Bible in One Year · Day 139

Read the whole Bible this year

Three short readings a day — a Psalm or Proverb, the New Testament, and the Old Testament — about 15 minutes. Day by day, you’ll read every book.

WisdomPsalm 81:1–8 New TestamentJohn 4:1–22 Old Testament1 Samuel 13

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68 days to go

WisdomPsalm 81:1–8

¹Sing for joy to God our strength; make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob. ²Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre. ³Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast. ⁴For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. ⁵He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard an unfamiliar language: ⁶“I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket. ⁷You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the cloud of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah ⁸Hear, O My people, and I will warn you: O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!

New TestamentJohn 4:1–22

¹When Jesus realized that the Pharisees were aware He was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John ²(although it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples), ³He left Judea and returned to Galilee. ⁴Now He had to pass through Samaria. ⁵So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. ⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” ⁸(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) ⁹“You are a Jew,” said the woman. “How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” ¹¹“Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water? ¹²Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. ¹⁴But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.” ¹⁵The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” ¹⁶Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” ¹⁷“I have no husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said to her, “You are correct to say that you have no husband. ¹⁸In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.” ¹⁹“Sir,” the woman said, “I see that You are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹“Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Old Testament1 Samuel 13

¹Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years. ²He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the troops he sent away, each to his own home. ³Then Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. So Saul blew the ram’s horn throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴And all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked an outpost of the Philistines, and now Israel has become a stench to the Philistines!” Then the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal. ⁵Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven. ⁶Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns. ⁷Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, remained at Gilgal, and all his troops were quaking in fear. ⁸And Saul waited seven days for the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the troops began to desert Saul. ⁹So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered up the burnt offering. ¹⁰Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. ¹¹“What have you done?” Samuel asked. And Saul replied, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me, and that you did not come at the appointed time and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash, ¹²I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will descend upon me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” ¹³“You have acted foolishly,” Samuel declared. “You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you; if you had, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. ¹⁴But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept the command of the LORD.” ¹⁵Then Samuel set out from Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin. And Saul numbered the troops who were with him, about six hundred men. ¹⁶Now Saul and Jonathan his son and the troops with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Michmash. ¹⁷And raiders went out of the Philistine camp in three divisions. One headed toward Ophrah in the land of Shual, ¹⁸another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness. ¹⁹And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.” ²⁰Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles. ²¹The charge was a pim for sharpening a plowshare or mattock, a third of a shekel for sharpening a pitchfork or an axe, and a third of a shekel for repointing an oxgoad. ²²So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hands of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons. ²³And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash.

Reflect

How does this reading point you to the good news of the gospel?

Life is short. Where are you going?

You just read God’s own words, and one day every one of us will stand before Him. “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). This life will be over sooner than you think — do you know where you are going when it is?

The Bible says, “Man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). If you died today, would you be ready?

Are you a good person?

Most of us think we are. But God doesn’t measure us against other people — He measures us by His Law. Look honestly at the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3–17):

You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Honor your father and mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
You shall not covet.

Have you ever told a lie — even a small one? Have you ever taken something that wasn’t yours? Have you ever used God’s name as a curse word? Have you ever wanted what belongs to someone else? Jesus said that anyone who looks with lust “has already committed adultery … in his heart” (Matthew 5:28), and the Bible says “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15).

If we’re honest, we have all broken God’s Law — and “whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). “There is no one righteous, not even one … there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10–12).

That leaves every one of us guilty before a holy God. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). This is why our world is full of tragedy — and without Christ, every life ends in the greatest tragedy of all.

But God made a way

“God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus lived the perfect life we never could, and on the cross He took the punishment we deserved: “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Three days later He rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).

It’s like standing guilty in court when the judge steps down and pays your fine himself. Forgiveness is a free gift — you can’t earn it: “It is by grace you have been saved through faith … it is the gift of God, not by works” (Ephesians 2:8–9). “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.” Jesus — John 10:10

What will you do with Jesus?

“Repent and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:15). Turn from your sin, and put your trust in Jesus alone — “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Don’t put it off — “now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

And when you turn to Him, you won’t be met with a frown — you’ll be met with a celebration. Jesus said, “there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). God says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). He is “mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness … He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). Like the father who ran to embrace his lost son, He is waiting with open arms — and heaven throws a party when you come home (Luke 15:20–24).

If you died today, where would you spend eternity? Today you can be forgiven, made new, and have real, abundant life — now and forever.

Join the Party — give my life to Jesus Find a Party — a church near me

Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), which is in the public domain.