Genesis 43

• 1. But there was no relief from the terrible famine throughout the land.
• 2. When the grain they had brought from Egypt was almost gone, Jacob said to his sons, "Go again and buy us a little food."
• 3. But Judah said, "The man wasn't joking when he warned that we couldn't see him again unless Benjamin came along.
• 4. If you let him come with us, we will go down and buy some food.
• 5. But if you don't let Benjamin go, we may as well stay at home. Remember that the man said, `You won't be allowed to come and see me unless your brother is with you.'"
• 6. "Why did you ever tell him you had another brother?" Jacob moaned. "Why did you have to treat me with such cruelty?"
• 7. "But the man specifically asked us about our family," they replied. "He wanted to know whether our father was still living, and he asked us if we had another brother so we told him. How could we have known he would say, `Bring me your brother'?"
• 8. Judah said to his father, "Send the boy with me, and we will be on our way. Otherwise we will all die of starvation--and not only we, but you and our little ones.
• 9. I personally guarantee his safety. If I don't bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame forever.
• 10. For we could have gone and returned twice by this time if you had let him come without delay."
• 11. So their father, Jacob, finally said to them, "If it can't be avoided, then at least do this. Fill your bags with the best products of the land. Take them to the man as gifts--balm, honey, spices, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds.
• 12. Take double the money that you found in your sacks, as it was probably someone's mistake.
• 13. Then take your brother and go back to the man.
• 14. May God Almighty give you mercy as you go before the man, that he might release Simeon and return Benjamin. And if I must bear the anguish of their deaths, then so be it."
• 15. So they took Benjamin and the gifts and double the money and hurried to Egypt, where they presented themselves to Joseph.
• 16. When Joseph saw that Benjamin was with them, he said to the manager of his household, "These men will eat with me this noon. Take them inside and prepare a big feast."
• 17. So the man did as he was told and took them to Joseph's palace.
• 18. They were badly frightened when they saw where they were being taken. "It's because of the money returned to us in our sacks," they said. "He plans to pretend that we stole it. Then he will seize us as slaves and take our donkeys."
• 19. As the brothers arrived at the entrance to the palace, they went over to the man in charge of Joseph's household.
• 20. They said to him, "Sir, after our first trip to Egypt to buy food,
• 21. as we were returning home, we stopped for the night and opened our sacks. The money we had used to pay for the grain was there in our sacks. Here it is; we have brought it back again.
• 22. We also have additional money to buy more grain. We have no idea how the money got into our sacks."
• 23. "Relax. Don't worry about it," the household manager told them. "Your God, the God of your ancestors, must have put it there. We collected your money all right." Then he released Simeon and brought him out to them.
• 24. The brothers were then led into the palace and given water to wash their feet and food for their donkeys.
• 25. They were told they would be eating there, so they prepared their gifts for Joseph's arrival at noon.
• 26. When Joseph came, they gave him their gifts and bowed low before him.
• 27. He asked them how they had been getting along, and then he said, "How is your father--the old man you spoke about? Is he still alive?"
• 28. "Yes," they replied. "He is alive and well." Then they bowed again before him.
• 29. Looking at his brother Benjamin, Joseph asked, "Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about? May God be gracious to you, my son."
• 30. Then Joseph made a hasty exit because he was overcome with emotion for his brother and wanted to cry. Going into his private room, he wept there.
• 31. Then he washed his face and came out, keeping himself under control. "Bring on the food!" he ordered.
• 32. Joseph ate by himself, and his brothers were served at a separate table. The Egyptians sat at their own table because Egyptians despise Hebrews and refuse to eat with them.
• 33. Joseph told each of his brothers where to sit, and to their amazement, he seated them in the order of their ages, from oldest to youngest.
• 34. Their food was served to them from Joseph's own table. He gave the largest serving to Benjamin--five times as much as to any of the others. So they all feasted and drank freely with him.

Mark 14

• 1. It was now two days before the Passover celebration and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and put him to death.
• 2. "But not during the Passover," they agreed, "or there will be a riot."
• 3. Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had leprosy. During supper, a woman came in with a beautiful jar of expensive perfume. She broke the seal and poured the perfume over his head.
• 4. Some of those at the table were indignant. "Why was this expensive perfume wasted?" they asked.
• 5. "She could have sold it for a small fortune and given the money to the poor!" And they scolded her harshly.
• 6. But Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. Why berate her for doing such a good thing to me?
• 7. You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But I will not be here with you much longer.
• 8. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.
• 9. I assure you, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be talked about in her memory."
• 10. Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them.
• 11. The leading priests were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised him a reward. So he began looking for the right time and place to betray Jesus.
• 12. On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (the day the Passover lambs were sacrificed), Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover supper?"
• 13. So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem to make the arrangements. "As you go into the city," he told them, "a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him.
• 14. At the house he enters, say to the owner, 'The Teacher asks, Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?'
• 15. He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is the place; go ahead and prepare our supper there."
• 16. So the two disciples went on ahead into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover supper there.
• 17. In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples.
• 18. As they were sitting around the table eating, Jesus said, "The truth is, one of you will betray me, one of you who is here eating with me."
• 19. Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, "I'm not the one, am I?"
• 20. He replied, "It is one of you twelve, one who is eating with me now.
• 21. For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!"
• 22. As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God's blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take it, for this is my body."
• 23. And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
• 24. And he said to them, "This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and his people.
• 25. I solemnly declare that I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God."
• 26. Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
• 27. "All of you will desert me," Jesus told them. "For the Scriptures say, 'God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'
• 28. But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there."
• 29. Peter said to him, "Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will."
• 30. "Peter," Jesus replied, "the truth is, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times."
• 31. "No!" Peter insisted. "Not even if I have to die with you! I will never deny you!" And all the others vowed the same.
• 32. And they came to an olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, "Sit here while I go and pray."
• 33. He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be filled with horror and deep distress.
• 34. He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me."
• 35. He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by.
• 36. "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."
• 37. Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. "Simon!" he said to Peter. "Are you asleep? Couldn't you stay awake and watch with me even one hour?
• 38. Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak."
• 39. Then Jesus left them again and prayed, repeating his pleadings.
• 40. Again he returned to them and found them sleeping, for they just couldn't keep their eyes open. And they didn't know what to say.
• 41. When he returned to them the third time, he said, "Still sleeping? Still resting? Enough! The time has come. I, the Son of Man, am betrayed into the hands of sinners.
• 42. Up, let's be going. See, my betrayer is here!"
• 43. And immediately, as he said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a mob that was armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent out by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders.
• 44. Judas had given them a prearranged signal: "You will know which one to arrest when I go over and give him the kiss of greeting. Then you can take him away under guard."
• 45. As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. "Teacher!" he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss.
• 46. Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him.
• 47. But someone pulled out a sword and slashed off an ear of the high priest's servant.
• 48. Jesus asked them, "Am I some dangerous criminal, that you come armed with swords and clubs to arrest me?
• 49. Why didn't you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about me."
• 50. Meanwhile, all his disciples deserted him and ran away.
• 51. There was a young man following along behind, clothed only in a linen nightshirt. When the mob tried to grab him,
• 52. they tore off his clothes, but he escaped and ran away naked.
• 53. Jesus was led to the high priest's home where the leading priests, other leaders, and teachers of religious law had gathered.
• 54. Meanwhile, Peter followed far behind and then slipped inside the gates of the high priest's courtyard. For a while he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.
• 55. Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would testify against Jesus, so they could put him to death. But their efforts were in vain.
• 56. Many false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other.
• 57. Finally, some men stood up to testify against him with this lie:
• 58. "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.'"
• 59. But even then they didn't get their stories straight!
• 60. Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, "Well, aren't you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?"
• 61. Jesus made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the blessed God?"
• 62. Jesus said, "I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God's right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven."
• 63. Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, "Why do we need other witnesses?
• 64. You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?" And they all condemned him to death.
• 65. Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and hit his face with their fists. "Who hit you that time, you prophet?" they jeered. And even the guards were hitting him as they led him away.
• 66. Meanwhile, Peter was below in the courtyard. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest
• 67. noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and then said, "You were one of those with Jesus, the Nazarene."
• 68. Peter denied it. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed.
• 69. The servant girl saw him standing there and began telling the others, "That man is definitely one of them!"
• 70. Peter denied it again. A little later some other bystanders began saying to Peter, "You must be one of them because you are from Galilee."
• 71. Peter said, "I swear by God, I don't know this man you're talking about."
• 72. And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly, Jesus' words flashed through Peter's mind: "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down and cried.

Job 10

• 1. "I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
• 2. I will say to God, `Don't simply condemn me--tell me the charge you are bringing against me.
• 3. What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while sending joy and prosperity to the wicked?
• 4. Are your eyes only those of a human? Do you see things as people see them?
• 5. Is your lifetime merely human? Is your life so short
• 6. that you are in a hurry to probe for my guilt, to search for my sin?
• 7. Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your power.
• 8. " `You formed me with your hands; you made me, and yet you completely destroy me.
• 9. Remember that I am made of dust--will you turn me back to dust so soon?
• 10. You guided my conception and formed me in the womb.
• 11. You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together.
• 12. You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love. My life was preserved by your care.
• 13. " `Yet your real motive--I know this was your intent--
• 14. was to watch me, and if I sinned, you would not forgive my iniquity.
• 15. If I am guilty, too bad for me. And even if I'm innocent, I am filled with shame and misery so that I can't hold my head high.
• 16. And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion and display your awesome power against me.
• 17. Again and again you witness against me. You pour out an ever-increasing volume of anger upon me and bring fresh armies against me.
• 18. " `Why, then, did you bring me out of my mother's womb? Why didn't you let me die at birth?
• 19. Then I would have been spared this miserable existence. I would have gone directly from the womb to the grave.
• 20. I have only a little time left, so leave me alone--that I may have a little moment of comfort
• 21. before I leave for the land of darkness and utter gloom, never to return.
• 22. It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of utter gloom where confusion reigns and the light is as dark as midnight.'"

New Living Translation: 42 of 365 days.