Day 119 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 73:11–20

¹¹The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?” ¹²Behold, these are the wicked— always carefree as they increase their wealth. ¹³Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands. ¹⁴For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning. ¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak this way,” then I would have betrayed Your children. ¹⁶When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight ¹⁷until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end. ¹⁸Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. ¹⁹How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors! ²⁰Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

New Testament·Luke 18:33–19:11

³³They will flog Him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again.” ³⁴But the disciples did not understand any of these things. The meaning was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend what He was saying. ³⁵As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging. ³⁶When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. ³⁷“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they told him. ³⁸So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹Those who led the way admonished him to be silent, but he cried out all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰Jesus stopped and directed that the man be brought to Him. When he had been brought near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹“What do you want Me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “let me see again.” ⁴²“Receive your sight!” Jesus replied. “Your faith has healed you.” ⁴³Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying God. And all the people who saw this gave praise to God.

19Then Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ²And there was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, who was very wealthy. ³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but could not see over the crowd because he was small in stature. ⁴So he ran on ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Him, since Jesus was about to pass that way. ⁵When Jesus came to that place, He looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down, for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶So Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed Him joyfully. ⁷And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!” ⁸But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.” ⁹Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” ¹¹While the people were listening to this, Jesus proceeded to tell them a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they thought the kingdom of God would appear imminently.

Old Testament·Joshua 21–22

¹Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel ²at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, together with pasturelands for our livestock.” ³So by the command of the LORD, the Israelites gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands out of their own inheritance: ⁴The first lot came out for the Kohathite clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. ⁵The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. ⁶The descendants of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. ⁷And the descendants of Merari received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. ⁸So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these cities, together with their pasturelands, as the LORD had commanded through Moses. ⁹From the tribes of Judah and Simeon, they designated these cities by name ¹⁰to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them: ¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.) ¹²But they had given the fields and villages around the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession. ¹³So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave these cities, together with their pasturelands: Hebron, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah, ¹⁴Jattir, Eshtemoa, ¹⁵Holon, Debir, ¹⁶Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine cities from these two tribes, together with their pasturelands. ¹⁷And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon, Geba, ¹⁸Anathoth, and Almon—four cities, together with their pasturelands. ¹⁹In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. ²⁰The remaining Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted these cities: From the tribe of Ephraim ²¹they were given Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Gezer, ²²Kibzaim, and Beth-horon—four cities, together with their pasturelands. ²³From the tribe of Dan they were given Elteke, Gibbethon, ²⁴Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon—four cities, together with their pasturelands. ²⁵And from the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Taanach and Gath-rimmon—two cities, together with their pasturelands. ²⁶In all, ten cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the rest of the Kohathite clans. ²⁷This is what the Levite clans of the Gershonites were given: From the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah—two cities, together with their pasturelands. ²⁸From the tribe of Issachar they were given Kishion, Daberath, ²⁹Jarmuth, and En-gannim—four cities, together with their pasturelands. ³⁰From the tribe of Asher they were given Mishal, Abdon, ³¹Helkath, and Rehob—four cities, together with their pasturelands. ³²And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands. ³³In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the Gershonite clans. ³⁴This is what the Merarite clan (the rest of the Levites) were given: From the tribe of Zebulun they were given Jokneam, Kartah, ³⁵Dimnah, and Nahalal—four cities, together with their pasturelands. ³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they were given Bezer, Jahaz, ³⁷Kedemoth, and Mephaath—four cities, together with their pasturelands. ³⁸And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim, ³⁹Heshbon, and Jazer—four cities in all, together with their pasturelands. ⁴⁰In all, twelve cities were allotted to the clans of Merari, the remaining Levite clans. ⁴¹For the Levites, then, there were forty-eight cities in all, together with their pasturelands, within the territory of the Israelites. ⁴²Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities. ⁴³Thus the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled in it. ⁴⁴And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.

22Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh ²and told them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. ³All this time you have not deserted your brothers, up to this very day, but have kept the charge given you by the LORD your God. ⁴And now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them, you may return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you across the Jordan. ⁵But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ⁶So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes. ⁷(To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan among their brothers.) When Joshua sent them to their homes he blessed them, ⁸saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth, with immense herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many clothes. Divide with your brothers the spoil of your enemies.” ⁹So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they had acquired according to the command of the LORD through Moses. ¹⁰And when they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. ¹¹Then the Israelites received the report: “Behold, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the border of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.” ¹²And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them. ¹³The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead, to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. ¹⁴With him they sent ten chiefs—one family leader from each tribe of Israel, each the head of a family among the clans of Israel. ¹⁵They went to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them, ¹⁶“This is what the whole congregation of the LORD says: ‘What is this breach of faith you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the LORD and building for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel against the LORD this day? ¹⁷Was not the sin of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day? It even brought a plague upon the congregation of the LORD. ¹⁸And now, would you turn away from the LORD? If you rebel today against the LORD, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. ¹⁹If indeed the land of your inheritance is unclean, then cross over to the land of the LORD’s possession, where the LORD’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God. ²⁰Was not Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath upon the whole congregation of Israel? Yet it was not only Achan who perished because of his sin!’” ²¹Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the clans of Israel: ²²“The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! He knows, and may Israel also know. If this was in rebellion or breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today. ²³If we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from Him and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the LORD Himself hold us accountable. ²⁴But in fact we have done this for fear that in the future your descendants might say to ours, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? ²⁵For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the LORD!’ So your descendants could cause ours to stop fearing the LORD. ²⁶That is why we said, ‘Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices. ²⁷Rather, let it be a witness between us and you and the generations to come, that we will worship the LORD in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings.’ Then in the future, your descendants cannot say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD!’ ²⁸Therefore we said, ‘If they ever say this to us or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the altar of the LORD that our fathers made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’ ²⁹Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God, which stands before His tabernacle.” ³⁰When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation—the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him—heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were satisfied. ³¹Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this breach of faith against Him. Consequently, you have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.” ³²Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, together with the other leaders, returned to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report regarding the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead. ³³The Israelites were satisfied with the report, and they blessed God and spoke no more about going to war against them to destroy the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived. ³⁴So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said, “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”