February 13

FEBRUARY 13

PSALMS: 13, 43, 73, 103, 133

PROVERBS: 13

OLD TESTAMENT: JUDGES 21:1 – RUTH 1:22

NEW TESTAMENT: JOHN 4:4 – 22

PSALMS: 13

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

²How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

⁴my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”

and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

⁶I will sing to the LORD,

for he has been good to me. ^{^[1]}

PSALMS: 43

¹Vindicate ^A me, O God,

and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;

rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

²You are God my stronghold.

Why have you rejected me?

Why must I go about mourning,

oppressed by the enemy?

³Send forth your light and your truth,

let them guide me;

let them bring me to your holy mountain,

to the place where you dwell.

⁴Then will I go to the altar of God,

to God, my joy and my delight.

I will praise you with the harp,

O God, my God.

⁵Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God.^{^[2]}

PSALMS: 73

A psalm of Asaph.

¹Surely God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

²But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;

I had nearly lost my foothold.

³For I envied the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴They have no struggles;

their bodies are healthy and strong. ^A

⁵They are free from the burdens common to man;

they are not plagued by human ills.

⁶Therefore pride is their necklace;

they clothe themselves with violence.

⁷From their callous hearts comes iniquity ^B;

the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.

⁸They scoff, and speak with malice;

in their arrogance they threaten oppression.

⁹Their mouths lay claim to heaven,

and their tongues take possession of the earth.

¹⁰Therefore their people turn to them

and drink up waters in abundance. ^C

¹¹They say, “How can God know?

Does the Most High have knowledge?”

¹²This is what the wicked are like–

always carefree, they increase in wealth. ^{^[3]}

A psalm of Asaph.

¹³Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;

in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴All day long I have been plagued;

I have been punished every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

I would have betrayed your children.

¹⁶When I tried to understand all this,

it was oppressive to me

¹⁷till I entered the sanctuary of God;

then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸Surely you place them on slippery ground;

you cast them down to ruin.

¹⁹How suddenly are they destroyed,

completely swept away by terrors!

²⁰As a dream when one awakes,

so when you arise, O Lord,

you will despise them as fantasies.

²¹When my heart was grieved

and my spirit embittered,

²²I was senseless and ignorant;

I was a brute beast before you.

²³Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

²⁴You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever. ^{^[4]}

²⁷Those who are far from you will perish;

you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;

I will tell of all your deeds. ^{^[5]}

PSALMS: 103

Of David.

¹Praise the LORD, O my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

²Praise the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits–

³who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

⁴who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

⁵who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶The LORD works righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

⁷He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel:

⁸The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

⁹He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

¹⁰he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

¹²as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

¹⁴for he knows how we are formed, ^{^[6]}

he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass,

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

¹⁷But from everlasting to everlasting

the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,

and his righteousness with their children’s children–

¹⁸with those who keep his covenant

and remember to obey his precepts.

¹⁹The LORD has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰Praise the LORD, you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his bidding,

who obey his word.

²¹Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,

you his servants who do his will.

²²Praise the LORD, all his works

everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the LORD, O my soul. ^{^[7]}

PSALMS: 133

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹How good and pleasant it is

when brothers live together in unity!

²It is like precious oil poured on the head,

running down on the beard,

running down on Aaron’s beard,

down upon the collar of his robes.

³It is as if the dew of Hermon

were falling on Mount Zion.

For there the LORD bestows his blessing,

even life forevermore. ^{^[8]}

PROVERBS: 13

13 ¹ A wise son heeds his father’s instruction,

but a mocker does not listen to rebuke.

²From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things,

but the unfaithful have a craving for violence.

³He who guards his lips guards his life,

but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

⁴The sluggard craves and gets nothing,

but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

⁵The righteous hate what is false,

but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.

⁶Righteousness guards the man of integrity,

but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

⁷One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

⁸A man’s riches may ransom his life,

but a poor man hears no threat.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly,

but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.

¹⁰Pride only breeds quarrels,

but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

¹¹Dishonest money dwindles away,

but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow. ^{^[9]}

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

¹³He who scorns instruction will pay for it,

but he who respects a command is rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,

turning a man from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good understanding wins favor,

but the way of the unfaithful is hard. ^A

¹⁶Every prudent man acts out of knowledge,

but a fool exposes his folly.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into trouble,

but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.

¹⁸He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame,

but whoever heeds correction is honored.

¹⁹A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,

but fools detest turning from evil.

²⁰He who walks with the wise grows wise,

but a companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Misfortune pursues the sinner,

but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children,

but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous. ^{^[10]}

²³A poor man’s field may produce abundant food,

but injustice sweeps it away.

²⁴He who spares the rod hates his son,

but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

²⁵The righteous eat to their hearts’ content,

but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry. ^{^[11]}

OLD TESTAMENT: JUDGES 21:1 – RUTH 1:22

21 ¹The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”

²The people went to Bethel, ^A where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. ³“O LORD, the God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?”

⁴Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. ^B

⁵Then the Israelites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah should certainly be put to death.

⁶Now the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites. “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,” they said. ⁷“How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?”

⁸Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. ⁹For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.

¹⁰So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. ¹¹“This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.” ¹²They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they ^{^[12]} took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.

¹³Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon. ¹⁴So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.

¹⁵The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? ¹⁷The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. ¹⁸We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: `Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’ ¹⁹But look, there is the annual festival of the LORD in Shiloh, to the north of Bethel, and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah.”

²⁰So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards ²¹and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. ²²When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, `Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'”

²³So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and ^{^[13]} settled in them.

²⁴At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.

²⁵In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. ^{^[14]}

1 ¹In the days when the judges ruled, ^A there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. ²The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

³Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, ⁵both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

⁶When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. ⁷With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

⁸Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. ⁹May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them and they wept aloud ¹⁰and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

¹¹But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? ¹²Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me–even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons– ^{^[15]} ¹³would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has gone out against me!”

¹⁴At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

¹⁶But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” ¹⁸When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

¹⁹So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰“Don’t call me Naomi, ^B” she told them. “Call me Mara, ^C because the Almighty ^D has made my life very bitter.

²¹I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted ^E me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

²²So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. ^{^[16]}

NEW TESTAMENT: JOHN 4:4 – 22

⁴Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. ^A)

¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

¹³Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷“I have no husband,” she replied. ^{^[17]} Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ^{^[18]}