Day 161 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 92:9–15

⁹For surely Your enemies, O LORD, surely Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered. ¹⁰But You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; with fine oil I have been anointed. ¹¹My eyes see the downfall of my enemies; my ears hear the wailing of my wicked foes. ¹²The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. ¹³Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. ¹⁴In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain, ¹⁵to proclaim, “The LORD is upright; He is my Rock, and in Him there is no unrighteousness.”

New Testament·John 13:1–28

¹It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end. ²The evening meal was underway, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God. ⁴So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist. ⁵After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” ⁸“Never shall You wash my feet!” Peter told Him. Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.” ⁹“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!” ¹⁰Jesus told him, “Whoever has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and he will be completely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” ¹¹For He knew who would betray Him. That is why He said, “Not all of you are clean.” ¹²When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His outer garments, He reclined with them again and asked, “Do you know what I have done for you? ¹³You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am. ¹⁴So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. ¹⁸I am not speaking about all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the Scripture: ‘The one who shares My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ ¹⁹I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it comes to pass, you will believe that I am He. ²⁰Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me.” ²¹After Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit and testified, “Truly, truly, I tell you, one of you will betray Me.” ²²The disciples looked at one another, perplexed as to which of them He meant. ²³One of His disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at His side. ²⁴So Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus which one He was talking about. ²⁵Leaning back against Jesus, he asked, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this morsel after I have dipped it.” Then He dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷And when Judas had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” ²⁸But no one at the table knew why Jesus had said this to him.

Old Testament·2 Samuel 23–24

¹These are the last words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised on high, the one anointed by the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel: ²The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; His word was on my tongue. ³The God of Israel spoke; the Rock of Israel said to me, ‘He who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God, ⁴is like the light of the morning at sunrise of a cloudless dawn, the glistening after the rain on the sprouting grass of the earth.’ ⁵Is not my house right with God? For He has established with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and secured in every part. Will He not bring about my full salvation and my every desire? ⁶But the worthless are all like thorns raked aside, for they can never be gathered by hand. ⁷The man who touches them must be armed with iron or with the shaft of a spear. The fire burns them to ashes in the place where they lie.” ⁸These are the names of David’s mighty men: Josheb-basshebeth the Tahchemonite was chief of the Three. He wielded his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed at one time. ⁹Next in command was Eleazar son of Dodo the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he went with David to taunt the Philistines who had gathered for battle at Pas-dammim. The men of Israel retreated, ¹⁰but Eleazar stood his ground and struck the Philistines until his hand grew weary and stuck to his sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day. Then the troops returned to him, but only to plunder the dead. ¹¹And after him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines had banded together near a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. ¹²But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field, defended it, and struck down the Philistines. So the LORD brought about a great victory. ¹³At harvest time, three of the thirty chief men went down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴At that time David was in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was at Bethlehem. ¹⁵David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁶So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD, ¹⁷saying, “Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this! Is this not the blood of the men who risked their lives?” So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men. ¹⁸Now Abishai, the brother of Joab and son of Zeruiah, was chief of the Three, and he lifted his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name along with the Three. ¹⁹Was he not more honored than the Three? And he became their commander, even though he was not included among the Three. ²⁰And Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a man of valor from Kabzeel, a man of many exploits. He struck down two champions of Moab, and on a snowy day he went down into a pit and killed a lion. ²¹He also killed an Egyptian, a huge man. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club, snatched the spear from his hand, and killed the Egyptian with his own spear. ²²These were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who won a name alongside the three mighty men. ²³He was most honored among the Thirty, but he did not become one of the Three. And David appointed him over his guard. ²⁴Now these were members of the Thirty: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, ²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, ²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, ²⁹Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the Benjamites, ³⁰Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the brooks of Gaash, ³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, ³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan ³³son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite, ³⁴Eliphelet son of Ahasbai the Maacathite, Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah, ³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹and Uriah the Hittite. There were thirty-seven in all.

24Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.” ²So the king said to Joab the commander of his army, who was with him, “Go now throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and register the troops, so that I may know their number.” ³But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?” ⁴Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army departed from the presence of the king to count the troops of Israel. ⁵They crossed the Jordan and camped near Aroer, south of the town in the middle of the valley, and proceeded toward Gad and Jazer. ⁶Then they went to Gilead and the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and on to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon. ⁷They went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to the Negev of Judah, to Beersheba. ⁸At the end of nine months and twenty days, having gone through the whole land, they returned to Jerusalem. ⁹And Joab reported to the king the total number of the troops. In Israel there were 800,000 men of valor who drew the sword, and in Judah there were 500,000. ¹⁰After David had numbered the troops, his conscience was stricken and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹When David got up in the morning, a revelation from the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: ¹²“Go and tell David that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am offering you three options. Choose one of them, and I will carry it out against you.’” ¹³So Gad went and said to David, “Do you choose to endure three years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.” ¹⁴David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.” ¹⁵So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. ¹⁶But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷When David saw the angel striking down the people, he said to the LORD, “Surely I, the shepherd, have sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house.” ¹⁸And that day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David went up at the word of Gad, just as the LORD had commanded. ²⁰When Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, he went out and bowed facedown before the king. ²¹“Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” Araunah said. “To buy your threshing floor,” David replied, “that I may build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.” ²²Araunah said to David, “My lord the king may take whatever seems good and offer it up. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. ²³O king, Araunah gives all these to the king.” He also said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.” ²⁴“No,” replied the king, “I insist on paying a price, for I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then the LORD answered the prayers on behalf of the land, and the plague upon Israel was halted.