Genesis 19

• 1. That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom, and Lot was sitting there as they arrived. When he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed low to the ground.
• 2. "My lords," he said, "come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up in the morning as early as you like and be on your way again.Oh no," they said, "we'll just spend the night out here in the city square."
• 3. But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. He set a great feast before them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast. After the meal,
• 4. as they were preparing to retire for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.
• 5. They shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out so we can have sex with them."
• 6. Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him.
• 7. "Please, my brothers," he begged, "don't do such a wicked thing.
• 8. Look--I have two virgin daughters. Do with them as you wish, but leave these men alone, for they are under my protection."
• 9. "Stand back!" they shouted. "Who do you think you are? We let you settle among us, and now you are trying to tell us what to do! We'll treat you far worse than those other men!" And they lunged at Lot and began breaking down the door.
• 10. But the two angels reached out and pulled Lot in and bolted the door.
• 11. Then they blinded the men of Sodom so they couldn't find the doorway.
• 12. "Do you have any other relatives here in the city?" the angels asked. "Get them out of this place--sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.
• 13. For we will destroy the city completely. The stench of the place has reached the LORD, and he has sent us to destroy it."
• 14. So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters' fiances, "Quick, get out of the city! The LORD is going to destroy it." But the young men thought he was only joking.
• 15. At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. "Hurry," they said to Lot. "Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out of here right now, or you will be caught in the destruction of the city."
• 16. When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful.
• 17. "Run for your lives!" the angels warned. "Do not stop anywhere in the valley. And don't look back! Escape to the mountains, or you will die."
• 18. "Oh no, my lords, please," Lot begged.
• 19. "You have been so kind to me and saved my life, and you have granted me such mercy. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die.
• 20. See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don't you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved."
• 21. "All right," the angel said, "I will grant your request. I will not destroy that little village.
• 22. But hurry! For I can do nothing until you are there." From that time on, that village was known as Zoar.
• 23. The sun was rising as Lot reached the village.
• 24. Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the heavens on Sodom and Gomorrah.
• 25. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, eliminating all life--people, plants, and animals alike.
• 26. But Lot's wife looked back as she was following along behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
• 27. The next morning Abraham was up early and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the LORD's presence.
• 28. He looked out across the plain to Sodom and Gomorrah and saw columns of smoke and fumes, as from a furnace, rising from the cities there.
• 29. But God had listened to Abraham's request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
• 30. Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.
• 31. One day the older daughter said to her sister, "There isn't a man anywhere in this entire area for us to marry. And our father will soon be too old to have children.
• 32. Come, let's get him drunk with wine, and then we will sleep with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father."
• 33. So that night they got him drunk, and the older daughter went in and slept with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
• 34. The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, "I slept with our father last night. Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him. That way our family line will be preserved."
• 35. So that night they got him drunk again, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
• 36. So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
• 37. When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites.
• 38. When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.

Matthew 18

• 1. About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Which of us is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"
• 2. Jesus called a small child over to him and put the child among them.
• 3. Then he said, "I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
• 4. Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
• 5. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.
• 6. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck.
• 7. "How terrible it will be for anyone who causes others to sin. Temptation to do wrong is inevitable, but how terrible it will be for the person who does the tempting.
• 8. So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to enter heaven crippled or lame than to be thrown into the unquenchable fire with both of your hands and feet.
• 9. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better to enter heaven half blind than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.
• 10. "Beware that you don't despise a single one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.
• 11. See Footnote
• 12. "If a shepherd has one hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one?
• 13. And if he finds it, he will surely rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn't wander away!
• 14. In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish.
• 15. "If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the fault. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.
• 16. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.
• 17. If that person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. If the church decides you are right, but the other person won't accept it, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.
• 18. I tell you this: Whatever you prohibit on earth is prohibited in heaven, and whatever you allow on earth is allowed in heaven.
• 19. "I also tell you this: If two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.
• 20. For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them."
• 21. Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?"
• 22. "No!" Jesus replied, "seventy times seven!
• 23. "For this reason, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him.
• 24. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.
• 25. He couldn't pay, so the king ordered that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.
• 26. But the man fell down before the king and begged him, 'Oh, sir, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.'
• 27. Then the king was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
• 28. "But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
• 29. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. 'Be patient and I will pay it,' he pleaded.
• 30. But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and jailed until the debt could be paid in full.
• 31. "When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him what had happened.
• 32. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.
• 33. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?'
• 34. Then the angry king sent the man to prison until he had paid every penny.
• 35. "That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart."

Nehemiah 8

• 1. all the people assembled together as one person at the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had given for Israel to obey. 1
• 2. So on October 8 Ezra the priest brought the scroll of the law before the assembly, which included the men and women and all the children old enough to understand.
• 3. He faced the square just inside the Water Gate from early morning until noon and read aloud to everyone who could understand. All the people paid close attention to the Book of the Law.
• 4. Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform that had been made for the occasion. To his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah. To his left stood Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.
• 5. Ezra stood on the platform in full view of all the people. When they saw him open the book, they all rose to their feet.
• 6. Then Ezra praised the LORD, the great God, and all the people chanted, "Amen! Amen!" as they lifted their hands toward heaven. Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
• 7. Now the Levites--Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah--instructed the people who were standing there.
• 8. They read from the Book of the Law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each passage.
• 9. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were interpreting for the people said to them, "Don't weep on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the LORD your God." All the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the law.
• 10. And Nehemiah continued, "Go and celebrate with a feast of choice foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!"
• 11. And the Levites, too, quieted the people, telling them, "Hush! Don't weep! For this is a sacred day."
• 12. So the people went away to eat and drink at a festive meal, to share gifts of food, and to celebrate with great joy because they had heard God's words and understood them.
• 13. On October 9 the family leaders and the priests and Levites met with Ezra to go over the law in greater detail.
• 14. As they studied the law, they discovered that the LORD had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should live in shelters during the festival to be held that month.
• 15. He had said that a proclamation should be made throughout their towns and especially in Jerusalem, telling the people to go to the hills to get branches from olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and fig trees. They were to use these branches to make shelters in which they would live during the festival, as it was prescribed in the law.
• 16. So the people went out and cut branches and used them to build shelters on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of God's Temple, or in the squares just inside the Water Gate and the Ephraim Gate.
• 17. So everyone who had returned from captivity lived in these shelters for the seven days of the festival, and everyone was filled with great joy! The Israelites had not celebrated this way since the days of Joshua son of Nun.
• 18. Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God on each of the seven days of the festival. Then on October 15 they held a solemn assembly, as the law of Moses required.

New Living Translation: 18 of 365 days.