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Daily Readings for March 13
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Leviticus 21
1.Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, 'A priest shall not defile himself for the dead among his people; 2.except for his relatives that are near to him: for his mother, for his father, for his son, for his daughter, for his brother, 3.and for his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband; for her he may defile himself. 4.He shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
5."'They shall not shave their heads, neither shall they shave off the corners of their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. 6.They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
7."'They shall not marry a woman who is a prostitute, or profane; neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband: for he is holy to his God. 8.You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God: he shall be holy to you: for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
9."'The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the prostitute, she profanes her father: she shall be burned with fire.
10."'He who is the high priest among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose, nor tear his clothes; 11.neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother; 12.neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am Yahweh.
13."'He shall take a wife in her virginity. 14.A widow, or one divorced, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry: but a virgin of his own people shall he take as a wife. 15.He shall not profane his seed among his people: for I am Yahweh who sanctifies him.'"
16.Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17."Say to Aaron, 'None of your seed throughout their generations who has a blemish, may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18.For whatever man he is that has a blemish, he shall not draw near: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or any deformity, 19.or a man who has an injured foot, or an injured hand, 20.or hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye, or an itching disease, or scabs, or who has damaged testicles; 21.no man of the seed of Aaron the priest who has a blemish, shall come near to offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22.He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. 23.He shall not come near to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a blemish; that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.'"
24.So Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel.
Psalm 120
1.In my distress, I cried to Yahweh. He answered me. 2.Deliver my soul, Yahweh, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. 3.What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you, you deceitful tongue? 4.Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. 5.Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! 6.My soul has had her dwelling too long with him who hates peace. 7.I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
Psalm 121
1.I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? 2.My help comes from Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. 3.He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. 4.Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5.Yahweh is your keeper. Yahweh is your shade on your right hand. 6.The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7.Yahweh will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul. 8.Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forth, and forevermore.
Psalm 122
1.I was glad when they said to me, "Let's go to Yahweh's house!" 2.Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem; 3.Jerusalem, that is built as a city that is compact together; 4.where the tribes go up, even Yah's tribes, according to an ordinance for Israel, to give thanks to the name of Yahweh. 5.For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of David's house. 6.Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper. 7.Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. 8.For my brothers' and companions' sakes, I will now say, "Peace be within you." 9.For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God, I will seek your good.
Psalm 123
1.To you I do lift up my eyes, you who sit in the heavens. 2.Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to Yahweh, our God, until he has mercy on us. 3.Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. 4.Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.
Psalm 124
1.If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, let Israel now say, 2.if it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, when men rose up against us; 3.then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; 4.then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; 5.then the proud waters would have gone over our soul. 6.Blessed be Yahweh, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth. 7.Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare. The snare is broken, and we have escaped. 8.Our help is in the name of Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.
Luke 4
1.Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness 2.for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry. 3.The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
4.Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"7
5.The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6.The devil said to him, "I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want. 7.If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours."
8.Jesus answered him, "Get behind me Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.'"8
9.He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, 10.for it is written, 'He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;'
11.and, 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.'"9
12.Jesus answering, said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"10
13.When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.
14.Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. 15.He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16.He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17.The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, 18."The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,11 to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, 19.and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."12
20.He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21.He began to tell them, "Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
22.All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, "Isn't this Joseph's son?"
23.He said to them, "Doubtless you will tell me this parable, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.'" 24.He said, "Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25.But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26.Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27.There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian."
28.They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. 29.They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30.But he, passing through their midst, went his way.
31.He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. He was teaching them on the Sabbath day, 32.and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority. 33.In the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34.saying, "Ah! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!"
35.Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" When the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
36.Amazement came on all, and they spoke together, one with another, saying, "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!" 37.News about him went out into every place of the surrounding region.
38.He rose up from the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a great fever, and they begged him for her. 39.He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her. Immediately she rose up and served them. 40.When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 41.Demons also came out from many, crying out, and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!" Rebuking them, he didn't allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
42.When it was day, he departed and went into an uninhabited place, and the multitudes looked for him, and came to him, and held on to him, so that he wouldn't go away from them. 43.But he said to them, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent." 44.He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.