APRIL 4
PSALMS: 4, 34, 64, 94, 124
PROVERBS: 4
OLD TESTAMENT: 2 KINGS 6:1 - 7:20
NEW TESTAMENT: ACTS 15:36 - 16:15
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: 2 KINGS 6:1 - 7:20
6:1 The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, See now, the place where we dwell before you is too strait for us. 2 Let us go, we pray you, to the Yarden, and take there every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. He answered, Go you.
3 One said, Be pleased, I pray you, to go with your servants. He answered, I will go. 4 So he went with them. When they came to the Yarden, they cut down wood. 5 But as one was felling a beam, the ax-head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed. 6 The man of God said, Where fell it? He shown him the place. He cut down a stick, and cast it in there, and made the iron to swim. 7 He said, Take it up to you. So he put out his hand, and took it. 8 Now the king of Aram was warring against Yisra'el; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. 9 The man of God sent to the king of Yisra'el, saying, Beware that you not pass such a place; for there the Aram are coming down. 10 The king of Yisra'el sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice. 11 The heart of the king of Aram was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said to them, Won't you show me which of us is for the king of Yisra'el? 12 One of his servants said, No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Yisra'el, tells the king of Yisra'el the words that you speak in your bedchamber. 13 He said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him. It was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dotan. 14 Therefore sent he there horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host with horses and chariots was round about the city. His servant said to him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 16 He answered, Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. 17 Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, Please open his eyes, that he may see. The LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 18When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, Please smite this people with blindness. He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19 Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. He led them to Shomron. 20 It happened, when they were come into Shomron, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Shomron. 21 The king of Yisra'el said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I strike them? shall I strike them? 22 He answered, You shall not strike them: would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. 23 He prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The bands of Aram came no more into Eretz-Yisra'el. 24 It happened after this, that Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Shomron. 25 There was a great famine in Shomron: and, behold, they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty [pieces] of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five [pieces] of silver. 26 As the king of Yisra'el was passing by on the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. 27 He said, If the LORD doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress? 28 The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. 29 So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him; and she has hid her son. 30 It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within on his flesh. 31 Then he said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shafat shall stand on him this day. 32 But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the Zakenim were sitting with him; and [the king] sent a man from before him: but before the messenger came to him, he said to the Zakenim, See you how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him: isn't the sound of his master's feet behind him? 33 While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; why should I wait for the LORD any longer?
7:1 Elisha said, Hear you the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be [sold] for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Shomron. 2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might this thing be? He said, Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it. 3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? 4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall to the host of the Aram: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. 5 They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Aram; and when they were come to the outermost part of the camp of the Aram, behold, there was no man there. 6 For the Lord had made the host of the Aram to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Behold, the king of Yisra'el has hired against us the kings of the Hitti, and the kings of the Mitzrim, to come on us. 7 Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. 8 When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drink, and carried there silver, and gold, and clothing, and went and hid it; and they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried there also, and went and hid it. 9 Then they said one to another, We aren't doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we hold our shalom: if we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us; now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household. 10 So they came and called to the porter of the city; and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Aram, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were. 11 He called the porters; and they told it to the king's household within. 12 The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, I will now show you what the Aram have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city. 13 One of his servants answered, Please let some take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city (behold, they are as all the multitude of Yisra'el who are left in it; behold, they are as all the multitude of Yisra'el who are consumed); and let us send and see. 14 They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent after the host of the Aram, saying, Go and see. 15 They went after them to the Yarden: and, behold, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Aram had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned, and told the king. 16 The people went out, and plundered the camp of the Aram. So a measure of fine flour was [sold] for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. 17 The king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trod on him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.18 It happened, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Shomron; 19 and that captain answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? and he said, Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it: 20 it happened even so to him; for the people trod on him in the gate, and he died.
NEW TESTAMENT: ACTS 15:36 - 16:15
15:36 After some days Sha'ul said to Bar-Nabba, "Let's return now and visit our brothers in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing." 37 Bar-Nabba planned to take Yochanan with them also, who was called Mark. 38 But Sha'ul didn't think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who withdrew from them from Pamphylia, and didn't go with them to do the work. 39 Then there arose a sharp contention, so that they separated from each other. Bar-Nabba took Mark with him, and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Sha'ul chose Sila, and went out, being commended by the brothers to the grace of God. 41 He went through Aram and Cilicia, strengthening the assemblies.
16:1 He came to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain talmid was there, named Timothy, the son of a Yehudi who believed; but his father was a Yevanit. 2 The brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony about him. 3 Sha'ul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Yehudim who were in those parts; for they all knew that his father was a Yevanit. 4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the apostles and Zakenim who were at Yerushalayim. 5 So the assemblies were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily. 6 When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Ruach HaKodesh to speak the word in Asia. 7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn't allow them. 8 Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 A vision appeared to Sha'ul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." 10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them. 11 Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis; 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the first of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city. 13 On the day of Shabbat we went forth outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Sha'ul. 15 When she and her household were immersed, she begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay." She urged us.
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