Genesis 3

• 1. Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. "Really?" he asked the woman. "Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?"
• 2. "Of course we may eat it," the woman told him.
• 3. "It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die."
• 4. "You won't die!" the serpent hissed.
• 5. "God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil."
• 6. The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too.
• 7. At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves.
• 8. Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees.
• 9. The LORD God called to Adam, "Where are you?"
• 10. He replied, "I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked."
• 11. "Who told you that you were naked?" the LORD God asked. "Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?"
• 12. "Yes," Adam admitted, "but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it."
• 13. Then the LORD God asked the woman, "How could you do such a thing?The serpent tricked me," she replied. "That's why I ate it."
• 14. So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you will be punished. You are singled out from all the domestic and wild animals of the whole earth to be cursed. You will grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly.
• 15. From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
• 16. Then he said to the woman, "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master."
• 17. And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
• 18. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.
• 19. All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return."
• 20. Then Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all people everywhere.
• 21. And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
• 22. Then the LORD God said, "The people have become as we are, knowing everything, both good and evil. What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!"
• 23. So the LORD God banished Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.
• 24. After banishing them from the garden, the LORD God stationed mighty angelic beings to the east of Eden. And a flaming sword flashed back and forth, guarding the way to the tree of life.

Matthew 3

• 1. In those days John the Baptist began preaching in the Judean wilderness. His message was,
• 2. "Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near. "
• 3. Isaiah had spoken of John when he said, "He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: 'Prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming! Make a straight road for him!'"
• 4. John's clothes were woven from camel hair, and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey.
• 5. People from Jerusalem and from every section of Judea and from all over the Jordan Valley went out to the wilderness to hear him preach.
• 6. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
• 7. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he denounced them. "You brood of snakes!" he exclaimed. "Who warned you to flee God's coming judgment?
• 8. Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God.
• 9. Don't just say, 'We're safe--we're the descendants of Abraham.' That proves nothing. God can change these stones here into children of Abraham.
• 10. Even now the ax of God's judgment is poised, ready to sever your roots. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
• 11. "I baptize with water those who turn from their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am--so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
• 12. He is ready to separate the chaff from the grain with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, storing the grain in his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire."
• 13. Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.
• 14. But John didn't want to baptize him. "I am the one who needs to be baptized by you," he said, "so why are you coming to me?"
• 15. But Jesus said, "It must be done, because we must do everything that is right. "So then John baptized him.
• 16. After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him.
• 17. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him."

Ezra 3

• 1. Now in early autumn, when the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled together as one person in Jerusalem.
• 2. Then Jeshua son of Jehozadak with his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel with his family began to rebuild the altar of the God of Israel so they could sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as instructed in the law of Moses, the man of God.
• 3. Even though the people were afraid of the local residents, they rebuilt the altar at its old site. Then they immediately began to sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar to the LORD. They did this each morning and evening.
• 4. They celebrated the Festival of Shelters as prescribed in the law of Moses, sacrificing the burnt offerings specified for each day of the festival.
• 5. They also offered the regular burnt offerings and the offerings required for the new moon celebrations and the other annual festivals to the LORD. Freewill offerings were also sacrificed to the LORD by the people.
• 6. Fifteen days before the Festival of Shelters began, the priests had begun to sacrifice burnt offerings to the LORD. This was also before they had started to lay the foundation of the LORD's Temple.
• 7. Then they hired masons and carpenters and bought cedar logs from the people of Tyre and Sidon, paying them with food, wine, and olive oil. The logs were brought down from the Lebanon mountains and floated along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to Joppa, for King Cyrus had given permission for this.
• 8. The construction of the Temple of God began in midspring, during the second year after they arrived in Jerusalem. The work force was made up of everyone who had returned from exile, including Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his fellow priests, and all the Levites. The Levites who were twenty years old or older were put in charge of rebuilding the LORD's Temple.
• 9. The workers at the Temple of God were supervised by Jeshua with his sons and relatives, and Kadmiel and his sons, all descendants of Hodaviah. They were helped in this task by the Levites of the family of Henadad.
• 10. When the builders completed the foundation of the LORD's Temple, the priests put on their robes and took their places to blow their trumpets. And the Levites, descendants of Asaph, clashed their cymbals to praise the LORD, just as King David had prescribed.
• 11. With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the LORD: "He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!" Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the LORD because the foundation of the LORD's Temple had been laid.
• 12. Many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders remembered the first Temple, and they wept aloud when they saw the new Temple's foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy.
• 13. The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud commotion that could be heard far in the distance.

New Living Translation: 3 of 365 days.