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Daily Readings for March 27
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Numbers 8
1.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2."Speak to Aaron, and tell him, 'When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.'"
3.Aaron did so. He lit its lamps to light the area in front of the lampstand, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 4.This was the workmanship of the lampstand, beaten work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was beaten work: according to the pattern which Yahweh had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.
5.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6."Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. 7.You shall do this to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, let them shave their whole bodies with a razor, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves. 8.Then let them take a young bull, and its meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and another young bull you shall take for a sin offering. 9.You shall present the Levites before the Tent of Meeting. You shall assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel. 10.You shall present the Levites before Yahweh. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, 11.and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Yahweh for a wave offering, on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Yahweh.
12."The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites. 13.You shall set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to Yahweh. 14.Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
15."After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting: and you shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering. 16.For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them to me. 17.For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself. 18.I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel. 19.I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel; that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come near to the sanctuary."
20.Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel did so to the Levites. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them. 21.The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before Yahweh; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. 22.After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron, and before his sons: as Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
23.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 24."This is that which belongs to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tent of Meeting; 25.and from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting on the work, and shall serve no more, 26.but shall minister with their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to perform the duty, and shall do no service. You shall do thus to the Levites concerning their duties."
Numbers 9
1.Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2."Moreover let the children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season. 3.On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in its appointed season--according to all its statutes, and according to all its ordinances, you shall keep it."
4.Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should keep the Passover. 5.They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did. 6.There were certain men, who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. 7.Those men said to him, "We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season among the children of Israel?"
8.Moses answered them, "Wait, that I may hear what Yahweh will command concerning you."
9.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10."Say to the children of Israel, 'If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to Yahweh. 11.In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12.They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it. 13.But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn't offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
14."'If a foreigner lives among you, and desires to keep the Passover to Yahweh; according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner, and for him who is born in the land.'"
15.On the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the Tent of the Testimony: and at evening it was over the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning. 16.So it was continually. The cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night. 17.Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel traveled; and in the place where the cloud remained, there the children of Israel encamped. 18.At the commandment of Yahweh, the children of Israel traveled, and at the commandment of Yahweh they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped. 19.When the cloud stayed on the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept Yahweh's command, and didn't travel. 20.Sometimes the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle; then according to the commandment of Yahweh they remained encamped, and according to the commandment of Yahweh they traveled. 21.Sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they traveled: or by day and by night, when the cloud was taken up, they traveled. 22.Whether it was two days, or a month, or a year that the cloud stayed on the tabernacle, remaining on it, the children of Israel remained encamped, and didn't travel; but when it was taken up, they traveled. 23.At the commandment of Yahweh they encamped, and at the commandment of Yahweh they traveled. They kept Yahweh's command, at the commandment of Yahweh by Moses.
Proverbs 5
1.My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding: 2.that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge. 3.For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil, 4.But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword. 5.Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol4. 6.She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.
7.Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don't depart from the words of my mouth. 8.Remove your way far from her. Don't come near the door of her house, 9.lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one; 10.lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house. 11.You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed, 12.and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 13.neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me! 14.I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."
15.Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well. 16.Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? 17.Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you. 18.Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. 19.A loving doe and a graceful deer-- let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love. 20.For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another? 21.For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh. He examines all his paths. 22.The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly. 23.He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
Luke 19
1.He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2.There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3.He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn't because of the crowd, because he was short. 4.He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. 5.When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house." 6.He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. 7.When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."
8.Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much."
9.Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. 10.For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
11.As they heard these things, he went on and told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God would be revealed immediately. 12.He said therefore, "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 13.He called ten servants of his, and gave them ten mina coins,44 and told them, 'Conduct business until I come.' 14.But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, 'We don't want this man to reign over us.'
15."It happened when he had come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by conducting business. 16.The first came before him, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.'
17."He said to him, 'Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.'
18."The second came, saying, 'Your mina, Lord, has made five minas.'
19."So he said to him, 'And you are to be over five cities.' 20.Another came, saying, 'Lord, behold, your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, 21.for I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn't lay down, and reap that which you didn't sow.'
22."He said to him, 'Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn't lay down, and reaping that which I didn't sow. 23.Then why didn't you deposit my money in the bank, and at my coming, I might have earned interest on it?' 24.He said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina away from him, and give it to him who has the ten minas.'
25."They said to him, 'Lord, he has ten minas!' 26.'For I tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him who doesn't have, even that which he has will be taken away from him. 27.But bring those enemies of mine who didn't want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.'" 28.Having said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29.It happened, when he drew near to Bethsphage45 and Bethany, at the mountain that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, 30.saying, "Go your way into the village on the other side, in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat. Untie it, and bring it. 31.If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say to him: 'The Lord needs it.'"
32.Those who were sent went away, and found things just as he had told them. 33.As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34.They said, "The Lord needs it." 35.They brought it to Jesus. They threw their cloaks on the colt, and set Jesus on them. 36.As he went, they spread their cloaks in the way. 37.As he was now getting near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen, 38.saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!46 Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!"
39.Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
40.He answered them, "I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out."
41.When he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, 42.saying, "If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. 43.For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, 44.and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn't know the time of your visitation."
45.He entered into the temple, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46.saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,'47 but you have made it a 'den of robbers'!"48
47.He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him. 48.They couldn't find what they might do, for all the people hung on to every word that he said.