en and chil­d ren. 38 Many oth­er peo­ple went up with them, and also ­large d ­ roves of live­stock, both ­f locks and ­herds. 39 With the ­dough the Is­ ra­el­ites had ­brought from ­Egypt, they ­baked ­loaves of un­leav­ened ­bread. The ­dough was with­out ­yeast be­cause they had been driv­en out of ­Egypt and did not have time to pre­pare food for them­selves. 40 Now the ­length of time the Is­ra­el­ite peo­ ple ­lived in ­Egypt a was 430 ­years. 41 At the end of the 430 y­ ears, to the very day, all the Lord’s di­v i­s ions left ­E gypt. 42 Be­c ause the Lord kept vig­il that ­night to ­bring them out of ­Egypt, on this ­n ight all the Is­ra­el­ites are to keep vig­il to hon­or the Lord for the gen­er­a­tions to come. Passover Restrictions 43 The

Lord said to Mo­ses and Aar­on, “These are the reg­u ­la­tions for the Pass­over meal: “No for­eign­er may eat it. 44 Any s­ lave you have ­bought may eat it af­ter you have cir­cum­ cised him, 45 but a tem­po­rary res­i­dent or a ­hired work­er may not eat it. 46 “It must be eat­en in­side the ­house; take none of the meat out­side the h ­ ouse. Do not

DAY 30

­ reak any of the ­bones. 47 The ­whole com­mu­ b ni­t y of Is­ra­el must cel­e­brate it. 48 “A for­e ign­e r re­s id ­i ng ­a mong you who ­wants to cel­e­brate the Lord’s Pass­over must have all the ­males in his house­hold cir­cum­ cised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No un­cir­cum­cised male may eat it. 49 The same law ap­ plies both to the na­tiveborn and to the for­eign­er re­sid­ing ­among you.” 50 All the Is­ra­el­ites did just what the Lord had com­mand­ed Mo­ses and Aar­on. 51 And on that very day the Lord ­brought the Is­ra­el­ites out of ­Egypt by ­their di­v i­sions.

MATTHEW 20:20 — 20:34 A Mother’s Request 20 Then the moth­er of Zeb­e­dee’s sons came to ­Jesus with her sons and, kneel­ing down, ­asked a fa­vor of him. 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of ­these two sons of mine may sit at your ­right and the oth­er at your left in your king­dom.” 22 “You ­ don’t know what you are ask­ing,” ­Jesus said to them. “Can you ­d rink the cup I am go­ing to drink?” “We can,” they an­swered. 23 Jesus said to them, “You will in­ deed ­d rink from my cup, but to sit at my ­r ight or left is not for me to ­grant. ­These plac­es be­long to t­ hose for whom they have been pre­pared by my Fa­ther.” 24 When the ten ­ heard ­about this, they were in­dig­nant with the two broth­ers. 25 ­Jesus ­called them to­geth­er and said, “You know that the rul­ers of the Gen­tiles lord it over them, and ­their high of­f i­cials ex­er­cise au­thor­i­t y over them. 26 Not so with you. In­stead, who­e v­er ­wants to be­come g­ reat ­a mong you must be your ser­vant, 27 and who­ev­er ­wants to be ­f irst must be your ­slave — ​28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be ­served, but to ­serve, and to give his life as a ran­som for many.”

Two Blind Men Receive Sight 29 As ­ Jesus and his dis­c i­ples were leav­ing Jer­i­c ho, a ­large ­c rowd fol ­lowed him. 30 Two

a 40  Masoretic Text; Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint Egypt and Canaan   

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­ lind men were sit­ting by the road­side, and b when they ­heard that ­Jesus was go­ing by, they shout­ed, “Lord, Son of Da­v id, have mer­c y on us!” 31 The c ­ rowd re­buked them and told them to be qui­et, but they shout­ed all the loud­er, “Lord, Son of Da­v id, have mer­c y on us!” 32 Jesus ­stopped and ­called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 33 “Lord,” they an­ s wered, “we want our sight.” 34 Jesus had com­ p as­ s ion on them and ­touched ­their eyes. Im­me­di­ate­ly they re­ceived ­their ­sight and fol­lowed him.

PSALM 17:13 — 17:15 13 Rise up, Lord, confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked. 14 By your hand save me from such people, Lord, from those of this world whose reward is in this life. May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies; may their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones.

Whatever kind of rescue you need, the Lord is your mighty Savior. D

day31 EXODUS 13:1 — 14:31

Consecration of the Firstborn

13

The Lord said to Mo­ses, 2 “Con­ se­c rate to me ev­ery first­born male. The ­f irst off­spring of ev­ery womb ­among the ­Is­ra­el ­ites be­longs to me, wheth­er hu­man or an­i­mal.” 3 Then Mo­ ses said to the peo­ple, “Com­ mem­o­rate this day, the day you came out of ­Egypt, out of the land of slav­ery, be­cause the Lord ­brought you out of it with a ­m ighty hand. Eat noth­ing con­tain­ing ­yeast. 4 To­day, in the ­month of Aviv, you are leav­ing. 5 When the Lord ­brings you into the land of the Ca­ naan­ites, Hit­tites, Am­o­rites, Hi­v ites and Jeb­ 15 As for me, I will be vindicated and will see u­sites — ​the land he ­s wore to your an­ces­tors your face; to give you, a land f low­ing with milk and when I awake, I will be satisfied with hon­ey — ​you are to ob­serve this cer­e­mo­ny in seeing your likeness. this ­month: 6 For sev­en days eat ­bread made with­out ­yeast and on the sev­enth day hold a fes­t i­val to the Lord. 7 Eat un ­leav­ened ­bread REWIND ­dur­ing ­t hose sev­en days; noth­ing with ­yeast in it is to be seen ­a mong you, nor s­hall any Exodus 11 – 12; Matthew 20:20 – 34; ­yeast be seen any­where with­in your bor­ders. Psalm 17:13 – 15 8 On that day tell your son, ‘I do this be­cause GOD SAVES. of what the Lord did for me when I came out Exodus 11 – 12 records one of the Bible’s most of ­Egypt.’ 9 This ob­ser­vance will be for you momentous scenes. The exodus — ​the Lord’s like a sign on your hand and a re­mind­er on rescue of his p­ eople from slavery in Egypt — ​ your fore­head that this law of the Lord is to is a stunning example of how God saves. It’s be on your lips. For the Lord ­brought you out also a foreshadowing of how J­ esus will deliver of E ­ gypt with his ­mighty hand. 10 You must ­people from sin. In Matthew 20 ­Jesus rescues keep this or­di­nance at the ap­point­ed time year two men from blindness. And Psalm 17 shows af­ter year. 11 “Af­ter the Lord ­brings you into the land David asking to be saved from wicked p­ eople.