1 Samuel 5

• 1. After the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they took it from the battleground at Ebenezer to the city of Ashdod.
• 2. They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside the idol of Dagon.
• 3. But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the LORD! So they set the idol up again.
• 4. But the next morning the same thing happened--the idol had fallen face down before the Ark of the LORD again. This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact.
• 5. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon will step on its threshold.
• 6. Then the LORD began to afflict the people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with a plague of tumors.
• 7. When the people realized what was happening, they cried out, "We can't keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any longer! He is against us! We will all be destroyed along with our god Dagon."
• 8. So they called together the rulers of the five Philistine cities and asked, "What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?" The rulers discussed it and replied, "Move it to the city of Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath.
• 9. But when the Ark arrived at Gath, the LORD began afflicting its people, young and old, with a plague of tumors, and there was a great panic.
• 10. So they sent the Ark of God to the city of Ekron, but when the people of Ekron saw it coming they cried out, "They are bringing the Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us, too!"
• 11. So the people summoned the rulers again and begged them, "Please send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its own country, or it will kill us all." For the plague from God had already begun, and great fear was sweeping across the city.
• 12. Those who didn't die were afflicted with tumors; and there was weeping everywhere.

1 Samuel 6

• 1. The Ark of the LORD remained in Philistine territory seven months in all.
• 2. Then the Philistines called in their priests and diviners and asked them, "What should we do about the Ark of the LORD? Tell us how to return it to its own land."
• 3. "Send the Ark of the God of Israel back, along with a gift," they were told. "Send a guilt offering so the plague will stop. Then, if the plague doesn't stop, you will know that God didn't send the plague after all."
• 4. "What sort of guilt offering should we send?" they asked. And they were told, "Since the plague has struck both you and your five rulers, make five gold tumors and five gold rats, just like those that have ravaged your land.
• 5. Make these things to show honor to the God of Israel. Perhaps then he will stop afflicting you, your gods, and your land.
• 6. Don't be stubborn and rebellious as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were. They wouldn't let Israel go until God had ravaged them with dreadful plagues.
• 7. Now build a new cart, and find two cows that have just had calves. Make sure the cows have never been yoked to a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but shut their calves away from them in a pen.
• 8. Put the Ark of the LORD on the cart, and beside it place a chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors. Then let the cows go wherever they want.
• 9. If they cross the border of our land and go to Beth-shemesh, we will know it was the LORD who brought this great disaster upon us. If they don't, we will know that the plague was simply a coincidence and was not sent by the LORD at all."
• 10. So these instructions were carried out. Two cows with newborn calves were hitched to the cart, and their calves were shut up in a pen.
• 11. Then the Ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors were placed on the cart.
• 12. And sure enough, the cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went. The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.
• 13. The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they saw the Ark, they were overjoyed!
• 14. The cart came into the field of a man named Joshua and stopped beside a large rock. So the people broke up the wood of the cart for a fire and killed the cows and sacrificed them to the LORD as a burnt offering.
• 15. Several men of the tribe of Levi lifted the Ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors from the cart and placed them on the large rock. Many burnt offerings and sacrifices were offered to the LORD that day by the people of Beth-shemesh.
• 16. The five Philistine rulers watched all this and then returned to Ekron that same day.
• 17. The five gold tumors that were sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the LORD were gifts from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
• 18. The five gold rats represented the five Philistine cities and their surrounding villages, which were controlled by the five rulers. The large rock at Beth-shemesh, where they set the Ark of the LORD, still stands in the field of Joshua as a reminder of what happened there.
• 19. But the LORD killed seventy men from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the LORD. And the people mourned greatly because of what the LORD had done.
• 20. "Who is able to stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God?" they cried out. "Where can we send the Ark from here?"
• 21. So they sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jearim and told them, "The Philistines have returned the Ark of the LORD. Please come here and get it!"

Romans 5

• 1. Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
• 2. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory.
• 3. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure.
• 4. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.
• 5. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
• 6. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
• 7. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good.
• 8. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
• 9. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's judgment.
• 10. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life.
• 11. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God--all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.
• 12. When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
• 13. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. And though there was no law to break, since it had not yet been given,
• 14. they all died anyway--even though they did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. What a contrast between Adam and Christ, who was yet to come!
• 15. And what a difference between our sin and God's generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God's bountiful gift.
• 16. And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin. For Adam's sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins.
• 17. The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God's wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
• 18. Yes, Adam's one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ's one act of righteousness makes all people right in God's sight and gives them life.
• 19. Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God's sight.
• 20. God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful kindness became more abundant.
• 21. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jeremiah 43

• 1. When Jeremiah had finished giving this message from the LORD their God to all the people,
• 2. Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other proud men said to Jeremiah, "You lie! The LORD our God hasn't forbidden us to go to Egypt!
• 3. Baruch son of Neriah has convinced you to say this, so we will stay here and be killed by the Babylonians or be carried off into exile."
• 4. So Johanan and all the army officers and all the people refused to obey the LORD's command to stay in Judah.
• 5. Johanan and his officers took with them all the people who had returned from the nearby countries to which they had fled.
• 6. In the crowd were men, women, and children, the king's daughters, and all those whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah. Also included were the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch.
• 7. The people refused to obey the LORD and went to Egypt, going as far as the city of Tahpanhes.
• 8. Then at Tahpanhes, the LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,
• 9. "While the people of Judah are watching, bury large rocks between the pavement stones at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace here in Tahpanhes.
• 10. Then say to the people of Judah, `The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will surely bring my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, here to Egypt. I will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden. He will spread his royal canopy over them.
• 11. And when he comes, he will destroy the land of Egypt. He will bring death to those destined for death; he will bring captivity to those destined for captivity; he will bring the sword against those destined for the sword.
• 12. He will set fire to the temples of Egypt's gods, burning all their idols and carrying away the people as captives. He will pick clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks fleas from his cloak. And he himself will leave unharmed.
• 13. He will break down the sacred pillars standing in the temple of the sun in Egypt, and he will burn down the temples of Egypt's gods.'"

New Living Translation: 227 of 365 days.