Day 199 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 109:16–25

¹⁶For he never thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted, even to their death. ¹⁷The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him. ¹⁸The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil. ¹⁹May it be like a robe wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him. ²⁰May this be the LORD’s reward to my accusers, to those who speak evil against me. ²¹But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for the sake of Your name; deliver me by the goodness of Your loving devotion. ²²For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me. ²³I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust. ²⁴My knees are weak from fasting, and my body grows lean and gaunt. ²⁵I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.

New Testament·Acts 15:22–41

²²Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to select men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, two leaders among the brothers, ²³and sent them with this letter: The apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. ²⁴It has come to our attention that some went out from us without our authorization and unsettled you, troubling your minds by what they said. ²⁵So we all agreed to choose men to send to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to tell you in person the same things we are writing. ²⁸It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond these essential requirements: ²⁹You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. ³⁰So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they assembled the congregation and delivered the letter. ³¹When the people read it, they rejoiced at its encouraging message. ³²Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers. ³³After spending some time there, they were sent off by the brothers in peace to return to those who had sent them. ³⁵But Paul and Barnabas remained at Antioch, along with many others, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord. ³⁶Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.” ³⁷Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark. ³⁸But Paul thought it best not to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. ³⁹Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, ⁴⁰but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹And he traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Old Testament·1 Chronicles 12–13

¹Now these were the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still banished from the presence of Saul son of Kish (they were among the mighty men who helped him in battle; ²they were archers using both the right and left hands to sling stones and shoot arrows; and they were Saul’s kinsmen from Benjamin): ³Ahiezer their chief and Joash, who were the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite; Jeziel and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu the Anathothite; ⁴Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the Thirty and a leader over the Thirty; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, and Jozabad the Gederathite; ⁵Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite; ⁶Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, who were Korahites; ⁷and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor. ⁸Some Gadites defected to David at his stronghold in the desert. They were mighty men of valor, trained for battle, experts with the shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were as swift as gazelles on the mountains: ⁹Ezer the chief, Obadiah the second in command, Eliab the third, ¹⁰Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth, ¹¹Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh, ¹²Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth, ¹³Jeremiah the tenth, and Machbanai the eleventh. ¹⁴These Gadites were army commanders, the least of whom was a match for a hundred, and the greatest for a thousand. ¹⁵These are the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing all its banks, and they put to flight all those in the valleys, both to the east and to the west. ¹⁶Other Benjamites and some men from Judah also came to David in his stronghold. ¹⁷And David went out to meet them, saying, “If you have come to me in peace to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies when my hands are free of violence, may the God of our fathers see it and judge you.” ¹⁸Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, the chief of the Thirty, and he said: “We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers, for your God helps you.” So David received them and made them leaders of his troops. ¹⁹Some from Manasseh defected to David when he went with the Philistines to fight against Saul. (They did not help the Philistines because the Philistine rulers consulted and sent David away, saying, “It will cost us our heads if he defects to his master Saul.”) ²⁰When David went to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh. ²¹They helped David against the raiders, for they were all mighty men of valor and commanders in the army. ²²For at that time men came to David day after day to help him, until he had a great army, like the army of God. ²³Now these are the numbers of men armed for battle who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, in accordance with the word of the LORD: ²⁴From Judah: 6,800 armed troops bearing shields and spears. ²⁵From Simeon: 7,100 mighty men of valor, ready for battle. ²⁶From Levi: 4,600, ²⁷including Jehoiada, leader of the house of Aaron, with 3,700 men, ²⁸and Zadok, a mighty young man of valor, with 22 commanders from his own family. ²⁹From Benjamin, the kinsmen of Saul: 3,000, most of whom had remained loyal to the house of Saul up to that time. ³⁰From Ephraim: 20,800 mighty men of valor, famous among their own clans. ³¹From the half-tribe of Manasseh: 18,000 designated by name to come and make David king. ³²From Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their kinsmen at their command. ³³From Zebulun: 50,000 fit for service, trained for battle with all kinds of weapons of war, who with one purpose were devoted to David. ³⁴From Naphtali: 1,000 commanders, accompanied by 37,000 men with shield and spear. ³⁵From Dan: 28,600 prepared for battle. ³⁶From Asher: 40,000 fit for service, prepared for battle. ³⁷And from east of the Jordan, from Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh there: 120,000 armed with every kind of weapon of war. ³⁸All these men of war, arrayed for battle, came to Hebron fully determined to make David king over all Israel. And all the rest of the Israelites were of one mind to make David king. ³⁹They spent three days there eating and drinking with David, for their relatives had provided for them. ⁴⁰And their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen—abundant supplies of flour, fig cakes and raisin cakes, wine and oil, oxen and sheep. Indeed, there was joy in Israel.

13Then David conferred with all his leaders, the commanders of hundreds and of thousands. ²And he said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if this is of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers in all the land of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites in their cities and pasturelands, so that they may join us. ³Then let us bring back the ark of our God, for we did not inquire of Him in the days of Saul.” ⁴And because this proposal seemed right to all the people, the whole assembly agreed to it. ⁵So David assembled all Israel, from the River Shihor in Egypt to Lebo-hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. ⁶David and all Israel went up to Baalah of Judah (that is, Kiriath-jearim) to bring up from there the ark of God the LORD, who is enthroned between the cherubim—the ark that is called by the Name. ⁷So they carried the ark of God from the house of Abinadab on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding the cart. ⁸David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets. ⁹When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark, because the oxen had stumbled. ¹⁰And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. ¹¹Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah; so he named that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day. ¹²That day David feared God and asked, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?” ¹³So he did not move the ark with him to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹⁴Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house for three months, and the LORD blessed his household and everything he owned.