Genesis 1:1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
APRIL
5
PSALMS:
5, 35, 65, 96, 125
PROVERBS:
5
OLD
TESTAMENT:
2 KINGS 8:1 - 9:13
NEW
TESTAMENT:
ACTS 16:16 - 40
PSALMS:
5
For
the director of music. For flutes. A psalm of David.
1
Give
ear to my words, O LORD,
consider
my sighing.
2
Listen
to my cry for help,
my
King and my God,
for
to you I pray.
3
In
the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in
the morning I lay my requests before you
and
wait in expectation.
4
You
are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with
you the wicked cannot dwell.
5
The
arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you
hate all who do wrong.
6
You
destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty
and deceitful men
the
LORD abhors.
7
But
I, by your great mercy,
will
come into your house;
in
reverence will I bow down
toward
your holy temple.
8
Lead
me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because
of my enemies--
make
straight your way before me. 1
9
Not
a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their
heart is filled with destruction.
Their
throat is an open grave;
with
their tongue they speak deceit.
10
Declare
them guilty, O God!
Let
their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish
them for their many sins,
for
they have rebelled against you.
11
But
let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let
them ever sing for joy.
Spread
your protection over them,
that
those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12
For
surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
you
surround them with your favor as with a shield. 2
PSALMS:
35
Of
David.
1
Contend,
O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight
against those who fight against me.
2
Take
up shield and buckler;
arise
and come to my aid.
3
Brandish
spear and javelin A
against
those who pursue me.
Say
to my soul,
"I
am your salvation."
4
May
those who seek my life
be
disgraced and put to shame;
may
those who plot my ruin
be
turned back in dismay.
5
May
they be like chaff before the wind,
with
the angel of the LORD driving them away;
6
may
their path be dark and slippery,
with
the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
7
Since
they hid their net for me without cause
and
without cause dug a pit for me,
8
may
ruin overtake them by surprise--
may
the net they hid entangle them,
may
they fall into the pit, to their ruin.
9
Then
my soul will rejoice in the LORD
and
delight in his salvation.
10
My
whole being will exclaim,
"Who
is like you, O LORD?
You
rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the
poor and needy from those who rob them." 3
11
Ruthless
witnesses come forward;
they
question me on things I know nothing about.
12
They
repay me evil for good
and
leave my soul forlorn.
13
Yet
when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
and
humbled myself with fasting.
When
my prayers returned to me unanswered,
14
I
went about mourning
as
though for my friend or brother.
I
bowed my head in grief
as
though weeping for my mother.
15
But
when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
attackers
gathered against me when I was unaware.
They
slandered me without ceasing.
16
Like
the ungodly they maliciously mocked B;
they
gnashed their teeth at me.
17
O
Lord, how long will you look on?
Rescue
my life from their ravages,
my
precious life from these lions.
18
I
will give you thanks in the great assembly;
among
throngs of people I will praise you.
19
Let
not those gloat over me
who
are my enemies without cause;
let
not those who hate me without reason
maliciously
wink the eye.
20
They
do not speak peaceably,
but
devise false accusations
against
those who live quietly in the land.
21
They
gape at me and say, "Aha! Aha!
With
our own eyes we have seen it." 4
22
O
LORD, you have seen this; be not silent.
Do
not be far from me, O Lord.
23
Awake,
and rise to my defense!
Contend
for me, my God and Lord.
24
Vindicate
me in your righteousness, O LORD my God;
do
not let them gloat over me.
25
Do
not let them think, "Aha, just what we wanted!"
or
say, "We have swallowed him up."
26
May
all who gloat over my distress
be
put to shame and confusion;
may
all who exalt themselves over me
be
clothed with shame and disgrace.
27
May
those who delight in my vindication
shout
for joy and gladness;
may
they always say, "The LORD be exalted,
who
delights in the well-being of his servant."
28
My
tongue will speak of your righteousness
and
of your praises all day long. 5
PSALMS:
65
For
the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.
1
Praise
awaits A
you, O God, in Zion;
to
you our vows will be fulfilled.
2
O
you who hear prayer,
to
you all men will come.
3
When
we were overwhelmed by sins,
you
forgave B
our transgressions.
4
Blessed
are those you choose
and
bring near to live in your courts!
We
are filled with the good things of your house,
of
your holy temple.
5
You
answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
O
God our Savior,
the
hope of all the ends of the earth
and
of the farthest seas,
6
who
formed the mountains by your power,
having
armed yourself with strength,
7
who
stilled the roaring of the seas,
the
roaring of their waves,
and
the turmoil of the nations.
8
Those
living far away fear your wonders;
where
morning dawns and evening fades
you
call forth songs of joy.
9
You
care for the land and water it;
you
enrich it abundantly.
The
streams of God are filled with water
to
provide the people with grain, 6
for
so you have ordained it. C
10
You
drench its furrows
and
level its ridges;
you
soften it with showers
and
bless its crops.
11
You
crown the year with your bounty,
and
your carts overflow with abundance.
12
The
grasslands of the desert overflow;
the
hills are clothed with gladness.
13
The
meadows are covered with flocks
and
the valleys are mantled with grain;
they
shout for joy and sing. 7
PSALMS:
95
1
Come,
let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let
us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2
Let
us come before him with thanksgiving
and
extol him with music and song.
3
For
the LORD is the great God,
the
great King above all gods.
4
In
his hand are the depths of the earth,
and
the mountain peaks belong to him.
5
The
sea is his, for he made it,
and
his hands formed the dry land.
6
Come,
let us bow down in worship,
let
us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
7
for
he is our God
and
we are the people of his pasture,
the
flock under his care.
Today,
if you hear his voice,
8
do
not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, A
as
you did that day at Massah B
in the desert,
9
where
your fathers tested and tried me,
though
they had seen what I did.
10
For
forty years I was angry with that generation;
I
said, "They
are a people whose hearts go astray,
and
they have not known my ways."
11
So
I declared on oath in my anger,
PSALMS:
125
A
song of ascents.
1
Those
who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which
cannot be shaken but endures forever.
2
As
the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so
the LORD surrounds his people
both
now and forevermore.
3
The
scepter of the wicked will not remain
over
the land allotted to the righteous,
for
then the righteous might use
their
hands to do evil.
4
Do
good, O LORD, to those who are good,
to
those who are upright in heart.
5
But
those who turn to crooked ways
the
LORD will banish with the evildoers.
Peace
be upon Israel. 9
PROVERBS:
5
5
1
My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
listen
well to my words of insight,
2
that
you may maintain discretion
and
your lips may preserve knowledge.
3
For
the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
and
her speech is smoother than oil;
4
but
in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp
as a double-edged sword.
5
Her
feet go down to death;
her
steps lead straight to the grave. A
6
She
gives no thought to the way of life;
her
paths are crooked, but she knows it not.
7
Now
then, my sons, listen to me;
do
not turn aside from what I say.
8
Keep
to a path far from her,
do
not go near the door of her house,
9
lest
you give your best strength to others
and
your years to one who is cruel,
10
lest
strangers feast on your wealth
and
your toil enrich another man's house.
11
At
the end of your life you will groan,
when
your flesh and body are spent.
12
You
will say, "How I hated discipline!
How
my heart spurned correction!
13
I
would not obey my teachers
or
listen to my instructors.
14
I
have come to the brink of utter ruin
in
the midst of the whole assembly."
15
Drink
water from your own cistern,
running
water from your own well.
16
Should
your springs overflow in the streets,
your
streams of water in the public squares?
17
Let
them be yours alone, 10
never
to be shared with strangers.
18
May
your fountain be blessed,
and
may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19
A
loving doe, a graceful deer--
may
her breasts satisfy you always,
may
you ever be captivated by her love.
20
Why
be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?
Why
embrace the bosom of another man's wife?
21
For
a man's ways are in full view of the LORD,
and
he examines all his paths.
22
The
evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the
cords of his sin hold him fast.
23
He
will die for lack of discipline,
led
astray by his own great folly. 11
OLD
TESTAMENT:
2 KINGS 8:1 - 9:13
8
1
Now
Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Go
away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because
the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven
years." 2
The
woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went
away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3
At
the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the
Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. 4
The
king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had
said, "Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done."
5
Just
as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to
life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg
the king for her house and land.
Gehazi
said, "This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son
whom Elisha restored to life." 6
The
king asked the woman about it, and she told him.
Then
he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back
everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her
land from the day she left the country until now."
7
Elisha
went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king
was told, "The man of God has come all the way up here," 8
he
said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of
God. Consult the LORD through him; ask him, `Will I recover from this
illness?' " 9
Hazael
went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of
all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him,
and said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has 12
in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done,
for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the
LORD.
10
Elisha
answered, "Go and say to him, `You will certainly recover'; but
A
the LORD has revealed to me that he will in fact die." 11
He
stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the
man of God began to weep.
12
"Why
is my lord weeping?" asked Hazael.
"Because
I know the harm you will do to the Israelites," he answered.
"You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young
men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip
open their pregnant women."
13
Hazael
said, "How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a
feat?"
"The
LORD has shown me that you will become king of Aram," answered
Elisha.
14
Then
Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked,
"What did Elisha say to you?" Hazael replied, "He told
me that you would certainly recover."
15
But
the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it
over the king's face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as
king.
16
In
the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat
was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king
of Judah. 17
He
was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in
Jerusalem eight years. 18
He
walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had
done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of
the LORD. 13
19
Nevertheless,
for the sake of his servant David, the LORD was not willing to
destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his
descendants forever.
20
In
the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own
king. 21
So
Jehoram B
went to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and
his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night;
his army, however, fled back home. 22
To
this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted at
the same time.
23
As
for the other events of Jehoram's reign, and all he did, are they not
written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 24
Jehoram
rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of
David. And Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king.
25
In
the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of
Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. 26
Ahaziah
was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in
Jerusalem one year. His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter
of Omri king of Israel. 27
He
walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of
the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by
marriage to Ahab's family.
28Ahaziah
went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at
Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; 14
29
so
King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the
Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramoth C
in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.
Then
Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see
Joram son of Ahab, because he had been wounded.
9
1
The
prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and
said to him, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of
oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead.
2
When
you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi.
Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an
inner room. 3
Then
take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, `This
is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the
door and run; don't delay!"
4
So
the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5
When
he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. "I have
a message for you, commander," he said.
"For
which of us?" asked Jehu.
"For
you, commander," he replied.
6
Jehu
got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on
Jehu's head and declared, "This is what the LORD, the God of
Israel, says: `I
anoint you king over the LORD's people Israel.
7
You
are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the
blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the LORD's
servants shed by Jezebel. 8
The
whole house of Ahab will 15
perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel--slave or
free.
9
I
will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat
and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. 10
As
for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel,
and no one will bury her.'" Then he opened the door and ran.
11
When
Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, "Is
everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?"
"You
know the man and the sort of things he says," Jehu replied.
12
"That's
not true!" they said. "Tell us."
Jehu
said, "Here
is what he told me: `This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king
over Israel.'"
13
They
hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare
steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, "Jehu is king!"
16
NEW
TESTAMENT:
ACTS 16:16 - 40
16
Once
when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave
girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a
great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17
This
girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are
servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be
saved." 18
She
kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he
turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus
Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the
spirit left her.
19
When
the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money
was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the
marketplace to face the authorities.
20
They
brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are
Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21
by
advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."
22
The
crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the
magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23
After
they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the
jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24
Upon
receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened
their feet in the stocks.
25
About
midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and
the other prisoners were listening to them. 26
Suddenly
there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the
prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and
everybody's chains came loose. 27
The
jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his
sword and was about to 17
Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
29
The
jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul
and Silas. 30
He
then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?"
31
They
replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you
and your household." 32
Then
they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his
house. 33
At
that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds;
then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34
The
jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was
filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he and his
whole family.
35
When
it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer
with the order: "Release those men." 36
The
jailer told Paul, "The magistrates have ordered that you and
Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace."
37
But
Paul said to the officers: "They beat us publicly without a
trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison.
And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come
themselves and escort us out."
38
The
officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that
Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39
They
came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting
them to leave the city.
40After
Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house,
where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.
18
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John 3:16-21 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, F that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.G 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." H
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