Readings March 31-April 6

April has arrived! March just seemed to fly by but although April has come it would be nice to have some warm temperatures!  You are a quarter of the way through the Bible now! The full list of Bible readings for April on the link entitled 'April Readings' under 'Pages' at the top right of the blog.

We conclude the book of Joshua this week in which the allotment of the land to the Israelite tribes is described together with Joshua's farewell speech and the renewing of the covenant with God now they are in the Promised Land.
Next we move on to the book of Judges  which follows on from the book of Joshua.  In Judges the Israelites fail to keep the covenant they made with God.  Israel goes through cycles of apostasy, oppression, cries for deliverance and God raises up various leaders, called judges, who deliver Israel - until the cycle starts all over again.  Watch out for Deborah in chapter 4, a remarkable woman leader of Israel.

In the New Testament our readings are in Luke and take us through the early ministry of Jesus in Galilee, from his temptations, his choice of disciples, his miracles, teaching, parables and the transfiguration.  Notice chapter 6 has Jesus' 'Sermon on the Plain,' Luke's counterpoint to Matthew's 'Sermon on the Mount'.

Psalm 19 is a wonderful psalm of praise to God and Psalm 18 is about God's deliverance.

 31     Joshua 15             Luke 4                  Joshua 16

  1      Joshua 17             Luke 5                  Joshua 18

  2      Joshua 19             Luke 6                  Joshua 20             Psalm 18

  3      Joshua 21             Luke 7                  Joshua 22

  4      Joshua 23             Luke 8                  Joshua 24

  5      Judges 1               Luke 9                  Judges 2

  6      Judges 3               Luke 10                Judges 4               Psalm 19