Bible Readings for March 22, 2017

Today our passages are Numbers 33:40–35:34; Luke 5:12-28; Psalm 65:1-13; and Proverbs 11:23. 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 33:40-35:34 (Contemporary English Version)

⁴⁰It was then that the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Southern Desert of Canaan, heard that Israel was headed that way.
    ^41-47The Israelites left Mount Hor and headed toward Moab. Along the way, they camped at Zalmonah, Punon, Oboth, Iye-Abarim in the territory of Moab, Dibon-Gad, Almon-Diblathaim, at a place near Mount Nebo in the Abarim Mountains, ⁴⁸and finally in the lowlands of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho. ⁴⁹Their camp stretched from Beth-Jeshimoth to Acacia.
   

The LORD's Command To Conquer Canaan

 ⁵⁰While Israel was camped in the lowlands of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho, the LORD told Moses ⁵¹to give the people of Israel this message:    When you cross the Jordan River and enter Canaan, ⁵²you must force out the people living there. Destroy their idols and tear down their altars. ⁵³Then settle in the land--I have given it to you as your own.
    ⁵⁴I will show you ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} how to divide the land among the tribes, according to the number of clans in each one, so that the larger tribes will have more land than the smaller ones. ⁵⁵If you don't force out all the people there, they will be like pointed sticks in your eyes and thorns in your back. They will always be trouble for you, ⁵⁶and I will treat you as cruelly as I planned on treating them.
   

Numbers 34

Israel's Borders

 ¹The LORD told Moses ²to tell the people of Israel that their land in Canaan would have the following borders:     ³The southern border will be the Zin Desert and the northwest part of Edom. This border will begin at the south end of the Dead Sea. ⁴It will go west from there, but will turn southward to include Scorpion Pass, the village of Zin, and the town of Kadesh-Barnea. From there, the border will continue to Hazar-Addar and on to Azmon. ⁵It will run along the Egyptian Gorge and end at the Mediterranean Sea.
    ⁶The western border will be the Mediterranean Sea.
    ⁷The northern border will begin at the Mediterranean, then continue eastward to Mount Hor. ^{[b<="">] 8}After that, it will run to Lebo-Hamath and across to Zedad, which is the northern edge of your land. ⁹From Zedad, the border will continue east to Ziphron and end at Hazar-Enan. ¹⁰The eastern border will begin at Hazar-Enan in the north, then run south to Shepham, ¹¹and on down to Riblah on the east side of Ain. From there, it will go south to the eastern hills of Lake Galilee, ^{[c<="">] 12}then follow the Jordan River down to the north end of the Dead Sea. The land within those four borders will belong to you.
    ¹³Then Moses told the people, " You will receive the land inside these borders. It will be yours, but the LORD has commanded you to divide it among the nine and a half tribes. ¹⁴The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh have already been given their land ¹⁵across from Jericho, east of the Jordan River."
   

The Leaders Who Will Divide the Land

 ¹⁶The LORD said to Moses, ¹⁷" Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun will divide the land for the Israelites. ¹⁸One leader from each tribe will help them, ^19-28and here is the list of their names:    Caleb son of Jephunneh
   from Judah,
   Shemuel son of Ammihud
   from Simeon,
   Elidad son of Chislon
   from Benjamin,
   Bukki son of Jogli
   from Dan,
   Hanniel son of Ephod
   from Manasseh,
   Kemuel son of Shiphtan
   from Ephraim,
   Elizaphan son of Parnach
   from Zebulun,
   Paltiel son of Azzan
   from Issachar,
   Ahihud son of Shelomi
   from Asher,
   and Pedahel son of Ammihud
   from Naphtali."
    ²⁹These are the men the LORD commanded to help Eleazar and Joshua divide the land for the Israelites.
   

Numbers 35

The Towns for the Levites

 ¹While the people of Israel were still camped in the lowlands of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho, the LORD told Moses ²to say to them:    When you receive your tribal lands, you must give towns and pastures to the Levi tribe. ³That way, the Levites will have towns to live in and pastures for their animals. ^4-5The pasture around each of these towns must be in the shape of a square, with the town itself in the center. The pasture is to measure three thousand feet on each side, with fifteen hundred feet of land outside each of the town walls. This will be the Levites' pastureland.
    ⁶Six of the towns you give them will be Safe Towns where a person who has accidentally killed someone can run for protection. But you will also give the Levites forty-two other towns, ⁷so they will have a total of forty-eight towns with their surrounding pastures.
    ⁸Since the towns for the Levites must come from Israel's own tribal lands, the larger tribes will give more towns than the smaller ones.
   

The Safe Towns

(Deuteronomy 19.1-13; Joshua 20.1-9)

 ⁹The LORD then told Moses ¹⁰to tell the people of Israel:    After you have crossed the Jordan River and are settled in Canaan, ¹¹choose Safe Towns, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can run for protection. ¹²If the victim's relatives think it was murder, they might try to take revenge. ^[d<="">] Anyone accused of murder can run to one of these Safe Towns for protection and not be killed before a trial is held. ¹³There are to be six of these Safe Towns, ¹⁴three on each side of the Jordan River. ¹⁵They will be places of protection for anyone who lives in Israel and accidentally kills someone.
   

Laws about Murder and Accidental Killing

The LORD said:

 ^16-18Suppose you hit someone with a piece of iron or a large stone or a dangerous wooden tool. If that person dies, then you are a murderer and must be put to death ¹⁹by one of the victim's relatives. He will take revenge for his relative's death as soon as he finds you.     ^20-21Or suppose you get angry and kill someone by pushing or hitting or by throwing something. You are a murderer and must be put to death by one of the victim's relatives.
    ^22-24But if you are not angry and accidentally kill someone in any of these ways, the townspeople must hold a trial and decide if you are guilty. ²⁵If they decide that you are innocent, you will be protected from the victim's relative and sent to stay in one of the Safe Towns until the high priest dies. ²⁶But if you ever leave the Safe Town ²⁷and are killed by the victim's relative, he cannot be punished for killing you. ²⁸You must stay inside the town until the high priest dies; only then can you go back home.
    ²⁹The community of Israel must always obey these laws.
    ³⁰Death is the penalty for murder. But no one accused of murder can be put to death unless there are at least two witnesses to the crime. ³¹You cannot give someone money to escape the death penalty; you must pay with your own life! ³²And if you have been proven innocent of murder and are living in a Safe Town, you cannot pay to go back home; you must stay there until the high priest dies.
    ^33-34I, the LORD, live among you people of Israel, so your land must be kept pure. But when a murder takes place, blood pollutes the land, and it becomes unclean. If that happens, the murderer must be put to death, so the land will be clean again. Keep murder out of Israel!
   

Footnotes:

1. Numbers 33:54 I will show you: See the note at 26.55,56.
2. Numbers 34:7 Mount Hor: Not the same as in 33.37.
3. Numbers 34:11 Lake Galilee: The Hebrew text has " Lake Chinnereth," an earlier name for Lake Galilee.
4. Numbers 35:12 the victim's relatives. . . revenge: At this time in Israel's history, the clan would appoint the closest male relative to find and kill a person who had killed a member of their clan.

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Luke 5:12-28 (Contemporary English Version)

Jesus Heals a Man

(Matthew 8.1-4; Mark 1.40-45)

 ¹²Jesus came to a town where there was a man who had leprosy. ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} When the man saw Jesus, he knelt down to the ground in front of Jesus and begged, "Lord, you have the power to make me well, if only you wanted to." ¹³Jesus put his hand on him and said, "I want to! Now you are well." At once the man's leprosy disappeared. ¹⁴Jesus told him, "Don't tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest. Offer a gift to the priest, just as Moses commanded, and everyone will know that you have been healed." ^{[b<="">] 15}News about Jesus kept spreading. Large crowds came to listen to him teach and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁶But Jesus would often go to some place where he could be alone and pray.    

Jesus Heals a Crippled Man

(Matthew 9.1-8; Mark 2.1-12)

 ¹⁷One day some Pharisees and experts in the Law of Moses sat listening to Jesus teach. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.    God had given Jesus the power to heal the sick, ¹⁸and some people came carrying a crippled man on a mat. They tried to take him inside the house and put him in front of Jesus. ¹⁹But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they went up on the roof, ^[c<="">] where they removed some tiles and let the mat down in the middle of the room. ²⁰When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the crippled man, "My friend, your sins are forgiven."
    ²¹The Pharisees and the experts began arguing, "Jesus must think he is God! Only God can forgive sins."
    ²²Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said, "Why are you thinking that? ²³Is it easier for me to tell this crippled man that his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk? ²⁴But now you will see that the Son of Man has the right to forgive sins here on earth." Jesus then said to the man, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk home."
    ²⁵At once the man stood up in front of everyone. He picked up his mat and went home, giving thanks to God. ²⁶Everyone was amazed and praised God. What they saw surprised them, and they said, "We have seen a great miracle today!"
   

Jesus Chooses Levi

(Matthew 9.9-13; Mark 2.13-17)

 ²⁷Later, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector ^[d<="">] named Levi sitting at the place for paying taxes. Jesus said to him, "Come with me." ²⁸Levi left everything and went with Jesus.

Footnotes:

1. Luke 5:12 leprosy: See the note at 4.27.
2. Luke 5:14 everyone will know that you have been healed: People with leprosy had to be examined by a priest and told that they were well (that is, " clean" ) before they could once again live a normal life in the Jewish community. The gift that Moses commanded was the sacrifice of some lambs together with flour mixed with olive oil.
3. Luke 5:19 roof: In Palestine the houses usually had a flat roof. Stairs on the outside led up to the roof, which was made of beams and boards covered with packed earth. Luke says that the roof was made of (clay) tiles, which were also used for making roofs in New Testament times.
4. Luke 5:27 tax collector: See the note at 3.12.

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Psalm 65:1-13 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 65

(A psalm by David and a song for the music leader.)

God Answers Prayer

 ¹Our God, you deserve ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} praise in Zion,    where we keep
   our promises to you.
    ²Everyone will come to you
   because you answer prayer.
    ³Our terrible sins get us down,
   but you forgive us.
    ⁴You bless your chosen ones,
   and you invite them
   to live near you
   in your temple.
   We will enjoy your house,
   the sacred temple.
    ⁵Our God, you save us,
   and your fearsome deeds
   answer our prayers for justice!
   You give hope to people
   everywhere on earth,
   even those across the sea.
    ⁶You are strong,
   and your mighty power
   put the mountains in place.
    ⁷You silence the roaring waves
   and the noisy shouts
   of the nations.
    ⁸People far away marvel
   at your fearsome deeds,
   and all who live under the sun
   celebrate and sing
   because of you.
    ⁹You take care of the earth
   and send rain
   to help the soil
   grow all kinds of crops.
   Your rivers never run dry,
   and you prepare the earth
   to produce much grain.
    ¹⁰You water all of its fields
   and level the lumpy ground.
   You send showers of rain
   to soften the soil
   and help the plants sprout.
    ¹¹Wherever your footsteps
   touch the earth,
   a rich harvest is gathered.
    ¹²Desert pastures blossom,
   and mountains celebrate.
    ¹³Meadows are filled
   with sheep and goats;
   valleys overflow with grain
   and echo with joyful songs.
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 65:1 deserve: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

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Proverbs 11:23 (Contemporary English Version)

²³Good people want what is best,
   but troublemakers
   hope to stir up trouble. ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]}

Footnotes:

1. Proverbs 11:23 Good people. . . trouble: Or " Good people do what is best, but troublemakers just stir up trouble."

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Verse of the Day

 

“[The Fight against Evil]Finally, let the mighty strength of the Lord make you strong. Put on all the armor that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil's tricks.” - Ephesians 6:10-11

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American novelist and short story writer, Louis L'Amour wrote, “Do not let yourself be bothered by the inconsequential. One has only so much time in this world, so devote it to the work and the people most important to you, to those you love and things that matter. One can waste half a lifetime with people one doesn't really like, or doing things when one would be better off somewhere else.”