MARCH
6
PSALMS:
6
PROVERBS:
6
OLD
TESTAMENT:
2 SAMUEL 9:1 – 11:21
NEW
TESTAMENT:
JOHN 15:1 - 27
PSALMS:
6
1 For
the leader.
With
stringed instruments.
On
sh'minit [low-pitched musical instruments?].
A
psalm of David:
ADONAI,
don't rebuke me in your anger,
don't
discipline me in the heat of your fury.
2 Be
gracious to me, ADONAI,
because
I am withering away;
heal
me, ADONAI, because my bones are shaking;
3 I
am completely terrified;
and
you, ADONAI - how long?
4 Come
back, ADONAI, and rescue me!
Save
me for the sake of your grace;
5 for
in death, no one remembers you;
in
Sh'ol, who will praise you?
6 I
am worn out with groaning;
all
night I drench my bed with tears,
flooding
my couch till it swims.
7 My
vision is darkened with anger;
it
grows weak because of all my foes.
8 Get
away from me, all you workers of evil!
For
ADONAI has heard the sound of my weeping,
9 ADONAI
has heard my pleading,
ADONAI
will accept my prayer.
10 All
my enemies will be confounded, completely terrified;
they
will turn back and be suddenly put to shame.
PSALMS:
36
1 For
the leader.
By
David, the servant of ADONAI:
Crime
speaks to the wicked.
I
perceive this in my heart;
before
his eyes there is no fear of God.
2 For,
the way he sees it, crime makes his life easy that is,
until
his wrongs are discovered;
then,
he is hated.
3 His
words are wrong and deceitful;
he
has stopped being wise and doing good.
4
He
devises trouble as he lies in bed;
so
set is he on his own bad way that he doesn't hate evil.
5 ADONAI,
in the heavens is your grace;
your
faithfulness reaches to the skies.
6 Your
righteousness is like the mountains of God,
your
judgments are like the great deep.
You
save man and beast, ADONAI.
7 How
precious, God, is your grace!
People
take refuge in the shadow of your wings,
8 they
feast on the rich bounty of your house,
and
you have them drink from the stream of your delights.
9 For
with you is the fountain of life;
in
your light we see light.
10 Continue
your grace to those who know you
and
your righteousness to the upright in heart.
11 Don't
let the foot of the proud tread on me
or
the hands of the wicked drive me away.
12
There
they lie fallen, those evildoers,
flung
down and unable to rise.
PSALMS:
66
1 For
the leader.
A
song.
A
psalm:
Shout
to God, all the earth!
2
Sing
the glory of his name,
make
his praise glorious.
3 Tell
God, "How awesome are your deeds!
At
your great power, your enemies cringe.
4 All
the earth bows down to you, sings praises to you,
sings
praises to your name."
(Selah)
5 Come
and see what God has done,
his
awesome dealings with humankind.
6 He
turned the sea into dry land.
They
passed through the river on foot;
there
we rejoiced in him.
7
With his power he rules forever;
his
eyes keep watch on the nations.
Let
no rebel arise to challenge him.
8 Bless
our God, you peoples!
Let
the sound of his praise be heard!
9 He
preserves our lives and keeps our feet from stumbling.
(Selah)
10 For
you, God, have tested us,
refined
us as silver is refined.
11 You
brought us into the net
and
bound our bodies fast.
12 You
made men ride over our heads;
we
went through fire and water.
But
you brought us out to a place of plenty.
13 I
will come into your house with burnt offerings,
I
will fulfill my vows to you,
14 those
my lips pronounced and my mouth spoke
when
I was in distress.
15 I
will offer you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
along
with the sweet smoke of rams;
I
will offer bulls and goats. (Selah)
16 Come
and listen, all you who fear God,
and
I will tell what he has done for me.
17 I
cried out to him with my mouth,
his
praise was on my tongue.
18 Had
I cherished evil thoughts,
Adonai
would not have listened.
19 But
in fact, God did listen;
he
paid attention to my prayer.
20 Blessed
be God, who did not reject my prayer
or
turn his grace away from me.
PSALMS:
96
1 Sing
to ADONAI a new song!
Sing
to ADONAI, all the earth!
2
Sing
to ADONAI, bless his name!
Proclaim
his victory day after day!
3 Declare
his glory among the nations,
his
wonders among all peoples!
4 For
ADONAI is great, and greatly to be praised;
he
is to be feared more than all gods.
5 For
all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but
ADONAI made the heavens.
6 In
his presence are honor and majesty;
in
his sanctuary, strength and splendor.
7 Give
ADONAI his due, you families from the peoples;
give
ADONAI his due of glory and strength;
8 give
ADONAI the glory due to his name;
bring
an offering, and enter his courtyards.
9 Worship
ADONAI in holy splendor;
tremble
before him, all the earth!
10 Say
among the nations, "ADONAI is king!
"The
world is firmly established, immovable.
He
will judge the peoples fairly.
11 Let
the heavens rejoice; let the earth be glad;
let
the sea roar, and everything in it;
12 let
the fields exult and all that is in them.
Then
all the trees in the forest will sing
13 before
ADONAI, because he has come, he has come to judge the earth;
he
will judge the world rightly and the peoples with his faithfulness.
1 When
the LORD brought back those who returned to Tziyon,
We
were like those who dream.
2 Then
our mouth was filled with laughter,
And
our tongue with singing.
Then
said they among the nations,
"The
LORD has done great things for them."
3 The
LORD has done great things for us,
And
we are glad.
4 Restore
our fortunes again, LORD,
Like
the streams in the Negev.
5 Those
who sow in tears will reap in joy.
6 He
who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing,
Will
assuredly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.
PROVERBS:
6
1 My
son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor,
If
you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;
2 You
are trapped by the words of your mouth.
You
are ensnared with the words of your mouth.
3 Do
this now, my son, and deliver yourself,
Seeing
you have come into the hand of your neighbor.
Go,
humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.
4 Give
no sleep to your eyes,
Nor
slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free
yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
Like
a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 Go
to the ant, you sluggard.
Consider
her ways, and be wise;
7
Which having no chief, Overseer, or ruler,
8 Provides
her bread in the summer,
And
gathers her food in the harvest.
9 How
long will you sleep, sluggard?
When
will you arise out of your sleep?
10 A
little sleep, a little slumber,
A
little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 So
your poverty will come as a robber,
And
your scarcity as an armed man.
12 A
worthless person, a man of iniquity,
Is
he who walks with a perverse mouth;
13 Who
winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
Who
motions with his fingers;
14 In
whose heart is perverseness,
Who
devises evil continually,
Who
always sows discord.
15 Therefore
his calamity will come suddenly.
He
will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.
16 There
are six things which the LORD hates;
Yes,
seven which are an abomination to him:
17 Haughty
eyes, a lying tongue,
Hands
that shed innocent blood;
18 A
heart that devises wicked schemes,
Feet
that are swift in running to mischief,
19 A
false witness who utters lies,
And
he who sows discord among brothers.
20 My
son, keep your father's mitzvah,
And
don't forsake your mother's teaching.
21 Bind
them continually on your heart.
Tie
them around your neck.
22 When
you walk, it will lead you.
When
you sleep, it will watch over you.
When
you awake, it will talk with you.
23 For
the mitzvah is a lamp,
And
the law is light.
Reproofs
of instruction are the way of life,
24 To
keep you from the immoral woman,
From
the flattery of the wayward wife's tongue.
25 Don't
lust after her beauty in your heart,
Neither
let her captivate you with her eyelids.
26 For
a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread.
The
adulteress hunts for your precious life.
27
Can
a man scoop fire into his lap,
And
his clothes not be burned?
28 Or
can one walk on hot coals,
And
his feet not be scorched?
29 So
is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife.
Whoever
touches her will not be unpunished.
30 Men
don't despise a thief,
If
he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry:
31 But
if he be found, he shall restore seven times.
He
shall give all the wealth of his house.
32 He
who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding.
He
who does it destroys his own soul.
33 He
will get wounds and dishonor.
His
reproach will not be wiped away.
34 For
jealousy arouses the fury of the husband.
He
won't spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He
won't regard any ransom,
Neither
will he rest content, though you give many gifts.
OLD
TESTAMENT:
2 SAMUEL 9:1 - 11:21
9:1 David
asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I
can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now
there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned
him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you
Ziba?” “At your service,” he replied. 3 The
king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to
whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There
is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.” 4 “Where
is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of
Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” 5 So
King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir
son of Ammiel. 6 When
Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he
bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At
your service,” he replied. 7
“Don’t
be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you
kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you
all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will
always eat at my table.” 8 Mephibosheth
bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice
a dead dog like me?” 9 Then
the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have
given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and
his family. 10 You
and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and
bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided
for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at
my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty
servants.) 11 Then
Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the
king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s
table like one of the king’s sons. 12 Mephibosheth
had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s
household were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 And
Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s
table; he was lame in both feet.
10:1 In
the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son
Hanun succeeded him as king. 2
David
thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his
father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to
express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father. When David’s
men came to the land of the Ammonites, 3 the
Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David
is honoring your father by sending envoys to you to express
sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you only to explore the city
and spy it out and overthrow it?” 4 So
Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s
beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.
5 When
David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for
they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till
your beards have grown, and then come back.” 6 When
the Ammonites realized that they had become obnoxious to David, they
hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and
Zobah, as well as the king of Maakah with a thousand men, and also
twelve thousand men from Tob. 7 On
hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting
men. 8 The
Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance
of their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the
men of Tob and Maakah were by themselves in the open country. 9 Joab
saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so
he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them
against the Arameans. 10 He
put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and
deployed them against the Ammonites. 11 Joab
said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come
to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I
will come to rescue you. 12 Be
strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of
our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight.” 13 Then
Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and
they fled before him. 14 When
the Ammonites realized that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled
before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from
fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem. 15 After
the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they
regrouped. 16 Hadadezer
had Arameans brought from beyond the Euphrates River; they went to
Helam, with Shobak the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading
them. 17
When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the
Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to
meet David and fought against him. 18 But
they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their
charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also
struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died
there. 19 When
all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been
routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became
subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites
anymore.
11:1 In
the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab
out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They
destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in
Jerusalem. 2 One
evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of
the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very
beautiful, 3 and
David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is
Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the
Hittite.” 4 Then
David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with
her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.)
Then she went back home. 5 The
woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am
pregnant.” 6 So
David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And
Joab sent him to David. 7
When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the
soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then
David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”
So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after
him. 9 But
Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s
servants and did not go down to his house. 10 David
was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t
you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go
home?”11 Uriah
said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,
and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open
country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love
to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a
thing!” 12 Then
David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will
send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the
next. 13 At
David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him
drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among
his master’s servants; he did not go home. 14 In
the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with
Uriah. 15 In
it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is
fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and
die.” 16 So
while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where
he knew the strongest defenders were.
17
When
the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the
men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite
died. 18 Joab
sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He
instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king
this account of the battle, 20 the
king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get
so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot
arrows from the wall? 21 Who
killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth ? Didn’t a woman drop an
upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why
did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say
to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’ ”
NEW
TESTAMENT:
JOHN 15:1 - 27
1 “I
am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He
cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch
that does bear fruit he prunesso that it will be even more
fruitful.
3 You
are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 Remain
in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself;
it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you
remain in me.
5 “I
am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If
you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away
and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and
burned.
7 If
you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish,
and it will be done for you.
8 This
is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As
the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my
love.
10 If
you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have
kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
11 I
have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy
may be complete.
12 My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s
friends.
14 You
are my friends if you do what I command.
15 I
no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his
master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for
everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
16 You
did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you
might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that
whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
17
This is my command: Love each other.
18 “If
the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
19 If
you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is,
you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world. That is why the world hates you.
20 Remember
what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master. ’If
they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my
teaching, they will obey yours also.
21 They
will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the
one who sent me.
22 If
I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin;
but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Whoever
hates me hates my Father as well.
24 If
I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not
be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated
both me and my Father.
25 But
this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me
without reason.’
26 “When
the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the
Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about
me.
27 And
you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
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
