Day 99 reading

Wisdom·Psalms 63:7–64:5

⁷For You are my help; I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings. ⁸My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. ⁹But those who seek my life to destroy it will go into the depths of the earth. ¹⁰They will fall to the power of the sword; they will become a portion for foxes. ¹¹But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by Him will exult, for the mouths of liars will be shut.

64Hear, O God, my voice of complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy. ²Hide me from the scheming of the wicked, from the mob of workers of iniquity, ³who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows, ⁴ambushing the innocent in seclusion, shooting suddenly, without fear. ⁵They hold fast to their evil purpose; they speak of hiding their snares. “Who will see them?” they say.

New Testament·Luke 8:40–56

⁴⁰When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. ⁴¹Just then a synagogue leader named Jairus came and fell at Jesus’ feet. He begged Him to come to his house, ⁴²because his only daughter, who was about twelve, was dying. As Jesus went with him, the crowds pressed around Him, ⁴³including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her. ⁴⁴She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. ⁴⁵“Who touched Me?” Jesus asked. But they all denied it. “Master,” said Peter, “the people are crowding and pressing against You.” ⁴⁶But Jesus declared, “Someone touched Me, for I know that power has gone out from Me.” ⁴⁷Then the woman, seeing that she could not escape notice, came trembling and fell down before Him. In the presence of all the people, she explained why she had touched Him and how she had immediately been healed. ⁴⁸“Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” ⁴⁹While He was still speaking, someone arrived from the house of the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he told Jairus. “Do not bother the Teacher anymore.” ⁵⁰But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Do not be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” ⁵¹When He entered the house, He did not allow anyone to go in with Him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother. ⁵²Meanwhile, everyone was weeping and mourning for her. But Jesus said, “Stop weeping; she is not dead but asleep.” ⁵³And they laughed at Him, knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴But Jesus took her by the hand and called out, “Child, get up!” ⁵⁵Her spirit returned, and at once she got up. And He directed that she be given something to eat. ⁵⁶Her parents were astounded, but Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Old Testament·Deuteronomy 15–16

¹At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. ²This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed. ³You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you. ⁴There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, ⁵if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today. ⁶When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none. ⁷If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. ⁸Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs. ⁹Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin. ¹⁰Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand. ¹¹For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land. ¹²If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free. ¹³And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. ¹⁴You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. ¹⁵Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today. ¹⁶But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you, ¹⁷then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way. ¹⁸Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do. ¹⁹You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock. ²⁰Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose. ²¹But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. ²²Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer. ²³But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

16Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night. ²You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name. ³You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt. ⁴No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning. ⁵You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you. ⁶You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt. ⁷And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents. ⁸For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work. ⁹You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain. ¹⁰And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you, ¹¹and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you. ¹²Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and carefully follow these statutes. ¹³You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. ¹⁴And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you. ¹⁵For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete. ¹⁶Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed. ¹⁷Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. ¹⁸You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. ²⁰Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. ²¹Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God, ²²and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.