Bible Readings for March 8, 2017

Today our passages are Numbers 10:1–11:23; Mark 14:1-21; Psalm 51:1-19; and Proverbs 10:31-32. 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 10-11:23 (Contemporary English Version)

Numbers 10

The Silver Trumpets

 ¹The LORD told Moses:     ²Have someone make two trumpets out of hammered silver. These will be used to call the people together and to give the signal for moving your camp. ³If both trumpets are blown, everyone is to meet with you at the entrance to the sacred tent. ⁴But if just one is blown, only the twelve tribal leaders need to come together.
    ^5-6Give a signal on a trumpet when it is time to break camp. The first blast will be the signal for the tribes camped on the east side, and the second blast will be the signal for those on the south. ⁷But when you want everyone to come together, sound a different signal on the trumpet. ⁸The priests of Aaron's family will be the ones to blow the trumpets, and this law will never change.
    ⁹Whenever you go into battle against an enemy attacking your land, give a warning signal on the trumpets. Then I, the LORD, will hear it and rescue you. ¹⁰During the celebration of the New Moon Festival and other religious festivals, sound the trumpets while you offer sacrifices. This will be a reminder that I am the LORD your God.
   

The Israelites Begin Their Journey

 ¹¹On the twentieth day of the second month ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} of that same year, the cloud over the sacred tent moved on. ¹²So the Israelites broke camp and left the Sinai Desert. And some time later, the cloud stopped in the Paran Desert. ^{[b<="">] 13}This was the first time the LORD had told Moses to command the people of Israel to move on. ¹⁴Judah and the tribes that camped alongside it marched out first, carrying their banner. Nahshon son of Amminadab was the leader of the Judah tribe, ¹⁵Nethanel son of Zuar was the leader of the Issachar tribe, ¹⁶and Eliab son of Helon was the leader of the Zebulun tribe.     ¹⁷The sacred tent had been taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites carried it, marching behind the Judah camp.
    ¹⁸Reuben and the tribes that camped alongside it marched out second, carrying their banner. Elizur son of Shedeur was the leader of the Reuben tribe, ¹⁹Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was the leader of the Simeon tribe, ²⁰and Eliasaph son of Deuel was the leader of the Gad tribe.
    ²¹Next were the Kohathites, carrying the objects for the sacred tent, which was to be set up before they arrived at the new camp.
    ²²Ephraim and the tribes that camped alongside it marched next, carrying their banner. Elishama son of Ammihud was the leader of the Ephraim tribe, ²³Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was the leader of the Manasseh tribe, ²⁴and Abidan son of Gideoni was the leader of the Benjamin tribe.
    ²⁵Dan and the tribes that camped alongside it were to protect the Israelites against an attack from behind, and so they marched last, carrying their banner. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was the leader of the tribe of Dan, ²⁶Pagiel son of Ochran was the leader of the Asher tribe, ²⁷and Ahira son of Enan was the leader of the Naphtali tribe.
    ²⁸This was the order in which the Israelites marched each time they moved their camp.
    ²⁹Hobab ^[c<="">] the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses, was there. And Moses said to him, " We're leaving for the place the LORD has promised us. He has said that all will go well for us. So come along, and we will make sure that all goes well for you." ³⁰" No, I won't go," Hobab answered. " I'm returning home to be with my own people."
    ³¹" Please go with us!" Moses said. " You can be our guide because you know the places to camp in the desert. ³²Besides that, if you go, we will give you a share of the good things the LORD gives us."
    ³³The people of Israel began their journey from Mount Sinai. ^[d<="">] They traveled three days, and the Levites who carried the sacred chest led the way, so the LORD could show them where to camp. ³⁴And the cloud always stayed with them. ³⁵Each day as the Israelites began their journey, Moses would pray, " Our LORD, defeat your enemies and make them run!" ³⁶And when they stopped to set up camp, he would pray, " Our LORD, stay close to Israel's thousands and thousands of people."
   

Numbers 11

The Israelites Complain

 ¹One day the Israelites started complaining about their troubles. The LORD heard them and became so angry that he destroyed the outer edges of their camp with fire.     ²When the people begged Moses to help, he prayed, and the fire went out. ³They named the place " Burning," ^[e<="">] because in his anger the LORD had set their camp on fire.

The People Grumble about Being Hungry

 ⁴One day some worthless foreigners among the Israelites became greedy for food, and even the Israelites themselves began moaning, " We don't have any meat! ⁵In Egypt we could eat all the fish we wanted, and there were cucumbers, melons, onions, and garlic. ⁶But we're starving out here, and the only food we have is this manna."     ⁷The manna was like small whitish seeds ^8-9and tasted like something baked with sweet olive oil. It appeared at night with the dew. In the morning the people would collect the manna, grind or crush it into flour, then boil it and make it into thin wafers.
    ¹⁰The Israelites stood around their tents complaining. Moses heard them and was upset that they had made the LORD angry. ¹¹He prayed:
   I am your servant, LORD, so why are you doing this to me? What have I done to deserve this? You've made me responsible for all these people, ¹²but they're not my children. You told me to nurse them along and to carry them to the land you promised their ancestors. ¹³They keep whining for meat, but where can I get meat for them? ¹⁴This job is too much for me. How can I take care of all these people by myself? ¹⁵If this is the way you're going to treat me, just kill me now and end my miserable life!
   

Seventy Leaders Are Chosen To Help Moses

 ¹⁶The LORD said to Moses:    Choose seventy of Israel's respected leaders and go with them to the sacred tent. ¹⁷While I am talking with you there, I will give them some of your authority, so they can share responsibility for my people. You will no longer have to care for them by yourself.
    ¹⁸As for the Israelites, I have heard them complaining about not having meat and about being better off in Egypt. So tell them to make themselves acceptable to me, because tomorrow they will have meat. ^19-20In fact, they will have meat day after day for a whole month--not just a few days, or even ten or twenty. They turned against me and wanted to return to Egypt. Now they will eat meat until they get sick of it.
    ²¹Moses replied, " At least six hundred thousand grown men are here with me. How can you say there will be enough meat to feed them and their families for a whole month? ²²Even if we butchered all of our sheep and cattle, or caught every fish in the sea, we wouldn't have enough to feed them."
    ²³The LORD answered, " I can do anything! Watch and you'll see my words come true."
   

Footnotes:

1. Numbers 10:11 second month: See the note at 1.1.
2. Numbers 10:12 the Paran Desert: Probably a general name for the northernmost part of the Sinai Desert.
3. Numbers 10:29 Hobab: Hebrew " Hobab son of Reuel."
4. Numbers 10:33 Mount Sinai: Hebrew " the LORD's mountain."
5. Numbers 11:3 Burning: Or " Taberah."

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Mark 14:1-21 (Contemporary English Version)

Mark 14

A Plot To Kill Jesus

(Matthew 26.1-5; Luke 22.1,2; John 11.45-53)

 ¹It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Thin Bread. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses were planning how they could sneak around and have Jesus arrested and put to death. ²They were saying, "We must not do it during the festival, because the people will riot."    

At Bethany

(Matthew 26.6-13; John 12.1-8)

 ³Jesus was eating in Bethany at the home of Simon, who once had leprosy, ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} when a woman came in with a very expensive bottle of sweet-smelling perfume. ^[b<="">] After breaking it open, she poured the perfume on Jesus' head. ⁴This made some of the guests angry, and they complained, "Why such a waste? ⁵We could have sold this perfume for more than three hundred silver coins and given the money to the poor!" So they started saying cruel things to the woman.     ⁶But Jesus said:
   Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me. ⁷You will always have the poor with you. And whenever you want to, you can give to them. But you won't always have me here with you. ⁸She has done all she could by pouring perfume on my body to prepare it for burial. ⁹You may be sure that wherever the good news is told all over the world, people will remember what she has done. And they will tell others.
   

Judas and the Chief Priests

(Matthew 26.14-16; Luke 22.3-6)

 ¹⁰Judas Iscariot ^[c<="">] was one of the twelve disciples. He went to the chief priests and offered to help them arrest Jesus. ¹¹They were glad to hear this, and they promised to pay him. So Judas started looking for a good chance to betray Jesus.    

Jesus Eats with His Disciples

(Matthew 26.17-25; Luke 22.7-14,21-23; John 13.21-30)

 ¹²It was the first day of the Festival of Thin Bread, and the Passover lambs were being killed. Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal?"     ¹³Jesus said to two of the disciples, "Go into the city, where you will meet a man carrying a jar of water. ^[d<="">] Follow him, ¹⁴and when he goes into a house, say to the owner, `Our teacher wants to know if you have a room where he can eat the Passover meal with his disciples.' ¹⁵The owner will take you upstairs and show you a large room furnished and ready for you to use. Prepare the meal there."
    ¹⁶The two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal.
    ^17-18While Jesus and the twelve disciples were eating together that evening, he said, "The one who will betray me is now eating with me."
    ¹⁹This made the disciples sad, and one after another they said to Jesus, "You surely don't mean me!"
    ²⁰He answered, "It is one of you twelve men who is eating from this dish with me. ²¹The Son of Man will die, just as the Scriptures say. But it is going to be terrible for the one who betrays me. That man would be better off if he had never been born."
   

Footnotes:

1. Mark 14:3 leprosy: In biblical times the word "leprosy" was used for many different skin diseases.
2. Mark 14:3 sweet-smelling perfume: The Greek text has "perfume made of pure spikenard," a plant used to make perfume.
3. Mark 14:10 Iscariot: See the note at 3.19.
4. Mark 14:13 a man carrying a jar of water: A male slave carrying water could mean that the family was rich.

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Psalm 51:1-19 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 51

(For the music leader. A psalm by David when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had been with Bathsheba.)

A Prayer for Forgiveness

 ¹You are kind, God!    Please have pity on me.
   You are always merciful!
   Please wipe away my sins.
    ²Wash me clean from all
   of my sin and guilt.
    ³I know about my sins,
   and I cannot forget
   my terrible guilt.
    ⁴You are really the one
   I have sinned against;
   I have disobeyed you
   and have done wrong.
   So it is right and fair for you
   to correct and punish me.
    ⁵I have sinned and done wrong
   since the day I was born.
    ⁶But you want complete honesty,
   so teach me true wisdom.
    ⁷Wash me with hyssop ^{a<="" value="[a]" >[]} until I am clean
   and whiter than snow.
    ⁸Let me be happy and joyful!
   You crushed my bones,
   now let them celebrate.
    ⁹Turn your eyes from my sin
   and cover my guilt.
    ¹⁰Create pure thoughts in me
   and make me faithful again.
    ¹¹Don't chase me away from you
   or take your Holy Spirit
   away from me.
    ¹²Make me as happy as you did
   when you saved me;
   make me want to obey!
    ¹³I will teach sinners your Law,
   and they will return to you.
    ¹⁴Keep me from any deadly sin.
   Only you can save me!
   Then I will shout and sing
   about your power to save.
    ¹⁵Help me to speak,
   and I will praise you, Lord.
    ¹⁶Offerings and sacrifices
   are not what you want.
    ¹⁷The way to please you
   is to feel sorrow
   deep in our hearts.
   This is the kind of sacrifice
   you won't refuse.
    ¹⁸Please be willing, Lord,
   to help the city of Zion
   and to rebuild its walls.
    ¹⁹Then you will be pleased
   with the proper sacrifices,
   and we will offer bulls
   on your altar once again.
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 51:7 hyssop: A small bush with bunches of small, white flowers. It was sometimes used as a symbol for making a person clean from sin.

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Proverbs 10:31-32 (Contemporary English Version)

³¹Honest people speak sensibly,
   but deceitful liars
   will be silenced.
    ³²If you obey the Lord,
   you will always know
   the right thing to say.
   But no one will trust you
   if you tell lies.

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Verse of the Day

“[Paul Gives Thanks]Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! The Father is a merciful God, who always gives us comfort. He comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share that same comfort with others in trouble.” - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American author, educator, media theorist and cultural critic, who is best known for his seventeen books, Neil Postman wrote, “The computer and its information cannot answer any of the fundamental questions we need to address to make our lives more meaningful and humane. The computer cannot provide an organizing moral framework. It cannot tell us what questions are worth asking. It cannot provide a means of understanding why we are here or why we fight each other or why decency eludes us so often, especially when we need it the most. The computer is... a magnificent toy that distracts us from facing what we most need to confront — spiritual emptiness, knowledge of ourselves, usable conceptions of the past and future.”

Bible Readings for March 8, 2014

Today our passages are Numbers 11:24–13:33; Mark 14:22-52; Psalm 52:1-9; and Proverbs 11:1-3. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

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Numbers 11:24-13:33 (The Message)

 ^24-25 So Moses went out and told the people what God had said. He called together seventy of the leaders and had them stand around the Tent. God came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied. But they didn't continue; it was a onetime event.

²⁶ Meanwhile two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were listed as leaders but they didn't leave camp to go to the Tent. Still, the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp.
 ²⁷ A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"
 ²⁸ Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' right-hand man since his youth, said, "Moses, master! Stop them!"
 ²⁹ But Moses said, "Are you jealous for me? Would that all God's people were prophets. Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them."

^30-34 Then Moses and the leaders of Israel went back to the camp. A wind set in motion by God swept quails in from the sea. They piled up to a depth of about three feet in the camp and as far out as a day's walk in every direction. All that day and night and into the next day the people were out gathering the quail—huge amounts of quail; even the slowest person among them gathered at least sixty bushels. They spread them out all over the camp for drying. But while they were still chewing the quail and had hardly swallowed the first bites, God's anger blazed out against the people. He hit them with a terrible plague. They ended up calling the place Kibroth Hattaavah (Graves-of-the-Craving). There they buried the people who craved meat.
 ³⁵ From Kibroth Hattaavah they marched on to Hazeroth. They remained at Hazeroth.

Numbers 12

Camp Hazeroth

 ^1-2 Miriam and Aaron talked against Moses behind his back of
because his Cushite wife (he had married a Cushite woman). They said, "Is it only through Moses that God speaks? Doesn't he also speak through us?"    God overheard their talk.
 ^3-8 Now the man Moses was a quietly humble man, more so than anyone living on Earth. God broke in suddenly on Moses and Aaron and Miriam saying, "Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting." The three went out. God descended in a Pillar of Cloud and stood at the entrance to the Tent. He called Aaron and Miriam to him. When they stepped out, he said,

   Listen carefully to what I'm telling you.
      If there is a prophet of God among you,
   I make myself known to him in visions,
      I speak to him in dreams.
   But I don't do it that way with my servant Moses;
      he has the run of my entire house;
   I speak to him intimately, in person,
      in plain talk without riddles:
      He ponders the very form of God.
   So why did you show no reverence or respect
      in speaking against my servant, against Moses?
 ⁹ The anger of God blazed out against them. And then he left.
 ¹⁰ When the Cloud moved off from the Tent, oh! Miriam had turned leprous, her skin like snow. Aaron took one look at Miriam—a leper!
 ^11-12 He said to Moses, "Please, my master, please don't come down so hard on us for this foolish and thoughtless sin. Please don't make her like a stillborn baby coming out of its mother's womb with half its body decomposed."
 ¹³ And Moses prayed to God:

   Please, God, heal her,
      please heal her.
 ^14-16 God answered Moses, "If her father had spat in her face, wouldn't she be ostracized for seven days? Quarantine her outside the camp for seven days. Then she can be readmitted to the camp." So Miriam was in quarantine outside the camp for seven days. The people didn't march on until she was readmitted. Only then did the people march from Hazeroth and set up camp in the Wilderness of Paran.

Numbers 13

Scouting Out Canaan

 ^1-2 God spoke to Moses: "Send men to scout out the country of Canaan that I am giving to the People of Israel. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a tried-and-true leader in the tribe."  ^3-15 So Moses sent them off from the Wilderness of Paran at the command of God. All of them were leaders in Israel, one from each tribe. These were their names:

      from Reuben: Shammua son of Zaccur
      from Simeon: Shaphat son of Hori
      from Judah: Caleb son of Jephunneh
      from Issachar: Igal son of Joseph
      from Ephraim: Hoshea son of Nun
      from Benjamin: Palti son of Raphu
      from Zebulun: Gaddiel son of Sodi
      from Manasseh (a Joseph tribe): Gaddi son of Susi
      from Dan: Ammiel son of Gemalli
      from Asher: Sethur son of Michael
      from Naphtali: Nahbi son of Vophsi
      from Gad: Geuel son of Maki.
 ¹⁶ These are the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land. Moses gave Hoshea (Salvation) son of Nun a new name—Joshua (God-Saves).
 ^17-20 When Moses sent them off to scout out Canaan, he said, "Go up through the Negev and then into the hill country. Look the land over, see what it is like. Assess the people: Are they strong or weak? Are there few or many? Observe the land: Is it pleasant or harsh? Describe the towns where they live: Are they open camps or fortified with walls? And the soil: Is it fertile or barren? Are there forests? And try to bring back a sample of the produce that grows there—this is the season for the first ripe grapes."
 ^21-25 With that they were on their way. They scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob toward Lebo Hamath. Their route went through the Negev Desert to the town of Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of the giant Anak, lived there. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. When they arrived at the Eshcol Valley they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it took two men to carry it—slung on a pole. They also picked some pomegranates and figs. They named the place Eshcol Valley (Grape-Cluster-Valley) because of the huge cluster of grapes they had cut down there. After forty days of scouting out the land, they returned home.
 ^26-27 They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told the story of their trip:
 ^27-29 "We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan."
 ³⁰ Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, "Let's go up and take the land—now. We can do it."
 ^31-33 But the others said, "We can't attack those people; they're way stronger than we are." They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, "We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it's a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers."

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Mark 14:22-52 (The Message)

"This Is My Body"

 ²²In the course of their meal, having taken and blessed the bread, he broke it and gave it to them. Then he said,

   Take, this is my body.

 ^23-24Taking the chalice, he gave it to them, thanking God, and they all drank from it. He said,

   This is my blood,
   God's new covenant,
   Poured out for many people.

 ²⁵"I'll not be drinking wine again until the new day when I drink it in the kingdom of God."

 ²⁶They sang a hymn and then went directly to Mount Olives.

 ^27-28Jesus told them, "You're all going to feel that your world is falling apart and that it's my fault. There's a Scripture that says,

   I will strike the shepherd;
   The sheep will go helter-skelter.
"But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you, leading the way to Galilee."

 ²⁹Peter blurted out, "Even if everyone else is ashamed of you when things fall to pieces, I won't be."

 ³⁰Jesus said, "Don't be so sure. Today, this very night in fact, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times."

 ³¹He blustered in protest, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you." All the others said the same thing.

Gethsemane

 ^32-34They came to an area called Gethsemane. Jesus told his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took Peter, James, and John with him. He plunged into a sinkhole of dreadful agony. He told them, "I feel bad enough right now to die. Stay here and keep vigil with me."

 ^35-36Going a little ahead, he fell to the ground and prayed for a way out: "Papa, Father, you can—can't you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want?"

 ^37-38He came back and found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, "Simon, you went to sleep on me? Can't you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don't enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don't be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire."

 ^39-40He then went back and prayed the same prayer. Returning, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn't keep their eyes open, and they didn't have a plausible excuse.

 ^41-42He came back a third time and said, "Are you going to sleep all night? No—you've slept long enough. Time's up. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let's get going. My betrayer has arrived."

A Gang of Ruffians

 ^43-47No sooner were the words out of his mouth when Judas, the one out of the Twelve, showed up, and with him a gang of ruffians, sent by the high priests, religion scholars, and leaders, brandishing swords and clubs. The betrayer had worked out a signal with them: "The one I kiss, that's the one—seize him. Make sure he doesn't get away." He went straight to Jesus and said, "Rabbi!" and kissed him. The others then grabbed him and roughed him up. One of the men standing there unsheathed his sword, swung, and came down on the Chief Priest's servant, lopping off the man's ear.

 ^48-50Jesus said to them, "What is this, coming after me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I've been sitting in the Temple teaching, and you never so much as lifted a hand against me. What you in fact have done is confirm the prophetic writings." All the disciples cut and ran.

 ^51-52A young man was following along. All he had on was a bedsheet. Some of the men grabbed him but he got away, running off naked, leaving them holding the sheet.

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Psalm 52:1-9 (The Message)

Psalm 52

A David Psalm, When Doeg the Edomite Reported to Saul, "David's at Ahimelech's House"

 ^1-4 Why do you brag of evil, "Big Man"?
      God's mercy carries the day.
   You scheme catastrophe;
      your tongue cuts razor-sharp,
      artisan in lies.
   You love evil more than good,
      you call black white.
   You love malicious gossip,
      you foul-mouth.

 ⁵ God will tear you limb from limb,
      sweep you up and throw you out,
   Pull you up by the roots
      from the land of life.

 ^6-7 Good people will watch and
      worship. They'll laugh in relief:
   "Big Man bet on the wrong horse,
      trusted in big money,
      made his living from catastrophe."

 ⁸ And I'm an olive tree,
      growing green in God's house.
   I trusted in the generous mercy
      of God then and now.

 ⁹ I thank you always
      that you went into action.
   And I'll stay right here,
      your good name my hope,
      in company with your faithful friends.

 

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Proverbs 11:1-3 (The Message)

Proverbs 11

Without Good Direction, People Lose Their Way

 ¹God hates cheating in the marketplace; he loves it when business is aboveboard.

 ² The stuck-up fall flat on their faces,
   but down-to-earth people stand firm.

 ³ The integrity of the honest keeps them on track;
   the deviousness of crooks brings them to ruin.

 

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Verse of the Day

 

“[Paul Gives Thanks]Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! The Father is a merciful God, who always gives us comfort. He comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share that same comfort with others in trouble.” - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

 

American author, media theorist and cultural critic, Neil Postman wrote, “Technology always has unforeseen consequences, and it is not always clear, at the beginning, who or what will win, and who or what will lose.”