Genesis 37

• 1. So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived.
• 2. This is the history of Jacob's family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father's flocks with his half brothers, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing.
• 3. Now Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day he gave Joseph a special gift--a beautiful robe.
• 4. But his brothers hated Joseph because of their father's partiality. They couldn't say a kind word to him.
• 5. One night Joseph had a dream and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more.
• 6. "Listen to this dream," he announced.
• 7. "We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it!"
• 8. "So you are going to be our king, are you?" his brothers taunted. And they hated him all the more for his dream and what he had said.
• 9. Then Joseph had another dream and told his brothers about it. "Listen to this dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!"
• 10. This time he told his father as well as his brothers, and his father rebuked him. "What do you mean?" his father asked. "Will your mother, your brothers, and I actually come and bow before you?"
• 11. But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father gave it some thought and wondered what it all meant.
• 12. Soon after this, Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem.
• 13. When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, "Your brothers are over at Shechem with the flocks. I'm going to send you to them.I'm ready to go," Joseph replied.
• 14. "Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along," Jacob said. "Then come back and bring me word." So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from his home in the valley of Hebron.
• 15. When he arrived there, a man noticed him wandering around the countryside. "What are you looking for?" he asked.
• 16. "For my brothers and their flocks," Joseph replied. "Have you seen them?"
• 17. "Yes," the man told him, "but they are no longer here. I heard your brothers say they were going to Dothan." So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.
• 18. When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance and made plans to kill him.
• 19. "Here comes that dreamer!" they exclaimed.
• 20. "Come on, let's kill him and throw him into a deep pit. We can tell our father that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we'll see what becomes of all his dreams!"
• 21. But Reuben came to Joseph's rescue. "Let's not kill him," he said.
• 22. "Why should we shed his blood? Let's just throw him alive into this pit here. That way he will die without our having to touch him." Reuben was secretly planning to help Joseph escape, and then he would bring him back to his father.
• 23. So when Joseph arrived, they pulled off his beautiful robe
• 24. and threw him into the pit. This pit was normally used to store water, but it was empty at the time.
• 25. Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they noticed a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking spices, balm, and myrrh from Gilead to Egypt.
• 26. Judah said to the others, "What can we gain by killing our brother? That would just give us a guilty conscience.
• 27. Let's sell Joseph to those Ishmaelite traders. Let's not be responsible for his death; after all, he is our brother!" And his brothers agreed.
• 28. So when the traders came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver, and the Ishmaelite traders took him along to Egypt.
• 29. Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the pit. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in anguish and frustration.
• 30. Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, "The boy is gone! What can I do now?"
• 31. Then Joseph's brothers killed a goat and dipped the robe in its blood.
• 32. They took the beautiful robe to their father and asked him to identify it. "We found this in the field," they told him. "It's Joseph's robe, isn't it?"
• 33. Their father recognized it at once. "Yes," he said, "it is my son's robe. A wild animal has attacked and eaten him. Surely Joseph has been torn in pieces!"
• 34. Then Jacob tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. He mourned deeply for his son for many days.
• 35. His family all tried to comfort him, but it was no use. "I will die in mourning for my son," he would say, and then begin to weep.
• 36. Meanwhile, in Egypt, the traders sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.

Mark 8

• 1. About this time another great crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them,
• 2. "I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat.
• 3. And if I send them home without feeding them, they will faint along the road. For some of them have come a long distance."
• 4. "How are we supposed to find enough food for them here in the wilderness?" his disciples asked.
• 5. "How many loaves of bread do you have?" he asked. "Seven," they replied.
• 6. So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd.
• 7. A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to pass them out.
• 8. They ate until they were full, and when the scraps were picked up, there were seven large baskets of food left over!
• 9. There were about four thousand people in the crowd that day, and he sent them home after they had eaten.
• 10. Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha.
• 11. When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came to argue with him. Testing him to see if he was from God, they demanded, "Give us a miraculous sign from heaven to prove yourself."
• 12. When he heard this, he sighed deeply and said, "Why do you people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I assure you, I will not give this generation any such sign."
• 13. So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake.
• 14. But the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any food, so there was only one loaf of bread with them in the boat.
• 15. As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod."
• 16. They decided he was saying this because they hadn't brought any bread.
• 17. Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said, "Why are you so worried about having no food? Won't you ever learn or understand? Are your hearts too hard to take it in?
• 18. 'You have eyes--can't you see? You have ears--can't you hear?' Don't you remember anything at all?
• 19. What about the five thousand men I fed with five loaves of bread? How many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?Twelve," they said.
• 20. "And when I fed the four thousand with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?Seven," they said.
• 21. "Don't you understand even yet?" he asked them.
• 22. When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch and heal the man.
• 23. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man's eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, "Can you see anything now?"
• 24. The man looked around. "Yes," he said, "I see people, but I can't see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around."
• 25. Then Jesus placed his hands over the man's eyes again. As the man stared intently, his sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.
• 26. Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go back into the village on your way home."
• 27. Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"
• 28. "Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets."
• 29. Then Jesus asked, "Who do you say I am?" Peter replied, "You are the Messiah."
• 30. But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
• 31. Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and three days later he would rise again.
• 32. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn't say things like that.
• 33. Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then said to Peter very sternly, "Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."
• 34. Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. "If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.
• 35. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.
• 36. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?
• 37. Is anything worth more than your soul?
• 38. If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels."

Job 3

• 1. At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth.
• 2. He said:
• 3. "Cursed be the day of my birth, and cursed be the night when I was conceived.
• 4. Let that day be turned to darkness. Let it be lost even to God on high, and let it be shrouded in darkness.
• 5. Yes, let the darkness and utter gloom claim it for its own. Let a black cloud overshadow it, and let the darkness terrify it.
• 6. Let that night be blotted off the calendar, never again to be counted among the days of the year, never again to appear among the months.
• 7. Let that night be barren. Let it have no joy.
• 8. Let those who are experts at cursing--those who are ready to rouse the sea monster--curse that day.
• 9. Let its morning stars remain dark. Let it hope for light, but in vain; may it never see the morning light.
• 10. Curse it for its failure to shut my mother's womb, for letting me be born to all this trouble.
• 11. "Why didn't I die at birth as I came from the womb?
• 12. Why did my mother let me live? Why did she nurse me at her breasts?
• 13. For if I had died at birth, I would be at peace now, asleep and at rest.
• 14. I would rest with the world's kings and prime ministers, famous for their great construction projects.
• 15. I would rest with wealthy princes whose palaces were filled with gold and silver.
• 16. Why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light?
• 17. For in death the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.
• 18. Even prisoners are at ease in death, with no guards to curse them.
• 19. Rich and poor are there alike, and the slave is free from his master.
• 20. "Oh, why should light be given to the weary, and life to those in misery?
• 21. They long for death, and it won't come. They search for death more eagerly than for hidden treasure.
• 22. It is a blessed relief when they finally die, when they find the grave.
• 23. Why is life given to those with no future, those destined by God to live in distress?
• 24. I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water.
• 25. What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come to be.
• 26. I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; instead, only trouble comes."

Job 4

• 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied to Job:
• 2. "Will you be patient and let me say a word? For who could keep from speaking out?
• 3. "In the past you have encouraged many a troubled soul to trust in God; you have supported those who were weak.
• 4. Your words have strengthened the fallen; you steadied those who wavered.
• 5. But now when trouble strikes, you faint and are broken.
• 6. Does your reverence for God give you no confidence? Shouldn't you believe that God will care for those who are upright?
• 7. "Stop and think! Does the innocent person perish? When has the upright person been destroyed?
• 8. My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.
• 9. They perish by a breath from God. They vanish in a blast of his anger.
• 10. Though they are fierce young lions, they will all be broken and destroyed.
• 11. The fierce lion will starve, and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.
• 12. "This truth was given me in secret, as though whispered in my ear.
• 13. It came in a vision at night as others slept.
• 14. Fear gripped me; I trembled and shook with terror.
• 15. A spirit swept past my face. Its wind sent shivers up my spine.
• 16. It stopped, but I couldn't see its shape. There was a form before my eyes, and a hushed voice said,
• 17. `Can a mortal be just and upright before God? Can a person be pure before the Creator?'
• 18. "If God cannot trust his own angels and has charged some of them with folly,
• 19. how much less will he trust those made of clay! Their foundation is dust, and they are crushed as easily as moths.
• 20. They are alive in the morning, but by evening they are dead, gone forever without a trace.
• 21. Their tent collapses; they die in ignorance.

New Living Translation: 36 of 365 days.