1 Chron. 6:31–60
6:31 These are the men David put in charge of music in the Lord’s sanctuary, after the ark was placed there. 32They performed music before the sanctuary of the meeting tent until Solomon built the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. They carried out their tasks according to regulations.
33These are the ones who served along with their sons:
From the Kohathites: Heman the musician, son of Joel, son of Samuel, 34son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Toah, 35son of Zuph, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasai, 36son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zephaniah, 37son of Tahath, son of Assir, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, 38son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, son of Israel.
39Serving beside him was his fellow Levite Asaph, son of Berechiah, son of Shimea, 40son of Michael, son of Baaseiah, son of Malkijah, 41son of Ethni, son of Zerah, son of Adaiah, 42son of Ethan, son of Zimmah, son of Shimei, 43son of Jahath, son of Gershom, son of Levi.
44Serving beside them were their fellow Levites, the descendants of Merari, led by Ethan, son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch, 45son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah, 46son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shemer, 47son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi.
48The rest of their fellow Levites were assigned to perform the remaining tasks at God’s sanctuary. 49But Aaron and his descendants offered sacrifices on the altar for burnt offerings and on the altar for incense as they had been assigned to do in the Most Holy Sanctuary. They made atonement for Israel, just as God’s servant Moses had ordered.
50These were the descendants of Aaron:
His son Eleazar, his son Phinehas, his son Abishua, 51his son Bukki, his son Uzzi, his son Zerahiah, 52his son Meraioth, his son Amariah, his son Ahitub, 53his son Zadok, and his son Ahimaaz.
54These were the areas where Aaron’s descendants lived:
The following belonged to the Kohathite clan, for they received the first allotment:
55They were allotted Hebron in the territory of Judah, as well as its surrounding pasturelands. 56(But the city’s land and nearby towns were allotted to Caleb son of Jephunneh.) 57The descendants of Aaron were also allotted as cities of refuge Hebron, Libnah and its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa and its pasturelands, 58Hilez and its pasturelands, Debir and its pasturelands, 59Ashan and its pasturelands, and Beth Shemesh and its pasturelands.
60Within the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, they were allotted Geba and its pasturelands, Alemeth and its pasturelands, and Anathoth and its pasturelands. Their clans were allotted thirteen cities in all. (NET Bible)
Ps. 107:23–43
107:23 Some traveled on the sea in ships
and carried cargo over the vast waters.
24They witnessed the acts of the Lord,
his amazing feats on the deep water.
25He gave the order for a windstorm,
and it stirred up the waves of the sea.
26They reached up to the sky,
then dropped into the depths.
The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great.
27They swayed and staggered like drunks,
and all their skill proved ineffective.
28They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
29He calmed the storm,
and the waves grew silent.
30The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet,
and he led them to the harbor they desired.
31Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love
and for the amazing things he has done for people.
32Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people.
Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside.
33He turned streams into a desert,
springs of water into arid land,
34and a fruitful land into a barren place,
because of the sin of its inhabitants.
35As for his people, he turned a desert into a pool of water
and a dry land into springs of water.
36He allowed the hungry to settle there,
and they established a city in which to live.
37They cultivated fields
and planted vineyards,
which yielded a harvest of fruit.
38He blessed them so that they became very numerous.
He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.
39As for their enemies, they decreased in number and were beaten down,
because of painful distress and suffering.
40He would pour contempt upon princes,
and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.
41Yet he protected the needy from oppression
and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.
42When the godly see this, they rejoice,
and every sinner shuts his mouth.
43Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things.
Let them consider the Lord’s acts of loyal love.
(NET Bible)Mark 9:30–41
9:30 They went out from there and passed through Galilee. But Jesus did not want anyone to know, 31for he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32But they did not understand this statement and were afraid to ask him.
33Then they came to Capernaum. After Jesus was inside the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35After he sat down, he called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
38John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.” 39But Jesus said, “Do not stop him because no one who does a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say anything bad about me. 40For whoever is not against us is for us. 41For I tell you the truth, whoever gives you a cup of water because you bear Christ’s name will never lose his reward.
(NET Bible)
That Luther was not ready to admit that there were errors even in the numerical statements of the Bible we see in his exposition of Genesis 11:27, 28: “ is passage is among the most obscure statements of the Old Testament that has caused us many questions, which a diligent reader will encounter here and there in the older and more recent writers.— There is added another fault, that vain spirits hold it very praiseworthy if they can pass unrestricted judgments concerning the difficult and dark statements of Scripture and then can obstinately maintain their opinions. is is a disease of our nature against which an exegete of Holy Scripture should carefully guard himself.” Then he discusses the question as to what, in his opinion, makes these passages so difficult: “The second question is still more difficult, though neither Lyra nor the other teachers have paid attention to it. That in connection with Abraham sixty years are lost for us. For the reckoning the text brings with itself is easy. Terah was seventy years when he begot Abraham, now Abraham, when he was seventy five years old, left Haran, where Terah had died. If you add these together you will have 145 years. But when the account reckons together the years of Terah, it shows clearly that when he died he had lived 205 years. The question is, therefore, as to how we can account for these years. It would be unfitting to follow the example of audacious people who, when they arrive at such difficulties, immediately dare to correct books written by others. For my part I do not know how I should correctly solve the questions though I have carefully reckoned together the years of the world. So with a humble and proper confession of ignorance (for it is the Holy Ghost who alone knows and understands all things) I conclude that God, because of a certain plan of His own, caused seventy years to be lost out of Abraham’s life so that no one would venture from the exact computation of the years of the world to presume to predict something certain concerning the end of the world.” This hypothesis (because Luther does not express his opinion) may appear even absurd to us moderns, but it will not seem so absurd if we recall that at that time it was customary to place the age of the world at six thousand years, but Luther risks this hypothetical reckoning rather than to admit an error in the Biblical figure. He does not even consider the possibility of such an error. (52)
–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures
This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.