Exodus 2

• 1. During this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married.
• 2. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw what a beautiful baby he was and kept him hidden for three months.
• 3. But when she could no longer hide him, she got a little basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile River.
• 4. The baby's sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.
• 5. Soon after this, one of Pharaoh's daughters came down to bathe in the river, and her servant girls walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the little basket among the reeds, she told one of her servant girls to get it for her.
• 6. As the princess opened it, she found the baby boy. His helpless cries touched her heart. "He must be one of the Hebrew children," she said.
• 7. Then the baby's sister approached the princess. "Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" she asked.
• 8. "Yes, do!" the princess replied. So the girl rushed home and called the baby's mother.
• 9. "Take this child home and nurse him for me," the princess told her. "I will pay you for your help." So the baby's mother took her baby home and nursed him.
• 10. Later, when he was older, the child's mother brought him back to the princess, who adopted him as her son. The princess named him Moses, for she said, "I drew him out of the water."
• 11. Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his people, the Israelites, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew slaves.
• 12. After looking around to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.
• 13. The next day, as Moses was out visiting his people again, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. "What are you doing, hitting your neighbor like that?" Moses said to the one in the wrong.
• 14. "Who do you think you are?" the man replied. "Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Do you plan to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?" Moses was badly frightened because he realized that everyone knew what he had done.
• 15. And sure enough, when Pharaoh heard about it, he gave orders to have Moses arrested and killed. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and escaped to the land of Midian. When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well.
• 16. Now it happened that the priest of Midian had seven daughters who came regularly to this well to draw water and fill the water troughs for their father's flocks.
• 17. But other shepherds would often come and chase the girls and their flocks away. This time, however, Moses came to their aid, rescuing the girls from the shepherds. Then he helped them draw water for their flocks.
• 18. When the girls returned to Reuel, their father, he asked, "How did you get the flocks watered so quickly today?"
• 19. "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds," they told him. "And then he drew water for us and watered our flocks."
• 20. "Well, where is he then?" their father asked. "Did you just leave him there? Go and invite him home for a meal!"
• 21. Moses was happy to accept the invitation, and he settled down to live with them. In time, Reuel gave Moses one of his daughters, Zipporah, to be his wife.
• 22. Later they had a baby boy, and Moses named him Gershom, for he said, "I have been a stranger in a foreign land."
• 23. Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites still groaned beneath their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their pleas for deliverance rose up to God.
• 24. God heard their cries and remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• 25. He looked down on the Israelites and felt deep concern for their welfare.

Luke 7

• 1. When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went back to Capernaum.
• 2. Now the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death.
• 3. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal his slave.
• 4. So they earnestly begged Jesus to come with them and help the man. "If anyone deserves your help, it is he," they said,
• 5. "for he loves the Jews and even built a synagogue for us."
• 6. So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, "Lord, don't trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor.
• 7. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.
• 8. I know because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, 'Go,' and they go, or 'Come,' and they come. And if I say to my slaves, 'Do this or that,' they do it."
• 9. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd, he said, "I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel!"
• 10. And when the officer's friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.
• 11. Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, with a great crowd following him.
• 12. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The boy who had died was the only son of a widow, and many mourners from the village were with her.
• 13. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. "Don't cry!" he said.
• 14. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. "Young man," he said, "get up."
• 15. Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk to those around him! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
• 16. Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, "A mighty prophet has risen among us," and "We have seen the hand of God at work today."
• 17. The report of what Jesus had done that day spread all over Judea and even out across its borders.
• 18. The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples,
• 19. and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, "Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?"
• 20. John's two disciples found Jesus and said to him, "John the Baptist sent us to ask, 'Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?'"
• 21. At that very time, he cured many people of their various diseases, and he cast out evil spirits and restored sight to the blind.
• 22. Then he told John's disciples, "Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard--the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.
• 23. And tell him, 'God blesses those who are not offended by me. '"
• 24. After they left, Jesus talked to the crowd about John. "Who is this man in the wilderness that you went out to see? Did you find him weak as a reed, moved by every breath of wind?
• 25. Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people who wear beautiful clothes and live in luxury are found in palaces, not in the wilderness.
• 26. Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet.
• 27. John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, 'Look, I am sending my messenger before you, and he will prepare your way before you.'
• 28. I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the most insignificant person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!"
• 29. When they heard this, all the people, including the unjust tax collectors, agreed that God's plan was right, for they had been baptized by John.
• 30. But the Pharisees and experts in religious law had rejected God's plan for them, for they had refused John's baptism.
• 31. "How shall I describe this generation?" Jesus asked. "With what will I compare them?
• 32. They are like a group of children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, 'We played wedding songs, and you weren't happy, so we played funeral songs, but you weren't sad.'
• 33. For John the Baptist didn't drink wine and he often fasted, and you say, 'He's demon possessed.'
• 34. And I, the Son of Man, feast and drink, and you say, 'He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of the worst sort of sinners!'
• 35. But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it. "
• 36. One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home for a meal, so Jesus accepted the invitation and sat down to eat.
• 37. A certain immoral woman heard he was there and brought a beautiful jar filled with expensive perfume.
• 38. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
• 39. When the Pharisee who was the host saw what was happening and who the woman was, he said to himself, "This proves that Jesus is no prophet. If God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!"
• 40. Then Jesus spoke up and answered his thoughts. "Simon," he said to the Pharisee, "I have something to say to you.All right, Teacher," Simon replied, "go ahead."
• 41. Then Jesus told him this story: "A man loaned money to two people--five hundred pieces of silver to one and fifty pieces to the other.
• 42. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?"
• 43. Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.That's right," Jesus said.
• 44. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
• 45. You didn't give me a kiss of greeting, but she has kissed my feet again and again from the time I first came in.
• 46. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
• 47. I tell you, her sins--and they are many--have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love."
• 48. Then Jesus said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven."
• 49. The men at the table said among themselves, "Who does this man think he is, going around forgiving sins?"
• 50. And Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Job 20

• 1. Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
• 2. "I must reply because I am greatly disturbed.
• 3. I have had to endure your insults, but now my spirit prompts me to reply.
• 4. "Don't you realize that ever since people were first placed on the earth,
• 5. the triumph of the wicked has been short-lived and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
• 6. Though the godless man's pride reaches to the heavens and though his head touches the clouds,
• 7. yet he will perish forever, thrown away like his own dung. Those who knew him will ask, `Where is he?'
• 8. He will fade like a dream and not be found. He will vanish like a vision in the night.
• 9. Neither his friends nor his family will ever see him again.
• 10. His children will beg from the poor, for he must give back his ill-gotten wealth.
• 11. He was just a young man, but his bones will lie in the dust.
• 12. "He enjoyed the taste of his wickedness, letting it melt under his tongue.
• 13. He savored it, holding it long in his mouth.
• 14. But suddenly, the food he has eaten turns sour within him, a poisonous venom in his stomach.
• 15. He will vomit the wealth he swallowed. God won't let him keep it down.
• 16. He will suck the poison of snakes. The viper will kill him.
• 17. He will never again enjoy abundant streams of olive oil or rivers of milk and honey.
• 18. His labors will not be rewarded. His wealth will bring him no joy.
• 19. For he oppressed the poor and left them destitute. He foreclosed on their homes.
• 20. He was always greedy but never satisfied. Of all the things he dreamed about, nothing remains.
• 21. Nothing is left after he finishes gorging himself; therefore, his prosperity will not endure.
• 22. "In the midst of plenty, he will run into trouble, and disasters will destroy him.
• 23. May God give him a bellyful of trouble. May God rain down his anger upon him.
• 24. He will try to escape, but God's arrow will pierce him.
• 25. The arrow is pulled from his body, and the arrowhead glistens with blood. The terrors of death are upon him.
• 26. "His treasures will be lost in deepest darkness. A wildfire will devour his goods, consuming all he has left.
• 27. The heavens will reveal his guilt, and the earth will give testimony against him.
• 28. A flood will sweep away his house. God's anger will descend on him in torrents.
• 29. This is the fate that awaits the wicked. It is the inheritance decreed by God."

New Living Translation: 51 of 365 days.