NOVEMBER 4
PSALMS: 4, 34, 64, 94, 124
PROVERBS: 4
OLD TESTAMENT: GENESIS 48:1 - 49:33
NEW TESTAMENT: MATTHEW 15:29 - 16:12
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: GENESIS 48:1 - 49:33
48:1 It happened after these things, that one said to Yosef, "Behold, your father is sick." He took with him his two sons, Menashsheh and Efrayim. 2 One told Ya`akov, and said, "Behold, your son Yosef comes to you," and Yisra'el strengthened himself, and sat on the bed. 3 Ya`akov said to Yosef, "El Shaddai appeared to me at Luz in the land of Kana`an, and blessed me, 4 and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.' 5 Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Mitzrayim before I came to you into Mitzrayim, are mine; Efrayim and Menashsheh, even as Re'uven and Shim`on, will be mine. 6 Your issue, who you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 7 As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Kana`an in the way, when there was still some distance to come to Efrat, and I buried her there in the way to Efrat (the same is Beit-Lechem)." 8 Yisra'el saw Yosef's sons, and said, "Who are these?" 9 Yosef said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." He said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them." 10 Now the eyes of Yisra'el were dim for age, so that he couldn't see. He brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 11 Yisra'el said to Yosef, "I didn't think I would see your face, and, behold, God has let me see your seed also."
12 Yosef brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the eretz. 13 Yosef took them both, Efrayim in his right hand toward Yisra'el's left hand, and Menashsheh in his left hand toward Yisra'el's right hand, and brought them near to him. 14 Yisra'el stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Efrayim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Menashsheh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Menashsheh was the firstborn. 15 He blessed Yosef, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Avraham and Yitzchak did walk, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, 16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Avraham and Yitzchak. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the eretz." 17 When Yosef saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Efrayim, it displeased him. He held up his father's hand, to remove it from Efrayim's head to Menashsheh's head. 18 Yosef said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head." 19 His father refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations."20 He blessed them that day, saying, "In you will Yisra'el bless, saying, 'God make you as Efrayim and as Menashsheh'" He set Efrayim before Menashsheh. 21 Yisra'el said to Yosef, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amori with my sword and with my bow."
49:1 Ya`akov called to his sons, and said: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come. 2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Ya`akov; Listen to Yisra'el, your father. 3 "Re'uven, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power. 4 Boiling over as water, you shall not have the pre-eminence; Because you went up to your father's bed; Then defiled it. He went up to my couch. 5 "Shim`on and Levi are brothers; Weapons of violence are their swords. 6 My soul, don't come into their council; My glory, don't be united to their assembly; For in their anger they killed a man, In their self-will they hamstrung an ox. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; Their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Ya`akov, Scatter them in Yisra'el. 8 "Yehudah, your brothers will praise you: Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons will bow down before you. 9 Yehudah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, As a lioness. Who will rouse him up? 10 The scepter will not depart from Yehudah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes. To him will the obedience of the peoples be. 11 Binding his foal to the vine, His donkey's colt to the choice vine; He has washed his garments in wine, His robes in the blood of grapes: 12 His eyes will be red with wine, His teeth white with milk. 13 "Zevulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Tzidon. 14 "Yissakhar is a strong donkey, Couching down between the sheepfolds. 15 He saw a resting-place, that it was good, The land, that it was pleasant; He bowed his shoulder to bear, And became a servant doing forced labor. 16 "Dan will judge his people, As one of the tribes of Yisra'el. 17 Dan will be a serpent in the way, An adder in the path, That bites the horse's heels, So that his rider falls backward. 18 I have waited for your salvation, LORD. 19 "Gad, a troop will press on him; But he will press on their heel. 20 Out of Asher his bread will be fat, He will yield royal dainties. 21 "Naftali is a doe set free, Who bears beautiful fawns. 22 "Yosef is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a spring; His branches run over the wall. 23 The archers have sorely grieved him, Shot at him, and persecute him: 24 But his bow abode in strength, The arms of his hands were made strong, By the hands of the Mighty One of Ya`akov, (From there is the shepherd, the stone of Yisra'el), 25 Even by the God of your father, who will help you, By Shaddai, who will bless you, With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that couches beneath, Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. 26 The blessings of your father Have prevailed above the blessings of the ancient mountains, Than the bounty of the age-old hills. They will be on the head of Yosef, On the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers. 27 "Binyamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning she will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the spoil."28 All these are the twelve tribes of Yisra'el, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing. 29 He charged them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of `Efron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field of Makhpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Kana`an, which Avraham bought with the field from `Efron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place. 31 There they buried Avraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Yitzchak and Rivka, his wife, and there I buried Le'ah: 32 the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Het." 33 When Ya`akov made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people.
NEW TESTAMENT: MATTHEW 15:29 - 16:12
15:29 Yeshua departed there, and came near to the sea of the Galil; and he went up into the mountain, and sat there. 30 There came to him great multitudes, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them, 31 so that the multitude wondered when they saw the mute speaking, injured whole, lame walking, and blind seeing -- and they glorified the God of Yisra'el. 32 Yeshua called his talmidim to himself, and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way." 33 The talmidim said to him, "Where should we get so many loaves in a desert place as to fill so great a multitude?" 34 Yeshua said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." 35 He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground; 36 and he took the seven loaves and the fish. He gave thanks and broke them, and gave to the talmidim, and the talmidim to the multitudes. 37 They all ate, and were filled. They took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over. 38 Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 He sent away the multitudes, and entered into the boat, and came into the borders of Magdala.
16:1 The Perushim and Tzedukim came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 But he answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' 3 In the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can't discern the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, but the sign of the prophet Yonah." He left them, and departed. 5 The talmidim came to the other side and forgot to take bread. 6Yeshua said to them, "Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Perushim and Tzedukim." 7 They reasoned among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread." 8 Yeshua, perceiving it, said, "Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, 'because you have brought no bread?' 9 Don't you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up? 11 How is it that you don't perceive that I didn't speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the yeast of the Perushim and Tzedukim." 12 Then they understood that he didn't tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Perushim and Tzedukim.
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
