Day 80 of 365

Num 22:1–23:30

22:1 The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.

22:2 Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

22:3 Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.

22:4 Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field." Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.

22:5 He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, "Behold, there is a people who came out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me.

22:6 Please come now therefore curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: perhaps I shall prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed."

22:7 The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

22:8 He said to them, "Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak to me." The princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

22:9 God came to Balaam, and said, "Who are these men with you?"

22:10 Balaam said to God, "Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has said to me,

22:11 'Behold, the people that has come out of Egypt, it covers the surface of the earth: now, come curse me them; perhaps I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out.'"

22:12 God said to Balaam, "You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people; for they are blessed."

22:13 Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, "Go to your land; for the Lord refuses to permit me to go with you."

22:14 The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, "Balaam refuses to come with us."

22:15 Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they.

22:16 They came to Balaam, and said to him, "Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, 'Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me:

22:17 for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.'"

22:18 Balaam answered the servants of Balak, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

22:19 Now therefore, please wait also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will speak to me more."

22:20 God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do."

22:21 Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

22:22 God's anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of the Lord placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

22:23 The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the way.

22:24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.

22:25 The donkey saw the angel of the Lord, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he struck her again.

22:26 The angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.

22:27 The donkey saw the angel of the Lord, and she lay down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

22:28 The Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?"

22:29 Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have mocked me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you."

22:30 The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Was I ever in the habit of doing so to you?" He said, "No."

22:31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face.

22:32 The angel of the Lord said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come forth as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me:

22:33 and the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times. Unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I would have killed you, and saved her alive."

22:34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned; for I did not know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will go back again."

22:35 The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, "Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

22:36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him to the City of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is in the utmost part of the border.

22:37 Balak said to Balaam, "Did I not earnestly send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able indeed to promote you to honor?"

22:38 Balaam said to Balak, "Behold, I have come to you: have I now any power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak."

22:39 Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath Huzoth.

22:40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him.

22:41 It happened in the morning, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there the utmost part of the people.

23:1 Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams."

23:2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.

23:3 Balaam said to Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: perhaps the Lord will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you." He went to a bare height.

23:4 God met Balaam: and he said to him, "I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar."

23:5 The Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."

23:6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

23:7 He took up his parable, and said, "From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.

23:8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom the Lord has not defied?

23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

23:10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!"

23:11 Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether."

23:12 He answered and said, "Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord puts in my mouth?"

23:13 Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place, where you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there."

23:14 He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.

23:15 He said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet over there."

23:16 The Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and say this."

23:17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, "What has the Lord spoken?"

23:18 He took up his parable, and said, "Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?

23:20 Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can't reverse it.

23:21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.

23:22 God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.

23:23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God done!

23:24 Behold, the people rises up as a lioness, As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain."

23:25 Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all."

23:26 But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not tell you, saying, 'All that the Lord speaks, that I must do?'"

23:27 Balak said to Balaam, "Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse me them from there."

23:28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.

23:29 Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams."

23:30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.

Luke 1:56–80

56 Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house.

57 Now the time that Elisabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she brought forth a son.

58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her.

59 It happened on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zechariah, after the name of the father.

60 His mother answered, "Not so; but he will be called John."

61 They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name."

62 They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.

63 He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." They all marveled.

64 His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.

65 Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.

66 All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, "What then will this child be?" The hand of the Lord was with him.

67 His father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,

68 "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and worked redemption for his people;

69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David

70 (as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old),

71 salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us;

72 to show mercy towards our fathers, to remember his holy covenant,

73 the oath which he spoke to Abraham, our father,

74 to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear,

75 In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

76 And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to make ready his ways,

77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,

78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dawn from on high will visit us,

79 to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace."

80 The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Prov 18:13–24

13 He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

14 A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

15 The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

16 A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

17 He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.

18 The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.

19 A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

20 A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

22 Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the Lord.

23 The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

24 A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.