Exodus 6

• 1. "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh," the LORD told Moses. "When he feels my powerful hand upon him, he will let the people go. In fact, he will be so anxious to get rid of them that he will force them to leave his land!"
• 2. And God continued, "I am the LORD.
• 3. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, though I did not reveal my name, the LORD, to them.
• 4. And I entered into a solemn covenant with them. Under its terms, I swore to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living.
• 5. You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. I have remembered my covenant with them.
• 6. "Therefore, say to the Israelites: `I am the LORD, and I will free you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with mighty power and great acts of judgment.
• 7. I will make you my own special people, and I will be your God. And you will know that I am the LORD your God who has rescued you from your slavery in Egypt.
• 8. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It will be your very own property. I am the LORD!'"
• 9. So Moses told the people what the LORD had said, but they wouldn't listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the increasing burden of their slavery.
• 10. Then the LORD said to Moses,
• 11. "Go back to Pharaoh, and tell him to let the people of Israel leave Egypt."
• 12. "But LORD!" Moses objected. "My own people won't listen to me anymore. How can I expect Pharaoh to listen? I'm no orator!"
• 13. But the LORD ordered Moses and Aaron to return to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to demand that he let the people of Israel leave Egypt.
• 14. These are the ancestors of clans from some of Israel's tribes: The descendants of Reuben, Israel's oldest son, included Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. Their descendants became the clans of Reuben.
• 15. The descendants of Simeon included Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul (whose mother was a Canaanite). Their descendants became the clans of Simeon.
• 16. These are the descendants of Levi, listed according to their family groups. In the first generation were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. (Levi, their father, lived to be 137 years old.)
• 17. The descendants of Gershon included Libni and Shimei, each of whom is the ancestor of a clan.
• 18. The descendants of Kohath included Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. (Kohath lived to be 133 years old.)
• 19. The descendants of Merari included Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites, listed according to their genealogies.
• 20. Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (Amram lived to be 137 years old.)
• 21. The descendants of Izhar included Korah, Nepheg, and Zicri.
• 22. The descendants of Uzziel included Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
• 23. Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
• 24. The descendants of Korah included Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. Their descendants became the clans of Korah.
• 25. Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the ancestors of the Levite clans, listed according to their family groups.
• 26. The Aaron and Moses named in this list are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, "Lead all the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, division by division."
• 27. They are the ones who went to Pharaoh to ask permission to lead the people from the land of Egypt.
• 28. At that time, the LORD had said to them,
• 29. "I am the LORD! Give Pharaoh the message I have given you."
• 30. This is the same Moses who had argued with the LORD, saying, "I can't do it! I'm no orator. Why should Pharaoh listen to me?"

Luke 11

• 1. Once when Jesus had been out praying, one of his disciples came to him as he finished and said, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
• 2. He said, "This is how you should pray: "Father, may your name be honored. May your Kingdom come soon.
• 3. Give us our food day by day.
• 4. And forgive us our sins--just as we forgive those who have sinned against us. And don't let us yield to temptation. "
• 5. Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this illustration: "Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You would say to him,
• 6. 'A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.'
• 7. He would call out from his bedroom, 'Don't bother me. The door is locked for the night, and we are all in bed. I can't help you this time.'
• 8. But I tell you this--though he won't do it as a friend, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you what you want so his reputation won't be damaged.
• 9. "And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened.
• 10. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.
• 11. "You fathers--if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?
• 12. Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not!
• 13. If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."
• 14. One day Jesus cast a demon out of a man who couldn't speak, and the man's voice returned to him. The crowd was amazed,
• 15. but some said, "No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons!"
• 16. Trying to test Jesus, others asked for a miraculous sign from heaven to see if he was from God.
• 17. He knew their thoughts, so he said, "Any kingdom at war with itself is doomed. A divided home is also doomed.
• 18. You say I am empowered by the prince of demons. But if Satan is fighting against himself by empowering me to cast out his demons, how can his kingdom survive?
• 19. And if I am empowered by the prince of demons, what about your own followers? They cast out demons, too, so they will judge you for what you have said.
• 20. But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you.
• 21. For when Satan, who is completely armed, guards his palace, it is safe--
• 22. until someone who is stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.
• 23. "Anyone who isn't helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.
• 24. "When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, 'I will return to the person I came from.'
• 25. So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and clean.
• 26. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before."
• 27. As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, "God bless your mother--the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!"
• 28. He replied, "But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice."
• 29. As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, "These are evil times, and this evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.
• 30. What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to me will be a sign that God has sent me, the Son of Man, to these people.
• 31. "The queen of Sheba will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And now someone greater than Solomon is here--and you refuse to listen to him.
• 32. The people of Nineveh, too, will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now someone greater than Jonah is here--and you refuse to repent.
• 33. "No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, it is put on a lampstand to give light to all who enter the room.
• 34. Your eye is a lamp for your body. A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul. But an evil eye shuts out the light and plunges you into darkness.
• 35. Make sure that the light you think you have is not really darkness.
• 36. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight is shining on you."
• 37. As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table.
• 38. His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the ceremonial washing required by Jewish custom.
• 39. Then the Lord said to him, "You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are still filthy--full of greed and wickedness!
• 40. Fools! Didn't God make the inside as well as the outside?
• 41. So give to the needy what you greedily possess, and you will be clean all over.
• 42. "But how terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you completely forget about justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things.
• 43. "How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For how you love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the respectful greetings from everyone as you walk through the markets!
• 44. Yes, how terrible it will be for you. For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on."
• 45. "Teacher," said an expert in religious law, "you have insulted us, too, in what you just said."
• 46. "Yes," said Jesus, "how terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you crush people beneath impossible religious demands, and you never lift a finger to help ease the burden.
• 47. How terrible it will be for you! For you build tombs for the very prophets your ancestors killed long ago.
• 48. Murderers! You agree with your ancestors that what they did was right. You would have done the same yourselves.
• 49. This is what God in his wisdom said about you: 'I will send prophets and apostles to them, and they will kill some and persecute the others.'
• 50. "And you of this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God's prophets from the creation of the world--
• 51. from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will surely be charged against you.
• 52. "How terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you hide the key to knowledge from the people. You don't enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering."
• 53. As Jesus finished speaking, the Pharisees and teachers of religious law were furious. From that time on they grilled him with many hostile questions,
• 54. trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him.

Job 24

• 1. "Why doesn't the Almighty open the court and bring judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain?
• 2. Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal flocks of sheep,
• 3. and they even take donkeys from the poor and fatherless. A poor widow must surrender her valuable ox as collateral for a loan.
• 4. The poor are kicked aside; the needy must hide together for safety.
• 5. Like the wild donkeys in the desert, the poor must spend all their time just getting enough to keep body and soul together. They go into the desert to search for food for their children.
• 6. They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
• 7. All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering.
• 8. They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.
• 9. "The wicked snatch a widow's child from her breast; they take the baby as a pledge for a loan.
• 10. The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They are forced to carry food while they themselves are starving.
• 11. They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
• 12. The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God does not respond to their moaning.
• 13. "Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways. They will not stay in its paths.
• 14. The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief.
• 15. The adulterer waits for the twilight, for he says, `No one will see me then.' He masks his face so no one will know him.
• 16. They break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light.
• 17. The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.
• 18. "But they disappear from the earth as quickly as foam is swept down a river. Everything they own is cursed, so that no one enters their vineyard.
• 19. Death consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow.
• 20. Even the sinner's own mother will forget him. Worms will find him sweet to eat. No one will remember him. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
• 21. For they have taken advantage of the childless who have no protecting sons. They refuse to help the needy widows.
• 22. "God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance in life.
• 23. They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them.
• 24. And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, withered like heads of grain.
• 25. "Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?"

New Living Translation: 55 of 365 days.