Numbers 11

• 1. The people soon began to complain to the LORD about their hardships; and when the LORD heard them, his anger blazed against them. Fire from the LORD raged among them and destroyed the outskirts of the camp.
• 2. The people screamed to Moses for help; and when he prayed to the LORD, the fire stopped.
• 3. After that, the area was known as Taberah--"the place of burning"--because fire from the LORD had burned among them there.
• 4. Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt, and the people of Israel also began to complain. "Oh, for some meat!" they exclaimed.
• 5. "We remember all the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic that we wanted.
• 6. But now our appetites are gone, and day after day we have nothing to eat but this manna!"
• 7. The manna looked like small coriander seeds, pale yellow in color.
• 8. The people gathered it from the ground and made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like they had been cooked in olive oil.
• 9. The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night.
• 10. Moses heard all the families standing in front of their tents weeping, and the LORD became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated.
• 11. And Moses said to the LORD, "Why are you treating me, your servant, so miserably? What did I do to deserve the burden of a people like this?
• 12. Are they my children? Am I their father? Is that why you have told me to carry them in my arms--like a nurse carries a baby--to the land you swore to give their ancestors?
• 13. Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep complaining and saying, `Give us meat!'
• 14. I can't carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy!
• 15. I'd rather you killed me than treat me like this. Please spare me this misery!"
• 16. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Summon before me seventy of the leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle to stand there with you.
• 17. I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.
• 18. "And tell the people to purify themselves, for tomorrow they will have meat to eat. Tell them, `The LORD has heard your whining and complaints: "If only we had meat to eat! Surely we were better off in Egypt!" Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will have to eat it.
• 19. And it won't be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty.
• 20. You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the LORD, who is here among you, and you have complained to him, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'"
• 21. But Moses said, "There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you promise them meat for a whole month!
• 22. Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?"
• 23. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Is there any limit to my power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!"
• 24. So Moses went out and reported the LORD's words to the people. Then he gathered the seventy leaders and stationed them around the Tabernacle.
• 25. And the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. He took some of the Spirit that was upon Moses and put it upon the seventy leaders. They prophesied as the Spirit rested upon them, but that was the only time this happened.
• 26. Two men, Eldad and Medad, were still in the camp when the Spirit rested upon them. They were listed among the leaders but had not gone out to the Tabernacle, so they prophesied there in the camp.
• 27. A young man ran and reported to Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"
• 28. Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' personal assistant since his youth, protested, "Moses, my master, make them stop!"
• 29. But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his Spirit upon them all!"
• 30. Then Moses returned to the camp with the leaders of Israel.
• 31. Now the LORD sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall into the camp and all around it! For many miles in every direction from the camp there were quail flying about three feet above the ground.
• 32. So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail out all over the camp.
• 33. But while they were still eating the meat, the anger of the LORD blazed against the people, and he caused a severe plague to break out among them.
• 34. So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah--"the graves of craving"--because they buried the people there who had craved meat from Egypt.
• 35. From there the Israelites traveled to Hazeroth, where they stayed for some time.

Psalms 48

• 1. How great is the LORD, and how much we should praise him in the city of our God, which is on his holy mountain!
• 2. It is magnificent in elevation--the whole earth rejoices to see it! Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great King!
• 3. God himself is in Jerusalem's towers. He reveals himself as her defender.
• 4. The kings of the earth joined forces and advanced against the city.
• 5. But when they saw it, they were stunned; they were terrified and ran away.
• 6. They were gripped with terror, like a woman writhing in the pain of childbirth
• 7. or like the mighty ships of Tarshish being shattered by a powerful east wind.
• 8. We had heard of the city's glory, but now we have seen it ourselves--the city of the LORD Almighty. It is the city of our God; he will make it safe forever.
• 9. O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple.
• 10. As your name deserves, O God, you will be praised to the ends of the earth. Your strong right hand is filled with victory.
• 11. Let the people on Mount Zion rejoice. Let the towns of Judah be glad, for your judgments are just.
• 12. Go, inspect the city of Jerusalem. Walk around and count the many towers.
• 13. Take note of the fortified walls, and tour all the citadels, that you may describe them to future generations.
• 14. For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will be our guide until we die.

Isaiah 1

• 1. These visions concerning Judah and Jerusalem came to Isaiah son of Amoz during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah--all kings of Judah.
• 2. Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! This is what the LORD says: "The children I raised and cared for have turned against me.
• 3. Even the animals--the donkey and the ox--know their owner and appreciate his care, but not my people Israel. No matter what I do for them, they still do not understand."
• 4. Oh, what a sinful nation they are! They are loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil and corrupt children who have turned away from the LORD. They have despised the Holy One of Israel, cutting themselves off from his help.
• 5. Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick.
• 6. You are sick from head to foot--covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds--without any ointments or bandages.
• 7. Your country lies in ruins, and your cities are burned. As you watch, foreigners plunder your fields and destroy everything they see.
• 8. Jerusalem stands abandoned like a watchman's shelter in a vineyard or field after the harvest is over. It is as helpless as a city under siege.
• 9. If the LORD Almighty had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out as completely as Sodom and Gomorrah.
• 10. Listen to the LORD, you leaders of Israel! Listen to the law of our God, people of Israel. You act just like the rulers and people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
• 11. "I am sick of your sacrifices," says the LORD. "Don't bring me any more burnt offerings! I don't want the fat from your rams or other animals. I don't want to see the blood from your offerings of bulls and rams and goats.
• 12. Why do you keep parading through my courts with your worthless sacrifices?
• 13. The incense you bring me is a stench in my nostrils! Your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath day, and your special days for fasting--even your most pious meetings--are all sinful and false. I want nothing more to do with them.
• 14. I hate all your festivals and sacrifices. I cannot stand the sight of them!
• 15. From now on, when you lift up your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen. For your hands are covered with the blood of your innocent victims.
• 16. Wash yourselves and be clean! Let me no longer see your evil deeds. Give up your wicked ways.
• 17. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Fight for the rights of widows.
• 18. "Come now, let us argue this out," says the LORD. "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.
• 19. If you will only obey me and let me help you, then you will have plenty to eat.
• 20. But if you keep turning away and refusing to listen, you will be destroyed by your enemies. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
• 21. See how Jerusalem, once so faithful, has become a prostitute. Once the home of justice and righteousness, she is now filled with murderers.
• 22. Once like pure silver, you have become like worthless slag. Once so pure, you are now like watered-down wine.
• 23. Your leaders are rebels, the companions of thieves. All of them take bribes and refuse to defend the orphans and the widows.
• 24. Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, says, "I will pour out my fury on you, my enemies!
• 25. I will turn against you. I will melt you down and skim off your slag. I will remove all your impurities.
• 26. Afterward I will give you good judges and wise counselors like the ones you used to have. Then Jerusalem will again be called the Home of Justice and the Faithful City."
• 27. Because the LORD is just and righteous, the repentant people of Jerusalem will be redeemed.
• 28. But all sinners will be completely destroyed, for they refuse to come to the LORD.
• 29. Shame will cover you when you think of the times you offered sacrifices to idols in your groves of sacred oaks. You will blush when you think of all the sins you committed in your sacred gardens.
• 30. You will wither away like an oak or garden without water.
• 31. The strongest among you will disappear like burning straw. Your evil deeds are the spark that will set the straw on fire, and no one will be able to put it out.

New Living Translation: 124 of 365 days.