Sunday, 19 Tevet 5784 / December 31, 2023
Day 365 Readings
Torah: Parshat Shemot, 1st Portion Shemot (Exodus) 1:1-17
Exodus 1:1-17
Complete Jewish Bible
Parashah 13: Sh’mot (Names) 1:1–6:1
1 These are the names of the sons of Isra’el who came into Egypt with Ya‘akov; each man came with his household: 2 Re’uven, Shim‘on, Levi, Y’hudah, 3 Yissakhar, Z’vulun, Binyamin, 4 Dan, Naftali, Gad and Asher. 5 All told, there were seventy descendants of Ya‘akov; Yosef was already in Egypt.
6 Yosef died, as did all his brothers and all that generation. 7 The descendants of Isra’el were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied and grew very powerful; the land became filled with them.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt. He knew nothing about Yosef 9 but said to his people, “Look, the descendants of Isra’el have become a people too numerous and powerful for us. 10 Come, let’s use wisdom in dealing with them. Otherwise, they’ll continue to multiply; and in the event of war they might ally themselves with our enemies, fight against us and leave the land altogether.”
11 So they put slavemasters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built for Pharaoh the storage cities of Pitom and Ra‘amses. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, until the Egyptians came to dread the people of Isra’el 13 and worked them relentlessly, 14 making their lives bitter with hard labor — digging clay, making bricks, all kinds of field work; and in all this toil they were shown no mercy.
15 Moreover, the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shifrah and the other Pu‘ah. 16 “When you attend the Hebrew women and see them giving birth,” he said, “if it’s a boy, kill him; but if it’s a girl, let her live.” 17 However, the midwives were God-fearing women, so they didn’t do as the king of Egypt ordered but let the boys live.
Bible Study Together
Proverbs 5
Complete Jewish Bible
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;incline your ear to my understanding;2 so that you will preserve discretionand your lips keep watch over knowledge.
3 For the lips of a woman who is a stranger drop honey,her mouth is smoother than oil;4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,sharp as a double-edged sword.5 Her feet go down to death,her steps lead straight to Sh’ol;6 she doesn’t walk the level path of life —her course wanders all over, but she doesn’t know it.7 So now, children, listen to me;don’t turn away from what I am saying:8 distance your way from her,stay far from the door of her house;9 so that you won’t give your vigor to othersand your years to someone who is cruel,10 so strangers won’t be filled with your strengthand what you worked for go to a foreign house.11 Then, when your flesh and bones have shrunk,at the end of your life, you would moan,12 “How I hated discipline!My whole being despised reproof,13 I ignored what my teachers said,I didn’t listen to my instructors.14 I took part in almost every kind of evil,and the whole community knew it.”
15 Drink the water from your own cistern,fresh water from your own well.16 Let what your springs produce be dispersed outside,streams of water flowing in the streets;17 but let them be for you aloneand not for strangers with you.18 Let your fountain, the wife of your youth,be blessed; find joy in her —19 a lovely deer, a graceful fawn;let her breasts satisfy you at all times,always be infatuated with her love.20 My son, why be infatuated with an unknown woman?Why embrace the body of a loose woman?21 For Adonai is watching a man’s ways;he surveys all his paths.22 A wicked person’s own crimes will trap him,he will be held fast by the ropes of his sin.23 He will die from lack of discipline;the magnitude of his folly will make him totter and fall.
Proverbs 6:20-35
New American Standard Bible
20 My son, comply with the commandment of your father,And do not ignore the [a]teaching of your mother;21 Bind them continually on your heart;Tie them around your neck.22 When you walk, [b]they will guide you;When you sleep, [c]they will watch over you;And when you awake, [d]they will talk to you.23 For the commandment is a lamp and the [e]teaching is light;And rebukes for discipline are the way of life24 To keep you from the evil woman,From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.26 For the price of a prostitute reduces one to a loaf of bread,And [f]an adulteress hunts for a precious life.27 Can anyone take fire in his lapAnd his clothes not be burned?28 Or can a person walk on hot coalsAnd his feet not be scorched?29 So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;Whoever touches her will not [g]go unpunished.30 People do not despise a thief if he stealsTo satisfy [h]himself when he is hungry;31 But when he is found, he must repay seven times as much;He must give up all the property of his house.32 One who commits adultery with a woman is lacking [i]sense;He who would destroy [j]himself commits it.33 He will find wounds and disgrace,And his shame will not be removed.34 For jealousy [k]enrages a man,And he will not have compassion on the day of vengeance.35 He will not [l]accept any settlement,Nor will he be [m]satisfied though you make it a large gift.
365 Daily Kingdom Living
This New Year's Eve
Know that time is precious. We can either spend it on things that are temporal that hold no true value, or on things that give us real joy everlasting. So seek the Lord and fear Him – that we may have true wisdom to do things that have eternal value and win His praise in Heaven.
Prayer: Lord, as I step into a new year I resolve to choose You over and above everyone and everything. With my reverential fear of You, I will gain wisdom from You and will live a life bearing good fruits in Your sight. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Scripture
Malachi 3
New American Standard BibleThe Purifier
3 “Behold, I am sending My [a]messenger, and he will clear a way before Me. And the Lord, whom you are seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; [b]and the [c]messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of armies. 2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap. 3 And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord [d]offerings in righteousness. 4 Then the [e]offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 “Then I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, those who [f]oppress the wage earner in his wages or the widow or the [g]orphan, and those who turn away the stranger from justice and do not [h]fear Me,” says the Lord of armies. 6 “For [i]I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.
7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
You Have Robbed God
8 “Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and [j]offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you! 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until [k]it overflows. 11 Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the Lord of armies. 12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of armies.
13 “Your words have been [l]arrogant against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is pointless to serve God; and what benefit is it for us that we have done what He required, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of armies? 15 So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also put God to the test and escape punishment.’”
The Book of Remembrance
16 Then those who [m]feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened attentively and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who [n]fear the Lord and esteem His name. 17 “And they will be Mine,” says the Lord of armies, “on the day that I [o]prepare My own possession, and I will have compassion for them just as a man has compassion for his own son who serves him.” 18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
Malachi 4
Final Admonition
1 “[p]For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of armies, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branches. 2 But for you who [q]fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and frolic like calves from the stall. 3 And you will crush the wicked underfoot, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day [r]that I am preparing,” says the Lord of armies.
4 “Remember the Law of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.
5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction.”
Revelation 22
New American Standard Bible
The River and the Tree of Life
1 And he showed me a river of the water of life, [a]clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of [b]the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve [c]kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they [d]will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever.
6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.
7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is the one who [e]keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9 And he *said to me, “[f]Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brothers the prophets, and of those who [g]keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
The Final Message
10 And he *said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the one who does wrong still do wrong, and the one who is filthy still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous still practice righteousness, and the one who is holy still keep himself holy.”
12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work [h]deserves. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life, and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral persons, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you of these things [i]for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires, take the water of life without cost.
18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and [j]from the holy city, which are written in this book.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with [k]all. Amen.
Psalm 150
New American Standard Bible
A Psalm of Praise.
1 [a]Praise [b]the Lord!Praise God in His sanctuary;Praise Him in His mighty [c]expanse.2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds;Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound;Praise Him with harp and lyre.4 Praise Him with tambourine and dancing;Praise Him with stringed instruments and flute.5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;Praise Him with resounding cymbals.6 Everything that has breath shall praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Proverbs 31:25-31
New American Standard Bible
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,And she smiles at the [a]future. 26 She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the [b]teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 27 She watches over the activities of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying: 29 “Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.” 30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who [c]fears the Lord, she shall be praised. 31 Give her the [d]product of her hands,And let her works praise her in the gates.