Deuteronomy 2

• 1. "Then we turned around and set out across the wilderness toward the Red Sea, just as the LORD had instructed me, and we wandered around Mount Seir for a long time.
• 2. Then at last the LORD said to me,
• 3. `You have been wandering around in this hill country long enough; turn northward.
• 4. Give these orders to the people: "You will be passing through the country belonging to your relatives the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. The Edomites will feel threatened, so be careful.
• 5. Don't bother them, for I have given them all the hill country around Mount Seir as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.
• 6. Pay them for whatever food or water you use.
• 7. The LORD your God has blessed everything you have done and has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the LORD your God has been with you and provided for your every need so that you lacked nothing."'
• 8. So we went past our relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and avoided the road through the Arabah Valley that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber. "Then as we traveled northward along the desert route through Moab,
• 9. the LORD warned us, `Do not bother the Moabites, the descendants of Lot, or start a war with them. I have given them Ar as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.'"
• 10. (A numerous and powerful race of giants called the Emites had once lived in the area of Ar. They were as tall as the Anakites, another race of giants.
• 11. Both the Emites and the Anakites are often referred to as the Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites.
• 12. In earlier times the Horites had lived at Mount Seir, but they were driven out and displaced by the descendants of Esau. In a similar way the peoples in Canaan were driven from the land that the LORD had assigned to Israel.)
• 13. Moses continued, "Then the LORD told us to cross Zered Brook, and we did.
• 14. So thirty-eight years passed from the time we first arrived at Kadesh-barnea until we finally crossed Zered Brook! For the LORD had vowed that this could not happen until all the men old enough to fight in battle had died in the wilderness.
• 15. The LORD had lifted his hand against them until all of them had finally died.
• 16. "When all the men of fighting age had died,
• 17. the LORD said to me,
• 18. `Today you will cross the border of Moab at Ar
• 19. and enter the land of Ammon. But do not bother the Ammonites, the descendants of Lot, or start a war with them. I have given the land of Ammon to them as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.'"
• 20. (That area, too, was once considered the land of the Rephaites, though the Ammonites referred to them as Zamzummites.
• 21. They were a numerous and powerful race, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them so the Ammonites could occupy their land.
• 22. He had similarly helped the descendants of Esau at Mount Seir, for he destroyed the Horites so they could settle there in their place. The descendants of Esau live there to this day.
• 23. A similar thing happened when the Caphtorites from Crete invaded and destroyed the Avvites, who had lived in villages in the area of Gaza.)
• 24. Moses continued, "Then the LORD said, `Now cross the Arnon Gorge! Look, I will help you defeat Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and I will give you his land. Attack him and begin to occupy the land.
• 25. Beginning today I will make all people throughout the earth terrified of you. When they hear reports about you, they will tremble with dread and fear.'
• 26. "Then from the wilderness of Kedemoth I sent ambassadors to King Sihon of Heshbon with this proposal of peace:
• 27. `Let us pass through your land. We will stay on the main road and won't turn off into the fields on either side.
• 28. We will pay for every bite of food we eat and all the water we drink. All we want is permission to pass through your land.
• 29. The descendants of Esau at Mount Seir allowed us to go through their country, and so did the Moabites, who live in Ar. Let us pass through until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God has given us.'
• 30. But King Sihon refused to allow you to pass through, because the LORD your God made Sihon stubborn and defiant so he could help you defeat them, as he has now done.
• 31. "Then the LORD said to me, `Look, I have begun to hand King Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to conquer and occupy his land.'
• 32. Then King Sihon declared war on us and mobilized his forces at Jahaz.
• 33. But the LORD our God handed him over to us, and we crushed him, his sons, and all his people.
• 34. We conquered all his towns and completely destroyed everyone--men, women, and children. Not a single person was spared.
• 35. We took all the livestock as plunder for ourselves, along with anything of value from the towns we ransacked.
• 36. "The LORD our God helped us conquer Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Gorge, the town in the gorge, and the whole area as far as Gilead. No town had walls too strong for us.
• 37. However, we stayed away from the Ammonites along the Jabbok River and the towns in the hill country--all the places the LORD our God had commanded us to leave alone.

Psalms 83

• 1. O God, don't sit idly by, silent and inactive!
• 2. Don't you hear the tumult of your enemies? Don't you see what your arrogant enemies are doing?
• 3. They devise crafty schemes against your people, laying plans against your precious ones.
• 4. "Come," they say, "let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its existence."
• 5. This was their unanimous decision. They signed a treaty as allies against you--
• 6. these Edomites and Ishmaelites, Moabites and Hagrites,
• 7. Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites, and people from Philistia and Tyre.
• 8. Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot.
• 9. Do to them as you did to the Midianites or as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
• 10. They were destroyed at Endor, and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.
• 11. Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did. Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna,
• 12. for they said, "Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!"
• 13. O my God, blow them away like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind!
• 14. As a fire roars through a forest and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
• 15. chase them with your fierce storms; terrify them with your tempests.
• 16. Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, O LORD.
• 17. Let them be ashamed and terrified forever. Make them failures in everything they do,
• 18. until they learn that you alone are called the LORD, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.

Psalms 84

• 1. How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty.
• 2. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the LORD. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.
• 3. Even the sparrow finds a home there, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young--at a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God!
• 4. How happy are those who can live in your house, always singing your praises.
• 5. Happy are those who are strong in the LORD, who set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
• 6. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains!
• 7. They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.
• 8. O LORD God Almighty, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Israel.
• 9. O God, look with favor upon the king, our protector! Have mercy on the one you have anointed.
• 10. A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.
• 11. For the LORD God is our light and protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will the LORD withhold from those who do what is right.
• 12. O LORD Almighty, happy are those who trust in you.

Isaiah 30

• 1. "Destruction is certain for my rebellious children," says the LORD. "You make plans that are contrary to my will. You weave a web of plans that are not from my Spirit, thus piling up your sins.
• 2. For without consulting me, you have gone down to Egypt to find help. You have put your trust in Pharaoh for his protection.
• 3. But in trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated and disgraced.
• 4. For though his power extends to Zoan and Hanes,
• 5. it will all turn out to your shame. He will not help you even one little bit."
• 6. Look at the animals moving slowly across the terrible desert to Egypt--donkeys and camels loaded with treasure to pay for Egypt's aid. On through the wilderness they go, where lions and poisonous snakes live. All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.
• 7. Egypt's promises are worthless! I call her the Harmless Dragon.
• 8. Now go and write down these words concerning Egypt. They will then stand until the end of time as a witness to Israel's unbelief.
• 9. For these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay any attention to the LORD's instructions.
• 10. They tell the prophets, "Shut up! We don't want any more of your reports." They say, "Don't tell us the truth. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies.
• 11. Forget all this gloom. We have heard more than enough about your `Holy One of Israel.' We are tired of listening to what he has to say."
• 12. This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: "Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies,
• 13. calamity will come upon you suddenly. It will be like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down.
• 14. You will be smashed like a piece of pottery--shattered so completely that there won't be a piece left that is big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well."
• 15. The Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says, "Only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.
• 16. You said, `No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.' But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
• 17. One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make all of you flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a distant mountaintop."
• 18. But the LORD still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for him to help them.
• 19. O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will respond instantly to the sound of your cries.
• 20. Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and affliction for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes,
• 21. and you will hear a voice say, "This is the way; turn around and walk here."
• 22. Then you will destroy all your silver idols and gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags. "Ugh!" you will say to them. "Begone!"
• 23. Then the LORD will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your cattle.
• 24. The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff having been blown away by the wind.
• 25. In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill.
• 26. The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter--like the light of seven days! So it will be when the LORD begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.
• 27. Look! The LORD is coming from far away, burning with anger, surrounded by a thick, rising smoke. His lips are filled with fury; his words consume like fire.
• 28. His anger pours out like a flood on his enemies, sweeping them all away. He will sift out the proud nations. He will bridle them and lead them off to their destruction.
• 29. But the people of God will sing a song of joy, like the songs at the holy festivals. You will be filled with joy, as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims to Jerusalem--the mountain of the LORD--to the Rock of Israel.
• 30. And the LORD will make his majestic voice heard. With angry indignation he will bring down his mighty arm on his enemies. It will descend with devouring flames, with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones, bringing their destruction.
• 31. At the LORD's command, the Assyrians will be shattered. He will strike them down with his rod.
• 32. And as the LORD strikes them, his people will keep time with the music of tambourines and harps.
• 33. Topheth--the place of burning--has long been ready for the Assyrian king; it has been piled high with wood. The breath of the LORD, like fire from a volcano, will set it ablaze.

New Living Translation: 149 of 365 days.