THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - January 20 - Full Text - Shabbat Shalom!

Genesis 1:1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

JANUARY 20

PSALMS: 20, 50, 80, 110, 140

PROVERBS: 20

OLD TESTAMENT: JOSHUA 3:1 - 4:24

NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 14:7 - 35

PSALMS: 20

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;

may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

² May he send you help from the sanctuary

and grant you support from Zion.

³ May he remember all your sacrifices

and accept your burnt offerings.

Selah

⁴ May he give you the desire of your heart

and make all your plans succeed.

⁵ We will shout for joy when you are victorious

and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.

May the LORD grant all your requests.

⁶ Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;

he answers him from his holy heaven

with the saving power of his right hand.

⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

⁸ They are brought to their knees and fall,

but we rise up and stand firm.

⁹ O LORD, save the king!

Answer ^A us when we call! ¹

PSALMS: 50

A psalm of Asaph.

¹ The Mighty One, God, the LORD,

speaks and summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.

² From Zion, perfect in beauty,

God shines forth.

³ Our God comes and will not be silent;

a fire devours before him,

and around him a tempest rages.

⁴ He summons the heavens above,

and the earth, that he may judge his people:

⁵ "Gather to me my consecrated ones,

who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

⁶ And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,

for God himself is judge.

Selah

⁷ "Hear, O my people, and I will speak,

O Israel, and I will testify against you:

I am God, your God.

⁸ I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices

or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.

⁹ I have no need of a bull from your stall

or of goats from your pens,

¹⁰ for every animal of the forest is mine,

and the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains,

and the creatures of the field are mine.

¹² If I were hungry I would not tell you, ²

for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴ Sacrifice thank offerings to God,

fulfill your vows to the Most High,

¹⁵ and call upon me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

¹⁶ But to the wicked, God says:

"What right have you to recite my laws

or take my covenant on your lips?

¹⁷ You hate my instruction

and cast my words behind you.

¹⁸ When you see a thief, you join with him;

you throw in your lot with adulterers.

¹⁹ You use your mouth for evil

and harness your tongue to deceit.

²⁰ You speak continually against your brother

and slander your own mother's son.

²¹ These things you have done and I kept silent;

you thought I was altogether ^A like you.

But I will rebuke you

and accuse you to your face.

²² "Consider this, you who forget God,

or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue:

²³ He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me,

and he prepares the way

so that I may show him ^B the salvation of God." ³

PSALMS: 80

For the director of music. To the tune of "The Lilies of the Covenant." Of Asaph. A psalm.

¹ Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel,

you who lead Joseph like a flock;

you who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

² before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.

Awaken your might;

come and save us.

³ Restore us, O God;

make your face shine upon us,

that we may be saved.

⁴ O LORD God Almighty,

how long will your anger smolder

against the prayers of your people?

⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears;

you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

⁶ You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors,

and our enemies mock us.

⁷ Restore us, O God Almighty;

make your face shine upon us,

that we may be saved.

⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt;

you drove out the nations and planted it.

⁹ You cleared the ground for it,

and it took root and filled the land.

¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade,

the mighty cedars with its branches. ⁴

¹¹ It sent out its boughs to the Sea, ^A

its shoots as far as the River. ^B

¹² Why have you broken down its walls

so that all who pass by pick its grapes?

¹³ Boars from the forest ravage it

and the creatures of the field feed on it.

¹⁴ Return to us, O God Almighty!

Look down from heaven and see!

Watch over this vine,

¹⁵ the root your right hand has planted,

the son ^C you have raised up for yourself.

¹⁶ Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;

at your rebuke your people perish.

¹⁷ Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,

the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

¹⁸ Then we will not turn away from you;

revive us, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹ Restore us, O LORD God Almighty;

make your face shine upon us,

that we may be saved. ⁵

PSALMS: 110

Of David. A psalm.

¹ The LORD says to my Lord:

"Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet."

² The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion;

you will rule in the midst of your enemies.

³ Your troops will be willing

on your day of battle.

Arrayed in holy majesty,

from the womb of the dawn

you will receive the dew of your youth. ^A

⁴ The LORD has sworn

and will not change his mind:

"You are a priest forever,

in the order of Melchizedek."

⁵ The Lord is at your right hand;

he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.

⁶ He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead

and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.

⁷ He will drink from a brook beside the way ^B;

therefore he will lift up his head. ⁶

PSALMS: 140

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men;

protect me from men of violence,

² who devise evil plans in their hearts

and stir up war every day.

³ They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent's;

the poison of vipers is on their lips.

Selah

⁴ Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;

protect me from men of violence

who plan to trip my feet.

⁵ Proud men have hidden a snare for me;

they have spread out the cords of their net

and have set traps for me along my path.

Selah

⁶ O LORD, I say to you, "You are my God."

Hear, O LORD, my cry for mercy.

⁷ O Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer,

who shields my head in the day of battle--

⁸ do not grant the wicked their desires, O LORD;

do not let their plans succeed,

or they will become proud.

Selah

⁹ Let the heads of those who surround me

be covered with the trouble their lips have caused.

¹⁰Let burning coals fall upon them;

may they be thrown into the fire,

into miry pits, never to rise. ⁷

¹¹ Let slanderers not be established in the land;

may disaster hunt down men of violence.

¹² I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor

and upholds the cause of the needy.

¹³ Surely the righteous will praise your name

and the upright will live before you. ⁸

PROVERBS: 20

20 ¹ Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler;

whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

² A king's wrath is like the roar of a lion;

he who angers him forfeits his life.

³ It is to a man's honor to avoid strife,

but every fool is quick to quarrel.

⁴ A sluggard does not plow in season;

so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.

⁵ The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters,

but a man of understanding draws them out.

⁶ Many a man claims to have unfailing love,

but a faithful man who can find?

⁷ The righteous man leads a blameless life;

blessed are his children after him.

⁸ When a king sits on his throne to judge,

he winnows out all evil with his eyes.

⁹ Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure;

I am clean and without sin"?

¹⁰ Differing weights and differing measures--

the LORD detests them both.

¹¹ Even a child is known by his actions,

by whether his conduct is pure and right. ⁹

¹² Ears that hear and eyes that see--

the LORD has made them both.

¹³ Do not love sleep or you will grow poor;

stay awake and you will have food to spare.

¹⁴ "It's no good, it's no good!" says the buyer;

then off he goes and boasts about his purchase.

¹⁵ Gold there is, and rubies in abundance,

but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.

¹⁶ Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;

hold it in pledge if he does it for a wayward woman.

¹⁷ Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man,

but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel.

¹⁸ Make plans by seeking advice;

if you wage war, obtain guidance.

¹⁹ A gossip betrays a confidence;

so avoid a man who talks too much.

²⁰ If a man curses his father or mother,

his lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.

²¹ An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning

will not be blessed at the end.

²² Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!"

Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you. ¹⁰

²³ The LORD detests differing weights,

and dishonest scales do not please him.

²⁴ A man's steps are directed by the LORD.

How then can anyone understand his own way?

²⁵ It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly

and only later to consider his vows.

²⁶ A wise king winnows out the wicked;

he drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷ The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man ^A;

it searches out his inmost being.

²⁸ Love and faithfulness keep a king safe;

through love his throne is made secure.

²⁹ The glory of young men is their strength,

gray hair the splendor of the old.

³⁰ Blows and wounds cleanse away evil,

and beatings purge the inmost being. ¹¹

OLD TESTAMENT: JOSHUA 3:1 - 4:24

3 ¹ Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. ² After three days the officers went throughout the camp, ³ giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. ⁴ Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards ^A between you and the ark; do not go near it."

⁵ Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."

⁶ Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they took it up and went ahead of them.

⁷ And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. ⁸ Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: `When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river.' "

⁹ Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. ¹⁰ This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. ¹¹ See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. ¹² Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. ¹³ And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD--the Lord ¹²of all the earth--set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap."

¹⁴ So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. ¹⁵ Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, ¹⁶ the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea ^B) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

4 ¹ When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, ² "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, ³ and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight."

⁴ So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, ⁵ and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, ⁶ to serve as a sign among you. ¹³ In the future, when your children ask you, `What do these stones mean?' ⁷ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

⁸ So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. ⁹ Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been ^A in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

¹⁰ Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, ¹¹ and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the LORD and the priests came to the other side while the people watched. ¹² The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, armed, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them. ¹³ About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war.

¹⁴ That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they revered him all the days of his life, just as they had revered Moses.

¹⁵ Then the LORD said to Joshua, ¹⁶ "Command the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan."

¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the ¹⁴ Jordan."

¹⁸ And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.

¹⁹ On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. ²⁰ And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. ²¹ He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, `What do these stones mean?' <sup>22</sup> tell them, `Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' ²³ For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea ^B when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.

²⁴ He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God." ¹⁵

NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 14:7 - 35

⁷ When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: ⁸ "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹ If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, `Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. <sup>10</sup> But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, `Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

¹² Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

¹⁵ When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."

¹⁶ Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, `Come, for everything is now ready.'

¹⁸ "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, `I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.'

¹⁹ "Another said, `I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'

²⁰ "Still another said, `I just got married, so I can't come.'

²¹ "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, `Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'

²² "`Sir,' the servant said, `what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'

²³ "Then the master told his servant, `Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'"

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

³¹ "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

³⁴ "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? ³⁵ It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." ¹⁶

1 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

2 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

3 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

4 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

5 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

6 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

7 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

8 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

9 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

10 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

11 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

12 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

13 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

14 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

15 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

16 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

 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