Bible Readings for March 16, 2017

Today our passages are Numbers 24:1–25:18; Luke 2:1-35; Psalm 59:1-17; and Proverbs 11:14. 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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Numbers 24-25:18 (Contemporary English Version)

Numbers 24

 ¹Balaam was sure that the LORD would tell him to bless Israel again. So he did not use any magic to find out what the LORD wanted him to do, as he had the first two times. Instead, he looked out toward the desert ²and saw the tribes of Israel camped below. Just then, God's Spirit took control of him, ³and Balaam said:    " I am the son of Beor,
   and my words are true, ^[a] so listen to my message!
    ⁴It comes from the LORD,
   the God All-Powerful.
   I bowed down to him
   and saw a vision of Israel.
    ⁵" People of Israel,
   your camp is lovely.
    ⁶It's like a grove of palm trees ^[b] or a garden beside a river.
   You are like tall aloe trees
   that the LORD has planted,
   or like cedars
   growing near water.
    ⁷You and your descendants
   will prosper
   like an orchard
   beside a stream.
   Your king will rule with power
   and be a greater king
   than Agag the Amalekite. ^[c] ⁸With the strength of a wild ox,
   God led you out of Egypt.
   You will defeat your enemies,
   shooting them with arrows ^[d] and crushing their bones.
    ⁹Like a lion you lie down,
   resting after an attack.
   Who would dare disturb you?
   " Anyone who blesses you
   will be blessed;
   anyone who curses you
   will be cursed."
    ¹⁰When Balak heard this, he was so furious that he pounded his fist against his hand and said, " I called you here to place a curse on my enemies, and you've blessed them three times. ¹¹Leave now and go home! I told you I would pay you well, but since the LORD didn't let you do what I asked, you won't be paid."
    ¹²Balaam answered, " I told your messengers ¹³that even if you offered me a palace full of silver or gold, I would still obey the LORD. And I explained that I would say only what he told me. ¹⁴So I'm going back home, but I'm leaving you with a warning about what the Israelites will someday do to your nation."
   

Balaam's Fourth Message

 ¹⁵Balaam said:    " I am the son of Beor,
   and my words are true, ^[e] so listen to my message!
    ¹⁶My knowledge comes
   from God Most High,
   the LORD All-Powerful.
   I bowed down to him
   and saw a vision of Israel.
    ¹⁷" What I saw in my vision
   hasn't happened yet.
   But someday, a king of Israel
   will appear like a star.
   He will wipe out you Moabites ^[f] and destroy ^[g] those tribes who live in the desert. ^[h] ¹⁸Israel will conquer Edom
   and capture the land
   of that enemy nation.
    ¹⁹The king of Israel will rule
   and destroy the survivors
   of every town there. ^[i] ²⁰" And I saw this vision
   about the Amalekites: ^[j] Their nation is now great,
   but it will someday
   disappear forever. ^[k] ²¹" And this is what I saw
   about the Kenites: ^[l] They think they're safe,
   living among the rocks,
    ²²but they will be wiped out
   when Assyria conquers them. ^[m] ²³" No one can survive
   if God plans destruction. ^[n] ²⁴Ships will come from Cyprus,
   bringing people
   who will invade
   the lands of Assyria and Eber.
   But finally, Cyprus itself
   will be ruined."
    ²⁵After Balaam finished, he started home, and Balak also left.
   

Numbers 25

The Israelites Worship Baal

 ¹While the Israelites were camped at Acacia, some of the men had sex with Moabite women. ²These women then invited the men to ceremonies where sacrifices were offered to their gods. The men ate the meat from the sacrifices and worshiped the Moabite gods.     ³The LORD was angry with Israel because they had worshiped the god Baal Peor. ⁴So he said to Moses, " Take the Israelite leaders who are responsible for this and have them killed in front of my sacred tent where everyone can see. Maybe then I will stop being angry with the Israelites."
    ⁵Moses told Israel's officials, ^[o] " Each of you must put to death any of your men who worshiped Baal." ⁶Later, Moses and the people were at the sacred tent, crying, when one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite ^[p] woman to meet his family. ⁷Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron ^[q] the priest, saw the couple and left the crowd. He found a spear ⁸and followed the man into his tent, where he ran the spear through the man and into the woman's stomach. The LORD immediately stopped punishing Israel with a deadly disease, ⁹but twenty-four thousand Israelites had already died. ¹⁰The LORD said to Moses, ¹¹" In my anger, I would have wiped out the Israelites if Phinehas had not been faithful to me. ^12-13But instead of punishing them, I forgave them. So because of the loyalty that Phinehas showed, I solemnly promise that he and his descendants will always be my priests."
    ¹⁴The Israelite man that was killed was Zimri son of Salu, who was one of the leaders of the Simeon tribe. ¹⁵And the Midianite woman killed with him was Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite clan leader named Zur.
    ¹⁶The LORD told Moses, ^17-18" The Midianites are now enemies of Israel, so attack and defeat them! They tricked the people of Israel into worshiping their god at Peor, and they are responsible for the death of Cozbi, the daughter of one of their own leaders."
   

Footnotes:

1. Numbers 24:3 my words are true: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
2. Numbers 24:6 grove of palm trees: Or " green valley."
3. Numbers 24:7 Agag the Amalekite: The Amalekites were long-time enemies of the Israelites (see Exodus 17.8-16), and Agag was one of their most powerful kings.
4. Numbers 24:8 shooting them with arrows: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
5. Numbers 24:15 my words are true: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
6. Numbers 24:17 you Moabites: Or " the territories of Moab."
7. Numbers 24:17 destroy: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Samaritan Hebrew Text " the skulls of."
8. Numbers 24:17 those tribes. . . desert: The Hebrew text has " the descendants of Sheth," which probably refers to the people who lived in the desert areas of Canaan before the Israelites.
9. Numbers 24:19 every town there: Or " Ir in Moab."
10. Numbers 24:20 the Amalekites: See the note at 24.7.
11. Numbers 24:20 but. . . forever: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
12. Numbers 24:21 the Kenites: A group of people who lived in the desert south of Israel.
13. Numbers 24:22 them: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 22.
14. Numbers 24:23 destruction: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 23.
15. Numbers 25:5 officials: These were special leaders who were probably responsible for an entire tribe or part of a tribe.
16. Numbers 25:6 Midianite: Used here as a general term for various peoples who lived east of the Jordan River. Some of these people were probably ruled by the Moabite king (see Genesis 36.35).
17. Numbers 25:7 Phinehas. . . Aaron: Hebrew " Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron."

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Luke 2:1-35 (Contemporary English Version)

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

(Matthew 1.18-25)

 ¹About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. ^[a] ²These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ^[b] ³Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. ⁴So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David's hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David's family.     ⁵Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, ⁶and while they were there, ⁷she gave birth to her first-born ^[c] son. She dressed him in baby clothes ^[d] and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds

 ⁸That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. ⁹All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord's glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. ¹⁰But the angel said, "Don't be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. ¹¹This very day in King David's hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. ¹²You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay."     ¹³Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:
    ¹⁴"Praise God in heaven!
   Peace on earth to everyone
   who pleases God."
    ¹⁵After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about." ¹⁶They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay.
    ¹⁷When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him. ¹⁸Everyone listened and was surprised. ¹⁹But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant.
    ²⁰As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said.
    ²¹Eight days later Jesus' parents did for him what the Law of Moses commands. ^[e] And they named him Jesus, just as the angel had told Mary when he promised she would have a baby.

Simeon Praises the Lord

 ²²The time came for Mary and Joseph to do what the Law of Moses says a mother is supposed to do after her baby is born. ^[f] They took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem and presented him to the Lord, ²³just as the Law of the Lord says, "Each first-born ^[g] baby boy belongs to the Lord." ²⁴The Law of the Lord also says that parents have to offer a sacrifice, giving at least a pair of doves or two young pigeons. So that is what Mary and Joseph did. ²⁵At this time a man named Simeon was living in Jerusalem. Simeon was a good man. He loved God and was waiting for God to save the people of Israel. God's Spirit came to him ²⁶and told him that he would not die until he had seen Christ the Lord.     ²⁷When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to do what the Law of Moses says should be done for a new baby, the Spirit told Simeon to go into the temple. ²⁸Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms and praised God,
    ²⁹"Lord, I am your servant,
   and now I can die in peace,
   because you have kept
   your promise to me.
    ³⁰With my own eyes I have seen
   what you have done
   to save your people,
    ³¹and foreign nations
   will also see this.
    ³²Your mighty power is a light
   for all nations,
   and it will bring honor
   to your people Israel."
    ³³Jesus' parents were surprised at what Simeon had said. ³⁴Then he blessed them and told Mary, "This child of yours will cause many people in Israel to fall and others to stand. The child will be like a warning sign. Many people will reject him, ³⁵and you, Mary, will suffer as though you had been stabbed by a dagger. But all this will show what people are really thinking."
   

Footnotes:

1. Luke 2:1 names. . . listed in record books: This was done so that everyone could be made to pay taxes to the Emperor.
2. Luke 2:2 Quirinius was governor of Syria: It is known that Quirinius made a record of the people in A.D. 6 or 7. But the exact date of the record taking that Luke mentions is not known.
3. Luke 2:7 first-born: The Jewish people said that the first-born son in each of their families belonged to the Lord.
4. Luke 2:7 dressed him in baby clothes: The Greek text has " wrapped him in wide strips of cloth," which was how young babies were dressed.
5. Luke 2:21 what the Law of Moses commands: See the note at 1.59.
6. Luke 2:22 after her baby is born: After a Jewish mother gave birth to a son, she was considered " unclean" and had to stay home until he was circumcised (see the note at 1.59). Then she had to stay home for another 33 days, before offering a sacrifice to the Lord.
7. Luke 2:23 first-born: See the note at 2.7.

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Psalm 59:1-17 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 59

(For the music leader. To the tune "Don't Destroy." (Psalm 59 Don't Destroy: See the note at Psalm 57.) A special psalm by David when Saul had David's house watched so that he could kill him.)

A Prayer for Protection

 ¹Save me, God! Protect me    from enemy attacks!
    ²Keep me safe from brutal people
   who want to kill me.
    ³Merciless enemies, LORD,
   are hiding and plotting,
   hoping to kill me.
   I have not hurt them
   in any way at all.
    ⁴But they are ready to attack.
   Do something! Help me!
   Look at what's happening.
    ⁵LORD God All-Powerful,
   you are the God of Israel.
   Punish the other nations
   and don't pity those terrible
   and rebellious people.
    ⁶My enemies return at evening,
   growling like dogs
   roaming the city.
    ⁷They curse and their words
   cut like swords,
   as they say to themselves,
   "No one can hear us!"
    ⁸You, LORD, laugh at them
   and sneer at the nations.
    ⁹You are my mighty fortress,
   and I depend on you.
    ¹⁰You love me and will let me
   see my enemies defeated.
    ¹¹Don't kill them,
   or everyone may forget!
   Just use your mighty power
   to make them tremble
   and fall.
   You are a shield
   for your people.
    ¹²My enemies are liars!
   So let them be trapped
   by their boastful lies.
    ¹³Get angry and destroy them.
   Leave them in ruin.
   Then all the nations will know
   that you rule in Israel.
    ¹⁴Those liars return at evening,
   growling like dogs
   roaming the city.
    ¹⁵They search for scraps of food,
   and they snarl
   until they are stuffed.
    ¹⁶But I will sing about
   your strength, my God,
   and I will celebrate
   because of your love.
   You are my fortress,
   my place of protection
   in times of trouble.
    ¹⁷I will sing your praises!
   You are my mighty fortress,
   and you love me.

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Proverbs 11:14 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁴A city without wise leaders
   will end up in ruin;
   a city with many wise leaders
   will be kept safe.

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Verse of the Day

“God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient.” - Colossians 3:12

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis where she engages in research on eukaryotic algae, Ursula Goodenough wrote, “You can't have thought without emotion, and one emotion is fear, and making an important decision on the basis of fear is not a good idea. So develop your courage.”