1 Chronicles 17

• 1. Now when David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am living in this beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of the LORD's covenant is out in a tent!"
• 2. Nathan replied, "Go ahead with what you have in mind, for God is with you."
• 3. But that same night God said to Nathan,
• 4. "Go and tell my servant David, `This is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build me a temple to live in.
• 5. I have never lived in a temple, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until now. My home has always been a tent, moving from one place to another.
• 6. And I never once complained to Israel's leaders, the shepherds of my people. I have never asked them, "Why haven't you built me a beautiful cedar temple?"'
• 7. "Now go and say to my servant David, `This is what the LORD Almighty says: I chose you to lead my people Israel when you were just a shepherd boy, tending your sheep out in the pasture.
• 8. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies. Now I will make your name famous throughout the earth!
• 9. And I have provided a permanent homeland for my people Israel, a secure place where they will never be disturbed. It will be their own land where wicked nations won't oppress them as they did in the past,
• 10. from the time I appointed judges to rule my people. And I will subdue all your enemies. "`And now I declare that the LORD will build a house for you--a dynasty of kings!
• 11. For when you die, I will raise up one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong.
• 12. He is the one who will build a house--a temple--for me. And I will establish his throne forever.
• 13. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will not take my unfailing love from him as I took it from Saul, who ruled before you.
• 14. I will establish him over my dynasty and my kingdom for all time, and his throne will be secure forever.'"
• 15. So Nathan went back to David and told him everything the LORD had said.
• 16. Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and prayed, "Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?
• 17. And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving me a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O LORD God!
• 18. What more can I say about the way you have honored me? You know what I am really like.
• 19. For my sake, O LORD, and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known.
• 20. "O LORD, there is no one like you--there is no other God. We have never even heard of another god like you!
• 21. What other nation on earth is like Israel? What other nation, O God, have you redeemed from slavery to be your own people? You made a great name for yourself when you rescued your people from Egypt. You performed awesome miracles and drove out the nations that stood in their way.
• 22. You chose Israel to be your people forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God.
• 23. "And now, O LORD, do as you have promised concerning me and my family. May it be a promise that will last forever.
• 24. And may your name be established and honored forever so that all the world will say, `The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!' And may the dynasty of your servant David be established in your presence.
• 25. "O my God, I have been bold enough to pray this prayer because you have revealed that you will build a house for me--an eternal dynasty!
• 26. For you are God, O LORD. And you have promised these good things to me, your servant.
• 27. And now, it has pleased you to bless me and my family so that our dynasty will continue forever before you. For when you grant a blessing, O LORD, it is an eternal blessing!"

James 4

• 1. What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn't it the whole army of evil desires at war within you?
• 2. You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can't possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it.
• 3. And even when you do ask, you don't get it because your whole motive is wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure.
• 4. You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can't be a friend of God.
• 5. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful?
• 6. He gives us more and more strength to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, "God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble."
• 7. So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
• 8. Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites.
• 9. Let there be tears for the wrong things you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.
• 10. When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor.
• 11. Don't speak evil against each other, my dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize each other and condemn each other, then you are criticizing and condemning God's law. But you are not a judge who can decide whether the law is right or wrong. Your job is to obey it.
• 12. God alone, who made the law, can rightly judge among us. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to condemn your neighbor?
• 13. Look here, you people who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit."
• 14. How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog--it's here a little while, then it's gone.
• 15. What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that."
• 16. Otherwise you will be boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.
• 17. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

Jonah 1

• 1. The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai:
• 2. "Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh! Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are."
• 3. But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction in order to get away from the LORD. He went down to the seacoast, to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping that by going away to the west he could escape from the LORD.
• 4. But as the ship was sailing along, suddenly the LORD flung a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to send them to the bottom.
• 5. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. And all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold.
• 6. So the captain went down after him. "How can you sleep at a time like this?" he shouted. "Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will have mercy on us and spare our lives."
• 7. Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, Jonah lost the toss.
• 8. "What have you done to bring this awful storm down on us?" they demanded. "Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?"
• 9. And Jonah answered, "I am a Hebrew, and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
• 10. Then he told them that he was running away from the LORD. The sailors were terrified when they heard this. "Oh, why did you do it?" they groaned.
• 11. And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, "What should we do to you to stop this storm?"
• 12. "Throw me into the sea," Jonah said, "and it will become calm again. For I know that this terrible storm is all my fault."
• 13. Instead, the sailors tried even harder to row the boat ashore. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn't make it.
• 14. Then they cried out to the LORD, Jonah's God. "O LORD," they pleaded, "don't make us die for this man's sin. And don't hold us responsible for his death, because it isn't our fault. O LORD, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons."
• 15. Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once!
• 16. The sailors were awestruck by the LORD's great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.
• 17. Now the LORD had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

New Living Translation: 326 of 365 days.