Day 126 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 77:1–11

¹I cried out to God; I cried aloud to God to hear me. ²In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted. ³I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah ⁴You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak. ⁵I considered the days of old, the years long in the past. ⁶At night I remembered my song; in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered: ⁷“Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again? ⁸Is His loving devotion gone forever? Has His promise failed for all time? ⁹Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has His anger shut off His compassion?” Selah ¹⁰So I said, “I am grieved that the right hand of the Most High has changed.” ¹¹I will remember the works of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.

New Testament·Luke 22:1–30

¹Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, ²and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death; for they feared the people. ³Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve. ⁴And Judas went to discuss with the chief priests and temple officers how he might betray Jesus to them. ⁵They were delighted and agreed to give him money. ⁶Judas consented, and began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus to them in the absence of a crowd. ⁷Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. ⁸Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare for us to eat the Passover.” ⁹“Where do You want us to prepare it?” they asked. ¹⁰He answered, “When you enter the city, a man carrying a jug of water will meet you. Follow him to the house he enters, ¹¹and say to the owner of that house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’ ¹²And he will show you a large upper room, already furnished. Make preparations there.” ¹³So they went and found it just as Jesus had told them. And they prepared the Passover. ¹⁴When the hour had come, Jesus reclined at the table with His apostles. ¹⁵And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering. ¹⁶For I tell you that I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. ¹⁸For I tell you that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. ²¹Look! The hand of My betrayer is with Mine on the table. ²²Indeed, the Son of Man will go as it has been determined, but woe to that man who betrays Him.” ²³Then they began to question among themselves which of them was going to do this. ²⁴A dispute also arose among the disciples as to which of them would be considered the greatest. ²⁵So Jesus declared, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them call themselves benefactors. ²⁶But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves. ²⁷For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as one who serves. ²⁸You are the ones who have stood by Me in My trials. ²⁹And I bestow on you a kingdom, just as My Father has bestowed one on Me, ³⁰so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Old Testament·Judges 9–10

¹Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and to all the clan of his mother, ²“Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.” ³And when his mother’s brothers spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the leaders of Shechem, their hearts were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” ⁴So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him. ⁵He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself. ⁶Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered beside the oak at the pillar in Shechem and proceeded to make Abimelech their king. ⁷When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: “Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, and may God listen to you. ⁸One day the trees set out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ ⁹But the olive tree replied, ‘Should I stop giving my oil that honors both God and man, to hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and reign over us.’ ¹¹But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I stop giving my sweetness and my good fruit, to hold sway over the trees?’ ¹²Then the trees said to the grapevine, ‘Come and reign over us.’ ¹³But the grapevine replied, ‘Should I stop giving my wine that cheers both God and man, to hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵But the thornbush replied, ‘If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’ ¹⁶Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have done to him as he deserves— ¹⁷for my father fought for you and risked his life to deliver you from the hand of Midian, ¹⁸but you have risen up against my father’s house this day and killed his seventy sons on a single stone, and you have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the leaders of Shechem because he is your brother— ¹⁹if you have acted faithfully and honestly toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, then may you rejoice in Abimelech, and he in you. ²⁰But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.” ²¹Then Jotham ran away, escaping to Beer, and he lived there for fear of his brother Abimelech. ²²After Abimelech had reigned over Israel for three years, ²³God sent a spirit of animosity between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem and caused them to treat Abimelech deceitfully, ²⁴in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers. ²⁵The leaders of Shechem set up an ambush against Abimelech on the hilltops, and they robbed all who passed by them on the road. So this was reported to Abimelech. ²⁶Meanwhile, Gaal son of Ebed came with his brothers and crossed into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem put their confidence in him. ²⁷And after they had gone out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, and trodden them, they held a festival and went into the house of their god; and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech. ²⁸Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech? ²⁹If only this people were under my authority, I would remove Abimelech; I would say to him, ‘Muster your army and come out!’” ³⁰When Zebul the governor of the city heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, he burned with anger. ³¹So he covertly sent messengers to Abimelech to say, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you. ³²Now then, tonight you and the people with you are to come and lie in wait in the fields. ³³And in the morning at sunrise, get up and advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, do to them whatever you are able.” ³⁴So Abimelech and all his troops set out by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies. ³⁵Now Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelech and his men came out from their hiding places. ³⁶When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountains!” But Zebul replied, “The shadows of the mountains look like men to you.” ³⁷Then Gaal spoke up again, “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming by way of the Diviners’ Oak.” ³⁸“Where is your gloating now?” Zebul replied. “You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the people you ridiculed? Go out now and fight them!” ³⁹So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem and fought against Abimelech, ⁴⁰but Abimelech pursued him, and Gaal fled before him. And many Shechemites fell wounded all the way to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem. ⁴²The next day the people of Shechem went out into the fields, and this was reported to Abimelech. ⁴³So he took his men, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose up against them and attacked them. ⁴⁴Then Abimelech and the companies with him rushed forward and took their stand at the entrance of the city gate. The other two companies rushed against all who were in the fields and struck them down. ⁴⁵And all that day Abimelech fought against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he demolished the city and sowed it with salt. ⁴⁶On hearing of this, all the leaders in the tower of Shechem entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith. ⁴⁷And when Abimelech was told that all the leaders in the tower of Shechem were gathered there, ⁴⁸he and all his men went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his axe in his hand and cut a branch from the trees, which he lifted to his shoulder, saying to his men, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.” ⁴⁹So each man also cut his own branch and followed Abimelech. Then they piled the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire above them, killing everyone in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women. ⁵⁰Then Abimelech went to Thebez, encamped against it, and captured it. ⁵¹But there was a strong tower inside the city, and all the men, women, and leaders of the city fled there. They locked themselves in and went up to the roof of the tower. ⁵²When Abimelech came to attack the tower, he approached its entrance to set it on fire. ⁵³But a woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull. ⁵⁴He quickly called his armor-bearer, saying, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So Abimelech’s armor-bearer ran his sword through him, and he died. ⁵⁵And when the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home. ⁵⁶In this way God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father in murdering his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷And God also brought all the wickedness of the men of Shechem back upon their own heads. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

10After the time of Abimelech, a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose up to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. ²Tola judged Israel twenty-three years, and when he died, he was buried in Shamir. ³Tola was followed by Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. And they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth-jair. ⁵When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon. ⁶And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. ⁷So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites, ⁸who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. ⁹The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress. ¹⁰Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.” ¹¹The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, ¹²Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you and you cried out to Me, did I not save you from their hands? ¹³But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. ¹⁴Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.” ¹⁵“We have sinned,” the Israelites said to the LORD. “Deal with us as You see fit; but please deliver us today!” ¹⁶So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel. ¹⁷Then the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, and the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. ¹⁸And the rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all who live in Gilead.”