Daily Readings for August 6

Daily Readings for August 6
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2Samuel 24

1.Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah." 2.The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, "Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people."

3.Joab said to the king, "Now may Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?"

4.Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. 5.They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer: 6.then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon, 7.and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba. 8.So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9.Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. 10.David's heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

11.When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12."Go and speak to David, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."'"

13.So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me."

14.David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."

15.So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. 16.When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough. Now stay your hand." The angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17.David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, "Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father's house."

18.Gad came that day to David, and said to him, "Go up, build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

19.David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded. 20.Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. Then Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 21.Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"

David said, "To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people."

22.Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood: 23.all this, king, does Araunah give to the king." Araunah said to the king, "May Yahweh your God accept you."

24.The king said to Araunah, "No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25.David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

Jeremiah 27

1.In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2.Thus says Yahweh to me: Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck; 3.and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah; 4.and give them a command to their masters, saying, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, You shall tell your masters: 5.I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me. 6.Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the animals of the field also have I given him to serve him. 7.All the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondservant. 8.It shall happen, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says Yahweh, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9.But as for you, don't you listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon: 10.for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and you should perish. 11.But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that [nation] will I let remain in their own land, says Yahweh; and they shall till it, and dwell therein. 12.I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13.Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14.Don't listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you. 15.For I have not sent them, says Yahweh, but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you. 16.Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Don't listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of Yahweh's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you. 17.Don't listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city become a desolation? 18.But if they be prophets, and if the word of Yahweh be with them, let them now make intercession to Yahweh of Armies, that the vessels which are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don't go to Babylon. 19.For thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city, 20.which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn't take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 21.yes, thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: 22.They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I visit them, says Yahweh; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

Mark 1

1.The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2.As it is written in the prophets, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.¹ 3.The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!'"²

4.John came baptizing³ in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. 5.All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. 6.John was clothed with camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. 7.He preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. 8.I baptized you in⁴ water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit."

9.It happened in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10.Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11.A voice came out of the sky, "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

12.Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. 13.He was there in the wilderness forty days tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals; and the angels were serving him.

14.Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God, 15.and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News."

16.Passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17.Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you into fishers for men."

18.Immediately they left their nets, and followed him. 19.Going on a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20.Immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him. 21.They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. 22.They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. 23.Immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 24.saying, "Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!"

25.Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"

26.The unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27.They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!" 28.The report of him went out immediately everywhere into all the region of Galilee and its surrounding area.

29.Immediately, when they had come out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30.Now Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31.He came and took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she served them. 32.At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were possessed by demons. 33.All the city was gathered together at the door. 34.He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. He didn't allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.

35.Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there. 36.Simon and those who were with him followed after him; 37.and they found him, and told him, "Everyone is looking for you."

38.He said to them, "Let's go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because I came out for this reason." 39.He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.

40.A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, "If you want to, you can make me clean."

41.Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, "I want to. Be made clean." 42.When he had said this, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean. 43.He strictly warned him, and immediately sent him out, 44.and said to him, "See you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them."

45.But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places: and they came to him from everywhere.