Day 1 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 1

¹Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. ²But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. ³He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does. ⁴Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind. ⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. ⁶For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

New Testament·Matthew 1

¹This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham: ²Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. ³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. ⁴Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. ⁵Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, ⁶and Jesse the father of David the king. Next: David was the father of Solomon by Uriah’s wife, ⁷Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. ⁸Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. ⁹Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. ¹⁰Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, ¹¹and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. ¹²After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, ¹³Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. ¹⁴Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. ¹⁵Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, ¹⁶and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. ¹⁷In all, then, there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ. ¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” ²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”). ²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and embraced Mary as his wife. ²⁵But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a Son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.

Old Testament·Genesis 1–2

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. ³And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. ⁶And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so. ⁸God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. ⁹And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. ¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so. ¹²The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. ¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years. ¹⁵And let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well. ¹⁷God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, ¹⁸to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. ²⁰And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” ²¹So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every bird of flight after its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. ²⁴And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” ²⁷So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.” ²⁹Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

2Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. ²And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work. ³Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished. ⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made them. ⁵Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted; for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. ⁶But springs welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. ⁷Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. ⁸And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed. ⁹Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ¹⁰Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it branched into four headwaters: ¹¹The name of the first river is Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²And the gold of that land is pure, and bdellium and onyx are found there. ¹³The name of the second river is Gihon; it winds through the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it runs along the east side of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. ¹⁵Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. ¹⁶And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” ¹⁸The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.” ¹⁹And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh. ²²And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. ²³And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.” ²⁴For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. ²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.