Day 13 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 10:10–18

¹⁰They are crushed and beaten down; the hapless fall prey to his strength. ¹¹He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.” ¹²Arise, O LORD! Lift up Your hand, O God! Do not forget the helpless. ¹³Why has the wicked man renounced God? He says to himself, “You will never call me to account.” ¹⁴But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless. ¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call him to account for his wickedness until none is left to be found. ¹⁶The LORD is King forever and ever; the nations perish from His land. ¹⁷You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear, ¹⁸to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, that the men of the earth may strike terror no more.

New Testament·Matthew 9:27–10:10

²⁷As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” ²⁸After Jesus had entered the house, the blind men came to Him. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” He asked. “Yes, Lord,” they answered. ²⁹Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.” ³⁰And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one finds out about this!” ³¹But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout the land. ³²As they were leaving, a demon-possessed man who was mute was brought to Jesus. ³³And when the demon had been driven out, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!” ³⁴But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons.” ³⁵Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.”

10And calling His twelve disciples to Him, Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits, so that they could drive them out and heal every disease and sickness. ²These are the names of the twelve apostles: first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. ⁵These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go onto the road of the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. ⁶Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. ⁷As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ ⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. ⁹Do not carry any gold or silver or copper in your belts. ¹⁰Take no bag for the road, or second tunic, or sandals, or staff; for the worker is worthy of his provisions.

Old Testament·Genesis 25

¹Now Abraham had taken another wife, named Keturah, ²and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites, and the Leummites. ⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah. ⁵Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. ⁶But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. ⁷Abraham lived a total of 175 years. ⁸And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people. ⁹His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. ¹⁰This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah. ¹¹After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi. ¹²This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham. ¹³These are the names of the sons of Ishmael in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶These were the sons of Ishmael, and these were their names by their villages and encampments—twelve princes of their tribes. ¹⁷Ishmael lived a total of 137 years. Then he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. ¹⁸Ishmael’s descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which is near the border of Egypt as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers. ¹⁹This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, ²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean. ²¹Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. ²²But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the LORD, ²³and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” ²⁴When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb. ²⁵The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau. ²⁶After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born. ²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. ²⁸Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished. ³⁰He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am famished.” (That is why he was also called Edom.) ³¹“First sell me your birthright,” Jacob replied. ³²“Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” ³³“Swear to me first,” Jacob said. So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright. ³⁴Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.