Genesis 22

• 1. Later on God tested Abraham's faith and obedience. "Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am."
• 2. "Take your son, your only son--yes, Isaac, whom you love so much--and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you."
• 3. The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped wood to build a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place where God had told him to go.
• 4. On the third day of the journey, Abraham saw the place in the distance.
• 5. "Stay here with the donkey," Abraham told the young men. "The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back."
• 6. Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the knife and the fire. As the two of them went on together,
• 7. Isaac said, "Father?Yes, my son," Abraham replied. "We have the wood and the fire," said the boy, "but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?"
• 8. "God will provide a lamb, my son," Abraham answered. And they both went on together.
• 9. When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood on it. Then he tied Isaac up and laid him on the altar over the wood.
• 10. And Abraham took the knife and lifted it up to kill his son as a sacrifice to the LORD.
• 11. At that moment the angel of the LORD shouted to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!Yes," he answered. "I'm listening."
• 12. "Lay down the knife," the angel said. "Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me."
• 13. Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering on the altar in place of his son.
• 14. Abraham named the place "The LORD Will Provide." This name has now become a proverb: "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."
• 15. Then the angel of the LORD called again to Abraham from heaven,
• 16. "This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by my own self that
• 17. I will bless you richly. I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. They will conquer their enemies,
• 18. and through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed--all because you have obeyed me."
• 19. Then they returned to Abraham's young men and traveled home again to Beersheba, where Abraham lived for quite some time.
• 20. Soon after this, Abraham heard that Milcah, his brother Nahor's wife, had borne Nahor eight sons.
• 21. The oldest was named Uz, the next oldest was Buz, followed by Kemuel (the father of Aram),
• 22. Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
• 23. Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.
• 24. In addition to his eight sons from Milcah, Nahor had four other children from his concubine Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Matthew 21

• 1. As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead.
• 2. "Go into the village over there," he said, "and you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here.
• 3. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will immediately send them."
• 4. This was done to fulfill the prophecy,
• 5. "Tell the people of Israel, 'Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey--even on a donkey's colt.'"
• 6. The two disciples did as Jesus said.
• 7. They brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.
• 8. Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
• 9. He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting, "Praise God for the Son of David! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!"
• 10. The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as he entered. "Who is this?" they asked.
• 11. And the crowds replied, "It's Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
• 12. Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves.
• 13. He said, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves!"
• 14. The blind and the lame came to him, and he healed them there in the Temple.
• 15. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the little children in the Temple shouting, "Praise God for the Son of David." But they were indignant
• 16. and asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?Yes," Jesus replied. "Haven't you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, 'You have taught children and infants to give you praise.'"
• 17. Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.
• 18. In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry,
• 19. and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs on it, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" And immediately the fig tree withered up.
• 20. The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?"
• 21. Then Jesus told them, "I assure you, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, 'May God lift you up and throw you into the sea,' and it will happen.
• 22. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
• 23. When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and other leaders came up to him. They demanded, "By whose authority did you drive out the merchants from the Temple? Who gave you such authority?"
• 24. "I'll tell you who gave me the authority to do these things if you answer one question," Jesus replied.
• 25. "Did John's baptism come from heaven or was it merely human?" They talked it over among themselves. "If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn't believe him.
• 26. But if we say it was merely human, we'll be mobbed, because the people think he was a prophet."
• 27. So they finally replied, "We don't know." And Jesus responded, "Then I won't answer your question either.
• 28. "But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'
• 29. The son answered, 'No, I won't go,' but later he changed his mind and went anyway.
• 30. Then the father told the other son, 'You go,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, I will.' But he didn't go.
• 31. Which of the two was obeying his father?" They replied, "The first, of course." Then Jesus explained his meaning: "I assure you, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do.
• 32. For John the Baptist came and showed you the way to life, and you didn't believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to turn from your sins and believe him.
• 33. "Now listen to this story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country.
• 34. At the time of the grape harvest he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop.
• 35. But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.
• 36. So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.
• 37. "Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, 'Surely they will respect my son.'
• 38. "But when the farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, 'Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves!'
• 39. So they grabbed him, took him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.
• 40. "When the owner of the vineyard returns," Jesus asked, "what do you think he will do to those farmers?"
• 41. The religious leaders replied, "He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest."
• 42. Then Jesus asked them, "Didn't you ever read this in the Scriptures? 'The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous to see.'
• 43. What I mean is that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit.
• 44. Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls. "
• 45. When the leading priests and Pharisees heard Jesus, they realized he was pointing at them--that they were the farmers in his story.
• 46. They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid to try because the crowds considered Jesus to be a prophet.

Nehemiah 11

• 1. Now the leaders of the people were living in Jerusalem, the holy city, at this time. A tenth of the people from the other towns of Judah and Benjamin were chosen by sacred lots to live there, too, while the rest stayed where they were.
• 2. And the people commended everyone who volunteered to resettle in Jerusalem.
• 3. Here is a list of the names of the provincial officials who came to Jerusalem. Most of the people, priests, Levites, Temple servants, and descendants of Solomon's servants continued to live in their own homes in the various towns of Judah,
• 4. but some of the people from Judah and Benjamin resettled in Jerusalem. From the tribe of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalalel, of the family of Perez;
• 5. and Maaseiah son of Baruch, son of Col-hozeh, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Joiarib, son of Zechariah, of the family of Shelah.
• 6. There were also 468 descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem--all outstanding men.
• 7. From the tribe of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, son of Joed, son of Pedaiah, son of Kolaiah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ithiel, son of Jeshaiah;
• 8. and after him there were Gabbai and Sallai, and a total of 928 relatives.
• 9. Their chief officer was Joel son of Zicri, who was assisted by Judah son of Hassenuah, second-in-command over the city.
• 10. From the priests: Jedaiah son of Joiarib; Jakin;
• 11. and Seraiah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the supervisor of the Temple of God;
• 12. together with 822 of their associates, who worked at the Temple. Also, there was Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malkijah;
• 13. and 242 of his associates, who were heads of their families. There were also Amashsai son of Azarel, son of Ahzai, son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer;
• 14. and 128 of his outstanding associates. Their chief officer was Zabdiel son of Haggedolim.
• 15. From the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni;
• 16. Shabbethai and Jozabad, who were in charge of the work outside the Temple of God;
• 17. Mattaniah son of Mica, son of Zabdi, a descendant of Asaph, who opened the thanksgiving services with prayer; Bakbukiah, who was Mattaniah's assistant; and Abda son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun.
• 18. In all, there were 284 Levites in the holy city.
• 19. From the gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon, and 172 of their associates, who guarded the gates.
• 20. The other priests, Levites, and the rest of the Israelites lived wherever their family inheritance was located in any of the towns of Judah.
• 21. However, the Temple servants, whose leaders were Ziha and Gishpa, all lived on the hill of Ophel.
• 22. The chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, a descendant of Asaph, whose family served as singers at God's Temple.
• 23. They were under royal orders, which determined their daily activities.
• 24. Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, a descendant of Zerah son of Judah, was the king's agent in all matters of public administration.
• 25. Some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba with its villages, Dibon with its villages, and Jekabzeel with its villages.
• 26. They also lived in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth-pelet,
• 27. Hazar-shual, Beersheba with its villages,
• 28. Ziklag, and Meconah with its villages.
• 29. They were also in En-rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,
• 30. Zanoah, and Adullam with their villages. They were also in Lachish and its nearby fields and Azekah with its surrounding villages. So the people of Judah were living all the way from Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom.
• 31. Some of the people of Benjamin lived at Geba, Micmash, Aija, and Bethel with its surrounding villages.
• 32. They were also in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,
• 33. Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,
• 34. Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,
• 35. Lod, Ono, and the Valley of Craftsmen.
• 36. Some of the Levites who lived in Judah were sent to live with the tribe of Benjamin.

New Living Translation: 21 of 365 days.