Day 235 reading

Wisdom·Psalms 124–125

¹If the LORD had not been on our side— let Israel now declare— ²if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us, ³when their anger flared against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, ⁴then the floods would have engulfed us, then the torrent would have overwhelmed us, ⁵then the raging waters would have swept us away. ⁶Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. ⁷We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; the net is torn, and we have slipped away. ⁸Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

125Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion. It cannot be moved; it abides forever. ²As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forevermore. ³For the scepter of the wicked will not rest upon the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous will not put forth their hands to injustice. ⁴Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to the upright in heart. ⁵But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

New Testament·Romans 12

¹Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. ³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another. ⁶We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith; ⁷if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. ⁹Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another. ¹¹Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer. ¹³Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality. ¹⁴Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited. ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Old Testament·Nehemiah 13; Esther 1

¹At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, ²because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing). ³As soon as the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all of foreign descent. ⁴Now before this, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God ⁵and had prepared for Tobiah a large room where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple articles, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests. ⁶While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to Artaxerxes king of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. Some time later I obtained leave from the king ⁷to return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of the house of God. ⁸And I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. ⁹Then I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored to them, along with the grain offerings and frankincense. ¹⁰I also learned that because the portions for the Levites had not been given to them, all the Levites and singers responsible for performing the service had gone back to their own fields. ¹¹So I rebuked the officials and asked, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts, ¹²and all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine, and oil into the storerooms. ¹³I appointed as treasurers over the storerooms Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites. ¹⁴Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my deeds of loving devotion for the house of my God and for its services. ¹⁵In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day. ¹⁶Additionally, men of Tyre who lived there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem. ¹⁷Then I rebuked the nobles of Judah and asked, “What is this evil you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day? ¹⁸Did not your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you are rekindling His wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!” ¹⁹When the evening shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem, just before the Sabbath, I ordered that the gates be shut and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my servants at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day. ²⁰Once or twice, the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem, ²¹but I warned them, “Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on, they did not return on the Sabbath. ²²Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this as well, O my God, and show me mercy according to Your abundant loving devotion. ²³In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah. ²⁵I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves! ²⁶Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin. ²⁷Must we now hear that you too are doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?” ²⁸Even one of the sons of Jehoiada son of Eliashib the high priest had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I drove him away from me. ²⁹Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites. ³⁰Thus I purified the priests and Levites from everything foreign, and I assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites. ³¹I also arranged for contributions of wood at the appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, with favor.

1This is what happened in the days of Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Cush. ²In those days King Xerxes sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa. ³In the third year of his reign, Xerxes held a feast for all his officials and servants. The military leaders of Persia and Media were there, along with the nobles and princes of the provinces. ⁴And for a full 180 days he displayed the glorious riches of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness. ⁵At the end of this time, in the garden court of the royal palace, the king held a seven-day feast for all the people in the citadel of Susa, from the least to the greatest. ⁶Hangings of white and blue linen were fastened with cords of fine white and purple material to silver rings on the marble pillars. Gold and silver couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and other costly stones. ⁷Beverages were served in an array of goblets of gold, each with a different design, and the royal wine flowed freely, according to the king’s bounty. ⁸By order of the king, no limit was placed on the drinking, and every official of his household was to serve each man whatever he desired. ⁹Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes. ¹⁰On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he ordered the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas— ¹¹to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty to the people and officials. For she was beautiful to behold. ¹²Queen Vashti, however, refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs. And the king became furious, and his anger burned within him. ¹³Then the king consulted the wise men who knew the times, for it was customary for him to confer with the experts in law and justice. ¹⁴His closest advisors were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had personal access to the king and ranked highest in the kingdom. ¹⁵“According to law,” he asked, “what should be done with Queen Vashti, since she refused to obey the command of King Xerxes delivered by the eunuchs?” ¹⁶And in the presence of the king and his princes, Memucan replied, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the princes and the peoples in all the provinces of King Xerxes. ¹⁷For the conduct of the queen will become known to all women, causing them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’ ¹⁸This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard about the queen’s conduct will say the same thing to all the king’s officials, resulting in much contempt and wrath. ¹⁹So if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti shall never again enter the presence of King Xerxes, and that her royal position shall be given to a woman better than she. ²⁰The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom—and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.” ²¹The king and his princes were pleased with this counsel; so the king did as Memucan had advised. ²²He sent letters to all the provinces of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be master of his own household.