MAY 31
PSALMS: 31, 61, 91, 121
PROVERBS: 31
OLD TESTAMENT: ESTHER 8:1 - 10:3
NEW TESTAMENT: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:27 - 13:13
PSALMS: 31
1 In you, LORD, do I take refuge.
Let me never be put to shame:
Deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Bow down your ear to me.
Deliver me speedily.
Be to me a strong rock,
A house of defense to save me.
3 For you are my rock and my fortress,
Therefore for your name's sake lead me and guide me.
4 Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,
For you are my stronghold.
5 Into your hand I commend my spirit.
You redeem me, LORD, God of truth.
6 I hate those who regard lying vanities,
But I trust in the LORD.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness,
For you have seen my affliction.
You have known my soul in adversities.
8 You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.
You have set my feet in a large place.
9 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress.
My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
My years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.
11 Because of all my adversaries
I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
A fear to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.
12 I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.
13 For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,
While they conspire together against me,
They plot to take away my life.
14 But I trust in you, LORD.
I said, You are my God.
15 My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
and from those who persecute me.
16 Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.
17 Let me not be put to shame, LORD,
for I have called on you.
Let the wicked be put to shame.
Let them be silent in She'ol.
18 Let the lying lips be mute,
Which speak against the righteous insolently,
with pride and contempt.
19 Oh how great is your goodness,
Which you have laid up for those who fear you,
‘Which you have worked for those who take refuge in you,
Before the sons of men!
20 In the covert of your presence will you hide them from the plotting of man.
You will keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Praise be to the LORD,
For he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.
22 As for me, I said in my haste,
"I am cut off from before your eyes."
Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
23 Oh love the LORD, all you his holy ones!
The LORD preserves the faithful,
And pays back him who deals proudly in full.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the LORD.
PSALMS: 61
1 Hear my cry, God.
Listen to my prayer.
2 From the end of the eretz,
I will call to you, when my heart is overwhelmed.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been a refuge for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will dwell in your tent forever.
I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
Selah.
5 For you, God, have heard my vows.
You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6 You will prolong the king's life;
His years shall be for generations.
7 He shall be enthroned in God's presence forever.
Appoint your loving kindness and truth,
that they may preserve him.
8 So I will sing praise to your name forever,
That I may fulfill my vows daily.
PSALMS: 91
1 He who dwells in the secret place of Ha`Elyon
Will rest in the shadow of Shaddai.
2 I will say of the LORD,
"He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in whom I trust."
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler,
From the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions.
Under his wings you will take refuge.
His truth is a shield and a buckler.
5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes,
And see the reward of the wicked.
9 For you, LORD, are my refuge!
You have made Ha`Elyon your habitation.
10 No evil shall happen to you,
Neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
11 For he will give his angels charge over you,
To guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,
So that you won't dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and cobra.
You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
14 "Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him.
I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver him, and honor him.
16 I will satisfy him with long life,
And show him my yeshu`ah."
PSALMS: 121
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills.
Where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and eretz.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved.
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Yisra'el
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper.
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil.
He will keep your soul.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in,
From this time forth, and forevermore.
PROVERBS: 31
1 The words of king Lemo'el;
the oracle which his mother taught him.
2 "Oh, my son!" Oh, son of my womb!
Oh, son of my vows!
3 Don't give your strength to women,
Nor your ways to that which destroys kings.
4 It is not for kings, Lemo'el;
it is not for kings to drink wine;
Nor for princes to say, 'Where is strong drink?'
5 Lest they drink, and forget the law,
And pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.
6 Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish;
And wine to the bitter in soul:
7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty,
And remember his misery no more.
8 Open your mouth for the mute,
In the cause of all who are left desolate.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And serve justice to the poor and needy."
10 Who can find a worthy woman?
For her price is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her.
He shall have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
All the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
And works eagerly with her hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships.
She brings her bread from afar.
15 She rises also while it is yet night,
Gives food to her household,
And portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field, and buys it.
With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.
17 She girds her loins with strength,
And makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp doesn't go out by night.
19 She lays her hands to the distaff,
And her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her arms to the poor;
Yes, she extends her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household;
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 She makes for herself carpets of tapestry.
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected in the gates,
When he sits among the Zakenim of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
And delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing.
She laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom.
Faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household,
And doesn't eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed.
Her husband also praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
But you excel them all."
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain;
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands;
Let her works praise her in the gates.
OLD TESTAMENT: ESTHER 8:1 - 10:3
8:1 On that day did the king Achashverosh give the house of Haman the Yehudim' enemy to Ester the queen. Mordekhai came before the king; for Ester had told what he was to her. 2 The king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordekhai. Ester set Mordekhai over the house of Haman. 3 Ester spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Yehudim. 4 Then the king held out to Ester the golden scepter. So Ester arose, and stood before the king. 5 She said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedata the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Yehudim who are in all the king's provinces: 6 for how can I endure to see the evil that shall come to my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my relatives? 7 Then the king Achashverosh said to Ester the queen and to Mordekhai the Yehudi, See, I have given Ester the house of Haman, and him they have hanged on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the Yehudim. 8 Write you also to the Yehudim, as it pleases you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring; for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse. 9 Then were the king's Sofrim called at that time, in the third month Sivan, on the three and twentieth [day] of it; and it was written according to all that Mordekhai commanded to the Yehudim, and to the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from Hoddu to Kush, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to the writing of it, and to every people after their language, and to the Yehudim according to their writing, and according to their language. 10 He wrote the name of king Achashverosh, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by post on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud: 11 in which the king granted the Yehudim who were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, [their] little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, 12 on one day in all the provinces of king Achashverosh, [namely], on the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. 13 A copy of the writing, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, and that the Yehudim should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14 So the posts who rode on swift steeds that were used in the king's service went out, being hurried and pressed on by the king's mitzvah; and the decree was given out in Shushan the palace.
15 Mordekhai went forth from the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan shouted and was glad. 16 The Yehudim had light and gladness, and joy and honor. 17 In every province, and in every city, wherever the king's mitzvah and his decree came, the Yehudim had gladness and joy, a feast and a good day. Many from among the peoples of the land became Yehudim; for the fear of the Yehudim was fallen on them.
9:1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's mitzvah and his decree drew near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies of the Yehudim hoped to have rule over them, (whereas it was turned to the contrary, that the Yehudim had rule over those who hated them,) 2 the Yehudim gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Achashverosh, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them was fallen on all the peoples. 3 All the princes of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and those who did the king's business, helped the Yehudim; because the fear of Mordekhai was fallen on them. 4 For Mordekhai was great in the king's house, and his fame went forth throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordekhai grew greater and greater. 5 The Yehudim struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did what they would to those who hated them. 6 In Shushan the palace the Yehudim killed and destroyed five hundred men.7 Parshandata, and Dalfon, and Aspata, 8 and Porata, and Adalyah, and Aridata, 9 and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizata, 10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedata, the Yehudi's enemy, killed they; but they didn't lay their hand on the spoil. 11 On that day the number of those who were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king. 12 The king said to Ester the queen, The Yehudim have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! Now what is your petition? and it shall be granted you: or what is your request further? and it shall be done. 13 Then said Ester, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Yehudim who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows. 14 The king commanded it so to be done: and a decree was given out in Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons. 15 The Yehudim who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Shushan; but they didn't lay their hand on the spoil. 16 The other Yehudim who were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and killed of those who hated them seventy-five thousand; but they didn't lay their hand on the spoil.
17 [This was done] on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 18 But the Yehudim who were in Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth [day] of it, and on the fourteenth of it; and on the fifteenth [day] of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore do the Yehudim of the villages, who dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar [a day of] gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another. 20 Mordekhai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Yehudim who were in all the provinces of the king Achashverosh, both near and far, 21 to enjoin those who they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, 22 as the days in which the Yehudim had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the needy. 23 The Yehudim undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordekhai had written to them; 24 because Haman the son of Hammedata, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Yehudim, had plotted against the Yehudim to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; 25 but when [the matter] came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Yehudim, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them, 27 the Yehudim ordained, and took on them, and on their seed, and on all such as joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to the writing of it, and according to the appointed time of it, every year; 28 and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Yehudim, nor the memory of them perish from their seed. 29 Then Ester the queen, the daughter of Avichayil, and Mordekhai the Yehudi, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. 30 He sent letters to all the Yehudim, to the hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Achashverosh, [with] words of shalom and truth, 31 to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times, according as Mordekhai the Yehudi and Ester the queen had enjoined them, and as they had ordained for themselves and for their seed, in the matter of the fastings and their cry. 32 The mitzvah of Ester confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
10:1 The king Achashverosh laid a tribute on the land, and on the isles of the sea. 2 All the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordekhai, whereunto the king advanced him, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Madai and Paras? 3 For Mordekhai the Yehudi was next to king Achashverosh, and great among the Yehudim, and accepted of the multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and speaking shalom to all his seed.
NEW TESTAMENT: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:27 - 13:13
12:27 Now you are the body of Messiah, and members individually. 28 God has set some in the assembly, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with various languages? Do all interpret? 31 But desire earnestly the best gifts. Moreover, I show a most excellent way to you.
13:1 If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don't have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don't have love, I am nothing. 3 If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don't have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn't envy. Love doesn't brag, is not proud, 5 doesn't behave itself inappropriately, doesn't seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6 doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. 13 But now remain faith, hope, and love: these three. The greatest of these is love.
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
