Genesis 12

• 1. Then the LORD told Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you.
• 2. I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others.
• 3. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."
• 4. So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
• 5. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth--his livestock and all the people who had joined his household at Haran--and finally arrived in Canaan.
• 6. Traveling through Canaan, they came to a place near Shechem and set up camp beside the oak at Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.
• 7. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I am going to give this land to your offspring. "And Abram built an altar there to commemorate the LORD's visit.
• 8. After that, Abram traveled southward and set up camp in the hill country between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar and worshiped the LORD.
• 9. Then Abram traveled south by stages toward the Negev.
• 10. At that time there was a severe famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to wait it out.
• 11. As he was approaching the borders of Egypt, Abram said to Sarai, "You are a very beautiful woman.
• 12. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, `This is his wife. Let's kill him; then we can have her!'
• 13. But if you say you are my sister, then the Egyptians will treat me well because of their interest in you, and they will spare my life."
• 14. And sure enough, when they arrived in Egypt, everyone spoke of her beauty.
• 15. When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to their king, the pharaoh, and she was taken into his harem.
• 16. Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her--sheep, cattle, donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
• 17. But the LORD sent a terrible plague upon Pharaoh's household because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
• 18. So Pharaoh called for Abram and accused him sharply. "What is this you have done to me?" he demanded. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?
• 19. Why were you willing to let me marry her, saying she was your sister? Here is your wife! Take her and be gone!"
• 20. Pharaoh then sent them out of the country under armed escort--Abram and his wife, with all their household and belongings.

Matthew 11

• 1. When Jesus had finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he went off teaching and preaching in towns throughout the country.
• 2. John the Baptist, who was now in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus,
• 3. "Are you really the Messiah we've been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?"
• 4. Jesus told them, "Go back to John and tell him about what you have heard and seen--
• 5. the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.
• 6. And tell him: 'God blesses those who are not offended by me. '"
• 7. When John's disciples had gone, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. "Who is this man in the wilderness that you went out to see? Did you find him weak as a reed, moved by every breath of wind?
• 8. Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? Those who dress like that live in palaces, not out in the wilderness.
• 9. Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet.
• 10. John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, 'Look, I am sending my messenger before you, and he will prepare your way before you.'
• 11. "I assure you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the most insignificant person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!
• 12. And from the time John the Baptist began preaching and baptizing until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people attack it.
• 13. For before John came, all the teachings of the Scriptures looked forward to this present time.
• 14. And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come.
• 15. Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!
• 16. "How shall I describe this generation? These people are like a group of children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends,
• 17. 'We played wedding songs, and you weren't happy, so we played funeral songs, but you weren't sad.'
• 18. For John the Baptist didn't drink wine and he often fasted, and you say, 'He's demon possessed.'
• 19. And I, the Son of Man, feast and drink, and you say, 'He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of the worst sort of sinners!' But wisdom is shown to be right by what results from it."
• 20. Then Jesus began to denounce the cities where he had done most of his miracles, because they hadn't turned from their sins and turned to God.
• 21. "What horrors await you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have sat in deep repentance long ago, clothed in sackcloth and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse.
• 22. I assure you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on the judgment day than you!
• 23. And you people of Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in Sodom, it would still be here today.
• 24. I assure you, Sodom will be better off on the judgment day than you."
• 25. Then Jesus prayed this prayer: "O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding the truth from those who think themselves so wise and clever, and for revealing it to the childlike.
• 26. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way!
• 27. "My Father has given me authority over everything. No one really knows the Son except the Father, and no one really knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
• 28. Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
• 29. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls.
• 30. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."

Nehemiah 1

• 1. These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes' reign, I was at the fortress of Susa.
• 2. Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had survived the captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.
• 3. They said to me, "Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been burned."
• 4. When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
• 5. Then I said, "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands,
• 6. listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned!
• 7. We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, laws, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
• 8. "Please remember what you told your servant Moses: 'If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations.
• 9. But if you return to me and obey my commands, even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.'
• 10. "We are your servants, the people you rescued by your great power and might.
• 11. O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success now as I go to ask the king for a great favor. Put it into his heart to be kind to me." In those days I was the king's cup-bearer.

New Living Translation: 11 of 365 days.