Daily Readings for January 22
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Genesis 37

 

1.Jacob lived in the land of his father's travels, in the land of Canaan. 2.This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father. 3.Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. 4.His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn't speak peaceably to him.

5.Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 6.He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7.for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf."

8.His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. 9.He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me." 10.He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?" 11.His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.

12.His brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. 13.Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." He said to him, "Here I am."

14.He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again." So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15.A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, "What are you looking for?"

16.He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock."

17.The man said, "They have left here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'"

Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 18.They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19.They said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer comes. 20.Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become of his dreams."

21.Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, "Let's not take his life." 22.Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"--that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. 23.It happened, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him; 24.and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.

25.They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26.Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27.Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him. 28.Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt.

29.Reuben returned to the pit; and saw that Joseph wasn't in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30.He returned to his brothers, and said, "The child is no more; and I, where will I go?" 31.They took Joseph's coat, and killed a male goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. 32.They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, "We have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your son's coat or not."

33.He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's coat. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces." 34.Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35.All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to Sheol²⁵ to my son mourning." His father wept for him. 36.The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard.

 

Psalm 39

 

1.I said, "I will watch my ways, so that I don't sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me." 2.I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred. 3.My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned: I spoke with my tongue: 4."Yahweh, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am. 5.Behold, you have made my days handbreadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath." Selah. 6."Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn't know who shall gather. 7.Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. 8.Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don't make me the reproach of the foolish. 9.I was mute. I didn't open my mouth, because you did it. 10.Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand. 11.When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, You consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath." Selah. 12."Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don't be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were. 13.Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away, and exist no more."

 

Psalm 40

 

1.I waited patiently for Yahweh. He turned to me, and heard my cry. 2.He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand. 3.He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in Yahweh. 4.Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust, and doesn't respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. 5.Many, Yahweh, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can't be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. 6.Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering. 7.Then I said, "Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll. 8.I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart." 9.I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Behold, I will not seal my lips, Yahweh, you know. 10.I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great assembly. 11.Don't withhold your tender mercies from me, Yahweh. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me. 12.For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me. 13.Be pleased, Yahweh, to deliver me. Hurry to help me, Yahweh. 14.Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt. 15.Let them be desolate by reason of their shame that tell me, "Aha! Aha!" 16.Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let such as love your salvation say continually, "Let Yahweh be exalted!" 17.But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don't delay, my God.

 

Matthew 24

 

1.Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. 2.But he answered them, "You see all of these things, don't you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down."

3.As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?"

4.Jesus answered them, "Be careful that no one leads you astray. 5.For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will lead many astray. 6.You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren't troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. 7.For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. 8.But all these things are the beginning of birth pains. 9.Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name's sake. 10.Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another. 11.Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray. 12.Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. 13.But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved. 14.This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

15."When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation,[116] which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16.then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17.Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out things that are in his house. 18.Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes. 19.But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days! 20.Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath, 21.for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be. 22.Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.

23."Then if any man tells you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or, 'There,' don't believe it. 24.For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.

25."Behold, I have told you beforehand. 26.If therefore they tell you, 'Behold, he is in the wilderness,' don't go out; 'Behold, he is in the inner rooms,' don't believe it. 27.For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28.For wherever the carcass is, there is where the vultures¹¹⁷ gather together. 29.But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;[118] 30.and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31.He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

32."Now from the fig tree learn this parable. When its branch has now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near. 33.Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34.Most certainly I tell you, this generation¹¹⁹ will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished. 35.Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 36.But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven,[120] but my Father only.

37."As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38.For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, 39.and they didn't know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40.Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left; 41.two women grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left. 42.Watch therefore, for you don't know in what hour your Lord comes. 43.But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44.Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don't expect, the Son of Man will come.

45."Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 46.Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes. 47.Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has. 48.But if that evil servant should say in his heart, 'My lord is delaying his coming,' 49.and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards, 50.the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn't expect it, and in an hour when he doesn't know it, 51.and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.

 

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