Genesis 42

• 1. When Jacob heard that there was grain available in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why are you standing around looking at one another?
• 2. I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down and buy some for us before we all starve to death."
• 3. So Joseph's ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain.
• 4. Jacob wouldn't let Joseph's younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, however, for fear some harm might come to him.
• 5. So Jacob's sons arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine had reached Canaan as well.
• 6. Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt and in charge of the sale of the grain, it was to him that his brothers came. They bowed low before him, with their faces to the ground.
• 7. Joseph recognized them instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger. "Where are you from?" he demanded roughly. "From the land of Canaan," they replied. "We have come to buy grain."
• 8. Joseph's brothers didn't recognize him, but Joseph recognized them.
• 9. And he remembered the dreams he had had many years before. He said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become."
• 10. "No, my lord!" they exclaimed. "We have come to buy food.
• 11. We are all brothers and honest men, sir! We are not spies!"
• 12. "Yes, you are!" he insisted. "You have come to discover how vulnerable the famine has made us."
• 13. "Sir," they said, "there are twelve of us brothers, and our father is in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is there with our father, and one of our brothers is no longer with us."
• 14. But Joseph insisted, "As I said, you are spies!
• 15. This is how I will test your story. I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you will not leave Egypt unless your youngest brother comes here.
• 16. One of you go and get your brother! I'll keep the rest of you here, bound in prison. Then we'll find out whether or not your story is true. If it turns out that you don't have a younger brother, then I'll know you are spies."
• 17. So he put them all in prison for three days.
• 18. On the third day Joseph said to them, "I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live.
• 19. We'll see how honorable you really are. Only one of you will remain in the prison. The rest of you may go on home with grain for your families.
• 20. But bring your youngest brother back to me. In this way, I will know whether or not you are telling me the truth. If you are, I will spare you." To this they agreed.
• 21. Speaking among themselves, they said, "This has all happened because of what we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his terror and anguish and heard his pleadings, but we wouldn't listen. That's why this trouble has come upon us."
• 22. "Didn't I tell you not to do it?" Reuben asked. "But you wouldn't listen. And now we are going to die because we murdered him."
• 23. Of course, they didn't know that Joseph understood them as he was standing there, for he had been speaking to them through an interpreter.
• 24. Now he left the room and found a place where he could weep. Returning, he talked some more with them. He then chose Simeon from among them and had him tied up right before their eyes.
• 25. Joseph then ordered his servants to fill the men's sacks with grain, but he also gave secret instructions to return each brother's payment at the top of his sack. He also gave them provisions for their journey.
• 26. So they loaded up their donkeys with the grain and started for home.
• 27. But when they stopped for the night and one of them opened his sack to get some grain to feed the donkeys, he found his money in the sack.
• 28. "Look!" he exclaimed to his brothers. "My money is here in my sack!" They were filled with terror and said to each other, "What has God done to us?"
• 29. So they came to their father, Jacob, in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened.
• 30. "The man who is ruler over the land spoke very roughly to us," they told him. "He took us for spies.
• 31. But we said, `We are honest men, not spies.
• 32. We are twelve brothers, sons of one father; one brother has disappeared, and the youngest is with our father in the land of Canaan.'
• 33. Then the man, the ruler of the land, told us, `This is the way I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take grain for your families and go on home.
• 34. But bring your youngest brother back to me. Then I will know that you are honest men and not spies. If you prove to be what you say, then I will give you back your brother, and you may come as often as you like to buy grain.'"
• 35. As they emptied out the sacks, there at the top of each one was the bag of money paid for the grain. Terror gripped them, as it did their father.
• 36. Jacob exclaimed, "You have deprived me of my children! Joseph has disappeared, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything is going against me!"
• 37. Then Reuben said to his father, "You may kill my two sons if I don't bring Benjamin back to you. I'll be responsible for him."
• 38. But Jacob replied, "My son will not go down with you, for his brother Joseph is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children. If anything should happen to him, you would bring my gray head down to the grave in deep sorrow."

Mark 13

• 1. As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, "Teacher, look at these tremendous buildings! Look at the massive stones in the walls!"
• 2. Jesus replied, "These magnificent buildings will be so completely demolished that not one stone will be left on top of another."
• 3. Later, Jesus sat on the slopes of the Mount of Olives across the valley from the Temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him privately and asked him,
• 4. "When will all this take place? And will there be any sign ahead of time to show us when all this will be fulfilled?"
• 5. Jesus replied, "Don't let anyone mislead you,
• 6. because many will come in my name, claiming to be the Messiah. They will lead many astray.
• 7. And wars will break out near and far, but don't panic. Yes, these things must come, but the end won't follow immediately.
• 8. Nations and kingdoms will proclaim war against each other, and there will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, and famines. But all this will be only the beginning of the horrors to come.
• 9. But when these things begin to happen, watch out! You will be handed over to the courts and beaten in the synagogues. You will be accused before governors and kings of being my followers. This will be your opportunity to tell them about me.
• 10. And the Good News must first be preached to every nation.
• 11. But when you are arrested and stand trial, don't worry about what to say in your defense. Just say what God tells you to. Then it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
• 12. "Brother will betray brother to death, fathers will betray their own children, and children will rise against their parents and cause them to be killed.
• 13. And everyone will hate you because of your allegiance to me. But those who endure to the end will be saved.
• 14. "The time will come when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing where it should not be"--reader, pay attention! "Then those in Judea must flee to the hills.
• 15. A person outside the house must not go back into the house to pack.
• 16. A person in the field must not return even to get a coat.
• 17. How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for mothers nursing their babies in those days.
• 18. And pray that your flight will not be in winter.
• 19. For those will be days of greater horror than at any time since God created the world. And it will never happen again.
• 20. In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, the entire human race will be destroyed. But for the sake of his chosen ones he has shortened those days.
• 21. "And then if anyone tells you, 'Look, here is the Messiah,' or, 'There he is,' don't pay any attention.
• 22. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones.
• 23. Watch out! I have warned you!
• 24. "At that time, after those horrible days end, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light,
• 25. the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
• 26. Then everyone will see the Son of Man arrive on the clouds with great power and glory.
• 27. And he will send forth his angels to gather together his chosen ones from all over the world--from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.
• 28. "Now, learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its buds become tender and its leaves begin to sprout, you know without being told that summer is near.
• 29. Just so, when you see the events I've described beginning to happen, you can be sure that his return is very near, right at the door.
• 30. I assure you, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these events have taken place.
• 31. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will remain forever.
• 32. "However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.
• 33. And since you don't know when they will happen, stay alert and keep watch.
• 34. "The coming of the Son of Man can be compared with that of a man who left home to go on a trip. He gave each of his employees instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return.
• 35. So keep a sharp lookout! For you do not know when the homeowner will return--at evening, midnight, early dawn, or late daybreak.
• 36. Don't let him find you sleeping when he arrives without warning.
• 37. What I say to you I say to everyone: Watch for his return!"

Job 9

• 1. Then Job spoke again:
• 2. "Yes, I know this is all true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in the eyes of God?
• 3. If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
• 4. For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully?
• 5. "Without warning, he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger.
• 6. He shakes the earth from its place, and its foundations tremble.
• 7. If he commands it, the sun won't rise and the stars won't shine.
• 8. He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea.
• 9. He made all the stars--the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.
• 10. His great works are too marvelous to understand. He performs miracles without number.
• 11. "Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him. When he moves on, I do not see him go.
• 12. If he sends death to snatch someone away, who can stop him? Who dares to ask him, `What are you doing?'
• 13. And God does not restrain his anger. The mightiest forces against him are crushed beneath his feet.
• 14. "And who am I, that I should try to answer God or even reason with him?
• 15. Even if I were innocent, I would have no defense. I could only plead for mercy.
• 16. And even if I summoned him and he responded, he would never listen to me.
• 17. For he attacks me without reason, and he multiplies my wounds without cause.
• 18. He will not let me catch my breath, but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.
• 19. As for strength, he has it. As for justice, who can challenge him?
• 20. Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty. Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked.
• 21. "I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me--I despise my life.
• 22. Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to him. That is why I say, `He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'
• 23. He laughs when a plague suddenly kills the innocent.
• 24. The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked, and God blinds the eyes of the judges and lets them be unfair. If not he, then who?
• 25. "My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away, filled with tragedy.
• 26. It disappears like a swift boat, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.
• 27. If I decided to forget my complaints, if I decided to end my sadness and be cheerful,
• 28. I would dread all the pain he would send. For I know you will not hold me innocent, O God.
• 29. Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what's the use of trying?
• 30. Even if I were to wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye to make them absolutely clean,
• 31. you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and I would be so filthy my own clothing would hate me.
• 32. "God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.
• 33. If only there were a mediator who could bring us together, but there is none.
• 34. The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.
• 35. Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.

New Living Translation: 41 of 365 days.