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Reading Plan
Day 19 Day 20Day 21

Genesis chapter 49

1
Jacob called for his sons and said, "Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the future:
2
"Come together and listen, sons of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel.
3
"Reuben, my first-born, you are my strength And the first child of my manhood, The proudest and strongest of all my sons.
4
You are like a raging flood, But you will not be the most important, For you slept with my concubine And dishonored your father's bed.
5
"Simeon and Levi are brothers. They use their weapons to commit violence.
6
I will not join in their secret talks, Nor will I take part in their meetings, For they killed people in anger And they crippled bulls for sport.
7
A curse be on their anger, because it is so fierce, And on their fury, because it is so cruel. I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel. I will disperse them among its people.
8
"Judah, your brothers will praise you. You hold your enemies by the neck. Your brothers will bow down before you.
9
Judah is like a lion, Killing his victim and returning to his den, Stretching out and lying down. No one dares disturb him.
10
Judah will hold the royal scepter, And his descendants will always rule. Nations will bring him tribute And bow in obedience before him.
11
He ties his young donkey to a grapevine, To the very best of the vines. He washes his clothes in blood-red wine.
12
His eyes are bloodshot from drinking wine, His teeth white from drinking milk.
13
"Zebulun will live beside the sea. His shore will be a haven for ships. His territory will reach as far as Sidon.
14
"Issachar is no better than a donkey That lies stretched out between its saddlebags.
15
But he sees that the resting place is good And that the land is delightful. So he bends his back to carry the load And is forced to work as a slave.
16
"Dan will be a ruler for his people. They will be like the other tribes of Israel.
17
Dan will be a snake at the side of the road, A poisonous snake beside the path, That strikes at the horse's heel, So that the rider is thrown off backward.
18
"I wait for your deliverance, LORD.
19
"Gad will be attacked by a band of robbers, But he will turn and pursue them.
20
"Asher's land will produce rich food. He will provide food fit for a king.
21
"Naphtali is a deer that runs free, Who bears lovely fawns.
22
"Joseph is like a wild donkey by a spring, A wild colt on a hillside.
23
His enemies attack him fiercely And pursue him with their bows and arrows.
24
But his bow remains steady, And his arms are made strong By the power of the Mighty God of Jacob, By the Shepherd, the Protector of Israel.
25
It is your father's God who helps you, The Almighty God who blesses you With blessings of rain from above And of deep waters from beneath the ground, Blessings of many cattle and children,
26
Blessings of grain and flowers, Blessings of ancient mountains, Delightful things from everlasting hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, On the brow of the one set apart from his brothers.
27
"Benjamin is like a vicious wolf. Morning and evening he kills and devours."
28
These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he spoke a suitable word of farewell to each son.
29
Then Jacob commanded his sons, "Now that I am going to join my people in death, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30
at Machpelah east of Mamre in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought this cave and field from Ephron for a burial ground.
31
That is where they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; that is where they buried Isaac and his wife Rebecca; and that is where I buried Leah.
32
The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. Bury me there."
33
When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he lay back down and died.

Genesis chapter 50

1
Joseph threw himself on his father, crying and kissing his face.
2
Then Joseph gave orders to embalm his father's body.
3
It took forty days, the normal time for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
4
When the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to the king's officials, "Please take this message to the king:
5
'When my father was about to die, he made me promise him that I would bury him in the tomb which he had prepared in the land of Canaan. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will come back.' "
6
The king answered, "Go and bury your father, as you promised you would."
7
So Joseph went to bury his father. All the king's officials, the senior men of his court, and all the leading men of Egypt went with Joseph.
8
His family, his brothers, and the rest of his father's family all went with him. Only their small children and their sheep, goats, and cattle stayed in the region of Goshen.
9
Men in chariots and men on horseback also went with him; it was a huge group.
10
When they came to the threshing place at Atad east of the Jordan, they mourned loudly for a long time, and Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for seven days.
11
When the citizens of Canaan saw those people mourning at Atad, they said, "What a solemn ceremony of mourning the Egyptians are holding!" That is why the place was named Abel Mizraim.
12
So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them;
13
they carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah east of Mamre in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground.
14
After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him for the funeral.
15
After the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said, "What if Joseph still hates us and plans to pay us back for all the harm we did to him?"
16
So they sent a message to Joseph: "Before our father died,
17
he told us to ask you, 'Please forgive the crime your brothers committed when they wronged you.' Now please forgive us the wrong that we, the servants of your father's God, have done." Joseph cried when he received this message.
18
Then his brothers themselves came and bowed down before him. "Here we are before you as your slaves," they said.
19
But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid; I can't put myself in the place of God.
20
You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.
21
You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you and your children." So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.
22
Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father's family; he was a hundred and ten years old when he died.
23
He lived to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also lived to receive the children of Machir son of Manasseh into the family.
24
He said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
25
Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow. "Promise me," he said, "that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you."
26
So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.

Psalm chapter 8

1
O LORD,our Lord, your greatness is seen in all the world! Your praise reaches up to the heavens;
2
it is sung by children and babies. You are safe and secure from all your enemies; you stop anyone who opposes you.
3
When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places---
4
what are human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals, that you care for them?
5
Yet you made them inferior only to yourself; you crowned them with glory and honor.
6
You appointed them rulers over everything you made; you placed them over all creation:
7
sheep and cattle, and the wild animals too;
8
the birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas.
9
O LORD, our Lord, your greatness is seen in all the world!

Luke chapter 20

1
One day when Jesus was in the Temple teaching the people and preaching the Good News, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, together with the elders, came
2
and said to him, "Tell us, what right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such right?"
3
Jesus answered them, "Now let me ask you a question. Tell me,
4
did John's right to baptize come from God or from human beings?"
5
They started to argue among themselves, "What shall we say? If we say, 'From God,' he will say, 'Why, then, did you not believe John?'
6
But if we say, 'From human beings,' this whole crowd here will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet."
7
So they answered, "We don't know where it came from."
8
And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things."
9
Then Jesus told the people this parable: "There was once a man who planted a vineyard, rented it out to tenants, and then left home for a long time.
10
When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. But the tenants beat the slave and sent him back without a thing.
11
So he sent another slave; but the tenants beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him back without a thing.
12
Then he sent a third slave; the tenants wounded him, too, and threw him out.
13
Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my own dear son; surely they will respect him!'
14
But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, 'This is the owner's son. Let's kill him, and his property will be ours!'
15
So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. "What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to the tenants?" Jesus asked.
16
"He will come and kill those men, and turn the vineyard over to other tenants." When the people heard this, they said, "Surely not!"
17
Jesus looked at them and asked, "What, then, does this scripture mean? 'The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.'
18
Everyone who falls on that stone will be cut to pieces; and if that stone falls on someone, that person will be crushed to dust."
19
The teachers of the Law and the chief priests tried to arrest Jesus on the spot, because they knew that he had told this parable against them; but they were afraid of the people.
20
So they looked for an opportunity. They bribed some men to pretend they were sincere, and they sent them to trap Jesus with questions, so that they could hand him over to the authority and power of the Roman Governor.
21
These spies said to Jesus, "Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is right. We know that you pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people.
22
Tell us, is it against our Law for us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?"
23
But Jesus saw through their trick and said to them,
24
"Show me a silver coin. Whose face and name are these on it?" "The Emperor's," they answered.
25
So Jesus said, "Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God."
26
There before the people they could not catch him in a thing, so they kept quiet, amazed at his answer.
27
Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said,
28
"Teacher, Moses wrote this law for us: 'If a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man's brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.'
29
Once there were seven brothers; the oldest got married and died without having children.
30
Then the second one married the woman,
31
and then the third. The same thing happened to all seven---they died without having children.
32
Last of all, the woman died.
33
Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her."
34
Jesus answered them, "The men and women of this age marry,
35
but the men and women who are worthy to rise from death and live in the age to come will not then marry.
36
They will be like angels and cannot die. They are the children of God, because they have risen from death.
37
And Moses clearly proves that the dead are raised to life. In the passage about the burning bush he speaks of the Lord as 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'
38
He is the God of the living, not of the dead, for to him all are alive."
39
Some of the teachers of the Law spoke up, "A good answer, Teacher!"
40
For they did not dare ask him any more questions.
41
Jesus asked them, "How can it be said that the Messiah will be the descendant of David?
42
For David himself says in the book of Psalms, 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at my right side
43
until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet.'
44
David called him 'Lord'; how, then, can the Messiah be David's descendant?"
45
As all the people listened to him, Jesus said to his disciples,
46
"Be on your guard against the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplace; who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts;
47
who take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers! Their punishment will be all the worse!"

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