Daily Readings for February 13

Daily Readings for February 13
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Exodus 23

1."You shall not spread a false report. Don't join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.

2."You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice; 3.neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause.

4."If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5.If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don't leave him, you shall surely help him with it.

6."You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

7."Keep far from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.

8."You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

9."You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

10."For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase, 11.but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In the same way, you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.

12."Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.

13."Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don't invoke the name of other gods, neither let them be heard out of your mouth.

14."You shall observe a feast to me three times a year. 15.You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty. 16.And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field. 17.Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.

18."You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning. 19.The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Yahweh your God.

"You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

20."Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21.Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don't provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him. 22.But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries. 23.For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off. 24.You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars. 25.You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst. 26.No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days. 27.I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28.I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you. 29.I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you. 30.Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land. 31.I will set your border from the Red Sea²⁰ even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32.You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33.They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

Psalm 77

1.My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me. 2.In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn't get tired. My soul refused to be comforted. 3.I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah.

4.You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can't speak. 5.I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. 6.I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; my spirit diligently inquires: 7."Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more? 8.Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations? 9.Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?" Selah. 10.Then I thought, "I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High." 11.I will remember Yah's deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old. 12.I will also meditate on all your work, and consider your doings. 13.Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What god is great like God? 14.You are the God who does wonders. You have made your strength known among the peoples. 15.You have redeemed your people with your arm, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. 16.The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed. 17.The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around. 18.The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. 19.Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known. 20.You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Mark 9

1.He said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come with power."

2.After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them. 3.His clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. 4.Elijah and Moses appeared to them, and they were talking with Jesus.

5.Peter answered Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let's make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 6.For he didn't know what to say, for they were very afraid.

7.A cloud came, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."

8.Suddenly looking around, they saw no one with them any more, except Jesus only.

9.As they were coming down from the mountain, he commanded them that they should tell no one what things they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10.They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the "rising from the dead" meant.

11.They asked him, saying, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

12.He said to them, "Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things. How is it written about the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be despised? 13.But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they wanted to, even as it is written about him."

14.Coming to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes questioning them. 15.Immediately all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him greeted him. 16.He asked the scribes, "What are you asking them?"

17.One of the multitude answered, "Teacher, I brought to you my son, who has a mute spirit; 18.and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and wastes away. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren't able."

19.He answered him, "Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me."

20.They brought him to him, and when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground, wallowing and foaming at the mouth.

21.He asked his father, "How long has it been since this has come to him?"

He said, "From childhood. 22.Often it has cast him both into the fire and into the water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us."

23.Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."

24.Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, "I believe. Help my unbelief!"

25.When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!"

26.Having cried out, and convulsed greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead; so much that most of them said, "He is dead." 27.But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose.

28.When he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we cast it out?" 29.He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting."

30.They went out from there, and passed through Galilee. He didn't want anyone to know it. 31.For he was teaching his disciples, and said to them, "The Son of Man is being handed over to the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, on the third day he will rise again."

32.But they didn't understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33.He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?"

34.But they were silent, for they had disputed one with another on the way about who was the greatest.

35.He sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them, "If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all." 36.He took a little child, and set him in their midst. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37."Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, doesn't receive me, but him who sent me."

38.John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone who doesn't follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn't follow us."

39.But Jesus said, "Don't forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me. 40.For whoever is not against us is on our side. 41.For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ's, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward. 42.Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck. 43.If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna,²¹ into the unquenchable fire, 44.'where their worm doesn't die, and the fire is not quenched.' 45.If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna,²² into the fire that will never be quenched-- 46.'where their worm doesn't die, and the fire is not quenched.' 47.If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna²³ of fire, 48.'where their worm doesn't die, and the fire is not quenched.'²⁴ 49.For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. 50.Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."