1 Samuel 11

• 1. About a month later, King Nahash of Ammon led his army against the Israelite city of Jabesh-gilead. But the citizens of Jabesh asked for peace. "Make a treaty with us, and we will be your servants," they pleaded.
• 2. "All right," Nahash said, "but only on one condition. I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you as a disgrace to all Israel!"
• 3. "Give us seven days to send messengers throughout Israel!" replied the leaders of Jabesh. "If none of our relatives will come to save us, we will agree to your terms."
• 4. When the messengers came to Gibeah, Saul's hometown, and told the people about their plight, everyone broke into tears.
• 5. Saul was plowing in the field, and when he returned to town, he asked, "What's the matter? Why is everyone crying?" So they told him about the message from Jabesh.
• 6. Then the Spirit of God came mightily upon Saul, and he became very angry.
• 7. He took two oxen and cut them into pieces and sent the messengers to carry them throughout Israel with this message: "This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who refuses to follow Saul and Samuel into battle!" And the LORD made the people afraid of Saul's anger, and all of them came out together as one.
• 8. When Saul mobilized them at Bezek, he found that there were 300,000 men of Israel, in addition to 30,000 from Judah.
• 9. So Saul sent the messengers back to Jabesh-gilead to say, "We will rescue you by noontime tomorrow!" What joy there was throughout the city when that message arrived!
• 10. The men of Jabesh then told their enemies, "Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you can do to us as you wish."
• 11. But before dawn the next morning, Saul arrived, having divided his army into three detachments. He launched a surprise attack against the Ammonites and slaughtered them the whole morning. The remnant of their army was so badly scattered that no two of them were left together.
• 12. Then the people exclaimed to Samuel, "Now where are those men who said Saul shouldn't rule over us? Bring them here, and we will kill them!"
• 13. But Saul replied, "No one will be executed today, for today the LORD has rescued Israel!"
• 14. Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us all go to Gilgal to reaffirm Saul's kingship."
• 15. So they went to Gilgal, and in a solemn ceremony before the LORD they crowned him king. Then they offered peace offerings to the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites were very happy.

Romans 9

• 1. In the presence of Christ, I speak with utter truthfulness--I do not lie--and my conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm that what I am saying is true.
• 2. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief
• 3. for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed--cut off from Christ!--if that would save them.
• 4. They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God's special children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave his law to them. They have the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.
• 5. Their ancestors were great people of God, and Christ himself was a Jew as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
• 6. Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to the Jews? No, for not everyone born into a Jewish family is truly a Jew!
• 7. Just the fact that they are descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children. For the Scriptures say, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted," though Abraham had other children, too.
• 8. This means that Abraham's physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. It is the children of the promise who are considered to be Abraham's children.
• 9. For God had promised, "Next year I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
• 10. This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he grew up, he married Rebekah, who gave birth to twins.
• 11. But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message proves that God chooses according to his own plan,
• 12. not according to our good or bad works.) She was told, "The descendants of your older son will serve the descendants of your younger son."
• 13. In the words of the Scriptures, "I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau."
• 14. What can we say? Was God being unfair? Of course not!
• 15. For God said to Moses, "I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose."
• 16. So receiving God's promise is not up to us. We can't get it by choosing it or working hard for it. God will show mercy to anyone he chooses.
• 17. For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, "I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you, and so that my fame might spread throughout the earth."
• 18. So you see, God shows mercy to some just because he wants to, and he chooses to make some people refuse to listen.
• 19. Well then, you might say, "Why does God blame people for not listening? Haven't they simply done what he made them do?"
• 20. No, don't say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to criticize God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who made it, "Why have you made me like this?"
• 21. When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?
• 22. God has every right to exercise his judgment and his power, but he also has the right to be very patient with those who are the objects of his judgment and are fit only for destruction.
• 23. He also has the right to pour out the riches of his glory upon those he prepared to be the objects of his mercy--
• 24. even upon us, whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.
• 25. Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, "Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before."
• 26. And, "Once they were told, 'You are not my people.' But now he will say, 'You are children of the living God.'"
• 27. Concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, "Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a small number will be saved.
• 28. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality."
• 29. And Isaiah said in another place, "If the Lord Almighty had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out as completely as Sodom and Gomorrah."
• 30. Well then, what shall we say about these things? Just this: The Gentiles have been made right with God by faith, even though they were not seeking him.
• 31. But the Jews, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.
• 32. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law and being good instead of by depending on faith. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.
• 33. God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, "I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that causes people to stumble, and a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who believes in him will not be disappointed. "

Jeremiah 48

• 1. This message was given concerning Moab. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Destruction is certain for the city of Nebo; it will soon lie in ruins. The city of Kiriathaim will be humiliated and captured; the fortress will be humiliated and broken down.
• 2. No one will ever brag about Moab again, for there is a plot against her life. In Heshbon plans have been completed to destroy her. `Come,' they say, `we will cut her off from being a nation.' The city of Madmen, too, will be silenced; the sword will follow you there.
• 3. And then the roar of battle will surge against Horonaim,
• 4. for all Moab is being destroyed. Her little ones will cry out.
• 5. Her refugees will climb the hills of Luhith, weeping bitterly, while cries of terror rise from Horonaim below.
• 6. Flee for your lives! Hide in the wilderness!
• 7. Because you have trusted in your wealth and skill, you will be taken captive. Your god Chemosh, with his priests and princes, will be exiled to distant lands!
• 8. "All the towns will be destroyed, both on the plateaus and in the valleys, for the LORD has spoken.
• 9. Oh, that Moab had wings so she could fly away, for her cities will be left empty, with no one living in them.
• 10. Cursed be those who refuse to do the work the LORD has given them, who hold back their swords from shedding blood!
• 11. "From her earliest history, Moab has lived in peace. She is like wine that has been allowed to settle. She has not been poured from flask to flask, and she is now fragrant and smooth.
• 12. But the time is coming soon," says the LORD, "when I will send troublemakers to pour her from her jar. They will pour her out, then shatter the jar!
• 13. At last Moab will be ashamed of her idol Chemosh, as Israel was ashamed of her gold calf at Bethel.
• 14. "You used to boast, `We are heroes, mighty men of war.'
• 15. But now Moab and her towns will be destroyed. Her most promising youth are doomed to slaughter," says the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.
• 16. "Calamity is coming fast to Moab; it threatens ominously.
• 17. "You friends of Moab, weep for her and cry! See how the strong scepter is broken, how the beautiful staff is shattered!
• 18. Come down from your glory and sit in the dust, you people of Dibon, for those who destroy Moab will shatter Dibon, too. They will tear down all your towers.
• 19. The people of Aroer stand anxiously beside the road to watch. They shout to those who flee from Moab, `What has happened there?'
• 20. "And the reply comes back, `Moab lies in ruins; weep and wail! Tell it by the banks of the Arnon River: Moab has been destroyed!'
• 21. All the cities of the plateau lie in ruins, too. Judgment has been poured out on them all--on Holon and Jahaz and Mephaath,
• 22. and on Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,
• 23. and on Kiriathaim and Beth-gamul and Beth-meon,
• 24. and on Kerioth and Bozrah--all the cities of Moab, far and near.
• 25. "The strength of Moab has ended. Her horns have been cut off, and her arms have been broken," says the LORD.
• 26. "Let her stagger and fall like a drunkard, for she has rebelled against the LORD. Moab will wallow in her own vomit, ridiculed by all.
• 27. Did you not make Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she caught in the company of thieves that you should despise her as you do?
• 28. "You people of Moab, flee from your cities and towns! Live in the caves like doves that nest in the clefts of the rocks.
• 29. We have heard of the pride of Moab, for it is very great. We know of her loftiness, her arrogance, and her haughty heart.
• 30. I know about her insolence," says the LORD, "but her boasts are false; they accomplish nothing.
• 31. Yes, I wail for Moab; my heart is broken for the men of Kir-hareseth.
• 32. "You people of Sibmah, rich in vineyards, I will weep for you even more than I did for Jazer. Your spreading vines once reached as far as the Dead Sea, but the destroyer has stripped you bare! He has harvested your grapes and summer fruits.
• 33. Joy and gladness are gone from fruitful Moab. The presses yield no wine. No one treads the grapes with shouts of joy. There is shouting, yes, but not of joy.
• 34. Instead, their awful cries of terror can be heard from Heshbon clear across to Elealeh and Jahaz; from Zoar all the way to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up now.
• 35. "I will put an end to Moab," says the LORD, "for they offer sacrifices at the pagan shrines and burn incense to their false gods.
• 36. My heart moans like a flute for Moab and Kir-hareseth, for all their wealth has disappeared.
• 37. They shave their heads and beards in mourning. They slash their hands and put on clothes made of sackcloth.
• 38. Crying and sorrow will be in every Moabite home and on every street. For I have smashed Moab like an old, unwanted bottle.
• 39. How it is broken! Hear the wailing! See the shame of Moab! She has become an object of ridicule, an example of ruin to all her neighbors.
• 40. "An eagle swoops down on the land of Moab," says the LORD.
• 41. "Her cities will fall; her strongholds will be seized. Even the mightiest warriors will be as frightened as a woman about to give birth.
• 42. Moab will no longer be a nation, for she has boasted against the LORD.
• 43. "Terror and traps and snares will be your lot, O Moab," says the LORD.
• 44. "Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap will step into a snare. I will see to it that you do not get away, for the time of your judgment has come," says the LORD.
• 45. "The people flee as far as Heshbon but are unable to go on. For a fire comes from Heshbon, King Sihon's ancestral home, to devour the entire land with all its rebellious people.
• 46. "O Moab, your destruction is sure! The people of the god Chemosh are destroyed! Your sons and daughters have been taken away as captives.
• 47. But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Moab," says the LORD. This is the end of Jeremiah's prophecy concerning Moab.

New Living Translation: 231 of 365 days.