Genesis 38

• 1. About this time, Judah left home and moved to Adullam, where he visited a man named Hirah.
• 2. There he met a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua, and he married her.
• 3. She became pregnant and had a son, and Judah named the boy Er.
• 4. Then Judah's wife had another son, and she named him Onan.
• 5. And when she had a third son, she named him Shelah. At the time of Shelah's birth, they were living at Kezib.
• 6. When his oldest son, Er, grew up, Judah arranged his marriage to a young woman named Tamar.
• 7. But Er was a wicked man in the LORD's sight, so the LORD took his life.
• 8. Then Judah said to Er's brother Onan, "You must marry Tamar, as our law requires of the brother of a man who has died. Her first son from you will be your brother's heir."
• 9. But Onan was not willing to have a child who would not be his own heir. So whenever he had intercourse with Tamar, he spilled the semen on the ground to keep her from having a baby who would belong to his brother.
• 10. But the LORD considered it a wicked thing for Onan to deny a child to his dead brother. So the LORD took Onan's life, too.
• 11. Then Judah told Tamar, his daughter-in-law, not to marry again at that time but to return to her parents' home. She was to remain a widow until his youngest son, Shelah, was old enough to marry her. (But Judah didn't really intend to do this because he was afraid Shelah would also die, like his two brothers.) So Tamar went home to her parents.
• 12. In the course of time Judah's wife died. After the time of mourning was over, Judah and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went to Timnah to supervise the shearing of his sheep.
• 13. Someone told Tamar that her father-in-law had left for the sheep-shearing at Timnah.
• 14. Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up, but they had not called her to come and marry him. So she changed out of her widow's clothing and covered herself with a veil to disguise herself. Then she sat beside the road at the entrance to the village of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah.
• 15. Judah noticed her as he went by and thought she was a prostitute, since her face was veiled.
• 16. So he stopped and propositioned her to sleep with him, not realizing that she was his own daughter-in-law. "How much will you pay me?" Tamar asked.
• 17. "I'll send you a young goat from my flock," Judah promised. "What pledge will you give me so I can be sure you will send it?" she asked.
• 18. "Well, what do you want?" he inquired. She replied, "I want your identification seal, your cord, and the walking stick you are carrying." So Judah gave these items to her. She then let him sleep with her, and she became pregnant.
• 19. Afterward she went home, took off her veil, and put on her widow's clothing as usual.
• 20. Judah asked his friend Hirah the Adullamite to take the young goat back to her and to pick up the pledges he had given her, but Hirah couldn't find her.
• 21. So he asked the men who lived there, "Where can I find the prostitute who was sitting beside the road at the entrance to the village?We've never had a prostitute here," they replied.
• 22. So Hirah returned to Judah and told him that he couldn't find her anywhere and that the men of the village had claimed they didn't have a prostitute there.
• 23. "Then let her keep the pledges!" Judah exclaimed. "We tried our best to send her the goat. We'd be the laughingstock of the village if we went back again."
• 24. About three months later, word reached Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, was pregnant as a result of prostitution. "Bring her out and burn her!" Judah shouted.
• 25. But as they were taking her out to kill her, she sent this message to her father-in-law: "The man who owns this identification seal and walking stick is the father of my child. Do you recognize them?"
• 26. Judah admitted that they were his and said, "She is more in the right than I am, because I didn't keep my promise to let her marry my son Shelah." But Judah never slept with Tamar again.
• 27. In due season the time of Tamar's delivery arrived, and she had twin sons.
• 28. As they were being born, one of them reached out his hand, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread around the wrist of the child who appeared first, saying, "This one came out first."
• 29. But then he drew back his hand, and the other baby was actually the first to be born. "What!" the midwife exclaimed. "How did you break out first?" And ever after, he was called Perez.
• 30. Then the baby with the scarlet thread on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah.

Mark 9

• 1. Jesus went on to say, "I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!"
• 2. Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain. No one else was there. As the men watched, Jesus' appearance changed,
• 3. and his clothing became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly process could ever make it.
• 4. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus.
• 5. "Teacher, this is wonderful!" Peter exclaimed. "We will make three shrines--one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
• 6. He didn't really know what to say, for they were all terribly afraid.
• 7. Then a cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
• 8. Suddenly they looked around, and Moses and Elijah were gone, and only Jesus was with them.
• 9. As they descended the mountainside, he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until he, the Son of Man, had risen from the dead.
• 10. So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by "rising from the dead."
• 11. Now they began asking him, "Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?"
• 12. Jesus responded, "Elijah is indeed coming first to set everything in order. Why then is it written in the Scriptures that the Son of Man must suffer and be treated with utter contempt?
• 13. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and he was badly mistreated, just as the Scriptures predicted."
• 14. At the foot of the mountain they found a great crowd surrounding the other disciples, as some teachers of religious law were arguing with them.
• 15. The crowd watched Jesus in awe as he came toward them, and then they ran to greet him.
• 16. "What is all this arguing about?" he asked.
• 17. One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, "Teacher, I brought my son for you to heal him. He can't speak because he is possessed by an evil spirit that won't let him talk.
• 18. And whenever this evil spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground and makes him foam at the mouth and grind his teeth and become rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn't do it."
• 19. Jesus said to them, "You faithless people! How long must I be with you until you believe? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me."
• 20. So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.
• 21. "How long has this been happening?" Jesus asked the boy's father. He replied, "Since he was very small.
• 22. The evil spirit often makes him fall into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us. Do something if you can."
• 23. "What do you mean, 'If I can'?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if a person believes."
• 24. The father instantly replied, "I do believe, but help me not to doubt!"
• 25. When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. "Spirit of deafness and muteness," he said, "I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!"
• 26. Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy lay there motionless, and he appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd, "He's dead."
• 27. But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.
• 28. Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, "Why couldn't we cast out that evil spirit?"
• 29. Jesus replied, "This kind can be cast out only by prayer. "
• 30. Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus tried to avoid all publicity
• 31. in order to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead."
• 32. But they didn't understand what he was saying, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.
• 33. After they arrived at Capernaum, Jesus and his disciples settled in the house where they would be staying. Jesus asked them, "What were you discussing out on the road?"
• 34. But they didn't answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest.
• 35. He sat down and called the twelve disciples over to him. Then he said, "Anyone who wants to be the first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else."
• 36. Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them,
• 37. "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes my Father who sent me."
• 38. John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn't one of our group."
• 39. "Don't stop him!" Jesus said. "No one who performs miracles in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me.
• 40. Anyone who is not against us is for us.
• 41. If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I assure you, that person will be rewarded.
• 42. "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck.
• 43. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better to enter heaven with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands.
• 44. ----
• 45. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better to enter heaven with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet.
• 46. ----
• 47. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It is better to enter the Kingdom of God half blind than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,
• 48. 'where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out.'
• 49. "For everyone will be purified with fire.
• 50. Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other."

Job 5

• 1. "You may cry for help, but no one listens. You may turn to the angels, but they give you no help.
• 2. Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple.
• 3. From my experience, I know that fools who turn from God may be successful for the moment, but then comes sudden disaster.
• 4. Their children are abandoned far from help, with no one to defend them.
• 5. Their harvests are stolen, and their wealth satisfies the thirst of many others, not themselves!
• 6. But evil does not spring from the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the earth.
• 7. People are born for trouble as predictably as sparks fly upward from a fire.
• 8. "My advice to you is this: Go to God and present your case to him.
• 9. For he does great works too marvelous to understand. He performs miracles without number.
• 10. He gives rain for the earth. He sends water for the fields.
• 11. He gives prosperity to the poor and humble, and he takes sufferers to safety.
• 12. He frustrates the plans of the crafty, so their efforts will not succeed.
• 13. He catches those who think they are wise in their own cleverness, so that their cunning schemes are thwarted.
• 14. They grope in the daylight as though they were blind; they see no better in the daytime than at night.
• 15. He rescues the poor from the cutting words of the strong. He saves them from the clutches of the powerful.
• 16. And so at last the poor have hope, and the fangs of the wicked are broken.
• 17. "But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the chastening of the Almighty when you sin.
• 18. For though he wounds, he also bandages. He strikes, but his hands also heal.
• 19. He will rescue you again and again so that no evil can touch you.
• 20. He will save you from death in time of famine, from the power of the sword in time of war.
• 21. You will be safe from slander and will have no fear of destruction when it comes.
• 22. You will laugh at destruction and famine; wild animals will not terrify you.
• 23. You will be at peace with the stones of the field, and its wild animals will be at peace with you.
• 24. You will know that your home is kept safe. When you visit your pastures, nothing will be missing.
• 25. Your children will be many; your descendants will be as plentiful as grass!
• 26. You will live to a good old age. You will not be harvested until the proper time!
• 27. "We have found from experience that all this is true. Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself."

New Living Translation: 37 of 365 days.