1 Chron. 5:23–6:30
5:23 The half-tribe of Manasseh settled in the land from Bashan as far as Baal Hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon. They grew in number.
24These were the leaders of their families:
Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. They were skilled warriors, men of reputation, and leaders of their families. 25But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and worshiped instead the gods of the native peoples whom God had destroyed before them. 26So the God of Israel stirred up King Pul of Assyria (that is, King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria), and he carried away the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh and took them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, where they remain to this very day.
6:1 (5:27) The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
2The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
3The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam.
The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
4Eleazar was the father of Phinehas, and Phinehas was the father of Abishua. 5Abishua was the father of Bukki, and Bukki was the father of Uzzi. 6Uzzi was the father of Zerahiah, and Zerahiah was the father of Meraioth. 7Meraioth was the father of Amariah, and Amariah was the father of Ahitub. 8Ahitub was the father of Zadok, and Zadok was the father of Ahimaaz. 9Ahimaaz was the father of Azariah, and Azariah was the father of Johanan. 10Johanan was the father of Azariah, who served as a priest in the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem. 11Azariah was the father of Amariah, and Amariah was the father of Ahitub. 12Ahitub was the father of Zadok, and Zadok was the father of Shallum. 13Shallum was the father of Hilkiah, and Hilkiah was the father of Azariah. 14Azariah was the father of Seraiah, and Seraiah was the father of Jehozadak. 15Jehozadak went into exile when the Lord sent the people of Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
16(6:1) The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.
17These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.
18The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
19The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi.
These are the clans of the Levites by their families.
20To Gershom: his son Libni, his son Jahath, his son Zimmah, 21his son Joah, his son Iddo, his son Zerah, and his son Jeatherai.
22The sons of Kohath: his son Amminadab, his son Korah, his son Assir, 23his son Elkanah, his son Ebiasaph, his son Assir, 24his son Tahath, his son Uriel, his son Uzziah, and his son Shaul.
25The sons of Elkanah: Amasai, Ahimoth, 26his son Elkanah, his son Zophai, his son Nahath, 27his son Eliab, his son Jeroham, and his son Elkanah.
28The sons of Samuel: Joel the firstborn and Abijah the second oldest.
29The descendants of Merari: Mahli, his son Libni, his son Shimei, his son Uzzah, 30his son Shimea, his son Haggiah, and his son Asaiah.
(NET Bible)Ps. 107:1–22
107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures.
2Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,
those whom he delivered from the power of the enemy
3and gathered from foreign lands,
from east and west,
from north and south.
4They wandered through the wilderness, in a wasteland;
they found no road to a city in which to live.
5They were hungry and thirsty;
they fainted from exhaustion.
6They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
7He led them on a level road
that they might find a city in which to live.
8Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love
and for the amazing things he has done for people.
9For he has satisfied those who thirst,
and those who hunger he has filled with food.
10They sat in utter darkness,
bound in painful iron chains
11because they had rebelled against God’s commands
and rejected the instructions of the Most High.
12So he used suffering to humble them;
they stumbled and no one helped them up.
13They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
14He brought them out of the utter darkness
and tore off their shackles.
15Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love
and for the amazing things he has done for people.
16For he shattered the bronze gates
and hacked through the iron bars.
17They acted like fools in their rebellious ways
and suffered because of their sins.
18They lost their appetite for all food,
and they drew near the gates of death.
19They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
20He sent them an assuring word and healed them;
he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.
21Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love
and for the amazing things he has done for people.
22Let them present thank offerings,
and loudly proclaim what he has done.
(NET Bible)Mark 9:14–29
9:14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and experts in the law arguing with them. 15When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran at once and greeted him. 16He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17A member of the crowd said to him, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute. 18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they were not able to do so.” 19He answered them, “You unbelieving generation! How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I endure you? Bring him to me.” 20So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” 24Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
25Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26It shrieked, threw him into terrible convulsions, and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He is dead!” 27But Jesus gently took his hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.
28Then, after he went into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 29He told them, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
(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.