Day 111 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 69:22–31

²²May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap. ²³May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever. ²⁴Pour out Your wrath upon them, and let Your burning anger overtake them. ²⁵May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents. ²⁶For they persecute the one You struck and recount the pain of those You wounded. ²⁷Add iniquity to their iniquity; let them not share in Your righteousness. ²⁸May they be blotted out of the Book of Life and not listed with the righteous. ²⁹But I am in pain and distress; let Your salvation protect me, O God. ³⁰I will praise God’s name in song and exalt Him with thanksgiving. ³¹And this will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves.

New Testament·Luke 14:1–14

¹One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those in attendance were watching Him closely. ²Right there before Him was a man with dropsy. ³So Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” ⁴But they remained silent. Then Jesus took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. ⁵And He asked them, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a pit on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?” ⁶And they were unable to answer these questions. ⁷When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, He told them a parable: ⁸“When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited. ⁹Then the host who invited both of you will come and tell you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ And in humiliation, you will have to take the last place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit in the last place, so that your host will come and tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in front of everyone at the table with you. ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” ¹²Then Jesus said to the man who had invited Him, “When you host a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise, they may invite you in return, and you will be repaid. ¹³But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, ¹⁴and you will be blessed. Since they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Old Testament·Joshua 6–7

¹Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. ²And the LORD said to Joshua, “Behold, I have delivered Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty men of valor. ³March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days. ⁴Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark. Then on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns. ⁵And when there is a long blast of the ram’s horn and you hear its sound, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the wall of the city will collapse and all your people will charge straight into the city.” ⁶So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the LORD.” ⁷And he told the people, “Advance and march around the city, with the armed troops going ahead of the ark of the LORD.” ⁸After Joshua had spoken to the people, seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns before the LORD advanced and blew the horns, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. ⁹While the horns continued to sound, the armed troops marched ahead of the priests who blew the horns, and the rear guard followed the ark. ¹⁰But Joshua had commanded the people: “Do not give a battle cry or let your voice be heard; do not let one word come out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout. Then you are to shout!” ¹¹So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. And the people returned to the camp and spent the night there. ¹²Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests took the ark of the LORD. ¹³And the seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns kept marching ahead of the ark of the LORD and blowing the horns. The armed troops went in front of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the horns kept sounding. ¹⁴So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. ¹⁵Then on the seventh day, they got up at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. That was the only day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶After the seventh time around, the priests blew the horns, and Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster upon it. ¹⁹For all the silver and gold and all the articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they must go into His treasury.” ²⁰So when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. Then all the people charged straight into the city and captured it. ²¹At the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys. ²²Meanwhile, Joshua told the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the house of the prostitute and bring out the woman and all who are with her, just as you promised her.” ²³So the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house. ²⁵And Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her father’s household and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. So she has lived among the Israelites to this day. ²⁶At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.” ²⁷So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

7The Israelites, however, acted unfaithfully regarding the things devoted to destruction. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart. So the anger of the LORD burned against the Israelites. ²Meanwhile, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. ³On returning to Joshua, they reported, “There is no need to send all the people; two or three thousand men are enough to go up and attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, you need not wear out all our people there.” ⁴So about three thousand men went up, but they fled before the men of Ai. ⁵And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them, chasing them from the gate as far as the quarries and striking them down on the slopes. So the hearts of the people melted and became like water. ⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads. ⁷“O, Lord GOD,” Joshua said, “why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be destroyed? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! ⁸O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies? ⁹When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?” ¹⁰But the LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen on your face? ¹¹Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these things with their own possessions. ¹²This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you whatever is devoted to destruction. ¹³Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them. ¹⁴In the morning you must present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD selects shall come forward clan by clan, and the clan that the LORD selects shall come forward family by family, and the family that the LORD selects shall come forward man by man. ¹⁵The one who is caught with the things devoted to destruction must be burned, along with all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrage in Israel.’” ¹⁶So Joshua arose early the next morning and had Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was selected. ¹⁷He had the clans of Judah come forward, and the clan of the Zerahites was selected. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward, and the family of Zabdi was selected. ¹⁸And he had the family of Zabdi come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected. ¹⁹So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make a confession to Him. I urge you to tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.” ²⁰“It is true,” Achan replied, “I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did: ²¹When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” ²²So Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent, and there it all was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. ²³They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out before the LORD. ²⁴Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵“Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the LORD will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies. ²⁶And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.