1 Kings 1

• 1. Now King David was very old, and no matter how many blankets covered him, he could not keep warm.
• 2. So his advisers told him, "We will find a young virgin who will wait on you and be your nurse. She will lie in your arms and keep you warm."
• 3. So they searched throughout the country for a beautiful girl, and they found Abishag from Shunem and brought her to the king.
• 4. The girl was very beautiful, and she waited on the king and took care of him. But the king had no sexual relations with her.
• 5. About that time David's son Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, decided to make himself king in place of his aged father. So he provided himself with chariots and horses and recruited fifty men to run in front of him.
• 6. Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time, even by asking, "What are you doing?" Adonijah was a very handsome man and had been born next after Absalom.
• 7. Adonijah took Joab son of Zeruiah and Abiathar the priest into his confidence, and they agreed to help him become king.
• 8. But among those who remained loyal to David and refused to support Adonijah were Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and David's personal bodyguard.
• 9. Adonijah went to the stone of Zoheleth near the spring of En-rogel, where he sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened calves. He invited all his brothers--the other sons of King David--and all the royal officials of Judah.
• 10. But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, or Benaiah, or the king's bodyguard, or his brother Solomon.
• 11. Then Nathan the prophet went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, and asked her, "Did you realize that Haggith's son, Adonijah, has made himself king and that our lord David doesn't even know about it?
• 12. If you want to save your own life and the life of your son Solomon, follow my counsel.
• 13. Go at once to King David and say to him, `My lord, didn't you promise me that my son Solomon would be the next king and would sit upon your throne? Then why has Adonijah become king?'
• 14. And while you are still talking with him, I will come and confirm everything you have said."
• 15. So Bathsheba went into the king's bedroom. He was very old now, and Abishag was taking care of him.
• 16. Bathsheba bowed low before him. "What can I do for you?" he asked her.
• 17. She replied, "My lord, you vowed to me by the LORD your God that my son Solomon would be the next king and would sit on your throne.
• 18. But instead, Adonijah has become the new king, and you do not even know about it.
• 19. He has sacrificed many oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and he has invited all your sons and Abiathar the priest and Joab, the commander of the army. But he did not invite your servant Solomon.
• 20. And now, my lord the king, all Israel is waiting for your decision as to who will become king after you.
• 21. If you do not act, my son Solomon and I will be treated as criminals as soon as you are dead."
• 22. While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.
• 23. The king's advisers told him, "Nathan the prophet is here to see you." Nathan went in and bowed low before the king.
• 24. He asked, "My lord, have you decided that Adonijah will be the next king and that he will sit on your throne?
• 25. Today he has sacrificed many oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and he has invited your sons to attend the celebration. He also invited Joab, the commander of the army, and Abiathar the priest. They are feasting and drinking with him and shouting, `Long live King Adonijah!'
• 26. But I myself, your servant, was not invited; neither were Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, nor Solomon.
• 27. Has my lord really done this without letting any of his servants know who should be the next king?"
• 28. "Call Bathsheba," David said. So she came back in and stood before the king.
• 29. And the king vowed, "As surely as the LORD lives, who has rescued me from every danger,
• 30. today I decree that your son Solomon will be the next king and will sit on my throne, just as I swore to you before the LORD, the God of Israel."
• 31. Then Bathsheba bowed low before him again and exclaimed, "May my lord King David live forever!"
• 32. Then King David ordered, "Call Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada." When they came into the king's presence,
• 33. the king said to them, "Take Solomon and my officers down to Gihon Spring. Solomon is to ride on my personal mule.
• 34. There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet are to anoint him king over Israel. Then blow the trumpets and shout, `Long live King Solomon!'
• 35. When you bring him back here, he will sit on my throne. He will succeed me as king, for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah."
• 36. "Amen!" Benaiah son of Jehoiada replied. "May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, decree it to be so.
• 37. And may the LORD be with Solomon as he has been with you, and may he make Solomon's reign even greater than yours!"
• 38. So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the king's bodyguard took Solomon down to Gihon Spring, and Solomon rode on King David's personal mule.
• 39. There Zadok the priest took a flask of olive oil from the sacred tent and poured it on Solomon's head. Then the trumpets were blown, and all the people shouted, "Long live King Solomon!"
• 40. And all the people returned with Solomon to Jerusalem, playing flutes and shouting for joy. The celebration was so joyous and noisy that the earth shook with the sound.
• 41. Adonijah and his guests heard the celebrating and shouting just as they were finishing their banquet. When Joab heard the sound of trumpets, he asked, "What's going on? Why is the city in such an uproar?"
• 42. And while he was still speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. "Come in," Adonijah said to him, "for you are a good man. You must have good news."
• 43. "Not at all!" Jonathan replied. "Our lord King David has just declared Solomon king!
• 44. The king sent him down to Gihon Spring with Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, protected by the king's bodyguard. They had him ride on the king's own mule,
• 45. and Zadok and Nathan have anointed him as the new king. They have just returned, and the whole city is celebrating and rejoicing. That's what all the noise is about.
• 46. Moreover, Solomon is now sitting on the royal throne as king.
• 47. All the royal officials went to King David and congratulated him, saying, `May your God make Solomon's fame even greater than your own, and may Solomon's kingdom be even greater than yours!' Then the king bowed his head in worship as he lay in his bed,
• 48. and he spoke these words: `Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who today has chosen someone to sit on my throne while I am still alive to see it.'"
• 49. Then all of Adonijah's guests jumped up in panic from the banquet table and quickly went their separate ways.
• 50. Adonijah himself was afraid of Solomon, so he rushed to the sacred tent and caught hold of the horns of the altar.
• 51. Word soon reached Solomon that Adonijah had seized the horns of the altar and that he was pleading, "Let Solomon swear today that he will not kill me!"
• 52. Solomon replied, "If he proves himself to be loyal, he will not be harmed. But if he does not, he will die."
• 53. So King Solomon summoned Adonijah, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed low before the king, and Solomon dismissed him, saying, "Go on home."

Galatians 5

• 1. So Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law.
• 2. Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ cannot help you.
• 3. I'll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey all of the regulations in the whole law of Moses.
• 4. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace.
• 5. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive everything promised to us who are right with God through faith.
• 6. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, it makes no difference to God whether we are circumcised or not circumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
• 7. You were getting along so well. Who has interfered with you to hold you back from following the truth?
• 8. It certainly isn't God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.
• 9. But it takes only one wrong person among you to infect all the others--a little yeast spreads quickly through the whole batch of dough!
• 10. I am trusting the Lord to bring you back to believing as I do about these things. God will judge that person, whoever it is, who has been troubling and confusing you.
• 11. Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised--as some say I do--why would the Jews persecute me? The fact that I am still being persecuted proves that I am still preaching salvation through the cross of Christ alone.
• 12. I only wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
• 13. For you have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love.
• 14. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
• 15. But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.
• 16. So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.
• 17. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict.
• 18. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.
• 19. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure,
• 20. idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group,
• 21. envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
• 22. But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
• 23. gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.
• 24. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
• 25. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.
• 26. Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another, or be jealous of one another.

Ezekiel 32

• 1. On March 3, during the twelfth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, this message came to me from the LORD:
• 2. "Son of man, mourn for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and give him this message: You think of yourself as a strong young lion among the nations, but you are really just a sea monster, heaving around in your own rivers, stirring up mud with your feet.
• 3. "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will send many people to catch you in my net and haul you out of the water.
• 4. I will leave you stranded on the land to die. All the birds of the heavens will land on you, and the wild animals of the whole earth will gorge themselves on you.
• 5. I will cover the hills with your flesh and fill the valleys with your bones.
• 6. I will drench the earth with your gushing blood all the way to the mountains, filling the ravines to the brim.
• 7. When I blot you out, I will veil the heavens and darken the stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give you its light.
• 8. Yes, I will bring darkness everywhere across your land. Even the brightest stars will become dark above you. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!
• 9. "And when I bring your shattered remains to distant nations that you have never seen, I will disturb many hearts.
• 10. Yes, I will bring terror to many lands, and their kings will be terrified because of all I do to you. They will shudder in fear for their lives as I brandish my sword before them on the day of your fall.
• 11. "For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you.
• 12. I will destroy you with the swords of mighty warriors--the terror of the nations. They will shatter the pride of Egypt, and all its hordes will be destroyed.
• 13. I will destroy all your flocks and herds that graze beside the streams. Never again will people or animals disturb those waters with their feet.
• 14. Then I will let the waters of Egypt become calm again, and they will flow as smoothly as olive oil, says the Sovereign LORD.
• 15. And when I destroy Egypt and wipe out everything you have and strike down all your people, then you will know that I am the LORD.
• 16. Yes, this is the funeral song they will sing for Egypt. Let all the nations mourn for Egypt and its hordes. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!"
• 17. On March 17, during the twelfth year, another message came to me from the LORD:
• 18. "Son of man, weep for the hordes of Egypt and for the other mighty nations. For I will send them down to the world below in company with those who descend to the pit.
• 19. Say to them, `O Egypt, are you lovelier than the other nations? No! So go down to the pit and lie there among the outcasts.'
• 20. The Egyptians will fall with the many who have died by the sword, for the sword is drawn against them. Egypt will be dragged away to its judgment.
• 21. Down in the grave mighty leaders will mockingly welcome Egypt and its allies, saying, `They have come down; they lie among the outcasts, all victims of the sword.'
• 22. "Assyria lies there surrounded by the graves of all its people, those who were slaughtered by the sword.
• 23. Their graves are in the depths of the pit, and they are surrounded by their allies. These mighty men who once struck terror in the hearts of people everywhere are now dead at the hands of their enemies.
• 24. "Elam lies there buried with its hordes who descended as outcasts to the world below. They terrorized the nations while they lived, but now they lie in the pit and share the humiliation of those who have gone to the world of the dead.
• 25. They have a resting place among the slaughtered, surrounded by the graves of all their people. Yes, they terrorized the nations while they lived, but now they lie in shame in the pit, all of them outcasts, slaughtered by the sword.
• 26. "Meshech and Tubal are there, surrounded by the graves of all their hordes. They once struck terror into the hearts of all people. But now they are outcasts, all victims of the sword.
• 27. They are not buried in honor like the fallen heroes of the outcasts, who went down to the grave with their weapons--their shields covering their bodies, and their swords beneath their heads. They brought terror to everyone while they were still alive.
• 28. "You too, Egypt, will lie crushed and broken among the outcasts, all victims of the sword.
• 29. "Edom is there with its kings and princes. Mighty as they were, they also lie among those killed by the sword, with the outcasts who have gone down to the pit.
• 30. All the princes of the north and the Sidonians are there, all victims of the sword. Once a terror, they now lie there in shame. They lie there as outcasts with all the other dead who have descended to the pit.
• 31. "When Pharaoh arrives, he will be relieved to find that he is not alone in having his entire army killed, says the Sovereign LORD.
• 32. For I have caused my terror to fall upon all the living. And Pharaoh and his hordes will lie there among the outcasts who have died by the sword. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!"

New Living Translation: 272 of 365 days.