1 Samuel 1

• 1. There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham and grandson of Elihu, from the family of Tohu and the clan of Zuph.
• 2. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, while Hannah did not.
• 3. Each year Elkanah and his family would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at the Tabernacle. The priests of the LORD at that time were the two sons of Eli--Hophni and Phinehas.
• 4. On the day Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the sacrifice to Peninnah and each of her children.
• 5. But he gave Hannah a special portion because he loved her very much, even though the LORD had given her no children.
• 6. But Peninnah made fun of Hannah because the LORD had closed her womb.
• 7. Year after year it was the same--Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Hannah would finally be reduced to tears and would not even eat.
• 8. "What's the matter, Hannah?" Elkanah would ask. "Why aren't you eating? Why be so sad just because you have no children? You have me--isn't that better than having ten sons?"
• 9. Once when they were at Shiloh, Hannah went over to the Tabernacle after supper to pray to the LORD. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance.
• 10. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the LORD.
• 11. And she made this vow: "O LORD Almighty, if you will look down upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the LORD, his hair will never be cut."
• 12. As she was praying to the LORD, Eli watched her.
• 13. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking.
• 14. "Must you come here drunk?" he demanded. "Throw away your wine!"
• 15. "Oh no, sir!" she replied, "I'm not drunk! But I am very sad, and I was pouring out my heart to the LORD.
• 16. Please don't think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow."
• 17. "In that case," Eli said, "cheer up! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him."
• 18. "Oh, thank you, sir!" she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.
• 19. The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the LORD once more. Then they returned home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the LORD remembered her request,
• 20. and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, "I asked the LORD for him."
• 21. The next year Elkanah, Peninnah, and their children went on their annual trip to offer a sacrifice to the LORD.
• 22. But Hannah did not go. She told her husband, "Wait until the baby is weaned. Then I will take him to the Tabernacle and leave him there with the LORD permanently."
• 23. "Whatever you think is best," Elkanah agreed. "Stay here for now, and may the LORD help you keep your promise." So she stayed home and nursed the baby.
• 24. When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice and half a bushel of flour and some wine.
• 25. After sacrificing the bull, they took the child to Eli.
• 26. "Sir, do you remember me?" Hannah asked. "I am the woman who stood here several years ago praying to the LORD.
• 27. I asked the LORD to give me this child, and he has given me my request.
• 28. Now I am giving him to the LORD, and he will belong to the LORD his whole life." And they worshiped the LORD there.

Romans 1

• 1. This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ's slave, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News.
• 2. This Good News was promised long ago by God through his prophets in the holy Scriptures.
• 3. It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus, who came as a man, born into King David's royal family line.
• 4. And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit.
• 5. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.
• 6. You are among those who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ,
• 7. dear friends in Rome. God loves you dearly, and he has called you to be his very own people. May grace and peace be yours from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 8. Let me say first of all that your faith in God is becoming known throughout the world. How I thank God through Jesus Christ for each one of you.
• 9. God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by telling others the Good News about his Son.
• 10. One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you.
• 11. For I long to visit you so I can share a spiritual blessing with you that will help you grow strong in the Lord.
• 12. I'm eager to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be a blessing to the other.
• 13. I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see good results, just as I have done among other Gentiles.
• 14. For I have a great sense of obligation to people in our culture and to people in other cultures, to the educated and uneducated alike.
• 15. So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach God's Good News.
• 16. For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes--Jews first and also Gentiles.
• 17. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life."
• 18. But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.
• 19. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts.
• 20. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.
• 21. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused.
• 22. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead.
• 23. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes.
• 24. So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies.
• 25. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen.
• 26. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.
• 27. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved.
• 28. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done.
• 29. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
• 30. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents.
• 31. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving.
• 32. They are fully aware of God's death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

Jeremiah 39

• 1. It was in January during the ninth year of King Zedekiah's reign that King Nebuchadnezzar and his army returned to besiege Jerusalem.
• 2. Two and a half years later, on July 18, the Babylonians broke through the wall, and the city fell.
• 3. All the officers of the Babylonian army came in and sat in triumph at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, and Nebo-sarsekim, a chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer, the king's adviser, and many others.
• 4. King Zedekiah and his royal guard saw the Babylonians in the city gate, so they fled when the darkness of night arrived. They went out through a gate between the two walls behind the king's garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.
• 5. But the Babylonians chased the king and caught him on the plains of Jericho. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.
• 6. He made Zedekiah watch as they killed his sons and all the nobles of Judah.
• 7. Then he gouged out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him in chains, and sent him away to exile in Babylon.
• 8. Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned Jerusalem, including the palace, and tore down the walls of the city.
• 9. Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, sent to Babylon the remnant of the population as well as those who had defected to him.
• 10. But Nebuzaradan left a few of the poorest people in Judah, and he assigned them fields and vineyards to care for.
• 11. King Nebuchadnezzar had told Nebuzaradan to find Jeremiah.
• 12. "See that he isn't hurt," he had said. "Look after him well, and give him anything he wants."
• 13. So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, and Nebushazban, a chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer, the king's adviser, and the other officers of Babylon's king
• 14. sent messengers to bring Jeremiah out of the prison. They put him under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, who was to take him back to his home. So Jeremiah stayed in Judah among his own people.
• 15. The LORD had given the following message to Jeremiah while he was still in prison:
• 16. "Say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, `The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will do to this city everything I have threatened. I will send disaster, not prosperity. You will see its destruction,
• 17. but I will rescue you from those you fear so much.
• 18. Because you trusted me, I will preserve your life and keep you safe. I, the LORD, have spoken!'"

New Living Translation: 223 of 365 days.