Day 195 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 107:35–43

³⁵He turns a desert into pools of water and a dry land into flowing springs. ³⁶He causes the hungry to settle there, that they may establish a city in which to dwell. ³⁷They sow fields and plant vineyards that yield a fruitful harvest. ³⁸He blesses them, and they multiply greatly; He does not let their herds diminish. ³⁹When they are decreased and humbled by oppression, evil, and sorrow, ⁴⁰He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland. ⁴¹But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks. ⁴²The upright see and rejoice, and all iniquity shuts its mouth. ⁴³Let him who is wise pay heed to these things and consider the loving devotion of the LORD.

New Testament·Acts 13:16–36

¹⁶Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak: “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who fear God, listen to me! ¹⁷The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers. He made them into a great people during their stay in Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out of that land. ¹⁸He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness. ¹⁹And having vanquished seven nations in Canaan, He gave their land to His people as an inheritance. ²⁰All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them forty years under Saul son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin. ²²After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’ ²³From the descendants of this man, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised. ²⁴Before the arrival of Jesus, John preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵As John was completing his course, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not that One. But He is coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’ ²⁶Brothers, children of Abraham, and you Gentiles who fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. ²⁷The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸And though they found no ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. ²⁹When they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised Him from the dead, ³¹and for many days He was seen by those who had accompanied Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now His witnesses to our people. ³²And now we proclaim to you the good news: What God promised our fathers ³³He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.’ ³⁴In fact, God raised Him from the dead, never to see decay. As He has said: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’ ³⁵So also, He says in another Psalm: ‘You will not let Your Holy One see decay.’ ³⁶For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. His body was buried with his fathers and saw decay.

Old Testament·1 Chronicles 6:54–7:40

⁵⁴Now these were the territories assigned to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clan for their settlements, because the first lot fell to them: ⁵⁵They were given Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pasturelands. ⁵⁶But the fields and villages around the city were given to Caleb son of Jephunneh. ⁵⁷So the descendants of Aaron were given Hebron (a city of refuge), Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, ⁵⁸Hilen, Debir, ⁵⁹Ashan, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh, together with their pasturelands. ⁶⁰And from the tribe of Benjamin they were given Gibeon, Geba, Alemeth, and Anathoth, together with their pasturelands. So they had thirteen cities in all among their families. ⁶¹To the rest of the Kohathites, ten cities were allotted from the half-tribe of Manasseh. ⁶²The Gershomites, according to their clans, were allotted thirteen cities from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh in Bashan. ⁶³The Merarites, according to their families, were allotted twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. ⁶⁴So the Israelites gave to the Levites these cities and their pasturelands. ⁶⁵They assigned by lot the cities named above from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. ⁶⁶And some of the clans of the Kohathites were given cities from the tribe of Ephraim for their territory: ⁶⁷They were given Shechem (a city of refuge) with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer, ⁶⁸Jokmeam, Beth-horon, ⁶⁹Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon, together with their pasturelands. ⁷⁰And from the half-tribe of Manasseh the remaining clans of the Kohathites were given Aner and Bileam, together with their pasturelands. ⁷¹The Gershomites received the following: From the clan of the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Golan in Bashan and also Ashtaroth, together with their pasturelands. ⁷²From the tribe of Issachar they were given Kedesh, Daberath, ⁷³Ramoth, and Anem, together with their pasturelands. ⁷⁴From the tribe of Asher they were given Mashal, Abdon, ⁷⁵Hukok, and Rehob, together with their pasturelands. ⁷⁶And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee, Hammon, and Kiriathaim, together with their pasturelands. ⁷⁷The Merarites (the rest of the Levites) received the following: From the tribe of Zebulun they were given Rimmono and Tabor, together with their pasturelands. ⁷⁸From the tribe of Reuben east of the Jordan opposite Jericho they were given Bezer in the wilderness, Jahzah, ⁷⁹Kedemoth, and Mephaath, together with their pasturelands. ⁸⁰And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, Mahanaim, ⁸¹Heshbon, and Jazer, together with their pasturelands.

7The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron—four in all. ²The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, the heads of their families. In the days of David, 22,600 descendants of Tola were numbered in their genealogies as mighty men of valor. ³The son of Uzzi: Izrahiah. The sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah. All five of them were chiefs. ⁴In addition to them, according to their genealogy, they had 36,000 troops for battle, for they had many wives and children. ⁵Their kinsmen belonging to all the families of Issachar who were mighty men of valor totaled 87,000, as listed in their genealogies. ⁶The three sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Jediael. ⁷The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, heads of their families—five in all. There were 22,034 mighty men of valor listed in their genealogies. ⁸The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth; all these were Becher’s sons. ⁹Their genealogies were recorded according to the heads of their families—20,200 mighty men of valor. ¹⁰The son of Jediael: Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. ¹¹All these sons of Jediael were heads of their families, mighty men of valor; there were 17,200 fit for battle. ¹²The Shuppites and Huppites were descendants of Ir, and the Hushites were descendants of Aher. ¹³The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum —the descendants of Bilhah. ¹⁴The descendants of Manasseh: Through his Aramean concubine, Asriel, as well as Machir the father of Gilead. ¹⁵Machir took a wife from among the Huppites and Shuppites. The name of his sister was Maacah. Another descendant was named Zelophehad, who had only daughters. ¹⁶Machir’s wife Maacah gave birth to a son, and she named him Peresh. His brother was named Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rekem. ¹⁷The son of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. ¹⁸His sister Hammolecheth gave birth to Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. ¹⁹And these were the sons of Shemida: Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam. ²⁰The descendants of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, ²¹Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son. Ezer and Elead were killed by the natives of Gath, because they went down to steal their livestock. ²²Their father Ephraim mourned for many days, and his relatives came to comfort him. ²³And again he slept with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. So he named him Beriah, because tragedy had come upon his house. ²⁴His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth-horon, as well as Uzzen-sheerah. ²⁵Additionally, Rephah was his son, Resheph his son, Telah his son, Tahan his son, ²⁶Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, ²⁷Nun his son, and Joshua his son. ²⁸Their holdings and settlements included Bethel and its villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages as far as Ayyah and its villages. ²⁹And along the borders of Manasseh were Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, together with their villages. The descendants of Joseph son of Israel lived in these towns. ³⁰The children of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. ³¹The sons of Beriah: Heber, as well as Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith. ³²Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer, and Hotham, and of their sister Shua. ³³The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These were Japhlet’s sons. ³⁴The sons of Shemer: Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram. ³⁵The sons of his brother Helem: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. ³⁶The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, ³⁷Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. ³⁸The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara. ³⁹The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia. ⁴⁰All these were the descendants of Asher—heads of their families, choice and mighty men of valor, and chiefs among the leaders. The number of men fit for battle, recorded in their genealogies, was 26,000.