Genesis 2

• 1. So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed.
• 2. On the seventh day, having finished his task, God rested from all his work.
• 3. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from his work of creation.
• 4. This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth. When the LORD God made the heavens and the earth,
• 5. there were no plants or grain growing on the earth, for the LORD God had not sent any rain. And no one was there to cultivate the soil.
• 6. But water came up out of the ground and watered all the land.
• 7. And the LORD God formed a man's body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person.
• 8. Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had created.
• 9. And the LORD God planted all sorts of trees in the garden--beautiful trees that produced delicious fruit. At the center of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
• 10. A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches.
• 11. One of these branches is the Pishon, which flows around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found.
• 12. The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there.
• 13. The second branch is the Gihon, which flows around the entire land of Cush.
• 14. The third branch is the Tigris, which flows to the east of Asshur. The fourth branch is the Euphrates.
• 15. The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it.
• 16. But the LORD God gave him this warning: "You may freely eat any fruit in the garden
• 17. except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die."
• 18. And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him."
• 19. So the LORD God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird. He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam chose a name for each one.
• 20. He gave names to all the livestock, birds, and wild animals. But still there was no companion suitable for him.
• 21. So the LORD God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam's ribs and closed up the place from which he had taken it.
• 22. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam.
• 23. "At last!" Adam exclaimed. "She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called `woman,' because she was taken out of a man."
• 24. This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
• 25. Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame.

Matthew 2

• 1. Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking,
• 2. "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him."
• 3. Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem.
• 4. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. "Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?" he asked them.
• 5. "In Bethlehem," they said, "for this is what the prophet wrote:
• 6. 'O Bethlehem of Judah, you are not just a lowly village in Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.'"
• 7. Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come see him. At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star.
• 8. Then he told them, "Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!"
• 9. After this interview the wise men went their way. Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.
• 10. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!
• 11. They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
• 12. But when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
• 13. After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother," the angel said. "Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to try to kill the child."
• 14. That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother,
• 15. and they stayed there until Herod's death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: "I called my Son out of Egypt."
• 16. Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier.
• 17. Herod's brutal action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah:
• 18. "A cry of anguish is heard in Ramah--weeping and mourning unrestrained. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted--for they are dead."
• 19. When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and told him,
• 20. "Get up and take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead."
• 21. So Joseph returned immediately to Israel with Jesus and his mother.
• 22. But when he learned that the new ruler was Herod's son Archelaus, he was afraid. Then, in another dream, he was warned to go to Galilee.
• 23. So they went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophets concerning the Messiah: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Ezra 2

• 1. Here is the list of the Jewish exiles of the provinces who returned from their captivity to Jerusalem and to the other towns of Judah. They had been deported to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.
• 2. Their leaders were Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. This is the number of the men of Israel who returned from exile:
• 3. The family of Parosh.................... 2,172
• 4. The family of Shephatiah.................. 372
• 5. The family of Arah....................... 775
• 6. The family of Pahath-moab (descendants of Jeshua and Joab)......... 2,812
• 7. The family of Elam..................... 1,254
• 8. The family of Zattu....................... 945
• 9. The family of Zaccai...................... 760
• 10. The family of Bani....................... 642
• 11. The family of Bebai...................... 623
• 12. The family of Azgad.................... 1,222
• 13. The family of Adonikam.................. 666
• 14. The family of Bigvai.................... 2,056
• 15. The family of Adin....................... 454
• 16. The family of Ater (descendants of Hezekiah)................. 98
• 17. The family of Bezai...................... 323
• 18. The family of Jorah...................... 112
• 19. The family of Hashum.................... 223
• 20. The family of Gibbar...................... 95
• 21. The people of Bethlehem.................. 123
• 22. The people of Netophah.................... 56
• 23. The people of Anathoth.................... 128
• 24. The people of Beth-azmaveth.............. 42
• 25. The peoples of Kiriath-jearim, Kephirah, and Beeroth................... 743
• 26. The peoples of Ramah and Geba............. 621
• 27. The people of Micmash.................... 122
• 28. The peoples of Bethel and Ai................ 223
• 29. The citizens of Nebo....................... 52
• 30. The citizens of Magbish.................... 156
• 31. The citizens of Elam...................... 1,254
• 32. The citizens of Harim...................... 320
• 33. The citizens of Lod, Hadid, and Ono............................... 725
• 34. The citizens of Jericho..................... 345
• 35. The citizens of Senaah.................... 3,630
• 36. These are the priests who returned from exile: The family of Jedaiah (through the line of Jeshua)...... 973
• 37. The family of Immer.......... 1,052
• 38. The family of Pashhur......... 1,247
• 39. The family of Harim.......... 1,017
• 40. These are the Levites who returned from exile: The families of Jeshua and Kadmiel (descendants of Hodaviah).......... 74
• 41. The singers of the family of Asaph.... 128
• 42. The gatekeepers of the families of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai................ 139
• 43. The descendants of the following Temple servants returned from exile: Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,
• 44. Keros, Siaha, Padon,
• 45. Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,
• 46. Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,
• 47. Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,
• 48. Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,
• 49. Uzza, Paseah, Besai,
• 50. Asnah, Meunim, Nephusim,
• 51. Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,
• 52. Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,
• 53. Barkos, Sisera, Temah,
• 54. Neziah, and Hatipha.
• 55. The descendants of these servants of King Solomon returned from exile: Sotai, Sophereth, Peruda,
• 56. Jaalah, Darkon, Giddel,
• 57. Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth-hazzebaim, and Ami.
• 58. In all, the Temple servants and the descendants of Solomon's servants numbered 392.
• 59. Another group returned to Jerusalem at this time from the towns of Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Kerub, Addan, and Immer. However, they could not prove that they or their families were descendants of Israel.
• 60. This group consisted of the families of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda--a total of 652 people.
• 61. Three families of priests--Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai--also returned to Jerusalem. (This Barzillai had married a woman who was a descendant of Barzillai of Gilead, and he had taken her family name.)
• 62. But they had lost their genealogical records, so they were not allowed to serve as priests.
• 63. The governor would not even let them eat the priests' share of food from the sacrifices until there was a priest who could consult the LORD about the matter by means of sacred lots.
• 64. So a total of 42,360 people returned to Judah,
• 65. in addition to 7,337 servants and 200 singers, both men and women.
• 66. They took with them 736 horses, 245 mules,
• 67. 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys.
• 68. When they arrived at the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders gave generously toward the rebuilding of God's Temple on its original site,
• 69. and each leader gave as much as he could. The total of their gifts came to 61,000 gold coins, 6,250 pounds of silver, and 100 robes for the priests.
• 70. So the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, the Temple servants, and some of the common people settled in villages near Jerusalem. The rest of the people returned to the other towns of Judah from which they had come.

New Living Translation: 2 of 365 days.