Deuteronomy 20

• 1. "When you go out to fight your enemies and you face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. The LORD your God, who brought you safely out of Egypt, is with you!
• 2. Before you go into battle, the priest will come forward to speak with the troops.
• 3. He will say, `Listen to me, all you men of Israel! Do not be afraid as you go out to fight today! Do not lose heart or panic.
• 4. For the LORD your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!'
• 5. "Then the officers of the army will address the troops and say, `Has anyone just built a new house but not yet dedicated it? If so, go home! You might be killed in the battle, and someone else would dedicate your house!
• 6. Has anyone just planted a vineyard but not yet eaten any of its fruit? If so, go home! You might die in battle, and someone else would eat from it!
• 7. Has anyone just become engaged? Well, go home and get married! You might die in the battle, and someone else would marry your fiance.'
• 8. Then the officers will also say, `Is anyone terrified? If you are, go home before you frighten anyone else.'
• 9. When the officers have finished saying this to their troops, they will announce the names of the unit commanders.
• 10. "As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace.
• 11. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor.
• 12. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town.
• 13. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town.
• 14. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.
• 15. But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of nations nearby.
• 16. "As for the towns of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing in them.
• 17. You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you.
• 18. This will keep the people of the land from teaching you their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the LORD your God.
• 19. "When you are besieging a town and the war drags on, do not destroy the trees. Eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. They are not enemies that need to be attacked!
• 20. But you may cut down trees that you know are not valuable for food. Use them to make the equipment you need to besiege the town until it falls.

Psalms 107

• 1. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
• 2. Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has saved you from your enemies.
• 3. For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south.
• 4. Some wandered in the desert, lost and homeless.
• 5. Hungry and thirsty, they nearly died.
• 6. "LORD, help!" they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.
• 7. He led them straight to safety, to a city where they could live.
• 8. Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for all his wonderful deeds to them.
• 9. For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
• 10. Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom, miserable prisoners in chains.
• 11. They rebelled against the words of God, scorning the counsel of the Most High.
• 12. That is why he broke them with hard labor; they fell, and no one helped them rise again.
• 13. "LORD, help!" they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
• 14. He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom; he snapped their chains.
• 15. Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for all his wonderful deeds to them.
• 16. For he broke down their prison gates of bronze; he cut apart their bars of iron.
• 17. Some were fools in their rebellion; they suffered for their sins.
• 18. Their appetites were gone, and death was near.
• 19. "LORD, help!" they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
• 20. He spoke, and they were healed--snatched from the door of death.
• 21. Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for all his wonderful deeds to them.
• 22. Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts.
• 23. Some went off in ships, plying the trade routes of the world.
• 24. They, too, observed the LORD's power in action, his impressive works on the deepest seas.
• 25. He spoke, and the winds rose, stirring up the waves.
• 26. Their ships were tossed to the heavens and sank again to the depths; the sailors cringed in terror.
• 27. They reeled and staggered like drunkards and were at their wits' end.
• 28. "LORD, help!" they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
• 29. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves.
• 30. What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor!
• 31. Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for all his wonderful deeds to them.
• 32. Let them exalt him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation.
• 33. He changes rivers into deserts, and springs of water into dry land.
• 34. He turns the fruitful land into salty wastelands, because of the wickedness of those who live there.
• 35. But he also turns deserts into pools of water, the dry land into flowing springs.
• 36. He brings the hungry to settle there and build their cities.
• 37. They sow their fields, plant their vineyards, and harvest their bumper crops.
• 38. How he blesses them! They raise large families there, and their herds of cattle increase.
• 39. When they decrease in number and become impoverished through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
• 40. the LORD pours contempt on their princes, causing them to wander in trackless wastelands.
• 41. But he rescues the poor from their distress and increases their families like vast flocks of sheep.
• 42. The godly will see these things and be glad, while the wicked are stricken silent.
• 43. Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the LORD.

Isaiah 47

• 1. "Come, Babylon, unconquered one, sit in the dust. For your days of glory, pomp, and honor have ended. O daughter of Babylonia, never again will you be the lovely princess, tender and delicate.
• 2. Take heavy millstones and grind the corn. Remove your veil and strip off your robe. Expose yourself to public view.
• 3. You will be naked and burdened with shame. I will take vengeance against you and will not negotiate."
• 4. Our Redeemer, whose name is the LORD Almighty, is the Holy One of Israel.
• 5. "O daughter of Babylonia, sit now in darkness and silence. Never again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms.
• 6. For I was angry with my chosen people and began their punishment by letting them fall into your hands. But you, Babylon, showed them no mercy. You have forced even the elderly to carry heavy burdens.
• 7. You thought, `I will reign forever as queen of the world!' You did not care at all about my people or think about the consequences of your actions.
• 8. "You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure, bragging as if you were the greatest in the world! You say, `I'm self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone! I will never be a widow or lose my children.'
• 9. Well, those two things will come upon you in a moment: widowhood and the loss of your children. Yes, these calamities will come upon you, despite all your witchcraft and magic.
• 10. "You felt secure in all your wickedness. `No one sees me,' you said. Your `wisdom' and `knowledge' have caused you to turn away from me and claim, `I am self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone!'
• 11. So disaster will overtake you suddenly, and you won't be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won't be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will arise so fast that you won't know what hit you.
• 12. "Call out the demon hordes you have worshiped all these years. Ask them to help you strike terror into the hearts of people once again.
• 13. You have more than enough advisers, astrologers, and stargazers. Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds.
• 14. But they are as useless as dried grass burning in a fire. They cannot even save themselves! You will get no help from them at all. Their hearth is not a place to sit for warmth.
• 15. And all your friends, those with whom you have done business since childhood, will slip away and disappear, unable to help.

New Living Translation: 166 of 365 days.