the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
March 25 - Bible-in-a-Year
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Numbers 19-20
Chapter 19
Purification Ritual
1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 2 "This is the legal statute that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked.(a) 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5 The cow must be burned in his sight. Its hide, flesh, and blood, are to be burned along with its dung. 6 The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson yarn,(b) and throw them onto the fire where the cow is burning. 7 Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening. 8 The one who burned the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will remain unclean until evening.
9 "A man who is clean is to gather up the cow's ashes and deposit them outside the camp in a ceremonially clean place. The ashes must be kept by the Israelite community for preparing the water to remove impurity; it is a sin offering.(c) 10 Then the one who gathers up the cow's ashes must wash his clothes, and he will remain unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the foreigner who resides among them.
11 "The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12 He is to purify himself with the water[a] on the third day and the seventh day; then he will be clean.(d) But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. 13 Anyone who touches a body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord . That person will be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean because the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him.
14 "This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who enters the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days, 15 and any open container without a lid tied on it is unclean. 16 Anyone in the open field who touches a person who has been killed by the sword or has died, or who even touches a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. 17 For the purification of the unclean person, they are to take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and add fresh water to them. 18 A person who is clean is to take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, a corpse, or a person who had been killed.
19 "The one who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being purified must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be clean by evening. 20 But a person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person will be cut off from the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord .(e) The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. 21 This is a permanent statute for them. The person who sprinkles the water for impurity is to wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening. 22 Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening."
Chapter 20
Water from the Rock
1 The entire Israelite community entered the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and they[a] settled in Kadesh. Miriam(a) died and was buried there.
2 There was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord .(b) 4 Why have you brought the Lord 's assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? 5 Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It's not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates,(c) and there is no water to drink!"
6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord spoke to Moses, 8 "Take the staff(d) and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock."
9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord 's presence(e) just as He had commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?" 11 Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.(f)
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them."(g) 13 These are the waters of Meribah,[b](h) where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord , and He showed His holiness to them.
Edom Denies Passage
14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, "This is what your brother Israel(i) says, ‘You know all the hardships that have overtaken us. 15 Our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt many years, but the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly. 16 When we cried out to the Lord , He heard our voice, sent an angel,[c](j) and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the border of your territory. 17 Please let us travel through your land. We won't travel through any field or vineyard, or drink any well water. We will travel the King's Highway; we won't turn to the right or the left until we have traveled through your territory.'"(k)
18 But Edom answered him, "You must not travel through our land, or we will come out and confront you with the sword."
19 "We will go on the main road," the Israelites replied to them, "and if we or our herds drink your water, we will pay its price.(l) There will be no problem; only let us travel through on foot."
20 Yet Edom insisted, "You must not travel through." And they came out to confront them with a large force of heavily-armed people.[d] 21 Edom refused to allow Israel to travel through their territory, and Israel turned away from them.
Aaron's Death
22 After they set out from Kadesh, the entire Israelite community came to Mount Hor.(m) 23 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor on the border of the land of Edom, 24 "Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land I have given the Israelites, because you both rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up Mount Hor. 26 Remove Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered to his people and die there."
27 So Moses did as the Lord commanded, and they climbed Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. 28 After Moses removed Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 When the whole community saw that Aaron had passed away, the entire house of Israel mourned for him 30 days.
Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:14
Chapter 11
9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth.
And walk in the ways of your heart
and in the sight of your eyes;(f)
but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.
10 Remove sorrow from your heart,
and put away pain from your flesh,(g)
because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.
Chapter 12
The Twilight of Life
1 So remember your Creator in the days of your youth:
Before the days of adversity come,
and the years approach when you will say,(a)
"I have no delight in them";
2 before the sun and the light are darkened,(b)
and the moon and the stars,
and the clouds return after[a] the rain;
3 on the day when the guardians of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
the women who grind cease because they are few,
and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,(c)
4 the doors at the street are shut
while the sound of the mill fades;(d)
when one rises at the sound of a bird,
and all the daughters of song grow faint.
5 Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road;
the almond tree blossoms,
the grasshopper loses its spring,[b]
and the caper berry has no effect;
for man is headed to his eternal home,(e)
and mourners will walk around in the street;(f)
6 before the silver cord is snapped,[c]
and the gold bowl is broken,(g)
and the jar is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel is broken into the well;
7 and the dust returns to the earth as it once was,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.(h)
8 "Absolute futility," says the Teacher. "Everything is futile."(i)
The Teacher's Objectives and Conclusion
9 In addition to the Teacher being a wise man, he constantly taught the people knowledge; he weighed, explored, and arranged many proverbs.(j) 10 The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and write words of truth accurately. 11 The sayings of the wise are like goads,(k) and those from masters of collections are like firmly embedded nails.(l) The sayings are given by one Shepherd.[d]
12 But beyond these, my son, be warned: there is no end to the making of many books,(m) and much study wearies the body.(n) 13 When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God(o) and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity.(p) 14 For God will bring every act to judgment,(q) including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
Matthew 21:28-46
Chapter 21
28 "But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go, work in the vineyard today.'(s)
29 "He answered, ‘I don't want to!' Yet later he changed his mind and went. 30 Then the man went to the other and said the same thing.
"‘I will, sir,' he answered. But he didn't go.
31 "Which of the two did his father's will?"
"The first," they said.
Jesus said to them, "I assure you: Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you! 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, (t) and you didn't believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him, but you, when you saw it, didn't even change your minds then and believe him.
The Parable of the Vineyard Owner
33 "Listen(u) to another parable:(v) There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower.(w) He leased it to tenant farmers and went away.(x) 34 When the grape harvest[h] drew near, he sent his slaves to the farmers to collect his fruit. 35 But the farmers took his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.(y) 36 Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. 37 Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,' he said.
38 "But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance!'(z) 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?"
41 "He will completely destroy those terrible men," they told Him, "and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his produce at the harvest."[i](aa)
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
[j]
This came from the Lord
and is wonderful in our eyes
?
(ab)[k]
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing its[l] fruit. [44 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces;(ac) but on whoever it falls, it will grind him to powder!]" [m]
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables,(ad) they knew He was speaking about them. 46 Although they were looking for a way to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, because they[n] regarded Him as a prophet.(ae)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
