Day 278 reading

Wisdom·Proverbs 4:12–20

¹²When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; when you run, you will not stumble. ¹³Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life. ¹⁴Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. ¹⁵Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by. ¹⁶For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall. ¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. ¹⁸The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday. ¹⁹But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble. ²⁰My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.

New Testament·Galatians 6

¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. ²Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ³If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ⁴Each one should test his own work. Then he will have reason to boast in himself alone, and not in someone else. ⁵For each one should carry his own load. ⁶Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word must share in all good things with his instructor. ⁷Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. ⁸The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith. ¹¹See what large letters I am using to write to you with my own hand! ¹²Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ. ¹³For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. ¹⁴But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation. ¹⁶Peace and mercy to all who walk by this rule, even to the Israel of God. ¹⁷From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. ¹⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Old Testament·Isaiah 38–39

¹In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’” ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ³saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, ⁵“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city. ⁷This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: ⁸I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended. ⁹This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: ¹⁰I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.” ¹¹I said, “I will never again see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind with those who dwell in this world. ¹²My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me. ¹³I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me. ¹⁴I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.” ¹⁵What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul. ¹⁶O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life. You have restored me to health and have let me live. ¹⁷Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back. ¹⁸For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. ¹⁹The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness. ²⁰The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD. ²¹Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.” ²²And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”

39At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard about Hezekiah’s illness and recovery. ²And Hezekiah welcomed the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, as well as his entire armory—all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. ³Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?” “They came to me from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from Babylon.” ⁴“What have they seen in your palace?” Isaiah asked. “They have seen everything in my palace,” answered Hezekiah. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.” ⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of Hosts: ⁶The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. ⁷And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ⁸But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “At least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”