1 Chron. 7:20–40
7:20 The descendants of Ephraim: Shuthelah, his son Bered, his son Tahath, his son Eleadah, his son Tahath, 21his son Zabad, his son Shuthelah (Ezer and Elead were killed by the men of Gath, who were natives of the land, when they went down to steal their cattle. 22Their father Ephraim mourned for them many days and his brothers came to console him. 23He slept with his wife; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Ephraim named him Beriah because tragedy had come to his family. 24His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth Horon, as well as Uzzen Sheerah),
25his son Rephah, his son Resheph, his son Telah, his son Tahan, 26his son Ladan, his son Ammihud, his son Elishama, 27his son Nun, and his son Joshua.
28Their property and settlements included Bethel and its surrounding towns, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its surrounding towns to the west, and Shechem and its surrounding towns as far as Ayyah and its surrounding towns. 29On the border of Manasseh’s territory were Beth Shean and its surrounding towns, Taanach and its surrounding towns, Megiddo and its surrounding towns, and Dor and its surrounding towns. The descendants of Joseph, Israel’s son, lived here.
30The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Serah was their sister.
31The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malkiel, who was the father of Birzaith.
32Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and Shua their sister.
33The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These were Japhlet’s sons.
34The sons of his brother Shemer: Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram.
35The sons of his brother Helem: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal.
36The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, 37Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera.
38The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispah, and Ara.
39The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.
40All these were the descendants of Asher. They were the leaders of their families, the most capable men, who were warriors and served as head chiefs. There were 26,000 warriors listed in their genealogical records as capable of doing battle.
(NET Bible)Ps. 109:21–31
109:21 O Sovereign Lord,
intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation.
Because your loyal love is good, deliver me.
22For I am oppressed and needy,
and my heart beats violently within me.
23I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24I am so starved my knees shake;
I have turned into skin and bones.
25I am disdained by them.
When they see me, they shake their heads.
26Help me, O Lord my God.
Because you are faithful to me, deliver me.
27Then they will realize this is your work
and that you, Lord, have accomplished it.
28They curse, but you will bless.
When they attack, they will be humiliated,
but your servant will rejoice.
29My accusers will be covered with shame
and draped in humiliation as if it were a robe.
30I will thank the Lord profusely.
In the middle of a crowd I will praise him,
31because he stands at the right hand of the needy
to deliver him from those who threaten his life.
(NET Bible)Mark 10:13–31
10:13 Now people were bringing little children to him for him to touch, but the disciples scolded those who brought them. 14But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” 16After he took the children in his arms, he placed his hands on them and blessed them.
17Now as Jesus was starting out on his way, someone ran up to him, fell on his knees, and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” 20The man said to him, “Teacher, I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.” 21As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22But at this statement, the man looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.
23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” 24The disciples were astonished at these words. But again Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26They were even more astonished and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, but not for God; all things are possible for God.”
28Peter began to speak to him, “Look, we have left everything to follow you!” 29Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel 30who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much—homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
(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.