Genesis 24

• 1. Abraham was now a very old man, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.
• 2. One day Abraham said to the man in charge of his household, who was his oldest servant,
• 3. "Swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not let my son marry one of these local Canaanite women.
• 4. Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac."
• 5. The servant asked, "But suppose I can't find a young woman who will travel so far from home? May I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives?"
• 6. "No!" Abraham warned. "Be careful never to take my son there.
• 7. For the LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my offspring. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a young woman there to be my son's wife.
• 8. If she is unwilling to come back with you, then you are free from this oath. But under no circumstances are you to take my son there."
• 9. So the servant took a solemn oath that he would follow Abraham's instructions.
• 10. He loaded ten of Abraham's camels with gifts and set out, taking with him the best of everything his master owned. He traveled to Aram-naharaim and went to the village where Abraham's brother Nahor had settled.
• 11. There the servant made the camels kneel down beside a well just outside the village. It was evening, and the women were coming out to draw water.
• 12. "O LORD, God of my master," he prayed. "Give me success and show kindness to my master, Abraham. Help me to accomplish the purpose of my journey.
• 13. See, here I am, standing beside this spring, and the young women of the village are coming out to draw water.
• 14. This is my request. I will ask one of them for a drink. If she says, `Yes, certainly, and I will water your camels, too!'--let her be the one you have appointed as Isaac's wife. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
• 15. As he was still praying, a young woman named Rebekah arrived with a water jug on her shoulder. Her father was Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah.
• 16. Now Rebekah was very beautiful, and she was a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up again.
• 17. Running over to her, the servant asked, "Please give me a drink."
• 18. "Certainly, sir," she said, and she quickly lowered the jug for him to drink.
• 19. When he had finished, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough!"
• 20. So she quickly emptied the jug into the watering trough and ran down to the well again. She kept carrying water to the camels until they had finished drinking.
• 21. The servant watched her in silence, wondering whether or not she was the one the LORD intended him to meet.
• 22. Then at last, when the camels had finished drinking, he gave her a gold ring for her nose and two large gold bracelets for her wrists.
• 23. "Whose daughter are you?" he asked. "Would your father have any room to put us up for the night?"
• 24. "My father is Bethuel," she replied. "My grandparents are Nahor and Milcah.
• 25. Yes, we have plenty of straw and food for the camels, and we have a room for guests."
• 26. The man fell down to the ground and worshiped the LORD.
• 27. "Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master, Abraham," he said. "The LORD has been so kind and faithful to Abraham, for he has led me straight to my master's relatives."
• 28. The young woman ran home to tell her family about all that had happened.
• 29. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban.
• 30. When he saw the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he heard her story, he rushed out to the spring, where the man was still standing beside his camels. Laban said to him,
• 31. "Come and stay with us, you who are blessed by the LORD. Why do you stand here outside the village when we have a room all ready for you and a place prepared for the camels!"
• 32. So the man went home with Laban, and Laban unloaded the camels, gave him straw to bed them down, fed them, and provided water for the camel drivers to wash their feet.
• 33. Then supper was served. But Abraham's servant said, "I don't want to eat until I have told you why I have come.All right," Laban said, "tell us your mission."
• 34. "I am Abraham's servant," he explained.
• 35. "And the LORD has blessed my master richly; he has become a great man. The LORD has given him flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, a fortune in silver and gold, and many servants and camels and donkeys.
• 36. When Sarah, my master's wife, was very old, she gave birth to my master's son, and my master has given him everything he owns.
• 37. And my master made me swear that I would not let Isaac marry one of the local Canaanite women.
• 38. Instead, I was to come to his relatives here in this far-off land, to his father's home. I was told to bring back a young woman from here to marry his son.
• 39. " `But suppose I can't find a young woman willing to come back with me?' I asked him.
• 40. `You will,' he told me, `for the LORD, in whose presence I have walked, will send his angel with you and will make your mission successful. Yes, you must get a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father's family.
• 41. But if you go to my relatives and they refuse to let her come, you will be free from your oath.'
• 42. "So this afternoon when I came to the spring I prayed this prayer: `O LORD, the God of my master, Abraham, if you are planning to make my mission a success, please guide me in a special way.
• 43. Here I am, standing beside this spring. I will say to some young woman who comes to draw water, "Please give me a drink of water!"
• 44. And she will reply, "Certainly! And I'll water your camels, too!" LORD, let her be the one you have selected to be the wife of my master's son.'
• 45. "Before I had finished praying these words, I saw Rebekah coming along with her water jug on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water and filled the jug. So I said to her, `Please give me a drink.'
• 46. She quickly lowered the jug from her shoulder so I could drink, and she said, `Certainly, sir, and I will water your camels, too!' And she did.
• 47. When I asked her whose daughter she was, she told me, `My father is Bethuel, the son of Nahor and his wife, Milcah.' So I gave her the ring and the bracelets.
• 48. "Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master, Abraham, because he had led me along the right path to find a wife from the family of my master's relatives.
• 49. So tell me--will you or won't you show true kindness to my master? When you tell me, then I'll know what my next step should be, whether to move this way or that."
• 50. Then Laban and Bethuel replied, "The LORD has obviously brought you here, so what can we say?
• 51. Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has directed."
• 52. At this reply, Abraham's servant bowed to the ground and worshiped the LORD.
• 53. Then he brought out silver and gold jewelry and lovely clothing for Rebekah. He also gave valuable presents to her mother and brother.
• 54. Then they had supper, and the servant and the men with him stayed there overnight. But early the next morning, he said, "Send me back to my master."
• 55. "But we want Rebekah to stay at least ten days," her brother and mother said. "Then she can go."
• 56. But he said, "Don't hinder my return. The LORD has made my mission successful, and I want to report back to my master."
• 57. "Well," they said, "we'll call Rebekah and ask her what she thinks."
• 58. So they called Rebekah. "Are you willing to go with this man?" they asked her. And she replied, "Yes, I will go."
• 59. So they said good-bye to Rebekah and sent her away with Abraham's servant and his men. The woman who had been Rebekah's childhood nurse went along with her.
• 60. They blessed her with this blessing as she parted: "Our sister, may you become the mother of many millions! May your descendants overcome all their enemies."
• 61. Then Rebekah and her servants mounted the camels and left with Abraham's servant.
• 62. Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negev, had returned from Beer-lahairoi.
• 63. One evening as he was taking a walk out in the fields, meditating, he looked up and saw the camels coming.
• 64. When Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted.
• 65. "Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?" she asked the servant. And he replied, "It is my master." So Rebekah covered her face with her veil.
• 66. Then the servant told Isaac the whole story.
• 67. And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother's tent, and she became his wife. He loved her very much, and she was a special comfort to him after the death of his mother.

Matthew 23

• 1. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
• 2. "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the Scriptures.
• 3. So practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach.
• 4. They crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden.
• 5. "Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear extra long tassels on their robes.
• 6. And how they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the most prominent seats in the synagogue!
• 7. They enjoy the attention they get on the streets, and they enjoy being called 'Rabbi.'
• 8. Don't ever let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are on the same level as brothers and sisters.
• 9. And don't address anyone here on earth as 'Father,' for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father.
• 10. And don't let anyone call you 'Master,' for there is only one master, the Messiah.
• 11. The greatest among you must be a servant.
• 12. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
• 13. "How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you won't let others enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and you won't go in yourselves.
• 14. See Footnote
• 15. Yes, how terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn him into twice the son of hell as you yourselves are.
• 16. "Blind guides! How terrible it will be for you! For you say that it means nothing to swear 'by God's Temple'--you can break that oath. But then you say that it is binding to swear 'by the gold in the Temple.'
• 17. Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold, or the Temple that makes the gold sacred?
• 18. And you say that to take an oath 'by the altar' can be broken, but to swear 'by the gifts on the altar' is binding!
• 19. How blind! For which is greater, the gift on the altar, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
• 20. When you swear 'by the altar,' you are swearing by it and by everything on it.
• 21. And when you swear 'by the Temple,' you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it.
• 22. And when you swear 'by heaven,' you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.
• 23. "How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law--justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things.
• 24. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat; then you swallow a camel!
• 25. "How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy--full of greed and self-indulgence!
• 26. Blind Pharisees! First wash the inside of the cup, and then the outside will become clean, too.
• 27. "How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.
• 28. You try to look like upright people outwardly, but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
• 29. "How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed and decorate the graves of the godly people your ancestors destroyed.
• 30. Then you say, 'We never would have joined them in killing the prophets.'
• 31. "In saying that, you are accusing yourselves of being the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
• 32. Go ahead. Finish what they started.
• 33. Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?
• 34. I will send you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. You will kill some by crucifixion and whip others in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city.
• 35. As a result, you will become guilty of murdering all the godly people from righteous Abel to Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered in the Temple between the altar and the sanctuary.
• 36. I assure you, all the accumulated judgment of the centuries will break upon the heads of this very generation.
• 37. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God's messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn't let me.
• 38. And now look, your house is left to you, empty and desolate.
• 39. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, 'Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

Nehemiah 13

• 1. On that same day, as the Book of Moses was being read, the people found a statement which said that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be permitted to enter the assembly of God.
• 2. For they had not been friendly to the Israelites when they left Egypt. Instead, they hired Balaam to curse them, though our God turned the curse into a blessing.
• 3. When this law was read, all those of mixed ancestry were immediately expelled from the assembly.
• 4. Before this had happened, Eliashib the priest, who had been appointed as supervisor of the storerooms of the Temple of our God and who was also a relative of Tobiah,
• 5. had converted a large storage room and placed it at Tobiah's disposal. The room had previously been used for storing the grain offerings, frankincense, Temple utensils, and tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the special portion set aside for the priests. Moses had decreed that these offerings belonged to the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers.
• 6. I was not in Jerusalem at that time, for I had returned to the king in the thirty-second year of the reign of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, though I later received his permission to return.
• 7. When I arrived back in Jerusalem and learned the extent of this evil deed of Eliashib--that he had provided Tobiah with a room in the courtyards of the Temple of God--
• 8. I became very upset and threw all of Tobiah's belongings from the room.
• 9. Then I demanded that the rooms be purified, and I brought back the utensils for God's Temple, the grain offerings, and the frankincense.
• 10. I also discovered that the Levites had not been given what was due them, so they and the singers who were to conduct the worship services had all returned to work their fields.
• 11. I immediately confronted the leaders and demanded, "Why has the Temple of God been neglected?" Then I called all the Levites back again and restored them to their proper duties.
• 12. And once more all the people of Judah began bringing their tithes of grain, new wine, and olive oil to the Temple storerooms.
• 13. I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah, one of the Levites, in charge of the storerooms. And I appointed Hanan son of Zaccur and grandson of Mattaniah as their assistant. These men had an excellent reputation, and it was their job to make honest distributions to their fellow Levites.
• 14. Remember this good deed, O my God, and do not forget all that I have faithfully done for the Temple of my God.
• 15. One Sabbath day I saw some men of Judah treading their winepresses. They were also bringing in bundles of grain and loading them on their donkeys. And on that day they were bringing their wine, grapes, figs, and all sorts of produce to Jerusalem to sell. So I rebuked them for selling their produce on the Sabbath.
• 16. There were also some men from Tyre bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise. They were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah--and in Jerusalem at that!
• 17. So I confronted the leaders of Judah, "Why are you profaning the Sabbath in this evil way?
• 18. Wasn't it enough that your ancestors did this sort of thing, so that our God brought the present troubles upon us and our city? Now you are bringing even more wrath upon the people of Israel by permitting the Sabbath to be desecrated in this way!"
• 19. So I commanded that from then on the gates of the city should be shut as darkness fell every Friday evening, not to be opened until the Sabbath ended. I also sent some of my own servants to guard the gates so that no merchandise could be brought in on the Sabbath day.
• 20. The merchants and tradesmen with a variety of wares camped outside Jerusalem once or twice.
• 21. But I spoke sharply to them and said, "What are you doing out here, camping around the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you!" And that was the last time they came on the Sabbath.
• 22. Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and to guard the gates in order to preserve the holiness of the Sabbath. Remember this good deed also, O my God! Have compassion on me according to your great and unfailing love.
• 23. About the same time I realized that some of the men of Judah had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
• 24. Even worse, half their children spoke in the language of Ashdod or some other people and could not speak the language of Judah at all.
• 25. So I confronted them and called down curses on them. I beat some of them and pulled out their hair. I made them swear before God that they would not let their children intermarry with the pagan people of the land.
• 26. "Wasn't this exactly what led King Solomon of Israel into sin?" I demanded. "There was no king from any nation who could compare to him, and God loved him and made him king over all Israel. But even he was led into sin by his foreign wives.
• 27. How could you even think of committing this sinful deed and acting unfaithfully toward God by marrying foreign women?"
• 28. One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest had married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, so I banished him from my presence.
• 29. Remember them, O my God, for they have defiled the priesthood and the promises and vows of the priests and Levites.
• 30. So I purged out everything foreign and assigned tasks to the priests and Levites, making certain that each knew his work.
• 31. I also made sure that the supply of wood for the altar was brought at the proper times and that the first part of the harvest was collected for the priests. Remember this in my favor, O my God.

New Living Translation: 23 of 365 days.