Judges 10

• 1. After the time of Abimelech a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.
• 2. He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.
• 3. He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years.
• 4. He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair.
• 5. When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
• 6. Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him,
• 7. he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites,
• 8. who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
• 9. The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great distress.
• 10. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals."
• 11. The LORD replied, "When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,
• 12. the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands?
• 13. But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.
• 14. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!"
• 15. But the Israelites said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now."
• 16. Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer.
• 17. When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.
• 18. The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, "Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all those living in Gilead."

Acts 14

• 1. At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.
• 2. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
• 3. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
• 4. The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.
• 5. There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.
• 6. But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country,
• 7. where they continued to preach the good news.
• 8. In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.
• 9. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed
• 10. and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
• 11. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!"
• 12. Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.
• 13. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
• 14. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:
• 15. "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.
• 16. In the past, he let all nations go their own way.
• 17. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."
• 18. Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
• 19. Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
• 20. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
• 21. They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
• 22. strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.
• 23. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
• 24. After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia,
• 25. and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
• 26. From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.
• 27. On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
• 28. And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

Jeremiah 23

• 1. "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD.
• 2. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the LORD.
• 3. "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.
• 4. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD.
• 5. "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
• 6. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
• 7. "So then, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,'
• 8. but they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' Then they will live in their own land."
• 9. Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.
• 10. The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the desert are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.
• 11. "Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness," declares the LORD.
• 12. "Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished," declares the LORD.
• 13. "Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
• 14. And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah."
• 15. Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets: "I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land."
• 16. This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
• 17. They keep saying to those who despise me, 'The LORD says: You will have peace.' And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, 'No harm will come to you.'
• 18. But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
• 19. See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.
• 20. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly.
• 21. I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
• 22. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
• 23. "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away?
• 24. Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.
• 25. "I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!'
• 26. How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?
• 27. They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship.
• 28. Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?" declares the LORD.
• 29. "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
• 30. "Therefore," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me.
• 31. Yes," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The LORD declares.'
• 32. Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," declares the LORD. "They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least," declares the LORD.
• 33. "When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, 'What is the oracle of the LORD?' say to them, 'What oracle? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.'
• 34. If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' I will punish that man and his household.
• 35. This is what each of you keeps on saying to his friend or relative: 'What is the LORD's answer?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?'
• 36. But you must not mention 'the oracle of the LORD 'again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God.
• 37. This is what you keep saying to a prophet: 'What is the LORD's answer to you?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?'
• 38. Although you claim, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' this is what the LORD says: You used the words, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' even though I told you that you must not claim, 'This is the oracle of the LORD.'
• 39. Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your fathers.
• 40. I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace-everlasting shame that will not be forgotten."

New International Version

203 | 204 | 205 | 206 | 207 | Day 208 | 209 | 210 | 211 | 212 | 213 |