Day 116 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 72:1–12

¹Endow the king with Your justice, O God, and the son of the king with Your righteousness. ²May he judge Your people with righteousness and Your afflicted with justice. ³May the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills bring righteousness. ⁴May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor. ⁵May they fear him as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains, through all generations. ⁶May he be like rain that falls on freshly cut grass, like spring showers that water the earth. ⁷May the righteous flourish in his days and prosperity abound, until the moon is no more. ⁸May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth. ⁹May the nomads bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust. ¹⁰May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts. ¹¹May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him. ¹²For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.

New Testament·Luke 17:1–25

¹Jesus said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come! ²It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. ³Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” ⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶And the Lord answered, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. ⁷Which of you whose servant comes in from plowing or shepherding in the field will say to him, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? ⁸Instead, won’t he tell him, ‘Prepare my meal and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? ⁹Does he thank the servant because he did what he was told? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” ¹¹While Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As He entered one of the villages, He was met by ten lepers. They stood at a distance ¹³and raised their voices, shouting, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴When Jesus saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were on their way, they were cleansed. ¹⁵When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶He fell facedown at Jesus’ feet in thanksgiving to Him—and he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷“Were not all ten cleansed?” Jesus asked. “Where then are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found except this foreigner to return and give glory to God?” ¹⁹Then Jesus said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well!” ²⁰When asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs. ²¹Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” ²²Then He said to the disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. ²³People will tell you, ‘Look, there He is!’ or ‘Look, here He is!’ Do not go out or chase after them. ²⁴For just as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so will be the Son of Man in His day. ²⁵But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Old Testament·Joshua 15:21–16:10

²¹These were the southernmost cities of the tribe of Judah in the Negev toward the border of Edom: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, ²²Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ²⁴Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, ²⁵Hazor-hadattah, Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor), ²⁶Amam, Shema, Moladah, ²⁷Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet, ²⁸Hazar-shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, ²⁹Baalah, Iim, Ezem, ³⁰Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, ³¹Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, ³²Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon—twenty-nine cities in all, along with their villages. ³³These were in the foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, ³⁴Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah, Enam, ³⁵Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, ³⁶Shaaraim, Adithaim, and Gederah (or Gederothaim)—fourteen cities, along with their villages. ³⁷Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad, ³⁸Dilan, Mizpeh, Joktheel, ³⁹Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, ⁴⁰Cabbon, Lahmas, Chitlish, ⁴¹Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah—sixteen cities, along with their villages. ⁴²Libnah, Ether, Ashan, ⁴³Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, ⁴⁴Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah—nine cities, along with their villages. ⁴⁵Ekron, with its towns and villages; ⁴⁶from Ekron to the sea, all the cities near Ashdod, along with their villages; ⁴⁷Ashdod, with its towns and villages; Gaza, with its towns and villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt and the coastline of the Great Sea. ⁴⁸These were in the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, ⁴⁹Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir), ⁵⁰Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, ⁵¹Goshen, Holon, and Giloh—eleven cities, along with their villages. ⁵²Arab, Dumah, Eshan, ⁵³Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah, ⁵⁴Humtah, Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior—nine cities, along with their villages. ⁵⁵Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, ⁵⁶Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, ⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah—ten cities, along with their villages. ⁵⁸Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor, ⁵⁹Maarath, Beth-anoth, and Eltekon—six cities, along with their villages. ⁶⁰Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah—two cities, along with their villages. ⁶¹These were in the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah, ⁶²Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En-gedi—six cities, along with their villages. ⁶³But the descendants of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live there among the descendants of Judah.

16The allotment for the descendants of Joseph extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness that goes up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel. ²It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz) and proceeded to the border of the Archites in Ataroth. ³Then it descended westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and on to Gezer, and it ended at the Sea. ⁴So Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, received their inheritance. ⁵This was the territory of the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: The border of their inheritance went from Ataroth-addar in the east to Upper Beth-horon ⁶and out toward the Sea. From Michmethath on the north it turned eastward toward Taanath-shiloh and passed by it to Janoah on the east. ⁷From Janoah it went down to Ataroth and Naarah, and then reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan. ⁸From Tappuah the border went westward to the Brook of Kanah and ended at the Sea. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, ⁹along with all the cities and villages set apart for the descendants of Ephraim within the inheritance of Manasseh. ¹⁰But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.