Thursday, January 30

8Behold, I am delivering the land in your presence; go in and inherit the land I swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give it to them and their seed after them.'

9'So I spoke to you at that time, saying, 'I alone am not able to bear you.

10The Lord your God multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude.

11May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you, just as He said.

12How can I alone bear your labors, your burdens, and your lawsuits?

13Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them leaders over you.'

14'Then you answered me and said, 'The thing you told us to do is good.'

15So I took from you wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men and made them leaders over you: leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens; judges to interpret the law for you.

16'Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the resident alien with him.

17You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall judge the small and the great; you shall not shrink before any man's presence, for the judgment is God's. The case too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.'

14Indeed, heaven and heaven of heaven belong to the Lord your God, also the earth and everything in it.

15The Lord chose your fathers to love them; and He chose their seed after them, you above all nations, as it is this day.

16Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.

17For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.

18He administers justice for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing.

19Therefore, love the resident aliens, for you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.

20You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and hold fast to Him, and take oaths in His name.

21He is your boast and your God, who did these great and glorious things for you, the things you saw with your own eyes.

1But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, And no torture will ever touch them.

2In the eyes of the undiscerning they seemed to have died, And their departure was considered to be misfortune,

3And their passage from us to be their destruction; But they are at peace.

4For though in man's view they were punished, Their hope is full of immortality.

5Though chastened in a few things, Great kindness will be shown them, For God tested them and found them worthy of Himself.

6He tested them like gold in a furnace And accepted them as a whole burnt offering.

7In the time of their visitation they will shine forth, And they will run about like sparks through straw.

8They will judge nations and rule over peoples, And the Lord shall reign over them unto the ages.

9Those who trust in Him will understand truth, And the faithful shall continue with Him in love, Because grace and mercy are upon His elect.

9I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

10The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

11'I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

12But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

13The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.

14I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

15As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

16And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

7Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

8Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

11Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

12There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

13Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit';

14whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

15Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'

16But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

17Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!

2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.

3Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

4Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

5You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

6You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

7Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

8You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

9Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

7Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

9Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

10We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

11For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.

12Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

13Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

14For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.

15Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

16But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

27Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.

28And they said to Him, 'By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?'

29But Jesus answered and said to them, 'I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:

30The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.'

31And they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'

32But if we say, 'From men' '—they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.

33So they answered and said to Jesus, 'We do not know.' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'

14'You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

15Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

17'Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

18For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

19Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.