Joshua 6

• 1. Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go in or out.
• 2. But the LORD said to Joshua, "I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its mighty warriors.
• 3. Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days.
• 4. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram's horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns.
• 5. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the horns, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the walls of the city will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the city."
• 6. So Joshua called together the priests and said, "Take up the Ark of the Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a ram's horn."
• 7. Then he gave orders to the people: "March around the city, and the armed men will lead the way in front of the Ark of the LORD."
• 8. After Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests with the rams' horns started marching in the presence of the LORD, blowing the horns as they marched. And the priests carrying the Ark of the LORD's covenant followed behind them.
• 9. Armed guards marched both in front of the priests and behind the Ark, with the priests continually blowing the horns.
• 10. "Do not shout; do not even talk," Joshua commanded. "Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!"
• 11. So the Ark of the LORD was carried around the city once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night in the camp.
• 12. Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests again carried the Ark of the LORD.
• 13. The seven priests with the rams' horns marched in front of the Ark of the LORD, blowing their horns. Armed guards marched both in front of the priests with the horns and behind the Ark of the LORD. All this time the priests were sounding their horns.
• 14. On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.
• 15. On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the city as they had done before. But this time they went around the city seven times.
• 16. The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!
• 17. The city and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies.
• 18. Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on all Israel.
• 19. Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the LORD and must be brought into his treasury."
• 20. When the people heard the sound of the horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the city from every side and captured it.
• 21. They completely destroyed everything in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, donkeys--everything.
• 22. Then Joshua said to the two spies, "Keep your promise. Go to the prostitute's house and bring her out, along with all her family."
• 23. The young men went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel.
• 24. Then the Israelites burned the city and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept for the treasury of the LORD's house.
• 25. So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day.
• 26. At that time Joshua invoked this curse: "May the curse of the LORD fall on anyone who tries to rebuild the city of Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn son, he will lay its foundation. At the cost of his youngest son, he will set up its gates."
• 27. So the LORD was with Joshua, and his name became famous throughout the land.

Psalms 135

• 1. Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD! Praise him, you who serve the LORD,
• 2. you who serve in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God.
• 3. Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; celebrate his wonderful name with music.
• 4. For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own special treasure.
• 5. I know the greatness of the LORD--that our Lord is greater than any other god.
• 6. The LORD does whatever pleases him throughout all heaven and earth, and on the seas and in their depths.
• 7. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.
• 8. He destroyed the firstborn in each Egyptian home, both people and animals.
• 9. He performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt; Pharaoh and all his people watched.
• 10. He struck down great nations and slaughtered mighty kings--
• 11. Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan.
• 12. He gave their land as an inheritance, a special possession to his people Israel.
• 13. Your name, O LORD, endures forever; your fame, O LORD, is known to every generation.
• 14. For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.
• 15. Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands.
• 16. They cannot talk, though they have mouths, or see, though they have eyes!
• 17. They cannot hear with their ears or smell with their noses.
• 18. And those who make them are just like them, as are all who trust in them.
• 19. O Israel, praise the LORD! O priests of Aaron, praise the LORD!
• 20. O Levites, praise the LORD! All you who fear the LORD, praise the LORD!
• 21. The LORD be praised from Zion, for he lives here in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

Psalms 136

• 1. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
• 2. Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever.
• 3. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever.
• 4. Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles. His faithful love endures forever.
• 5. Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully. His faithful love endures forever.
• 6. Give thanks to him who placed the earth on the water. His faithful love endures forever.
• 7. Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights--His faithful love endures forever.
• 8. the sun to rule the day, His faithful love endures forever.
• 9. and the moon and stars to rule the night. His faithful love endures forever.
• 10. Give thanks to him who killed the firstborn of Egypt. His faithful love endures forever.
• 11. He brought Israel out of Egypt. His faithful love endures forever.
• 12. He acted with a strong hand and powerful arm. His faithful love endures forever.
• 13. Give thanks to him who parted the Red Sea. His faithful love endures forever.
• 14. He led Israel safely through, His faithful love endures forever.
• 15. but he hurled Pharaoh and his army into the sea. His faithful love endures forever.
• 16. Give thanks to him who led his people through the wilderness. His faithful love endures forever.
• 17. Give thanks to him who struck down mighty kings. His faithful love endures forever.
• 18. He killed powerful kings--His faithful love endures forever.
• 19. Sihon king of the Amorites, His faithful love endures forever.
• 20. and Og king of Bashan. His faithful love endures forever.
• 21. God gave the land of these kings as an inheritance--His faithful love endures forever.
• 22. a special possession to his servant Israel. His faithful love endures forever.
• 23. He remembered our utter weakness. His faithful love endures forever.
• 24. He saved us from our enemies. His faithful love endures forever.
• 25. He gives food to every living thing. His faithful love endures forever.
• 26. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.

Isaiah 66

• 1. This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you ever build me a temple as good as that? Could you build a dwelling place for me?
• 2. My hands have made both heaven and earth, and they are mine. I, the LORD, have spoken! "I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.
• 3. But those who choose their own ways, delighting in their sins, are cursed. Their offerings will not be accepted. When such people sacrifice an ox, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb or bring an offering of grain, it is as bad as putting a dog or the blood of a pig on the altar! When they burn incense, it is as if they had blessed an idol.
• 4. I will send great troubles against them--all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned--before my very eyes--and chose to do what they know I despise."
• 5. Hear this message from the LORD, and tremble at his words: "Your close relatives hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. `Let the LORD be honored!' they scoff. `Be joyful in him!' But they will be put to shame.
• 6. What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the LORD taking vengeance against his enemies.
• 7. "Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son.
• 8. Who has ever seen or heard of anything as strange as this? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem's birth pains begin, the baby will be born; the nation will come forth.
• 9. Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?" asks the LORD. "No! I would never keep this nation from being born," says your God.
• 10. "Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and mourn for her.
• 11. Delight in Jerusalem! Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother's generous breasts.
• 12. Peace and prosperity will overflow Jerusalem like a river," says the LORD. "The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and treated with love.
• 13. I will comfort you there as a child is comforted by its mother."
• 14. When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. Vigorous health will be yours! Everyone will see the good hand of the LORD on his people--and his anger against his enemies.
• 15. See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his swift chariots of destruction roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.
• 16. The LORD will punish the world by fire and by his sword, and many will be killed by the LORD.
• 17. "Those who `purify' themselves in a sacred garden, feasting on pork and rats and other forbidden meats, will come to a terrible end," says the LORD.
• 18. "I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory.
• 19. I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations--to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations.
• 20. They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels," says the LORD.
• 21. "And I will appoint some of those who return to be my priests and Levites. I, the LORD, have spoken!
• 22. "As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear," says the LORD.
• 23. "All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month.
• 24. And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror."

New Living Translation: 185 of 365 days.