Wednesday, 21 Shevat 5784 / January 31, 2024
Day 396 Readings
Torah: Parshat Yitro, 4th Portion Shemot (Exodus) 19:1-6
Exodus 19:1-6
Easy-to-Read Version
God’s Agreement With Israel
1 The Israelites reached the desert of Sinai in the third month of their trip from Egypt. 2 They had traveled from Rephidim to the Sinai desert. The Israelites camped in the desert near Mount Sinai. 3 Then Moses climbed up the mountain to meet with God. The Lord spoke to him on the mountain and said, “Tell this to the Israelites, the great family of Jacob: 4 ‘You people saw what I did to the people of Egypt. You saw that I carried you out of Egypt like an eagle and brought you here to me. 5 So now I tell you to obey my commands and keep my agreement. So if you do this, you will be my own special people. The whole world belongs to me, but I am choosing you to be my own special people. 6 You will be a special nation—a kingdom of priests.’ Moses, you must tell the Israelites what I have said.”
Bible Study Together
Psalm 118
Easy-to-Read Version
1 Praise the Lord because he is good! His faithful love will last forever! 2 Israel, say it: “His faithful love will last forever!” 3 Aaron’s family,[a] say it: “His faithful love will last forever!”4 You people worshiping the Lord, say it: “His faithful love will last forever!”
5 I was in trouble, so I called to the Lord for help. The Lord answered and made me free. 6 The Lord is with me, so I will not be afraid. No one on earth can do anything to harm me. 7 The Lord is my helper. I will see my enemies defeated. 8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in people. 9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in great leaders.
10 Many enemies surrounded me, but with the Lord’s power I defeated them.11 They surrounded me again and again, but I defeated them with the Lord’s power.12 They surrounded me like a swarm of bees, but they were quickly destroyed like a fast-burning bush. I defeated them with the Lord’s power.
13 My enemy attacked me and almost destroyed me, but the Lord helped me.14 The Lord is my strength and my reason for singing.[b] He saved me! 15 You can hear the victory celebration in the homes of those who live right. The Lord has shown his great power again! 16 The Lord’s arm is raised in victory. The Lord has shown his great power again.
17 I will live and not die, and I will tell what the Lord has done. 18 The Lord punished me, but he did not let me die. 19 Gates of goodness, open for me, and I will come in and worship the Lord. 20 Those are the Lord’s gates, and only good people can go through them. 21 Lord, I thank you for answering my prayer. I thank you for saving me.
22 The stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone. 23 The Lord made this happen, and we think it is wonderful! 24 This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be happy today!
25 The people say, “Praise the Lord! The Lord saved us! 26 Welcome to the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” The priests answer, “We welcome you to the Lord’s house! 27 The Lord is God, and he accepts us. Tie up the lamb for the sacrifice and carry it to the horns of the altar.”
28 Lord, you are my God, and I thank you. My God, I praise you! 29 Praise the Lord because he is good. His faithful love will last forever.
Mark 12
Easy-to-Read Version
God Sends His Son
1 Jesus used stories to teach the people. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around the field and dug a hole for a winepress. Then he built a tower. He leased the land to some farmers and left for a trip.
2 “Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent a servant to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. 3 But the farmers grabbed the servant and beat him. They sent him away with nothing. 4 Then the man sent another servant to the farmers. They hit this servant on the head, showing no respect for him. 5 So the man sent another servant. The farmers killed this servant. The man sent many other servants to the farmers. The farmers beat some of them and killed the others.
6 “The man had only one person left to send to the farmers. It was his son. He loved his son, but he decided to send him. He said, ‘The farmers will respect my son.’
7 “But the farmers said to each other, ‘This is the owner’s son, and this vineyard will be his. If we kill him, it will be ours.’ 8 So they took the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
9 “So what will the man who owns the vineyard do? He will go and kill those farmers. Then he will lease the land to others. 10 Surely you have read this in the Scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders refused to accept became the cornerstone. 11 The Lord did this, and it is wonderful to us.’”
12 When these Jewish leaders heard this story, they knew it was about them. They wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of what the crowd would do. So they left him and went away.
ESV Readings
Scripture
Genesis 27:1-40
Easy-to-Read Version
Jacob Tricks Isaac
1 Isaac grew old, and his eyes became so weak that he could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him and said, “Son!”
Esau answered, “Here I am.”
2 Isaac said, “I am old. Maybe I will die soon. 3 So take your bow and arrows and go hunting. Kill an animal for me to eat. 4 Prepare the food that I love. Bring it to me, and I will eat it. Then I will bless you before I die.” 5 So Esau went hunting.
Rebekah was listening when Isaac told this to his son Esau. 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. 7 Your father said, ‘Kill an animal for me to eat. Prepare the food for me, and I will eat it. Then, with the Lord as witness, I will bless you before I die.’ 8 So listen, son, and do what I tell you. 9 Go out to our goats and bring me two young ones. I will prepare them the way your father loves them. 10 Then you will carry the food to your father, and he will bless you before he dies.”
11 But Jacob told his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man. I am not hairy like him. 12 If my father touches me, he will know that I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me—he will curse me because I tried to trick him.”
13 So Rebekah said to him, “I will accept the blame if there is trouble. Do what I said. Go get the goats for me.”
14 So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother. His mother cooked the goats in the special way that Isaac loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the clothes that her older son Esau loved to wear. She put these clothes on the younger son Jacob. 16 She took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob’s hands and on his neck. 17 Then she got the food she had cooked and gave it to Jacob.
18 Jacob went to his father and said, “Father.”
His father answered, “Yes, son. Who are you?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first son. I have done what you told me. Now sit up and eat the meat from the animals that I hunted for you. Then you can bless me.”
20 But Isaac said to his son, “How have you hunted and killed the animals so quickly?”
Jacob answered, “Because the Lord your God allowed me to find the animals quickly.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near to me so that I can feel you, my son. If I can feel you, I will know if you are really my son Esau.”
22 So Jacob went to Isaac his father. Isaac felt him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice, but your arms are hairy like the arms of Esau.” 23 Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his arms were hairy like Esau’s. So Isaac blessed Jacob.
24 Isaac said, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.”
The Blessing for Jacob
25 Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food. I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and he ate it. Then Jacob gave him some wine, and he drank it.
26 Then Isaac said to him. “Son, come near and kiss me.” 27 So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes, he blessed him and said, “My son smells like the fields the Lord has blessed. 28 May God give you plenty of rain, good crops, and wine. 29 May the nations serve you and many people bow down to you. You will rule over your brothers. Your mother’s sons will bow down to you and obey you.Whoever curses you will be cursed. Whoever blesses you will be blessed.”
Esau’s “Blessing”
30 Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. 31 Esau prepared the food in the special way his father loved. He brought it to his father and said, “Father, I am your son. Get up and eat the meat from the animals that I killed for you. Then you can bless me.”
32 But Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am your son—your first son—Esau.”
33 Then Isaac became so upset that he began to shake. He said, “Then who was it that cooked and brought me food before you came? I ate it all, and I blessed him. Now it is too late to take back my blessing.”
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he became very angry and bitter. He cried out and said to his father, “Then bless me also, father!”
35 Isaac said, “Your brother tricked me! He came and took your blessing!”
36 Esau said, “His name is Jacob.[a] That is the right name for him. He has tricked me twice. He took away my rights as the firstborn son. And now he has taken away my blessing.” Then Esau said, “Have you saved any blessing for me?”
37 Isaac answered, “I have already given Jacob the power to rule over you. And I said all his brothers would be his servants. I have given him the blessing for much grain and wine. There is nothing left to give you, my son.”
38 But Esau continued to beg his father. “Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me also, father!” Esau began to cry.
39 Then Isaac said to him,
“You will not live on good land. You will not have much rain.40 You will have to fight to live, and you will be a slave to your brother.But when you fight to be free, you will break away from his control.”
2 Chronicles 3
Easy-to-Read Version
Solomon Builds the Temple
1 Solomon began building the Lord’s Temple at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David, Solomon’s father. This was the place David had prepared for the Temple. It had been the threshing floor of Araunah[a] the Jebusite.[b] 2 Solomon started to build on the second day of the second month of his fourth year as king of Israel.
3 These are the measurements he used for building the foundation of God’s Temple, using the old cubit.[c] The foundation was 60 cubits[d] long and 20 cubits[e] wide. 4 The porch in front of the Temple was 20 cubits long and 20 cubits high.[f] He covered the inside of the porch with pure gold. 5 He put panels made of cypress wood on the walls of the larger room. Then he put pure gold over the cypress panels and then put pictures of palm trees and chains on the gold. 6 He put valuable stones in the Temple for beauty. The gold he used was gold from Parvaim.[g] 7 He covered the inside of the Temple with the gold. He put the gold on the ceiling beams, doorposts, walls, and doors. He carved Cherub angels on the walls.
8 Then he made the Most Holy Place. This room was 20 cubits long and 20 cubits wide. It was as wide as the Temple was. He put pure gold on the walls of the Most Holy Place. The gold weighed about 22 1/2 tons.[h] 9 The gold nails weighed 1 1/4 pounds.[i] He covered the upper rooms with gold. 10 He made two Cherub angels to put in the Most Holy Place. The workers covered the Cherub angels with gold. 11 Each wing of the Cherub angels was 5 cubits[j] long. The total length of the wings was 20 cubits. One wing of the first Cherub angel touched the wall on one side of the room. The other wing touched one wing of the second Cherub angel. 12 And the other wing of the second Cherub angel touched the wall on the other side of the room. 13 So the wings of the two Cherub angels together reached across the room—a total of 20 cubits. The Cherub angels stood facing the Holy Place.[k]
14 He made the curtain[l] from blue, purple, and red materials and expensive linen. There were Cherub angels on the curtain.
15 He put two columns in front of the Temple. The columns were 35 cubits[m] tall. The top part of the two columns was 5 cubits long. 16 He made chains in a necklace and put them on the tops of the columns. He made 100 pomegranates[n] and put them on the chains. 17 Then he put the columns up in front of the Temple. One column stood on the right side. The other column stood on the left side. He named the column on the right side “Jakin.”[o] And he named the column on the left side “Boaz.”[p]
Luke 19:47-48
Easy-to-Read Version
47 Jesus taught the people in the Temple area every day. The leading priests, the teachers of the law, and some of the leaders of the people wanted to kill him. 48 But they did not know how they could do it, because everyone was listening to him. The people were very interested in what Jesus said.
Luke 20:1-44
Easy-to-Read Version
Jewish Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority
1 One day Jesus was in the Temple area teaching the people. He was telling them the Good News. The leading priests, teachers of the law, and older Jewish leaders came to talk to Jesus. 2 They said, “Tell us what authority you have to do these things. Who gave you this authority?”
3 Jesus answered, “I will ask you a question too. Tell me: 4 When John baptized people, did his authority come from God or was it only from other people?”
5 The priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish leaders all talked about this. They said to each other, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ then he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe John?’ 6 But if we say that John’s baptism was from someone else, the people will stone us to death. They all believe that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered, “We don’t know the answer.”
8 So Jesus said to them, “Then I will not tell you who gave me the authority to do these things.”
God Sends His Son
9 Then Jesus told the people this story: “A man planted a vineyard. He leased the land to some farmers. Then he went away for a long time. 10 Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent a servant to those farmers so that they would give him his share of the grapes. But they beat the servant and sent him away with nothing. 11 So the man sent another servant. They beat this servant too and showed no respect for him. They sent the servant away with nothing. 12 So the man sent a third servant to the farmers. They hurt this servant badly and threw him out.
13 “The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What will I do now? I will send my son. I love my son very much. Maybe the farmers will respect my son.’ 14 When the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the owner’s son. This vineyard will be his. If we kill him, it will be ours.’ 15 So the farmers threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him. “What will the owner of the vineyard do? 16 He will come and kill those farmers. Then he will lease the land to some other farmers.”
When the people heard this story, they said, “This should never happen!” 17 But Jesus looked into their eyes and said, “Then what does this verse mean: ‘The stone that the builders refused to accept became the cornerstone’?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken. If that stone falls on you, it will crush you!”
19 When the teachers of the law and the leading priests heard this story, they knew it was about them. So they wanted to arrest Jesus right then, but they were afraid of what the people would do.
The Jewish Leaders Try to Trick Jesus
20 So the Jewish leaders waited for the right time to get Jesus. They sent some men to him, who pretended to be sincere. They wanted to find something wrong with what Jesus said. (If they found something wrong, then they could hand him over to the governor, who had the authority to arrest him.) 21 So the men said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is true. It doesn’t matter who is listening—you teach the same to all people. You always teach the truth about God’s way. 22 Tell us, is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But Jesus knew that these men were trying to trick him. He said to them, 24 “Show me a silver coin. Whose name and picture are on it?” They said, “Caesar’s.”
25 He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
26 The men were amazed at his wise answer. They could say nothing. They were not able to trick Jesus there in front of the people. He said nothing they could use against him.
Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus
27 Some Sadducees came to Jesus. (Sadducees believe that people will not rise from death.) They asked him, 28 “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and had no children, his brother must marry his widow. Then they will have children for the dead brother.[a] 29 One time there were seven brothers. The first brother married a woman but died. He had no children. 30 Then the second brother married the woman, and he died. 31 And the third brother married the woman, and he died. The same thing happened with all the other brothers. They all died and had no children. 32 The woman was the last to die. 33 But all seven brothers married her. So when people rise from death, whose wife will this woman be?”
34 Jesus said to the Sadducees, “On earth, people marry each other. 35 Some people will be worthy to be raised from death and live again after this life. In that life they will not marry. 36 In that life people are like angels and cannot die. They are children of God, because they have been raised from death. 37 Moses clearly showed that people are raised from death. When Moses wrote about the burning bush,[b] he said that the Lord is ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[c] 38 So they were not still dead, because he is the God only of living people. Yes, to God they are all still living.”
39 Some of the teachers of the law said, “Teacher, your answer was very good.” 40 No one was brave enough to ask him another question.
Is the Messiah David’s Son or David’s Lord?
41 Then Jesus said, “Why do people say that the Messiah is the Son of David? 42 In the book of Psalms, David himself says, ‘The Lord God said to my Lord: Sit by me at my right side, 43 and I will put your enemies under your power. 44 David calls the Messiah ‘Lord.’ So how can the Messiah also be David’s son?”
Psalm 29
Easy-to-Read Version
A song of David.
1 Praise the Lord, you heavenly angels[a]! Praise the Lord’s glory and power. 2 Praise the Lord and honor his name! Worship the Lord in all his holy beauty. 3 The Lord’s voice can be heard over the sea. The voice of our glorious Lord God is like thunder over the great ocean. 4 The Lord’s voice is powerful. It shows the Lord’s glory. 5 The Lord’s voice shatters great cedar trees. The Lord breaks the great cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon shake like a young calf dancing. Sirion[b] trembles like a young bull jumping up and down. 7 The Lord’s voice cuts the air with flashes of lightning. 8 The Lord’s voice shakes the desert. The desert of Kadesh[c] trembles at the Lord’s voice. 9 The Lord’s voice frightens the deer. He destroys the forests. In his temple everyone shouts, “Glory to God!”
10 The Lord ruled as king at the time of the flood, and the Lord will rule as king forever. 11 May the Lord make his people strong. May the Lord bless his people with peace.
Dear AVI,
O HOLY ONE of ISRAEL! Great and Mighty KING, how I need YOU O LORD my GOD, how I need YOU, I cling to YOU for strength and power because I have no strenght. I am so much in need of YOU. I need YOUR mercies O GOD, please make me joyful in YOU, please give me grace to fast each day. Please let me focus on YOU and not on YOUR right hand and what YOU can give me. I am discouraged and dismayed because the promise of a husband is not yet seen in my eyes, I want to see this man YOU have promised, I want YOU to bring us together in a commitment and relationship O GOD. I will believe the impossible just as YOU did it for Rebekah and Ruth. I pray that YOU will fulfill YOUR Promise to me to give me a husband who is faithful to YOU and who loves YOU O GOD Almighty. Let YOUR Will be done. I pray for my relatives to be drawn closer to YOU to love YOU and to think about thier lives and what would become of them. We will all face YOU at the end of our lives, I pray that YOU will bring these thoughts to their minds even as they meet Uncle Henry I pray that I don't have to worry about business and worldly things but to follow YOU O GOD and seek YOUR Kingdom more than anything. I want YOU to set me free from all the cares of this world so I can be free to do YOUR will for me. O GOD, send me my husband who will serve YOU and I will help him. O GOD let YOUR will be done on all of us.
Grant me YOUR grace and mercy O GOD,
Ba HaShem YESHUA HaMashiach Amen!