October 15

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OCTOBER 15

PSALMS: 15, 45, 75, 105, 135

PROVERBS: 15

OLD TESTAMENT: GENESIS 8:1 – 10:32

NEW TESTAMENT: MATTHEW 4:12 – 25

PSALMS: 15

A psalm of David.

¹LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?

Who may live on your holy hill?

²He whose walk is blameless

and who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from his heart

³and has no slander on his tongue,

who does his neighbor no wrong

and casts no slur on his fellowman,

⁴who despises a vile man

but honors those who fear the LORD,

who keeps his oath

even when it hurts,

⁵who lends his money without usury

and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things

will never be shaken. ^{^[1]}

PSALMS: 45

For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil. ^A A wedding song.

¹My heart is stirred by a noble theme

as I recite my verses for the king;

my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

²You are the most excellent of men

and your lips have been anointed with grace,

since God has blessed you forever.

³Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one;

clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.

⁴In your majesty ride forth victoriously

in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness;

let your right hand display awesome deeds.

⁵Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies;

let the nations fall beneath your feet.

⁶Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;

a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

⁷You love righteousness and hate wickedness;

therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions

by anointing you with the oil of joy.

⁸All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia;

from palaces adorned with ivory

the music of the strings makes you glad.

⁹Daughters of kings are among your honored women;

at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.

¹⁰Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear:

Forget your people and your father’s house. ^{^[2]}

¹¹The king is enthralled by your beauty;

honor him, for he is your lord.

¹²The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift, ^B

men of wealth will seek your favor.

¹³All glorious is the princess within her chamber;

her gown is interwoven with gold.

¹⁴In embroidered garments she is led to the king;

her virgin companions follow her

and are brought to you.

¹⁵They are led in with joy and gladness;

they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶Your sons will take the place of your fathers;

you will make them princes throughout the land.

¹⁷I will perpetuate your memory through all generations;

therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever. ^{^[3]}

PSALMS: 75

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph. A song.

¹We give thanks to you, O God,

we give thanks, for your Name is near;

men tell of your wonderful deeds.

²You say, “I choose the appointed time;

it is I who judge uprightly.

³When the earth and all its people quake,

it is I who hold its pillars firm.

Selah

⁴To the arrogant I say, `Boast no more,’

and to the wicked, `Do not lift up your horns.

⁵Do not lift your horns against heaven;

do not speak with outstretched neck.'”

⁶No one from the east or the west

or from the desert can exalt a man.

⁷But it is God who judges:

He brings one down, he exalts another.

⁸In the hand of the LORD is a cup

full of foaming wine mixed with spices;

he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth

drink it down to its very dregs.

⁹As for me, I will declare this forever;

I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,

but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up. ^{^[4]}

PSALMS: 105

¹Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

²Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

³Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

⁴Look to the LORD and his strength;

seek his face always.

⁵Remember the wonders he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

⁶O descendants of Abraham his servant,

O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.

⁷He is the LORD our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

⁸He remembers his covenant forever,

the word he commanded, for a thousand generations,

⁹the covenant he made with Abraham,

the oath he swore to Isaac.

¹⁰He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

¹¹“To you I will give the land of Canaan

as the portion you will inherit.”

¹²When they were but few in number,

few indeed, and strangers in it,

¹³they wandered from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another.

¹⁴He allowed no one to oppress them;

for their sake he rebuked kings:

¹⁵“Do not touch my anointed ones;

do my prophets no harm.” ^{^[5]}

¹⁶He called down famine on the land

and destroyed all their supplies of food;

¹⁷and he sent a man before them–

Joseph, sold as a slave.

¹⁸They bruised his feet with shackles,

his neck was put in irons,

¹⁹till what he foretold came to pass,

till the word of the LORD proved him true.

²⁰The king sent and released him,

the ruler of peoples set him free.

²¹He made him master of his household,

ruler over all he possessed,

²²to instruct his princes as he pleased

and teach his elders wisdom.

²³Then Israel entered Egypt;

Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.

²⁴The LORD made his people very fruitful;

he made them too numerous for their foes,

^{2 5}whose hearts he turned to hate his people,

to conspire against his servants.

²⁶He sent Moses his servant,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

²⁷They performed his miraculous signs among them,

his wonders in the land of Ham.

²⁸He sent darkness and made the land dark–

for had they not rebelled against his words?

²⁹He turned their waters into blood,

causing their fish to die.

³⁰Their land teemed with frogs,

which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.

³¹He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,

and gnats throughout their country.

³²He turned their rain into hail,

with lightning throughout their land; ^{^[6]}

³³he struck down their vines and fig trees

and shattered the trees of their country.

³⁴He spoke, and the locusts came,

grasshoppers without number;

³⁵they ate up every green thing in their land,

ate up the produce of their soil.

³⁶Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the firstfruits of all their manhood.

³⁷He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,

and from among their tribes no one faltered.

³⁸Egypt was glad when they left,

because dread of Israel had fallen on them.

³⁹He spread out a cloud as a covering,

and a fire to give light at night.

⁴⁰They asked, and he brought them quail

and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

⁴¹He opened the rock, and water gushed out;

like a river it flowed in the desert.

⁴²For he remembered his holy promise

given to his servant Abraham.

⁴³He brought out his people with rejoicing,

his chosen ones with shouts of joy;

⁴⁴he gave them the lands of the nations,

and they fell heir to what others had toiled for–

⁴⁵that they might keep his precepts

and observe his laws.

Praise the LORD. ^A ^{^[7]}

PSALMS: 135

¹Praise the LORD. ^A

Praise the name of the LORD;

praise him, you servants of the LORD,

²you who minister in the house of the LORD,

in the courts of the house of our God.

³Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;

sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.

⁴For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,

Israel to be his treasured possession.

⁵I know that the LORD is great,

that our Lord is greater than all gods.

⁶The LORD does whatever pleases him,

in the heavens and on the earth,

in the seas and all their depths.

⁷He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;

he sends lightning with the rain

and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

⁸He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,

the firstborn of men and animals.

⁹He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,

against Pharaoh and all his servants.

¹⁰He struck down many nations

and killed mighty kings–

¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites,

Og king of Bashan

and all the kings of Canaan–

¹²and he gave their land as an inheritance,

an inheritance to his people Israel. ^{^[8]}

¹³Your name, O LORD, endures forever,

your renown, O LORD, through all generations.

¹⁴For the LORD will vindicate his people

and have compassion on his servants.

¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold,

made by the hands of men.

¹⁶They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but they cannot see;

¹⁷they have ears, but cannot hear,

nor is there breath in their mouths.

¹⁸Those who make them will be like them,

and so will all who trust in them.

¹⁹O house of Israel, praise the LORD;

O house of Aaron, praise the LORD;

²⁰O house of Levi, praise the LORD;

you who fear him, praise the LORD.

²¹Praise be to the LORD from Zion,

to him who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD. ^{^[9]}

PROVERBS: 15

15 ¹ A gentle answer turns away wrath,

but a harsh word stirs up anger.

²The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,

but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.

³The eyes of the LORD are everywhere,

keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

⁴The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life,

but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

⁵A fool spurns his father’s discipline,

but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.

⁶The house of the righteous contains great treasure,

but the income of the wicked brings them trouble.

⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge;

not so the hearts of fools.

⁸The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked,

but the prayer of the upright pleases him.

⁹The LORD detests the way of the wicked

but he loves those who pursue righteousness.

¹⁰Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path;

he who hates correction will die.

¹¹Death and Destruction^A lie open before the LORD–

how much more the hearts of men! ^{^[10]}

¹²A mocker resents correction;

he will not consult the wise.

¹³A happy heart makes the face cheerful,

but heartache crushes the spirit.

¹⁴The discerning heart seeks knowledge,

but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

¹⁵All the days of the oppressed are wretched,

but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

¹⁶Better a little with the fear of the LORD

than great wealth with turmoil.

¹⁷Better a meal of vegetables where there is love

than a fattened calf with hatred.

¹⁸A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension,

but a patient man calms a quarrel.

¹⁹The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns,

but the path of the upright is a highway.

²⁰A wise son brings joy to his father,

but a foolish man despises his mother.

²¹Folly delights a man who lacks judgment,

but a man of understanding keeps a straight course.

²²Plans fail for lack of counsel,

but with many advisers they succeed. ^{^[11]}

²³A man finds joy in giving an apt reply–

and how good is a timely word!

²⁴The path of life leads upward for the wise

to keep him from going down to the grave. ^B

²⁵The LORD tears down the proud man’s house

but he keeps the widow’s boundaries intact.

²⁶The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked,

but those of the pure are pleasing to him.

²⁷A greedy man brings trouble to his family,

but he who hates bribes will live.

²⁸The heart of the righteous weighs its answers,

but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.

²⁹The LORD is far from the wicked

but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

³⁰A cheerful look brings joy to the heart,

and good news gives health to the bones.

³¹He who listens to a life-giving rebuke

will be at home among the wise.

³²He who ignores discipline despises himself,

but whoever heeds correction gains understanding. ^{^[12]}

³³The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, ^C

and humility comes before honor. ^{^[13]} ^{^[14]}

OLD TESTAMENT: GENESIS 8:1 – 10:32

8 ¹But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. ²Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, ⁴and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

⁶After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark ⁷and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.

⁸Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. ¹²He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

¹³By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶“Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁷Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you–the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground–so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.”

¹⁸So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds–everything that moves on the earth–came out of the ark, one kind after another.

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. ²¹The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though ^A every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

²²“As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter, ^{^[15]}

day and night

will never cease.”

9 ¹Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ²The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.

³Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

⁴“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. ⁵And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

⁶“Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man shall his blood be shed;

for in the image of God

has God made man.

⁷As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

⁸Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹“I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰and with every living creature that was with you–the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you–every living creature on earth. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” ^{^[16]}

¹⁷So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

¹⁸The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.

²⁰Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded ^A to plant a vineyard. ²¹When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. ²²Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. ²³But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness.

²⁴When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!

The lowest of slaves

will he be to his brothers.”

²⁶He also said,

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!

May Canaan be the slave of Shem. ^B ²⁷May God extend the territory of Japheth ^C;

may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,

and may Canaan be his ^D slave.”

²⁸After the flood Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

10 ¹This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

²The sons^A of Japheth:

Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.

³The sons of Gomer:

Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

⁴The sons of Javan: ^{^[17]}

Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim. ^B ⁵(From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)

⁶The sons of Ham:

Cush, Mizraim,^C Put and Canaan.

⁷The sons of Cush:

Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca.

The sons of Raamah:

Sheba and Dedan.

⁸Cush was the father ^D of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. ⁹He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” ¹⁰The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in ^E Shinar. ^F ¹¹From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, ^G Calah ¹²and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

¹³Mizraim was the father of

the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹⁴Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.

¹⁵Canaan was the father of

Sidon his firstborn, ^H and of the Hittites, ¹⁶Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁷Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

Later the Canaanite clans scattered ¹⁹and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

²⁰These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

²¹Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was ^I Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber. ^{^[18]}

²²The sons of Shem:

Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

²³The sons of Aram:

Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech. ^J

²⁴Arphaxad was the father of ^K Shelah,

and Shelah the father of Eber.

²⁵Two sons were born to Eber:

One was named Peleg, ^L because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

²⁶Joktan was the father of

Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

³⁰The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

³¹These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

³²These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood. ^{^[19]}

NEW TESTAMENT: MATTHEW 4:12 – 25

¹²When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee.

¹³Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—¹⁴to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

the way to the sea, along the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles–

¹⁶the people living in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of the shadow of death

a light has dawned.” ^E

¹⁷From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

¹⁸As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰At once they left their nets and followed him.

²¹Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²²and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

²⁴News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. ²⁵Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, ^F Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. ^{^[20]}