Day 11 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 9:11–20

¹¹Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; proclaim His deeds among the nations. ¹²For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted. ¹³Be merciful to me, O LORD; see how my enemies afflict me! Lift me up from the gates of death, ¹⁴that I may declare all Your praises— that within the gates of Daughter Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation. ¹⁵The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. ¹⁶The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah ¹⁷The wicked will return to Sheol— all the nations who forget God. ¹⁸For the needy will not always be forgotten; nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed. ¹⁹Rise up, O LORD, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your presence. ²⁰Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah

New Testament·Matthew 8:18–34

¹⁸When Jesus saw a large crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the sea. ¹⁹And one of the scribes came to Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” ²⁰Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” ²¹Another of His disciples requested, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” ²²But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” ²³When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was engulfed by the waves; but Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” ²⁶“You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm. ²⁷The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey Him!” ²⁸When Jesus arrived on the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, He was met by two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹“What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?” ³⁰In the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹So the demons begged Jesus, “If You drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” ³²“Go!” He told them. So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and died in the waters. ³³Those tending the pigs ran off into the town and reported all this, including the account of the demon-possessed men. ³⁴Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their region.

Old Testament·Genesis 22–23

¹Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. ²“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” ³So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated. ⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.” ⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together. ⁷Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together. ⁹When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood. ¹⁰Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. ¹²“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” ¹³Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” ¹⁵And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, ¹⁶saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. ¹⁸And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba. ²⁰Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor: ²¹Uz the firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram), ²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. ²⁴Moreover, Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

23Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ²She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her. ³Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites, ⁴“I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.” ⁵The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶“Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.” ⁷Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. ⁸“If you are willing for me to bury my dead,” he said to them, “listen to me, and approach Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf ⁹to sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence for full price, so that I may have a burial site.” ¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, ¹¹“No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.” ¹²Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land ¹³and said to Ephron in their presence, “If you will please listen to me, I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.” ¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” ¹⁶Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants. ¹⁷So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over ¹⁸to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.