Day 152 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 89:11–19

¹¹The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded. ¹²North and south You created; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name. ¹³Mighty is Your arm; strong is Your hand. Your right hand is exalted. ¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; loving devotion and faithfulness go before You. ¹⁵Blessed are those who know the joyful sound, who walk, O LORD, in the light of Your presence. ¹⁶They rejoice in Your name all day long, and in Your righteousness they exult. ¹⁷For You are the glory of their strength, and by Your favor our horn is exalted. ¹⁸Surely our shield belongs to the LORD, and our king to the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁹You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

New Testament·John 9:1–22

¹Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth, ²and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him. ⁴While it is daytime, we must do the works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes. ⁷Then He told him, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came back seeing. ⁸At this, his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging began to ask, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some claimed that he was, but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” But the man kept saying, “I am the one.” ¹⁰“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. ¹¹He answered, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and anointed my eyes, and He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹²“Where is He?” they asked. “I do not know,” he answered. ¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵So the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. The man answered, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.” ¹⁶Because of this, some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was division among them. ¹⁷So once again they asked the man who had been blind, “What do you say about Him, since it was your eyes He opened?” “He is a prophet,” the man replied. ¹⁸The Jews still did not believe that the man had been blind and had received his sight until they summoned his parents ¹⁹and asked, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he can now see?” ²⁰His parents answered, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. ²¹But how he can now see or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

Old Testament·2 Samuel 7–8

¹After the king had settled into his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, ²he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” ³And Nathan replied to the king, “Go and do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.” ⁴But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying, ⁵“Go and tell My servant David that this is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build for Me a house to dwell in? ⁶For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt until this day, but I have moved about with a tent as My dwelling. ⁷In all My journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever asked any of the leaders I appointed to shepherd My people Israel, ‘Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’ ⁸Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel. ⁹I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like the greatest in the land. ¹⁰And I will provide a place for My people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own and be disturbed no more. No longer will the sons of wickedness oppress them as they did at the beginning ¹¹and have done since the day I appointed judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD declares to you that He Himself will establish a house for you. ¹²And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. ¹⁵But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I moved out of your way. ¹⁶Your house and kingdom will endure forever before Me, and your throne will be established forever.” ¹⁷So Nathan relayed to David all the words of this entire vision. ¹⁸Then King David went in, sat before the LORD, and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? ¹⁹And as if this was a small thing in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant. Is this Your custom with man, O Lord GOD? ²⁰What more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord GOD. ²¹For the sake of Your word and according to Your own heart, You have accomplished this great thing and revealed it to Your servant. ²²How great You are, O Lord GOD! For there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears. ²³And who is like Your people Israel—the one nation on earth whom God went out to redeem as a people for Himself and to make a name for Himself? You performed great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before Your people, whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt. ²⁴For You have established Your people Israel as Your very own forever, and You, O LORD, have become their God. ²⁵And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house. Do as You have promised, ²⁶so that Your name will be magnified forever when it is said, ‘The LORD of Hosts is God over Israel.’ And the house of Your servant David will be established before You. ²⁷For You, O LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant when You said, ‘I will build a house for you.’ Therefore Your servant has found the courage to offer this prayer to You. ²⁸And now, O Lord GOD, You are God! Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant. ²⁹Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord GOD, have spoken, and with Your blessing the house of Your servant will be blessed forever.”

8Some time later, David defeated the Philistines, subdued them, and took Metheg-ammah from the hand of the Philistines. ²David also defeated the Moabites, made them lie down on the ground, and measured them off with a cord. He measured off with two lengths those to be put to death, and with one length those to be spared. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute. ³David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, who had marched out to restore his dominion along the Euphrates River. ⁴David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots. ⁵When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand men. ⁶Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went. ⁷And David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸And from Betah and Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a large amount of bronze. ⁹When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰he sent his son Joram to greet King David and bless him for fighting and defeating Hadadezer, who had been at war with Toi. Joram brought with him articles of silver and gold and bronze, ¹¹and King David dedicated these to the LORD, along with the silver and gold he had dedicated from all the nations he had subdued— ¹²from Edom and Moab, from the Ammonites and Philistines and Amalekites, and from the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah. ¹³And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴He placed garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went. ¹⁵Thus David reigned over all Israel and administered justice and righteousness for all his people: ¹⁶Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder; ¹⁷Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was the scribe; ¹⁸Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priestly leaders.