Day 31 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 22:13–22

¹³They open their jaws against me like lions that roar and maul. ¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me. ¹⁵My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death. ¹⁶For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet. ¹⁷I can count all my bones; they stare and gloat over me. ¹⁸They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. ¹⁹But You, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. ²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of wild dogs. ²¹Save me from the mouth of the lion; at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me! ²²I will proclaim Your name to my brothers; I will praise You in the assembly.

New Testament·Matthew 20

¹“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ²He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. ³About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴‘You also go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. ⁶About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked. ⁷‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. So he told them, ‘You also go into my vineyard.’ ⁸When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to the first.’ ⁹The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹²‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ ¹³But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. ¹⁵Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” ¹⁷As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said, ¹⁸“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn Him to death ¹⁹and will deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. And on the third day He will be raised to life.” ²⁰Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and knelt down to make a request of Him. ²¹“What do you want?” He inquired. She answered, “Declare that in Your kingdom one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right hand, and the other at Your left.” ²²“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” the brothers answered. ²³“You will indeed drink My cup,” Jesus said. “But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom My Father has prepared them.” ²⁴When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. ²⁵But Jesus called them aside and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them. ²⁶It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave— ²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” ²⁹As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. ³⁰And there were two blind men sitting beside the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” ³¹The crowd admonished them to be silent, but they cried out all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” ³²Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want Me to do for you?” He asked. ³³“Lord,” they answered, “let our eyes be opened.” ³⁴Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes, and at once they received their sight and followed Him.

Old Testament·Exodus 5–6

¹After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” ²But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.” ³“The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.” ⁴But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labor!” ⁵Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you would be stopping them from their labor.” ⁶That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen: ⁷“You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw. ⁸But require of them the same quota of bricks as before; do not reduce it. For they are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹Make the work harder on the men so they will be occupied and pay no attention to these lies.” ¹⁰So the taskmasters and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am no longer giving you straw. ¹¹Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it; but your workload will in no way be reduced.’” ¹²So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.” ¹⁴Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?” ¹⁵So the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way? ¹⁶No straw has been given to your servants, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.” ¹⁷“You are slackers!” Pharaoh replied. “Slackers! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’ ¹⁸Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.” ¹⁹The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce your daily quota of bricks.” ²⁰When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them. ²¹“May the LORD look upon you and judge you,” the foremen said, “for you have made us a stench before Pharaoh and his officials; you have placed in their hand a sword to kill us!” ²²So Moses returned to the LORD and asked, “Lord, why have You brought trouble upon this people? Is this why You sent me? ²³Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and You have not delivered Your people in any way.”

6But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for because of My mighty hand he will let the people go; because of My strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” ²God also told Moses, “I am the LORD. ³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD I did not make Myself known to them. ⁴I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners. ⁵Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. ⁷I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. ⁸And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’” ⁹Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him. ¹⁰So the LORD said to Moses, ¹¹“Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.” ¹²But in the LORD’s presence Moses replied, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, then why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I am unskilled in speech?” ¹³Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁴These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans of Reuben. ¹⁵The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon. ¹⁶These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years. ¹⁷The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, by their clans. ¹⁸The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years. ¹⁹The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of the Levites according to their records. ²⁰And Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. ²¹The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. ²²The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. ²³And Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²⁴The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the clans of the Korahites. ²⁵Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These were the heads of the Levite families by their clans. ²⁶It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.” ²⁷Moses and Aaron were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. ²⁸Now on the day that the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt, ²⁹He said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I say to you.” ³⁰But in the LORD’s presence Moses replied, “Since I am unskilled in speech, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”