Day 7 (Genesis 14-16 | 5:43-6:24 | Psalm 6)

I can't believe a week has gone already. It doesn't seem like that much time should have passed. Oh well.

Day 7
Genesis 14:1-16:16
(14 | 15 | 16)

Lot is really quite unlucky here. A battle takes place between two groups of allied kings, two of whom are the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. When these two kings fled the battlefield, the kings of the victorious allegiance seized the towns' goods and food, and left. They also seized Lot and his property. Luckily for Lot, someone managed to escape and tell Abram. Abram immediately gathered a group of his own men and set out to find Lot. Eventually, he managed to recover both Lot and his possessions. Melchizedek, another king who, just to confuse matters, wasn't actually involved in the conflict in any way as far as I can tell, blesses Abram and thanks God for delivering Abram's enemies to him. Abram gives him a tenth of everything he has, and then refuses to take anything from the king of Sodom because he promised the LORD that he wouldn't. I have to say, I don't really understand why that is. Presumably, it made just as little sense to Abram, but he kept his promise anyway.

Day 6 (Genesis 11:10-13:18 | Matthew 5:21-42 | Psalm 5)

Day 6
Genesis 11:10-13:18
(11:10-32 | 12 | 13)

It must be nice, as a Biblical translator, when you come across passages like Genesis 11:12-26. Verses 12-26 follow pretty much exactly the same format in chunks of two verses. The only exception is verse 26, which only deviates slightly, and doesn't have a partner verse. These verses detail the descendants of Shem, Noah's son, and show the direct line between him and Abram. From this point on, the focus shifts on to Abram who, along with his nephew Lot, his wife Sarai, and his father Terah, settled together in a place called Haran.

Day 5 (Genesis 9:18-11:9 | Matthew 4:23-5:20 | Psalm 4)

Day 5
Genesis 9:18-11:9
(9:18-29 | 10 | 11:1-9)

I must admit I'm struggling to understand the latter part of chapter 9. So Noah has three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. One day, Noah was drinking wine he'd made in his own vineyard, got drunk and fell asleep naked in his tent. Ham saw this, so he told his two brothers. They responded by getting an item of clothing and laying it across their naked father. They walked into the tent backwards, so they wouldn't see his nakedness. When Noah woke up and found out what Ham had done, he cursed Ham's youngest son, Canaan, and declared that Canaan would be the lowest of slaves to his brothers, and to his uncles. I don't know about you, but that seems a bit harsh to me. I can understand Noah being annoyed with Ham for gossiping instead of trying to preserve his father's dignity. So surely you'd curse him. Or maybe his eldest son. But he cursed his youngest son. It just doesn't make sense to me. If anyone has an explanation, I'd love to hear it.

Day 4 (Genesis 7:1-9:17 | Matthew 4:1-22 | Proverbs 1:1-7)

Day 4
Genesis 7:1-9:17
(7 | 8 | 9:1-17)

One of the most remarkable things about the story of Noah is the amount of time he has to collect all the creatures he has to put in the ark; 7 days. And it's not just 2 of each either. For some times of animal, it's 7. For birds, it's 7. For this reason, I imagine this is another one of those cases where professional theologians could argue for hours about whether or not this story actually happened. If it didn't, is it meant to simply be a tale of God's wrath in his wiping out of near enough all life he created, and of his mercy as he saves a small number of his creation and tasks them with starting over, and then of love as he promises to never wipe out all life again? I don't know the answer, and I don't know what I think the answer might be.

Day 3 (Genesis 4:17-6:22 | Matthew 2:19-3:17 | Psalm 3)

Day 3
Genesis 4:17-6:22
(4:17-26 | 5 | 6)

Verses 17-24 of chapter four deal with a brief exploration of Cain's line, right down to his great-great-great-grandson (I think) Lamech who boldly declares that although he killed a man, because anyone who murdered Cain would suffer vengeance seven times over, anyone who murdered Lamech would suffer vengeance seventy seven times over. I'm not sure I follow his logic, but never mind. The final two verses speak about Adam and Eve having a third son, Seth, who Adam believed was a granted by God as a result for the murdered Abel. Interesting interpretation.

Day 2 (Genesis 2:18-4:16 | Matthew 2:1-18 | Psalm 2)

I made it to day 2! Yes!

Day 2
Genesis 2:18-4:16
(2:18-25 | 3 | 4:1-16)

The second part of Genesis 2 has always been fascinating to me, simply because of the imagery it inspires. Firstly, God brought all the animals he had created to the man so that he could name them. I can see it now; "What should I name this creature? Well, it's black with white splodges, so I think I'll call it 'cow'." Obviously. There's also the imagery of God sending the man to sleep so that he could remove one of his ribs and use to create a woman. I love the poetry of it. This is also the first time that it is indicated that humanity is meant to be in relationship (verse 18: 'The LORD God said, "it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper for him"').

Intro / Day 1 (Genesis 1:1-2:17 | Matthew 1 | Psalm 1)

A brief introduction before I start. I suck at reading the Bible. I have tried and failed to stick to Bible reading plans in the past. This year, I intend to do it differently. This year, I'm going to attempt to read the NIV Soul Survivor Bible in One Year. I've chosen this plan because I already have the book. Throughout the year, I might throw in verses from different translations.

I've also chosen to blog about my Bible reading this coming year. There are a few different reasons for this, but mostly it's to keep me accountable. I realise that this will be posted on 25 June, but it's actually for 24 June. Get over it.

So, without further ado...