Deuteronomy 8

• 1. "Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors.
• 2. Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would really obey his commands.
• 3. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people need more than bread for their life; real life comes by feeding on every word of the LORD.
• 4. For all these forty years your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell.
• 5. So you should realize that just as a parent disciplines a child, the LORD your God disciplines you to help you.
• 6. "So obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him.
• 7. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with springs that gush forth in the valleys and hills.
• 8. It is a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, olives, and honey.
• 9. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills.
• 10. When you have eaten your fill, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
• 11. "But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and laws.
• 12. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in,
• 13. and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else,
• 14. that is the time to be careful. Do not become proud at that time and forget the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.
• 15. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock!
• 16. He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good.
• 17. He did it so you would never think that it was your own strength and energy that made you wealthy.
• 18. Always remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you power to become rich, and he does it to fulfill the covenant he made with your ancestors.
• 19. "But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed.
• 20. Just as the LORD has destroyed other nations in your path, you also will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

Psalms 91

• 1. Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
• 2. This I declare of the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I am trusting him.
• 3. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from the fatal plague.
• 4. He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
• 5. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor fear the dangers of the day,
• 6. nor dread the plague that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
• 7. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.
• 8. But you will see it with your eyes; you will see how the wicked are punished.
• 9. If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,
• 10. no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your dwelling.
• 11. For he orders his angels to protect you wherever you go.
• 12. They will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.
• 13. You will trample down lions and poisonous snakes; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
• 14. The LORD says, "I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.
• 15. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue them and honor them.
• 16. I will satisfy them with a long life and give them my salvation."

Isaiah 36

• 1. In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.
• 2. Then the king of Assyria sent his personal representative with a huge army from Lachish to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians stopped beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is bleached.
• 3. These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.
• 4. Then the Assyrian king's personal representative sent this message to King Hezekiah: "This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?
• 5. Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Which of your allies will give you any military backing against Assyria?
• 6. Will Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, you will find it to be a stick that breaks beneath your weight and pierces your hand. The Pharaoh of Egypt is completely unreliable!
• 7. "But perhaps you will say, `We are trusting in the LORD our God!' But isn't he the one who was insulted by King Hezekiah? Didn't Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?
• 8. "I'll tell you what! My master, the king of Assyria, will strike a bargain with you. If you can find two thousand horsemen in your entire army, he will give you two thousand horses for them to ride on!
• 9. With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master's troops, even with the help of Egypt's chariots and horsemen?
• 10. What's more, do you think we have invaded your land without the LORD's direction? The LORD himself told us, `Go and destroy it!'"
• 11. Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the king's representative, "Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don't speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear."
• 12. But Sennacherib's representative replied, "My master wants everyone in Jerusalem to hear this, not just you. He wants them to know that if you do not surrender, this city will be put under siege. The people will become so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine."
• 13. Then he stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, "Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!
• 14. This is what the king says: Don't let King Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you.
• 15. Don't let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, `The LORD will rescue us! This city will never be handed over to the Assyrian king.'
• 16. "Don't listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me--open the gates and come out. Then I will allow each of you to continue eating from your own garden and drinking from your own well.
• 17. Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one--a country with bountiful harvests of grain and wine, bread and vineyards--a land of plenty.
• 18. "Don't let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, `The LORD will rescue us!' Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?
• 19. What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did they rescue Samaria from my power?
• 20. What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? Name just one! So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem?"
• 21. But the people were silent and did not answer because Hezekiah had told them not to speak.
• 22. Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian representative had said.

New Living Translation: 155 of 365 days.