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Reading Plan
Day 273 Day 274Day 275

Psalm chapter 126

1
When the LORD brought us back to Jerusalem, it was like a dream!
2
How we laughed, how we sang for joy! Then the other nations said about us, "The LORD did great things for them."
3
Indeed he did great things for us; how happy we were!
4
LORD, make us prosperous again, just as the rain brings water back to dry riverbeds.
5
Let those who wept as they planted their crops, gather the harvest with joy!
6
Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed will come back singing for joy, as they bring in the harvest.

Zechariah chapter 10

1
Ask the LORD for rain in the spring of the year. It is the LORD who sends rain clouds and showers, making the fields green for everyone.
2
People consult idols and fortunetellers, but the answers they get are lies and nonsense. Some interpret dreams, but only mislead you; the comfort they give is useless. So the people wander about like lost sheep. They are in trouble because they have no leader.
3
The LORD says, "I am angry with those foreigners who rule my people, and I am going to punish them. The people of Judah are mine, and I, the LORD Almighty, will take care of them. They will be my powerful war-horses.
4
From among them will come rulers, leaders, and commanders to govern my people.
5
The people of Judah will be victorious like soldiers who trample their enemies in the mud of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will defeat even the enemy cavalry.
6
"I will make the people of Judah strong; I will rescue the people of Israel. I will have compassion on them and bring them all back home. They will be as though I had never rejected them. I am the LORD their God; I will answer their prayers.
7
The people of Israel will be strong like soldiers, happy like those who have been drinking wine. Their descendants will remember this victory and be glad because of what the LORD has done.
8
"I will call my people and gather them together. I will rescue them and make them as numerous as they used to be.
9
Though I have scattered them among the nations, yet in far-off places they will remember me. They and their children will survive and return home together.
10
From Egypt and Assyria I will bring them home and settle them in their own country. I will settle them in Gilead and Lebanon also; the whole land will be filled with people.
11
When they pass through their sea of trouble, I, the LORD, will strike the waves, and the depths of the Nile will go dry. Proud Assyria will be humbled, and mighty Egypt will lose her power.
12
I will make my people strong; they will worship and obey me." The LORD has spoken.

Zechariah chapter 11

1
Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire can burn down your cedar trees!
2
Weep and wail, cypress trees--- the cedars have fallen; those glorious trees have been destroyed! Weep and wail, oaks of Bashan--- the dense forest has been cut down!
3
The rulers cry out in grief; their glory is gone! Listen to the roaring of the lions; their forest home along the Jordan is destroyed!
4
The LORD my God said to me, "Act the part of the shepherd of a flock of sheep that are going to be butchered.
5
Their owners kill them and go unpunished. They sell the meat and say, 'Praise the LORD! We are rich!' Even their own shepherds have no pity on them."
6
(The LORD said, "I will no longer pity anyone on earth. I myself will put all the people in the power of their rulers. These rulers will devastate the earth, and I will not save it from their power.")
7
Those who bought and sold the sheep hired me, and I became the shepherd of the sheep that were going to be butchered. I took two sticks: one I called "Favor" and the other "Unity." And I took care of the flock.
8
I lost patience with three other shepherds, who hated me, and I got rid of them all in a single month.
9
Then I said to the flock, "I will not be your shepherd any longer. Let those die who are to die. Let those be destroyed who are to be destroyed. Those who are left will destroy one another."
10
Then I took the stick called "Favor" and broke it, to cancel the covenant which the LORD had made with all the nations.
11
So the covenant was canceled on that day. Those who bought and sold the sheep were watching me, and they knew that the LORD was speaking through what I did.
12
I said to them, "If you are willing, give me my wages. But if not, keep them." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver as my wages.
13
The LORD said to me, "Put them in the Temple treasury." So I took the thirty pieces of silver---the magnificent sum they thought I was worth---and put them in the Temple treasury.
14
Then I broke the second stick, the one called "Unity," and the unity of Judah and Israel was shattered.
15
Then the LORD said to me, "Once again act the part of a shepherd, this time a worthless one.
16
I have put a shepherd in charge of my flock, but he does not help the sheep that are threatened by destruction; nor does he look for the lost, or heal those that are hurt, or feed the healthy. Instead, he eats the meat of the fattest sheep and tears off their hoofs.
17
That worthless shepherd is doomed! He has abandoned his flock. War will totally destroy his power. His arm will wither, and his right eye will go blind."

Zechariah chapter 12

1
This is a message about Israel from the LORD, the LORD who spread out the skies, created the earth, and gave life to man. He says,
2
"I will make Jerusalem like a cup of wine; the nations around her will drink and stagger like drunks. And when they besiege Jerusalem, the cities of the rest of Judah will also be besieged.
3
But when that time comes, I will make Jerusalem like a heavy stone---any nation that tries to lift it will be hurt. All the nations of the world will join forces to attack her.
4
At that time I will terrify all their horses and make all their riders go crazy. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will make the horses of their enemies blind.
5
Then the clans of Judah will say to themselves, 'The LORD God Almighty gives strength to his people who live in Jerusalem.'
6
"At that time I will make the clans of Judah like a fire in a forest or in a field of ripe grain---they will destroy all the surrounding nations. The people of Jerusalem will remain safe in the city.
7
"I, the LORD, will give victory to the armies of Judah first, so that the honor which the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem will receive will be no greater than that of the rest of Judah.
8
At that time the LORD will protect those who live in Jerusalem, and even the weakest among them will become as strong as David was. The descendants of David will lead them like the angel of the LORD, like God himself.
9
At that time I will destroy every nation that tries to attack Jerusalem.
10
"I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son.
11
At that time the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
12
Each family in the land will mourn by itself: the family descended from David, the family descended from Nathan, the family descended from Levi, the family descended from Shimei, and all the other families. Each family will mourn by itself, and the men of each family will mourn separately from the women.
13
(SEE 12:12)
14
(SEE 12:12)

Luke chapter 14

1
One Sabbath Jesus went to eat a meal at the home of one of the leading Pharisees; and people were watching Jesus closely.
2
A man whose legs and arms were swollen came to Jesus,
3
and Jesus spoke up and asked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, "Does our Law allow healing on the Sabbath or not?"
4
But they would not say a thing. Jesus took the man, healed him, and sent him away.
5
Then he said to them, "If any one of you had a child or an ox that happened to fall in a well on a Sabbath, would you not pull it out at once on the Sabbath itself ?"
6
But they were not able to answer him about this.
7
Jesus noticed how some of the guests were choosing the best places, so he told this parable to all of them:
8
"When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place. It could happen that someone more important than you has been invited,
9
and your host, who invited both of you, would have to come and say to you, 'Let him have this place.' Then you would be embarrassed and have to sit in the lowest place.
10
Instead, when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that your host will come to you and say, 'Come on up, my friend, to a better place.' This will bring you honor in the presence of all the other guests.
11
For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great."
12
Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors---for they will invite you back, and in this way you will be paid for what you did.
13
When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind;
14
and you will be blessed, because they are not able to pay you back. God will repay you on the day the good people rise from death."
15
When one of the guests sitting at the table heard this, he said to Jesus, "How happy are those who will sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God!"
16
Jesus said to him, "There was once a man who was giving a great feast to which he invited many people.
17
When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell his guests, 'Come, everything is ready!'
18
But they all began, one after another, to make excuses. The first one told the servant, 'I have bought a field and must go and look at it; please accept my apologies.'
19
Another one said, 'I have bought five pairs of oxen and am on my way to try them out; please accept my apologies.'
20
Another one said, 'I have just gotten married, and for that reason I cannot come.'
21
The servant went back and told all this to his master. The master was furious and said to his servant, 'Hurry out to the streets and alleys of the town, and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.'
22
Soon the servant said, 'Your order has been carried out, sir, but there is room for more.'
23
So the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the country roads and lanes and make people come in, so that my house will be full.
24
I tell you all that none of those who were invited will taste my dinner!' "
25
Once when large crowds of people were going along with Jesus, he turned and said to them,
26
"Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well.
27
Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples.
28
If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job.
29
If you don't, you will not be able to finish the tower after laying the foundation; and all who see what happened will make fun of you.
30
'You began to build but can't finish the job!' they will say.
31
If a king goes out with ten thousand men to fight another king who comes against him with twenty thousand men, he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king.
32
If he isn't, he will send messengers to meet the other king to ask for terms of peace while he is still a long way off.
33
In the same way," concluded Jesus, "none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have.
34
"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again.
35
It is no good for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown away. Listen, then, if you have ears!"

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