JANUARY 4
PSALMS: 4, 34, 64, 94, 124
PROVERBS: 4
OLD TESTAMENT: DEUTERONOMY 5:1 - 6:25
NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 7:11 - 35
PSALMS: 4
1 For the leader.
With stringed instruments.
A psalm of David:
O God, my vindicator!
Answer me when I call!
When I was distressed, you set me free;
now have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
2 Men of rank, how long will you shame my honor,
love what is vain, chase after lies?
(Selah)
3 Understand that ADONAI sets apart the godly person for himself;
ADONAI will hear when I call to him.
4 You can be angry, but do not sin!
Think about this as you lie in bed, and calm down.
(Selah)
5 Offer sacrifices rightly,
and put your trust in ADONAI.
6 Many ask, "Who can show us some good?"
ADONAI, lift the light of your face over us!
7 You have filled my heart with more joy
than all their grain and new wine.
8 I will lie down and sleep in peace;
for, ADONAI, you alone make me live securely.
PSALMS: 34
1 By David,
when he pretended to be insane before Avimelekh,
who then drove him away;
so he left:
I will bless ADONAI at all times;
his praise will always be in my mouth.
2 When I boast, it will be about ADONAI;
the humble will hear of it and be glad.
3 Proclaim with me the greatness of ADONAI;
let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought ADONAI, and he answered me;
he rescued me from everything I feared.
5 They looked to him and grew radiant;
their faces will never blush for shame.
6 This poor man cried;
ADONAI heard and saved him from all his troubles.
7 The angel of ADONAI,
who encamps around those who fear him, delivers them.
8 Taste, and see that ADONAI is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him!
9 Fear ADONAI, you holy ones of his,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 Young lions can be needy, they can go hungry,
but those who seek ADONAI lack nothing good.
11 Come, children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of ADONAI.
12 Which of you takes pleasure in living?
Who wants a long life to see good things?
13 [If you do,] keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from deceiving talk;
14 turn from evil, and do good;
seek peace, go after it!
15 The eyes of ADONAI watch over the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry.
16 But the face of ADONAI opposes those who do evil,
to cut off all memory of them from the earth.
17 [The righteous] cried out, and ADONAI heard,
and he saved them from all their troubles.
18 ADONAI is near those with broken hearts;
he saves those whose spirit is crushed.
19 The righteous person suffers many evils,
but ADONAI rescues him out of them all.
20 He protects all his bones;
not one of them gets broken.
21 Evil will kill the wicked, and those who
hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 But ADONAI redeems his servants;
no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
PSALMS: 64
1 For the leader.
A psalm of David:
Hear my voice, God, as I plead:
preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret intrigues of the wicked
and the open insurrection of evildoers.
3 They sharpen their tongues like a sword;
they aim their arrows, poisoned words,
4 in order to shoot from cover at the innocent,
shooting suddenly and fearing nothing.
5 They support each other's evil plans;
they talk of hiding snares and ask, "Who would see them?"
6 They search for ways to commit crimes,
bringing their diligent search to completion when each
of them has thought it through in the depth of his heart.
7 Suddenly God shoots them down with an arrow,
leaving them with wounds;
8 their own tongues make them stumble.
All who see them shake their heads.
9 Everyone is awestruck they acknowledge that it is God at work,
they understand what he has done.
10 The righteous will rejoice in ADONAI;
they will take refuge in him;
all the upright in heart will exult.
PSALMS: 94
1 God of vengeance, ADONAI!
God of vengeance, appear!
2 Assert yourself as judge of the earth!
Pay back the proud as they deserve!
3 How long are the wicked, ADONAI,
how long are the wicked to triumph?
4 They pour out insolent words,
they go on bragging, all these evildoers.
5 They crush your people, ADONAI,
they oppress your heritage.
6 They kill widows and strangers
and murder the fatherless.
7 They say, "Yah isn't looking;
the God of Ya'akov won't notice."
8 Take notice, yourselves, you boors among the people!
You fools, when will you understand?
9 Will the one who planted the ear not hear?
Will the one who formed the eye not see?
10 Will the one who disciplines nations not correct them?
Will the teacher of humanity not know?
11 ADONAI understands that people's thoughts
are merely a puff of wind.
12 How happy the man whom you correct, Yah,
whom you teach from your Torah,
13 giving him respite from days of trouble,
till a pit is dug for the wicked!
14 For ADONAI will not desert his people,
he will not abandon his heritage.
15 Justice will once again become righteous,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who will champion my cause against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
17 If ADONAI hadn't helped me,
I would soon have dwelt in the land of silence.
18 When I said, "My foot is slipping!"
your grace, ADONAI, supported me.
19 When my cares within me are many,
your comforts cheer me up.
20 Can unjust judges be allied with you,
those producing wrong in the name of law?
21 They band together against the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But ADONAI has become my stronghold,
my God is my rock of refuge.
23 But he repays them as their guilt deserves;
he will cut them off with their own evil;
ADONAI our God will cut them off.
PSALMS: 124
1 A song of ascents.
By David:
If ADONAI hadn't been for us -let Isra'el repeat it -
2 If ADONAI hadn't been for us
when people rose to attack us,
3 then, when their anger blazed against us,
they would have swallowed us alive!
4 Then the water would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us.
5 Yes, the raging water would have swept right over us.
6 Blessed be ADONAI,
who did not leave us to be a prey for their teeth!
7 We escaped like a bird from the hunter's trap;
the trap is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of ADONAI,
the maker of heaven and earth.
PROVERBS: 4
1 Listen, children, to a father's instruction;
pay attention, in order to gain insight;
2 for I am giving you good advice;
so don't abandon my teaching.
3 For I too was once a child to my father;
and my mother, too, thought of me as her special darling.
4 He too taught me; he said to me,
"Let your heart treasure my words;
keep my commands, and live;
5 gain wisdom, gain insight;
don't forget or turn from the words I am saying.
6 Don't abandon [wisdom];
then she will preserve you;
love her, and she will protect you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom!
And along with all your getting, get insight!
8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will bring you honor;
9 she will give your head a garland of grace,
bestow on you a crown of glory."
10 Listen, my son, receive what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
11 I'm directing you on the way of wisdom,
guiding you in paths of uprightness;
12 when you walk, your step won't be hindered;
and if you run, you won't stumble.
13 Hold fast to discipline, don't let it go;
guard it, for it is your life.
14 Don't follow the path of the wicked
or walk on the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it, don't go on it,
turn away from it, and pass on.
16 For they can't sleep if they haven't done evil,
they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
shining ever brighter until full daylight.
19 The way of the wicked is like darkness;
they don't even know what makes them stumble.
20 My son, pay attention to what I am saying;
incline your ear to my words.
21 Don't let them out of your sight,
keep them deep in your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
and health to their whole being.
23 Above everything else, guard your heart;
for it is the source of life's consequences.
24 Keep crooked speech out of your mouth,
banish deceit from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
fix your gaze on what lies in front of you.
26 Level the path for your feet,
let all your ways be properly prepared;
27 then deviate neither right nor left;
and keep your foot far from evil.
OLD TESTAMENT: DEUTERONOMY 5:1 - 6:25
5:1 Moshe called to all Yisra'el, and said to them, Hear, Yisra'el, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and observe to do them. 2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horev. 3 The LORD didn't make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4The LORD spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the midst of the fire, 5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the word of the LORD: for you were afraid because of the fire, and didn't go up onto the mountain;) saying, 6 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Mitzrayim, out of the house of bondage. 7 You shall have no other gods before me. 8 "You shall not make an engraved image for yourself, [nor] any likeness [of anything] that is in heaven above, or that is in the eretz beneath, or that is in the water under the eretz: 9 you shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them; for I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me; 10 and showing lovingkindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my mitzvot. 11 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 12 "Observe the day of Shabbat, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days shall you labor, and do all your work; 14 but the seventh day is a Shabbat to the LORD your God: [in it] you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your man-servant and your maid-servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Mitzrayim, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the day of Shabbat. 16 "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 17 "You shall not murder. 18 "Neither shall you commit adultery. 19 "Neither shall you steal. 20 "Neither shall you give false testimony against your neighbor. 21 "Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife; neither shall you desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's." 22 These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly on the mountain out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. He wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to me. 23 It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your Zakenim; 24 and you said, Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God does speak with man, and he lives. 25 Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go you near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak you to us all that the LORD our God shall speak to you; and we will hear it, and do it. 28 The LORD heard the voice of your words, when you spoke to me; and the LORD said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you: they have well said all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my mitzvot always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever! 30 Go tell them, Return you to your tents. 31 But as for you, stand you here by me, and I will speak to you all the mitzvah, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. 32 You shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God has commanded you: you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
6:1 Now this is the mitzvah, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it; 2 that you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his mitzvot, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Hear therefore, Yisra'el, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 Hear, Yisra'el: the LORD is our God; the LORD is one: 5 and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 These words, which I command you this day, shall be on your heart; 7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for symbols between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the door-posts of your house, and on your gates. 10 It shall be, when the LORD your God shall bring you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya`akov, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn't build, 11 and houses full of all good things, which you didn't fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn't dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn't plant, and you shall eat and be full; 12 then beware lest you forget the LORD, who brought you forth out of the land of Mitzrayim, out of the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear the LORD your God; and him shall you serve, and shall swear by his name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are round about you; 15 for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the eretz. 16 You shall not tempt the LORD your God, as you tempted him in Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the mitzvot of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 You shall do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD; that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to your fathers, 19 to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken. 20 When your son asks you in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD our God has commanded you? 21 then you shall tell your son, We were Par`oh's bondservants in Mitzrayim: and the LORD brought us out of Mitzrayim with a mighty hand; 22 and the LORD shown signs and wonders, great and sore, on Mitzrayim, on Par`oh, and on all his house, before our eyes; 23 and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. 24 The LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. 25 It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this mitzvah before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.
NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 7:11 - 35
7:11 It happened soon afterwards, that he went to a city called Na`im. Many of his talmidim went with him, along with a great multitude.
12 Now when he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her.
13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, "Don't cry."
14 He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, "Young man, I tell you, arise!"
15 He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. He gave him to his mother.
16 Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and, "God has visited his people!"
17 This report went out concerning him in the whole of Yehudah, and in all the surrounding region.
18 The talmidim of Yochanan told him about all these things.
19 Yochanan, calling to himself two of his talmidim, sent them to Yeshua, saying, "Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?"
20 When the men had come to him, they said, "Yochanan the immerser has sent us to you, saying, 'Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?'"
21 In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.
22 Yeshua answered them, "Go and tell Yochanan the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
23 Blessed is he who is not offended by me."
24 When Yochanan's messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about Yochanan, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed, and live delicately, are in kings' courts.
26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.
27 This is he of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, Who will prepare your way before you.'
28 "For I tell you, among those who are born of women there is not a greater prophet than Yochanan the immerser, yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."
29 When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they justified God, being immersed with Yochanan's immersion.
30 But the Perushim and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being immersed by him themselves.
31 The Lord said, "To what then will I liken the men of this generation? What are they like?
32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call one to another, saying, 'We piped to you, and you didn't dance. We mourned, and you didn't weep.'
33 For Yochanan the immerser came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.'
34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'
35 Wisdom is justified by all her children."
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