Day 39 of 365

Exod 23:1–24:18

23:1 "You shall not spread a false report. Do not join your hand with the wicked to be an unjust witness.

23:2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;

23:3 neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause.

23:4 "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

23:5 If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, do not leave him, you shall surely help him with it.

23:6 "You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

23:7 "Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.

23:8 "You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

23:9 "You shall not oppress a foreigner, for you know the heart of a foreigner, seeing you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

23:10 "For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase,

23:11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.

23:12 "Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.

23:13 "Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and do not invoke the name of other gods, neither let them be heard out of your mouth.

23:14 "You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.

23:15 You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.

23:16 And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field.

23:17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

23:18 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning.

23:19 The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

23:20 "Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

23:21 Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.

23:22 But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.

23:23 For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.

23:24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.

23:25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst.

23:26 No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.

23:27 I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

23:28 I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.

23:29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you.

23:30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land.

23:31 I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

23:32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

23:33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

24:1 He said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.

24:2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but they shall not come near, neither shall the people go up with him."

24:3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the Lord has spoken will we do."

24:4 Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

24:5 He sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of cattle to the Lord.

24:6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

24:7 He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that the Lord has spoken will we do, and be obedient."

24:8 Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words."

24:9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up.

24:10 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness.

24:11 He did not lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.

24:12 The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the tables of stone with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them."

24:13 Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God's Mountain.

24:14 He said to the elders, "Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them."

24:15 Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

24:16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

24:17 The appearance of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.

24:18 Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Matt 24:42–25:15

24:42 Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord comes.

24:43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

24:44 Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

24:45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?

24:46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.

24:47 Truly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.

24:48 But if that evil servant should say in his heart, 'My lord is delayed,'

24:49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,

24:50 the lord of that servant will come in a day when he does not expect it, and in an hour when he does not know it,

24:51 and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.

25:1 "Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom.

25:2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.

25:3 For the foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,

25:4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

25:5 Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

25:6 But at midnight there was a cry, 'Behold! The bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

25:8 The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'

25:9 But the wise answered, saying, 'What if there is not enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.'

25:10 While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

25:11 Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us.'

25:12 But he answered, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'

25:13 Watch therefore, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

25:14 "For it is like a man, going on a journey, who called his own servants, and entrusted his goods to them.

25:15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey.

Ps 18:1–50

1 I love you, Lord, my strength.

2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

3 I call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

5 The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.

6 In my distress I called on the Lord, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

8 Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

10 He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.

13 The Lord also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.

14 He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.

15 Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16 He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

18 They came on me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.

19 He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.

21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22 For all his ordinances were before me. I did not put away his statutes from me.

23 I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

24 Therefore the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

25 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.

26 With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

27 For you will save the afflicted people, but the haughty eyes you will bring down.

28 For you will light my lamp, Lord. My God will light up my darkness.

29 For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

31 For who is God, except the Lord? Who is a rock, besides our God,

32 the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?

33 He makes my feet like deer's feet, and sets me on my high places.

34 He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great.

36 You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.

37 I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. Neither will I turn again until they are consumed.

38 I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.

39 For you have girded me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

40 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

41 They cried, but there was none to save; even to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

42 Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets.

43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people. You have made me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

44 As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.

45 The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their close places.

46 The Lord lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,

47 even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me.

48 He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.

49 Therefore I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name.

50 He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore.