Deuteronomy 12

• 1. "These are the laws and regulations you must obey as long as you live in the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
• 2. "When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods--high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree.
• 3. Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Erase the names of their gods from those places!
• 4. "Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods.
• 5. Rather, you must seek the LORD your God at the place he himself will choose from among all the tribes for his name to be honored.
• 6. There you will bring to the LORD your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your freewill offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your flocks and herds.
• 7. There you and your families will feast in the presence of the LORD your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the LORD your God has blessed you.
• 8. "Today you are doing whatever you please, but that is not how it will be
• 9. when you arrive in the place of rest the LORD your God is giving you.
• 10. You will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession. When he gives you rest and security from all your enemies,
• 11. you must bring everything I command you--your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, and your offerings to fulfill a vow--to the place the LORD your God will choose for his name to be honored.
• 12. You must celebrate there with your sons and daughters and all your servants in the presence of the LORD your God. And remember the Levites who live in your towns, for they will have no inheritance of land as their own.
• 13. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere.
• 14. You may do so only at the place the LORD will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you.
• 15. "But you may butcher animals for meat in any town, wherever you want, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. You may eat as many animals as the LORD your God gives you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat.
• 16. The only restriction is that you are not to eat the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.
• 17. "But your offerings must not be eaten at home--neither the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your flocks and herds, nor an offering to fulfill a vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor your special gifts.
• 18. You must eat these in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose. Eat them there with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns, celebrating in the presence of the LORD your God in all you do.
• 19. Be very careful never to forget the Levites as long as you live in your land.
• 20. "When the LORD your God enlarges your territory as he has promised, you may eat meat whenever you want.
• 21. It might happen that the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored is a long way from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle or sheep the LORD has given you, and you may eat the meat at your home as I have commanded you.
• 22. Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer.
• 23. The only restriction is never to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
• 24. Instead, pour out the blood on the ground like water.
• 25. Do not eat the blood; then all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD.
• 26. Take your sacred gifts and your offerings given to fulfill a vow to the place the LORD chooses to dwell.
• 27. You must offer the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat.
• 28. Be careful to obey all my commands so that all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD your God.
• 29. "When the LORD your God destroys the nations and you drive them out and occupy their land,
• 30. do not be trapped into following their example in worshiping their gods. Do not say, `How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.'
• 31. You must not do this to the LORD your God. These nations have committed many detestable acts that the LORD hates, all in the name of their gods. They have even burned their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.
• 32. Carefully obey all the commands I give you. Do not add to them or subtract from them.

Psalms 97

• 1. The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice! Let the farthest islands be glad.
• 2. Clouds and darkness surround him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
• 3. Fire goes forth before him and burns up all his foes.
• 4. His lightning flashes out across the world. The earth sees and trembles.
• 5. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
• 6. The heavens declare his righteousness; every nation sees his glory.
• 7. Those who worship idols are disgraced--all who brag about their worthless gods--for every god must bow to him.
• 8. Jerusalem has heard and rejoiced, and all the cities of Judah are glad because of your justice, LORD!
• 9. For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
• 10. You who love the LORD, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.
• 11. Light shines on the godly, and joy on those who do right.
• 12. May all who are godly be happy in the LORD and praise his holy name!

Psalms 98

• 1. Sing a new song to the LORD, for he has done wonderful deeds. He has won a mighty victory by his power and holiness.
• 2. The LORD has announced his victory and has revealed his righteousness to every nation!
• 3. He has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to Israel. The whole earth has seen the salvation of our God.
• 4. Shout to the LORD, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy!
• 5. Sing your praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song,
• 6. with trumpets and the sound of the ram's horn. Make a joyful symphony before the LORD, the King!
• 7. Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in.
• 8. Let the rivers clap their hands in glee! Let the hills sing out their songs of joy
• 9. before the LORD. For the LORD is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness.

Isaiah 40

• 1. "Comfort, comfort my people," says your God.
• 2. "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her in full for all her sins."
• 3. Listen! I hear the voice of someone shouting, "Make a highway for the LORD through the wilderness. Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God.
• 4. Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots.
• 5. Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!"
• 6. A voice said, "Shout!" I asked, "What should I shout?Shout that people are like the grass that dies away. Their beauty fades as quickly as the beauty of flowers in a field.
• 7. The grass withers, and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the LORD. And so it is with people.
• 8. The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever."
• 9. Messenger of good news, shout to Zion from the mountaintops! Shout louder to Jerusalem--do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, "Your God is coming!"
• 10. Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in all his glorious power. He will rule with awesome strength. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
• 11. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
• 12. Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed out the mountains and the hills?
• 13. Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD? Who knows enough to be his teacher or counselor?
• 14. Has the LORD ever needed anyone's advice? Does he need instruction about what is good or what is best?
• 15. No, for all the nations of the world are nothing in comparison with him. They are but a drop in the bucket, dust on the scales. He picks up the islands as though they had no weight at all.
• 16. All Lebanon's forests do not contain sufficient fuel to consume a sacrifice large enough to honor him. All Lebanon's sacrificial animals would not make an offering worthy of our God.
• 17. The nations of the world are as nothing to him. In his eyes they are less than nothing--mere emptiness and froth.
• 18. To whom, then, can we compare God? What image might we find to resemble him?
• 19. Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
• 20. Or is a poor person's wooden idol better? Can God be compared to an idol that must be placed on a stand so it won't fall down?
• 21. Have you never heard or understood? Are you deaf to the words of God--the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant?
• 22. It is God who sits above the circle of the earth. The people below must seem to him like grasshoppers! He is the one who spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.
• 23. He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing.
• 24. They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and their work withers. The wind carries them off like straw.
• 25. "To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?" asks the Holy One.
• 26. Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away.
• 27. O Israel, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case?
• 28. Have you never heard or understood? Don't you know that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
• 29. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak.
• 30. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up.
• 31. But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

New Living Translation: 159 of 365 days.