DECEMBER 31
PSALMS: 31, 61, 91, 121
PROVERBS: 31
OLD TESTAMENT: NUMBERS 33:40 - 35:34
NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 5:12 - 28
PSALMS: 31
1 In you, LORD, do I take refuge.
Let me never be put to shame:
Deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Bow down your ear to me.
Deliver me speedily.
Be to me a strong rock,
A house of defense to save me.
3 For you are my rock and my fortress,
Therefore for your name's sake lead me and guide me.
4 Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,
For you are my stronghold.
5 Into your hand I commend my spirit.
You redeem me, LORD, God of truth.
6 I hate those who regard lying vanities,
But I trust in the LORD.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness,
For you have seen my affliction.
You have known my soul in adversities.
8 You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.
You have set my feet in a large place.
9 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress.
My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
My years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.
11 Because of all my adversaries
I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
A fear to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.
12 I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.
13 For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,
While they conspire together against me,
They plot to take away my life.
14 But I trust in you, LORD.
I said, You are my God.
15 My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
and from those who persecute me.
16 Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.
17 Let me not be put to shame, LORD,
for I have called on you.
Let the wicked be put to shame.
Let them be silent in She'ol.
18 Let the lying lips be mute,
Which speak against the righteous insolently,
with pride and contempt.
19 Oh how great is your goodness,
Which you have laid up for those who fear you,
‘Which you have worked for those who take refuge in you,
Before the sons of men!
20 In the covert of your presence will you hide them from the plotting of man.
You will keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Praise be to the LORD,
For he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.
22 As for me, I said in my haste,
"I am cut off from before your eyes."
Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
23 Oh love the LORD, all you his holy ones!
The LORD preserves the faithful,
And pays back him who deals proudly in full.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the LORD.
PSALMS: 61
1 Hear my cry, God.
Listen to my prayer.
2 From the end of the eretz,
I will call to you, when my heart is overwhelmed.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been a refuge for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will dwell in your tent forever.
I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
Selah.
5 For you, God, have heard my vows.
You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6 You will prolong the king's life;
His years shall be for generations.
7 He shall be enthroned in God's presence forever.
Appoint your loving kindness and truth,
that they may preserve him.
8 So I will sing praise to your name forever,
That I may fulfill my vows daily.
PSALMS: 91
1 He who dwells in the secret place of Ha`Elyon
Will rest in the shadow of Shaddai.
2 I will say of the LORD,
"He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in whom I trust."
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler,
From the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions.
Under his wings you will take refuge.
His truth is a shield and a buckler.
5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes,
And see the reward of the wicked.
9 For you, LORD, are my refuge!
You have made Ha`Elyon your habitation.
10 No evil shall happen to you,
Neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
11 For he will give his angels charge over you,
To guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,
So that you won't dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and cobra.
You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
14 "Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him.
I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver him, and honor him.
16 I will satisfy him with long life,
And show him my yeshu`ah."
PSALMS: 121
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills.
Where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and eretz.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved.
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Yisra'el
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper.
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil.
He will keep your soul.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in,
From this time forth, and forevermore.
PROVERBS: 31
1 The words of king Lemo'el;
the oracle which his mother taught him.
2 "Oh, my son!" Oh, son of my womb!
Oh, son of my vows!
3 Don't give your strength to women,
Nor your ways to that which destroys kings.
4 It is not for kings, Lemo'el;
it is not for kings to drink wine;
Nor for princes to say, 'Where is strong drink?'
5 Lest they drink, and forget the law,
And pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.
6 Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish;
And wine to the bitter in soul:
7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty,
And remember his misery no more.
8 Open your mouth for the mute,
In the cause of all who are left desolate.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And serve justice to the poor and needy."
10 Who can find a worthy woman?
For her price is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her.
He shall have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
All the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
And works eagerly with her hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships.
She brings her bread from afar.
15 She rises also while it is yet night,
Gives food to her household,
And portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field, and buys it.
With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.
17 She girds her loins with strength,
And makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp doesn't go out by night.
19 She lays her hands to the distaff,
And her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her arms to the poor;
Yes, she extends her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household;
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 She makes for herself carpets of tapestry.
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected in the gates,
When he sits among the Zakenim of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
And delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing.
She laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom.
Faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household,
And doesn't eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed.
Her husband also praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
But you excel them all."
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain;
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands;
Let her works praise her in the gates.
OLD TESTAMENT: NUMBERS 33:40 - 35:34
33:40 The Kana`ani, the king of `Arad, who lived in the South in the land of Kana`an, heard of the coming of the children of Yisra'el. 41 They journeyed from Mount Hor, and encamped in Tzalmonah. 42 They journeyed from Tzalmonah, and encamped in Punon. 43 They journeyed from Punon, and encamped in Ovot. 44 They journeyed from Ovot, and encamped in Iye-abarim, in the border of Mo'av. 45 They journeyed from Iyim, and encamped in Divon-Gad. 46 They journeyed from Divon-Gad, and encamped in `Almon at Divlatayim. 47 They journeyed from `Almon at Divlatayim, and encamped in the mountains of `Avarimen, before Nevo. 48 They journeyed from the mountains of `Avarimen, and encamped in the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden at Yericho. 49 They encamped by the Yarden, from Beit-Hayshimot even to Avel-Hashshittim in the plains of Mo'av. 50 The LORD spoke to Moshe in the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden at Yericho, saying, 51 Speak to the children of Yisra'el, and tell them, When you pass over the Yarden into the land of Kana`an, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured [stones], and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places: 53 and you shall take possession of the land, and dwell therein; for to you have I given the land to possess it. 54 You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the more you shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer you shall give the less inheritance: wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers shall you inherit. 55 But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then shall those who you let remain of them be as pricks in your eyes, and as thorns in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land in which you dwell. 56 It shall happen that as I thought to do to them, so will I do to you.
34:1 The LORD spoke to Moshe, saying, 2 Command the children of Yisra'el, and tell them, When you come into the land of Kana`an (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, even the land of Kana`an according to the borders of it), 3 then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Tzin along by the side of Edom, and your south border shall be from the end of the Salt Sea eastward; 4 and your border shall turn about southward of the ascent of `Akrabbim, and pass along to Tzin; and the goings out of it shall be southward of Kadesh-Barnea; and it shall go forth to Hatzar-Addar, and pass along to `Atzmon; 5 and the border shall turn about from `Atzmon to the brook of Mitzrayim, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea. 6 For the western border, you shall have the great sea and the border [of it]: this shall be your west border. 7 This shall be your north border: from the great sea you shall mark out for you Mount Hor; 8 from Mount Hor you shall mark out to the entrance of Hamat; and the goings out of the border shall be at Tzedad; 9 and the border shall go forth to Zifron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hatzar-`Enan: this shall be your north border. 10 You shall mark out your east border from Hatzar-`Enan to Shefam; 11 and the border shall go down from Shefam to Rivlah, on the east side of `Ayin; and the border shall go down, and shall reach to the side of the sea of Kinneret eastward; 12 and the border shall go down to the Yarden, and the goings out of it shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to the borders of it round about. 13 Moshe commanded the children of Yisra'el, saying, This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine tribes, and to the half-tribe; 14 for the tribe of the children of Re'uven according to their fathers' houses, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to their fathers' houses, have received, and the half-tribe of Menashsheh have received, their inheritance: 15 the two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Yarden at Yericho eastward, toward the sunrise. 16 The LORD spoke to Moshe, saying,
17 These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance: El`azar the Kohen, and Yehoshua the son of Nun. 18 You shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land for inheritance. 19 These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Yehudah, Kalev the son of Yefunneh. 20 Of the tribe of the children of Shim`on, Shemu'el the son of `Ammihud. 21 Of the tribe of Binyamin, Elidad the son of Kislon. 22 Of the tribe of the children of Dan a prince, Bukki the son of Yogli. 23 Of the children of Yosef: of the tribe of the children of Menashsheh a prince, Hanni'el the son of Efod. 24 Of the tribe of the children of Efrayim a prince, Kemu'el the son of Shiftan. 25 Of the tribe of the children of Zevulun a prince, Elitzafan the son of Parnakh. 26 Of the tribe of the children of Yissakhar a prince, Palti'el the son of `Azzan. 27 Of the tribe of the children of Asher a prince, Achichud the son of Shelomi. 28 Of the tribe of the children of Naftali a prince, Pedah'el the son of `Ammihud. 29 These are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance to the children of Yisra'el in the land of Kana`an.
35:1 The LORD spoke to Moshe in the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden at Yericho, saying, 2 Command the children of Yisra'el that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and suburbs for the cities round about them shall you give to the Levites. 3 The cities shall they have to dwell in; and their suburbs shall be for their cattle, and for their substance, and for all their animals. 4 The suburbs of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits round about. 5 You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities. 6 The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to: and besides them you shall give forty-two cities. 7 All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities; them [shall you give] with their suburbs. 8 Concerning the cities which you shall give of the possession of the children of Yisra'el, from the many you shall take many; and from the few you shall take few: everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give of his cities to the Levites. 9 The LORD spoke to Moshe, saying, 10 Speak to the children of Yisra'el, and tell them, When you pass over the Yarden into the land of Kana`an, 11 then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there. 12 The cities shall be to you for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer not die, until he stands before the congregation for judgment. 13 The cities which you shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge. 14 You shall give three cities beyond the Yarden, and three cities shall you give in the land of Kana`an; they shall be cities of refuge. 15 For the children of Yisra'el, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, shall these six cities be for refuge; that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there. 16 But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. 17 If he struck him with a stone in the hand, whereby a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. 18 Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood in the hand, whereby a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death: when he meets him, he shall put him to death. 20 If he thrust him of hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so that he died, 21 or in enmity struck him with his hand, so that he died; he who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meets him. 22 But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait, 23 or with any stone, whereby a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him, so that he died, and he was not his enemy, neither sought his harm; 24 then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances; 25 and the congregation shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he was fled: and he shall dwell therein until the death of the Kohen Gadol, who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, where he flees, 27 and the avenger of blood find him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kill the manslayer; he shall not be guilty of blood, 28 because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the Kohen Gadol: but after the death of the Kohen Gadol the manslayer shall return into the land of his possession. 29 These things shall be for a statute [and] ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 30 Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person that he die. 31 Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death. 32 You shall take no ransom for him who is fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the Kohen. 33 So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it. 34 You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell: for I, the LORD, dwell in the midst of the children of Yisra'el.
NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 5:12 - 28
5:12 It happened, while he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Yeshua, he fell on his face, and begged him, saying, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean."
13 He stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be made clean." Immediately the leprosy departed from him.
14 He charged him to "Tell no one, But go your way, and show yourself to the Kohen, and offer for your cleansing according to what Moshe commanded, for a testimony to them."
15 But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
16 But he withdrew himself into the desert, and prayed.
17 It happened on one of those days, that he was teaching; and there were Perushim and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of the Galil, Yehudah, and Yerushalayim. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them.
18 Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before him.
19 Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the midst before Yeshua.
20 Seeing their faith, he said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."
21 The Sofrim and the Perushim began to reason, saying, "Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?"
22 But Yeshua, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, "Why are you reasoning so in your hearts?
23 Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you;' or to say, 'Arise and walk?'
24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on eretz to forgive sins" (he said to the paralyzed man), "I tell you, arise, and take up your cot, and go to your house."
25 Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God.
26 Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today."
27 After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, "Follow me!"
28 He left everything, and rose up and followed him.
