Bible Readings for March 23, 2017

Today our passages are Numbers 36:1–Deuteronomy 1:46; Luke 5:29–6:11; Psalm 66:1-20; and Proverbs 11:24-26. 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 36 - Deuteronomy 1:46 (Contemporary English Version)

Numbers 36

The Laws about Married Women and Land

 ¹One day the family leaders from the Gilead clan of the Manasseh tribe went to Moses and the other family leaders of Israel ²and said, "Sir, the LORD has said that he will show ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} what land each tribe will receive as their own. And the LORD has commanded you to give the daughters of our relative Zelophehad ^[b<="">] the land that he would have received. ³But if they marry men from other tribes of Israel, the land they receive will become part of that tribe's inheritance and will no longer belong to us. ⁴Even when land is returned to its original owner in the Year of Celebration ^[c<="">], we will not get back Zelophehad's land--it will belong to the tribe into which his daughters married."     ⁵So Moses told the people that the LORD had said:
   These men from the Manasseh tribe are right. ⁶I will allow Zelophehad's daughters to marry anyone, as long as those men belong to one of the clans of the Manasseh tribe.
    ⁷Tribal land must not be given to another tribe--it will remain the property of the tribe that received it. ^8-9In the future, any daughter who inherits land must marry someone from her own tribe. Israel's tribal land is never to be passed from one tribe to another.
    ^10-11Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah the daughters of Zelophehad obeyed the LORD and married their uncles' sons ¹²and remained part of the Manasseh tribe. So their land stayed in their father's clan.
    ¹³These are the laws that the LORD gave to Moses and the Israelites while they were camped in the lowlands of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.
   

Deuteronomy 1

The Final Speeches of Moses

 ^1-5This book contains the speeches that Moses made while Israel was in the land of Moab, camped near the town of Suph in the desert east of the Jordan River. The town of Paran was in one direction from their camp, and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab ^[d<="">] were in the opposite direction. Earlier, Moses had defeated the Amorite King Sihon of Heshbon. Moses had also defeated King Og of Bashan, who used to live in Ashtaroth for part of the year and in Edrei for the rest of the year.    Although it takes only eleven days to walk from Mount Sinai ^[e<="">] to Kadesh-Barnea by way of the Mount Seir Road, these speeches were not made until forty years after Israel left Egypt. ^[f<="">] The LORD's Command at Mount Sinai
   The LORD had given Moses his laws for the people of Israel. And on the first day of the eleventh month, ^[g<="">] Moses began explaining those laws by saying:

THE FIRST SPEECH: MOSES REVIEWS THE PAST

 ⁶People of Israel, when we were in our camp at Mount Sinai, ^[h<="">] the LORD our God told us: You have stayed here long enough. ⁷Leave this place and go into the land that belongs to the Amorites and their neighbors the Canaanites. This land includes the Jordan River valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Southern Desert, the Mediterranean seacoast, the Lebanon Mountains, and all the territory as far as the Euphrates River. ⁸I give you this land, just as I promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now you must go and take the land.    Moses said:
   

Leaders Were Appointed

(Exodus 18.13-27)

 ⁹Right after the LORD commanded us to leave Mount Sinai, I told you:    Israel, being your leader is too big a job for one person. ¹⁰The LORD our God has blessed us, and so now there are as many of us as there are stars in the sky. ¹¹God has even promised to bless us a thousand times more, and I pray that he will. ¹²But I cannot take care of all your problems and settle all your arguments alone. ¹³Each tribe must choose some experienced men who are known for their wisdom and understanding, and I will make those men the official leaders of their tribes.
    ¹⁴You answered, " That's a good idea!" ¹⁵Then I took these men, who were already wise and respected leaders, and I appointed them as your official leaders. Some of them became military officers in charge of groups of a thousand, or a hundred, or fifty, or ten, ¹⁶and others became judges. I gave these judges the following instructions:
   When you settle legal cases, your decisions must be fair. It doesn't matter if the case is between two Israelites, or between an Israelite and a foreigner living in your community. ¹⁷And it doesn't matter if one is helpless and the other is powerful. Don't be afraid of anyone! No matter who shows up in your court, God will help you make a fair decision.
   If any case is too hard for you, bring the people to me, and I will make the decision.
    ¹⁸After I gave these instructions to the judges, I taught you the LORD's commands.
   Moses said to Israel:
   

Men Were Sent To Explore the Hill Country

(Numbers 13.1-33)

 ¹⁹The LORD had commanded us to leave Mount Sinai and go to the hill country that belonged to the Amorites, so we started out into the huge desert. You remember how frightening it was, but soon we were at Kadesh-Barnea, ^20-21and I told you, " We have reached the hill country. It belongs to the Amorites now, but the LORD our God is giving it to us. He is the same God our ancestors worshiped, and he has told us to go in and take this land, so don't hesitate and be afraid."     ²²Then all of you came to me and said, " Before we go into the land, let's send some men to explore it. When they come back, they can tell us about the towns we will find and what roads we should take to get there."
    ²³It seemed like a good idea, so I chose twelve men, one from each tribe. ²⁴They explored the hill country as far as Bunch Valley ^{[i<="">] 25}and even brought back some of the fruit. They said, " The LORD our God is giving us good land." Moses said to Israel:
   

Israel Refused To Obey the LORD

(Numbers 14.1-45)

 ²⁶You did not want to go into the land, and you refused to obey the LORD your God. ²⁷You stayed in your tents and grumbled, " The LORD must hate us--he brought us out of Egypt, just so he could hand us over to the Amorites and get rid of us. ²⁸We are afraid, because the men who explored the land told us that the cities are large, with walls that reach to the sky. The people who live there are taller and stronger than we are, ^[j<="">] and some of them are Anakim. ^[k<="">] We have nowhere to go." ²⁹Then I said, " Don't worry! ³⁰The LORD our God will lead the way. He will fight on our side, just as he did when we saw him do all those things to the Egyptians. ³¹And you know that the LORD has taken care of us the whole time we've been in the desert, just as you might carry one of your children."     ³²But you still would not trust the LORD, ³³even though he had always been with us in the desert. During the daytime, the LORD was in the cloud, leading us in the right direction and showing us where to camp. And at night, he was there in the fire. ^{[l<="">] 34}You had made the LORD angry, and he said:
    ³⁵You people of this generation are evil, and I refuse to let you go into the good land that I promised your ancestors. ³⁶Caleb son of Jephunneh is the only one of your generation that I will allow to go in. He obeyed me completely, so I will give him and his descendants the land he explored.
    ³⁷The LORD was even angry with me because of you people, and he said, " Moses, I won't let you go into the land either. ³⁸Instead, I will let Joshua ^[m<="">] your assistant lead Israel to conquer the land. So encourage him." ³⁹Then the LORD spoke to you again:
   People of Israel, you said that your innocent young children would be taken prisoner in the battle for the land. But someday I will let them go into the land, and with my help they will conquer it and live there.
    ⁴⁰Now, turn around and go back into the desert by way of Red Sea ^[n<="">] Road. ⁴¹Then you told me, " We disobeyed the LORD our God, but now we want to obey him. We will go into the hill country and fight, just as he told us to do." So you picked up your weapons, thinking it would be easy to take over the hill country.
    ⁴²But the LORD said, " Moses, warn them not to go into the hill country. I won't help them fight, and their enemies will defeat them."
    ⁴³I told you what the LORD had said, but you paid no attention. You disobeyed him and went into the hill country anyway. You thought you were so great! ⁴⁴But when the Amorites in the hill country attacked from their towns, you ran from them as you would run from a swarm of bees. The Amorites chased your troops into Seir ^[o<="">] as far as Hormah, killing them as they went. ⁴⁵Then you came back to the place of worship at Kadesh-Barnea and wept, but the LORD would not listen to your prayers.

Israel Spent Years in the Desert

Moses said to Israel:

 ⁴⁶After we had been in Kadesh for a few months, we obeyed the LORD and headed back into the desert by way of Red Sea ^[p<="">] Road.

Footnotes:

1. Numbers 36:2 that he will show: See the note at 26.55,56.
2. Numbers 36:2 Zelophehad: See also 26.28-34; 27.1-11.
3. Numbers 36:4 Year of Celebration: This was a sacred year for Israel, traditionally called the "Year of Jubilee." During this year, all property had to go back to its original owner. But here, the property was not sold; it became part of the other tribe's land when the daughter who owned it married into that tribe. So the property could not be returned even during this year.
4. Deuteronomy 1:1 Suph. . . Paran. . . Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab: The exact location of these towns is not known.
5. Deuteronomy 1:1 Mount Sinai: The Hebrew text has " Horeb," another name for Mount Sinai.
6. Deuteronomy 1:1 Egypt: The Israelites would soon enter Canaan, but they would have entered the land of Canaan from Kadesh-Barnea forty years earlier if they had not rebelled against God (see verses 6-40).
7. Deuteronomy 1:1 eleventh month: Shebat, the eleventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-January to mid-February.
8. Deuteronomy 1:6 Mount Sinai: See the note at 1.1-5.
9. Deuteronomy 1:24 Bunch Valley: Or " Eshcol Valley," famous for its large bunches of grapes.
10. Deuteronomy 1:28 The people. . . we are: Most Hebrew manuscripts; a few Hebrew manuscripts and one ancient translation " the people who live there are stronger than we are, and there are more of them than there are of us."
11. Deuteronomy 1:28 Anakim: Perhaps a group of very tall people that lived in or near Palestine before the Israelites. See also 2.10,11,20,21; Numbers 13.33.
12. Deuteronomy 1:33 the cloud. . . the fire: See Exodus 40.34-38; Numbers 9.15-23.
13. Deuteronomy 1:38 Joshua: Hebrew " Joshua son of Nun."
14. Deuteronomy 1:40 Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, here referring to the Gulf of Aqaba, since the term is extended to include the northeastern arm of the Red Sea (see also the note at 11.4).
15. Deuteronomy 1:44 Seir: An area of hills and mountains that was part of the territory of Edom.
16. Deuteronomy 1:46 Red Sea: See the notes at 1.40; 11.4.

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Luke 5:29-6:11 (Contemporary English Version)

²⁹In his home Levi gave a big dinner for Jesus. Many tax collectors and other guests were also there.
    ³⁰The Pharisees and some of their teachers of the Law of Moses grumbled to Jesus' disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with those tax collectors and other sinners?"
    ³¹Jesus answered, "Healthy people don't need a doctor, but sick people do. ³²I didn't come to invite good people to turn to God. I came to invite sinners."
   

People Ask about Going without Eating

(Matthew 9.14-17; Mark 2.18-22)

 ³³Some people said to Jesus, "John's followers often pray and go without eating, ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} and so do the followers of the Pharisees. But your disciples never go without eating or drinking." ³⁴Jesus told them, "The friends of a bridegroom don't go without eating while he is still with them. ³⁵But the time will come when he will be taken from them. Then they will go without eating."     ³⁶Jesus then told them these sayings:
   No one uses a new piece of cloth to patch old clothes. The patch would shrink and make the hole even bigger.
    ³⁷No one pours new wine into old wineskins. The new wine would swell and burst the old skins. ^[b<="">] Then the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined. ³⁸New wine must be put only into new wineskins. ³⁹No one wants new wine after drinking old wine. They say, "The old wine is better."
   

Luke 6

A Question about the Sabbath

(Matthew 12.1-8; Mark 2.23-28)

 ¹One Sabbath when Jesus and his disciples were walking through some wheat fields, ^[c<="">] the disciples picked some wheat. They rubbed the husks off with their hands and started eating the grain. ²Some Pharisees said, "Why are you picking grain on the Sabbath? You're not supposed to do that!"     ³Jesus answered, "You surely have read what David did when he and his followers were hungry. ⁴He went into the house of God and took the sacred loaves of bread that only priests were supposed to eat. He not only ate some himself, but even gave some to his followers."
    ⁵Jesus finished by saying, "The Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath."
   

A Man with a Crippled Hand

(Matthew 12.9-14; Mark 3.1-6)

 ⁶On another Sabbath ^[d<="">] Jesus was teaching in a Jewish meeting place, and a man with a crippled right hand was there. ⁷Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses kept watching Jesus to see if he would heal the man. They did this because they wanted to accuse Jesus of doing something wrong. ⁸Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he told the man to stand up where everyone could see him. And the man stood up. ⁹Then Jesus asked, "On the Sabbath should we do good deeds or evil deeds? Should we save someone's life or destroy it?"     ¹⁰After he had looked around at everyone, he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did, and his bad hand became completely well.
    ¹¹The teachers and the Pharisees were furious and started saying to each other, "What can we do about Jesus?"
   

Footnotes:

1. Luke 5:33 without eating: See the note at 2.37.
2. Luke 5:37 swell and burst the old skins: While the juice from grapes was becoming wine, it would swell and stretch the skins in which it had been stored. If the skins were old and stiff, they would burst.
3. Luke 6:1 walking through some wheat fields: It was the custom to let hungry travelers pick grains of wheat.
4. Luke 6:6 On another Sabbath: Some manuscripts have a reading which may mean " the Sabbath after the next."

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Psalm 66:1-20 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 66

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

Shout Praises to God

 ¹Tell everyone on this earth    to shout praises to God!
    ²Sing about his glorious name.
   Honor him with praises.
    ³Say to God, "Everything you do
   is fearsome,
   and your mighty power makes
   your enemies come crawling.
    ⁴You are worshiped by everyone!
   We all sing praises to you."
    ⁵Come and see the fearsome things
   our God has done!
    ⁶When God made the sea dry up,
   our people walked across,
   and because of him,
   we celebrated there.
    ⁷His mighty power rules forever,
   and nothing the nations do
   can be hidden from him.
   So don't turn against God.
    ⁸All of you people,
   come praise our God!
   Let his praises be heard.
    ⁹God protects us from death
   and keeps us steady.
    ¹⁰Our God, you tested us,
   just as silver is tested.
    ¹¹You trapped us in a net
   and gave us heavy burdens.
    ¹²You sent war chariots
   to crush our skulls.
   We traveled through fire
   and through floods,
   but you brought us
   to a land of plenty.
    ¹³I will bring sacrifices
   into your house, my God,
   and I will do what I promised
    ¹⁴when I was in trouble.
    ¹⁵I will sacrifice my best sheep
   and offer bulls and goats
   on your altar.
    ¹⁶All who worship God,
   come here and listen;
   I will tell you everything
   God has done for me.
    ¹⁷I prayed to the Lord,
   and I praised him.
    ¹⁸If my thoughts had been sinful,
   he would have refused
   to hear me.
    ¹⁹But God did listen
   and answered my prayer.
    ²⁰Let's praise God!
   He listened when I prayed,
   and he is always kind.

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Proverbs 11:24-26 (Contemporary English Version)

²⁴Sometimes you can become rich
   by being generous
   or poor by being greedy.
    ²⁵Generosity will be rewarded:
   Give a cup of water,
   and you will receive
   a cup of water in return.
    ²⁶Charge too much for grain,
   and you will be cursed;
   sell it at a fair price,
   and you will be praised.

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Verse of the Day

“[Trials and Temptations]God will bless you, if you don't give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life, just as he rewards everyone who loves him.” - James 1:12

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist, Erich Fromm wrote, “The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.”

Bible Readings for November 9, 2014

Today our passages are Ezekiel 20:1-49; Hebrews 9:11-28; Psalm 107:1-43; and Proverbs 27:11. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

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Ezekiel 20:1-49 (The Message)

Ezekiel 20

Get Rid of All the Things You've Become Addicted To

 ¹ In the seventh year, the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, some of the leaders of Israel came to ask for guidance from God. They sat down before me.  ^2-3 Then God's Message came to me: "Son of man, talk with the leaders of Israel. Tell them, 'God, the Master, says, "Have you come to ask me questions? As sure as I am the living God, I'll not put up with questions from you. Decree of God, the Master."'
 ^4-5 "Son of man, why don't you do it? Yes, go ahead. Hold them accountable. Confront them with the outrageous obscenities of their parents. Tell them that God, the Master, says:
 ^5-6 "'On the day I chose Israel, I revealed myself to them in the country of Egypt, raising my hand in a solemn oath to the people of Jacob, in which I said, "I am God, your personal God." On the same day that I raised my hand in the solemn oath, I promised them that I would take them out of the country of Egypt and bring them into a country that I had searched out just for them, a country flowing with milk and honey, a jewel of a country.
 ⁷ "'At that time I told them, "Get rid of all the vile things that you've become addicted to. Don't make yourselves filthy with the Egyptian no-god idols. I alone am God, your God."
 ^8-10 "'But they rebelled against me, wouldn't listen to a word I said. None got rid of the vile things they were addicted to. They held on to the no-gods of Egypt as if for dear life. I seriously considered inflicting my anger on them in force right there in Egypt. Then I thought better of it. I acted out of who I was, not by how I felt. And I acted in a way that would evoke honor, not blasphemy, from the nations around them, nations who had seen me reveal myself by promising to lead my people out of Egypt. And then I did it: I led them out of Egypt into the desert.
 ^11-12 "'I gave them laws for living, showed them how to live well and obediently before me. I also gave them my weekly holy rest days, my "Sabbaths," a kind of signpost erected between me and them to show them that I, God, am in the business of making them holy.
 ^13-17 "'But Israel rebelled against me in the desert. They didn't follow my statutes. They despised my laws for living well and obediently in the ways I had set out. And they totally desecrated my holy Sabbaths. I seriously considered unleashing my anger on them right there in the desert. But I thought better of it and acted out of who I was, not by what I felt, so that I might be honored and not blasphemed by the nations who had seen me bring them out. But I did lift my hand in a solemn oath there in the desert and promise them that I would not bring them into the country flowing with milk and honey that I had chosen for them, that jewel among all lands. I canceled my promise because they despised my laws for living obediently, wouldn't follow my statutes, and went ahead and desecrated my holy Sabbaths. They preferred living by their no-god idols. But I didn't go all the way: I didn't wipe them out, didn't finish them off in the desert.
 ^18-20 "'Then I addressed myself to their children in the desert: "Don't do what your parents did. Don't take up their practices. Don't make yourselves filthy with their no-god idols. I myself am God, your God: Keep my statutes and live by my laws. Keep my Sabbaths as holy rest days, signposts between me and you, signaling that I am God, your God."
 ^21-22 "'But the children also rebelled against me. They neither followed my statutes nor kept my laws for living upright and well. And they desecrated my Sabbaths. I seriously considered dumping my anger on them, right there in the desert. But I thought better of it and acted out of who I was, not by what I felt, so that I might be honored and not blasphemed by the nations who had seen me bring them out.
 ^23-26 "'But I did lift my hand in solemn oath there in the desert, and swore that I would scatter them all over the world, disperse them every which way because they didn't keep my laws nor live by my statutes. They desecrated my Sabbaths and remained addicted to the no-god idols of their parents. Since they were determined to live bad lives, I myself gave them statutes that could not produce goodness and laws that did not produce life. I abandoned them. Filthy in the gutter, they perversely sacrificed their firstborn children in the fire. The very horror should have shocked them into recognizing that I am God.'
 ^27-29 "Therefore, speak to Israel, son of man. Tell them that God says, 'As if that wasn't enough, your parents further insulted me by betraying me. When I brought them into that land that I had solemnly promised with my upraised hand to give them, every time they saw a hill with a sex-and-religion shrine on it or a grove of trees where the sacred whores practiced, they were there, buying into the whole pagan system. I said to them, "What hill do you go to?"' (It's still called "Whore Hills.")
 ^30-31 "Therefore, say to Israel, 'The Message of God, the Master: You're making your lives filthy by copying the ways of your parents. In repeating their vile practices, you've become whores yourselves. In burning your children as sacrifices, you've become as filthy as your no-god idols—as recently as today!
    "'Am I going to put up with questions from people like you, Israel? As sure as I am the living God, I, God, the Master, refuse to be called into question by you!
 ³² "'What you're secretly thinking is never going to happen. You're thinking, "We're going to be like everybody else, just like the other nations. We're going to worship gods we can make and control."
 ^33-35 "'As sure as I am the living God, says God, the Master, think again! With a mighty show of strength and a terrifying rush of anger, I will be King over you! I'll bring you back from the nations, collect you out of the countries to which you've been scattered, with a mighty show of strength and a terrifying rush of anger. I'll bring you to the desert of nations and haul you into court, where you'll be face-to-face with judgment.
 ^36-38 "'As I faced your parents with judgment in the desert of Egypt, so I'll face you with judgment. I'll scrutinize and search every person as you arrive, and I'll bring you under the bond of the covenant. I'll cull out the rebels and traitors. I'll lead them out of their exile, but I won't bring them back to Israel.
    "'Then you'll realize that I am God.
 ^39-43 "'But you, people of Israel, this is the Message of God, the Master, to you: Go ahead, serve your no-god idols! But later, you'll think better of it and quit throwing filth and mud on me with your pagan offerings and no-god idols. For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, I, God, the Master, tell you that the entire people of Israel will worship me. I'll receive them there with open arms. I'll demand your best gifts and offerings, all your holy sacrifices. What's more, I'll receive you as the best kind of offerings when I bring you back from all the lands and countries in which you've been scattered. I'll demonstrate in the eyes of the world that I am The Holy. When I return you to the land of Israel, the land that I solemnly promised with upraised arm to give to your parents, you'll realize that I am God. Then and there you'll remember all that you've done, the way you've lived that has made you so filthy—and you'll loathe yourselves.
 ⁴⁴ "'But, dear Israel, you'll also realize that I am God when I respond to you out of who I am, not by what I feel about the evil lives you've lived, the corrupt history you've compiled. Decree of God, the Master.'"

Nobody Will Put Out the Fire

 ^45-46 God's Message came to me: "Son of man, face south. Let the Message roll out against the south. Prophesy against the wilderness forest of the south.  ^47-48 "Tell the forest of the south, 'Listen to the Message of God! God, the Master, says, I'll set a fire in you that will burn up every tree, dead trees and live trees alike. Nobody will put out the fire. The whole country from south to north will be blackened by it. Everyone is going to see that I, God, started the fire and that it's not going to be put out.'"
 ⁴⁹ And I said, "O God, everyone is saying of me, 'He just makes up stories.'"

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Hebrews 9:11-28 (The Message)

Pointing to the Realities of Heaven

 ^11-15But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven's "tent"—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.  ^16-17Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus' death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.
 ^18-22Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law—God's "will"—he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries. And then he attested its validity with the words, "This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God." He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, "This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you." Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That's why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.
 ^23-26That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren't needed anymore, having served their purpose. For Christ didn't enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn't do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.
 ^27-28Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ's death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.

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Psalm 107:1-43 (The Message)

Psalm 107

    Oh, thank God—he's so good! His love never runs out.
   All of you set free by God, tell the world!
      Tell how he freed you from oppression,
   Then rounded you up from all over the place,
      from the four winds, from the seven seas.

 ^4-9 Some of you wandered for years in the desert,
      looking but not finding a good place to live,
   Half-starved and parched with thirst,
      staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.
   Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.
      He got you out in the nick of time;
   He put your feet on a wonderful road
      that took you straight to a good place to live.
   So thank God for his marvelous love,
      for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
   He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;
      the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

 ^10-16 Some of you were locked in a dark cell,
      cruelly confined behind bars,
   Punished for defying God's Word,
      for turning your back on the High God's counsel—
   A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy,
      and not a soul in sight to help.
   Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
      he got you out in the nick of time.
   He led you out of your dark, dark cell,
      broke open the jail and led you out.
   So thank God for his marvelous love,
      for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
   He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors,
      he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!

 ^17-22 Some of you were sick because you'd lived a bad life,
      your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;
   You couldn't stand the sight of food,
      so miserable you thought you'd be better off dead.
   Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
      he got you out in the nick of time.
   He spoke the word that healed you,
      that pulled you back from the brink of death.
   So thank God for his marvelous love,
      for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
   Offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
      tell the world what he's done—sing it out!

 ^23-32 Some of you set sail in big ships;
      you put to sea to do business in faraway ports.
   Out at sea you saw God in action,
      saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean:
   With a word he called up the wind—
      an ocean storm, towering waves!
   You shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out;
      your hearts were stuck in your throats.
   You were spun like a top, you reeled like a drunk,
      you didn't know which end was up.
   Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
      he got you out in the nick of time.
   He quieted the wind down to a whisper,
      put a muzzle on all the big waves.
   And you were so glad when the storm died down,
      and he led you safely back to harbor.
   So thank God for his marvelous love,
      for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
   Lift high your praises when the people assemble,
      shout Hallelujah when the elders meet!

 ^33-41 God turned rivers into wasteland,
      springs of water into sunbaked mud;
   Luscious orchards became alkali flats
      because of the evil of the people who lived there.
   Then he changed wasteland into fresh pools of water,
      arid earth into springs of water,
   Brought in the hungry and settled them there;
      they moved in—what a great place to live!
   They sowed the fields, they planted vineyards,
      they reaped a bountiful harvest.
   He blessed them and they prospered greatly;
      their herds of cattle never decreased.
   But abuse and evil and trouble declined
      as he heaped scorn on princes and sent them away.
   He gave the poor a safe place to live,
      treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.

 ^42-43 Good people see this and are glad;
      bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.
   If you are really wise, you'll think this over—
      it's time you appreciated God's deep love.

 

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Proverbs 27:11 (The Message)

 ¹¹ Become wise, dear child, and make me happy;
   then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.

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Verse of the Day

“[An Invitation from the LORD]I, the LORD, invite you to come and talk it over. Your sins are scarlet red, but they will be whiter than snow or wool.” - Isaiah 1:18

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

 

German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist, Erich Fromm wrote, “If I am what I have and if I lose what I have who then am I?”

Bible Readings for August 9, 2014

Today our passages are Ezra 8:21–9:15; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; Psalm 31:1-8; and Proverbs 21:1-2. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. If you missed a day, you can find all the readings at our blog, The Bible in a Year.

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Ezra 8:21-9:15 (The Message)

 ^21-22 I proclaimed a fast there beside the Ahava Canal, a fast to humble ourselves before our God and pray for wise guidance for our journey—all our people and possessions. I was embarrassed to ask the king for a cavalry bodyguard to protect us from bandits on the road. We had just told the king, "Our God lovingly looks after all those who seek him, but turns away in disgust from those who leave him."
 ²³ So we fasted and prayed about these concerns. And he listened.
 ^24-27 Then I picked twelve of the leading priests—Sherebiah and Hashabiah with ten of their brothers. I weighed out for them the silver, the gold, the vessels, and the offerings for The Temple of our God that the king, his advisors, and all the Israelites had given:
      25 tons of silver
      100 vessels of silver valued at three and three-quarter tons of gold
      20 gold bowls weighing eighteen and a half pounds
      2 vessels of bright red copper, as valuable as gold.
 ^28-29 I said to them, "You are holy to God and these vessels are holy. The silver and gold are Freewill-Offerings to the God of your ancestors. Guard them with your lives until you're able to weigh them out in a secure place in The Temple of our God for the priests and Levites and family heads who are in charge in Jerusalem."
 ³⁰ The priests and Levites took charge of all that had been weighed out to them, and prepared to deliver it to Jerusalem to The Temple of our God.
 ³¹ We left the Ahava Canal on the twelfth day of the first month to travel to Jerusalem. God was with us all the way and kept us safe from bandits and highwaymen.
 ^32-34 We arrived in Jerusalem and waited there three days. On the fourth day the silver and gold and vessels were weighed out in The Temple of our God into the hands of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was there with him, also the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. Everything was counted and weighed and the totals recorded.
 ³⁵ When they arrived, the exiles, now returned from captivity, offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings to the God of Israel:
      12 bulls, representing all Israel 96 rams 77 lambs 12 he-goats as an Absolution-Offering.
    All of this was sacrificed as a Whole-Burnt-Offering to God.
 ³⁶ They also delivered the king's orders to the king's provincial administration assigned to the land beyond the Euphrates. They, in turn, gave their support to the people and The Temple of God.

Ezra 9

Ezra Prays: "Look at Us...Guilty Before You"

 ^1-2 After all this was done, the leaders came to me and said, "The People of Israel, priests and Levites included, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring people around here with all their vulgar obscenities—Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, Amorites. They have given some of their daughters in marriage to them and have taken some of their daughters for marriage to their sons. The holy seed is now all mixed in with these other peoples. And our leaders have led the way in this betrayal."  ³ When I heard all this, I ripped my clothes and my cape; I pulled hair from my head and out of my beard; I slumped to the ground, appalled.
 ^4-6 Many were in fear and trembling because of what God was saying about the betrayal by the exiles. They gathered around me as I sat there in despair, waiting for the evening sacrifice. At the evening sacrifice I picked myself up from my utter devastation, and in my ripped clothes and cape fell to my knees and stretched out my hands to God, my God. And I prayed:
 ^6-7 "My dear God, I'm so totally ashamed, I can't bear to face you. O my God—our iniquities are piled up so high that we can't see out; our guilt touches the skies. We've been stuck in a muck of guilt since the time of our ancestors until right now; we and our kings and priests, because of our sins, have been turned over to foreign kings, to killing, to captivity, to looting, and to public shame—just as you see us now.
 ^8-9 "Now for a brief time God, our God, has allowed us, this battered band, to get a firm foothold in his holy place so that our God may brighten our eyes and lighten our burdens as we serve out this hard sentence. We were slaves; yet even as slaves, our God didn't abandon us. He has put us in the good graces of the kings of Persia and given us the heart to build The Temple of our God, restore its ruins, and construct a defensive wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
 ^10-12 "And now, our God, after all this what can we say for ourselves? For we have thrown your commands to the wind, the commands you gave us through your servants the prophets. They told us, 'The land you're taking over is a polluted land, polluted with the obscene vulgarities of the people who live there; they've filled it with their moral rot from one end to the other. Whatever you do, don't give your daughters in marriage to their sons nor marry your sons to their daughters. Don't cultivate their good opinion; don't make over them and get them to like you so you can make a lot of money and build up a tidy estate to hand down to your children.'
 ^13-15 "And now this, on top of all we've already suffered because of our evil ways and accumulated guilt, even though you, dear God, punished us far less than we deserved and even went ahead and gave us this present escape. Yet here we are, at it again, breaking your commandments by intermarrying with the people who practice all these obscenities! Are you angry to the point of wiping us out completely, without even a few stragglers, with no way out at all? You are the righteous God of Israel. We are, right now, a small band of escapees. Look at us, openly standing here, guilty before you. No one can last long like this."

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1 Corinthians 5:1-13 (The Message)

1 Corinthians 5

The Mystery of Sex

 ^1-2I also received a report of scandalous sex within your church family, a kind that wouldn't be tolerated even outside the church: One of your men is sleeping with his stepmother. And you're so above it all that it doesn't even faze you! Shouldn't this break your hearts? Shouldn't it bring you to your knees in tears? Shouldn't this person and his conduct be confronted and dealt with?  ^3-5I'll tell you what I would do. Even though I'm not there in person, consider me right there with you, because I can fully see what's going on. I'm telling you that this is wrong. You must not simply look the other way and hope it goes away on its own. Bring it out in the open and deal with it in the authority of Jesus our Master. Assemble the community—I'll be present in spirit with you and our Master Jesus will be present in power. Hold this man's conduct up to public scrutiny. Let him defend it if he can! But if he can't, then out with him! It will be totally devastating to him, of course, and embarrassing to you. But better devastation and embarrassment than damnation. You want him on his feet and forgiven before the Master on the Day of Judgment.
 ^6-8Your flip and callous arrogance in these things bothers me. You pass it off as a small thing, but it's anything but that. Yeast, too, is a "small thing," but it works its way through a whole batch of bread dough pretty fast. So get rid of this "yeast." Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kind of ingredient. The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast. So let's live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread—simple, genuine, unpretentious.
 ^9-13I wrote you in my earlier letter that you shouldn't make yourselves at home among the sexually promiscuous. I didn't mean that you should have nothing at all to do with outsiders of that sort. Or with crooks, whether blue or white-collar. Or with spiritual phonies, for that matter. You'd have to leave the world entirely to do that! But I am saying that you shouldn't act as if everything is just fine when a friend who claims to be a Christian is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory. You can't just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. I'm not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.

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Psalm 31:1-8 (The Message)

Psalm 31

A David Psalm

 ^1-2I run to you, God; I run for dear life. Don't let me down!
      Take me seriously this time!
   Get down on my level and listen,
      and please—no procrastination!
   Your granite cave a hiding place,
      your high cliff aerie a place of safety.

 ^3-5 You're my cave to hide in,
      my cliff to climb.
   Be my safe leader,
      be my true mountain guide.
   Free me from hidden traps;
      I want to hide in you.
   I've put my life in your hands.
      You won't drop me,
      you'll never let me down.

 ^6-13 I hate all this silly religion,
      but you, God, I trust.
   I'm leaping and singing in the circle of your love;
      you saw my pain,
      you disarmed my tormentors,
   You didn't leave me in their clutches
      but gave me room to breathe.
   Be kind to me, God—
      I'm in deep, deep trouble again.
   I've cried my eyes out;
      I feel hollow inside.
   My life leaks away, groan by groan;
      my years fade out in sighs.
   My troubles have worn me out,
      turned my bones to powder.
   To my enemies I'm a monster;
      I'm ridiculed by the neighbors.
   My friends are horrified;
      they cross the street to avoid me.
   They want to blot me from memory,
      forget me like a corpse in a grave,
      discard me like a broken dish in the trash.
   The street-talk gossip has me
      "criminally insane"!
   Behind locked doors they plot
      how to ruin me for good.

 

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Proverbs 21:1-2 (The Message)

Proverbs 21

God Examines Our Motives

 ¹Good leadership is a channel of water controlled by God; he directs it to whatever ends he chooses.

 ² We justify our actions by appearances;
   God examines our motives.

 

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Verse of the Day

 

“Five sparrows are sold for just two pennies, but God doesn't forget a one of them. Even the hairs on your head are counted. So don't be afraid! You are worth much more than many sparrows.” - Luke 12:6-7

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

 

German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist, Erich Fromm wrote, “Immature love says: ‘I love you because I need you.’ Mature love says: ‘I need you because I love you.’”