Genesis 17

• 1. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.
• 2. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to make you into a mighty nation."
• 3. At this, Abram fell face down in the dust. Then God said to him,
• 4. "This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of not just one nation, but a multitude of nations!
• 5. What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram; now you will be known as Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations.
• 6. I will give you millions of descendants who will represent many nations. Kings will be among them!
• 7. "I will continue this everlasting covenant between us, generation after generation. It will continue between me and your offspring forever. And I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
• 8. Yes, I will give all this land of Canaan to you and to your offspring forever. And I will be their God.
• 9. "Your part of the agreement," God told Abraham, "is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility.
• 10. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised;
• 11. the flesh of his foreskin must be cut off. This will be a sign that you and they have accepted this covenant.
• 12. Every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family, but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased.
• 13. All must be circumcised. Your bodies will thus bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.
• 14. Anyone who refuses to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for violating the covenant."
• 15. Then God added, "Regarding Sarai, your wife--her name will no longer be Sarai; from now on you will call her Sarah.
• 16. And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings will be among her descendants!"
• 17. Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. "How could I become a father at the age of one hundred?" he wondered. "Besides, Sarah is ninety; how could she have a baby?"
• 18. And Abraham said to God, "Yes, may Ishmael enjoy your special blessing!"
• 19. But God replied, "Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my everlasting covenant with him and his descendants.
• 20. As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will cause him to multiply and become a great nation. Twelve princes will be among his descendants.
• 21. But my covenant is with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year."
• 22. That ended the conversation, and God left Abraham.
• 23. On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and every other male in his household and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, exactly as God had told him.
• 24. Abraham was ninety-nine years old at that time,
• 25. and Ishmael his son was thirteen.
• 26. Both were circumcised the same day,
• 27. along with all the other men and boys of the household, whether they were born there or bought as servants.

Matthew 16

• 1. One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus' claims by asking him to show them a miraculous sign from heaven.
• 2. He replied, "You know the saying, 'Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow,
• 3. red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.' You are good at reading the weather signs in the sky, but you can't read the obvious signs of the times!
• 4. Only an evil, faithless generation would ask for a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah." Then Jesus left them and went away.
• 5. Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any food.
• 6. "Watch out!" Jesus warned them. "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
• 7. They decided he was saying this because they hadn't brought any bread.
• 8. Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said, "You have so little faith! Why are you worried about having no food?
• 9. Won't you ever understand? Don't you remember the five thousand I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of food that were left over?
• 10. Don't you remember the four thousand I fed with seven loaves, with baskets of food left over?
• 11. How could you even think I was talking about food? So again I say, 'Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'"
• 12. Then at last they understood that he wasn't speaking about yeast or bread but about the false teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
• 13. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
• 14. "Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets."
• 15. Then he asked them, "Who do you say I am?"
• 16. Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
• 17. Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.
• 18. Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
• 19. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you lock on earth will be locked in heaven, and whatever you open on earth will be opened in heaven."
• 20. Then he sternly warned them not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
• 21. From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that he had to go to Jerusalem, and he told them what would happen to him there. He would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and he would be raised on the third day.
• 22. But Peter took him aside and corrected him. "Heaven forbid, Lord," he said. "This will never happen to you!"
• 23. Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God's."
• 24. Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.
• 25. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.
• 26. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?
• 27. For I, the Son of Man, will come in the glory of my Father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds.
• 28. And I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see me, the Son of Man, coming in my Kingdom."

Nehemiah 6

• 1. When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained--though we had not yet hung the doors in the gates--
• 2. Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But I realized they were plotting to harm me,
• 3. so I replied by sending this message to them: "I am doing a great work! I cannot stop to come and meet with you."
• 4. Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply.
• 5. The fifth time, Sanballat's servant came with an open letter in his hand,
• 6. and this is what it said: "Geshem tells me that everywhere he goes he hears that you and the Jews are planning to rebel and that is why you are building the wall. According to his reports, you plan to be their king.
• 7. He also reports that you have appointed prophets to prophesy about you in Jerusalem, saying, 'Look! There is a king in Judah!'"You can be very sure that this report will get back to the king, so I suggest that you come and talk it over with me."
• 8. My reply was, "You know you are lying. There is no truth in any part of your story."
• 9. They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could break our resolve and stop the work. So I prayed for strength to continue the work.
• 10. Later I went to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home. He said, "Let us meet together inside the Temple of God and bolt the doors shut. Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight."
• 11. But I replied, "Should someone in my position run away from danger? Should someone in my position enter the Temple to save his life? No, I won't do it!"
• 12. I realized that God had not spoken to him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
• 13. They were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin by following his suggestion. Then they would be able to accuse and discredit me.
• 14. Remember, O my God, all the evil things that Tobiah and Sanballat have done. And remember Noadiah the prophet and all the prophets like her who have tried to intimidate me.
• 15. So on October 2 the wall was finally finished--just fifty-two days after we had begun.
• 16. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
• 17. During those fifty-two days, many letters went back and forth between Tobiah and the officials of Judah.
• 18. For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him because his father-in-law was Shecaniah son of Arah and because his son Jehohanan was married to the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah.
• 19. They kept telling me what a wonderful man Tobiah was, and then they told him everything I said. And Tobiah sent many threatening letters to intimidate me.

New Living Translation: 16 of 365 days.