Daily Reading

1 And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the All-sufficient God; / Walk before Me, and be perfect.

2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, / And I will multiply you exceedingly.

3 And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

4 As for Me, this is My covenant with you, / And you shall become the father of a multitude of nations.

5 Your name shall no longer be called Abram, / But your name shall be Abraham; / For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

6 And I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.

7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you.

8 And I will give to you and to your seed after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

9 And God said to Abraham, And as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations.

10 This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

11 And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and you.

12 And he who is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed.

13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised; thus My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

14 But as for the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.

15 And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah.

16 And I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her. Indeed, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come forth from her.

17 Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed and said in his heart, Will a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?

18 And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before You!

19 But God said, No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you; indeed, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. Twelve princes will he beget, and I will make of him a great nation.

21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this appointed time next year.

22 And when He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on the very same day, as God had said to him.

24 And Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

26 On the very same day Abraham was circumcised as well as Ishmael his son.

27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

1 And Jehovah appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre as he was sitting at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.

2 And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and there were three men standing opposite him. And when he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them. And he bowed down to the earth

3 And said, My Lord, if I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass on from Your servant.

4 Please let a little water be fetched, and do wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

5 And let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may sustain yourselves. After that you may pass on, since you have come to your servant. So they said, Do as you have said.

6 And Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, Quickly prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes.

7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.

8 And he took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set them before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

9 And they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, There, in the tent.

10 And He said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and then Sarah your wife shall have a son. And Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind Him.

11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah according to the manner of women.

12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

13 And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I indeed bear a child when I am old?

14 Is anything too marvelous for Jehovah? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

15 Then Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And He said, No, but you did laugh.

16 And the men rose up from there and looked down upon Sodom. And Abraham walked with them to send them away.

17 And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,

18 Since Abraham will indeed become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?

19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of Jehovah by doing righteousness and justice, that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken concerning him.

20 And Jehovah said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, how great it is; and their sin, how very heavy it is!

21 I shall go down and see whether they have done altogether according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.

22 And the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before Jehovah.

23 And Abraham came near and said, Will You indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

25 Far be it from You to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked. Far be it from You! Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justly?

26 And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.

27 And Abraham answered and said, Now behold, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord, though I am but dust and ashes.

28 Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five? And He said, I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.

29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, Suppose forty are found there? And He said, I will not do it, because of the forty.

30 And he said, Oh may the Lord not be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there? And He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there.

31 And he said, Now behold, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there? And He said, I will not destroy it, because of the twenty.

32 And he said, Oh let the Lord not be angry if I speak yet once more. Suppose ten are found there? And He said, I will not destroy it, because of the ten.

33 And Jehovah went away as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

1 But take care not to do your righteousness before men in order to be gazed at by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens.

2 Therefore when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward in full.

3 But you, when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

4 So that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

5 And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward in full.

6 But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

7 And in praying do not babble empty words as the Gentiles do; for they suppose that in their multiplicity of words they will be heard.

8 Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows the things that you have need of before you ask Him.

9 You then pray in this way: Our Father who is in the heavens, Your name be sanctified;

10 Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

14 For if you forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you also;

15 But if you do not forgive men their offenses, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.

16 And when you fast, do not be like the sullen-faced hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to be fasting. Truly I say to you, They have their reward in full.

17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

18 So that you may not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves dig through and steal.

20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not dig through nor steal.

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light;

23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Because of this, I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat or what you should drink; nor for your body, what you should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing?

26 Look at the birds of heaven. They do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father nourishes them. Are you not of more value than they?

27 Who among you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?

28 And why are you anxious concerning clothing? Consider well the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil, neither do they spin thread.

29 But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these.

30 And if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is cast into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed?

32 For all these things the Gentiles are anxiously seeking. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself; sufficient for the day is its own evil.