Bible Readings for March 1, 2017

Today our passages are Leviticus 24:1–25:46; Mark 10:13-31; Psalm 44:9-26; and Proverbs 10:20-21. The readings are the Contemporary English Version. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal by using the link below.

 

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Leviticus 24-25:46 (Contemporary English Version)

Leviticus 24

Caring for the Lamps

(Exodus 27.20,21)

 ¹The LORD told Moses ²to say to the community of Israel:    You must supply the purest olive oil for the lamps in the sacred tent, so they will keep burning. ^3-4Aaron will set up the gold lampstand in the holy place of the sacred tent. Then he will light the seven lamps that must be kept burning there in my presence, every night from now on. This law will never change.
   

The Sacred Bread

The LORD said:

 ⁵Use your finest flour to bake twelve loaves of bread about four pounds each, ⁶then take them into the sacred tent and lay them on the gold table in two rows of six loaves. ⁷Alongside each row put some pure incense that will be sent up by fire in place of the bread as an offering to me. ⁸Aaron must lay fresh loaves on the table each Sabbath, and priests in all generations must continue this practice as part of Israel's agreement with me. ⁹This bread will always belong to Aaron and his family; it is very holy because it was offered to me, and it must be eaten in a holy place. ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]}

Punishment for Cursing the LORD

 ^10-11Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri from the tribe of Dan, had married an Egyptian, and they had a son. One day their son got into a fight with an Israelite man in camp and cursed the name of the LORD. So the young man was dragged off to Moses, ¹²who had him guarded while everyone waited for the LORD to tell them what to do.     ¹³Finally, the LORD said to Moses:
    ¹⁴This man has cursed me! Take him outside the camp and have the witnesses lay their hands on his head. Then command the whole community of Israel to stone him to death. ^15-16And warn the others that everyone else who curses me will die in the same way, whether they are Israelites by birth or foreigners living among you.
    ¹⁷Death is also the penalty for murder, ¹⁸but the killing of an animal that belongs to someone else requires only that the animal be replaced. ¹⁹Personal injuries to others must be dealt with in keeping with the crime-- ²⁰a broken bone for a broken bone, an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth. ²¹It's possible to pay the owner for an animal that has been killed, but death is the penalty for murder. ²²I am the LORD your God, and I demand equal justice both for you Israelites and for those foreigners who live among you.
    ²³When Moses finished speaking, the people did what the LORD had told Moses, and they stoned to death the man who had cursed the LORD.
   

Leviticus 25

The Seventh Year

(Deuteronomy 15.1-11)

 ¹When Moses was on Mount Sinai, the LORD told him ²to say to the community of Israel:    After you enter the land that I am giving you, it must be allowed to rest one year out of every seven. ³You may raise grain and grapes for six years, ⁴but the seventh year you must let your fields and vineyards rest in honor of me, your LORD. ⁵This is to be a time of complete rest for your fields and vineyards, so don't harvest anything they produce. ^6-7However, you and your slaves and your hired workers, as well as any domestic or wild animals, may eat whatever grows on its own.
   

The Year of Celebration

The LORD said to his people:

 ⁸Once every forty-nine years ⁹on the tenth day of the seventh month, ^[b<="">] which is also the Great Day of Forgiveness, ^[c<="">] trumpets are to be blown everywhere in the land. ¹⁰This fiftieth year ^[d<="">] is sacred--it is a time of freedom and of celebration when everyone will receive back their original property, and slaves will return home to their families. ¹¹This is a year of complete celebration, so don't plant any seed or harvest what your fields or vineyards produce. ¹²In this time of sacred celebration you may eat only what grows on its own. ¹³During this year, all property must go back to its original owner. ^14-15So when you buy or sell farmland, the price is to be determined by the number of crops it can produce before the next Year of Celebration. Don't try to cheat. ¹⁶If it is a long time before the next Year of Celebration, the price will be higher, because what is really being sold are the crops that the land can produce. ¹⁷I am the LORD your God, so obey me and don't cheat anyone.     ^18-19If you obey my laws and teachings, you will live safely in the land and enjoy its abundant crops. ²⁰Don't ever worry about what you will eat during the seventh year when you are forbidden to plant or harvest. ²¹I will see to it that you harvest enough in the sixth year to last for three years. ²²In the eighth year you will live on what you harvested in the sixth year, but in the ninth year you will eat what you plant and harvest in the eighth year.
    ²³No land may be permanently bought or sold. It all belongs to me--it isn't your land, and you only live there for a little while.
    ²⁴When property is being sold, the original owner must be given the first chance to buy it.
    ²⁵If any of you Israelites become so poor that you are forced to sell your property, your closest relative must buy it back, ²⁶if that relative has the money. Later, if you can afford to buy it, ²⁷you must pay enough to make up for what the present owner will lose on it before the next Year of Celebration, when the property would become yours again. ²⁸But if you don't have the money to pay the present owner a fair price, you will have to wait until the Year of Celebration, when the property will once again become yours.
    ²⁹If you sell a house in a walled city, you have only one year in which to buy it back. ³⁰If you don't buy it back before that year is up, it becomes the permanent property of the one who bought it, and it will not be returned to you in the Year of Celebration. ³¹But a house out in a village may be bought back at any time just like a field. And it must be returned to its original owner in the Year of Celebration. ³²If any Levites own houses inside a walled city, they will always have the right to buy them back. ³³And any houses that they do not buy back will be returned to them in the Year of Celebration, because these homes are their permanent property among the people of Israel. ³⁴No pastureland owned by the Levi tribe can ever be sold; it is their permanent possession.
   

Help for the Poor

The LORD said:

 ³⁵If any of your people become poor and unable to support themselves, you must help them, just as you are supposed to help foreigners who live among you. ^36-37Don't take advantage of them by charging any kind of interest or selling them food for profit. Instead, honor me by letting them stay where they now live. ³⁸Remember--I am the LORD your God! I rescued you from Egypt and gave you the land of Canaan, so that I would be your God.     ³⁹Suppose some of your people become so poor that they have to sell themselves and become your slaves. ⁴⁰Then you must treat them as servants, rather than as slaves. And in the Year of Celebration they are to be set free, ⁴¹so they and their children may return home to their families and property. ⁴²I brought them out of Egypt to be my servants, not to be sold as slaves. ⁴³So obey me, and don't be cruel to the poor.
    ⁴⁴If you want slaves, buy them from other nations ⁴⁵or from the foreigners who live in your own country, and make them your property. ⁴⁶You can own them, and even leave them to your children when you die, but do not make slaves of your own people or be cruel to them.
   

Footnotes:

1. Leviticus 24:9 holy place: The courtyard of the sacred tent (see 6.16,17).
2. Leviticus 25:9 seventh month: See the note at 16.29.
3. Leviticus 25:9 Great Day of Forgiveness: See the note at 16.34.
4. Leviticus 25:10 fiftieth year: The year following seven periods of seven years.

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Mark 10:13-31 (Contemporary English Version)

Jesus Blesses Little Children

(Matthew 19.13-15; Luke 18.15-17)

 ¹³Some people brought their children to Jesus so that he could bless them by placing his hands on them. But his disciples told the people to stop bothering him.     ¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he became angry and said, "Let the children come to me! Don't try to stop them. People who are like these little children belong to the kingdom of God. ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[] 15}I promise you that you cannot get into God's kingdom, unless you accept it the way a child does." ¹⁶Then Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them by placing his hands on them.
   

A Rich Man

(Matthew 19.16-30; Luke 18.18-30)

 ¹⁷As Jesus was walking down a road, a man ran up to him. He knelt down, and asked, "Good teacher, what can I do to have eternal life?"     ¹⁸Jesus replied, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good. ¹⁹You know the commandments. `Do not murder. Be faithful in marriage. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about others. Do not cheat. Respect your father and mother.' "
    ²⁰The man answered, "Teacher, I have obeyed all these commandments since I was a young man."
    ²¹Jesus looked closely at the man. He liked him and said, "There's one thing you still need to do. Go sell everything you own. Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come with me."
    ²²When the man heard Jesus say this, he went away gloomy and sad because he was very rich.
    ²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "It's hard for rich people to get into God's kingdom!" ²⁴The disciples were shocked to hear this. So Jesus told them again, "It's terribly hard ^[b<="">] to get into God's kingdom! ²⁵In fact, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God's kingdom."
    ²⁶Jesus' disciples were even more amazed. They asked each other, "How can anyone ever be saved?"
    ²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, "There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything."
    ²⁸Peter replied, "Remember, we left everything to be your followers!"
    ²⁹Jesus told him:
   You can be sure that anyone who gives up home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or land for me and for the good news ³⁰will be rewarded. In this world they will be given a hundred times as many houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and pieces of land, though they will also be mistreated. And in the world to come, they will have eternal life. ³¹But many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first.
   

Footnotes:

1. Mark 10:14 People who are like these little children belong to the kingdom of God: Or "The kingdom of God belongs to people who are like these little children."
2. Mark 10:24 hard: Some manuscripts add "for people who trust in their wealth." Others add "for the rich."

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Psalm 44:9-26 (Contemporary English Version)

⁹But now you have rejected us;
   you don't lead us into battle,
   and we look foolish.
    ¹⁰You made us retreat,
   and our enemies have taken
   everything we own.
    ¹¹You let us be slaughtered
   like sheep,
   and you scattered us
   among the nations.
    ¹²You sold your people
   for little or nothing,
   and you earned no profit.
    ¹³You made us look foolish
   to our neighbors,
   and people who live nearby
   insult us and sneer.
    ¹⁴Foreigners joke about us
   and shake their heads.
    ¹⁵I am embarrassed every day,
   and I blush with shame.
    ¹⁶But others mock and sneer,
   as they watch my enemies
   take revenge on me.
    ¹⁷All of this has happened to us,
   though we didn't forget you
   or break our agreement.
    ¹⁸We always kept you in mind
   and followed your teaching.
    ¹⁹But you crushed us,
   and you covered us
   with deepest darkness
   where wild animals live.
    ²⁰We did not forget you
   or lift our hands in prayer
   to foreign gods.
    ²¹You would have known it
   because you discover
   every secret thought.
    ²²We face death all day for you.
   We are like sheep on their way
   to be slaughtered.
    ²³Wake up! Do something, Lord!
   Why are you sleeping?
   Don't desert us forever.
    ²⁴Why do you keep looking away?
   Don't forget our sufferings
   and all of our troubles.
    ²⁵We are flat on the ground,
   holding on to the dust.
    ²⁶Do something! Help us!
   Show how kind you are
   and come to our rescue.

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Proverbs 10:20-21 (Contemporary English Version)

²⁰The words of a good person
   are like pure silver,
   but the thoughts
   of an evil person
   are almost worthless.
    ²¹Many are helped
   by useful instruction,
   but fools are killed
   by their own stupidity.

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Verse of the Day

“In heaven I have only you, and on this earth you are all I want. My body and mind may fail, but you are my strength and my choice forever.” - Psalm 73:25-26

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American actress whose career spanned almost 80 years, Helen Hayes wrote, “Childhood is a short season.”