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Reading Plan
Day 303 Day 304Day 305

Job chapter 22

1
Is there anyone, even the wisest, who could ever be of use to God?
2
(SEE 22:1)
3
Does your doing right benefit God, or does your being good help him at all?
4
It is not because you stand in awe of God that he reprimands you and brings you to trial.
5
No, it's because you have sinned so much; it's because of all the evil you do.
6
To make a brother repay you the money he owed, you took away his clothes and left him nothing to wear.
7
You refused water to those who were tired, and refused to feed those who were hungry.
8
You used your power and your position to take over the whole land.
9
You not only refused to help widows, but you also robbed and mistreated orphans.
10
So now there are pitfalls all around you, and suddenly you are full of fear.
11
It has grown so dark that you cannot see, and a flood overwhelms you.
12
Doesn't God live in the highest heavens and look down on the stars, even though they are high?
13
And yet you ask, "What does God know? He is hidden by clouds---how can he judge us?"
14
You think the thick clouds keep him from seeing, as he walks on the dome of the sky.
15
Are you determined to walk in the paths that evil people have always followed?
16
Even before their time had come, they were washed away by a flood.
17
These are the ones who rejected God and believed that he could do nothing to them.
18
And yet it was God who made them prosperous--- I can't understand the thoughts of the wicked.
19
Good people are glad and the innocent laugh when they see the wicked punished.
20
All that the wicked own is destroyed, and fire burns up anything that is left.
21
Now, Job, make peace with God and stop treating him like an enemy; if you do, then he will bless you.
22
Accept the teaching he gives; keep his words in your heart.
23
Yes, you must humbly return to God and put an end to all the evil that is done in your house.
24
Throw away your gold; dump your finest gold in the dry stream bed.
25
Let Almighty God be your gold, and let him be silver, piled high for you.
26
Then you will always trust in God and find that he is the source of your joy.
27
When you pray, he will answer you, and you will keep the vows you made.
28
You will succeed in all you do, and light will shine on your path.
29
God brings down the proud and saves the humble.
30
He will rescue you if you are innocent, if what you do is right.

Mark chapter 7

1
Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.
2
They noticed that some of his disciples were eating their food with hands that were ritually unclean---that is, they had not washed them in the way the Pharisees said people should.
3
(For the Pharisees, as well as the rest of the Jews, follow the teaching they received from their ancestors: they do not eat unless they wash their hands in the proper way;
4
nor do they eat anything that comes from the market unless they wash it first. And they follow many other rules which they have received, such as the proper way to wash cups, pots, copper bowls, and beds. )
5
So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Jesus, "Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?"
6
Jesus answered them, "How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! You are hypocrites, just as he wrote: 'These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.
7
It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!'
8
"You put aside God's command and obey human teachings."
9
And Jesus continued, "You have a clever way of rejecting God's law in order to uphold your own teaching.
10
For Moses commanded, 'Respect your father and your mother,' and, 'If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.'
11
But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, 'This is Corban' (which means, it belongs to God),
12
they are excused from helping their father or mother.
13
In this way the teaching you pass on to others cancels out the word of God. And there are many other things like this that you do."
14
Then Jesus called the crowd to him once more and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand.
15
There is nothing that goes into you from the outside which can make you ritually unclean. Rather, it is what comes out of you that makes you unclean."
16
OMITTED TEXT
17
When he left the crowd and went into the house, his disciples asked him to explain this saying.
18
"You are no more intelligent than the others," Jesus said to them. "Don't you understand? Nothing that goes into you from the outside can really make you unclean,
19
because it does not go into your heart but into your stomach and then goes on out of the body." (In saying this, Jesus declared that all foods are fit to be eaten.)
20
And he went on to say, "It is what comes out of you that makes you unclean.
21
For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill,
22
commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly---
23
all these evil things come from inside you and make you unclean."
24
Then Jesus left and went away to the territory near the city of Tyre. He went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden.
25
A woman, whose daughter had an evil spirit in her, heard about Jesus and came to him at once and fell at his feet.
26
The woman was a Gentile, born in the region of Phoenicia in Syria. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27
But Jesus answered, "Let us first feed the children. It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."
28
"Sir," she answered, "even the dogs under the table eat the children's leftovers!"
29
So Jesus said to her, "Because of that answer, go back home, where you will find that the demon has gone out of your daughter!"
30
She went home and found her child lying on the bed; the demon had indeed gone out of her.
31
Jesus then left the neighborhood of Tyre and went on through Sidon to Lake Galilee, going by way of the territory of the Ten Towns.
32
Some people brought him a man who was deaf and could hardly speak, and they begged Jesus to place his hands on him.
33
So Jesus took him off alone, away from the crowd, put his fingers in the man's ears, spat, and touched the man's tongue.
34
Then Jesus looked up to heaven, gave a deep groan, and said to the man, "Ephphatha," which means, "Open up!"
35
At once the man was able to hear, his speech impediment was removed, and he began to talk without any trouble.
36
Then Jesus ordered the people not to speak of it to anyone; but the more he ordered them not to, the more they told it.
37
And all who heard were completely amazed. "How well he does everything!" they exclaimed. "He even causes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak!"

Mark chapter 8

1
Not long afterward another large crowd came together. When the people had nothing left to eat, Jesus called the disciples to him and said,
2
"I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat.
3
If I send them home without feeding them, they will faint as they go, because some of them have come a long way."
4
His disciples asked him, "Where in this desert can anyone find enough food to feed all these people?"
5
"How much bread do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven loaves," they answered.
6
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks to God, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the crowd; and the disciples did so.
7
They also had a few small fish. Jesus gave thanks for these and told the disciples to distribute them too.
8
Everybody ate and had enough---there were about four thousand people. Then the disciples took up seven baskets full of pieces left over. Jesus sent the people away
9
(SEE 8:8)
10
and at once got into a boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
11
Some Pharisees came to Jesus and started to argue with him. They wanted to trap him, so they asked him to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him.
12
But Jesus gave a deep groan and said, "Why do the people of this day ask for a miracle? No, I tell you! No such proof will be given to these people!"
13
He left them, got back into the boat, and started across to the other side of the lake.
14
The disciples had forgotten to bring enough bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat.
15
"Take care," Jesus warned them, "and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."
16
They started discussing among themselves: "He says this because we don't have any bread."
17
Jesus knew what they were saying, so he asked them, "Why are you discussing about not having any bread? Don't you know or understand yet? Are your minds so dull?
18
You have eyes---can't you see? You have ears---can't you hear? Don't you remember
19
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand people? How many baskets full of leftover pieces did you take up?" "Twelve," they answered.
20
"And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand people," asked Jesus, "how many baskets full of leftover pieces did you take up?" "Seven," they answered.
21
"And you still don't understand?" he asked them.
22
They came to Bethsaida, where some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch him.
23
Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. After spitting on the man's eyes, Jesus placed his hands on him and asked him, "Can you see anything?"
24
The man looked up and said, "Yes, I can see people, but they look like trees walking around."
25
Jesus again placed his hands on the man's eyes. This time the man looked intently, his eyesight returned, and he saw everything clearly.
26
Jesus then sent him home with the order, "Don't go back into the village."
27
Then Jesus and his disciples went away to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Tell me, who do people say I am?"
28
"Some say that you are John the Baptist," they answered; "others say that you are Elijah, while others say that you are one of the prophets."
29
"What about you?" he asked them. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah."
30
Then Jesus ordered them, "Do not tell anyone about me."
31
Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: "The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. He will be put to death, but three days later he will rise to life."
32
He made this very clear to them. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33
But Jesus turned around, looked at his disciples, and rebuked Peter. "Get away from me, Satan," he said. "Your thoughts don't come from God but from human nature!"
34
Then Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to him. "If any of you want to come with me," he told them, "you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.
35
For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it.
36
Do you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not!
37
There is nothing you can give to regain your life.
38
If you are ashamed of me and of my teaching in this godless and wicked day, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

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