READ THE BIBLE IN A YEAR - VERSES OF THE DAY - DEUTERONOMY 27, JOHN 9, PSALMS 31

Joyce Meyer - It's Time to Move On (1)

Deuteronomy 27

The Altar on Mount Ebal

 ¹ Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. ² When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. ³ Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised

you. ⁴ And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. ⁵ Build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. ⁶ Build the altar of the LORD your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. ⁷ Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the LORD your God. ⁸ And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.”

Curses From Mount Ebal

 ⁹ Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the LORD your God. ¹⁰ Obey the LORD your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”

 ¹¹ On the same day Moses commanded the people:
 ¹² When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. ¹³ And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.
 ¹⁴ The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

 ¹⁵ “Cursed is anyone who makes an idol—a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of skilled hands—and sets it up in secret.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

 ¹⁶ “Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
 ¹⁷ “Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbor’s boundary stone.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
 ¹⁸ “Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
 ¹⁹ “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
 ²⁰ “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s bed.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
 ²¹ “Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
 ²² “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
 ²³ “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
 ²⁴ “Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbor secretly.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

 ²⁵ “Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

 ²⁶ “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.”
            Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

John 9

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

 ¹ As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
   ³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
 ⁶ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
 ⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.

   Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

   But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

 ¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

 ¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

 ¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.
   “I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

 ¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
 ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
   But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
 ¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
   The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
 ¹⁸ They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

 ²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

 ²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
 ²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
 ²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
 ²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
 ²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
 ³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
 ³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness

 ³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

 ³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

 ³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
 ³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
 ³⁹ Jesus said,^[a] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
 ⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
 ⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Psalm 31

Psalm 31^[h]

    For the director of music. A psalm of David.
 ¹ In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
   let me never be put to shame;
   deliver me in your righteousness.
² Turn your ear to me,
   come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
   a strong fortress to save me.
³ Since you are my rock and my fortress,
   for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
⁴ Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
   for you are my refuge.
⁵ Into your hands I commit my spirit;
   deliver me, LORD, my faithful God.
 ⁶ I hate those who cling to worthless idols;
   as for me, I trust in the LORD.
⁷ I will be glad and rejoice in your love,
   for you saw my affliction
   and knew the anguish of my soul.
⁸ You have not given me into the hands of the enemy
   but have set my feet in a spacious place.

 ⁹ Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress;
   my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
   my soul and body with grief.
¹⁰ My life is consumed by anguish
   and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,^[i]
   and my bones grow weak.
¹¹ Because of all my enemies,
   I am the utter contempt of my neighbors
and an object of dread to my closest friends—
   those who see me on the street flee from me.
¹² I am forgotten as though I were dead;
   I have become like broken pottery.
¹³ For I hear many whispering,
   “Terror on every side!”
They conspire against me
   and plot to take my life.

 ¹⁴ But I trust in you, LORD;
   I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵ My times are in your hands;
   deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
   from those who pursue me.
¹⁶ Let your face shine on your servant;
   save me in your unfailing love.
¹⁷ Let me not be put to shame, LORD,
   for I have cried out to you;
but let the wicked be put to shame
   and be silent in the realm of the dead.
¹⁸ Let their lying lips be silenced,
   for with pride and contempt
   they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

 ¹⁹ How abundant are the good things
   that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,
   on those who take refuge in you.
²⁰ In the shelter of your presence you hide them
   from all human intrigues;
you keep them safe in your dwelling
   from accusing tongues.
 ²¹ Praise be to the LORD,
   for he showed me the wonders of his love
   when I was in a city under siege.
²² In my alarm I said,
   “I am cut off from your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
   when I called to you for help.
 ²³ Love the LORD, all his faithful people!
   The LORD preserves those who are true to him,
   but the proud he pays back in full.
²⁴ Be strong and take heart,
   all you who hope in the LORD.