Day 96 of 365

Deut 12:1–13:18

12:1 These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth.

12:2 You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree:

12:3 and you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place.

12:4 You shall not do so to the Lord your God.

12:5 But to the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation you shall seek, and there you shall come;

12:6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock:

12:7 and there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

12:8 You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes;

12:9 for you haven't yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God gives you.

12:10 But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety;

12:11 then it shall happen that to the place which the Lord your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to the Lord.

12:12 You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your male servants, and your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

12:13 Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;

12:14 but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

12:15 Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart.

12:16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth as water.

12:17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand;

12:18 but you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you put your hand to.

12:19 Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

12:20 When the Lord your God shall enlarge your border, as he has promised you, and you shall say, "I want to eat meat," because your soul desires to eat meat; you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul.

12:21 If the place which the Lord your God shall choose, to put his name there, is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul.

12:22 Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so you shall eat of it: the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike.

12:23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

12:24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth as water.

12:25 You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord.

12:26 Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which the Lord shall choose:

12:27 and you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God; and you shall eat the flesh.

12:28 Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

12:29 When the Lord your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land;

12:30 take heed to yourself that you not be ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise."

12:31 You shall not do so to the Lord your God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods.

12:32 Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

13:1 If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give you a sign or a wonder,

13:2 and the sign or the wonder come to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, "Let us go after other gods" (which you have not known) "and let us serve them";

13:3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proves you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

13:4 You shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cling to him.

13:5 That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which the Lord your God commanded you to walk in. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.

13:6 If your brother, the son of your father or the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," which you have not known, you, nor your fathers;

13:7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth;

13:8 you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him:

13:9 but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

13:10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

13:11 All Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall not do any more such wickedness as this is in the midst of you.

13:12 If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell there, saying,

13:13 Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," which you have not known;

13:14 then you shall inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in the midst of you,

13:15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and its livestock, with the edge of the sword.

13:16 You shall gather all its plunder into the midst of its street, and shall burn with fire the city, and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God: and it shall be a ruin forever; it shall not be built again.

13:17 Nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand; that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers;

13:18 when you shall listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Luke 9:1–20

1 He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.

2 He sent them forth to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.

3 He said to them, "Take nothing for your journey-neither staffs, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats apiece.

4 Into whatever house you enter, stay there, and depart from there.

5 As many as do not receive you, when you depart from that city, shake off even the dust from your feet for a testimony against them."

6 They departed, and went throughout the villages, proclaiming the Good News, and healing everywhere.

7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done; and he was very perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

8 and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.

9 Herod said, "John I beheaded, but who is this, about whom I hear such things?" He sought to see him.

10 The apostles, when they had returned, told him what things they had done. He took them, and withdrew apart to a city called Bethsaida.

11 But the multitudes, perceiving it, followed him. He welcomed them, and spoke to them of the Kingdom of God, and he cured those who needed healing.

12 The day began to wear away; and the twelve came, and said to him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and farms, and lodge, and get food, for we are here in a deserted place."

13 But he said to them, "You give them something to eat." They said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people."

14 For they were about five thousand men. He said to his disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each."

15 They did so, and made them all sit down.

16 He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to the sky, he blessed them, and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.

17 They ate, and were all filled. They gathered up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.

18 It happened, as he was praying alone, that the disciples were with him, and he asked them, "Who do the multitudes say that I am?"

19 They answered, "'John the Baptist,' but others say, 'Elijah,' and others, that one of the old prophets is risen again."

20 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "The Messiah of God."

Ps 42:1–11

1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, "Where is your God?"

4 These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.

5 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.

6 My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

8 The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will ask God, my rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"

10 As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, "Where is your God?"

11 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.