Day 138 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 80:9–19

⁹You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. ¹⁰The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches. ¹¹It sent out its branches to the Sea, and its shoots toward the River. ¹²Why have You broken down its walls, so that all who pass by pick its fruit? ¹³The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it. ¹⁴Return, O God of Hosts, we pray! Look down from heaven and see! Attend to this vine— ¹⁵the root Your right hand has planted, the son You have raised up for Yourself. ¹⁶Your vine has been cut down and burned; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance. ¹⁷Let Your hand be upon the man at Your right hand, on the son of man You have raised up for Yourself. ¹⁸Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your name. ¹⁹Restore us, O LORD God of Hosts; cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.

New Testament·John 3:16–36

¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.” ²²After this, Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside, where He spent some time with them and baptized. ²³Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because the water was plentiful there, and people kept coming to be baptized. ²⁴(For John had not yet been thrown into prison.) ²⁵Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the issue of ceremonial washing. ²⁶So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Look, Rabbi, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, the One you testified about—He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.” ²⁷John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’ ²⁹The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰He must increase; I must decrease. ³¹The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all. ³²He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony. ³³Whoever accepts His testimony has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands. ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

Old Testament·1 Samuel 10–12

¹Then Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you ruler over His inheritance? ²When you leave me today, you will find two men at Rachel’s tomb in Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you seek have been found, and now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and started worrying about you, asking, “What should I do about my son?”’ ³Then you will go on from there until you come to the Oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. ⁴They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hands. ⁵After that you will come to Gibeah of God, where the Philistines have an outpost. As you approach the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place, preceded by harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying. ⁶Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be transformed into a different person. ⁷When these signs have come, do as the occasion demands, for God is with you. ⁸And you shall go before me to Gilgal, and surely I will come to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you are to do.” ⁹As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all the signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a group of prophets met him. Then the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied along with them. ¹¹All those who had formerly known Saul and saw him prophesying with the prophets asked one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹²Then a man who lived there replied, “And who is their father?” So the saying became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³And when Saul had finished prophesying, he went up to the high place. ¹⁴Now Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?” “To look for the donkeys,” Saul replied. “When we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” ¹⁵“Tell me,” Saul’s uncle asked, “what did Samuel say to you?” ¹⁶And Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But Saul did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship. ¹⁷After this, Samuel summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah ¹⁸and said to the Israelites, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hands of the Egyptians and of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ ¹⁹But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions, and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and clans.” ²⁰Thus Samuel had all the tribes of Israel come forward, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected. ²¹Then he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by its clans, and the clan of Matri was selected. Finally, Saul son of Kish was selected. But when they looked for him, they could not find him. ²²So again they inquired of the LORD, “Has the man come here yet?” And the LORD replied, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” ²³So they ran and brought Saul, and when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others. ²⁴Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!” ²⁵Then Samuel explained to the people the rights of kingship. He wrote them on a scroll and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own home. ²⁶Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, and the men of valor whose hearts God had touched went with him. ²⁷But some worthless men said, “How can this man save us?” So they despised him and brought him no gifts; but Saul remained silent about it.

11Soon Nahash the Ammonite came up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.” ²But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make a treaty with you on one condition, that I may put out everyone’s right eye and bring reproach upon all Israel.” ³“Hold off for seven days,” replied the elders of Jabesh, “and let us send messengers throughout Israel. If there is no one to save us, we will surrender to you.” ⁴When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and relayed these words in the hearing of the people, they all wept aloud. ⁵Just then Saul was returning from the field, behind his oxen. “What troubles the people?” asked Saul. “Why are they weeping?” And they relayed to him the words of the men from Jabesh. ⁶When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he burned with great anger. ⁷He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent them by messengers throughout the land of Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not march behind Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the LORD fell upon the people, and they turned out as one man. ⁸And when Saul numbered them at Bezek, there were 300,000 Israelites and 30,000 men of Judah. ⁹So they said to the messengers who had come, “Tell the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Deliverance will be yours tomorrow by the time the sun is hot.’” And when the messengers relayed this to the men of Jabesh, they rejoiced. ¹⁰Then the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Tomorrow we will come out, and you can do with us whatever seems good to you.” ¹¹The next day Saul organized the troops into three divisions, and during the morning watch they invaded the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them, until the hottest part of the day. And the survivors were so scattered that no two of them were left together. ¹²Then the people said to Samuel, “Who said that Saul should not reign over us? Bring those men here so we can kill them!” ¹³But Saul ordered, “No one shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.” ¹⁴Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.” ¹⁵So all the people went to Gilgal and confirmed Saul as king in the presence of the LORD. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.

12Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to your voice in all that you have said to me, and I have set over you a king. ²Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. ³Here I am. Bear witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.” ⁴“You have not wronged us or oppressed us,” they replied, “nor have you taken anything from the hand of man.” ⁵Samuel said to them, “The LORD is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is a witness,” they replied. ⁶Then Samuel said to the people, “The LORD is the One who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷Now present yourselves, so that I may confront you before the LORD with all the righteous acts He has done for you and your fathers. ⁸When Jacob went to Egypt, your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He sent them Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. ⁹But they forgot the LORD their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. ¹⁰Then they cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, that we may serve You.’ ¹¹So the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt securely. ¹²But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was your king. ¹³Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you requested. Behold, the LORD has placed a king over you. ¹⁴If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and if you do not rebel against the command of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the LORD your God, then all will be well. ¹⁵But if you disobey the LORD and rebel against His command, then the hand of the LORD will be against you as it was against your fathers. ¹⁶Now, therefore, stand and see this great thing that the LORD will do before your eyes. ¹⁷Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king.” ¹⁸So Samuel called to the LORD, and on that day the LORD sent thunder and rain. As a result, all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. ¹⁹They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.” ²⁰“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “Even though you have committed all this evil, do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. ²¹Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty. ²²Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own. ²³As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. And I will continue to teach you the good and right way. ²⁴Above all, fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. ²⁵But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”