Day 6 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 6

¹O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath. ²Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony. ³My soul is deeply distressed. How long, O LORD, how long? ⁴Turn, O LORD, and deliver my soul; save me because of Your loving devotion. ⁵For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol? ⁶I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. ⁷My eyes fail from grief; they grow dim because of all my foes. ⁸Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the LORD has heard my weeping. ⁹The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. ¹⁰All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

New Testament·Matthew 5:20–48

²⁰For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ²¹You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell. ²³So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. ²⁵Reconcile quickly with your adversary, while you are still on the way to court. Otherwise, he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. ²⁷You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ ²⁸But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to depart into hell. ³¹It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³²But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. ³³Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ ³⁴But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. ³⁷Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one. ³⁸You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also; ⁴⁰if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well; ⁴¹and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. ⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. ⁴³You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Old Testament·Genesis 11–12

¹Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. ²And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. ⁴“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.” ⁵Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. ⁶And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. ⁷Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth. ¹⁰This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. ¹¹And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹²When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵And after he had become the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁶When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷And after he had become the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁸When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹And after he had become the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. ²¹And after he had become the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters. ²²When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. ²³And after he had become the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁴When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁶When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. ²⁷This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸During his father Terah’s lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰But Sarai was barren; she had no children. ³¹And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there. ³²Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

12Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. ²I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” ⁴So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. ⁸From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD. ⁹And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev. ¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. ¹¹As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman, ¹²and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.” ¹⁴So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh. ¹⁶He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. ¹⁷The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” ²⁰Then Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all his possessions.