Genesis 39

• 1. Now when Joseph arrived in Egypt with the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, a member of the personal staff of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was the captain of the palace guard.
• 2. The LORD was with Joseph and blessed him greatly as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.
• 3. Potiphar noticed this and realized that the LORD was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did.
• 4. So Joseph naturally became quite a favorite with him. Potiphar soon put Joseph in charge of his entire household and entrusted him with all his business dealings.
• 5. From the day Joseph was put in charge, the LORD began to bless Potiphar for Joseph's sake. All his household affairs began to run smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished.
• 6. So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn't have a worry in the world, except to decide what he wanted to eat! Now Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man.
• 7. And about this time, Potiphar's wife began to desire him and invited him to sleep with her.
• 8. But Joseph refused. "Look," he told her, "my master trusts me with everything in his entire household.
• 9. No one here has more authority than I do! He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I ever do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God."
• 10. She kept putting pressure on him day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.
• 11. One day, however, no one else was around when he was doing his work inside the house.
• 12. She came and grabbed him by his shirt, demanding, "Sleep with me!" Joseph tore himself away, but as he did, his shirt came off. She was left holding it as he ran from the house.
• 13. When she saw that she had his shirt and that he had fled,
• 14. she began screaming. Soon all the men around the place came running. "My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to insult us!" she sobbed. "He tried to rape me, but I screamed.
• 15. When he heard my loud cries, he ran and left his shirt behind with me."
• 16. She kept the shirt with her, and when her husband came home that night,
• 17. she told him her story. "That Hebrew slave you've had around here tried to make a fool of me," she said.
• 18. "I was saved only by my screams. He ran out, leaving his shirt behind!"
• 19. After hearing his wife's story, Potiphar was furious!
• 20. He took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held.
• 21. But the LORD was with Joseph there, too, and he granted Joseph favor with the chief jailer.
• 22. Before long, the jailer put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.
• 23. The chief jailer had no more worries after that, because Joseph took care of everything. The LORD was with him, making everything run smoothly and successfully.

Mark 10

• 1. Then Jesus left Capernaum and went southward to the region of Judea and into the area east of the Jordan River. As always there were the crowds, and as usual he taught them.
• 2. Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: "Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?"
• 3. "What did Moses say about divorce?" Jesus asked them.
• 4. "Well, he permitted it," they replied. "He said a man merely has to write his wife an official letter of divorce and send her away."
• 5. But Jesus responded, "He wrote those instructions only as a concession to your hard-hearted wickedness.
• 6. But God's plan was seen from the beginning of creation, for 'He made them male and female.'
• 7. 'This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife,
• 8. and the two are united into one.' Since they are no longer two but one,
• 9. let no one separate them, for God has joined them together."
• 10. Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought up the subject again.
• 11. He told them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her.
• 12. And if a woman divorces her husband and remarries, she commits adultery."
• 13. One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him.
• 14. But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
• 15. I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God."
• 16. Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
• 17. As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running up to Jesus, knelt down, and asked, "Good Teacher, what should I do to get eternal life?"
• 18. "Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked. "Only God is truly good.
• 19. But as for your question, you know the commandments: 'Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. Do not cheat. Honor your father and mother.'"
• 20. "Teacher," the man replied, "I've obeyed all these commandments since I was a child."
• 21. Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. "You lack only one thing," he told him. "Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
• 22. At this, the man's face fell, and he went sadly away because he had many possessions.
• 23. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for rich people to get into the Kingdom of God!"
• 24. This amazed them. But Jesus said again, "Dear children, it is very hard to get into the Kingdom of God.
• 25. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!"
• 26. The disciples were astounded. "Then who in the world can be saved?" they asked.
• 27. Jesus looked at them intently and said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God."
• 28. Then Peter began to mention all that he and the other disciples had left behind. "We've given up everything to follow you," he said.
• 29. And Jesus replied, "I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News,
• 30. will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property--with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life.
• 31. But many who seem to be important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then. "
• 32. They were now on the way to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with dread and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him in Jerusalem.
• 33. "When we get to Jerusalem," he told them, "the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans.
• 34. They will mock him, spit on him, beat him with their whips, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again."
• 35. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do us a favor."
• 36. "What is it?" he asked.
• 37. "In your glorious Kingdom, we want to sit in places of honor next to you," they said, "one at your right and the other at your left."
• 38. But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of sorrow I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?"
• 39. "Oh yes," they said, "we are able!" And Jesus said, "You will indeed drink from my cup and be baptized with my baptism,
• 40. but I have no right to say who will sit on the thrones next to mine. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen."
• 41. When the ten other disciples discovered what James and John had asked, they were indignant.
• 42. So Jesus called them together and said, "You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them.
• 43. But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,
• 44. and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all.
• 45. For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many."
• 46. And so they reached Jericho. Later, as Jesus and his disciples left town, a great crowd was following. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by.
• 47. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
• 48. "Be quiet!" some of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
• 49. When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, "Tell him to come here." So they called the blind man. "Cheer up," they said. "Come on, he's calling you!"
• 50. Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
• 51. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked. "Teacher," the blind man said, "I want to see!"
• 52. And Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your faith has healed you." And instantly the blind man could see! Then he followed Jesus down the road.

Job 6

• 1. Then Job spoke again:
• 2. "If my sadness could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales,
• 3. they would be heavier than all the sands of the sea. That is why I spoke so rashly.
• 4. For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. He has sent his poisoned arrows deep within my spirit. All God's terrors are arrayed against me.
• 5. Don't I have a right to complain? Wild donkeys bray when they find no green grass, and oxen low when they have no food.
• 6. People complain when there is no salt in their food. And how tasteless is the uncooked white of an egg!
• 7. My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!
• 8. "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my hope.
• 9. I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.
• 10. At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
• 11. But I do not have the strength to endure. I do not have a goal that encourages me to carry on.
• 12. Do I have strength as hard as stone? Is my body made of bronze?
• 13. No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.
• 14. "One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you have accused me without the slightest fear of the Almighty.
• 15. My brother, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook that overflows its banks in the spring
• 16. when it is swollen with ice and melting snow.
• 17. But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears. The brook vanishes in the heat.
• 18. The caravans turn aside to be refreshed, but there is nothing there to drink, and so they perish in the desert.
• 19. With high hopes, the caravans from Tema and from Sheba stop for water,
• 20. but finding none, their hopes are dashed.
• 21. You, too, have proved to be of no help. You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid.
• 22. But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift? Have I begged you to use any of your wealth on my behalf?
• 23. Have I ever asked you to rescue me from my enemies? Have I asked you to save me from ruthless people?
• 24. "All I want is a reasonable answer--then I will keep quiet. Tell me, what have I done wrong?
• 25. Honest words are painful, but what do your criticisms amount to?
• 26. Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation?
• 27. You would even send an orphan into slavery or sell a friend.
• 28. Look at me! Would I lie to your face?
• 29. Stop assuming my guilt, for I am righteous. Don't be so unjust.
• 30. Do you think I am lying? Don't I know the difference between right and wrong?

New Living Translation: 38 of 365 days.