Judges 12

• 1. Then the tribe of Ephraim mobilized its army and crossed over to Zaphon. They sent this message to Jephthah: "Why didn't you call for us to help you fight against Ammon? We are going to burn down your house with you in it!"
• 2. "I summoned you at the beginning of the dispute, but you refused to come!" Jephthah said. "You failed to help us in our struggle against Ammon.
• 3. So I risked my life and went to battle without you, and the LORD gave me victory over the Ammonites. So why have you come to fight me?"
• 4. The leaders of Ephraim responded, "The men of Gilead are nothing more than rejects from Ephraim and Manasseh." So Jephthah called out his army and attacked the men of Ephraim and defeated them.
• 5. Jephthah captured the shallows of the Jordan, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go back across, the men of Gilead would challenge him. "Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?" they would ask. If the man said, "No, I'm not,"
• 6. they would tell him to say "Shibboleth." If he was from Ephraim, he would say "Sibboleth," because people from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly. Then they would take him and kill him at the shallows of the Jordan River. So forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
• 7. Jephthah was Israel's judge for six years. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead.
• 8. After Jephthah, Ibzan became Israel's judge. He lived in Bethlehem,
• 9. and he had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He married his daughters to men outside his clan and brought in thirty young women from outside his clan to marry his sons. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years.
• 10. When he died, he was buried at Bethlehem.
• 11. After him, Elon from Zebulun became Israel's judge. He judged Israel for ten years.
• 12. When he died, he was buried at Aijalon in Zebulun.
• 13. After Elon died, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, became Israel's judge.
• 14. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He was Israel's judge for eight years.
• 15. Then he died and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Acts 16

• 1. Paul and Silas went first to Derbe and then on to Lystra. There they met Timothy, a young disciple whose mother was a Jewish believer, but whose father was a Greek.
• 2. Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium,
• 3. so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek.
• 4. Then they went from town to town, explaining the decision regarding the commandments that were to be obeyed, as decided by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
• 5. So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew daily in numbers.
• 6. Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had told them not to go into the province of Asia at that time.
• 7. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not let them go.
• 8. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the city of Troas.
• 9. That night Paul had a vision. He saw a man from Macedonia in northern Greece, pleading with him, "Come over here and help us."
• 10. So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, for we could only conclude that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.
• 11. We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis.
• 12. From there we reached Philippi, a major city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony; we stayed there several days.
• 13. On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we supposed that some people met for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had come together.
• 14. One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.
• 15. She was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. "If you agree that I am faithful to the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my home." And she urged us until we did.
• 16. One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters.
• 17. She followed along behind us shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved."
• 18. This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and spoke to the demon within her. "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her," he said. And instantly it left her.
• 19. Her masters' hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace.
• 20. "The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!" they shouted.
• 21. "They are teaching the people to do things that are against Roman customs."
• 22. A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods.
• 23. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape.
• 24. So he took no chances but put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.
• 25. Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.
• 26. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!
• 27. The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself.
• 28. But Paul shouted to him, "Don't do it! We are all here!"
• 29. Trembling with fear, the jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down before Paul and Silas.
• 30. He brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
• 31. They replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with your entire household."
• 32. Then they shared the word of the Lord with him and all who lived in his household.
• 33. That same hour the jailer washed their wounds, and he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized.
• 34. Then he brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.
• 35. The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, "Let those men go!"
• 36. So the jailer told Paul, "You and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace."
• 37. But Paul replied, "They have publicly beaten us without trial and jailed us--and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!"
• 38. When the police made their report, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.
• 39. They came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city.
• 40. Paul and Silas then returned to the home of Lydia, where they met with the believers and encouraged them once more before leaving town.

Jeremiah 25

• 1. This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the LORD during the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign over Judah. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his reign.
• 2. Jeremiah the prophet said to the people in Judah and Jerusalem,
• 3. "For the past twenty-three years--from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now--the LORD has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.
• 4. "Again and again, the LORD has sent you his prophets, but you have not listened or even tried to hear.
• 5. Each time the message was this: `Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the LORD gave to you and your ancestors forever.
• 6. Do not make me angry by worshiping the idols you have made. Then I will not harm you.'
• 7. "But you would not listen to me," says the LORD. "You made me furious by worshiping your idols, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer.
• 8. And now the LORD Almighty says: Because you have not listened to me,
• 9. I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the other nations near you. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.
• 10. I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your businesses will fail, and all your homes will stand silent and dark.
• 11. This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
• 12. "Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins, says the LORD. I will make the country of the Babylonians an everlasting wasteland.
• 13. I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book--all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations.
• 14. Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people."
• 15. Then the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me, "Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
• 16. When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them."
• 17. So I took the cup of anger from the LORD and made all the nations drink from it--every nation the LORD sent me to.
• 18. I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing.
• 19. I went to Egypt and spoke to Pharaoh, his officials, his princes, and his people. They, too, drank from that terrible cup,
• 20. along with all the foreigners living in that land. So did all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod.
• 21. Then I went to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon,
• 22. and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea.
• 23. I went to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who live in distant places.
• 24. I went to the kings of Arabia, the kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert,
• 25. and to the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media.
• 26. And I went to the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other--all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon himself drank from the cup of the LORD's anger.
• 27. Then the LORD said to me, "Now tell them, `The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get drunk and vomit, and you will fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars against you.'
• 28. And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, `The LORD Almighty says: You must drink from it. You cannot escape!
• 29. I have begun to punish Jerusalem, the city where my own name is honored. Now should I let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!'
• 30. "Now prophesy all these things, and say to them, `The LORD will roar loudly against his own land from his holy dwelling in heaven. He will shout against everyone on the earth, like the harvesters do as they crush juice from the grapes.
• 31. His cry of judgment will reach the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring his case against all the nations. He will judge all the people of the earth, slaughtering the wicked with his sword. The LORD has spoken!'"
• 32. This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Look! Disaster will fall upon nation after nation! A great whirlwind of fury is rising from the most distant corners of the earth!"
• 33. In that day those the LORD has slaughtered will fill the earth from one end to the other. No one will mourn for them or gather up their bodies to bury them. They will be scattered like dung on the ground.
• 34. Weep and moan, you evil shepherds! Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock! The time of your slaughter has arrived; you will fall and shatter like fragile pottery.
• 35. You will find no place to hide; there will be no way to escape.
• 36. Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds, to the leaders of the flock shouting in despair, for the LORD is spoiling their pastures.
• 37. Peaceful meadows will be turned into a wasteland by the LORD's fierce anger.
• 38. He has left his den like a lion seeking its prey, and their land will be made desolate by the sword of the enemy and the LORD's fierce anger.

New Living Translation: 210 of 365 days.