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Daily Readings for May 18
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Joshua 2
1.Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, "Go, view the land, including Jericho." They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.
2.The king of Jericho was told, "Behold, men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land."
3.The king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land."
4.The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I didn't know where they came from. 5.It happened about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went, I don't know. Pursue them quickly; for you will overtake them." 6.But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof. 7.The men pursued them the way to the Jordan to the fords: and as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 8.Before they had laid down, she came up to them on the roof; 9.and she said to the men, "I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10.For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea3 before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11.As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath. 12.Now therefore, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a true token; 13.and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death."
14.The men said to her, "Our life for yours, if you don't talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you."
15.Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall. 16.She said to them, "Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way."
17.The men said to her, "We will be guiltless of this your oath which you have made us to swear. 18.Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. You shall gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household. 19.It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him. 20.But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you have made us to swear."
21.She said, "According to your words, so be it." She sent them away, and they departed. She tied the scarlet line in the window.
22.They went, and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but didn't find them. 23.Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun; and they told him all that had happened to them. 24.They said to Joshua, "Truly Yahweh has delivered into our hands all the land. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us."
Isaiah 8
1.Yahweh said to me, "Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man's pen, 'For Maher Shalal Hash Baz;10' 2.and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."
3.I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, "Call his name 'Maher Shalal Hash Baz.' 4.For before the child knows how to say, 'My father,' and, 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria."
5.Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying, 6."Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; 7.now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. 8.It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel. 9.Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered! 10.Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us." 11.For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, 12."Don't say, 'A conspiracy!' concerning all about which this people say, 'A conspiracy!' neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized. 13.Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread. 14.He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15.Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured." 16.Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. 17.I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18.Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.
19.When they tell you, "Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:" shouldn't a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20.Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don't speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them. 21.They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward, 22.and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.
1Thessalonians 3
1.Therefore, when we couldn't stand it any longer, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone, 2.and sent Timothy, our brother and God's servant in the Good News of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith; 3.that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task. 4.For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know. 5.For this cause I also, when I couldn't stand it any longer, sent that I might know your faith, for fear that by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would have been in vain. 6.But when Timothy came just now to us from you, and brought us glad news of your faith and love, and that you have good memories of us always, longing to see us, even as we also long to see you; 7.for this cause, brothers, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith. 8.For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. 9.For what thanksgiving can we render again to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sakes before our God; 10.night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith? 11.Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you; 12.and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you, 13.to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
1Thessalonians 4
1.Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more. 2.For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3.For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, 4.that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5.not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don't know God; 6.that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. 7.For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8.Therefore he who rejects this doesn't reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.
9.But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, 10.for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more; 11.and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you; 12.that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
13.But we don't want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don't grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14.For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15.For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. 16.For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God's trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, 17.then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever. 18.Therefore comfort one another with these words.