FEBRUARY 28
PSALMS: 28, 58, 88, 118, 148
PROVERBS: 28
OLD TESTAMENT: 1 SAMUEL 26:1 - 28:25
NEW TESTAMENT: JOHN 11:1 - 54
PSALMS: 28
1 To you, LORD, I call.
My rock, don't be deaf to me;
Lest, if you are silent to me,
I would become like those who go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you,
When I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
3 Don't draw me away with the wicked,
With the workers of iniquity who speak shalom with their neighbors,
But mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their work,
and according to the wickedness of their doings.
Give them according to the operation of their hands.
Bring back on them what they deserve.
5 Because they don't regard the works of the LORD,
Nor the operation of his hands,
He will break them down and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the LORD,
Because he has heard the voice of my petitions.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield.
My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped.
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices.
With my song I will thank him.
8 The LORD is their strength.
He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.
9 Save your people, and bless your inheritance.
Be their shepherd also, and bear them up forever.
PSALMS: 58
1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones?
Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
2 No, in your heart you plot injustice.
You measure out the violence of your hands in the eretz.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb.
They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake;
Like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5 Which doesn't listen to the voice of charmers,
No matter how skillful the charmer may be.
6Break their teeth, God, in their mouth.
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, LORD.
7 Let them vanish as water that flows away.
When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
8 Let them be as a snail which melts and passes away,
Like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns,
He will sweep away, the green and the burning alike.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance.
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
11 So that men shall say, "Most assuredly there is a reward for the righteous.
Most assuredly there is a God who judges the eretz."
PSALMS: 88
1 LORD, the God of my salvation,
I have cried day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer enter into your presence.
Turn your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full of troubles.
My life draws near to She'ol.
4 I am counted among those who go down into the pit.
I am like a man who has no help,
5 Set apart among the dead,
Like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom you remember no more.
They are cut off from your hand.
6 You have laid me in the lowest pit,
In the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me.
You have afflicted me with all your waves.
Selah.
8 You have taken my friends from me.
You have made me an abomination to them.
I am confined, and I can't escape.
9 My eyes are dim from grief.
I have called on you daily, LORD.
I have spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show wonders to the dead?
Do the dead rise up and praise you? Selah.
11 Is your loving kindness declared in the grave?
Or your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders made known in the dark?
Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But to you, LORD, I have cried.
In the morning, my prayer comes before you.
14 LORD, why do you reject my soul?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up.
While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.
16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me.
Your terrors have cut me off.
17 They came around me like water all day long.
They completely engulfed me.
18 You have put lover and friend far from me,
And my friends into darkness.
PSALMS: 148
1 Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens!
Praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all his host!
3 Praise him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you heavens of heavens,
You waters that are above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, ‘
For he commanded, and they were created.
6 He has also established them forever and ever.
He has made a decree which will not pass away.
7 Praise the LORD from the eretz,
You great sea creatures, and all depths!
8 Lightning and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling his word;
9 Mountains and all hills;
Fruit trees and all cedars;
10 Wild animals and all cattle;
Small creatures and flying birds;
11 Kings of the eretz and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the eretz;
12 Both young men and maidens;
Old men and children:
13 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
For his name alone is exalted.
His glory is above the eretz and the heavens.
14 He has lifted up the horn of his people,
The praise of all his holy ones;
Even of the children of Yisra'el, a people near to him.
Praise the LORD!
PROVERBS: 28
1 The wicked flee when no one pursues;
But the righteous are as bold as a lion.
2 In rebellion, a land has many rulers,
But order is maintained by a man of understanding and knowledge.
3 A needy man who oppresses the poor
Is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.
4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked;
But those who keep the law contend with them.
5 Evil men don't understand justice;
But those who seek the LORD understand it fully.
6 Better is the poor who walks in his integrity,
Than he who is perverse in his ways, and he is rich.
7 Whoever keeps the law is a wise son;
But he who is a companion of gluttons shames his father.
8 He who increases his wealth by excessive interest
Gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.
9 He who turns away his ear from hearing the law,
Even his prayer is an abomination.
10 Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way,
He will fall into his own trap;
But the blameless will inherit good.
11 The rich man is wise in his own eyes;
But the poor who has understanding sees through him.
12 When the righteous triumph, there is great glory;
But when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.
13 He who conceals his sins doesn't prosper,
But whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
14 Blessed is the man who always fears;
But one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
15 As a roaring lion or a charging bear,
So is a wicked ruler over helpless people.
16 The ruler who lacks judgment is a great tyrant.
One who hates ill-gotten gain will have long days.
17 A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death;
No one will support him.
18 Whoever walks blamelessly is kept safe;
But one with perverse ways will fall suddenly.
19 One who works his land will have an abundance of food;
But one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
20 A faithful man is rich with blessings;
But one who is eager to be rich will not go unpunished.
21 To show partiality is not good;
Yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
22 A stingy man hurries after riches,
And doesn't know that poverty waits for him.
23 One who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor
Than one who flatters with the tongue.
24 Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says,
"It's not wrong."
He is a partner with a destroyer.
25 One who is greedy stirs up strife;
But one who trusts in the LORD will prosper.
26 One who trusts in himself is a fool;
But one who walks in wisdom, he is kept safe.
27 One who gives to the poor has no lack;
But one who closes his eyes will have many curses.
28 When the wicked rise, men hide themselves;
But when they perish, the righteous thrive.
OLD TESTAMENT: 1 SAMUEL 26:1 - 28:25
26:1 The Zifim came to Sha'ul to Gevah, saying, Doesn't David hide himself in the hill of Hakhilah, which is before the desert? 2 Then Sha'ul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Zif, having three thousand chosen men of Yisra'el with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Zif. 3 Sha'ul encamped in the hill of Hakhilah, which is before the desert, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Sha'ul came after him into the wilderness. 4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Sha'ul was come of a certainty. 5 David arose, and came to the place where Sha'ul had encamped; and David saw the place where Sha'ul lay, and Aviner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Sha'ul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped round about him. 6 Then answered David and said to Achimelekh the Hittite, and to Avishai the son of Tzeru'yah, brother to Yo'av, saying, Who will go down with me to Sha'ul to the camp? Avishai said, I will go down with you. 7 So David and Avishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Sha'ul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Aviner and the people lay round about him. 8 Then said Avishai to David, God has delivered up your enemy into your hand this day: now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the eretz at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time. 9 David said to Avishai, Don't destroy him; for who can put forth his hand against the LORD's anointed, and be guiltless? 10 David said, As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish. 11 The LORD forbid that I should put forth my hand against the LORD's anointed: but now please take the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go. 12 So David took the spear and the jar of water from Sha'ul's head; and they got them away: and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD was fallen on them. 13 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain afar off; a great space being between them; 14 and David cried to the people, and to Aviner the son of Ner, saying, Don't you answer, Aviner? Then Aviner answered, Who are you who cries to the king? 15 David said to Aviner, Aren't you a [valiant] man? and who is like you in Yisra'el? why then have you not kept watch over your lord, the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king your lord. 16 This thing isn't good that you have done. As the LORD lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the LORD's anointed. Now see where the king's spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head. 17 Sha'ul knew David's voice, and said, Is this your voice, my son David? David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. 18 He said, Why does my lord pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in my hand? 19 Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it be the LORD that has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering: but if it be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD: for they have driven me out this day that I shouldn't cling to the LORD's inheritance, saying, Go, serve other gods. 20 Now therefore, don't let my blood fall to the eretz away from the presence of the LORD: for the king of Yisra'el is come out to seek a flea, as when one does hunt a partridge in the mountains. 21 Then said Sha'ul, I have sinned: return, my son David; for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. 22 David answered, Behold the spear, O king! let then one of the young men come over and get it. 23 The LORD will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; because the LORD delivered you into my hand today, and I wouldn't put forth my hand against the LORD's anointed. 24 Behold, as your life was much set by this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the LORD, and let him deliver me out of all oppression. 25 Then Sha'ul said to David, Blessed be you, my son David: you shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail. So David went his way, and Sha'ul returned to his place.
27:1 David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Sha'ul: there is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Pelishtim; and Sha'ul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Yisra'el: so shall I escape out of his hand. 2 David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Akhish the son of Ma`okh, king of Gat. 3 David lived with Akhish at Gat, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Achino'am the Yizre`elite, and Avigayil the Karmelite, Naval's wife. 4 It was told Sha'ul that David was fled to Gat: and he sought no more again for him. 5 David said to Akhish, If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?6 Then Akhish gave him Tziklag that day: why Tziklag pertains to the kings of Yehudah to this day. 7 The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Pelishtim was a full year and four months. 8 David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshuri, and the Gizri, and the `Amaleki; for those [nations] were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as you go to Shur, even to the land of Mitzrayim. 9 David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Akhish. 10 Akhish said, Against whom have you made a raid today? David said, Against the South of Yehudah, and against the South of the Yerachme'eli, and against the South of the Kinim. 11 David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gat, saying, Lest they should tell of us, saying, So did David, and so has been his manner all the while he has lived in the country of the Pelishtim. 12 Akhish believed David, saying, He has made his people Yisra'el utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant forever.
28:1 It happened in those days, that the Pelishtim gathered their hosts together for warfare, to fight with Yisra'el. Akhish said to David, Know you assuredly, that you shall go out with me in the host, you and your men. 2 David said to Akhish, Therefore you shall know what your servant will do. Akhish said to David, Therefore will I make you keeper of my head for ever. 3 Now Shemu'el was dead, and all Yisra'el had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Sha'ul had put away those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. 4 The Pelishtim gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem: and Sha'ul gathered all Yisra'el together, and they encamped in Gilboa. 5 When Sha'ul saw the host of the Pelishtim, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 When Sha'ul inquired of the LORD, the LORD didn't answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 7 Then said Sha'ul to his servants, Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. His servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at En-dor. 8 Sha'ul disguised himself, and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, Please divine to me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whoever I shall name to you. 9 The woman said to him, Behold, you know what Sha'ul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: why then lay you a snare for my life, to cause me to die? 10 Sha'ul swore to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD lives, there shall no punishment happen to you for this thing. 11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to you? He said, Bring me up Shemu'el. 12 When the woman saw Shemu'el, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Sha'ul, saying, Why have you deceived me? for you are Sha'ul. 13 The king said to her, Don't be afraid: for what do you see? The woman said to Sha'ul, I see a god coming up out of the eretz. 14 He said to her, What form is he of? She said, An old man comes up; and he is covered with a robe. Sha'ul perceived that it was Shemu'el, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance. 15 Shemu'el said to Sha'ul, Why have you disquieted me, to bring me up? Sha'ul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Pelishtim make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do. 16 Shemu'el said, Why then do you ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from you, and is become your adversary? 17 The LORD has done to you, as he spoke by me: and the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, even to David. 18Because you didn't obey the voice of the LORD, and didn't execute his fierce wrath on `Amalek, therefore has the LORD done this thing to you this day.
19 Moreover the LORD will deliver Yisra'el also with you into the hand of the Pelishtim; and tomorrow shall you and your sons be with me: the LORD will deliver the host of Yisra'el also into the hand of the Pelishtim. 20 Then Sha'ul fell immediately his full length on the eretz, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Shemu'el: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. 21 The woman came to Sha'ul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said to him, Behold, your handmaid has listened to your voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. 22 Now therefore, please listen also to the voice of your handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength, when you go on your way. 23 But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him; and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the eretz, and sat on the bed. 24 The woman had a fattened calf in the house; and she hurried, and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake matzah of it: 25 and she brought it before Sha'ul, and before his servants; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night.
NEW TESTAMENT: JOHN 11:1 - 54
11:1 Now a certain man was sick, El'azar from Beit-Anyah, of the village of Miryam and her sister, Marta.
2 It was that Miryam who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, El'azar, was sick.
3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, "Lord, behold, he for whom you have affection is sick."
4 But when Yeshua heard it, he said, "This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God's Son may be glorified by it."
5 Now Yeshua loved Marta, and her sister, and El'azar.
6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed at that time two days in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the talmidim, "Let's go into Yehudah again."
8 The talmidim told him, "Rabbi, the Yehudim were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"
9 Yeshua answered, "Aren't there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn't stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn't in him."
11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, "Our friend, El'azar, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep."
12 The talmidim therefore said, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
13 Now Yeshua had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.
14 So Yeshua said to them plainly then, "El'azar is dead.
15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let's go to him."
16 T'oma therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow talmidim, "Let's go also, that we may die with him."
17 So when Yeshua came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.
18 Now Beit-Anyah was near Yerushalayim, about fifteen stadia away.
19 Many of the Yehudim had joined the women around Marta and Miryam, to console them concerning their brother.
20 Therefore Marta, when she heard that Yeshua was coming, went and met him, but Miryam stayed in the house.
21 Therefore Marta said to Yeshua, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
22 Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you."
23 Yeshua said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Marta said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25 Yeshua said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet will he live.
26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, God's Son, he who comes into the world."
28 When she had said this, she went away, and called Miryam, her sister, secretly, saying, "The Teacher is here, and is calling you."
29 She, when she heard this, arose quickly, and went to him.
30 Now Yeshua had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Marta met him.
31 Then the Yehudim who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Miryam, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."
32 Miryam therefore, when she came to where Yeshua was, and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died."
33 When Yeshua therefore saw her weeping, and the Yehudim weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They told him, "Lord, come and see."
35 Yeshua wept.
36 The Yehudim therefore said, "See how much affection he had for him!"
37 Some of them said, "Couldn't this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also caused that this man wouldn't die?"
38 Yeshua therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 Yeshua said, "Take away the stone." Marta, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."
40Yeshua said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see God's glory?"
41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Yeshua lifted up his eyes, and said, "Father, I thank you that you listened to me.
42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me."
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "El'azar, come out!"
44 He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Yeshua said to them, "Free him, and let him go."
45 Therefore many of the Yehudim, who came to Miryam and saw that which Yeshua did, believed in him.
46 But some of them went away to the Perushim, and told them the things which Yeshua had done.
47 The chief Kohanim therefore and the Perushim gathered a council, and said, "What are we doing? For this man does many signs.
48 If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
49 But a certain one of them, Kayafa, being Kohen Gadol that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,
50 nor do you take account that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish."
51 Now he didn't say this of himself, but being Kohen Gadol that year, he prophesied that Yeshua would die for the nation,
52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53 So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put him to death.
54 Yeshua therefore walked no more openly among the Yehudim, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, into a city called Efrayim. He stayed there with his talmidim.
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
