Daily Bible Reading from BibleStudyTools.com

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Today's Bible Reading

March 17

Matthew 18:1-20; Numbers 5-6; Ecclesiastes 5 CJB

Matthew 18:1-20

1 At that moment the talmidim came to Yeshua and asked, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"

2 He called a child to him, stood him among them,

3 and said, "Yes! I tell you that unless you change and become like little children, you won't even enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

4 So the greatest in the Kingdom is who ever makes himself as humble as this child.

5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me;

6 and whoever ensnares one of these little ones who trust me, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the open sea!

7 Woe to the world because of snares! For there must be snares, but woe to the person who sets the snare!

8 "So if your hand or foot becomes a snare for you, cut it off and throw it away! Better that you should be maimed or crippled and obtain eternal life than keep both hands or both feet and be thrown into everlasting fire!

9 And if your eye is a snare for you, gouge it out and fling it away! Better that you should be oneeyed and obtain eternal life than keep both eyes and be thrown into the fire of Gei Hinnom.

10 See that you never despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven are continually seeing the face of my Father in heaven.

11 Some manuscripts include verse 11: For the Son of Man came to save the lost.

12 "What's your opinion? What will somebody do who has a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away? Won't he leave the ninety-nine on the hillsides and go off to find the stray?

13 And if he happens to find it? Yes! I tell you he is happier over it than over the ninety-nine that never strayed!

14 Thus your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.

15 "Moreover, if your brother commits a sin against you, go and show him his fault -- but privately, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.

16 If he doesn't listen, take one or two others with you so that every accusation can be supported by the testimony of two or three witnesses.l

17 If he refuses to hear them, tell the congregation; and if he refuses to listen even to the congregation, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax-collector.

18 Yes! I tell you people that whatever you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.

19 To repeat, I tell you that if two of you here on earth agree about anything people ask, it will be for them from my Father in heaven.

20 For wherever two or three are assembled in my name, I am there with them."

Numbers 5

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Order the people of Isra'el to expel from the camp everyone with tzara'at, everyone with a discharge and whoever is unclean because of touching a corpse.

3 Both male and female you must expel; put them outside the camp; so that they won't defile their camp, where I live among you."

4 The people of Isra'el did this and put them outside the camp - the people of Isra'el did what ADONAI had said to Moshe.

5 ADONAI said to Moshe,

6 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'When a man or woman commits any kind of sin against another person and thus breaks faith with ADONAI, he incurs guilt.

7 He must confess the sin which he has committed; and he must make full restitution for his guilt, add twenty percent and give it to the victim of his sin.

8 But if the person has no relative to whom restitution can be made for the guilt, then what is given in restitution for guilt will belong to ADONAI, that is, to the cohen - in addition to the ram of atonement through which atonement is made for him.

9 "'Every contribution which the people of Isra'el consecrate and present to the cohen will belong to him.

10 Anything an individual consecrates will be his own [to allocate among the cohanim], but what a person gives to the cohen will belong to him.'"

11 ADONAI said to Moshe,

12 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'If a man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him;

13 that is, if another man goes to bed with her without her husband's knowledge, so that she becomes impure secretly, and there is no witness against her, and she was not caught in the act;

14 then, if a spirit of jealousy comes over him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she has become impure - or, for that matter, if the spirit of jealousy comes over him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she has not become impure -

15 he is to bring his wife to the cohen, along with the offering for her, two quarts of barley flour on which he has not poured olive oil or put frankincense, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a grain offering for remembering, for recalling guilt to mind.

16 The cohen will bring her forward and place her before ADONAI.

17 The cohen will put holy water in a clay pot, and then the cohen will take some of the dust on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.

18 The cohen will place the woman before ADONAI, unbind the woman's hair and put the grain offering for remembering in her hands, the grain offering for jealousy; while the cohen has in his hand the water of embitterment and cursing.

19 The cohen will make her swear by saying to her, "If no man has gone to bed with you, if you have not gone astray to make yourself unclean while under your husband's authority, then be free from this water of embitterment and cursing.

20 But if you have in fact gone astray while under your husband's authority and become unclean, because some man other than your husband has gone to bed with you . . ."

21 then the cohen is to make the woman swear with an oath that includes a curse; the cohen will say to the woman, ". . .may ADONAI make you an object of cursing and condemnation among your people by making your private parts shrivel and your abdomen swell up!

22 May this water that causes the curse go into your inner parts and make your abdomen swell and your private parts shrivel up!"- and the woman is to respond, "Amen! Amen!"

23 The cohen is to write these curses on a scroll, wash them off into the water of embitterment

24 and make the woman drink the water of embitterment and cursing - the water of cursing will enter her and become bitter.

25 Then the cohen is to remove the grain offering for jealousy from the woman's hand, wave the grain offering before ADONAI and bring it to the altar.

26 The cohen is to take a handful of the grain offering as its reminder portion and make it go up in smoke on the altar; afterwards, he is to make the woman drink the water.

27 When he has made her drink the water, then, if she is unclean and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that causes the curse will enter her and become bitter, so that her abdomen swells and her private parts shrivel up; and the woman will become an object of cursing among her people.

28 But if the woman is not unclean but clean, then she will be innocent and will have children.

29 This is the law for jealousy: when either a wife under her husband's authority goes astray and becomes unclean,

30 or the spirit of jealousy comes over a husband and he becomes jealous of his wife, then he is to place the woman before ADONAI, and the cohen is to deal with her in accordance with all of this law.

31 The husband will be clear of guilt, but the wife will bear the consequences of her guilt.'"

Numbers 6

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'When either a man or a woman makes a special kind of vow, the vow of a nazir, consecrating himself to ADONAI;

3 he is to abstain from wine and other intoxicating liquor, he is not to drink vinegar from either source, he is not to drink grape juice, and he is not to eat grapes or raisins.

4 As long as he remains a nazir he is to eat nothing derived from the grapevine, not even the grape-skins or the seeds.

5 "'Throughout the period of his vow as a nazir, he is not to shave his head. Until the end of the time for which he has consecrated himself to ADONAI he is to be holy: he is to let the hair on his head grow long.

6 "'Throughout the period for which he has consecrated himself to ADONAI, he is not to approach a corpse.

7 He is not to make himself unclean for his father, mother, brother or sister when they die, since his consecration to God is on his head.

8 Throughout the time of his being a nazir he is holy for ADONAI.

9 "'If someone next to him dies very suddenly, so that he defiles his consecrated head, then he is to shave his head on the day of his purification; he is to shave it on the seventh day.

10 On the eighth day he is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the cohen at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

11 The cohen is to prepare one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering and thus make atonement for him, inasmuch as he sinned because of the dead person. That same day he is to re-consecrate his head;

12 he is to consecrate to ADONAI the full period of his being a nazir by bringing a male lamb in its first year as a guilt offering. The previous days will not be counted, because his consecration became defiled.

13 "'This is the law for the nazir when his period of consecration is over: he is to be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting,

14 where he will present his offering to ADONAI - one male lamb in its first year without defect as a burnt offering, one female lamb in its first year without defect as a sin offering, one ram without defect as peace offerings,

15 a basket of matzah, loaves made of fine flour mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers spread with olive oil, their grain offering and their drink offerings.

16 The cohen is to bring them before ADONAI, offer his sin offering, his burnt offering,

17 and his ram as a sacrifice of peace offerings to ADONAI, with the basket of matzah. The cohen will also offer the grain offering and drink offering that go with the peace offering.

18 The nazir will shave his consecrated head at the entrance to the tent of meeting, take the hair removed from his consecrated head and put it on the fire under the sacrifice of peace offerings.

19 When the ram has been boiled, the cohen is to take its shoulder, one loaf of matzah from the basket and one unleavened wafer, and place them in the hands of the nazir, after he has shaved his consecrated head.

20 The cohen is to wave them as a wave offering before ADONAI; this is set aside for the cohen, along with the breast for waving and the raised-up thigh. Following that, the nazir may drink wine.

21 "'This is the law for the nazir who makes a vow and for his offering to ADONAI for his being a nazir - in addition to anything more for which he has sufficient means. In keeping with whatever vow he makes, he must do it according to the law for the nazir.'"

22 ADONAI said to Moshe,

23 "Speak to Aharon and his sons, and tell them that this is how you are to bless the people of Isra'el: you are to say to them,

24 'Y'varekh'kha ADONAI v'yishmerekha. [May ADONAI bless you and keep you.]

25 Ya'er ADONAI panav eleikha vichunekka. [May ADONAI make his face shine on you and show you his favor.]

26 Yissa ADONAI panav eleikha v'yasem l'kha shalom. [May ADONAI lift up his face toward you and give you peace.]'

27 "In this way they are to put my name on the people of Isra'el, so that I will bless them."

Ecclesiastes 5

1 Watch your step when you go to the house of God. Offering to listen is better than fools offering sacrifices, because they don't discern whether or not they are doing evil.

2 Don't speak impulsively - don't be in a hurry to give voice to your words before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth; so let your words be few.

3 For nightmares come from worrying too much; and a fool, when he speaks, chatters too much.

4 If you make a vow to God, don't delay in discharging it. For God takes no pleasure in fools, so discharge your vow!

5 Better not to make a vow than to make a vow and not discharge it.

6 Don't let your words make you guilty, and don't tell the temple official that you made the vow by mistake. Why give God reason to be angry at what you say and destroy what you have accomplished?

7 For [this is what happens when there are too] many dreams, aimless activities and words. Instead, just fear God!

8 If you see the poor oppressed, rights violated and justice perverted in the province, don't be surprised; for a high official has one higher watching him, and there are others above them.

9 But the greatest advantage to the country is when the king makes himself a servant to the land.

10 The lover of money never has enough money; the lover of luxury never has enough income. This too is pointless.

11 When the quantity of goods increases, so does the number of parasites consuming them; so the only advantage to the owner is that he gets to watch them do it.

12 The sleep of a working man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the overfullness of the rich won't let them sleep at all.

13 Here is a gross evil which I have seen under the sun: the owner of wealth hoards it to his own hurt.

14 Due to some misfortune, the wealth turns to loss; and then if he has fathered a son, he has nothing to leave him.

15 Just as he came from his mother's womb, so he will go back naked as he came, and for his efforts he will take nothing that he can carry away in his hand.

16 This too is a gross evil, that in every respect as he came, so will he go; thus what profit does he have after toiling to earn the wind?

17 All his life he eats in darkness, in frustration, in sickness and in anger.

18 This is what I have seen to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, drink and enjoy the good that results from all his work that he engages in under the sun for all the days of his life that God has given him, for this is his allotted portion.

19 Also, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, along with the power to enjoy it, so that he takes his allotted portion and finds pleasure in his work - this is a gift of God;

20 for he will not brood over the fact that his life is short, since God keeps him occupied with what will bring him joy.

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Today's Bible Reading

March 18

Matthew 18:21-35; Numbers 7-8; Ecclesiastes 6 CJB

Matthew 18:21-55

21 Then Kefa came up and said to him, "Rabbi, how often can my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him? As many as seven times?"

22 "No, not seven times," answered Yeshua, "but seventy times seven!

23 Because of this, the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared with a king who decided to settle accounts with his deputies.

24 Right away they brought forward a man who owed him many millions;

25 and since he couldn't pay, his master ordered that he, his wife, his children and all his possessions be sold to pay the debt.

26 But the servant fell down before him. `Be patient with me,' he begged, `and I will pay back everything.'

27 So out of pity for him, the master let him go and forgave the debt.

28 "But as that servant was leaving, he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him some tiny sum. He grabbed him and began to choke him, crying, `Pay back what you owe me!'

29 His fellow servant fell before him and begged, `Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

30 But he refused; instead, he had him thrown in jail until he should repay the debt.

31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were extremely distressed; and they went and told their master every thing that had taken place.

32 Then the master summoned his servant and said, `You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt just because you begged me to do it.

33 Shouldn't you have had pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'

34 And in anger his master turned him over to the jailers for punishment until he paid back everything he owed.

35 This is how my heavenly Father will treat you, unless you each forgive your brother from your hearts."

Numbers 7

1 On the day Moshe finished putting up the tabernacle, he anointed and consecrated it, all its furnishings, and the altar with its utensils. After anointing and consecrating them,

2 the leaders of Isra'el, who were heads of their father's clans, made an offering. These were the tribal leaders in charge of those counted in the census.

3 They brought their offering before ADONAI, six covered wagons and twelve oxen -a wagon for every two leaders and for each an ox -and presented them in front of the tabernacle.

4 ADONAI said to Moshe,

5 "Receive these from them; they are to be used for the service in the tent of meeting. Give them to the L'vi'im, to each as needed for his duties."

6 So Moshe took the wagons and oxen and gave them to the L'vi'im.

7 He gave two wagons and four oxen to the descendants of Gershon, in keeping with the needs of their duties.

8 Four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the descendants of M'rari, in keeping with the needs of their duties, directed by Itamar the son of Aharon the cohen.

9 But to the descendants of K'hat he gave none, because their duties involved the holy articles, which they carried on their own shoulders.

10 The leaders brought the offering for dedicating the altar on the day it was anointed. The leaders brought their offering before the altar,

11 and ADONAI said to Moshe, "They are to present their offerings to dedicate the altar, each leader on his own day."

12 Nachshon the son of 'Amminadav, from the tribe of Y'hudah, presented his offering on the first day.

13 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

14 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

15 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

16 one male goat as a sin offering,

17 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Nachshon the son of 'Amminadav.

18 On the second day N'tan'el the son of Tzu'ar, leader of Yissakhar, presented his offering.

19 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

20 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

21 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

22 one male goat as a sin offering,

23 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of N'tan'el the son of Tzu'ar.

24 On the third day Eli'av the son of Helon, leader of Z'vulun, presented his offering.

25 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

26 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

27 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

28 one male goat as a sin offering,

29 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Eli'av the son of Helon.

30 On the fourth day was Elitzur the son of Sh'de'ur, leader of the descendants of Re'uven.

31 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

32 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

33 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

34 one male goat as a sin offering,

35 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Elitzur the son of Sh'de'ur.

36 On the fifth day was Shlumi'el the son of Tzurishaddai, leader of the descendants of Shim'on.

37 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

38 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

39 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

40 one male goat as a sin offering,

41 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Shlumi'el the son of Tzurishaddai.

42 On the sixth day was Elyasaf the son of De'u'el, leader of the descendants of Gad.

43 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

44 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

45 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

46 one male goat as a sin offering,

47 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Elyasaf the son of De'u'el.

48 On the seventh day was Elishama the son of 'Ammihud, leader of the descendants of Efrayim.

49 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

50 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

51 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

52 one male goat as a sin offering,

53 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Elishama the son of 'Ammihud.

54 On the eighth day was Gamli'el the son of P'dahtzur, leader of the descendants of M'nasheh.

55 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

56 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

57 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

58 one male goat as a sin offering,

59 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Gamli'el the son of P'dahtzur.

60 On the ninth day was Avidan the son of Gid'oni, leader of the descendants of Binyamin.

61 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

62 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

63 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

64 one male goat as a sin offering,

65 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Avidan the son of Gid'oni.

66 On the tenth day was Achi'ezer the son of 'Ammishaddai, leader of the descendants of Dan.

67 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

68 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

69 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

70 one male goat as a sin offering,

71 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Achi'ezer the son of 'Ammishaddai.

72 On the eleventh day was Pag'i'el the son of 'Okhran, leader of the descendants of Asher.

73 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

74 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

75 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

76 one male goat as a sin offering,

77 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Pag'i'el the son of 'Okhran.

78 On the twelfth day was Achira the son of 'Enan, leader of the descendants of Naftali.

79 He offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and one silver basin of seventy shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-and-three-quarters pounds], both full of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering;

80 one gold pan of ten shekels [one-quarter pound], full of incense;

81 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering,

82 one male goat as a sin offering,

83 and, for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Achira the son of 'Enan.

84 This was the offering for dedicating the altar which was given by the leaders of Isra'el on the day of its anointing: twelve silver dishes, twelve silver basins and twelve gold pans.

85 Each silver dish weighed 130 shekels [three-and-a-quarter pounds] and each basin seventy shekels [one-and-three-quarters pounds]; all the silver of the vessels weighed 2,400 shekels (using the sanctuary shekel) [just over sixty pounds].

86 The twelve gold pans, full of incense, weighed ten shekels apiece (using the sanctuary shekel) [one-quarter pound]; all the gold of the pans weighed 120 shekels [three pounds].

87 The livestock for the burnt offering consisted of twelve bulls, twelve rams and twelve male lambs in their first year, with their grain offering. There were twelve male goats for a sin offering.

88 The livestock for the sacrifice of peace offerings consisted of twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty male goats and sixty male lambs in their first year. This was the offering for dedicating the altar after it had been anointed.

89 When Moshe went into the tent of meeting in order to speak with ADONAI, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the ark-cover on the ark for the testimony, from between the two k'ruvim; and he spoke to him.

Numbers 8

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Tell Aharon, 'When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps are to cast their light forward, in front of the menorah.'"

3 Aharon did this: he lit its lamps so as to give light in front of the menorah, as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

4 Here is how the menorah was made: it was hammered gold from its base to its flowers, hammered work, following the pattern ADONAI had shown Moshe. This is how he made the menorah.

5 ADONAI said to Moshe,

6 "Take the L'vi'im from among the people of Isra'el and cleanse them.

7 Here is how you are to cleanse them: sprinkle the purification water on them, have them shave their whole body with a razor, and have them wash their clothes and cleanse themselves.

8 Then they are to take a young bull with its grain offering, which is to be fine flour mixed with olive oil; while you take another bull for a sin offering.

9 You are to present the L'vi'im in front of the tent of meeting, and assemble the entire community of the people of Isra'el.

10 You will present the L'vi'im before ADONAI, the people of Isra'el will lay their hands on the L'vi'im,

11 and Aharon will offer the L'vi'im before ADONAI as a wave offering from the people of Isra'el, so that they may do ADONAI's service.

12 The L'vi'im will lay their hands on the heads of the bulls; the one you will offer as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to ADONAI to make atonement for the L'vi'im.

13 You are to place the L'vi'im before Aharon and his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to ADONAI.

14 In this way you will separate the L'vi'im from the people of Isra'el, and the L'vi'im will belong to me.

15 "After that, the L'vi'im will enter and do the service of the tent of meeting. You will cleanse them and offer them as a wave offering,

16 because they are entirely given to me from among the people of Isra'el; I have taken them for myself in place of all those who come first out of the womb, that is, the firstborn males of the people of Isra'el.

17 For all the firstborn among the people of Isra'el are mine, both humans and animals; on the day I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set them apart for myself.

18 But I have taken the L'vi'im in place of all the firstborn among the people of Isra'el,

19 and I have given the L'vi'im to Aharon and his sons from among the people of Isra'el to do the service of the people of Isra'el in the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Isra'el, so that no plague will fall on the people of Isra'el in consequence of their coming too close to the sanctuary."

20 This is what Moshe, Aharon and all the community of the people of Isra'el did to the L'vi'im. The people of Isra'el acted in accordance with everything that ADONAI had ordered Moshe in regard to the L'vi'im.

21 The L'vi'im purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aharon offered them as a holy gift before ADONAI and made atonement for them in order to cleanse them.

22 After that, the L'vi'im came to do their service in the tent of meeting in front of Aharon and his sons; they acted in accordance with ADONAI's orders to Moshe in regard to the L'vi'im.

23 ADONAI said to Moshe,

24 "Here are instructions concerning the L'vi'im: when they reach the age of twenty-five, they are to begin performing their duties serving in the tent of meeting;

25 and when they reach the age of fifty, they are to stop performing this work and not serve any longer.

26 They will assist their brothers who are performing their duties in the tent of meeting, but they themselves will not do any of the work. This is what you are to do with the L'vi'im in regard to their duties."

Ecclesiastes 6

1 I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on people:

2 the case in which God gives someone riches, wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing that he wants; but God does not give him the power to enjoy them, and some stranger gets to enjoy them - this is meaningless, evil, sick.

3 Suppose a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that he has a long life, but he fails to enjoy himself; then, even if he were to [live indefinitely and therefore] never be buried, I say that it would be better to be born dead.

4 For the arrival of a stillborn baby is a futile thing, and its departure is in darkness; its name is [forgotten,] covered in darkness;

5 and although it has never seen or known the sun, it is more content than he is,

6 without enjoying himself, even if he were to live a thousand years twice over. Doesn't everyone go to the same place?

7 The purpose of all toil is to fill the mouth, yet the appetite is never satisfied.

8 What advantage has the wise over the fool, or the person with experience, if he is poor?

9 Better what the eyes can see than meandering desire. Yet this too is pointless and feeding on wind.

10 Whatever he is, he was named long ago, and it is known that he is merely human; moreover, he cannot defeat what is mightier than he [death].

11 There are many things that only add to futility, so how do humans benefit from them?

12 For who knows what is good for someone during life, during the days of his pointless life spent like a shadow? Who can tell what will happen under the sun after a person is gone?

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 19

Matthew 19:1-15; Numbers 9-10; Ecclesiastes 7 CJB

Matthew 19:1-15

1 When Yeshua had finished talking about these things, he left the Galil and traveled down the east side of the Yarden River until he passed the border of Y'hudah.

2 Great crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 Some P'rushim came and tried to trap him by asking, "Is it permitted for a man to divorce his wife on any ground whatever?"

4 He replied, "Haven't you read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female,

5 and that he said, `For this reason a man should leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two are to become one flesh'?

6 Thus they are no longer two, but one. So then, no one should split apart what God has joined together."

7 They said to him, "Then why did Moshe give the commandment that a man should hand his wife a get and divorce her?"

8 He answered, "Moshe allowed you to divorce your wives because your hearts are so hardened. But this is not how it was at the beginning.

9 Now what I say to you is that whoever divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery!"

10 The talmidim said to him, "If that is how things are between husband and wife, it would be better not to marry!"

11 He said to them, "Not everyone grasps this teaching, only those for whom it is meant.

12 For there are different reasons why men do not marry -- some because they were born without the desire, some because they have been castrated, and some because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever can grasp this, let him do so."

13 Then children were brought to him so that he might lay his hands on them and pray for them, but the talmidim rebuked the people bringing them.

14 However, Yeshua said, "Let the children come to me, don't stop them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."

15 Then, after laying his hands on them, he went on his way.

Numbers 9

1 ADONAI spoke to Moshe in the Sinai Desert in the first month of the second year after they had left the land of Egypt; he said,

2 "Let the people of Isra'el observe Pesach at its designated time.

3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at dusk, you are to observe it - at its designated time. You are to observe it according to all its regulations and rules."

4 Moshe told the people of Isra'el to observe Pesach.

5 So they observed Pesach at dusk on the fourteenth day of the month in the Sinai Desert; the people of Isra'el acted in accordance with all that ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

6 But there were certain people who had become unclean because of someone's corpse, so that they could not observe Pesach on that day. So they came before Moshe and Aharon that day

7 and said to him, "We are unclean because of someone's corpse; but why must we be kept from bringing the offering for ADONAI at the time designated for the people of Isra'el?"

8 Moshe answered them, "Wait, so that I can hear what ADONAI will order concerning you."

9 ADONAI said to Moshe,

10 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'If any of you now or in future generations is unclean because of a corpse, or if he is on a trip abroad, nevertheless he is to observe Pesach.

11 But he will observe it in the second month on the fourteenth day at dusk. They are to eat it with matzah and maror,

12 they are to leave none of it until morning, and they are not to break any of its bones -they are to observe it according to all the regulations of Pesach.

13 But the person who is clean and not on a trip who fails to observe Pesach will be cut off from his people; because he did not bring the offering for ADONAI at its designated time, that person will bear the consequences of his sin.

14 If a foreigner is staying with you and wants to observe Pesach for ADONAI, he is to do it according to the regulations and rules of Pesach- you are to have the same law for the foreigner as for the citizen of the land.'"

15 On the day the tabernacle was put up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, that is, the tent of the testimony; and in the evening, over the tabernacle was what appeared to be fire, which remained until morning.

16 So the cloud always covered it, and it looked like fire at night.

17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tent, the people of Isra'el continued their travels; and they camped wherever the cloud stopped.

18 At the order of ADONAI, the people of Isra'el traveled; at the order of ADONAI, they camped; and as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they stayed in camp.

19 Even when the cloud remained on the tabernacle for a long time, the people of Isra'el did what ADONAI had charged them to do and did not travel.

20 Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle; according to ADONAI's order, they remained in camp; and according to ADONAI's order, they traveled.

21 Sometimes the cloud was there only from evening until morning; so that when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they traveled. Or even if it continued up both day and night, when the cloud was up, they traveled.

22 Whether it was two days, a month or a year that the cloud remained over the tabernacle, staying on it, the people of Isra'el remained in camp and did not travel; but as soon as it was taken up, they traveled.

23 At ADONAI's order, they camped; and at ADONAI's order, they traveled -they did what ADONAI had charged them to do through Moshe.

Numbers 10

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Make two trumpets; make them of hammered silver. Use them for summoning the community and for sounding the call to break camp and move on.

3 When they are sounded, the entire community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

4 If only one is sounded, then just the leaders, the heads of the clans of Isra'el, are to assemble before you.

5 "When you sound an alarm, the camps to the east will commence traveling.

6 When you sound a second alarm, the camps to the south will set out; they will sound alarms to announce when to travel.

7 However, when the community is to be assembled, you are to sound; but don't sound an alarm.

8 It will be the sons of Aharon, the cohanim, who are to sound the trumpets; this will be a permanent regulation for you through all your generations.

9 "When you go to war in your land against an adversary who is oppressing you, you are to sound an alarm with the trumpets; then you will be remembered before ADONAI your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

10 "Also on your days of rejoicing, at your designated times and on Rosh-Hodesh, you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; these will be your reminder before your God. I am ADONAI your God."

11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony;

12 and the people of Isra'el moved out in stages from the Sinai Desert. The cloud stopped in the Pa'ran Desert.

13 So they set out on their first journey, in keeping with ADONAI's order through Moshe.

14 In the lead was the banner of the camp of the descendants of Y'hudah, whose companies moved forward; over his company was Nachshon the son of 'Amminadav.

15 Over the company of the tribe of the descendants of Yissakhar was N'tan'el the son of Tzu'ar.

16 Over the company of the descendants of Z'vulun was Eli'av the son of Helon.

17 Then the tabernacle was taken down; and the descendants of Gershon and the descendants of M'rari set out, carrying the tabernacle.

18 Next, the banner of the camp of Re'uven moved forward by companies; over his company was Elitzur the son of Sh'de'ur.

19 Over the company of the tribe of the descendants of Shim'on was Shlumi'el the son of Tzurishaddai.

20 Over the company of the descendants of Gad was Elyasaf the son of De'u'el.

21 Then the descendants of K'hat set out, carrying the sanctuary, so that [at the next camp] the tabernacle could be set up before they arrived.

22 The banner of the camp of the descendants of Efrayim moved forward by companies; over his company was Elishama the son of 'Ammihud.

23 Over the company of the tribe of the descendants of M'nasheh was Gamli'el the son of P'dahtzur.

24 Over the company of the descendants of Binyamin was Avidan the son of Gid'oni.

25 The banner of the camp of the descendants of Dan, forming the rearguard for all the camps, moved forward by companies; over his company was Achi'ezer the son of 'Ammishaddai.

26 Over the company of the tribe of the descendants of Asher was Pag'i'el the son of 'Okhran.

27 Over the company of the descendants of Naftali was Achira the son of 'Enan.

28 This is how the people of Isra'el traveled by companies; thus they moved forward.

29 Moshe said to Hovav the son of Re'u'el the Midyani, Moshe's father-in-law, "We are traveling to the place about which ADONAI said, 'I will give it to you.'Come with us, and we will treat you well, because ADONAI has promised good things to Isra'el."

30 But he replied, "I will not go; I would rather go back to my own country and my own kinsmen."

31 Moshe continued, "Please don't leave us, because you know that we have to camp in the desert, and you can serve as our eyes.

32 If you do go with us, then whatever good ADONAI does for us, we will do the same for you."

33 So they set out from ADONAI's mountain and traveled for three days. Ahead of them on this three-day journey went the ark of ADONAI's covenant, searching for a new place to stop.

34 The cloud of ADONAI was over them during the day as they set out from the camp.

35 When the ark moved forward, Moshe said, "Arise, ADONAI! May your enemies be scattered! Let those who hate you flee before you!"

36 When it stopped, he said, "Return, ADONAI of the many, many thousands of Isra'el!"

Ecclesiastes 7

1 A good name is better than perfumed oil, and the day of death better than the day of birth.

2 Better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for all are destined to be mourned; the living should lay this to heart.

3 Grief is better than laughter, for sadness can improve a person.

4 The thoughts of the wise are in the house of mourning, but the thoughts of fools are in the house of pleasure.

5 It is better to hear the rebukes of the wise than to listen to the songs of fools.

6 For the laughter of fools is like the crackling of thorns burning under a pot; this too is pointless.

7 But oppression can make a wise man stupid; also a gift can destroy understanding.

8 The end of something is better than its beginning, so the patient are better than the proud.

9 Don't be quick to get angry, for [only] fools nurse anger.

10 Don't ask why the old days were better than now, because that is a foolish question.

11 Wisdom is good, along with possessions, an advantage to all who see the sun.

12 For wisdom is a shelter, and money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom keeps the one who has it alive.

13 Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?

14 When things are going well, enjoy yourself; but when things are going badly, consider that God made the one alongside the other, so that people would learn nothing of their futures.

15 In my pointless life, I've seen everything -from the righteous person perishing in his uprightness to the wicked one who lives a long life and keeps on doing wrong.

16 So don't be overly righteous or overly wise; why should you disappoint yourself?

17 But don't be overly wicked, and don't be foolish; why should you die before your time?

18 Don't grasp just one of these rules; take hold of the other as well; for he who is in fear of God will live by both of them.

19 To a wise man wisdom is better protection than ten rulers in a city.

20 For there isn't a righteous person on earth who does [only] good and never sins.

21 Also, don't take seriously every word spoken, such as when you hear your servant speaking badly of you;

22 because often, as you yourself know, you have spoken badly of others.

23 All this I have put to the test of wisdom; I said, "I will acquire wisdom"; but wisdom remained far away from me.

24 That which exists is far away and deep, so deep, that it can't be discovered.

25 So I turned myself and my thoughts to know, search out and seek wisdom and the reasons behind things, also to know how foolish it is to be wicked and how stupid to act like a fool.

26 I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is a snare and whose hands are like prison chains. The man who pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be caught by her.

27 I have found this - says Kohelet -adding one thing to another to reach a conclusion,

28 I searched a long time without finding it: one man in a thousand I have found, but a woman among all those I have not found.

29 This is the only thing I have found, that God made human beings upright, but they have devised many schemes.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 20

Matthew 19:16-30; Numbers 11-12; Ecclesiastes 8 CJB

Matthew 19

16 A man approached Yeshua and said, "Rabbi, what good thing should I do in order to have eternal life?" He said to him,

17 "Why are you asking me about good? There is One who is good! But if you want to obtain eternal life, observe the mitzvot."

18 The man asked him, "Which ones?" and Yeshua said, "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't give false testimony

19 honor father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself."

20 The young man said to him, "I have kept all these; where do I still fall short?"

21 Yeshua said to him, "If you are serious about reaching the goal, go and sell your possessions, give to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me!"

22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was wealthy.

23 Then Yeshua said to his talmidim, "Yes. I tell you that it will be very hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

24 Furthermore, I tell you that it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."

25 When the talmidim heard this they were utterly amazed. "Then who," they asked, "can be saved?"

26 Yeshua looked at them and said, "Humanly, this is impossible; but with God everything is possible."

27 Kefa replied, "Look, we have left everything and followed you. So what will we have?"

28 Yeshua said to them, "Yes. I tell you that in the regenerated world, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Isra'el.

29 Everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times more, and he will obtain eternal life.

30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Numbers 11

1 But the people began complaining about their hardships to ADONAI. When ADONAI heard it, his anger flared up, so that fire from ADONAI broke out against them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.

2 Then the people cried to Moshe, Moshe prayed to ADONAI, and the fire abated.

3 That place was called Tav'erah [burning] because ADONAI's fire broke out against them.

4 Next, the mixed crowd that was with them grew greedy for an easier life; while the people of Isra'el, for their part, also renewed their weeping and said, "If only we had meat to eat!

5 We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt - it cost us nothing! -and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic!

6 But now we're withering away, we have nothing to look at but this man."

7 The man, by the way, was like coriander seed and white like gum resin.

8 The people would go around gathering it and would grind it up in mills or pound it to paste with mortar and pestle. Then they would cook it in pots and make it into loaves that tasted like cakes baked with olive oil.

9 When the dew settled on the camp during the night, the man came with it.

10 Moshe heard the people crying, family after family, each person at the entrance to his tent; the anger of ADONAI flared up violently; and Moshe too was displeased.

11 Moshe asked ADONAI, "Why are you treating your servant so badly? Why haven't I found favor in your sight, so that you put the burden of this entire people on me?

12 Did I conceive this people? Was I their father, so that you tell me, 'Carry them in your arms, like a nurse carrying a baby, to the land you swore to their ancestors?'

13 Where am I going to get meat to give to this entire people? - because they keep bothering me with their crying and saying, 'Give us meat to eat!'

14 I can't carry this entire people by myself alone - it's too much for me!

15 If you are going to treat me this way, then just kill me outright! - please, if you have any mercy toward me! -and don't let me go on being this miserable!"

16 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Bring me seventy of the leaders of Isra'el, people you recognize as leaders of the people and officers of theirs. Bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them stand there with you.

17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit which rests on you and put it on them. Then they will carry the burden of the people along with you, so that you won't carry it yourself alone.

18 "Tell the people, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat; because you cried in the ears of ADONAI, "If only we had meat to eat! We had the good life in Egypt!" All right, ADONAI is going to give you meat, and you will eat it.

19 You won't eat it just one day, or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days,

20 but a whole month! -until it comes out of your nose and you hate it! -because you have rejected ADONAI, who is here with you, and distressed him with your crying and asking, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'"

21 But Moshe said, "Here I am with six hundred thousand men on foot, and yet you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!'

22 If whole flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would it be enough? If all the fish in the sea were collected for them, would even that be enough?"

23 ADONAI answered Moshe, "Has ADONAI's arm grown short? Now you will see whether what I said will happen or not!"

24 Moshe went out and told the people what ADONAI had said. Then he collected seventy of the leaders of the people and placed them all around the tent.

25 ADONAI came down in the cloud, spoke to him, took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied -then but not afterwards.

26 There were two men who stayed in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad, and the Spirit came to rest on them. They were among those listed to go out to the tent, but they hadn't done so, and they prophesied in the camp.

27 A young man ran and told Moshe, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"

28 Y'hoshua, the son of Nun, who from his youth up had been Moshe's assistant, answered, "My lord, Moshe, stop them!"

29 But Moshe replied, "Are you so zealous to protect me? I wish all of ADONAI's people were prophets! I wish ADONAI would put his Spirit on all of them!"

30 Moshe and the leaders of Isra'el went back into the camp;

31 and ADONAI sent out a wind which brought quails from across the sea and let them fall near the camp, about a day's trip away on each side of the camp and all around it, covering the ground to a depth of three feet.

32 The people stayed up all that day, all night and all the next day gathering the quails - the person gathering the least collected ten heaps; then they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

33 But while the meat was still in their mouth, before they had chewed it up, the anger of ADONAI flared up against the people, and ADONAI struck the people with a terrible plague.

34 Therefore that place was named Kivrot-HaTa'avah [graves of greed], because there they buried the people who were so greedy.

35 From Kivrot-HaTa'avah the people traveled to Hatzerot, and they stayed at Hatzerot.

Numbers 12

1 Miryam and Aharon began criticizing Moshe on account of the Ethiopian woman he had married, for he had in fact married an Ethiopian woman.

2 They said, "Is it true that ADONAI has spoken only with Moshe? Hasn't he spoken with us too?"ADONAI heard them.

3 Now this man Moshe was very humble, more so than anyone on earth.

4 Suddenly ADONAI told Moshe, Aharon and Miryam, "Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting."The three of them went out.

5 ADONAI came down in a column of cloud and stood at the entrance to the tent. He summoned Aharon and Miryam, and they both went forward.

6 He said, "Listen to what I say: when there is a prophet among you, I, ADONAI, make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream.

7 But it isn't that way with my servant Moshe. He is the only one who is faithful in my entire household.

8 With him I speak face to face and clearly, not in riddles; he sees the image of ADONAI. So why weren't you afraid to criticize my servant Moshe?"

9 The anger of ADONAI flared up against them, and he left.

10 But when the cloud was removed from above the tent, Miryam had tzara'at, as white as snow. Aharon looked at Miryam, and she was as white as snow.

11 Aharon said to Moshe, "Oh, my lord, please don't punish us for this sin we committed so foolishly.

12 Please don't let her be like a stillborn baby, with its body half eaten away when it comes out of its mother's womb!"

13 Moshe cried to ADONAI, "Oh God, I beg you, please, heal her!"

14 ADONAI answered Moshe, "If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn't she hide herself in shame for seven days? So let her be shut out of the camp for seven days; after that, she can be brought back in."

15 Miryam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not travel until she was brought back in.

16 Afterwards, the people went on from Hatzerot and camped in the Pa'ran Desert.

Ecclesiastes 8

1 Who can be compared with a wise person? Who else knows what a thing means? Wisdom lights up the face and softens a grim appearance.

2 Keep the king's command because of the oath before God.

3 Don't be quick to leave his presence, and don't persist in doing what is wrong, for he does whatever he pleases.

4 After all, his word is final; who can challenge him, "Why are you doing that?"

5 Whoever obeys his command will never come to harm, and the wise person will know the right time and judgment.

6 For to everything there is a right time and a judgment, since people are greatly troubled

7 by uncertainty over the future; even when the event takes place, who will tell them about it?

8 Just as no one has the power to keep the wind from blowing, so no one has power over the day of death. If one is drafted to fight a war, one can't send a substitute; likewise the wicked won't escape death by their wickedness.

9 All this I have seen, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun when one person tyrannizes another.

10 Thus I saw the wicked buried; they had even come from the Holy Place. But those who had acted uprightly were forgotten in the city. This too is a futile thing;

11 because the punishment decreed for an evil act is not promptly carried out; therefore people who plan to do evil are strengthened in their intentions.

12 For a sinner can do evil a hundred times and still live a long life; although I know that in the end things will go well with those who fear God, because they fear him.

13 But things will not go well with the wicked; and, like a shadow, he will not prolong his days; because he doesn't fear God.

14 There is something frustrating that occurs on earth, namely, that there are righteous people to whom things happen as if they were doing wicked deeds; and, again, there are wicked people to whom things happen as if they were doing righteous deeds. I say that this too is pointless.

15 So I recommend enjoyment - a person can do nothing better under the sun than eat, drink and enjoy himself; this is what should accompany him as he does his work for as long as God gives him to live under the sun.

16 When I applied myself to gain wisdom and to observe how people occupy themselves on earth, that people's eyes don't see sleep either by day or by night,

17 then, on looking over all of God's work, I realized that it is impossible to grasp all the activity taking place under the sun; because even if a person works hard at searching it out, he won't grasp it; and even if a wise person thinks he knows it, he still won't be able to grasp it.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 21

Matthew 20:1-16; Numbers 13-14; Ecclesiastes 9:1-12 CJB

Matthew 20:1-16

1 "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who went out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard.

2 After agreeing with the workers on a wage of one denarius, [the standard daily wage,] he sent them off to his vineyard.

3 Then, on going out at about nine in the morning, he saw more men standing around in the market-square doing nothing,

4 and said to them, `You go to the vineyard too -- I'll pay you a fair wage.' So they went.

5 At noon, and again around three in the afternoon, he did the same thing.

6 About an hour before sundown, he went out, found still others standing around, and asked them, `Why have you been standing here all day, doing nothing?"

7 They said to him, `Because no one hired us.' `You too,' he told them, `go to the vineyard.'

8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, `Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and ending with the first.'

9 The workers who came an hour before sunset each received a denarius,

10 so the workers who came first expected they would get more, but each of them also received just a denarius.

11 On receiving their wages, they began grumbling to the farmer,

12 `These latecomers have worked only one hour, while we have borne the brunt of the day's work in the hot sun, yet you have put them on an equal footing with us!'

13 But he answered one of them, `Look, friend, I'm not being unfair with you. Didn't you agree to work today for a denarius?

14 Now take your pay and go! I choose to give the last worker as much as I'm giving you.

15 Haven't I the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?'

16 Thus the last ones will be first and the first last."

Numbers 13

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Send men on your behalf to reconnoiter the land of Kena'an, which I am giving to the people of Isra'el. From each ancestral tribe send someone who is a leader in his tribe."

3 Moshe dispatched them from the Pa'ran Desert as ADONAI had ordered; all of them were leading men among the people of Isra'el.

4 Here are their names: from the tribe of Re'uven, Shamua the son of Zakur;

5 from the tribe of Shim'on, Shafat the son of Hori;

6 from the tribe of Y'hudah, Kalev the son of Y'funeh;

7 from the tribe of Yissakhar, Yig'al the son of Yosef;

8 from the tribe of Efrayim, Hoshea the son of Nun;

9 from the tribe of Binyamin, Palti the son of Rafu;

10 from the tribe of Z'vulun, Gadi'el the son of Sodi;

11 from the tribe of Yosef, that is, from the tribe of M'nasheh, Gadi the son of Susi;

12 from the tribe of Dan, 'Ammi'el the son of G'malli;

13 from the tribe of Asher, S'tur the son of Mikha'el;

14 from the tribe of Naftali, Nachbi the son of Vofsi; and

15 from the tribe of Gad, Ge'u'el the son of Makhi.

16 These are the names of the men Moshe sent out to reconnoiter the land. Moshe gave to Hoshea the son of Nun the name Y'hoshua.

17 Moshe sent them to reconnoiter the land of Kena'an, instructing them, "Go on up to the Negev and into the hills,

18 and see what the land is like. Notice the people living there, whether they are strong or weak, few or many;

19 and what kind of country they live in, whether it is good or bad; and what kind of cities they live in, open or fortified.

20 See whether the land is fertile or unproductive and whether there is wood in it or not. Finally, be bold enough to bring back some of the fruit of the land." When they left it was the season for the first grapes to ripen.

21 They went up and reconnoitered the land from the Tzin Desert to Rechov near the entrance to Hamat.

22 They went up into the Negev and arrived at Hevron; Achiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the 'Anakim, lived there. (Hevron was built seven years before Tzo'an in Egypt.)

23 They came to the Eshkol Valley; and there they cut off a branch bearing one cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two of them; they also took pomegranates and figs.

24 That place was called the Valley of Eshkol [cluster], because of the cluster which the people of Isra'el cut down there.

25 Forty days later, they returned from reconnoitering the land

26 and went to Moshe, Aharon and the entire community of the people of Isra'el at Kadesh in the Pa'ran Desert, where they brought back word to them and to the entire community and showed them the fruit of the land.

27 What they told him was this: "We entered the land where you sent us, and indeed it does flow with milk and honey - here is its fruit!

28 However the people living in the land are fierce, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the 'Anakim there.

29 'Amalek lives in the area of the Negev; the Hitti, the Y'vusi and the Emori live in the hills; and the Kena'ani live by the sea and alongside the Yarden."

30 Kalev silenced the people around Moshe and said, "We ought to go up immediately and take possession of it; there is no question that we can conquer it."

31 But the men who had gone with him said, "We can't attack those people, because they are stronger than we are";

32 and they spread a negative report about the land they had reconnoitered for the people of Isra'el by saying, "The land we passed through in order to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there were giant!

33 We saw the N'filim, the descendants of 'Anak, who was from the N'filim; to ourselves we looked like grasshoppers by comparison, and we looked that way to them too!"

Numbers 14

1 At this all the people of Isra'el cried out in dismay and wept all night long.

2 Moreover, all the people of Isra'el began grumbling against Moshe and Aharon; the whole community told them, "We wish we had died in the land of Egypt! or that we had died here in the desert!

3 Why is ADONAI bringing us to this land, where we will die by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be taken as booty! Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?"

4 And they said to each other, "Let's appoint a leader and return to Egypt!"

5 Moshe and Aharon fell on their faces before the entire assembled community of the people of Isra'el.

6 Y'hoshua the son of Nun and Kalev the son of Y'funeh, from the detachment that had reconnoitered the land, tore their clothes

7 and said to the whole community of Isra'el, "The land we passed through in order to spy it out is an outstandingly good land!

8 If ADONAI is pleased with us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us -a land flowing with milk and honey.

9 Just don't rebel against ADONAI. And don't be afraid of the people living in the land - we'll eat them up! Their defense has been taken away from them, and ADONAI is with us! Don't be afraid of them!"

10 But just as the whole community were saying they should be stoned to death, the glory of ADONAI appeared in the tent of meeting to all the people of Isra'el.

11 ADONAI said to Moshe, "How much longer is this people going to treat me with contempt? How much longer will they not trust me, especially considering all the signs I have performed among them?

12 I am going to strike them with sickness, destroy them and make from you a nation greater and stronger than they are!"

13 However, Moshe replied to ADONAI, "When the Egyptians hear about this -[and they will,] because it was from among them that you, by your strength, brought this people up -

14 they will tell the people living in this land. They have heard that you, ADONAI, are with this people; that you, ADONAI, are seen face to face; that your cloud stands over them; that you go ahead of them in a column of cloud by day and a column of fire by night.

15 If you kill off this people at a single stroke, then the nations that have heard of your reputation will say

16 that the reason ADONAI slaughtered this people in the desert is that he wasn't able to bring them into the land which he swore to give them.

17 So now, please, let Adonai's power be as great as when you said,

18 'ADONAI is slow to anger, rich in grace, forgiving offenses and crimes; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents' offenses to be experienced by their children and even by the third and fourth generations.'

19 Please! Forgive the offense of this people according to the greatness of your grace, just as you have borne with this people from Egypt until now."

20 ADONAI answered, "I have forgiven, as you have asked.

21 But as sure as I live, and that the whole earth is filled with the glory of ADONAI,

22 none of the people who saw my glory and the signs I did in Egypt and in the desert, yet tested me these ten times and did not listen to my voice,

23 will see the land I swore to their ancestors! None of those who treated me with contempt will see it.

24 But my servant Kalev, because he had a different Spirit with him and has fully followed me - him I will bring into the land he entered, and it will belong to his descendants.

25 "Now, since the 'Amaleki and the Kena'ani are living in the valley, tomorrow turn around and get yourselves into the desert along the way to the Sea of Suf."

26 ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon,

27 "How long am I to put up with this evil community who keep grumbling about me? I have heard the complaints of the people of Isra'el, which they continue to raise against me.

28 Tell them this: 'As surely as I live, ADONAI swears, as surely as you have spoken in my ears, I will do this to you:

29 your carcasses will fall in this desert! Every single one of you who were included in the census over the age of twenty, you who have complained against me,

30 will certainly not enter the land about which I raised my hand to swear that I would have you live in it - except for Kalev the son of Y'funeh and Y'hoshua the son of Nun.

31 But your little ones, who you said would be taken as booty - them I will bring in. They will know the land you have rejected.

32 But you, your carcasses will fall in this desert;

33 and your children will wander about in the desert for forty years bearing the consequences of your prostitutions until the desert eats up your carcasses.

34 It will be a year for every day you spent reconnoitering the land that you will bear the consequences of your offenses - forty days, forty years. Then you will know what it means to oppose me!

35 I, ADONAI, have spoken.' I will certainly do this to this whole evil community who have assembled together against me - they will be destroyed in this desert and die there."

36 The men whom Moshe had sent to reconnoiter the land and who, when they returned, made the entire community complain against him by giving an unfavorable report about the land -

37 those men who gave the unfavorable report about the land died by the plague in the presence of ADONAI.

38 Of the men who went to reconnoiter the land, only Y'hoshua the son of Nun and Kalev the son of Y'funeh remained alive.

39 When Moshe told these things to all the people of Isra'el, the people felt great remorse.

40 They arose early the next morning, came up to the top of the mountain and said, "Here we are, and we did sin, but now we'll go up to the place ADONAI promised."

41 Moshe answered, "Why are you opposing what ADONAI said? You won't succeed!

42 Don't go up there, because ADONAI isn't with you. If you do, your enemies will defeat you.

43 The 'Amalekim and the Kena'anim are there ahead of you, and you will be struck down by the sword. The reason will be that you have turned away from following ADONAI, so that ADONAI won't be with you."

44 But they were presumptuous and went on up toward the high parts of the hill-country, even though the ark for the covenant of ADONAI - and Moshe - stayed in the camp.

45 So the 'Amalekim and the Kena'anim living in that hill-country descended, struck them down and beat them back all the way to Hormah.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

1 I applied myself to all of this, sifted through it and concluded that the righteous and the wise, along with their deeds, are in God's hands - a person cannot know whether these people and deeds will be rewarded with love or with hatred; all options are open.

2 Anything can happen to anyone; the same thing can happen to the righteous as to the wicked, to the good and clean and to the unclean, to someone who offers a sacrifice and to someone who doesn't offer a sacrifice; it is the same for a good person as for a sinner, for someone who takes an oath rashly as for someone who fears to take an oath.

3 This is another evil among all those done under the sun, that the same events can occur to anyone. Truly, the human mind is full of evil; and as long as people live, folly is in their hearts; after which they go to be with the dead.

4 For as long as a person is linked with the living, there is hope - better to be a living dog than a dead lion!

5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; there is no longer any reward for them, because all memory of them is lost.

6 What they loved, what they hated and what they envied all disappeared long ago, and they no longer have a share in anything done under the sun.

7 So go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God has already accepted your deeds.

8 Let your clothing always be white, and never fail to perfume your head.

9 Enjoy life with the wife you have loved throughout your meaningless life that he has given you under the sun, all the days of your futility; for that is your allotted portion in life and in your labor that you work at under the sun.

10 Whatever task comes your way to do, do it with all your strength; because in Sh'ol, where you will go, there is neither working nor planning, neither knowledge nor wisdom.

11 Yet another thing I observed under the sun is that races aren't won by the swift or battles by the strong, and that food doesn't go to the wise or wealth to the intelligent or favor to the experts; rather, time and chance rule them all.

12 For people don't know when their time will come any more than fish taken in the fatal net or birds caught in a snare; similarly, people are snared at an unfortunate time, when suddenly it falls on them.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 22

Matthew 20:17-34; Numbers 15-16; Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:20 CJB

Matthew 20

17 As Yeshua was going up to Yerushalayim, he took the twelve talmidim aside by themselves and said to them, as they went on their way,

18 "We are now going up to Yerushalayim, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the head cohanim and Torah-teachers. They will sentence him to death

19 and turn him over to the Goyim, who will jeer at him, beat him and execute him on a stake as a criminal. But on the third day, he will be raised."

20 Then Zavdai's sons came to Yeshua with their mother. She bowed down, begging a favor from him.

21 He said to her, "What do you want?" She replied, "Promise that when you become king, these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left."

22 But Yeshua answered, "You people don't know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to him, "We can."

23 He said to them, "Yes, you will drink my cup. But to sit on my right and on my left is not mine to give, it is for those for whom my Father has prepared it."

24 Now when the other ten heard about this, they were outraged at the two brothers.

25 But Yeshua called them and said, "You know that among the Goyim, those who are supposed to rule them become tyrants, and their superiors become dictators.

26 Among you, it must not be like that. On the contrary, whoever among you wants to be a leader must become your servant,

27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave!

28 For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve -- and to give his life as a ransom for many."

29 As they were leaving Yericho, a large crowd followed Yeshua.

30 Two blind men sitting by the side of the road heard that he was passing by and shouted, "Son of David! Have pity on us!"

31 The crowd scolded them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord! Son of David! Have pity on us!"

32 Yeshua stopped, called them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?"

33 They said to him, "Lord, open our eyes."

34 Filled with tenderness, Yeshua touched their eyes; and instantly they received their sight and followed him.

Numbers 15

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'When you have come into the land where you are going to live, which I am giving to you,

3 and want to make an offering by fire to ADONAI - a burnt offering or sacrifice to fulfill a special vow, or to be a voluntary offering, or at your designated times, to make a fragrant aroma for ADONAI - then, whether it is comes from the herd or from the flock,

4 the person bringing the offering is to present ADONAI with a grain offering consisting of two quarts of fine flour mixed with one quart of olive oil,

5 and one quart of wine for the drink offering. This is what you are to prepare with the burnt offering or for each lamb sacrificed.

6 "'For a ram, prepare one gallon of fine flour mixed with one-and-one-third quarts of olive oil;

7 while for the drink offering, you are to present one-and-one-third quarts of wine as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI.

8 "'When you prepare a bull as a burnt offering, as a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow or as peace offerings for ADONAI,

9 there is to be presented with the bull a grain offering of one-and-a-half gallons of fine flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil.

10 For the drink offering, present two quarts of wine for an offering made by fire, a fragant aroma for ADONAI.

11 "'Do it this way for each bull, ram, male lamb or kid.

12 For as many animals as you prepare, do this for each one, regardless of how many animals there are.

13 "'Every citizen is to do these things in this way when presenting an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI.

14 If a foreigner stays with you - or whoever may be with you, through all your generations - and he wants to bring an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI, he is to do the same as you.

15 For this community there will be the same law for you as for the foreigner living with you; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations; the foreigner is to be treated the same way before ADONAI as yourselves.

16 The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.'"

17 ADONAI said to Moshe,

18 "Speak to the people of Isra'el; tell them, 'When you enter the land where I am bringing you

19 and eat bread produced in the land, you are to set aside a portion as a gift for ADONAI.

20 Set aside from your first dough a cake as a gift; set it aside as you would set aside a portion of the grain from the threshing-floor.

21 From your first dough you will give ADONAI a portion as a gift through all your generations.

22 "'If by mistake you fail to observe all these mitzvot that ADONAI has spoken to Moshe,

23 yes, everything that ADONAI has ordered you to do through Moshe, from the day ADONAI gave the order and onward through all your generations,

24 then, if it was done by mistake by the community and was not known to them, the whole community is to offer one young bull for a burnt offering as a fragrant aroma to ADONAI, with its grain and drink offerings, in keeping with the rule, and one male goat as a sin offering.

25 The cohen is to make atonement for the whole community of the people of Isra'el; and they will be forgiven; because it was a mistake; and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire, to ADONAI, and their sin offering before ADONAI for their mistake.

26 The whole community of the people of Isra'el will be forgiven, likewise the foreigner staying with them; because for all the people it was a mistake.

27 "'If an individual sins by mistake, he is to offer a female goat in its first year as a sin offering.

28 The cohen will make atonement before ADONAI for the person who makes a mistake by sinning inadvertently; he will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven -

29 no matter whether he is a citizen of Isra'el or a foreigner living with them. You are to have one law for whoever it is that does something wrong by mistake.

30 "'But an individual who does something wrong intentionally, whether a citizen or a foreigner, is blaspheming ADONAI. That person will be cut off from his people.

31 Because he has had contempt for the word of ADONAI and has disobeyed his command, that person will be cut off completely; his offense will remain with him.'"

32 While the people of Isra'el were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on Shabbat.

33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moshe, Aharon and the whole congregation.

34 They kept him in custody, because it had not yet been decided what to do to him.

35 Then ADONAI said to Moshe, "This man must be put to death; the entire community is to stone him to death outside the camp."

36 So the whole community brought him outside the camp and threw stones at him until he died, as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

37 ADONAI said to Moshe,

38 "Speak to the people of Isra'el, instructing them to make, through all their generations, tzitziyot on the corners of their garments, and to put with the tzitzit on each corner a blue thread.

39 It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of ADONAI's mitzvot and obey them, so that you won't go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves;

40 but it will help you remember and obey all my mitzvot and be holy for your God.

41 I am ADONAI your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt in order to be your God. I am ADONAI your God."

Numbers 16

1 Now Korach the son of Yitz'har, the son of K'hat, the son of Levi, along with Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli'av, and On, the son of Pelet, descendants of Re'uven, took men and

2 rebelled against Moshe. Siding with them were 250 men of Isra'el, leaders of the community, key members of the council, men of reputation.

3 They assembled themselves against Moshe and Aharon and said to them, "You take too much on yourselves! After all, the entire community is holy, every one of them, and ADONAI is among them. So why do you lift yourselves up above ADONAI's assembly?"

4 When Moshe heard this he fell on his face.

5 Then he said to Korach and his whole group, "In the morning, ADONAI will show who are his and who is the holy person he will allow to approach him. Yes, he will bring whomever he chooses near to himself.

6 Do this: take censers, Korach and all your group;

7 put fire in them; and put incense in them before ADONAI tomorrow. The one whom ADONAI chooses will be the one who is holy! It is you, you sons of Levi, who are taking too much on yourselves!"

8 Then Moshe said to Korach, "Listen here, you sons of Levi!

9 Is it for you a mere trifle that the God of Isra'el has separated you from the community of Isra'el to bring you close to himself, so that you can do the work in the tabernacle of ADONAI and stand before the community serving them?

10 He has brought you close and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you. Now you want the office of cohen too!

11 That's why you and your group have gathered together against ADONAI! After all, what is Aharon that you complain against him?"

12 Then Moshe sent to summon Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli'av. But they replied, "We won't come up!

13 Is it such a mere trifle, bringing us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert, that now you arrogate to yourself the role of dictator over us?

14 You haven't at all brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, and you haven't put us in possession of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can gouge out these men's eyes and blind them? We won't come up!"

15 Moshe was very angry and said to ADONAI, "Don't accept their grain offering! I haven't taken one donkey from them, I've done nothing wrong to any of them."

16 Moshe said to Korach, "You and your group, be there before ADONAI tomorrow -you, they and Aharon.

17 Each of you take his fire pan and put incense in it; every one of you, bring before ADONAI his fire pan, 250 fire pans, you too, and Aharon - each one his fire pan."

18 Each man took his fire pan, put fire in it, laid incense on it and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting with Moshe and Aharon.

19 Korach assembled all the group who were against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then the glory of ADONAI appeared to the whole assembly.

20 ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon,

21 "Separate yourselves from this assembly; I'm going to destroy them right now!"

22 They fell on their faces and said, "Oh God, God of the spirits of all humankind, if one person sins, are you going to be angry with the entire assembly?"

23 ADONAI answered Moshe,

24 "Tell the assembly to move away from the homes of Korach, Datan and Aviram."

25 Moshe got up and went to Datan and Aviram, and the leaders of Isra'el followed him.

26 There he said to the assembly, "Leave the tents of these wicked men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them, or you may be swept away in all their sins."

27 So they moved away from all around the area where Korach, Datan and Aviram lived. Then Datan and Aviram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents with their wives, sons and little ones.

28 Moshe said, "Here is how you will know that ADONAI has sent me to do all these things and that I haven't done them out of my own ambition:

29 if these men die a natural death like other people, only sharing the fate common to all humanity, then ADONAI has not sent me.

30 But if ADONAI does something new - if the ground opens up and swallows them with everything they own, and they go down alive to Sh'ol - then you will understand that these men have had contempt for ADONAI."

31 The moment he finished speaking, the ground under them split apart -

32 the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all the people who had sided with Korach and everything they owned.

33 So they and everything they owned went down alive into Sh'ol, the earth closed over them and their existence in the community ceased.

34 All Isra'el around them fled at their shrieks, shouting, "The earth might swallow us too!"

35 Then fire came out from ADONAI and destroyed the 250 men who had offered the incense.

36 ADONAI said to Moshe,

37 "Tell El'azar the son of Aharon the cohen to remove the fire pans from the fire, and scatter the smoldering coals at a distance, because they have become holy.

38 Also the fire pans of these men, whose sin cost them their lives, have become holy, because they were offered before ADONAI. Therefore, have them hammered into plates to cover the altar. This will be a sign for the people of Isra'el."

39 El'azar the cohen took the brass fire pans which the men who had been burned to death had offered, and they hammered them into a covering for the altar,

40 to remind the people of Isra'el that an ordinary person, not descended from Aharon, is not to approach and burn incense before ADONAI, if he wants to avoid the fate of Korach and his group - as ADONAI had said to him through Moshe.

41 But the very next day, the whole community of the people of Isra'el complained against Moshe and Aharon: "You have killed ADONAI's people!"

42 However, as the community was assembling against Moshe and Aharon, they looked in the direction of the tent of meeting and saw the cloud cover it and the glory of ADONAI

43 Moshe and Aharon came to the front of the tent of meeting.

44 ADONAI said to Moshe,

45 "Get away from this assembly, and I will destroy them at once!" But they fell on their faces.

46 Moshe said to Aharon, "Take your fire pan, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, and hurry with it to the assembly to make atonement for them, because anger has gone out from ADONAI, and the plague has already begun!"

47 Aharon took it, as Moshe had said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. There the plague had already begun among the people, but he added the incense and made atonement for the people.

48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.

49 Those dying from the plague numbered 14,700 - besides those who died in the Korach incident.

50 Aharon returned to Moshe at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

Ecclesiastes 9:13-18

13 Here is something else I have seen as wisdom under the sun, and it seemed important to me:

14 there was a small town with few people in it; and a great king came to attack it; he surrounded it and built massive siege-works against it.

15 Now there was found in it a man who was poor but wise, and by his wisdom he saved the city; yet afterwards, nobody remembered that poor man.

16 So, although I say that wisdom is better than strength, nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised; nobody pays attention to what he says.

17 A wise man speaking quietly is more worth heeding than the shouts of a ruler commanding fools.

18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but a person who makes a mistake can destroy much good.

Ecclesiastes 10

1 Just as dead flies make perfumed oil stink, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

2 A wise man's heart leads him rightly, but a fool's heart leads him astray;

3 and when a fool travels, he has no good sense, thus showing everyone that he is a fool.

4 If a ruler gets angry at you, stay at your post, because calmness soothes great offenses.

5 Another evil I have seen under the sun, the kind of mistake rulers make, is that

6 fools are promoted to high positions, while the rich occupy humble places.

7 I have seen servants riding horses, while princes walk on foot like slaves.

8 He who digs a pit may fall into it; he who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

9 He who quarries stones may get hurt by them, he who chops wood puts himself in danger.

10 If the [hatchet's] iron [blade] is blunt, and [its user] doesn't sharpen it, he will have to exert more effort; but the expert has the advantage of his skill.

11 If a snake bites before it is charmed, the snake-charmer has no advantage.

12 The words spoken by the wise bring them favor, but the lips of a fool swallow him up.

13 What he says starts with foolishness and ends with wicked madness.

14 A fool keeps talking and talking, yet no one knows what the future will bring -can anyone tell a person what will happen after he's gone?

15 The efforts of a fool wear him out; he doesn't even know the way to town!

16 Woe to you, land, when your king is a child, and your leaders start their parties in the morning!

17 Happy are you, land, when your king is well-born, and your princes eat at the proper time, in order to stay strong, not to get drunk!

18 When the owner is lazy, the roof sags; when hands are idle, the house leaks.

19 Parties are made for having a good time, wine adds cheer to life, and money has an answer for everything.

20 Don't insult the king, not even in your thoughts; and don't insult the wealthy, not even in your bedroom; for a bird in the air might carry the news, a creature with wings might repeat what you said.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 23

Matthew 21:1-27; Numbers 17-18; Ecclesiastes 11 CJB

Matthew 21:1-27

1 As they were approaching Yerushalayim, they came to Beit-Pagei on the Mount of Olives. Yeshua sent two talmidim

2 with these instructions: "Go into the village ahead of you, and you will immediately find a donkey tethered there with its colt. Untie them and bring them to me.

3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him, `The Lord needs them'; and he will let them go at once."

4 This happened in order to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet,

5 "Say to the daughter of Tziyon, `Look! Your King is coming to you, riding humbly on a donkey, and on a colt, the offspring of a beast of burden!'

6 So the talmidim went and did as Yeshua had directed them.

7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put their robes on them, and Yeshua sat on them.

8 Crowds of people carpeted the road with their clothing, while others cut branches from trees and spread them on the road.

9 The crowds ahead of him and behind shouted, "Please! Deliver us!" to the Son of David; "Blessed is he who comes in the name of ADONAI!" "You in the highest heaven! Please! Deliver us!"

10 When he entered Yerushalayim, the whole city was stirred. "Who is this?" they asked.

11 And the crowds answered, "This is Yeshua, the prophet from Natzeret in the Galil."

12 Yeshua entered the Temple grounds and drove out those who were doing business there, both the merchants and their customers. He upset the desks of the money changers and knocked over the benches of those who were selling pigeons.

13 He said to them, "It has been written, `My house will be called a house of prayer.' But you are making it into a den of robbers!"

14 Blind and lame people came up to him in the Temple, and he healed them.

15 But when the head cohanim and Torah-teachers saw the wonderful things he was doing, and the children crying out in the Temple, "Please deliver us!" to the Son of David, they were furious.

16 They said to him, "Do you hear what they're saying?" Yeshua replied, "Of course! Haven't you ever read, `From the mouth of children and infants you have prepared praise for yourself'?"

17 With that, he left them and went outside the city to Beit-Anyah, where he spent the night.

18 The next morning, on his way back to the city, he felt hungry.

19 Spotting a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. So he said to it, "May you never again bear fruit!" and immediately the fig tree dried up.

20 The talmidim saw this and were amazed. "How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?" they asked.

21 Yeshua answered them, "Yes! I tell you, if you have trust and don't doubt, you will not only do what was done to this fig tree; but even if you say to this mountain, `Go and throw yourself into the sea!' it will be done.

22 In other words, you will receive everything you ask for in prayer, no matter what it is, provided you have trust."

23 He went into the Temple area; and as he was teaching, the head cohanim and the elders of the people approached him and demanded, "What s'mikhah do you have that authorizes you to do these things? And who gave you this s'mikhah?"

24 Yeshua answered, "I too will ask you a question. If you answer it, then I will tell you by what s'mikhah I do these things.

25 The immersion of Yochanan -- where did it come from? From Heaven or from a human source?" They discussed it among themselves: "If we say, `From Heaven,' he will say, `Then why didn't you believe him?'

26 But if we say, `From a human source,' we are afraid of the people, for they all regard Yochanan as a prophet."

27 So they answered Yeshua, "We don't know." And he replied, "Then I won't tell you by what s'mikhah I do these things.

Numbers 17

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Speak to the people of Isra'el, and take from them staffs, one for each ancestral tribe from each leader of a tribe, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff;

3 and write Aharon's name on the staff of Levi, for each tribe's leader is to have one staff.

4 Put them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you.

5 The staff of the man I am going to choose will sprout buds - in this way I will put a stop to the complaints the people of Isra'el keep making against you."

6 Moshe spoke to the people of Isra'el, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral tribes, twelve staffs. Aharon's staff was among their staffs.

7 Moshe put the staffs before ADONAI in the tent of the testimony.

8 The next day Moshe went into the tent of the testimony, and there he saw that Aharon's staff for the house of Levi had budded - it had sprouted not only buds but flowers and ripe almonds as well.

9 Moshe brought out all the staffs from before ADONAI to all the people of Isra'el, and they looked, and each man took back his staff.

10 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Return Aharon's staff to its place in front of the testimony. It is to be kept there as a sign to the rebels, so that they will stop grumbling against me and thus not die."

11 Moshe did this; he did as ADONAI had ordered him.

12 But the people of Isra'el said to Moshe, "Oh no! We're dead men! Lost! We're all lost!

13 Whenever anyone approaches the tabernacle of ADONAI, he dies! Will we all perish?"

Numbers 18

1 ADONAI said to Aharon, "You, your sons and your father's family line will be responsible for anything that goes wrong in the sanctuary. You and your sons with you will be responsible for anything wrong in your service as cohanim.

2 But you are to bring your kinsmen, the tribe of Levi, along with yourselves, to work together with you and help you - you and your sons with you - when you are there before the tent of meeting.

3 They are to be at your disposal and perform all kinds of tasks related to the tent; only they are not to come near the holy furnishings or the altar, so that neither they nor you will die.

4 They will work together with you in your duties related to the tent of meeting, whatever the service in the tent may be; but an unauthorized person is not to come near you.

5 You will take charge of all the holy things and the altar, so that there will no longer be anger against the people of Isra'el.

6 I myself have taken your kinsmen the L'vi'im from among the people of Isra'el; they have been given as a gift to ADONAI for you, so that you can perform the service in the tent of meeting.

7 You and your sons with you will exercise your prerogatives and duties as cohanim in regard to everything having to do with the altar and within the curtain. I entrust the service required of cohanim to you; the unauthorized person who tries to perform it is to be put to death."

8 ADONAI said to Aharon, "I myself have put you in charge of the contributions given to me. Everything consecrated by the people of Isra'el I have given and set aside for you and your sons; this is a perpetual law.

9 Here is what is to be yours of the especially holy things taken from the fire: every offering they make - that is, every grain offering, sin offering and guilt offering of theirs that they turn over to me - will be especially holy for you and your sons.

10 You are to eat it in an especially holy place; every male may eat it; it will be set apart for you.

11 "Also yours is the contribution the people of Isra'el give in the form of wave offerings. I have given these to you, your sons and your daughters with you; this is a perpetual law. Everyone in your family who is clean may eat it.

12 All the best of the olive oil, wine and grain, the first portion of what they give to ADONAI, I have given to you.

13 The first produce to turn ripe of all that is in their land, which they bring to ADONAI, is to be yours; every clean person in your family may eat it.

14 "Everything in Isra'el which has been consecrated unconditionally is to be yours.

15 "Everything that comes first out of the womb, of all living things which they offer to ADONAI, whether human or animal, will be yours. However, the firstborn of a human being you must redeem, and the firstborn of an unclean beast you are to redeem.

16 The sum to be paid for redeeming anyone a month old or over is to be five shekels of silver [two ounces], as you value it, using the sanctuary shekel (this is the same as twenty gerahs).

17 But the firstborn of an ox, sheep or goat you are not to redeem; they are holy - you are to splash their blood against the altar and make their fat go up in smoke as an offering made by fire, as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI.

18 Their meat will be yours, like the breast that is waved and the right thigh - they will be yours.

19 All the contributions of holy things which the people of Isra'el offer to ADONAI I have given to you, your sons and your daughters with you; this is a perpetual law, an eternal covenant of salt before ADONAI for you and your descendants with you."

20 ADONAI said to Aharon, "You are not to have any inheritance or portion in their land; I am your portion and inheritance among the people of Isra'el.

21 "To the descendants of Levi I have given the entire tenth of the produce collected in Isra'el. It is their inheritance in payment for the service they render in the tent of meeting.

22 From now on, the people of Isra'el are not to approach the tent of meeting, so that they will not bear the consequences of their sin and die.

23 Only the L'vi'im are to perform the service in the tent of meeting, and they will be responsible for whatever they do wrong. This is to be a permanent regulation through all your generations. They are to have no inheritance among the people of Isra'el,

24 because I have given to the L'vi'im as their inheritance the tenths of the produce which the people of Isra'el set aside as a gift for ADONAI. This is why I have said to them that they are to have no inheritance among the people of Isra'el."

25 ADONAI said to Moshe,

26 "Tell the L'vi'im, 'When you take from the people of Isra'el the tenth of the produce which I have given you from them as your inheritance, you are to set aside from it a gift for ADONAI, one tenth of the tenth.

27 The gift you set aside will be accounted to you as if it were grain from the thresh-ing-floor and grape juice from the wine vat.

28 In this way you will set aside a gift for ADONAI from all your tenths that you receive from the people of Isra'el, and from these tenths you are to give to Aharon the cohen the gift set aside for ADONAI.

29 From everything given to you, you are to set aside all that is due ADONAI, the best part of it, its holy portion.'

30 "Therefore you are to tell them, 'When you set aside from it its best part, it will be accounted to the L'vi'im as if it were grain from the threshing-floor and grape juice from the wine vat.

31 You may eat it anywhere, you and your households; because it is your payment in return for your service in the tent of meeting.

32 Moreover, because you will have set aside from it its best parts, you will not be committing any sin because of it; for you are not to profane the holy things of the people of Isra'el, or you will die.'" 21; Y'hudah (Jude) 1-25

Ecclesiastes 11

1 Send your resources out over the seas; eventually you will reap a return.

2 Divide your merchandise into seven or eight shares, since you don't know what disasters may come on the earth.

3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth. Whether a tree falls toward the north or the south, the place where the tree falls is where it stays.

4 He who keeps watching the wind will never sow; he who keeps looking at the clouds will never reap.

5 Just as you don't know the way of the wind or how bones grow in a pregnant woman's womb, so you don't know the work of God, the maker of everything.

6 In the morning, sow your seed; and don't slack off until evening; for you don't know which sowing will succeed, this, or that, or if both will do well.

7 Then the light will be sweet, and it will be a pleasure to see the sun. 1086

8 For if a person lives many years, let him take joy in them all; yet remembering that there will be many days of darkness, that all to come is futile.

9 Young person, if you spend your youth only having fun, if you use your early years just to entertain yourself, if you follow your heart as you live your life, and let your eyes be your guide; understand that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.

10 Therefore, remove anger from your heart; and keep from harming your body; for neither adolescence nor youth has any lasting value.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 24

Matthew 21:28-46; Numbers 19-20; Ecclesiastes 12 CJB

Matthew 21

28 "But give me your opinion: a man had two sons. He went to the first and said, `Son, go and work today in the vineyard.'

29 He answered, `I don't want to'; but later he changed his mind and went.

30 The father went to his other son and said the same thing. This one answered, `I will, sir'; but he didn't go.

31 Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they replied. "That's right!" Yeshua said to them. "I tell you that the tax-collectors and prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you!

32 ForYochanan came to you showing the path to righteousness, and you wouldn't trust him. The tax-collectors and prostitutes trusted him; but you, even after you saw this, didn't change your minds later and trust him.

33 "Now listen to another parable. There was a farmer who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower; then he rented it to tenants and left.

34 When harvest-time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the crop.

35 But the tenants seized his servants -- this one they beat up, that one they killed, another they stoned.

36 So he sent some other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them.

37 Finally, he sent them his son, saying, `My son they will respect.'

38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, `This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance!'

39 So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"

41 They answered him, "He will viciously destroy those vicious men and rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop when it's due."

42 Yeshua said to them, "Haven't you ever read in the Tanakh, `The very rock which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone! This has come from ADONAI, and in our eyes it is amazing'?

43 Therefore, I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to the kind of people that will produce its fruit!"

44 Some manuscripts include verse 44: Whoever falls on this stone will be broken in pieces; but if it falls on him, he will be crushed to powder!"

45 As the head cohanim and the P'rushim listened to his stories, they saw that he was speaking about them.

46 But when they set about to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds; because the crowds considered him a prophet.

Numbers 19

1 ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon,

2 "This is the regulation from the Torah which ADONAI has commanded. Tell the people of Isra'el to bring you a young red female cow without fault or defect and which has never borne a yoke.

3 You are to give it to El'azar the cohen; it is to be brought outside the camp and slaughtered in front of him.

4 El'azar the cohen is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle this blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.

5 The heifer is to be burned to ashes before his eyes -its skin, meat, blood and dung is to be burned to ashes.

6 The cohen is to take cedar-wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them onto the heifer as it is burning up.

7 Then the cohen is to wash his clothes and himself in water, after which he may re-enter the camp; but the cohen will remain unclean until evening.

8 The person who burned up the heifer is to wash his clothes and himself in water, but he will remain unclean until evening.

9 A man who is clean is to collect the ashes of the heifer and store them outside the camp in a clean place. They are to be kept for the community of the people of Isra'el to prepare water for purification from sin.

10 The one who collected the ashes of the heifer is to wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. For the people of Isra'el and for the foreigner staying with them this will be a permanent regulation.

11 "Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it is, will be unclean for seven days.

12 He must purify himself with [these ashes] on the third and seventh days; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.

13 Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it is, and does not purify himself has defiled the tabernacle of ADONAI. That person will be cut off from Isra'el, because the water for purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

14 "This is the law: when a person dies in a tent, everyone who enters the tent and everything in the tent will be unclean for seven days.

15 Every open container without a cover closely attached is unclean.

16 Also whoever is in an open field and touches a corpse, whether of someone killed by a weapon or of someone who died naturally, or the bone of a person, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

17 "For the unclean person they are to take some of the ashes of the animal burned up as a purification from sin and add them to fresh water in a container.

18 A clean person is to take a bunch of hyssop leaves, dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the containers, on the people who were there, and on the person who touched the bone or the person killed or the one who died naturally or the grave.

19 The clean person will sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days. On the seventh day he will purify him; then he will wash his clothes and himself in water; and he will be clean at evening.

20 The person who remains unclean and does not purify himself will be cut off from the community because he has defiled the sanctuary of ADONAI. The water for purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

21 This is to be a permanent regulation for them. The person who sprinkles the water for purification is to wash his clothes. Whoever touches the water for purification will be unclean until evening.

22 Anything the unclean person touches will be unclean, and anyone who touches him will be unclean until evening."

Numbers 20

1 The people of Isra'el, the whole community, entered the Tzin Desert in the first month, and they stayed in Kadesh. There Miryam died, and there she was buried.

2 Because the community had no water, they assembled themselves against Moshe and Aharon.

3 The people quarreled with Moshe and said, "We wish we had died when our brothers died before ADONAI.

4 Why did you bring ADONAI's community into this desert? To die there, we and our livestock?

5 Why did you make us leave Egypt? To bring us to this terrible place without seed, figs, grapevines, pomegranates or even water to drink?"

6 Moshe and Aharon left the assembly, went to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces; and the glory of ADONAI appeared to them.

7 ADONAI said to Moshe,

8 "Take the staff, assemble the community, you and Aharon your brother; and before their eyes, tell the rock to produce its water. You will bring them water out of the rock and thus enable the community and their livestock to drink."

9 Moshe took the staff from the presence of ADONAI, as he had ordered him.

10 But after Moshe and Aharon had assembled the community in front of the rock, he said to them, "Listen here, you rebels! Are we supposed to bring you water from this rock?"

11 Then Moshe raised his hand and hit the rock twice with his staff. Water flowed out in abundance, and the community and their livestock drank.

12 But ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon, "Because you did not trust in me, so as to cause me to be regarded as holy by the people of Isra'el, you will not bring this community into the land I have given them."

13 This is M'rivah Spring [Disputation Spring], where the people of Isra'el disputed with ADONAI, and he was caused to be regarded as holy by them.

14 Moshe sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: "This is what your brother Isra'el says: you know all the troubles we have gone through -

15 that our ancestors went down into Egypt, we lived in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our ancestors badly.

16 But when we cried out to ADONAI, he heard us, sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. Now here we are in Kadesh, a city at the edge of your territory.

17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not go through fields or vineyards, and we won't drink any water from the wells. We will go along the King's Highway, not turning aside either to the right or to the left until we have left your territory."

18 But Edom answered, "You are not to pass through my land; if you do, I will come out against you with the sword."

19 The people of Isra'el replied, "We will keep to the highway; if we do drink the water, either we or our livestock, we will pay for it. Just let us pass through on foot - it's nothing."

20 But he said, "You are not to pass through"; and Edom came out against them with many people and much force.

21 Thus Edom refused to allow Isra'el passage through its territory, so Isra'el turned away.

22 They traveled on from Kadesh; and the people of Isra'el, the whole community, arrived at Mount Hor.

23 At Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon,

24 "Aharon is about to be gathered to his people, because he is not to enter the land I have given to the people of Isra'el, inasmuch as you rebelled against what I said at the M'rivah Spring.

25 Take Aharon and El'azar his son, bring them up to Mount Hor,

26 remove the garments from Aharon and put them on El'azar his son. Aharon will be gathered to his people - he will die there."

27 Moshe did as ADONAI had ordered. They went up onto Mount Hor before the eyes of the whole community.

28 Moshe removed the garments from Aharon, and put them on El'azar his son, and Aharon died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moshe and El'azar came down the mountain.

29 When the entire community saw that Aharon was dead, they mourned Aharon thirty days, the whole house of Isra'el.

Ecclesiastes 12

1 So remember your creator while you are young, before the evil days come, and the years approach when you will say, "They no longer give me pleasure";

2 before the sun and the light grow dim, also the moon and the stars; before the clouds return after the rain;

3 on the day when the guards of the house are trembling, and men of courage are bent over double; when the women stop grinding grain, because there are so few; when the women at the windows can no longer see out;

4 when the doors to the streets are kept shut; when the noise from the grain-mill fades; when a person is startled by the chirp of a bird, yet their singing is hard to hear;

5 when they will be afraid to go up a hill, and terrors will stalk the way, even though the almond tree is in bloom; when the locust can only drag itself along, and the caper berry has no [aphrodisiac] effect -because the person is headed for his eternal home, and the mourners are already gathering in the marketplace

6 before the silver cord is snapped the bowl of gold is cracked, the pitcher is shattered at the spring, the pulley is broken at the cistern,

7 the dust returns to earth, as it was, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it!

8 Pointless! Meaningless! -says Kohelet, Nothing matters at all!

9 Not only was Kohelet wise, he also taught the people what he knew; also he weighed, researched and corrected many ethical sayings.

10 Kohelet worked to develop an attractive writing style, in which he expressed the truth straightforwardly.

11 The sayings of the wise are as sharp as goads, and those given by leaders of assemblies are like well-fixed nails; [in this case,] they are presented by a single shepherd.

12 In addition, my son, take heed: one can write many books - there's no end to it; and one can study so much that it wearies the flesh.

13 Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about.

14 For God will bring to judgment everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad. [Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about.]

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 25

Matthew 22:1-22; Numbers 21; Song of Solomon 1:1-2:7 CJB

Matthew 22:1-22

1 Yeshua again used parables in speaking to them:

2 "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son,

3 but when he sent his slaves to summon the invited guests to the wedding, they refused to come.

4 So he sent some more slaves, instructing them to tell the guests, `Look, I've prepared my banquet, I've slaughtered my bulls and my fattened cattle, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding!'

5 But they weren't interested and went off, one to his farm, another to his business;

6 and the rest grabbed his slaves, mistreated them and killed them.

7 The king was furious and sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city.

8 "Then he said to his slaves, `Well, the wedding feast is ready; but the ones who were invited didn't deserve it.

9 So go out to the street-corners and invite to the banquet as many as you find.'

10 The slaves went out into the streets, gathered all the people they could find, the bad along with the good; and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 "Now when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who wasn't dressed for a wedding; so he asked him,

12 `Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.

13 Then the king said to the servants, `Bind him hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark!' In that place people will wail and grind their teeth,

14 for many are invited, but few are chosen."

15 Then the P'rushim went away and put together a plan to trap Yeshua with his own words.

16 They sent him some of their talmidim and some members of Herod's party. They said, "Rabbi, we know that you tell the truth and really teach what God's way is. You aren't concerned with what other people think about you, since you pay no attention to a person's status.

17 So tell us your opinion: does Torah permit paying taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?"

18 Yeshua, however, knowing their malicious intent, said, "You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me?

19 Show me the coin used to pay the tax!" They brought him a denarius;

20 and he asked them, "Whose name and picture are these?"

21 "The Emperor's," they replied. Yeshua said to them, "Nu, give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give to God what belongs to God!"

22 On hearing this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Numbers 21

1 Then the king of 'Arad, a Kena'ani who lived in the Negev, heard that Isra'el was approaching by way of Atarim, so he attacked Isra'el and took some of them captive.

2 Isra'el made a vow to ADONAI, "If you will hand this people over to me, I will completely destroy their cities."

3 ADONAI listened to what Isra'el said and handed over the Kena'anim, so they completely destroyed them and their cities and named the place Hormah [complete destruction].

4 Then they traveled from Mount Hor on the road toward the Sea of Suf in order to go around the land of Edom; but the people's tempers grew short because of the detour.

5 The people spoke against God and against Moshe: "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt? To die in the desert? There's no real food, there's no water, and we're sick of this miserable stuff we're eating!"

6 In response, ADONAI sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit the people, and many of Isra'el's people died.

7 The people came to Moshe and said, "We sinned by speaking against ADONAI and against you. Pray to ADONAI that he rid us of these snakes." Moshe prayed for the people,

8 and ADONAI answered Moshe: "Make a poisonous snake and put it on a pole. When anyone who has been bitten sees it, he will live."

9 Moshe made a bronze snake and put it on the pole; if a snake had bitten someone, then, when he looked toward the bronze snake, he stayed alive.

10 The people of Isra'el traveled on and camped at Ovot.

11 From Ovot they traveled and camped at 'Iyei-Ha'avarim, in the desert fronting Mo'av on the east.

12 From there they traveled and camped in Vadi Zered.

13 From there they traveled and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the desert; this river comes out of the territory of the Emori; for the Arnon is the boundary between Mo'av and the Emori.

14 This is why it says, in the Book of the Wars of ADONAI, ". . . Vahev at Sufah, the vadis of Arnon,

15 and the slope of the vadis extending as far as the site of 'Ar, which lie next to the territory of Mo'av."

16 From there they went on to Be'er [well]; that is the well about which ADONAI said to Moshe, "Assemble the people, and I will give them water."

17 Then Isra'el sang this song: "Spring up, oh well! Sing to the well

18 sunk by the princes, dug by the people's leaders with the scepter, with their staffs!" From the desert they went to Mattanah,

19 from Mattanah to Nachali'el, from Nachali'el to Bamot,

20 and from Bamot to the valley by the plain of Mo'av at the start of the Pisgah range, where it overlooks the desert.

21 Isra'el sent messengers to Sichon, king of the Emori, with this message:

22 "Let me pass through your land. We won't turn aside into fields or vineyards, and we won't drink any water from the wells. We will go along the King's Highway until we have left your territory."

23 But Sichon would not allow Isra'el to pass through his territory. Instead, Sichon mustered all his people and went out into the desert to fight Isra'el. On reaching Yachatz, he fought Isra'el.

24 Isra'el defeated him by force of arms and took control of his land from the Arnon to the Yabok River, but only as far as the people of 'Amon, because the territory of the people of 'Amon was well defended.

25 Isra'el took all these cities - Isra'el lived in all the cities of the Emori, in Heshbon and all its surrounding towns.

26 Heshbon was the city of Sichon, the king of the Emori, who had fought against the former king of Mo'av and conquered all his land up to the Arnon.

27 This is why the storytellers say, "Come to Heshbon! Let it be rebuilt! Let Sichon's city be restored!

28 "For fire burst out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sichon. It consumed 'Ar of Mo'av, the lords of Arnon's high places.

29 "Woe to you, Mo'av! You are destroyed, people of K'mosh! He let his sons be fugitives and his daughters captives of Sichon, king of the Emori.

30 "We shot them down; Heshbon is destroyed, all the way to Divon. We even laid waste to Nofach, which extends as far as Meidva."

31 Thus Isra'el lived in the land of the Emori.

32 Moshe sent men to reconnoiter Ya'zer; they captured its towns and drove out the Emori who were there.

33 Then they turned and went up along the road to Bashan; and 'Og, the king of Bashan, marched out against them, he with all his people, to fight at Edre'i.

34 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Don't be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with all his people and his land. You will treat him just as you did Sichon, king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon."

35 So they struck him down, with his sons and all his people, until there was no one left alive; and then they took control of his land.

Song of Solomon 1

1 The Ultimate Song, by Shlomo:

2 [She] Let him smother me with kisses from his mouth, for your love is better than wine.

3 Your anointing oils have a wonderful fragrance; your name is like anointing oil poured out. This is why young women love you

4 "Take me with you. We will run after you." The king has brought me into his rooms. [Chorus] We will be glad and rejoice for you. We will praise your love more than wine. How right it is for them to love you!

5 [She] I am dark tan but beautiful, you daughters of Yerushalayim, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Shlomo.

6 Don't stare at me because I'm dark; it's the sun that tanned me. My mother's sons were angry with me and made me look after the vineyards. But I haven't cared for my own vineyard.

7 Tell me, my love, where you pasture your flock, where you have them rest at noon; for why should I veil myself [like a whore] beside the flocks of your friends?

8 [Chorus] If you do not know, you most beautiful of women, then follow the footprints of the flock and let your kids graze by the shepherds' tents.

9 [He] My love, I compare you with my mare, pulling one of Pharaoh's chariots

10 your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with its strings of beads;

11 we will make you ornaments of gold, studded with silver.

12 [She] As the king reclines at table, my nard gives forth its perfume:

13 to me the man I love is a sachet of myrrh lodged between my breasts;

14 to me the man I love is a spray of henna flowers in the vineyards of 'Ein-Gedi.

15 [He] Look at you, my love! How beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves

16 [She] - Look at you! So handsome, so pleasing, my darling! Our bed is the greenery;

17 cedars are the beams of our houses, cypresses the rafters.

Song of Solomon 2:1-7

1 I am but a rose from the Sharon, just a lily in the valleys.

2 [He] Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the other women.

3 [She] Like an apple tree among the other trees in the forest is my darling among the other men. I love to sit in his shadow; his fruit is sweet to my taste.

4 He brings me to the banquet hall; his banner over me is love.

5 Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.

6 his left arm [were] under my head, and his right arm around me.

7 I warn you, daughters of Yerushalayim, by the gazelles and deer in the wilds, not to awaken or stir up love until it wants to arise!

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Today's Bible Reading

March 26

Matthew 22:23-46; Numbers 22; Song of Solomon 2:8-3:5 CJB

Matthew 22:23-46

23 That same day, some Tz'dukim came to him. They are the ones who say there is no such thing as resurrection, so they put to him a sh'eilah:

24 "Rabbi, Moshe said, `If a man dies childless, his brother must marry his widow and have children to preserve the man's family line.'

25 There were seven brothers. The first one married and then died; and since he had no children, he left his widow to his brother.

26 The same thing happened to the second brother, and the third, and finally to all seven.

27 After them all, the woman died.

28 Now in the Resurrection -- of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all married her."

29 Yeshua answered them, "The reason you go astray is that you are ignorant both of the Tanakh and of the power of God.

30 For in the Resurrection, neither men nor women will marry; rather, they will be like angels in heaven.

31 And as for whether the dead are resurrected, haven't you read what God said to you,

32 `I am the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz'chak and the God of Ya`akov'? He is God not of the dead but of the living!"

33 When the crowds heard how he taught, they were astounded;

34 but when the P'rushim learned that he had silenced the Tz'dukim, they got together,

35 and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh'eilah to trap him:

36 "Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?"

37 He told him, "`You are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.'

38 This is the greatest and most important mitzvah.

39 And a second is similar to it, `You are to love your neighbor as yourself.'

40 All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot."

41 Then, turning to the assembled P'rushim, Yeshua put a sh'eilah to them:

42 "Tell me your view concerning the Messiah: whose son is he?" They said to him, "David's."

43 "Then how is it," he asked them, "that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him `Lord,' when he says,

44 `ADONAI said to my Lord, "Sit here at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet"'?

45 If David thus calls him `Lord,' how is he his son?"

46 No one could think of anything to say in reply; and from that day on, no one dared put to him another sh'eilah.

Numbers 22

1 Then the people of Isra'el traveled on and camped in the plains of Mo'av beyond the Yarden River, opposite Yericho.

2 Now Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Isra'el had done to the Emori.

3 Mo'av was very afraid of the people, because there were so many of them; Mo'av was overcome with dread because of the people of Isra'el.

4 So Mo'av said to the leaders of Midyan, "This horde will lick up everything around us, the way an ox licks up grass in the field." Balak the son of Tzippor was king of Mo'av at that time.

5 He sent messengers to Bil'am the son of B'or, at P'tor by the [Euphrates] River in his native land, to tell him, "Listen, a people has come out of Egypt, spread over all the land and settled down next to me.

6 Therefore, please come, and curse this people for me, because they are stronger than I am. Maybe I will be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land, for I know that whomever you bless is in fact blessed, and whomever you curse is in fact cursed."

7 The leaders of Mo'av and Midyan left, taking with them the payment for divining, came to Bil'am and spoke to him the words of Balak.

8 He said to them, "Stay here tonight, and I will bring you back whatever answer ADONAI tells me." So the princes of Mo'av stayed with Bil'am.

9 God came to Bil'am and said, "Who are these men with you?"

10 Bil'am said to God, "Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo'av, has sent me this message:

11 'The people who came out of Egypt have spread over the land; now, come and curse them for me; maybe I will be able to fight against them and drive them out.'"

12 God answered Bil'am, "You are not to go with them; you are not to curse the people, because they are blessed."

13 Bil'am got up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, "Return to your own land, because ADONAI refuses to give me permission to go with you."

14 The princes of Mo'av got up, returned to Balak and said, "Bil'am refuses to come with us."

15 Balak again sent princes, more of them and of higher status than the first group.

16 They went to Bil'am and said to him, "Here is what Balak the son of Tzippor says: 'Please don't let anything keep you from coming to me.

17 I will reward you very well, and whatever you say to me I will do. So please come, and curse this people for me.'"

18 Bil'am answered the servants of Balak, "Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of ADONAI my God to do anything, great or small.

19 Now, please, you too, stay here tonight; so that I may find out what else ADONAI will say to me."

20 God came to Bil'am during the night and said to him, "If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you."

21 So Bil'am got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Mo'av.

22 But God's anger flared up because he went, and the angel of ADONAI stationed himself on the path to bar his way. He was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

23 The donkey saw the angel of ADONAI standing on the road, drawn sword in hand; so the donkey turned off the road into the field; and Bil'am had to beat the donkey to get it back on the road.

24 Then the angel of ADONAI stood on the road where it became narrow as it passed among the vineyards and had stone walls on both sides.

25 The donkey saw the angel of ADONAI and pushed up against the wall, crushing Bil'am's foot against the wall. So he beat it again.

26 The angel of ADONAI moved ahead and stood in a place so tight that there was no room to turn either right or left.

27 Again the donkey saw the angel of ADONAI and lay down under Bil'am, which made him so angry that he hit the donkey with his stick.

28 But ADONAI enabled the donkey to speak, and it said to Bil'am, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

29 Bil'am said to the donkey, "It's because you've been making a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand; I would kill you on the spot!"

30 The donkey said to Bil'am, "I'm your donkey, right? You've ridden me all your life, right? Have I ever treated you like this before?""No," he admitted.

31 Then ADONAI opened Bil'am's eyes, so that he could see the angel of ADONAI standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell on his face.

32 The angel of ADONAI said to him, "Why did you hit your donkey three times like that? I have come out here to bar your way, because you are rushing to oppose me.

33 The donkey saw me and turned aside these three times; and indeed, if she hadn't turned away from me, I would have killed you by now and saved it alive!"

34 Bil'am said to the angel of ADONAI, "I have sinned. I didn't know that you were standing on the road to block me. Now, therefore, if what I am doing displeases you, I will go back."

35 But the angel of ADONAI said to Bil'am, "No, go on with the men; but you are to say only what I tell you to say." So Bil'am went along with the princes of Balak.

36 When Balak heard that Bil'am had come, he went out to meet him in the city of Mo'av at the Arnon border, in the farthest reaches of the territory.

37 Balak said to Bil'am, "I sent more than once to summon you! Why didn't you come to me? Did you think I couldn't pay you enough?"

38 Bil'am replied to Balak, "Here, I've come to you! But I have no power of my own to say anything. The word that God puts in my mouth is what I will say."

39 Bil'am went with Balak. When they arrived at Kiryat-Hutzot,

40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, then sent to Bil'am and the princes with him.

41 In the morning Balak took Bil'am and brought him up to the high places of Ba'al; from there he could see a portion of the people.

Song of Solomon 2:8-17

8 The voice of the man I love! Here he comes, bounding over the mountains, skipping over the hills!

9 My darling is like a gazelle or young stag. There he is, standing outside our wall, looking in through the windows, peering in through the lattice.

10 My darling speaks; he is saying to me, "Get up, my love! My beauty! Come away!

11 For you see that the winter has passed, the rain is finished and gone,

12 the flowers are appearing in the countryside, the time has come for [the birds] to sing, and the cooing of doves can be heard in the land.

13 The fig trees are forming their unripe figs, and the grapevines in bloom give out their perfume. Get up, my love, my beauty! Come away!"

14 [He] My dove, hiding in holes in the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, let me see your face and hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

15 [She] "Catch the foxes for us, yes, the little foxes! They are ruining the vineyards when our vineyards are in bloom!"

16 My darling is mine, and I am his, as he pastures his flock among the lilies.

17 Before the daytime breeze rises and the shadows flee, return, my love, like a stag or gazelle on the hills of Beter.

Song of Solomon 3:1-5

1 Night after night on my bed I looked for the man I love. I looked for him, but I didn't find him.

2 "I will get up now and roam the city, through the streets and the open places, I will look for the man I love." I looked for him, but I didn't find him.

3 The guards roaming the city found me. "Have you seen the man I love?"

4 Scarcely had I left them, when I found the man I love. I took hold of him and would not let him go until I had brought him to my mother's house, to the bedroom of the woman who conceived me.

5 I warn you, daughters of Yerushalayim, by the gazelles and deer in the wilds, not to awaken or stir up love until it wants to arise!

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 27

Matthew 23:1-12; Numbers 22:41-23:26; Song of Solomon 3:6-5:1 CJB

Matthew 23:1-12

1 Then Yeshua addressed the crowds and his talmidim:

2 "The Torah-teachers and the P'rushim," he said, "sit in the seat of Moshe.

3 So whatever they tell you, take care to do it. But don't do what they do, because they talk but don't act!

4 They tie heavy loads onto people's shoulders but won't lift a finger to help carry them

5 Everything they do is done to be seen by others; for they make their t'fillin broad and their tzitziyot long,

6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues,

7 and they love being greeted deferentially in the marketplaces and being called `Rabbi.'

8 "But you are not to let yourselves be called `Rabbi'; because you have one Rabbi, and you are all each other's brothers.

9 And do not call anyone on earth `Father.' because you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

10 Nor are you to let yourselves be called `leaders,' because you have one Leader, and he is the Messiah!

11 The greatest among you must be your servant,

12 for whoever promotes himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be promoted.

1 Then Yeshua addressed the crowds and his talmidim:

2 "The Torah-teachers and the P'rushim," he said, "sit in the seat of Moshe.

3 So whatever they tell you, take care to do it. But don't do what they do, because they talk but don't act!

4 They tie heavy loads onto people's shoulders but won't lift a finger to help carry them

5 Everything they do is done to be seen by others; for they make their t'fillin broad and their tzitziyot long,

6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues,

7 and they love being greeted deferentially in the marketplaces and being called `Rabbi.'

8 "But you are not to let yourselves be called `Rabbi'; because you have one Rabbi, and you are all each other's brothers.

9 And do not call anyone on earth `Father.' because you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

10 Nor are you to let yourselves be called `leaders,' because you have one Leader, and he is the Messiah!

11 The greatest among you must be your servant,

12 for whoever promotes himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be promoted.

Numbers 22

1 Then the people of Isra'el traveled on and camped in the plains of Mo'av beyond the Yarden River, opposite Yericho.

2 Now Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Isra'el had done to the Emori.

3 Mo'av was very afraid of the people, because there were so many of them; Mo'av was overcome with dread because of the people of Isra'el.

4 So Mo'av said to the leaders of Midyan, "This horde will lick up everything around us, the way an ox licks up grass in the field." Balak the son of Tzippor was king of Mo'av at that time.

5 He sent messengers to Bil'am the son of B'or, at P'tor by the [Euphrates] River in his native land, to tell him, "Listen, a people has come out of Egypt, spread over all the land and settled down next to me.

6 Therefore, please come, and curse this people for me, because they are stronger than I am. Maybe I will be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land, for I know that whomever you bless is in fact blessed, and whomever you curse is in fact cursed."

7 The leaders of Mo'av and Midyan left, taking with them the payment for divining, came to Bil'am and spoke to him the words of Balak.

8 He said to them, "Stay here tonight, and I will bring you back whatever answer ADONAI tells me." So the princes of Mo'av stayed with Bil'am.

9 God came to Bil'am and said, "Who are these men with you?"

10 Bil'am said to God, "Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo'av, has sent me this message:

11 'The people who came out of Egypt have spread over the land; now, come and curse them for me; maybe I will be able to fight against them and drive them out.'"

12 God answered Bil'am, "You are not to go with them; you are not to curse the people, because they are blessed."

13 Bil'am got up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, "Return to your own land, because ADONAI refuses to give me permission to go with you."

14 The princes of Mo'av got up, returned to Balak and said, "Bil'am refuses to come with us."

15 Balak again sent princes, more of them and of higher status than the first group.

16 They went to Bil'am and said to him, "Here is what Balak the son of Tzippor says: 'Please don't let anything keep you from coming to me.

17 I will reward you very well, and whatever you say to me I will do. So please come, and curse this people for me.'"

18 Bil'am answered the servants of Balak, "Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of ADONAI my God to do anything, great or small.

19 Now, please, you too, stay here tonight; so that I may find out what else ADONAI will say to me."

20 God came to Bil'am during the night and said to him, "If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you."

21 So Bil'am got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Mo'av.

22 But God's anger flared up because he went, and the angel of ADONAI stationed himself on the path to bar his way. He was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

23 The donkey saw the angel of ADONAI standing on the road, drawn sword in hand; so the donkey turned off the road into the field; and Bil'am had to beat the donkey to get it back on the road.

24 Then the angel of ADONAI stood on the road where it became narrow as it passed among the vineyards and had stone walls on both sides.

25 The donkey saw the angel of ADONAI and pushed up against the wall, crushing Bil'am's foot against the wall. So he beat it again.

26 The angel of ADONAI moved ahead and stood in a place so tight that there was no room to turn either right or left.

27 Again the donkey saw the angel of ADONAI and lay down under Bil'am, which made him so angry that he hit the donkey with his stick.

28 But ADONAI enabled the donkey to speak, and it said to Bil'am, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

29 Bil'am said to the donkey, "It's because you've been making a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand; I would kill you on the spot!"

30 The donkey said to Bil'am, "I'm your donkey, right? You've ridden me all your life, right? Have I ever treated you like this before?""No," he admitted.

31 Then ADONAI opened Bil'am's eyes, so that he could see the angel of ADONAI standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell on his face.

32 The angel of ADONAI said to him, "Why did you hit your donkey three times like that? I have come out here to bar your way, because you are rushing to oppose me.

33 The donkey saw me and turned aside these three times; and indeed, if she hadn't turned away from me, I would have killed you by now and saved it alive!"

34 Bil'am said to the angel of ADONAI, "I have sinned. I didn't know that you were standing on the road to block me. Now, therefore, if what I am doing displeases you, I will go back."

35 But the angel of ADONAI said to Bil'am, "No, go on with the men; but you are to say only what I tell you to say." So Bil'am went along with the princes of Balak.

36 When Balak heard that Bil'am had come, he went out to meet him in the city of Mo'av at the Arnon border, in the farthest reaches of the territory.

37 Balak said to Bil'am, "I sent more than once to summon you! Why didn't you come to me? Did you think I couldn't pay you enough?"

38 Bil'am replied to Balak, "Here, I've come to you! But I have no power of my own to say anything. The word that God puts in my mouth is what I will say."

39 Bil'am went with Balak. When they arrived at Kiryat-Hutzot,

40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, then sent to Bil'am and the princes with him.

41 In the morning Balak took Bil'am and brought him up to the high places of Ba'al; from there he could see a portion of the people.

Numbers 23:1-26

1 Bil'am said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams here."

2 Balak did as Bil'am said; then Balak and Bil'am offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

3 Bil'am said to Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering while I go off; maybe ADONAI will come and meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you." He went off to a bare hill.

4 God met Bil'am, who said to him, "I prepared the seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

5 Then ADONAI put a word in Bil'am's mouth and said, "Go on back to Balak, and speak as I tell you."

6 He went back to him, and there, standing by his burnt offering, he with all the princes of Mo'av,

7 he made his pronouncement: "Balak, the king of Mo'av, brings me from Aram, from the eastern hills, saying, 'Come, curse Ya'akov for me; come and denounce Isra'el.'

8 "How am I to curse those whom God has not cursed? How am I to denounce those whom ADONAI has not denounced?

9 "From the top of the rocks I see them, from the hills I behold them yes, a people that will dwell alone and not think itself one of the nations.

10 "Who has counted the dust of Ya'akov or numbered the ashes of Isra'el? May I die as the righteous die! May my end be like theirs!"

11 Balak said to Bil'am, "What have you done to me?! To curse my enemies is why I brought you; and, here, you have totally blessed them!"

12 He answered, "Mustn't I take care to say just what ADONAI puts in my mouth?"

13 Balak said to him, "All right, come with me to another place where you can see them. You will see only some of them, not all; but you can curse them for me from there."

14 He took him through the field of Tzofim to the top of the Pisgah Range, built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar

15 Bil'am said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering, while I go over there for a meeting."

16 ADONAI met Bil'am, put a word in his mouth and said, "Go on back to Balak, and speak as I tell you."

17 He came to him and stood by his burnt offering, with all the princes of Mo'av. Balak asked him, "What did ADONAI say?"

18 Then Bil'am made his pronouncement: "Get up, Balak, and listen! Turn your ears to me, son of Tzippor!

19 "God is not a human who lies or a mortal who changes his mind. When he says something, he will do it; when he makes a promise, he will fulfill it

20 Look, I am ordered to bless; when he blesses, I can't reverse it.

21 "No one has seen guilt in Ya'akov, or perceived perversity in Isra'el; ADONAI their God is with them and acclaimed as king among them

22 "God, who brought them out of Egypt, gives them the strength of a wild ox;

23 thus one can't put a spell on Ya'akov, no magic will work against Isra'el. It can now be said of Ya'akov and Isra'el, 'What is this that God has done?!'

24 "Here is a people rising up like a lioness; like a lion he rears himself up -he will not lie down till he eats up the prey and drinks the blood of the slain."

25 Balak said to Bil'am, "Obviously, you won't curse them. But at least don't bless them!"

26 However, Bil'am answered Balak, "Didn't I warn you that I must do everything ADONAI says?"

Song of Solomon 3:6-11

6 Who is this, coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, chosen from the merchant's crushed spices?

7 It is Shlomo's litter, escorted by sixty valiant men chosen from Isra'el's finest;

8 all of them wield the sword and are expert fighters; each one has his sword ready at his side to combat the terrors of night.

9 King Shlomo made himself a royal litter of wood from the L'vanon.

10 He made its columns of silver, its roof of gold, its seat of purple cloth; its inside was lovingly inlaid by the daughters of Yerushalayim.

11 Daughters of Tziyon, come out, and gaze upon King Shlomo, wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, his day of joy!

Song of Solomon 4

1 [He] How beautiful you are, my love! How beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gil'ad.

2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep that have just come up from being washed; each of them is matched, and none of them is missing.

3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like a pomegranate split open behind your veil.

4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built magnificently, on which hang a thousand bucklers, each one a brave warrior's shield.

5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among lilies.

6 When the day's cool breeze comes up and the shadows lengthen, I will get myself to the mountain of myrrh to the hill of frankincense.

7 Everything about you is beautiful, my love; you are without a flaw.

8 Come with me from the L'vanon, my bride, come with me from the L'vanon. Come down from the heights of Amanah, from the heights of S'nir and Hermon, down from the lions' lairs and the leopard-haunted hills.

9 My sister, my bride, you have carried my heart away! With just one glance, with one bead of your necklace you have carried my heart away.

10 My sister, my bride, how sweet is your love! How much better your love than wine, more fragrant your perfumes than any spice!

11 Your lips, my bride, drip honey; honey and milk are under your tongue; and the scent of your garments is like the scent of the L'vanon.

12 My sister, my bride, is a garden locked up, a pool covered over, a spring sealed shut.

13 You are an orchard that puts forth pomegranates and other precious fruits, henna and nard

14 nard, saffron and aromatic cane, cinnamon and all kinds of frankincense trees, myrrh, aloes, all the best spices.

15 You are a garden fountain, a spring of running water, flowing down from the L'vanon.

16 [She] Awake, north wind! Come, south wind! Blow on my garden to spread its fragrance. Let my darling enter his garden and eat its finest fruit.

Song of Solomon 5:1

1 [He] My sister, my bride, I have entered my garden; I am gathering my myrrh and my spices; I am eating my honeycomb along with my honey; I am drinking my wine as well as my milk. [Chorus] Eat, friends, and drink, until you are drunk with love!

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 28

Matthew 23:13-39; Numbers 23:27-24:25; Song of Solomon 5:2-6:3 CJB

Matthew 23:13-39

13 "But woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P'rushim! For you are shutting the Kingdom of Heaven in people's faces, neither entering yourselves nor allowing those who wish to enter to do so.

14 Some manuscripts include verse 14: Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P'rushim! For you swallow up widow's houses while making a show of davvening at great length. Because of this your punishment will be all the worse

15 "Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P'rushim! You go about over land and sea to make one proselyte; and when you succeed, you make him twice as fit for Gei-Hinnom as you are!

16 "Woe to you, you blind guides! You say, `If someone swears by the Temple, he is not bound by his oath; but if he swears by the gold in the Temple, he is bound.'

17 You blind fools! Which is more important? the gold? or the Temple which makes the gold holy?

18 And you say, `If someone swears by the altar, he is not bound by his oath; but if he swears by the offering on the altar, he is bound.'

19 Blind men! Which is more important? the sacrifice? or the altar which makes the sacrifice holy

20 So someone who swears by the altar swears by it and everything on it.

21 And someone who swears by the Temple swears by it and the One who lives in it

22 And someone who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and the One who sits on it.

23 "Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P'rushim! You pay your tithes of mint, dill and cumin; but you have neglected the weightier matters of the Torah -- justice, mercy, trust. These are the things you should have attended to -- without neglecting the others!

24 Blind guides! -- straining out a gnat, meanwhile swallowing a camel!

25 "Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P'rushim! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self indulgence.

26 Blind Parush! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may be clean too.

27 "Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P'rushim! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but inside are full of dead people's bones and all kinds of rottenness.

28 Likewise, you appear to people from the outside to be good and honest, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and far from Torah.

29 "Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P'rushim! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the tzaddikim,

30 and you say, `Had we lived when our fathers did, we would never have taken part in killing the prophets.'

31 In this you testify against yourselves that you are worthy descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

32 Go ahead then, finish what your fathers started!

33 "You snakes! Sons of snakes! How can you escape being condemned to Gei Hinnom?

34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and Torah-teachers -- some of them you will kill, indeed, you will have them executed on stakes as criminals; some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.

35 And so, on you will fall the guilt for all the innocent blood that has ever been shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Hevel to the blood of Z'kharyah Ben-Berekhyah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar.

36 Yes! I tell you that all this will fall on this generation

37 "Yerushalayim! Yerushalayim! You kill the prophets! You stone those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused!

38 Look! God is abandoning your house to you, leaving it desolate

39 For I tell you, from now on, you will not see me again until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of ADONAI.'"

Numbers 23

1 Bil'am said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams here."

2 Balak did as Bil'am said; then Balak and Bil'am offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

3 Bil'am said to Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering while I go off; maybe ADONAI will come and meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you." He went off to a bare hill.

4 God met Bil'am, who said to him, "I prepared the seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

5 Then ADONAI put a word in Bil'am's mouth and said, "Go on back to Balak, and speak as I tell you."

6 He went back to him, and there, standing by his burnt offering, he with all the princes of Mo'av,

7 he made his pronouncement: "Balak, the king of Mo'av, brings me from Aram, from the eastern hills, saying, 'Come, curse Ya'akov for me; come and denounce Isra'el.'

8 "How am I to curse those whom God has not cursed? How am I to denounce those whom ADONAI has not denounced?

9 "From the top of the rocks I see them, from the hills I behold them yes, a people that will dwell alone and not think itself one of the nations.

10 "Who has counted the dust of Ya'akov or numbered the ashes of Isra'el? May I die as the righteous die! May my end be like theirs!"

11 Balak said to Bil'am, "What have you done to me?! To curse my enemies is why I brought you; and, here, you have totally blessed them!"

12 He answered, "Mustn't I take care to say just what ADONAI puts in my mouth?"

13 Balak said to him, "All right, come with me to another place where you can see them. You will see only some of them, not all; but you can curse them for me from there."

14 He took him through the field of Tzofim to the top of the Pisgah Range, built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar

15 Bil'am said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering, while I go over there for a meeting."

16 ADONAI met Bil'am, put a word in his mouth and said, "Go on back to Balak, and speak as I tell you."

17 He came to him and stood by his burnt offering, with all the princes of Mo'av. Balak asked him, "What did ADONAI say?"

18 Then Bil'am made his pronouncement: "Get up, Balak, and listen! Turn your ears to me, son of Tzippor!

19 "God is not a human who lies or a mortal who changes his mind. When he says something, he will do it; when he makes a promise, he will fulfill it

20 Look, I am ordered to bless; when he blesses, I can't reverse it.

21 "No one has seen guilt in Ya'akov, or perceived perversity in Isra'el; ADONAI their God is with them and acclaimed as king among them

22 "God, who brought them out of Egypt, gives them the strength of a wild ox;

23 thus one can't put a spell on Ya'akov, no magic will work against Isra'el. It can now be said of Ya'akov and Isra'el, 'What is this that God has done?!'

24 "Here is a people rising up like a lioness; like a lion he rears himself up -he will not lie down till he eats up the prey and drinks the blood of the slain."

25 Balak said to Bil'am, "Obviously, you won't curse them. But at least don't bless them!"

26 However, Bil'am answered Balak, "Didn't I warn you that I must do everything ADONAI says?"

27 Balak said to Bil'am, "Come, I will take you now to another place; maybe it will please God for you to curse them for me from there."

28 Balak took Bil'am to the top of P'or, overlooking the desert.

29 Bil'am said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams."

30 Balak did as Bil'am said and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Numbers 24

1 When Bil'am saw that it pleased ADONAI to bless Isra'el, he didn't go, as at the other times, to make use of divination, but looked out toward the desert.

2 Bil'am raised his eyes and saw Isra'el encamped tribe by tribe. Then the Spirit of God came upon him,

3 and he made his pronouncement: "This is the speech of Bil'am, son of B'or; the speech of the man whose eyes have been opened;

4 the speech of him who hears God's words; who sees what Shaddai sees, who has fallen, yet has open eyes:

5 "How lovely are your tents, Ya'akov; your encampments, Isra'el!

6 They spread out like valleys, like gardens by the riverside, like succulent aloes planted by ADONAI, like cedar trees next to the water.

7 "Water will flow from their branches, their seed will have water aplenty. Their king will be higher than Agag and his kingdom lifted high.

8 God, who brought them out of Egypt, gives them the strength of a wild ox. They will devour the nations opposing them, break their bones, pierce them with their arrows.

9 "When they lie down they crouch like a lion, or like a lioness - who dares to rouse it? Blessed be all who bless you! Cursed be all who curse you!"

10 Balak blazed with fury against Bil'am. He struck his hands together and said to Bil'am, "I summoned you to curse my enemies. But here, you have done nothing but bless them - three times already!

11 Now you had better escape to your own place! I had planned to reward you very well, but now ADONAI has deprived you of payment."

12 Bil'am answered Balak, "Didn't I tell the messengers you sent me

13 that even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not of my own accord go beyond the word of ADONAI to do either good or bad? that what ADONAI said is what I would say?

14 But now that I am going back to my own people, come, I will warn you what this people will do to your people in the acharit-hayamim.

15 So he made his pronouncement: "This is the speech of Bil'am, son of B'or; the speech of the man whose eyes have been opened;

16 the speech of him who hears God's words; who knows what 'Elyon knows, who sees what Shaddai sees, who has fallen, yet has open eyes:

17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not soon -a star will step forth from Ya'akov, a scepter will arise from Isra'el, to crush the corners of Mo'av and destroy all descendants of Shet.

18 His enemies will be his possessions -Edom and Se'ir, possessions. Isra'el will do valiantly,

19 From Ya'akov will come someone who will rule, and he will destroy what is left of the city."

20 He saw 'Amalek and made this pronouncement: "First among nations was 'Amalek, but destruction will be its end."

21 He saw the Keini and made this pronouncement: "Though your dwelling is firm, your nest set on rock,

22 Kayin will be wasted while captive to Ashur."

23 Finally, he made this pronouncement: "Oh no! Who can live when God does this?

24 But ships will come from the coast of Kittim to subdue Ashur and subdue 'Ever, but they too will come to destruction."

25 Then Bil'am got up, left and returned to his home; and Balak too went his way.

Song of Solomon 5:2-16

2 [She] I am asleep, but my heart is awake. Listen! I hear my darling knocking! [He] Open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my flawless one! For my head is wet with dew, my hair with the moisture of the night.

3 [She] I've removed my coat; must I put it back on? I've washed my feet; must I dirty them again?

4 The man I love put his hand through the hole by the door-latch, and my heart began pounding at the thought of him.

5 I got up to open for the man I love. My hands were dripping with myrrh pure myrrh ran off my fingers onto the handle of the bolt.

6 I opened for my darling, but my darling had turned and gone. My heart had failed me when he spoke I sought him, but I couldn't find him; I called him, but he didn't answer.

7 The watchmen roaming the city found me; they beat me, they wounded me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls!

8 I charge you, daughters of Yerushalayim, that if you find the man I love, what are you to tell him? That I am sick with love.

9 [Chorus] How does the man you love differ from any other, you most beautiful of women? How does the man you love differ from any other, that you should give us this charge?

10 [She] The man I love is radiant and ruddy; he stands out among ten thousand.

11 His head is like the finest gold; his locks are wavy and black as a raven.

12 His eyes are like doves by running streams, bathed in milk and set just right.

13 His cheeks are like beds of spices, like banks of fragrant herbs. His lips are like lilies dripping with sweet myrrh.

14 His arms are rods of gold set with beryl, his body polished ivory adorned with sapphires.

15 His legs are like pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like the L'vanon, as imposing as the cedars.

16 His words are sweetness itself; he is altogether desirable. This is my darling, and this is my friend, daughters of Yerushalayim.

Song of Solomon 6:1-3

1 [Chorus] Where has your darling gone, you most beautiful of women? Which way did your darling turn, so that we can help you find him?

2 [She] My darling went down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.

3 I belong to the man I love, and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 29

Matthew 24:1-31; Numbers 25-27; Song of Solomon 6:4-8:4 NIV

Matthew 24:1-31

1 As Yeshua left the Temple and was going away, his talmidim came and called his attention to its buildings.

2 But he answered them, "You see all these? Yes! I tell you, they will be totally destroyed -- not a single stone will be left standing!"

3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the talmidim came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that you are coming, and that the `olam hazeh is ending?"

4 Yeshua replied: "Watch out! Don't let anyone fool you!

5 For many will come in my name, saying, `I am the Messiah!' and they will lead many astray.

6 You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off; see to it that you don't become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come.

7 For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world;

8 all this is but the beginning of the `birth pains.'

9 At that time you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will hate you because of me.

10 At that time many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other,

11 many false prophets will appear and fool many people;

12 and many people's love will grow cold because of increased distance from Torah.

13 But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered.

14 And this Good News about the Kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the Goyim. It is then that the end will come.

15 "So when you see the abomination that causes devastation spoken about through the prophet Dani'el standing in the Holy Place" (let the reader understand the allusion),

16 "that will be the time for those in Y'hudah to escape to the hills.

17 If someone is on the roof, he must not go down to gather his belongings from his house;

18 if someone is in the field, he must not turn back to get his coat.

19 What a terrible time it will be for pregnant women and nursing mothers!

20 Pray that you will not have to escape in winter or on Shabbat.

21 For there will be trouble then worse than there has ever been from the beginning of the world until now, and there will be nothing like it again!

22 Indeed, if the length of this time had not been limited, no one would survive; but for the sake of those who have been chosen, its length will be limited.

23 "At that time, if someone says to you, `Look! Here's the Messiah!' or, `There he is!' don't believe him.

24 For there will appear false Messiahs and false prophets performing great miracles -- amazing things! -- so as to fool even the chosen, if pos sible.

25 There! I have told you in advance!

26 So if people say to you, `Listen! He's out in the desert!' don't go; or, `Look! He's hidden away in a secret room!' don't believe it.

27 For when the Son of Man does come, it will be like lightning that flashes out of the east and fills the sky to the western horizon.

28 Wherever there's a dead body, that's where you find the vultures.

29 "But immediately following the trouble of those times, the sun will grow dark, the moon will stop shining, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in heaven will be shaken.

30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the Land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with tremendous power and glory.

31 He will send out his angels with a great shofar;m and they will gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Numbers 25

1 Isra'el stayed at Sheetim, and there the people began whoring with the women of Mo'av.

2 These women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, where the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

3 With Isra'el thus joined to Ba'al-P'or, the anger of ADONAI blazed up against Isra'el.

4 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them facing the sun before ADONAI, so that the raging fury of ADONAI will turn away from Isra'el."

5 Moshe said to the judges of Isra'el, "Each of you is to put to death those in his tribe who have joined themselves to Ba'al-P'or."

6 Just then, in the sight of Moshe and the whole community of Isra'el, as they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting, a man from Isra'el came by, bringing to his family a woman from Midyan.

7 When Pinchas the son of El'azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, saw it, he got up from the middle of the crowd, took a spear in his hand,

8 and pursued the man from Isra'el right into the inner part of the tent, where he thrust his spear through both of them -the man from Isra'el and the woman through her stomach. Thus was the plague among the people of Isra'el stopped;

9 nevertheless, 24,000 died in the plague.

10 ADONAI said to Moshe,

11 "Pinchas the son of El'azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, has deflected my anger from the people of Isra'el by being as zealous as I am, so that I didn't destroy them in my own zeal.

12 Therefore say, 'I am giving him my covenant of shalom,

13 making a covenant with him and his descendants after him that the office of cohen will be theirs forever.'This is because he was zealous on behalf of his God and made atonement for the people of Isra'el."

14 The name of the man from Isra'el who was killed, put to death with the woman from Midyan, was Zimri the son of Salu, leader of one of the clans from the tribe of Shim'on.

15 The name of the woman from Midyan who was killed was Kozbi the daughter of Tzur, and he was head of the people in one of the clans of Midyan.

16 ADONAI said to Moshe,

17 "Treat the Midyanim as enemies and attack them;

18 because they are treating you as enemies by the trickery they used to deceive you in the P'or incident and in the affair of their sister Kozbi, the daughter of the leader from Midyan, the woman who was killed on the day of the plague in the P'or incident."

Numbers 26

1 After the plague, 26 1 ADONAI said to Moshe and El'azar, the son of Aharon the cohen,

2 "Take a census of the entire assembly of the people of Isra'el twenty years old and over, by their ancestral clans, all who are subject to military service in Isra'el."

3 Moshe and El'azar the cohen spoke with them on the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden across from Yericho, explaining,

4 "Those twenty years old and over who came out of the land of Egypt, as ADONAI ordered Moshe and the people of Isra'el."

5 [The census results begin with] Re'uven, the firstborn of Isra'el. The descendants of Re'uven were: of Hanokh, the family of the Hanokhi; of Pallu, the family of the Pallu'i;

6 of Hetzron, the family of the Hetzroni; and of Karmi the family of the Karmi.

7 These were the the families of the Re'uveni; of them were counted 43,730.

8 The sons of Pallu: Eli'av;

9 and the sons of Eli'av: N'mu'el, Datan and Aviram. These are the same Datan and Aviram, men of reputation in the community, who rebelled against Moshe and Aharon in Korach's group, when they rebelled against ADONAI;

10 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korach when that group died, and the fire consumed 250 men, and they became a warning sign.

11 (However, the sons of Korach did not die.)

12 The descendants of Shim'on, by their families, were: of N'mu'el, the family of the N'mu'eli; of Yamin, the family of the Yamini; of Yakhin, the family of the Yakhini;

13 of Zerach, the family of the Zarchi; and of Sha'ul, the family of the Sha'uli.

14 These were the families of the Shim'oni, 22,200.

15 The descendants of Gad, by their families, were: of Tz'fon, the family of the Tz'foni; of Haggi, the family of the Haggi; of Shuni, the family of the Shuni;

16 of Ozni, the family of the Ozni; of 'Eri, the family of the 'Eri;

17 of Arod, the family of the Arodi; and of Ar'eli, the family of the Ar'eli.

18 These were the families of the sons of Gad, according to those counted of them, 40,500.

19 The sons of Y'hudah: First 'Er and Onan, but 'Er and Onan died in the land of Kena'an.

20 The sons of Y'hudah who had descendants were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelani; of Peretz, the family of the Partzi; and of Zerach, the family of the Zarchi.

21 The sons of Peretz were: of Hetzron, the family of the Hetzroni; and of Hamul, the family of the Hamuli.

22 These were the families of Y'hudah, according to those counted of them, 76,500.

23 The descendants of Yissakhar, by their families, were: of Tola, the family of the Tola'i; of Puvah, the family of the Puni;

24 of Yashuv, the family of the Yashuvi; and of Shimron, the family of the Shimroni.

25 These were the families of Yissakhar, according to those counted of them, 64,300.

26 The descendants of Z'vulun, by their families, were: of Sered, the family of the Sardi; of Elon, the family of the Eloni; and of Yachle'el, the family of the Yachle'eli.

27 These were the families of the Z'vuloni, according to those counted of them, 60,500.

28 The sons of Yosef, by their families, were M'nasheh and Efrayim.

29 The descendants of M'nasheh were: of Makhir, the family of the Makhiri. Makhir was the father of Gil'ad; of Gil'ad, the family of the Gil'adi.

30 These are the descendants of Gil'ad: of I'ezer, the family of the I'ezri; of Helek, the family of the Helki;

31 of Asri'el, the family of the Asri'eli; of Sh'khem, the family of the Shikhmi;

32 of Sh'mida, the family of the Sh'mida'i; and of Hefer, the family of the Hefri.

33 Tz'lof'chad the son of Hefer had no sons but daughters; the names of the daughters of Tz'lof'chad were Machlah, No'ah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirtzah.

34 These were the families of M'nasheh; of them were counted 52,700.

35 These are the descendants of Efrayim, by their families: of Shutelach, the family of the Shutalchi; of Bekher, the family of the Bakhri; and of Tachan, the family of the Tachani.

36 These are the descendants of Shutelach: of 'Eran, the family of the 'Erani.

37 These were the families of the descendants of Efrayim, according to those of them that were counted, 32,500. These were the descendants of Yosef, by their families.

38 The descendants of Binyamin, by their families were: of Bela, the family of the Bal'i; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbeli; of Achiram, the family of the Achirami;

39 of Sh'fufam, the family of the Shufami; and of Hufam, the family of the Hufami.

40 The sons of Bela were Ard and Na'aman; [of Ard,] the family of the Ardi; and of Na'aman, the family of the Na'ami.

41 These were the descendants of Binyamin, by their families; of them were counted 45,600.

42 The descendants of Dan, by their families, were: of Shucham, the family of the Shuchami. These are the families of Dan, by their families.

43 All the families of the Shuchami, according to those of them that were counted, were 64,400.

44 The descendants of Asher, by their families: of Yimnah, the family of the Yimnah; of Yishvi, the family of the Yishvi; and of B'ri'ah, the family of the B'ri'i.

45 Of the descendants of B'ri'ah: of Hever, the family of the Hevri; and of Malki'el, the family of the Malki'eli.

46 The name of Asher's daughter was Serach.

47 These were the families of the descendants of Asher, according to those of them that were counted, 53,400.

48 The descendants of Naftali, by their families: of Yachtze'el, the families of the Yachtze'eli; of Guni, the family of the Guni;

49 of Yetzer, the family of the Yitzri; and of Shillem, the family of the Shillemi.

50 These are the families of Naftali according to their families; those of them that were counted were 45,400.

51 Thus those who were counted of the people of Isra'el numbered 601,730.

52 ADONAI said to Moshe,

53 "The land is to be parceled out among these as a possession to be inherited, according to the number of names.

54 To those families with more persons you are to give a greater inheritance, and to those with fewer you are to give a smaller inheritance - each family's inheritance is to be given according to the number counted in it.

55 However, the land is to be awarded by lot. They will inherit according to the names of the tribes of their ancestors,

56 but the inheritance is to be parceled out by lot between the families with more and those with fewer."

57 Those counted among the Levi, by their families, were: of Gershon, the family of the Gershuni, of K'hat, the family of the K'hati; and of M'rari, the family of the M'rari.

58 These are the families of Levi: the family of the Livni, the family of the Hevroni, the family of the Machli, the family of the Mushi and the family of the Korchi. K'hat was the father of 'Amram.

59 The name of 'Amram's wife was Yokheved the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to 'Amram Aharon, Moshe and their sister Miryam.

60 To Aharon were born Nadav, Avihu, El'azar and Itamar;

61 but Nadav and Avihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before ADONAI.

62 Those males one month old or more counted of the Levi were 23,000. These were not included in the census of the people of Isra'el, because no land for inheritance was given to them among the people of Isra'el.

63 These are the ones counted by Moshe and El'azar the cohen, who took a census of the people of Isra'el in the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden across from Yericho.

64 But there was not a man among them who had also been included in the census of Moshe and Aharon the cohen when they enumerated the people of Isra'el in the Sinai Desert;

65 because ADONAI had said of them, "They will surely die in the desert." So there was not left even one of them, except Kalev the son of Y'funeh and Y'hoshua the son of Nun.

Numbers 27

1 Then the daughters of Tz'lof'chad the son of Hefer, the son of Gil'ad, the son of Machir, the son of M'nasheh, of the families of M'nasheh, the son of Yosef, approached. These were the names of his daughters: Machlah, No'ah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirtzah.

2 They stood in front of Moshe, El'azar the cohen, the leaders and the whole community at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said,

3 "Our father died in the desert. He wasn't part of the group who assembled themselves to rebel against ADONAI in Korach's group, but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons.

4 Why should the name of our father be eliminated from his family just because he didn't have a son? Give us property to possess along with the brothers of our father."

5 Moshe brought their cause before ADONAI.

6 ADONAI answered Moshe,

7 "The daughters of Tz'lof'chad are right in what they say. You must give them property to be inherited along with that of their father's brothers; have what their father would have inherited pass to them.

8 Moreover, say to the people of Isra'el, 'If a man dies and does not have a son, you are to have his inheritance pass to his daughter.

9 If he doesn't have a daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers.

10 If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father's brothers.

11 If his father doesn't have brothers, give his inheritance to the closest relative in his family, and he will possess it. This will be the standard for judgment to be used by the people of Isra'el, as ADONAI ordered Moshe.'"

12 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Climb this mountain in the 'Avarim Range, and look out at the land which I have given the people of Isra'el.

13 After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, just as Aharon your brother was gathered;

14 because in the Tzin Desert, when the community was disputing with me, you rebelled against my order to uphold my holiness by means of the water, with them looking on." (This was M'rivat-Kadesh Spring, in the Tzin Desert.)

15 Moshe said to ADONAI,

16 "Let ADONAI, God of the spirits of all human beings, appoint a man to be over the community,

17 to go out and come in ahead of them, to lead them out and bring them in, so that ADONAI's community will not be like sheep without a shepherd."

18 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Take Y'hoshua the son of Nun, a spiritual man, and lay your hand on him.

19 Put him in front of El'azar the cohen and the whole community, and commission him in their sight.

20 Delegate to him some of your authority, so that the entire community of Isra'el will obey him.

21 He is to present himself to El'azar the cohen, who is to find out by means of the urim what ADONAI's will is for Y'hoshua's decisions. Then, at his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in, both he and all the people of Isra'el with him, the whole community."

22 Moshe did as ADONAI had ordered him. He took Y'hoshua, put him before El'azar the cohen and the whole community,

23 laid his hands on him, and commissioned him, as ADONAI had said through Moshe.

Song of Solomon 6:4-13

4 [He] You are as beautiful as Tirtzah, my love, as lovely as Yerushalayim, but formidable as an army marching under banners.

5 Turn your eyes away from me, because they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Gil'ad.

6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that have just come up from being washed; each of them is matched, and none of them is missing.

7 Your cheeks are like a pomegranate split open behind your veil.

8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, as well as young women beyond number;

9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, her mother's only child, the darling of the one who bore her.

10 The daughters see her and call her happy; the queens and concubines praise her. "Who is this, shining forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun"-but formidable as an army marching under banners?

11 [She] I had gone down to the nut orchard to see the fresh green plants in the valley, to see if the vine had budded,

12 or if the pomegranate trees were in bloom. Before I knew it, I found myself in a chariot, and with me was a prince.

13 [Chorus] Come back, come back, girl from Shulam! Come back, come back to where we can see you! Why are you looking at the girl from Shulam as if she were dancing for two army camps?

Song of Solomon 7

1 [He] How beautiful are your feet in sandals, you daughter of princes! The curves of your thighs are like a necklace made by a skilled craftsman. Your navel is like a round goblet that never lacks spiced wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat encircled by lilies. Your two breasts are like two fawns,

2

3

4 twins of a gazelle. Your neck is like a tower of ivory, your eyes like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bat-Rabbim, your nose like a tower in the L'vanon overlooking Dammesek. You hold your head like the Karmel, and the hair on your head is like purple cloth -the king is held captive in its tresses.

5

6 How beautiful you are, my love, how charming, how delightful! Your appearance is stately as a palm tree, with its fruit clusters your breasts. I said, "I will climb up into the palm tree, I will take hold of its branches."

7

8

9 May your breasts be like clusters of grapes, your breath as fragrant as apples, and your mouth like the finest wine. [She] May the wine go straight to the man I love and gently move the lips of those who are asleep.

10 I belong to my darling, and his desire is for me.

11 Come, my darling, let's go out to the country and spend the nights in the villages.

12 We'll get up early and go to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, to see if their flowers have opened, or if the pomegranate trees are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

13 The mandrakes are sending out their fragrance, all kinds of choice fruits are at our doors, fruits both new and old, my darling, which I have kept in store for you.

Song of Solomon 8:1-4

1 I wish you were my brother, who nursed at my mother's breast; then, if I met you outdoors, I could kiss you, and no one would look down on me.

2 I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house, and she would instruct me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, fresh juice from my pomegranates.

3 His left arm would be under my head and his right arm around me.

4 I warn you, daughters of Yerushalayim, not to awaken or stir up love until it wants to arise!

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 30

Matthew 24:32-51; Numbers 28-29; Song of Solomon 8:5-14 CJB

Matthew 24:32-51

32 "Now let the fig tree teach you its lesson: when its branches begin to sprout and leaves appear, you know that summer is approaching.

33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you are to know that the time is near, right at the door.

34 Yes! I tell you that this people will certainly not pass away before all these things happen.

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

36 "But when that day and hour will come, no one knows -- not the angels in heaven, not the Son, only the Father.

37 For the Son of Man's coming will be just as it was in the days of Noach.

38 Back then, before the Flood, people went on eating and drinking, taking wives and becoming wives, right up till the day Noach entered the ark;

39 and they didn't know what was happening until the Flood came and swept them all away. It will be just like that when the Son of Man comes.

40 Then there will be two men in a field -- one will be taken and the other left behind.

41 There will be two women grinding flour at the mill -- one will be taken and the other left behind.

42 So stay alert, because you don't know on what day your Lord will come.

43 But you do know this: had the owner of the house known when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken into.

44 Therefore you too must always be ready, for the Son of Man will come when you are not expecting him.

45 "Who is the faithful and sensible servant whose master puts him in charge of the household staff, to give them their food at the proper time?

46 It will go well with that servant if he is found doing his job when his master comes.

47 Yes, I tell you that he will put him in charge of all he owns.

48 But if that servant is wicked and says to himself, `My master is taking his time';

49 and he starts beating up his fellow servants and spends his time eating and drinking with drunkards;

50 then his master will come on a day the servant does not expect, at a time he doesn't know;

51 and he will cut him in two and put him with the hypocrites, where people will wail and grind their teeth!

Numbers 28

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Give an order to the people of Isra'el. Tell them, 'You are to take care to offer me at the proper time the food presented to me as offerings made by fire, providing a fragrant aroma for me.'

3 Tell them, 'This is the offering made by fire that you are to bring to ADONAI: male lambs in their first year and without defect, two daily as a regular burnt offering.

4 Offer the one lamb in the morning and the other lamb at dusk,

5 along with two quarts of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with one quart of oil from pressed olives.

6 It is the regular burnt offering, the same as was offered on Mount Sinai to give a fragrant aroma, an offering made by fire for ADONAI.

7 Its drink offering is to be one-quarter hin for one lamb; in the Holy Place you are to pour out a drink offering of intoxicating liquor to ADONAI.

8 The other lamb you are to present at dusk; present it with the same kind of grain offering and drink offering as in the morning; it is an offering made by fire, with a fragrant aroma for ADONAI.

9 "'On Shabbat offer two male lambs in their first year and without defect, with one gallon of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with olive oil, and its drink offering.

10 This is the burnt offering for every Shabbat, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

11 "'At each Rosh-Hodesh of yours, you are to present a burnt offering to ADONAI consisting of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs in their first year and without defect;

12 with six quarts of fine flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for the one ram;

13 and two quarts of fine flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for each lamb. This will be the burnt offering giving a fragrant aroma, an offering made by fire for ADONAI.

14 Their drink offerings will be two quarts of wine for a bull, one-and-one-third quarts for the ram, and one quart for each lamb. This is the burnt offering for every Rosh-Hodesh throughout the months of the year.

15 Also a male goat is to be offered as a sin offering to ADONAI, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

16 "'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is ADONAI's Pesach.

17 On the fifteenth day of the month is to be a feast. Matzah is to be eaten for seven days.

18 The first day is to be a holy convocation: do not do any kind of ordinary work;

19 but present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering, to ADONAI, consisting of two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs in their first year (they are to be without defect for you)

20 with their grain offering, fine flour mixed with olive oil. Offer six quarts for a bull, four quarts for the ram,

21 and two quarts for each of the seven lambs;

22 also a male goat as a sin offering, to make atonement for you.

23 You are to offer these in addition to the morning burnt offering, which is the regular burnt offering.

24 In this fashion you are to offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, making a fragrant aroma for ADONAI ; it is to be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

25 On the seventh day you are to have a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work.

26 "'On the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to ADONAI in your feast of Shavu'ot, you are to have a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work;

27 but present a burnt offering as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI, consisting of two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs in their first year,

28 and their grain offering - fine flour mixed with olive oil, six quarts for each bull, four quarts for the one ram,

29 and two quarts for each of the seven lambs -

30 plus a male goat to make atonement for you.

31 You are to offer these in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering (they are to be without defect for you), with their drink offerings.

Numbers 29

1 "'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; it is a day of blowing the shofar for you.

2 Prepare a burnt offering to make a fragrant aroma for ADONAI - one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs in their first year and without defect -

3 with their grain offering, consisting of fine flour mixed with olive oil - six quarts for the bull, four quarts for the ram,

4 and two quarts for each of the seven lambs -

5 also one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you.

6 This is to be in addition to the burnt offering for Rosh-Hodesh with its grain offering, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to the rule for them; this will be a fragrant aroma, an offering made by fire to ADONAI.

7 "'On the tenth day of this seventh month you are to have a holy convocation. You are to deny yourselves, and you are not to do any kind of work;

8 but you are to present a burnt offering to ADONAI to make a fragrant aroma: one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs in their first year (they are to be without defect for you),

9 with their grain offering, fine flour mixed with olive oil, six quarts for the bull, four quarts for the one ram,

10 and two quarts for each of the seven lambs;

11 also one male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the sin offering for atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

12 "'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you are to have a holy convocation. You are not to do any kind of ordinary work, and you are to observe a feast to ADONAI seven days.

13 You are to present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, bringing a fragrant aroma to ADONAI. It is to consist of thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year (they are to be without defect),

14 with their grain offering - fine flour mixed with olive oil, six quarts for each of the thirteen bulls, four quarts for each of the two rams,

15 and two quarts for each of the fourteen lambs;

16 also one male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

17 "'On the second day you are to present twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year, without defect;

18 with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams and lambs, according to their number, in keeping with the rule;

19 also one male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and their drink offerings.

20 "'On the third day eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year, without defect;

21 with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams and lambs, according to their number, in keeping with the rule;

22 also one male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

23 "'On the fourth day ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year, without defect;

24 with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams and lambs, according to their number, in keeping with the rule;

25 also one male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

26 "'On the fifth day nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year, without defect;

27 with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams and lambs, according to their number, in keeping with the rule;

28 also one male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

29 "'On the sixth day eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year, without defect;

30 with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams and lambs, according to their number, in keeping with the rule;

31 also one male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

32 "'On the seventh day seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year, without defect;

33 with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams and lambs, according to their number, in keeping with the rule;

34 also one male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offerings.

35 "'On the eighth day you are to have a festive assembly: you are not to do any kind of ordinary work;

36 but you are to present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, giving a fragrant aroma to ADONAI -one bull, one ram, seven male lambs in their first year, without defect;

37 with the grain and drink offerings for the bull, the ram and the lambs, according to their number, in keeping with the rule;

38 also one male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

39 "'You are to offer these to ADONAI at your designated times in addition to your vows and voluntary offerings -whether these are your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings or peace offerings.'"

40 Moshe told the people of Isra'el everything, just as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

Song of Solomon 8:5-14

5 [Chorus] Who is this, coming up from the desert, leaning on her darling? [He] I awakened you under the apple tree. It was there that your mother conceived you; there she who bore you conceived you.

6 [She] Set me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, passion as cruel as Sh'ol; its flashes are flashes of fire, [as fierce as the] flame of Yah.

7 No amount of water can quench love, torrents cannot drown it. If someone gave all the wealth in his house for love, he would gain only utter contempt.

8 [Chorus] We have a little sister; her breasts are still unformed. What are we to do with our sister when she is asked for in marriage?

9 If she is a wall, we will build on her a palace of silver; and if she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

10 [She] I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; so in his view I am like one who brings peace.

11 Shlomo had a vineyard at Ba'al-Hamon, and he gave the vineyard to caretakers; each of them would pay for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

12 My vineyard is mine; I tend it, myself. You can have the thousand, Shlomo, and the fruit-caretakers, two hundred!

13 [He] You who live in the garden, friends are listening for your voice. Let me hear it!

14 [She] - Flee, my darling! Be like a gazelle or young stag on the mountains of spices!

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

March 31

Matthew 25:1-30; Numbers 30-31; Job 1 CJB

Matthew 25:1-30

1 "The Kingdom of Heaven at that time will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom.

2 Five of them were foolish and five were sensible.

3 The foolish ones took lamps with them but no oil,

4 whereas the others took flasks of oil with their lamps.

5 Now the bridegroom was late, so they all went to sleep.

6 It was the middle of the night when the cry rang out, `The bridegroom is here! Go out to meet him!'

7 The girls all woke up and prepared their lamps for lighting.

8 The foolish ones said to the sensible ones, `Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.'

9 `No,' they replied, `there may not be enough for both you and us. Go to the oil dealers and buy some for yourselves.'

10 But as they were going off to buy, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut.

11 Later, the other bridesmaids came. `Sir! Sir!' they cried, `Let us in!'

12 But he answered, `Indeed! I tell you, I don't know you!'

13 So stay alert, because you know neither the day nor the hour.

14 "For it will be like a man about to leave home for awhile, who entrusted his possessions to his servants.

15 To one he gave five talents [equivalent to a hundred years' wages]; to another, two talents; and to another, one talent -- to each according to his ability. Then he left.

16 The one who had received five talents immediately went out, invested it and earned another five.

17 Similarly, the one given two earned another two.

18 But the one given one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

19 "After a long time, the master of those servants returned to settle accounts with them.

20 The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the other five and said, `Sir, you gave me five talents; here, I have made five more.'

21 His master said to him, `Excellent! You are a good and trustworthy servant. You have been faithful with a small amount, so I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and join in your master's happiness!'

22 Also the one who had received two came forward and said, `Sir, you gave me two talents; here, I have made two more.'

23 His master said to him, `Excellent! you are a good and trustworthy servant. You have been faithful with a small amount, so I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and join in your master's happiness!'

24 "Now the one who had received one talent came forward and said, `I knew you were a hard man. You harvest where you didn't plant and gather where you didn't sow seed.

25 I was afraid, so I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here! Take what belongs to you!'

26 `You wicked, lazy servant!' said his master, `So you knew, did you, that I harvest where I haven't planted? and that I gather where I didn't sow seed?

27 Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, so that when I returned, I would at least have gotten back interest with my capital!

28 Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten.

29 For everyone who has something will be given more, so that he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away.

30 As for this worthless servant, throw him out in the dark, where people will wail and grind their teeth!'

Numbers 30

1 Then Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Isra'el. He said, "Here is what ADONAI has ordered:

2 when a man makes a vow to ADONAI or formally obligates himself by swearing an oath, he is not to break his word but is to do everything he said he would do.

3 "When a woman makes a vow to ADONAI, formally obligating herself, while she is a minor living in her father's house;

4 then, if her father has heard what she vowed or obligated herself to do and holds his peace, then all her vows remain binding - every obligation she has bound herself to will stand.

5 But if on the day her father hears it, he expresses his disapproval, then none of her vows or obligations she has bound herself to will stand; and ADONAI will forgive her, because her father expressed his disapproval.

6 "If, having made vows or rashly committed herself to an obligation, she gets married;

7 and her husband hears but holds his peace with her on the day he learns of it, then her vows and obligations she has bound herself to will stand.

8 But if her husband expresses his disapproval on the day he hears it, he will void the vow which is on her and the obligation to which she has bound herself; and ADONAI will forgive her.

9 "The vow of a widow, however, or of a divorcee, including everything to which she has obligated herself, will stand against her.

10 "If a woman vowed in her husband's house or obligated herself with an

11 and her husband heard it but held his peace with her and did not express disapproval, then all her vows and obligations will stand.

12 But if her husband makes them null and void on the day he hears them, then whatever she said, vows or binding obligation, will not stand; her husband has voided them; and ADONAI will forgive her.

13 Her husband may let every vow and every binding obligation stand, or he may void it.

14 But if her husband entirely holds his peace with her day after day, then he confirms all her vows and obligations; he must let them stand, because he held his peace with her on the day he heard them.

15 If he makes them null and void after he has heard them, then he will bear the consequent guilt."

16 These are the laws which ADONAI ordered Moshe between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter, if she is a minor living in her father's house.

Numbers 31

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "On behalf of the people of Isra'el, take vengeance on the Midyanim. After that, you will be gathered to your people."

3 Moshe said to the people, "Equip men from among yourselves for war. They are to go and fight Midyan, in order to carry out ADONAI's vengeance on Midyan.

4 You are to send to the war a thousand men from every one of Isra'el's tribes."

5 So out of the thousands of people in Isra'el, a thousand armed men from each tribe, 12,000 altogether, were mustered for war.

6 Moshe sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war; he sent them and Pinchas the son of El'azar the cohen to the war, with the holy utensils and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his care.

7 They fought against Midyan, as ADONAI had ordered Moshe, and killed every male.

8 They killed the kings of Midyan along with the others who were slain - Evi, Rekem, Tzur, Hur and Reva, the five kings of Midyan. They also killed Bil'am the son of B'or with the sword.

9 The people of Isra'el took captive the women of Midyan and their little ones, and they took as booty all their cattle, flocks and other goods.

10 They set fire to all their cities in the areas where they lived and all their camps.

11 They took all the booty, all the people and animals they had captured,

12 and brought the captives, booty and spoil to Moshe, El'azar the cohen and the community of Isra'el in the camp on the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden across from Yericho.

13 Moshe, El'azar the cohen and all the community leaders went to meet them outside the camp.

14 But Moshe was angry with the army officers, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds coming in from the battlefield.

15 Moshe asked them, "You let the women live?

16 Why, these are the ones who - because of Bil'am's advice -caused the people of Isra'el to rebel, breaking faith with ADONAI in the P'or incident, so that the plague broke out among ADONAI's community!

17 Now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has ever slept with a man.

18 But the young girls who have never slept with a man, keep alive for yourselves.

19 Pitch your tents outside the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed a person or touched the corpse of someone slain, purify yourselves on the third and seventh days, you and your captives.

20 Also purify every garment, whether of skin or goat's hair, and everything made of wood."

21 El'azar the cohen said to the soldiers who had gone to the front, "This is the regulation from the Torah which ADONAI has ordered Moshe.

22 Even though gold, silver, brass, iron, tin and lead

23 can all withstand fire, so that you are indeed to purify everything made of these materials by having them pass through fire; nevertheless they must also be purified with the water for purification. Everything that can't withstand fire you are to have go through the water.

24 On the seventh day you are to wash your clothes, and you will be clean; after that you may enter the camp."

25 ADONAI said to Moshe,

26 "Take all the booty, both people and animals, you, El'azar the cohen and the leaders of clans in the community;

27 and divide the booty into two parts: half for the experienced soldiers who went out to battle, and half for the rest of the community.

28 From the portion of the soldiers who went out to battle, levy a tax for ADONAI consisting of one-five-hundredth of the persons, cattle, donkeys and sheep;

29 take it from their half and give it to El'azar the cohen as a portion set apart for ADONAI.

30 From the half that goes to the people of Isra'el, you are to take one-fiftieth of the persons, and of the cattle, donkeys and sheep, that is, of all the livestock; and give them to the L'vi'im taking care of the tabernacle of ADONAI."

31 Moshe and El'azar the cohen did as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

32 The booty, over and above the portion which the soldiers took, came to 675,000 sheep,

33 72,000 cattle,

34 61,000 donkeys,

35 and 32,000 persons in all, consisting of the women who had never slept with a man.

36 The half which was the portion of the soldiers who went out to fight, numbered 337,500 sheep,

37 of which ADONAI's tribute was 675;

38 36,000 cattle, of which ADONAI's tribute was seventy-two;

39 30,500 donkeys, of which ADONAI's tribute was sixty-one;

40 and 16,000 persons, of whom ADONAI's tribute was thirty-two persons.

41 Moshe gave the tribute set apart for ADONAI to El'azar the cohen, as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

42 From the half that went to people of Isra'el, which Moshe separated from that of the men who had gone to fight -

43 now the community's half consisted of 337,500 sheep,

44 36,000 cattle,

45 30,500 donkeys

46 and 16,000 persons -

47 from the people of Isra'el's half, Moshe took one-fiftieth of the persons and animals and gave them to the L'vi'im taking care of the tabernacle of ADONAI, as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

48 The officers in charge of the thousands who fought, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moshe

49 and said to him, "Your servants have counted all the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing.

50 We have brought an offering for ADONAI, what every man has obtained in the way of gold jewelry -armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and belts -to make atonement for ourselves before ADONAI."

51 Moshe and El'azar the cohen accepted their gold, all the jewelry.

52 All the gold in this gift which the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds set apart for ADONAI weighed 420 pounds.

53 For the soldiers had taken booty, every man for himself.

54 Moshe and El'azar the cohen took the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a reminder for the people of Isra'el before ADONAI.

Job 1

1 There was a man in the land of 'Utz whose name was Iyov. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

3 He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen and 500 female donkeys, as well as a great number of servants; so that he was the wealthiest man in the east.

4 It was the custom of his sons to give banquets, each on his set day in his own house; and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

5 After a cycle of banquets, Iyov would send for them to come and be consecrated; then he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for each of them, because Iyov said, "My sons might have sinned and blasphemed God in their thoughts."This is what Iyov did every time.

6 It happened one day that the sons of God came to serve ADONAI, and among them came the Adversary [Hebrew: Satan].

7 ADONAI asked the Adversary, "Where are you coming from?" The Adversary answered ADONAI, "From roaming through the earth, wandering here and there."

8 ADONAI asked the Adversary, "Did you notice my servant Iyov, that there's no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil?"

9 The Adversary answered ADONAI, "Is it for nothing that Iyov fears God?

10 You've put a protective hedge around him, his house and everything he has. You've prospered his work, and his livestock are spread out all over the land.

11 But if you reach out your hand and touch whatever he has, without doubt he'll curse you to your face!"

12 ADONAI said to the Adversary, "Here! Everything he has is in your hands, except that you are not to lay a finger on his person." Then the Adversary went out from the presence of ADONAI.

13 One day when Iyov's sons and daughters were eating and drinking in their oldest brother's house,

14 a messenger came to him and said, "The oxen were plowing, with the donkeys grazing near them,

15 when a raiding party from Sh'va came and carried them off; they put the servants to the sword too, and I'm the only one who escaped to tell you."

16 While he was still speaking, another one came and said, "Fire from God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants; it completely destroyed them, and I'm the only one who escaped to tell you."

17 While he was still speaking, another one came and said, "The Kasdim, three bands of them, fell on the camels and carried them off; they put the servants to the sword too, and I'm the only one who escaped to tell you."

18 While he was still speaking, another one came and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,

19 when suddenly a strong wind blew in from over the desert. It struck the four corners of the house, so that it fell on the young people; they are dead, and I'm the only one who escaped to tell you."

20 Iyov got up, tore his coat, shaved his head, fell down on the ground and worshipped;

21 he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. ADONAI gave; ADONAI took; blessed be the name of ADONAI."

22 In all this Iyov neither committed a sin nor put blame on God.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 1

Matthew 25:31-46; Numbers 32-34; Job 2 CJB

Matthew 25:31-46

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, accompanied by all the angels, he will sit on his glorious throne.

32 All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.

33 The `sheep' he will place at his right hand and the `goats' at his left.

34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you made me your guest,

36 I needed clothes and you provided them, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'

37 Then the people who have done what God wants will reply, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 When did we see you a stranger and make you our guest, or needing clothes and provide them?

39 When did we see you sick or in prison, and visit you?'

40 The King will say to them, `Yes! I tell you that whenever you did these things for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did them for me!'

41 "Then he will also speak to those on his left, saying, `Get away from me, you who are cursed! Go off into the fire prepared for the Adversary and his angels!

42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

43 a stranger and you did not welcome me, needing clothes and you did not give them to me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'

44 Then they too will reply, `Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, needing clothes, sick or in prison, and not take care of you?'

45 And he will answer them, `Yes! I tell you that whenever you refused to do it for the least important of these people, you refused to do it for me!'

46 They will go off to eternal punishment, but those who have done what God wants will go to eternal life."

Numbers 32

1 The descendants of Re'uven and the descendants of Gad had vast quantities of livestock. When they saw that the land of Ya'zer and the land of Gil'ad were good for livestock,

2 the descendants of Gad and of Re'uven came and spoke to Moshe, El'azar the cohen and the community leaders. They said,

3 "'Atarot, Divon, Ya'zer, Nimrah, Heshbon, El'aleh, S'vam, N'vo and Be'on,

4 the country that ADONAI conquered before the community of Isra'el, is livestock country; and your servants have livestock.

5 If you regard us favorably," they went on, "let this land be given to your servants as their possession; and don't have us cross the Yarden."

6 Moshe answered the descendants of Gad and of Re'uven: "Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here?

7 Besides, why are you trying to discourage the people of Isra'el from crossing into the land ADONAI gave them?

8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-Barnea to see the land.

9 For when they went up to the Eshkol Valley and saw the land, they disheartened the people of Isra'el, so that they wouldn't enter the land ADONAI had given them.

10 ADONAI's anger blazed up on that day; and he swore,

11 'None of the people aged twenty or more who came out of Egypt will see the land I swore to Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov; because they haven't followed me unreservedly -

12 except Kalev the son of Y'funeh the K'nizi and Y'hoshua the son of Nun, because they have followed ADONAI unreservedly.'

13 Thus ADONAI's anger blazed against Isra'el, so that he made them wander here and there in the desert forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of ADONAI had died out.

14 Now you, another brood of sinners, have arisen in your fathers' place to increase still more the fierce anger of ADONAI toward Isra'el!

15 For if you turn away from him, he will leave them in the desert again, and thus you will cause the destruction of all these people!"

16 But they came up to him and said, "Here we will build enclosures for our livestock and cities for our little ones,

17 but we ourselves will be armed and ready for action to march at the head of the people of Isra'el, until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones will stay in the fortified cities here because of the people now living in the land.

18 However, we will not return to our own homes until every man in Isra'el has taken possession of his land for inheritance.

19 We will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Yarden, westward; because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Yarden, eastward."

20 Moshe said to them, "If you will do this - if you will arm yourselves to go before ADONAI to the war,

21 and if every one of your soldiers will cross the Yarden before ADONAI, until he has driven out his enemies ahead of him,

22 and if the land has been conquered before ADONAI, and only after that do you return - then you will be clear before ADONAI and before Isra'el, and this land here will be yours to possess before ADONAI.

23 But if you will not do this, then you have sinned against ADONAI, and you must understand that your sin will find you out.

24 Build cities for your little ones and enclosures for your sheep; then do what you said you would do."

25 The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Re'uven said to Moshe, "Your servants will do as my lord orders.

26 Our little ones, wives, flocks and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gil'ad;

27 but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, before ADONAI to do battle, as my lord says."

28 So Moshe gave orders concerning them to El'azar the cohen, Y'hoshua the son of Nun and the clan leaders of the tribes of the people of Isra'el.

29 Moshe said to them, "If the descendants of Gad and of Re'uven cross over the Yarden with you, every man armed for battle, before ADONAI; and if the land is conquered before you, then you are to give them the land of Gil'ad as theirs to possess.

30 But if they do not cross with you armed, they are to possess land along with you in Kena'an."

31 The descendants of Gad and of Re'uven answered, "We will do as ADONAI has said to your servants.

32 We will cross over into the land of Kena'an armed before ADONAI, and the land we will possess for inheritance will be on this side of the Yarden."

33 So Moshe gave the descendants of Gad and of Re'uven, and also to the half-tribe of M'nasheh the son of Yosef, the kingdom of Sichon king of the Emori and the kingdom of 'Og king of Bashan - the country and its cities within its borders, along with their surrounding towns.

34 The descendants of Gad built Divon, 'Atarot, 'Aro'er,

35 'Atrot-Shofan, Ya'zer, Yogbehah,

36 Beit-Nimrah and Beit-Haran - fortified cities; and also enclosures for sheep.

37 The descendants of Re'uven built Heshbon, El'aleh, Kiryatayim,

38 N'vo, Ba'al-M'on (these names have been changed) and Sivmah; they renamed the cities they built.

39 The descendants of Machir the son of M'nasheh went to Gil'ad and conquered it, dispossessing the Emori who were there.

40 Moshe gave Gil'ad to Machir the son of M'nasheh, and he lived in it.

41 Ya'ir the son of M'nasheh went and captured its villages and called them Havot-Ya'ir [villages of Ya'ir].

42 Novach went and captured K'nat with its villages and named it Novach after himself.

Numbers 33

1 These are the stages in the journey of the people of Isra'el as they left the land of Egypt divided into groups under the leadership of Moshe and Aharon.

2 Moshe recorded each of the stages of their journey by order of ADONAI; here are the starting-points of each stage:

3 They began their journey from Ram'ses in the first month. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the morning after the Pesach, the people of Isra'el left proudly in view of all the Egyptians;

4 while the Egyptians were burying those among them whom ADONAI had killed, all their firstborn; ADONAI had also executed judgment on their gods.

5 The people of Isra'el moved on from Ram'ses and camped at Sukkot.

6 They moved on from Sukkot and camped at Etam, by the edge of the desert.

7 They moved on from Etam and turned back to Pi-Hachirot, in front of Ba'al-Tz'fon, and camped before Migdol.

8 They moved on from P'nei-Hachirot, passed through the sea to the desert, continued three days' journey into the Etam Desert and camped at Marah.

9 They moved on from Marah and came to Eilim; in Eilim were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, so they camped there.

10 They moved on from Eilim and camped by the Sea of Suf.

11 They moved on from the Sea of Suf and camped in the Seen Desert.

12 They moved on from the Seen Desert and camped at Dofkah.

13 They moved on from Dofkah and camped at Alush.

14 They moved on from Alush and camped at Refidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

15 They moved on from Refidim and camped in the Sinai Desert.

16 They moved on from the Sinai Desert and camped at Kivrot-HaTa'avah.

17 They moved on from Kivrot-HaTa'avah and camped in Hatzerot.

18 They moved on from Hatzerot and camped at Ritmah.

19 They moved on from Ritmah and camped at Rimmon-Peretz.

20 They moved on from Rimmon-Peretz and camped at Livnah.

21 They moved on from Livnah and camped at Rissah.

22 They moved on from Rissah and camped at K'helah.

23 They moved on from K'helah and camped at Mount Shefer.

24 They moved on from Mount Shefer and camped at Haradah.

25 They moved on from Haradah and camped at Mak'helot.

26 They moved on from Mak'helot and camped at Tachat.

27 They moved on from Tachat and camped at Terach.

28 They moved on from Terach and camped at Mitkah.

29 They moved on from Mitkah and camped at HaShmonah.

30 They moved on from HaShmonah and camped at Moserot.

31 They moved on from Moserot and camped at B'nei-Ya'akan.

32 They moved on from B'nei-Ya'akan and camped at Hor-HaGidgad.

33 They moved on from Hor-HaGidgad and camped at Yotvatah.

34 They moved on from Yotvatah and camped at Avronah.

35 They moved on from Avronah and camped at 'Etzyon-Gever.

36 They moved on from 'Etzyon-Gever and camped in the Tzin Desert, that is, Kadesh.

37 They moved on from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the border of the land of Edom.

38 At ADONAI's order Aharon the cohen went up on Mount Hor, and he died there on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the people of Isra'el had left the land of Egypt.

39 Aharon was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.

40 The Kena'ani king of 'Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Kena'an, had heard that the people of Isra'el were coming;

41 so they moved on from Mount Hor and camped at Tzalmonah.

42 They moved on from Tzalmonah and camped at Punon.

43 They moved on from Punon and camped at Ovot.

44 They moved on from Ovot and camped 'Iyei-Ha'Avarim, at the border of Mo'av.

45 They moved on from 'Iyim and camped at Divon-Gad.

46 They moved on from Divon-Gad and camped at 'Almon-Divlatayim.

47 They moved on from Almon-Divlatayim and camped in the 'Avarim Range, in front of N'vo.

48 They moved on from the 'Avarim Range and camped in the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden, across from Yericho.

49 Their camp by the Yarden extended from Beit-HaYeshimot all the way to Avel-HaSheetim in the plains of Mo'av.

50 ADONAI spoke to Moshe in the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden, across from Yericho. He said

51 to tell the people of Isra'el, "When you cross the Yarden into the land of Kena'an,

52 you are to expel all the people living in the land from in front of you. Destroy all their stone figures, destroy all their metal statues and demolish all their high places.

53 Drive out the inhabitants of the land, and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess.

54 You will inherit the land by lot according to your families. You are to give more land to the larger families and less to the smaller ones. Wherever the lot falls to any particular person, that will be his property. You will inherit according to the tribes of your ancestors.

55 But if you don't drive out the inhabitants of the land from in front of you, then those you allow to remain will become like thorns in your eyes and stings in your sides - they will harass you in the land where you are living.

56 And in this event, I will do to you what I intended to do to them."

Numbers 34

1 ADONAI told Moshe

2 to give this order to the people of Isra'el: "When you enter the land of Kena'an, it will become your land to pass on as an inheritance, the land of Kena'an as defined by these borders.

3 "Your southern portion will extend from the Tzin Desert close to the border of Edom. The eastern terminus of your southern border is at the end of the Dead Sea.

4 From there your border turns, goes south of the 'Akrabbim Ascent and passes on to Tzin. From there it goes south of Kadesh-Barnea, on to Hatzar-Adar, and on to 'Atzmon.

5 Then the border turns and goes from 'Atzmon to the Vadi of Egypt and along it to the Sea.

6 "Your western border will be the Great Sea.

7 "Your northern border will be as follows: from the Great Sea mark a line to Mount Hor,

8 and from Mount Hor mark a line to the entrance of Hamat. The border goes out to Tz'dad.

9 Then the border goes to Zifron and finally to Hatzar-'Einan; this is your northern border.

10 "For the eastern border mark your line from Hatzar-'Enan to Sh'fam.

11 Then the border goes down from Sh'fam to Rivlah, on the east side of 'Ayin, then down until it hits the slope east of Lake Kinneret.

12 From there it goes down the Yarden River till it flows into the Dead Sea. These will be the borders of your land."

13 Moshe gave this order to the people of Isra'el: "This is the land in which you will receive inheritances by lot, which ADONAI has ordered to give to the nine tribes and the half-tribe.

14 The tribe of the descendants of Re'uven have already received their land for inheritance according to their clans, and so have the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M'nasheh.

15 These two-and-a-half tribes have received their inheritance on this side of the Yarden, across from Yericho and eastward, toward the sunrise."

16 ADONAI said to Moshe,

17 "These are the names of the men who will take possession of the land for you: El'azar the cohen and Y'hoshua the son of Nun.

18 Also appoint one leader from each tribe to take possession of the land.

19 The names of these men are: from the tribe of Y'hudah, Kalev the son of Y'funeh;

20 from the tribe of the descendants of Shim'on, Sh'mu'el the son of 'Ammihud;

21 from the tribe of Binyamin, Elidad the son of Kislon;

22 from the tribe of the descendants of Dan, a leader, Buki the son of Yogli;

23 from the descendants of Yosef: from the tribe of the descendants of M'nasheh, a leader, Hani'el the son of Efod;

24 from the tribe of the descendants of Efrayim, a leader, K'mu'el the son of Shiftan;

25 from the tribe of the descendants of Z'vulun, a leader, Elitzafan the son of Parnakh;

26 from the tribe of the descendants of Yissakhar, a leader, Palti'el the son of 'Azan;

27 from the tribe of the descendants of Asher, a leader, Achihud the son of Shlomi;

28 from the tribe of the descendants of Naftali, a leader, P'dah'el the son of 'Ammihud."

29 These are the ones whom ADONAI ordered to divide the inheritance among the people of Isra'el in the land of Kena'an.

Job 2

1 Another day came when the sons of God came to serve ADONAI, and among them came the Adversary to serve ADONAI.

2 ADONAI asked the Adversary, "Where are you coming from?" The Adversary answered ADONAI, "From roaming through the earth, wandering here and there."

3 ADONAI asked the Adversary, "Did you notice my servant Iyov, that there's no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil, and that he still holds on to his integrity, even though you provoked me against him to destroy him for no reason?"

4 The Adversary answered ADONAI, "Skin for skin! A person will give up everything he has to save his life.

5 But if you reach out your hand and touch his flesh and bone, without doubt he'll curse you to your face!"

6 ADONAI said to the Adversary, "Here! He is in your hands, except that you are to spare his life."

7 Then the Adversary went out from the presence of ADONAI and struck Iyov down with horrible infected sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

8 He took a piece of a broken pot to scratch himself and sat down in the pile of ashes.

9 His wife asked him, "Why do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God, and die!"

10 But he answered her, "You're talking like a low-class woman! Are we to receive the good at God's hands but reject the bad?" In all this Iyov did not say one sinful word.

11 Now when Iyov's three friends heard of all the calamities that had overwhelmed him, they all came. Each came from his own home - Elifaz from Teiman, Bildad from Shuach and Tzofar from Na'amah. They had agreed to meet together in order to come and offer him sympathy and comfort.

12 When they saw him from a distance, they couldn't even recognize him. They wept aloud, tore their coats and threw dust over their heads toward heaven.

13 Then they sat down with him on the ground. For seven days and seven nights, no one spoke a word to him; because they saw how much he was suffering.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 2

Matthew 26:1-25; Numbers 35-36; Job 3 CJB

Matthew 26:1-25

1 When Yeshua had finished speaking, he said to his talmidim,

2 "As you know, Pesach is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be nailed to the execution-stake."

3 Then the head cohanim and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of Kayafa the cohen hagadol.

4 They made plans to arrest Yeshua surreptitiously and have him put to death;

5 but they said, "Not during the festival, or the people will riot."

6 Yeshua was in Beit-Anyah, at the home of Shim`on, the man who had had tzara'at.

7 A woman who had an alabaster jar filled with very expensive perfume approached Yeshua while he was eating and began pouring it on his head.

8 When the talmidim saw it, they became very angry. "Why this waste?" they asked.

9 "This could have been sold for a lot of money and given to the poor."

10 But Yeshua, aware of what was going on, said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me.

11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.

12 She poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial.

13 Yes! I tell you that throughout the whole world, wherever this Good News is proclaimed, what she has done will be told in her memory."

14 Then one of the Twelve, the one called Y'hudah from K'riot, went to the head cohanim

15 and said, "What are you willing to give me if I turn Yeshua over to you?" They counted out thirty silver coins and gave them to Y'hudah.n

16 From then on he looked for a good opportunity to betray him.

17 On the first day for matzah, the talmidim came to Yeshua and asked, "Where do you want us to prepare your Seder?"

18 "Go into the city, to so-and-so," he replied, "and tell him that the Rabbi says, `My time is near, my talmidim and I are celebrating Pesach at your house.'"

19 The talmidim did as Yeshua directed and prepared the Seder.

20 When evening came, Yeshua reclined with the twelve talmidim;

21 and as they were eating, he said, "Yes, I tell you that one of you is going to betray me."

22 They became terribly upset and began asking him, one after the other, "Lord, you don't mean me, do you?"

23 He answered, "The one who dips his matzah in the dish with me is the one who will betray me.

24 The Son of Man will die just as the Tanakh says he will; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him had he never been born!"

25 Y'hudah, the one who was betraying him, then asked, "Surely, Rabbi, you don't mean me?" He answered, "The words are yours."

Numbers 35

1 In the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden, across from Yericho, ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Order the people of Isra'el to give to the L'vi'im cities to live in from the heritage they will possess, and you are also to give the L'vi'im some of the open land surrounding the cities.

3 They are to have the cities to live in, while their open land will be for their livestock, for growing crops and for all their animals.

4 The open land around the cities you give to the L'vi'im is to commence at a line drawn around the city wall 1,500 feet outside it and is to extend outward from there.

5 Measure 3,000 feet outward from the city wall to the east, south, west and north, with the city in the center. The space between the 1,500-foot line and the 3,000-foot line will be their open land around the cities.

6 The cities you give to the L'vi'im are to be the six cities of refuge to which you permit the person who kills someone to flee to; plus an additional forty-two cities.

7 Thus you will give the L'vi'im forty-eight cities, with their surrounding open land.

8 As to the cities you will give from those the people of Isra'el possess, from the many you will take many, and from the few you will take few - each tribe will contribute from its cities to the L'vi'im in accordance with the size of its inheritance."

9 ADONAI said to Moshe,

10 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'When you cross the Yarden into the land of Kena'an,

11 you are to designate for yourselves cities that will be cities of refuge for you, to which anyone who kills someone by mistake can flee.

12 These cities are to be a refuge for you from the dead person's next-of-kin, who might otherwise avenge his kinsman's death by slaying the killer prior to his standing trial before the community.

13 In regard to the cities you are to give, there are to be six cities of refuge for you.

14 You are to give three cities east of the Yarden and three cities in the land of Kena'an; they will be cities of refuge.

15 These six cities will serve as refuge for the people of Isra'el, as well as for the foreigner and resident alien with them; so that anyone who kills someone by mistake may flee there.

16 "'However, if he hits him with an iron implement and thus causes his death, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.

17 Or if he hits him with a stone in his hand big enough to kill someone, and he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.

18 Or if he hits him with a wood utensil in his hand capable of killing someone, and he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.

19 The next-of-kin avenger is to put the murderer to death himself - upon meeting him, he is to put him to death.

20 Likewise, if he shoves him out of hatred; or intentionally throws something at him, causing his death;

21 or out of hostility strikes him with his hand, so that he dies; then the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer; and the next-of-kin avenger is to put the murderer to death upon meeting him.

22 "'But suppose he shoves him suddenly, but without hostility; or he throws something at him unintentionally;

23 or, without seeing him, being his enemy or seeking to harm him, he throws a stone big enough to cause death; and the person dies.

24 Then the community is to judge between the one who struck him and the next-of-kin avenger in accordance with these rules;

25 and the community is to save the killer from the next-of-kin avenger. The community is to return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he is to live there until the cohen hagadol, who was anointed with the holy oil, dies.

26 But if the killer ever goes beyond the limits of the city of refuge he fled to,

27 and the next-of-kin avenger finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger kills the killer, he will not be guilty of the man's blood;

28 because he must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the cohen hagadol. But after the death of the cohen hagadol the killer may return to the land he owns.

29 These things shall constitute your standard for judgment through all your generations, wherever you live.

30 "'If anyone kills someone, the murderer is to be put to death upon the testimony of witnesses; but the testimony of only one witness will not suffice to cause a person to be put to death.

31 Also, you are not to accept a ransom in lieu of the life of a murderer condemned to death; rather, he must be put to death.

32 Likewise, you are not to accept for someone who has fled to his city of refuge a ransom that would allow him to return to his land before the death of the cohen.

33 In this way you will not defile the land in which you are living. For blood defiles the land, and in this land no atonement can be made for the blood shed in it except the blood of him who shed it.

34 No, you are not to defile the land in which you live and in which I live; for I, ADONAI, live among the people of Isra'el.'"

Numbers 36

1 The leaders of the clans of the family of the descendants of Gil'ad, the son of Machir, the son of M'nasheh, of the families of the descendants of Yosef, approached and addressed Moshe and the leaders, the heads of the clans of the people of Isra'el.

2 They said, "ADONAI ordered my lord to give by lot the land to be inherited by the people of Isra'el, and my lord was ordered by ADONAI to give the inheritance of our kinsman Tz'lof'chad to his daughters.

3 But if they get married to anyone belonging to another of the tribes of the people of Isra'el, then their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestors and be added to the inheritance of the tribe they will then belong to; thus it will be taken away from the sum total of our inheritance.

4 And when the yovel of the people of Isra'el comes, their inheritance will be added to the land possessed by the tribe they will then belong to and be subtracted from the inheritance belonging to the tribe of our ancestors."

5 Moshe gave this order to the people of Isra'el, in keeping with the word of ADONAI : "The tribe of the descendants of Yosef is right in what it says.

6 Here is what ADONAI has ordered concerning the daughters of Tz'lof'chad: 'Let them be married to whomever they think best, but they must marry only into a family from their father's tribe.

7 In this way no inheritance of the people of Isra'el will move from one tribe to another; for each of the people of Isra'el is to hold on to the land for inheritance belonging to his father's tribe.

8 Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Isra'el is to become the wife of someone from the family of her father's tribe, so that every one of the people of Isra'el will stay in possession of his ancestors' inheritance.

9 Thus no inheritance will move from one tribe to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Isra'el will hold on to its own inheritance."

10 The daughters of Tz'lof'chad did as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

11 Machlah, Tirtzah, Hoglah, Milkah and No'ah all got married to sons of their father's brothers.

12 They were married into the families of the descendants of M'nasheh the son of Yosef, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father's family.

13 These are the mitzvot and rulings which ADONAI gave through Moshe to the people of Isra'el in the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden, across from Yericho. 4 1-2

Job 3

1 At length, Iyov broke the silence and cursed the day of his [birth].

2 Iyov said,

3 "Perish the day I was born and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.'

4 May that day be darkness, may God on high not seek it, may no light shine on it,

5 may gloom dark as death defile it, may clouds settle on it, may it be terrified by its own blackness.

6 "As for that night, may thick darkness seize it, may it not be joined to the days of the year, may it not be numbered among the months;

7 may that night be desolate, may no cry of joy be heard in it;

8 may those who curse days curse it, those who[se curses] could rouse Livyatan;

9 may the stars of its twilight be dark, may it look for light but get none, may it never see the shimmer of dawn

10 because it didn't shut the doors of the womb I was in and shield my eyes from trouble.

11 "If I had been stillborn, if I had died at birth,

12 had there been no knees to receive me or breasts for me to suck.

13 Then I would be lying still and in peace, I would have slept and been at rest,

14 along with kings and their earthly advisers, who rebuilt ruins for themselves,

15 or with princes who had [plenty of] gold, who filled their houses with silver.

16 Or I could have been like a hidden, miscarried child that never saw light.

17 "There the wicked cease their raging, there the weary are at rest,

18 prisoners live at peace together without hearing a taskmaster's yells.

19 Great and small alike are there, and the slave is free of his master.

20 "So why must light be given to the miserable and life to the bitter in spirit?

21 They long for death, but it never comes; they search for it more than for buried treasure;

22 when at last they find the grave, they are so happy they shout for joy.

23 [Why give light] to a man who wanders blindly, whom God shuts in on every side?

24 "My sighing serves in place of my food, and my groans pour out in a torrent;

25 for the thing I feared has overwhelmed me, what I dreaded has happened to me.

26 I have no peace, no quiet, no rest; and anguish keeps coming."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 3

Matthew 26:26-71; Deuteronomy 1-2; Job 4 CJB

Matthew 26:26-71

26 While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the b'rakhah, broke it, gave it to the talmidim and said, "Take! Eat! This is my body!"

27 Also he took a cup of wine, made the b'rakhah, and gave it to them, saying, "All of you, drink from it!

28 For this is my blood, which ratifies the New Covenant, my blood shed on behalf of many, so that they may have their sins forgiven.

29 I tell you, I will not drink this `fruit of the vine' again until the day I drink new wine with you in my Father's Kingdom."

30 After singing the Hallel, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

31 Yeshua then said to them, "Tonight you will all lose faith in me, as the Tanakh says, `I will strike the shepherd dead, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'

32 But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you into the Galil."

33 "I will never lose faith in you," Kefa answered, "even if everyone else does."

34 Yeshua said to him, "Yes! I tell you that tonight before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!"

35 "Even if I must die with you," Kefa replied, "I will never disown you!" And all the talmidim said the same thing.

36 Then Yeshua went with his talmidim to a place called Gat-Sh'manim and said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."

37 He took with him Kefa and Zavdai's two sons. Grief and anguish came over him,

38 and he said to them, "My heart is so filled with sadness that I could die! Remain here and stay awake with me."

39 Going on a little farther, he fell on his face, praying, "My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet -- not what I want, but what you want!"

40 He returned to the talmidim and found them sleeping. He said to Kefa, "Were you so weak that you couldn't stay awake with me for even an hour?

41 Stay awake, and pray that you will not be put to the test -- the spirit indeed is eager, but human nature is weak."

42 A second time he went off and prayed. "My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink it, let what you want be done."

43 Again he returned and found them sleeping, their eyes were so heavy.

44 Leaving them again, he went off and prayed a third time, saying the same words.

45 Then he came to the talmidim and said, "For now, go on sleeping, take your rest. . . . Look! The time has come for the Son of Man to be betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46 Get up! Let's go! Here comes my betrayer!"

47 While Yeshua was still speaking, Y'hudah (one of the Twelve!) came, and with him a large crowd carrying swords and clubs, from the head cohanim and elders of the people.

48 The betrayer had arranged to give them a signal: "The man I kiss is the one you want -- grab him!"

49 He went straight up to Yeshua, said, "Shalom, Rabbi!" and kissed him.

50 Yeshua said to him, "Friend, do what you came to do." Then they moved forward, laid hold of Yeshua and arrested him.

51 At that, one of the men with Yeshua reached for his sword, drew it out and struck at the servant of the cohen hagadol, cutting off his ear.

52 Yeshua said to him, "Put your sword back where it belongs, for everyone who uses the sword will die by the sword.

53 Don't you know that I can ask my Father, and he will instantly provide more than a dozen armies of angels to help me?

54 But if I did that, how could the passages in the Tanakh be fulfilled that say it has to happen this way?"

55 Then Yeshua addressed the crowd: "So you came out to take me with swords and clubs, the way you would the leader of a rebellion? Every day I sat in the Temple court, teaching; and you didn't seize me then.

56 But all this has happened so that what the prophets wrote may be fulfilled." Then the talmidim all deserted him and ran away.

57 Those who had seized Yeshua led him off to Kayafa the cohen hagadol, where the Torah-teachers and elders were assembled.

58 Kefa followed him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the cohen hagadol; then he went inside and sat down with the guards to see what the outcome would be.

59 The head cohanim and the whole Sanhedrin looked for some false evidence against Yeshua, so that they might put him to death.

60 But they didn't find any, even though many liars came forward to give testimony. At last, however, two people came forward and said,

61 "This man said, `I can tear down God's Temple and build it again in three days.'"

62 The cohen hagadol stood up and said, "Have you nothing to say to the accusation these men are making?"

63 Yeshua remained silent. The cohen hagadol said to him, "I put you under oath! By the living God, tell us if you are the Mashiach, the Son of God!"

64 Yeshua said to him, "The words are your own. But I tell you that one day you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of HaG'vurah and coming on the clouds of heaven."

65 At this, the cohen hagadol tore his robes. "Blasphemy!" he said. "Why do we still need witnesses? You heard him blaspheme!

66 What is your verdict?" "Guilty," they answered. "He deserves death!"

67 Then they spit in his face and pounded him with their fists; and those who were beating him

68 said, "Now, you `Messiah,' `prophesy' to us: who hit you that time?"

69 Kefa was sitting outside in the courtyard when a servant girl came up to him. "You too were with Yeshua from the Galil," she said.

70 But he denied it in front of everyone -- "I don't know what you're talking about!"

71 He went out onto the porch, and another girl saw him and said to the people there, "This man was with Yeshua of Natzeret."

Deuteronomy 1

1 These are the words Moshe spoke to all Isra'el on the far side of the Yarden River, in the desert, in the 'Aravah, across from Suf, between Pa'ran and Tofel, Lavan, Hatzerot and Di-Zahav.

2 It is eleven days' journey from Horev to Kadesh-Barnea by way of Mount Se'ir.

3 On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, Moshe spoke to the people of Isra'el, reviewing everything ADONAI had ordered him to tell them.

4 This was after he had defeated Sichon, king of the Emori, who lived in Heshbon, and 'Og, king of Bashan, who lived in 'Ashtarot, at Edre'i.

5 There, beyond the Yarden, in the land of Mo'av, Moshe took it upon himself to expound this Torah and said:

6 "ADONAI spoke to us in Horev. He said, 'You have lived long enough by this mountain.

7 Turn, get moving and go to the hill-country of the Emori and all the places near there in the 'Aravah, the hill-country, the Sh'felah, the Negev and by the seashore - the land of the Kena'ani, and the L'vanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.

8 I have set the land before you! Go in, and take possession of the land ADONAI swore to give to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov, and their descendants after them.'

9 "At that time I told you, 'You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone.

10 ADONAI your God has multiplied your numbers, so that there are as many of you today as there are stars in the sky.

11 May ADONAI, the God of your ancestors, increase you yet a thousandfold and bless you, as he has promised you!

12 But you are burdensome, bothersome and quarrelsome! How can I bear it by myself alone?

13 Pick for yourselves from each of your tribes men who are wise, understanding and knowledgeable; and I will make them heads over you.'

14 "You answered me, 'What you have said would be a good thing for us to do.'

15 So I took the heads of your tribes, men wise and knowledgable, and made them heads over you - leaders in charge of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers, tribe by tribe.

16 At that time I commissioned your judges, 'Hear the cases that arise between your brothers; and judge fairly between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is with him.

17 You are not to show favoritism when judging, but give equal attention to the small and to the great. No matter how a person presents himself, don't be afraid of him; because the decision is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me and I will hear it.'

18 I also gave you orders at that time concerning all the things you were to do.

19 "So we left Horev and went through all that vast and fearsome desert which you saw on the way to the hill-country of the Emori, as ADONAI our God ordered us; and we arrived at Kadesh-Barnea.

20 There I said to you, 'You have come to the hill-country of the Emori, which ADONAI our God is giving to us.

21 Look! ADONAI your God has placed the land before you. Go up, take possession, as ADONAI, the God of your ancestors, has told you. Don't be afraid, don't be dismayed.'

22 "You approached me, every one of you, and said, 'Let's send men ahead of us to explore the country for us and bring back word concerning what route we should use in going up and what the cities we will encounter are like.'

23 The idea seemed good to me, so I took twelve of your men, one from each tribe;

24 and they set out, went up into the hills, came to the Eshkol Valley and reconnoitered it.

25 They took some of the produce of the land and brought it down to us; they also brought back word to us -'The land ADONAI our God is giving to us is good.'

26 "But you would not go up. Instead you rebelled against the order of ADONAI your God;

27 and in your tents you complained, 'It's because ADONAI hated us that he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, only to hand us over to the Emori to destroy us.

28 What sort of place is it that we're heading for? Our brothers made our courage fail when they said, "The people are bigger and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified up to the sky; and finally, we have seen 'Anakim there."'

29 "I answered you, 'Don't be fearful, don't be afraid of them.

30 ADONAI your God, who is going ahead of you, will fight on your behalf, just as he accomplished all those things for you in Egypt before your eyes,

31 and likewise in the desert, where you saw how ADONAI your God carried you, like a man carries his child, along the entire way you traveled until you arrived at this place.

32 Yet in this matter you don't trust ADONAI your God,

33 even though he went ahead of you, seeking out places for you to pitch your tents and showing you which way to go, by fire at night and by a cloud during the day.'

34 "ADONAI heard what you were saying, became angry and swore,

35 'Not a single one of these people, this whole evil generation, will see the good land I swore to give to your ancestors,

36 except Kalev the son of Y'funeh -he will see it; I will give him and his descendants the land he walked on, because he has fully followed ADONAI.'

37 "Also, because of you ADONAI was angry with me and said, 'You too will not go in there.

38 Y'hoshua the son of Nun, your assistant -he will go in there. So encourage him, because he will enable Isra'el to take possession of it.

39 Moreover, your little ones, who you said would be taken as booty, and your children who don't yet know good from bad -they will go in there; I will give it to them, and they will have possession of it.

40 But as for yourselves, turn around and head into the desert by the road to the Sea of Suf.'

41 "Then you answered me, 'We have sinned against ADONAI. Now we will go up and fight, in accordance with everything ADONAI our God ordered us.'And every man among you put on his arms, considering it an easy matter to go up into the hill-country.

42 But ADONAI said to me, 'Tell them, "Don't go up, and don't fight, because I am not there with you; if you do, your enemies will defeat you."'

43 So I told you, but you wouldn't listen. Instead, you rebelled against ADONAI's order, took matters into your own hands and went up into the hill-country;

44 where the Emori living in that hill-country came out against you like bees, defeated you in Se'ir and chased you back all the way to Hormah.

45 You returned and cried before ADONAI, but ADONAI neither listened to what you said nor paid you any attention.

46 This is why you had to stay in Kadesh as long as you did.

Deuteronomy 2

1 "Then we turned and began traveling into the desert along the road to the Sea of Suf, as ADONAI had said to me; and we skirted Mount Se'ir for a long time.

2 Finally ADONAI said to me,

3 'You have been going around this mountain long enough! Head north,

4 and give this order to the people: "You are to pass through the territory of your kinsmen the descendants of 'Esav who live in Se'ir. They will be afraid of you, so be very cautious,

5 and don't get into disputes with them; for I am not going to give you any of their land, no, not even enough for one foot to stand on; inasmuch as I have given Mount Se'ir to 'Esav as his possession.

6 Pay them money for the food you eat, and pay them money for the water you drink.

7 For ADONAI your God has blessed you in everything your hands have produced. He knows that you have been traveling through this vast desert; these forty years ADONAI your God has been with you; and you have lacked nothing.'

8 "So we went on past our kinsmen the descendants of 'Esav living in Se'ir, left the road through the 'Aravah from Eilat and 'Etzyon-Gever, and turned to pass along the road through the desert of Mo'av.

9 ADONAI said to me, 'Don't be hostile toward Mo'av or fight with them, because I will not give you any of their land to possess, since I have already given 'Ar to the descendants of Lot as their territory.'"

10 (The Emim used to live there, a great and numerous people as tall as the 'Anakim.

11 They are also considered Refa'im, as are the 'Anakim, but the Mo'avim call them Emim.

12 In Se'ir the Horim used to live, but the descendants of 'Esav dispossessed and destroyed them, settling in their place. Isra'el did similarly in the land it came to possess, which ADONAI gave to them.)

13 "'Now get going, and cross Vadi Zered!' "So we crossed Vadi Zered.

14 The time between our leaving Kadesh-Barnea and our crossing Vadi Zered was thirty-eight years - until the whole generation of men capable of bearing arms had been eliminated from the camp, as ADONAI had sworn they would be.

15 Moreover, ADONAI's hand was against them to root them out of the camp until the last of them was gone.

16 When all the men who were able to bear arms had died and were no longer part of the people,

17 ADONAI said to me,

18 'Today you are to cross the border of Mo'av at 'Ar.

19 When you approach the descendants of 'Amon, don't bother them or fight with them, for I will not give you any of the territory of the people of 'Amon to possess, since I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their territory.'"

20 (This too is considered a land of the Refa'im: Refa'im, whom the Emori call Zamzumim, used to live there.

21 They were a large, numerous people, as tall as the 'Anakim; but ADONAI destroyed them as the people of 'Amon advanced and settled in their place -

22 just as he destroyed the Horim as descendants of 'Esav advanced into Se'ir and settled in their place, where they live to this day.

23 It was the same with the 'Avim, who lived in villages as far away as 'Azah -the Kaftorim, coming from Kaftor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)

24 "'Get up, get moving, and cross the Arnon Valley! Here, I have put in your hands Sichon the Emori, king of Heshbon, and his land; commence the conquest, begin the battle!

25 Today I will start putting the fear and dread of you into all the peoples under heaven, so that the mere mention of your name will make them quake and tremble before you.'

26 "I sent envoys from the K'demot Desert to Sichon king of Heshbon with a peaceable message,

27 'Let me pass through your land. I will keep to the road, turning neither right nor left.

28 You will sell me food to eat for money and give me water to drink for money. I only want to pass through.

29 Do as the people of 'Esav living in Se'ir and the Mo'avim living in 'Ar did with me, until I cross the Yarden into the land ADONAI our God is giving us.'

30 "But Sichon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through his territory, because ADONAI your God had hardened his spirit and made him stubborn, so that he could hand him over to you, as is the case today.

31 ADONAI said to me, 'See, I have begun handing over Sichon and his territory before you; start taking possession of his land.'

32 Then Sichon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Yahatz;

33 and ADONAI our God handed him over to us, so that we defeated him, his sons and all his people.

34 At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed every city - men, women, little ones - we left none of them.

35 As booty for ourselves we took only the cattle, along with the spoil from the cities we had captured.

36 From 'Aro'er, on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and from the city in the valley, all the way to Gil'ad, there was not one city too well fortified for us to capture -ADONAI our God gave all of them to us.

37 The only land you didn't approach was that of the descendants of 'Amon - the region around the Yabok River, the cities in the hills and wherever else ADONAI our God forbade us to go.

Job 4

1 Then Elifaz the Teimani spoke up:

2 "If one tries to speak to you, will you mind? Yet who could keep from speaking?

3 You have given moral instruction to many, you have firmed up feeble hands,

4 your words have supported those who were stumbling, and you have strengthened the weak-kneed.

5 "But now it comes to you, and you are impatient; at the first touch, you are in shock.

6 Isn't your fear of God your assurance, and the integrity of your ways your hope?

7 "Think back: what innocent person has perished? Since when are the upright destroyed?

8 What I see is that those who plow sin and sow trouble reap just that.

9 At a breath from God, they perish; at a blast from his anger, they are consumed.

10 The lion may growl, the king lion may roar, but that old lion's teeth are broken;

11 so the lion succumbs from lack of prey, and the lion's cubs are scattered.

12 "For a word was stealthily brought to me, my ear caught only a whisper of it.

13 In passing thoughts flashing through visions at night, when sleep lies heavy on people,

14 a shiver of horror came over me; it made all my bones tremble.

15 Then a spirit passed in front of my face; the hair of my flesh stood on end.

16 It stood still, but I couldn't make out its appearance; yet the form stayed there before my eyes. Then I heard a subdued voice:

17 'Can a human be seen by God as righteous? Can a mortal be pure before his maker?

18 [God] doesn't trust his own servants, he finds fault even with his angels;

19 much more those living in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust. They are crushed more easily than a worm;

20 shattered between morning and evening; they perish forever, and no one takes notice.

21 Their cord within them is pulled up; then they die, without ever gaining wisdom.'

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 4

Matthew 26:72-75; Deuteronomy 3-4; Job 5 NIV

Matthew 26

72 Again he denied it, swearing, "I don't know the man!"

73 After a little while, the bystanders approached Kefa and said, "You must be one of them -- your accent gives you away."

74 This time he began to invoke a curse on himself as he swore, "I do not know the man!" -- and immediately a rooster crowed.

75 Kefa remembered what Yeshua had said, "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times"; and he went outside and cried bitterly.

Deuteronomy 3

1 "Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and 'Og the king of Bashan came out against us with all his people to fight at Edre'i.

2 ADONAI said to me, 'Don't be afraid of him; for I have handed him, all his people and his territory over to you; you will do to him as you did to Sichon king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon.'

3 So ADONAI our God also handed over to us 'Og the king of Bashan with all his people, and we defeated him until he had no one left.

4 At that time we captured all his cities; there was not one city of theirs that we didn't capture. There were sixty cities, all the region of Argov, the kingdom of 'Og in Bashan;

5 all of them fortified cities with high walls, gates and bars - in addition to a great number of unwalled towns.

6 We completely destroyed them, as we did with Sichon king of Heshbon, annihilating every city -men, women and little ones.

7 But we took all the livestock, along with the spoil from the cities, as booty for ourselves.

8 "At that time we captured the territory of the two kings of the Emori east of the Yarden between the Arnon Valley and Mount Hermon,"

9 the Hermon which the Tzidonim call Siryon and the Emori call S'nir,

10 "all the cities of the plain, all Gil'ad and all Bashan, as far as Salkhah and Edre'i, cities of the kingdom of 'Og in Bashan."

11 'Og king of Bashan was the last survivor of the Refa'im. His bed was made of iron; it is still in Rabbah with the people of 'Amon. It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide, using the normal cubit [thirteen-and-a-half by six feet].

12 "Of this land that we took possession of then, I assigned to the Re'uveni and the Gadi the territory extending from 'Aro'er along the Arnon Valley together with half the hill-country of Gil'ad, including its cities.

13 The rest of Gil'ad and all Bashan, the kingdom of 'Og, I gave to the half-tribe of M'nasheh." The whole region of Argov together with all of Bashan form what is called the land of Refa'im.

14 Ya'ir the son of M'nasheh took all the region of Argov, as far as the border with the G'shuri and the Ma'akhati; he named this whole area, including Bashan, after himself -it remains Havot-Ya'ir to this day.

15 "I gave Gil'ad to Machir;

16 and to the Re'uveni and the Gadi I gave the territory from Gil'ad to the Arnon Valley, with the middle of the valley as the border, as far as the Yabok River, which is the border with the people of 'Amon;

17 the 'Aravah too, the Yarden being its border, from Kinneret to the Sea of the 'Aravah, the Dead Sea, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah to the east.

18 "At that time I gave you this order: 'ADONAI your God has given you this land to possess. But all of you who are fit to fight must cross over, armed, ahead of your brothers the people of Isra'el.

19 Your wives, your little ones and your livestock - I know you have much livestock - will stay in your cities which I have given you,

20 until ADONAI allows your brothers to rest, as he has allowed you; and they too take possession of the land ADONAI your God is giving them on the west side of the Yarden. At that point you will return, each man to his own possession which I have given you.'

21 "Also at that time I gave this order to Y'hoshua: 'Your eyes have seen everything that ADONAI your God has done to these two kings. ADONAI will do the same to all the kingdoms you encounter when you cross over.

22 Don't be afraid of them, because ADONAI your God will fight on your behalf.'

23 "Then I pleaded with ADONAI,

24 'Adonai ELOHIM, you have begun to reveal your greatness to your servant, and your strong hand - for what other god is there in heaven or on earth that can do the works and mighty deeds that you do?

25 Please! Let me go across and see the good land on the other side of the Yarden, that wonderful hill-country and the L'vanon!'

26 But ADONAI was angry with me on account of you, and he didn't listen to me. ADONAI said to me, 'Enough from you! Don't say another word to me about this matter!

27 Climb up to the top of Pisgah and look out to the west, north, south and east. Look with your eyes - but you will not go across this Yarden.

28 However, commission Y'hoshua, encourage him and strengthen him; for he will lead this people across and enable them to inherit the land that you will see.'

29 So we stayed in the valley across from Beit-P'or.

Deuteronomy 4

1 "Now, Isra'el, listen to the laws and rulings I am teaching you, in order to follow them, so that you will live; then you will go in and take possession of the land that ADONAI, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

2 In order to obey the mitzvot of ADONAI your God which I am giving you, do not add to what I am saying, and do not subtract from it.

3 You saw with your own eyes what ADONAI did at Ba'al-P'or, that ADONAI destroyed from among you all the men who followed Ba'al-P'or;

4 but you who stuck with ADONAI your God are still alive today, every one of you.

5 Look, I have taught you laws and rulings, just as ADONAI my God ordered me, so that you can behave accordingly in the land where you are going in order to take possession of it.

6 Therefore, observe them; and follow them; for then all peoples will see you as having wisdom and understanding. When they hear of all these laws, they will say, 'This great nation is surely a wise and understanding people.'

7 For what great nation is there that has God as close to them as ADONAI our God is, whenever we call on him?

8 What great nation is there that has laws and rulings as just as this entire Torah which I am setting before you today?

9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves diligently as long as you live, so that you won't forget what you saw with your own eyes, so that these things won't vanish from your hearts. Rather, make them known to your children and grandchildren -

10 the day you stood before ADONAI your God at Horev, when ADONAI said to me, 'Gather the people to me, and I will make them hear my very words, so that they will learn to hold me in awe as long as they live on earth, and so that they will teach their children.'

11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain; and the mountain blazed with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds and thick mist.

12 Then ADONAI spoke to you out of the fire! You heard the sound of words but saw no shape, there was only a voice.

13 He proclaimed his covenant to you, which he ordered you to obey, the Ten Words; and he wrote them on two stone tablets.

14 At that time ADONAI ordered me to teach you laws and rulings, so that you would live by them in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

15 "Therefore, watch out for yourselves! Since you did not see a shape of any kind on the day ADONAI spoke to you in Horev from the fire,

16 do not become corrupt and make yourselves a carved image having the shape of any figure - not a representation of a human being, male or female,

17 or a representation of any animal on earth, or a representation of any bird that flies in the air,

18 or a representation of anything that creeps along on the ground, or a representation of any fish in the water below the shoreline.

19 For the same reason, do not look up at the sky, at the sun, moon, stars and everything in the sky, and be drawn away to worship and serve them; ADONAI your God has allotted these to all the peoples under the entire sky.

20 No, you ADONAI has taken and brought out of the smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of inheritance for him, as you are today.

21 "But ADONAI was angry with me on account of you and swore that I would not cross the Yarden and go into that good land, which ADONAI your God is giving you to inherit.

22 Rather, I must die in this land and not cross the Yarden; but you are to cross and take possession of that good land.

23 Watch out for yourselves, so that you won't forget the covenant of ADONAI your God, which he made with you, and make yourself a carved image, a representation of anything forbidden to you by ADONAI your God.

24 For ADONAI your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

25 "When you have had children and grandchildren, lived a long time in the land, become corrupt and made a carved image, a representation of something, and thus done what is evil in the sight of ADONAI your God and provoked him;

26 I call on the sky and the earth to witness against you today that you will quickly disappear from the land that you are crossing the Yarden to possess. You will not prolong your days there but will be completely destroyed.

27 ADONAI will scatter you among the peoples; and among the nations to which ADONAI will lead you away, you will be left few in number.

28 There you will serve gods which are the product of human hands, made of wood and stone, which can't see, hear, eat or smell.

29 However, from there you will seek ADONAI your God; and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and being.

30 In your distress, when all these things have come upon you, in the acharit-hayamim, you will return to ADONAI your God and listen to what he says;

31 for ADONAI your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.

32 "Indeed, inquire about the past, before you were born: since the day God created human beings on the earth, from one end of heaven to the other, has there ever been anything as wonderful as this? Has anyone heard anything like it?

33 Did any other people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and stay alive?

34 Or has God ever tried to go and take for himself a nation from the very bowels of another nation, by means of ordeals, signs, wonders, war, a mighty hand, an outstretched arm and great terrors -like all that ADONAI your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

35 This was shown to you, so that you would know that ADONAI is God, and there is no other beside him.

36 From heaven he caused you to hear his voice, in order to instruct you; and on earth he caused you to see his great fire; and you heard his very words coming out from the fire.

37 Because he loved your ancestors, chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt with his presence and great power,

38 in order to drive out ahead of you nations greater and stronger than you, so that he could bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as is the case today;

39 know today, and establish it in your heart, that ADONAI is God in heaven above and on earth below - there is no other.

40 Therefore, you are to keep his laws and mitzvot which I am giving you today, so that it will go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you will prolong your days in the land ADONAI your God is giving you forever."

41 Then Moshe separated three cities on the east side of the Yarden, toward the sunrise,

42 to which a killer might flee, that is, someone who kills by mistake a person whom he did not previously hate, and upon fleeing to one of these cities might live there.

43 The cities were Betzer in the desert, in the flatland, for the Re'uveni; Ramot in Gil'ad for the Gadi; and Golan in Bashan for the M'nashi.

44 This is the Torah which Moshe placed before the people of Isra'el -

45 these are the instructions, laws and rulings which Moshe presented to the people of Isra'el after they had come out of Egypt -

46 beyond the Yarden River, in the valley across from Beit-P'or, in the land of Sichon king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moshe and the people of Isra'el defeated when they came out of Egypt;

47 and they took possession of his land and the land of 'Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Emori, who were beyond the Yarden toward the sunrise;

48 from 'Aro'er on the edge of the Arnon Valley to Mount Si'on," that is, Mount Hermon,

49 "with all the 'Aravah beyond the Yarden eastward, all the way to the Dead Sea at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

Job 5

1 "Call if you like, but will anyone answer? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

2 For anger kills the fool, and envy slays the silly.

3 I watch as a fool establishes roots, but I curse his home with sudden [destruction] -

4 his children are far from help, publicly humiliated, with no one to rescue;

5 the hungry eat up his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, while the thirsty are panting, eager to swallow his wealth.

6 For misery does not come from the dust or trouble spring from the ground.

7 No, people are born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

8 "If I were you, I would seek God; I would make my plea to him.

9 For God does great deeds beyond investigation, wonders beyond all reckoning.

10 He gives rain to the earth, pours water down on the fields.

11 He raises the lowly on high and lifts mourners to safety.

12 He frustrates the schemes of the cunning, so that they achieve no success;

13 trapping the crafty in their own tricks and foiling quickly the plans of the false.

14 They meet with darkness during the day, groping at noon like at night.

15 But he saves the poor from the sword, their mouth, and from the clutches of the strong;

16 so the poor can hope again; and injustice shuts its mouth.

17 "How happy the person whom God corrects! So don't despise Shaddai's discipline.

18 For he wounds, but he bandages the sore; his hands may strike, but they also heal.

19 He will rescue you from six disasters; yes, in seven no harm will touch you.

20 In famine, he will save you from death, and in war, from the power of the sword.

21 You will be shielded from the lash of the tongue, and you won't have to fear destruction when it comes -

22 you'll be able to laugh at destruction and famine. Also you won't have to fear wild animals,

23 for you will be in league with the stones in the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

24 You will know that your tent is safe; you will look round your home and miss nothing.

25 You will know that your descendants are many, your offspring like grass [growing thick] in the fields.

26 You will come to your grave at a ripe old age, like a pile of grain that arrives in season.

27 "We've looked into this, and that's how it is; listen, and know that it's for your own good."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 5

Matthew 27:1-31; Deuteronomy 5-6; Job 6 NIV

Matthew 27:1-31

1 Early in the morning, all the head cohanim and elders met to plan how to bring about Yeshua's death.

2 Then they put him in chains, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

3 When Y'hudah, who had betrayed him, saw that Yeshua had been condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the head cohanim and elders,

4 saying, "I sinned in betraying an innocent man to death." "What is that to us?" they answered. "That's your problem."

5 Hurling the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, he left; then he went off and hanged himself.

6 The head cohanim took the silver coins and said, "It is prohibited to put this into the Temple treasury, because it is blood money."

7 So they decided to use it to buy the potter's field as a cemetery for foreigners.

8 This is how it came to be called the Field of Blood, a name it still bears.

9 Then what Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke was fulfilled, "And they took the thirty silver coins, which was the price the people of Isra'el had agreed to pay for him,

10 and used them to buy the potter's field, just as the Lord directed me."

11 Meanwhile, Yeshua was brought before the governor, and the governor put this question to him: "Are you the King of the Jews?" Yeshua answered, "The words are yours."

12 But when he was accused by the head cohanim and elders, he gave no answer.

13 Then Pilate said to him, "Don't you hear all these charges they are making against you?"

14 But to the governor's great amazement, he did not say a single word in reply to the accusations.

15 It was the governor's custom during a festival to set free one prisoner, whom ever the crowd asked for.

16 There was at that time a notorious prisoner being held, named Yeshua Bar-Abba.

17 So when a crowd had gathered, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to set free for you? Bar-Abba? or Yeshua, called `the Messiah'?"

18 For he understood that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.

19 While he was sitting in court, his wife sent him a message, "Leave that innocent man alone. Today in a dream I suffered terribly because of him."

20 But the head cohanim persuaded the crowd to ask for Bar-Abba's release and to have Yeshua executed on the stake.

21 "Which of the two do you want me to set free for you?" asked the governor. "Bar-Abba!" they answered.

22 Pilate said to them, "Then what should I do with Yeshua, called `the Messiah'?" They all said, "Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death on the stake!"

23 When he asked, "Why? What crime has he committed?" they shouted all the louder, "Put him to death on the stake!"

24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, "My hands are clean of this man's blood; it's your responsibility."

25 All the people answered, "His blood is on us and on our children!"

26 Then he released to them Bar-Abba; but Yeshua, after having him whipped, he handed over to be executed on a stake.

27 The governor's soldiers took Yeshua into the headquarters building, and the whole battalion gathered around him.

28 They stripped off his clothes and put on him a scarlet robe,

29 wove thorn-branches into a crown and put it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. Then they kneeled down in front of him and made fun of him: "Hail to the King of the Jews!"

30 They spit on him and used the stick to beat him about the head.

31 When they had finished ridiculing him, they took off the robe, put his own clothes back on him and led him away to be nailed to the execution-stake.

Deuteronomy 5

1 Then Moshe called to all Isra'el and said to them, "Listen, Isra'el, to the laws and rulings which I am announcing in your hearing today, so that you will learn them and take care to obey them.

2 ADONAI our God made a covenant with us at Horev.

3 ADONAI did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us -with us, who are all of us here alive today.

4 ADONAI spoke with you face to face from the fire on the mountain.

5 At that time I stood between ADONAI and you in order to tell you what ADONAI was saying; because, on account of the fire, you were afraid and wouldn't go up onto the mountain. He said, t

6 "'I am ADONAI your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves. c

7 "'You are to have no other gods before me.

8 You are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline -

9 you are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, ADONAI your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents, also the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

10 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot.

11 "'You are not to misuse the name of ADONAI your God, because ADONAI will not leave unpunished someone who misuses his name.

12 "'Observe the day of Shabbat, to set it apart as holy, as ADONAI your God ordered you to do.

13 You have six days to labor and do all your work,

14 but the seventh day is a Shabbat for ADONAI your God. On it you are not to do any kind of work - not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your ox, your donkey or any of your other livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property - so that your male and female servants can rest just as you do.

15 You are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and ADONAI your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore ADONAI your God has ordered you to keep the day of Shabbat.

16 "'Honor your father and mother, as ADONAI your God ordered you to do, so that you will live long and have things go well with you in the land ADONAI your God is giving you.

17 "'Do not murder.

18 "'Do not commit adultery.

19 "'Do not steal.

20 "'Do not give false evidence against your neighbor.

21 "'Do not covet your neighbor's wife; do not covet your neighbor's house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.'

22 "These words ADONAI spoke to your entire gathering at the mountain from fire, cloud and thick mist, in a loud voice; then it ceased. But he wrote them on two stone tablets, which he gave to me.

23 When you heard the voice coming out of the darkness, as the mountain blazed with fire, you came to me, all the heads of your tribes and your leaders,

24 and said, 'Here, ADONAI our God has shown us his glory and his greatness! We have heard his voice coming from the fire, and we have seen today that God does speak with human beings, and they stay alive.

25 But why should we keep risking death? This great fire will consume us! If we hear the voice of ADONAI our God any more, we will die!

26 For who is there of all humanity that has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and stayed alive?

27 You, go near; and hear everything ADONAI our God says. Then you will tell us everything ADONAI our God says to you; and we will listen to it and do it.'

28 "ADONAI heard what you were saying when you spoke to me, and ADONAI said to me, 'I have heard what this people has said when speaking to you, and everything they have said is good.

29 Oh, how I wish their hearts would stay like this always, that they would fear me and obey all my mitzvot; so that it would go well with them and their children forever.

30 Go, tell them to return to their tents.

31 But you, stand here by me; and I will tell you all the mitzvot, laws and rulings which you are to teach them, so that they can obey them in the land I am giving them as their possession.'

32 "Therefore you are to be careful to do as ADONAI your God has ordered you; you are not to deviate either to the right or the left.

33 You are to follow the entire way which ADONAI your God has ordered you; so that you will live, things will go well with you, and you will live long in the land you are about to possess.

Deuteronomy 6

1 "Now this is the mitzvah, the laws and rulings which ADONAI your God ordered me to teach you for you to obey in the land you are crossing over to possess,

2 so that you will fear ADONAI your God and observe all his regulations and mitzvot that I am giving you - you, your child and your grandchild - as long as you live, and so that you will have long life.

3 Therefore listen, Isra'el, and take care to obey, so that things will go well with you, and so that you will increase greatly, as ADONAI, the God of your ancestors, promised you by giving you a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 "Sh'ma, Yisra'el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, Isra'el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one];

5 and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources.

6 These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart;

7 and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

8 Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead,

9 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.

10 "When ADONAI your God has brought you into the land he swore to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov that he would give you - cities great and prosperous, which you didn't build;

11 houses full of all sorts of good things, which you didn't fill; water cisterns dug out, which you didn't dig; vineyards and olive trees, which you didn't plant - and you have eaten your fill;

12 then be careful not to forget ADONAI, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves.

13 You are to fear ADONAI your God, serve him and swear by his name.

14 You are not to follow other gods, chosen from the gods of the peoples around you;

15 because ADONAI, your God, who is here with you, is a jealous God. If you do, the anger of ADONAI your God will flare up against you and he will destroy you from the face of the earth.

16 Do not put ADONAI your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah [testing].

17 Observe diligently the mitzvot of ADONAI your God, and his instructions and laws which he has given you.

18 You are to do what is right and good in the sight of ADONAI, so that things will go well with you, and you will enter and possess the good land ADONAI swore to your ancestors,

19 expelling all your enemies ahead of you, as ADONAI said.

20 "Some day your child will ask you, 'What is the meaning of the instructions, laws and rulings which ADONAI our God has laid down for you?'

21 Then you will tell your child, 'We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and ADONAI brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

22 ADONAI worked great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household, before our very eyes.

23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us to the land he had sworn to our ancestors that he would give us.

24 ADONAI ordered us to observe all these laws, to fear ADONAI our God, always for our own good, so that he might keep us alive, as we are today.

25 It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to obey all these mitzvot before ADONAI our God, just as he ordered us to do.'"

Job 6

1 Iyov responded:

2 "I wish my frustration could be weighed, all my calamities laid on the scales!

3 They would outweigh the sands of the seas! No wonder, then, that my words come out stammered!

4 For the arrows of Shaddai find their mark in me, and my spirit is drinking in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

5 "Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass? Does an ox low when it has fodder?

6 Can food without flavor be eaten without salt? Do egg whites have any taste?

7 I refuse to touch them; such food makes me sick.

8 "If only I could have my wish granted, and God would give me what I'm hoping for -

9 that God would decide to crush me, that he would let his hand loose and cut me off!

10 Then I would feel consoled; so that even in the face of unending pain, I would be able to rejoice; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 "Have I enough strength to go on waiting? What end can I expect, that I should be patient?

12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh made of bronze?

13 Clearly, I have no help in myself; common sense has been driven from me.

14 "A friend should be kind to an unhappy man, even to one who abandons Shaddai.

15 But my brothers are as deceptive as vadis, as vadi streams that soon run dry;

16 they may turn dark with ice and be hidden by piled-up snow;

17 but as the weather warms up, they vanish; when it's hot, they disappear.

18 Their courses turn this way and that; they go up into the confusing waste and are lost.

19 The caravans from Tema look for them, the travelers from Sh'va hope to find them;

20 but they are disappointed, because they were confident; on arrival there, they are frustrated.

21 "For now, you have become like that -just seeing my calamity makes you afraid.

22 Did I say to you, 'Give me something,'or, 'From your wealth, offer a bribe on my behalf,'

23 or, 'Save me from the enemy's grip,'or, 'Redeem me from the clutches of oppressors'?

24 "Teach me, and I will be silent. Make me understand how I am at fault.

25 Honest words are forceful indeed, but what do your arguments prove?

26 Do you think [your own] words constitute argument, while the speech of a desperate man is merely wind?

27 I suppose you would even throw dice for an orphan or barter away your friend!

28 "So now, I beg you, look at me! Would I lie to your face?

29 Think it over, please; don't let wrong be done. Think it over again: my cause is just.

30 Am I saying something wrong? Can't I recognize trouble when I taste it?

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 6

Matthew 27:32-66; Deuteronomy 7-8; Job 7 CJB

Matthew 27:32-66

32 As they were leaving, they met a man from Cyrene named Shim`on; and they forced him to carry Yeshua's execution-stake.

33 When they arrived at a place called Gulgolta (which means "place of a skull"),

34 they gave him wine mixed with bitter gall to drink; but after tasting it, he would not drink it.

35 After they had nailed him to the stake, they divided his clothes among them by throwing dice.

36 Then they sat down to keep watch over him there.

37 Above his head they placed the written notice stating the charge against him, THIS IS YESHUA THE KING OF THE JEWS

38 Then two robbers were placed on execution-stakes with him, one on the right and one on the left.

39 People passing by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads

40 and saying, "So you can destroy the Temple, can you, and rebuild it in three days? Save yourself, if you are the Son of God, and come down from the stake!"

41 Likewise, the head cohanim jeered at him, along with the Torah-teachers and elders,

42 "He saved others, but he can't save himself!" "So he's King of Isra'el, is he? Let him come down now from the stake! Then we'll believe him!"

43 "He trusted God? So, let him rescue him if he wants him!s After all, he did say, `I'm the Son of God'!"

44 Even the robbers nailed up with him insulted him in the same way.

45 From noon until three o'clock in the afternoon, all the Land was covered with darkness.

46 At about three, Yeshua uttered a loud cry, "Eli! Eli! L'mah sh'vaktani? (My God! My God! Why have you deserted me?)"

47 On hearing this, some of the bystanders said, "He's calling for Eliyahu."

48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, soaked it in vinegar, put it on a stick and gave it to him to drink.

49 The rest said, "Wait! Let's see if Eliyahu comes and rescues him."

50 But Yeshua, again crying out in a loud voice, yielded up his spirit.

51 At that moment the parokhet in the Temple was ripped in two from top to bottom; and there was an earthquake, with rocks splitting apart.

52 Also the graves were opened, and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life;

53 and after Yeshua rose, they came out of the graves and went into the holy city, where many people saw them.

54 When the Roman officer and those with him who were keeping watch over Yeshua saw the earthquake and what was happening, they were awestruck and said, "He really was a son of God."

55 There were many women there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Yeshua from the Galil, helping him.

56 Among them were Miryam from Magdala, Miryam the mother of Ya`akov and Yosef, and the mother of Zavdai's sons.

57 Towards evening, there came a wealthy man from Ramatayim named Yosef, who was himself a talmid of Yeshua.

58 He approached Pilate and asked for Yeshua's body, and Pilate ordered it to be given to him.

59 Yosef took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen sheet,

60 and laid it in his own tomb, which he had recently had cut out of the rock. After rolling a large stone in front of the entrance to the tomb, he went away.

61 Miryam of Magdala and the other Miryam stayed there, sitting opposite the grave.

62 Next day, after the preparation, the head cohanim and the P'rushim went together to Pilate

63 and said, "Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was still alive, `After three days I will be raised.'

64 Therefore, order that the grave be made secure till the third day; otherwise the talmidim may come, steal him away and say to the people, `He was raised from the dead'; and the last deception will be worse than the first."

65 Pilate said to them, "You may have your guard. Go and make the grave as secure as you know how."

66 So they went and made the grave secure by sealing the stone and putting the guard on watch.

Deuteronomy 7

1 "ADONAI your God is going to bring you into the land you will enter in order to take possession of it, and he will expel many nations ahead of you -the Hitti, Girgashi, Emori, Kena'ani, P'rizi, Hivi and Y'vusi, seven nations bigger and stronger than you.

2 When he does this, when ADONAI your God hands them over ahead of you, and you defeat them, you are to destroy them completely! Do not make any covenant with them. Show them no mercy.

3 Don't intermarry with them -don't give your daughter to his son, and don't take his daughter for your son.

4 For he will turn your children away from following me in order to serve other gods. If this happens, the anger of ADONAI will flare up against you, and he will quickly destroy you.

5 No, treat them this way: break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, cut down their sacred poles and burn up their carved images completely.

6 For you are a people set apart as holy for ADONAI your God. ADONAI your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure.

7 ADONAI didn't set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people - on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples.

8 Rather, it was because ADONAI loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that ADONAI brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 From this you can know that ADONAI your God is indeed God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe his mitzvot, to a thousand generations.

10 But he repays those who hate him to their face and destroys them. He will not be slow to deal with someone who hates him; he will repay him to his face.

11 Therefore, you are to keep the mitzvot, laws and rulings which I am giving you today, and obey them.

12 "Because you are listening to these rulings, keeping and obeying them, ADONAI your God will keep with you the covenant and mercy that he swore to your ancestors.

13 He will love you, bless you and increase your numbers; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground - your grain, wine, olive oil and the young of your cattle and sheep - in the land he swore to your ancestors that he would give you.

14 You will be blessed more than all other peoples; there will not be a sterile male or female among you, and the same with your livestock.

15 ADONAI will remove all illness from you - he will not afflict you with any of Egypt's dreadful diseases, which you have known; instead, he will lay them on those who hate you.

16 You are to devour all the peoples that ADONAI your God hands over to you - show them no pity, and do not serve their gods, because that will become a trap for you.

17 If you think to yourselves, 'These nations outnumber us; how can we dispossess them?'

18 nevertheless, you are not to be afraid of them; you are to remember well what ADONAI your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt -

19 the great ordeals which you yourself saw, and the signs, wonders, strong hand and outstretched arm by which ADONAI your God brought you out. ADONAI will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

20 Moreover, ADONAI your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left and those who hide themselves perish ahead of you.

21 You are not to be frightened of them, because ADONAI your God is there with you, a God great and fearsome.

22 ADONAI your God will expel those nations ahead of you little by little; you can't put an end to them all at once, or the wild animals will become too numerous for you.

23 Nevertheless, ADONAI your God will give them over to you, sending one disaster after another upon them until they have been destroyed.

24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their name from under heaven; none of them will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.

25 You are to burn up completely the carved statues of their gods. Don't be greedy for the silver or gold on them; don't take it with you, or you will be trapped by it; for it is abhorrent to ADONAI your God.

26 Don't bring something abhorrent into your house, or you will share in the curse that is on it; instead, you are to detest it completely, loathe it utterly; for it is set apart for destruction.

Deuteronomy 8

1 "All the mitzvot I am giving you today you are to take care to obey, so that you will live, increase your numbers, enter and take possession of the land ADONAI swore about to your ancestors.

2 You are to remember everything of the way in which ADONAI led you these forty years in the desert, humbling and testing you in order to know what was in your heart - whether you would obey his mitzvot or not.

3 He humbled you, allowing you to become hungry, and then fed you with man, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that a person does not live on food alone but on everything that comes from the mouth of ADONAI.

4 During these forty years the clothing you were wearing didn't grow old, and your feet didn't swell up.

5 Think deeply about it: ADONAI was disciplining you, just as a man disciplines his child.

6 So obey the mitzvot of ADONAI your God, living as he directs and fearing him.

7 For ADONAI your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs and water welling up from the depths in valleys and on hillsides.

8 It is a land of wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

9 a land where you will eat food in abundance and lack nothing in it; a land where the stones contain iron and the hills can be mined for copper.

10 So you will eat and be satisfied, and you will bless ADONAI your God for the good land he has given you.

11 "Be careful not to forget ADONAI your God by not obeying his mitzvot, rulings and regulations that I am giving you today.

12 Otherwise, after you have eaten and are satisfied, built fine houses and lived in them,

13 and increased your herds, flocks, silver, gold and everything else you own,

14 you will become proud-hearted. Forgetting ADONAI your God - who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves;

15 who led you through the vast and fearsome desert, with its poisonous snakes, scorpions and waterless, thirsty ground; who brought water out of flint rock for you;

16 who fed you in the desert with man, unknown to your ancestors; all the while humbling and testing you in order to do you good in the end -

17 you will think to yourself, 'My own power and the strength of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.'

18 No, you are to remember ADONAI your God, because it is he who is giving you the power to get wealth, in order to confirm his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as is happening even today.

19 If you forget ADONAI your God, follow other gods and serve and worship them, I am warning you in advance today that you will certainly perish.

20 You will perish just like the nations that ADONAI is causing to perish ahead of you, because you will not have heeded the voice of ADONAI your God."

Job 7

1 "Human life on earth is like serving in the army; yes, we drudge through our days like a hired worker,

2 like a slave longing for shade, like a worker thinking only of his wages.

3 So I am assigned months of meaninglessness; troubled nights are my lot.

4 When I lie down, I ask, 'When can I get up?'But the night is long, and I keep tossing to and fro until daybreak.

5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt, my skin forms scabs that ooze pus.

6 My days pass more swiftly than a weaver's shuttle and come to their end without hope.

7 "Remember that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never again see good times.

8 The eye that now sees me will see me no more; while your eyes are on me, I will be gone.

9 Like a cloud dissolving and disappearing, so he who descends to Sh'ol won't come back up.

10 He will not return again to his house, and his home will know him no more.

11 "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth but will speak in my anguish of spirit and complain in my bitterness of soul.

12 Am I the sea, or some sea monster, that you put a guard over me?

13 When I think that my bed will comfort me, that my couch will relieve my complaint,

14 then you terrify me with dreams and frighten me with visions.

15 I would rather be strangled; death would be better than these bones of mine.

16 I hate it! I won't live forever, so leave me alone, for my life means nothing.

17 "What are mere mortals, that you make so much of them? Why do you keep them on your mind?

18 Why examine them every morning and test them every moment?

19 Won't you ever take your eyes off of me, at least long enough for me to swallow my spit?

20 "Suppose I do sin - how do I harm you, you scrutinizer of humanity? Why have you made me your target, so that I am a burden to you?

21 Why don't you pardon my offense and take away my guilt? For soon I will lie down in the dust; you will seek me, but I will be gone."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 7

Matthew 28; Deuteronomy 9-10; Job 8 CJB

Matthew 28

1 After Shabbat, as the next day was dawning, Miryam of Magdala and the other Miryam went to see the grave.

2 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, for an angel of ADONAI came down from heaven, rolled away the stone and sat on it.

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow.

4 The guards were so terrified at him that they trembled and became like dead men.

5 But the angel said to the women, "Don't be afraid. I know you are looking for Yeshua, who was executed on the stake.

6 He is not here, because he has been raised -- just as he said! Come and look at the place where he lay.

7 Then go quickly and tell the talmidim, `He has been raised from the dead, and now he is going to the Galil ahead of you. You will see him there.' Now I have told you."

8 So they left the tomb quickly, frightened yet filled with joy; and they ran to give the news to his talmidim.

9 Suddenly Yeshua met them and said, "Shalom!" They came up and took hold of his feet as they fell down in front of him.

10 Then Yeshua said to them, "Don't be afraid! Go and tell my brothers to go to the Galil, and they will see me there."

11 As they were going, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the head cohanim everything that had happened.

12 Then they met with the elders; and after discussing the matter, they gave the soldiers a sizeable sum of money

13 and said to them, "Tell people, `His talmidim came during the night and stole his body while we were sleeping.'

14 If the governor hears of it, we will put things right with him and keep you from getting in trouble."

15 The soldiers took the money and did as they were told, and this story has been spread about by Judeans till this very day.

16 So the eleven talmidim went to the hill in the Galil where Yeshua had told them to go.

17 When they saw him, they prostrated themselves before him; but some hesitated.

18 Yeshua came and talked with them. He said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Therefore, go and make people from all nations into talmidim, immersing them into the reality of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh,

20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age."

Deuteronomy 9

1 "Listen, Isra'el! You are to cross the Yarden today, to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, great cities fortified up to the sky;

2 a people great and tall, the 'Anakim, whom you know about and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the descendants of 'Anak?'

3 Therefore understand today that ADONAI your God will himself cross ahead of you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them and bring them down before you. Thus will you drive them out and cause them to perish quickly, as ADONAI has said to you.

4 "Don't think to yourself, after your God has pushed them out ahead of you, 'It is to reward my righteousness that ADONAI has brought me in to take possession of this land.' No, it is because these nations have been so wicked that ADONAI is driving them out ahead of you.

5 It is not because of your righteousness, or because your heart is so upright, that you go in to take possession of their land; but to punish the wickedness of these nations that ADONAI your God is driving them out ahead of you, and also to confirm the word which ADONAI swore to your ancestors, Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov.

6 Therefore, understand that it is not for your righteousness that ADONAI your God is giving you this good land to possess. "For you are a stiffnecked people!

7 Remember, don't forget, how you made ADONAI your God angry in the desert. From the day you left the land of Egypt till you arrived at this place, you have been rebelling against ADONAI.

8 Also in Horev you made ADONAI angry -ADONAI was angry enough with you to destroy you!

9 I had gone up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets on which was written the covenant ADONAI had made with you. I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights without eating food or drinking water.

10 Then ADONAI gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God; and on them was written every word ADONAI had said to you from the fire on the mountain the day of the assembly.

11 Yes, after forty days and nights ADONAI gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

12 Then ADONAI said to me, 'Get up, and hurry down from here, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt. So quickly have they turned aside from the way I ordered them to follow! They have made themselves a metal image!'

13 Moreover, ADONAI said to me, 'I have seen this people, and what a stiffnecked people they are!

14 Let me alone, so that I can put an end to them and blot out their name from under heaven! I will make out of you a nation bigger and stronger than they.'

15 I came down from the mountain. The mountain was blazing fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 I looked, and there, you had sinned against ADONAI your God! You had made yourselves a metal calf, you had turned aside quickly from the way ADONAI had ordered you to follow.

17 I seized the two tablets, threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

18 Then I fell down before ADONAI, as I had the first time, for forty days and nights, during which time I neither ate food nor drank water, all because of the sin you committed by doing what was evil in the sight of ADONAI and thus provoking him.

19 I was terrified that because of how angry ADONAI was at you, of how heatedly displeased he was, that he would destroy you. But ADONAI listened to me that time too.

20 In addition, ADONAI was very angry with Aharon and would have destroyed him; but I prayed for Aharon also at the same time.

21 I took your sin, the calf you had made, and burned it up in the fire, beat it to pieces, and ground it up still smaller, until it was as fine as dust; then I threw its dust into the stream coming down from the mountain.

22 "Again at Tav'erah, Massah and Kivrot-HaTa'avah you made ADONAI angry;

23 and when ADONAI sent you off from Kadesh-Barnea by saying, 'Go up and take possession of the land I have given you,' you rebelled against the order of ADONAI your God - you neither trusted him nor heeded what he said.

24 You have been rebelling against ADONAI from the day I first knew you!

25 "So I fell down before ADONAI for those forty days and nights; and I lay there; because ADONAI had said he would destroy you.

26 I prayed to ADONAI ; I said, 'Adonai ELOHIM! Don't destroy your people, your inheritance! You redeemed them through your greatness, you brought them out of Egypt with a strong hand!

27 Remember your servants Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov! Don't focus on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or on their sin.

28 Otherwise, the land you brought us out of will say, "It is because ADONAI wasn't able to bring them into the land he promised them and because he hated them that he has brought them out to kill them in the desert."

29 But in fact they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.'

Deuteronomy 10

1 "At that time ADONAI said to me, 'Cut yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, come up to me on the mountain, and make yourself an ark of wood.

2 I will inscribe on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you are to put them in the ark.'

3 So I made an ark of acacia-wood and cut two stone tablets like the first, then climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

4 He inscribed the tablets with the same inscription as before, the Ten Words which ADONAI proclaimed to you from the fire on the mountain the day of the assembly; and ADONAI gave them to me.

5 I turned, came down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made; and there they remain; as ADONAI ordered me.

6 "The people of Isra'el traveled from the wells of B'nei-Ya'akan to Moserah, where Aharon died and was buried; and El'azar his son took his place, serving in the office of cohen.

7 From there they traveled to Gudgod, and from Gudgod to Yotvatah, a region with running streams.

8 At that time ADONAI set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark for the covenant of ADONAI and to stand before ADONAI to serve him and to bless in his name, as they still do today.

9 This is why Levi has no share or inheritance with his brothers; ADONAI is his inheritance, as ADONAI your God had said to him.

10 "I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as previously; and ADONAI listened to me that time too -ADONAI would not destroy you.

11 Then ADONAI said to me, 'Get up, and go on your way at the head of the people, so that they can enter and take possession of the land I swore to their ancestors that I would give them.'

12 "So now, Isra'el, all that ADONAI your God asks from you is to fear ADONAI your God, follow all his ways, love him and serve ADONAI your God with all your heart and all your being;

13 to obey, for your own good, the mitzvot and regulations of ADONAI which I am giving you today.

14 See, the sky, the heaven beyond the sky, the earth and everything on it all belong to ADONAI your God.

15 Only ADONAI took enough pleasure in your ancestors to love them and choose their descendants after them -yourselves -above all peoples, as he still does today.

16 Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart; and don't be stiffnecked any longer!

17 For ADONAI your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes.

18 He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

19 Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20 You are to fear ADONAI your God, serve him, cling to him and swear by his name.

21 He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, which you have seen with your own eyes.

22 Your ancestors went down into Egypt with only seventy people, but now ADONAI your God has made your numbers as many as the stars in the sky!

Job 8

1 Bildad the Shuchi spoke next:

2 "How long will you go on talking like this? What you are saying is raging wind!

3 Does God distort judgment? Does Shaddai pervert justice?

4 If your children sinned against him, he left them to be victims of their own offense.

5 "If you will earnestly seek God and plead for Shaddai's favor,

6 if you are pure and upright; then he will rouse himself for you and fulfill your needs.

7 Then, although your beginnings were small, your future will be very great indeed.

8 "Ask the older generation, and consider what their ancestors found out;

9 for we who were born yesterday know nothing, our days on earth are but a shadow.

10 They will teach you, they will tell you, they will say what is in their hearts:

11 'Can papyrus grow except in a marsh? Can swamp grass flourish without water?

12 While still green, before being cut down, it dries up faster than any other plant.

13 Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of a hypocrite will perish -

14 his confidence is mere gossamer, his trust a spider's web.

15 He can lean on his house, but it won't stand; he can hold on to it, but it won't last;

16 [for its destruction will come] like the lush growth of a plant in the sun, its shoots may spread out all over its garden,

17 but meanwhile its roots cause the stone house to collapse, as it seizes hold of the rocks;

18 someone who tears it away from its place denies he has ever seen it.

19 Yes, this is the "joy" of the way [of the godless], and out of the dust will spring up others [like him].'

20 "Look, God will not reject a blameless man; nor will he uphold wrongdoers.

21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will cease to exist."

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 8

Acts 1; Deuteronomy 11-12; Job 9 CJB

Acts 1

1 Dear Theophilos: In the first book, I wrote about everything Yeshua set out to do and teach,

2 until the day when, after giving instructions through the Ruach HaKodesh to the emissaries whom he had chosen, he was taken up into heaven.

3 After his death he showed himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. During a period of forty days they saw him, and he spoke with them about the Kingdom of God.

4 At one of these gatherings, he instructed them not to leave Yerushalayim but to wait for "what the Father promised, which you heard about from me.

5 For Yochanan used to immerse people in water; but in a few days, you will be immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh!"

6 When they were together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore self-rule to Isra'el?"

7 He answered, "You don't need to know the dates or the times; the Father has kept these under his own authority.

8 But you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim and in all Y'hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth!"

9 After saying this, he was taken up before their eyes; and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 As they were staring into the sky after him, suddenly they saw two men dressed in white standing next to them.

11 The men said, "You Galileans! Why are you standing, staring into space? This Yeshua, who has been taken away from you into heaven, will come back to you in just the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

12 Then they returned the Shabbat-walk distance from the Mount of Olives to Yerushalayim.

13 After entering the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. The names of the emissaries were Kefa, Ya'akov, Yochanan, Andrew, Philip, T'oma, Bar-Talmai, Mattityahu, Ya'akov Ben-Halfai, Shim'on "the Zealot," and Y'hudah Ben-Ya'akov.

14 These all devoted themselves single-mindedly to prayer, along with some women, including Miryam (Yeshua's mother), and his brothers.

15 During this period, when the group of believers numbered about 120, Kefa stood up and addressed his fellow-believers:

16 "Brothers, the Ruach HaKodesh spoke in advance through David about Y'hudah, and these words of the Tanakh had to be fulfilled. He was guide for those who arrested Yeshua -

17 he was one of us and had been assigned a part in our work."

18 (With the money Y'hudah received for his evil deed, he bought a field; and there he fell to his death. His body swelled up and burst open, and all his insides spilled out.

19 This became known to everyone in Yerushalayim, so they called that field Hakal-D'ma - which in their language means "Field of Blood").

20 "Now," said Kefa, "it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his estate become desolate, let there be no one to live in it'; and 'Let someone else take his place as a supervisor.'

21 Therefore, one of the men who have been with us continuously throughout the time the Lord Yeshua traveled around among us,

22 from the time Yochanan was immersing people until the day Yeshua was taken up from us - one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection."

23 They nominated two men - Yosef Bar-Sabba, surnamed Justus, and Mattityahu.

24 Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen

25 to take over the work and the office of emissary that Y'hudah abandoned to go where he belongs."

26 Then they drew lots to decide between the two, and the lot fell to Mattityahu. So he was added to the eleven emissaries.

Deuteronomy 11

1 "Therefore, you are to love ADONAI your God and always obey his commission, regulations, rulings and mitzvot.

2 Today it is you I am addressing -not your children, who haven't known or experienced the discipline of ADONAI your God, his greatness, his strong hand, his outstretched arm,

3 his signs and his actions which he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his entire country.

4 They didn't experience what he did to Egypt's army, horses and chariots -how ADONAI overwhelmed them with the water of the Sea of Suf as they were pursuing you, so that they remain destroyed to this day.

5 They didn't experience what he kept doing for you in the desert until you arrived at this place;

6 or what he did to Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli'av the descendant of Re'uven -how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households, tents and every living thing in their company, there in front of all Isra'el.

7 But you have seen with your own eyes all these great deeds of ADONAI.

8 Therefore, you are to keep every mitzvah I am giving you today; so that you will be strong enough to go in and take possession of the land you are crossing over to conquer;

9 and so that you will live long in the land ADONAI swore to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 "For the land you are entering in order to take possession of it isn't like the land of Egypt. There you would sow your seed and had to use your feet to operate its irrigation system, as in a vegetable garden.

11 But the land you are crossing over to take possession of is a land of hills and valleys, which soaks up water when rain falls from the sky.

12 It is a land ADONAI your God cares for. The eyes of ADONAI your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

13 "So if you listen carefully to my mitzvot which I am giving you today, to love ADONAI your God and serve him with all your heart and all your being;

14 then, [says ADONAI,] 'I will give your land its rain at the right seasons, including the early fall rains and the late spring rains; so that you can gather in your wheat, new wine and olive oil;

15 and I will give your fields grass for your livestock; with the result that you will eat and be satisfied.'

16 But be careful not to let yourselves be seduced, so that you turn aside, serving other gods and worshipping them.

17 If you do, the anger of ADONAI will blaze up against you. He will shut up the sky, so that there will be no rain. The ground will not yield its produce, and you will quickly pass away from the good land ADONAI is giving you.

18 Therefore, you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all your being; tie them on your hand as a sign; put them at the front of a headband around your forehead;

19 teach them carefully to your children, talking about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up;

20 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates -

21 so that you and your children will live long on the land ADONAI swore to your ancestors that he would give them for as long as there is sky above the earth. (vii & Maftir)

22 "For if you will take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you, to do them, to love ADONAI your God, to follow all his ways and to cling to him,

23 then ADONAI will expel all these nations ahead of you; and you will dispossess nations bigger and stronger than you are.

24 Wherever the sole of your foot steps will be yours; your territory will extend from the desert to the L'vanon and from the River, the Euphrates River, to the Western Sea.

25 No one will be able to withstand you; ADONAI your God will place the fear and dread of you on all the land you step on, as he told you.

26 "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse -

27 the blessing, if you listen to the mitzvot of ADONAI your God that I am giving you today;

28 and the curse, if you don't listen to the mitzvot of ADONAI your God, but turn aside from the way I am ordering you today and follow other gods that you have not known.

29 "When ADONAI your God brings you into the land you are entering in order to take possession of it, you are to put the blessing on Mount G'rizim and the curse on Mount 'Eival.

30 Both are west of the Yarden, in the direction of the sunset, in the land of the Kena'ani living in the 'Aravah, across from Gilgal, near the pistachio trees of Moreh.

31 For you are to cross the Yarden to enter and take possession of the land ADONAI your God is giving you; you are to own it and live in it.

32 And you are to take care to follow all the laws and rulings I am setting before you today.

Deuteronomy 12

1 Here are the laws and rulings you are to observe and obey in the land ADONAI, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess as long as you live on earth.

2 You must destroy all the places where the nations you are dispossessing served their gods, whether on high mountains, on hills, or under some leafy tree.

3 Break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, burn up their sacred poles completely and cut down the carved images of their gods. Exterminate their name from that place.

4 "But you are not to treat ADONAI your God this way.

5 Rather, you are to come to the place where ADONAI your God will put his name. He will choose it from all your tribes; and you will seek out that place, which is where he will live, and go there.

6 You will bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tenths [that you set aside for ADONAI], the offerings that you give, the offerings you have vowed, your voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep.

7 There you will eat in the presence of ADONAI your God; and you will rejoice over everything you set out to do, you and your households, in which ADONAI your God has blessed you.

8 You will not do things the way we do them here today, where everyone does whatever in his own opinion seems right;

9 because you haven't yet arrived at the rest and inheritance which ADONAI your God is giving you.

10 But when you cross the Yarden and live in the land ADONAI your God is having you inherit, and he gives you rest from all your surrounding enemies, so that you are living in safety;

11 then you will bring all that I am ordering you to the place ADONAI your God chooses to have his name live -your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tenths, the offering from your hand, and all your best possessions that you dedicate to ADONAI;

12 and you will rejoice in the presence of ADONAI your God - you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves and the Levi staying with you, inasmuch as he has no share or inheritance with you.

13 "Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings just anywhere you see,

14 but do it in the place ADONAI will choose in one of your tribal territories; there is where you are to offer your burnt offerings and do everything I order you to do.

15 However, you may slaughter and eat meat wherever you live and whenever you want, in keeping with the degree to which ADONAI your God has blessed you. The unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.

16 But don't eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.

17 "You are not to eat on your own property the tenth of your grain, new wine or olive oil [that you set aside for ADONAI], or the firstborn of your cattle or sheep, or any offering you have vowed, or your voluntary offering, or the offering from your hand.

18 No, you are to eat these in the presence of ADONAI your God in the place ADONAI your God will choose -you and your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levi who is your guest; and you are to rejoice before ADONAI your God in everything you undertake to do.

19 As long as you are living on your property, take care not to abandon the Levi.

20 "When ADONAI your God expands your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, 'I want to eat meat,' simply because you want to eat meat, then you may eat meat, as much as you want.

21 If the place which ADONAI your God chooses to place his name is too far away from you; then you are to slaughter animals from your cattle or sheep, which ADONAI has given you; and eat on your own property, as much as you want.

22 Eat it as you would gazelle or deer; the unclean and clean alike may eat it.

23 Just take care not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you are not to eat the life with the meat.

24 Don't eat it, but pour it out on the ground like water.

25 Do not eat it, so that things will go well with you and with your children after you, as you do what ADONAI sees as right.

26 Only the things set aside for God which you have, and the vows you have vowed to make, you must take and go to the place which ADONAI will choose.

27 There you will offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of ADONAI your God. The blood of your sacrifices is to be poured out on the altar of ADONAI your God, and you will eat the meat.

28 Obey and pay attention to everything I am ordering you to do, so that things will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, as you do what ADONAI sees as good and right.

29 "When ADONAI your God has cut off ahead of you the nations you are entering in order to dispossess, and when you have dispossessed them and are living in their land;

30 be careful, after they have been destroyed ahead of you, not to be trapped into following them; so that you inquire after their gods and ask, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I want to do the same.'

31 You must not do this to ADONAI your God! For they have done to their gods all the abominations that ADONAI hates! They even burn up their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods!

32 "Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it.

Job 9

1 Then Iyov responded:

2 "Indeed, I know that this is so; but how can a human win a case against God?

3 Whoever might want to argue with him could not answer him one [question] in a thousand.

4 His heart is so wise, his strength so great -who can resist him and succeed?

5 "He moves the mountains, although they don't know it, when he overturns them in his anger.

6 He shakes the earth from its place; its supporting pillars tremble.

7 He commands the sun, and it fails to rise; he shuts up the stars under his seal.

8 He alone spreads out the sky and walks on the waves in the sea.

9 He made the Great Bear, Orion, the Pleiades and the hidden constellations of the south.

10 He does great, unsearchable things, wonders beyond counting.

11 He can go right by me, and I don't see him; he moves past without my being aware of him.

12 If he kills [people], who will ask why? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'

13 God will not withdraw his anger -even Rahav's supporters submit to him.

14 "How much less can I answer him and select my arguments against him!

15 Even if I were right, I wouldn't answer; I could only ask for mercy from my judge.

16 If I summoned him, and he answered me, I still can't believe he would listen to my plea.

17 He could break me with a storm; he could multiply my wounds for no reason,

18 to the point where I couldn't even breathe -with such bitterness he could fill me!

19 If it's a matter of force, look how mighty he is; if justice, who can summon him to court?

20 Even if I'm right, my own mouth will condemn me; if I'm innocent, it would pronounce me guilty.

21 "I am innocent. Don't I know myself? But I've had enough of this life of mine!

22 So I say it's all the same -he destroys innocent and wicked alike.

23 When disaster brings sudden death, he laughs at the plight of the innocent.

24 The earth has been given to the power of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges -if it isn't he, then who is it?

25 My days pass on more swiftly than a runner; they flee without seeing anything good.

26 They skim by like skiffs built of reeds, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

27 "If I say, 'I'll forget my complaining, I'll put off my sad face and be cheerful,'

28 then I'm still afraid of all my pain, and I know you will not hold me innocent.

29 I will be condemned, so why waste my efforts?

30 Even if I washed myself in melted snow and cleansed my hands with lye,

31 you would plunge me into the muddy pit, till my own clothes would detest me.

32 "For he is not merely human like me; there is no answer that I could give him if we were to come together in court.

33 There is no arbitrator between us who could lay his hand on us both.

34 If he would remove his rod from me and not let his terrors frighten me,

35 then I would speak without fear of him; for when I'm alone, I'm not afraid.

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 9

Acts 2:1-13; Deuteronomy 13-14; Job 10 CJB

Acts 2:1-13

1 The festival of Shavu'ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place.

2 Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them.

4 They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

5 Now there were staying in Yerushalayim religious Jews from every nation under heaven.

6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered; they were confused, because each one heard the believers speaking in his own language.

7 Totally amazed, they asked, "How is this possible? Aren't all these people who are speaking from the Galil?

8 How is it that we hear them speaking in our native languages?

9 We are Parthians, Medes, Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Y'hudah, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,

10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome;

11 Jews by birth and proselytes; Jews from Crete and from Arabia. . . ! How is it that we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great things God has done?"

12 Amazed and confused, they all went on asking each other, "What can this mean?"

13 But others made fun of them and said, "They've just had too much wine!"

Deuteronomy 13

1 "If a prophet or someone who gets messages while dreaming arises among you and he gives you a sign or wonder,

2 and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, 'Let's follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,'

3 you are not to listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. For ADONAI your God is testing you, in order to find out whether you really do love ADONAI your God with all your heart and being.

4 You are to follow ADONAI your God, fear him, obey his mitzvot, listen to what he says, serve him and cling to him;

5 and that prophet or dreamer is to be put to death; because he urged rebellion against ADONAI your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from a life of slavery; in order to seduce you away from the path ADONAI your God ordered you to follow. This is how you are to rid your community of this wickedness.

6 "If your brother the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or your wife whom you love, or your friend who means as much to you as yourself, secretly tries to entice you to go and serve other gods, which you haven't known, neither you nor your ancestors -

7 gods of the peoples surrounding you, whether near or far away from you, anywhere in the world -

8 you are not to consent, and you are not to listen to him; and you must not pity him or spare him; and you may not conceal him.

9 Rather, you must kill him! Your own hand must be the first one on him in putting him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people.

10 You are to stone him to death; because he has tried to draw you away from ADONAI your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery.

11 Then all Isra'el will hear about it and be afraid, so that they will stop doing such wickedness as this among themselves.

12 "If you hear it told that in one of your cities which ADONAI your God is giving you to live in,

13 certain scoundrels have sprung up among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city by saying, 'Let's go and serve other gods, which you haven't known,'

14 then you are to investigate the matter, inquiring and searching diligently. If the rumor is true, if it is confirmed that such detestable things are being done among you,

15 you must put the inhabitants of that city to death with the sword, destroying it completely with the sword, everything in it, including its livestock.

16 Heap all its spoils in an open space, and burn the city with its spoils to the ground for ADONAI your God; it will remain a tel forever and not be built again -

17 none of what has been set apart for destruction is to stay in your hands. Then ADONAI will turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and increase your numbers, as he swore to your ancestors -

18 provided you listen to what ADONAI says and obey all his mitzvot that I am giving you today, thus doing what ADONAI your God sees as right.

Deuteronomy 14

1 "You are the people of ADONAI your God. You are not to gash yourselves or shave the hair above your foreheads in mourning for the dead,

2 because you are a people set apart as holy for ADONAI your God. ADONAI your God has chosen you to be his own unique treasure out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

3 "You are not to eat anything disgusting.

4 The animals which you may eat are: ox, sheep, goat,

5 deer, gazelle, roebuck, ibex, antelope, oryx and mountain sheep.

6 Any animal that has a separate hoof that is completely divided and also chews the cud, these animals you may eat.

7 But you are not to eat those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof. For example, the camel, the hare and the coney are unclean for you because they chew the cud but don't have a separate hoof;

8 while the pig is unclean for you because, although it has a separate hoof, it doesn't chew the cud. You are not to eat meat from these or touch their carcasses.

9 "Of all that lives in the water, you may eat these: anything in the water that has fins and scales, these you may eat.

10 But whatever lacks fins and scales you are not to eat; it is unclean for you.

11 "You may eat any clean bird;

12 but these you are not to eat: eagles, vultures, ospreys,

13 kites, any kind of buzzard,

14 any kind of raven,

15 ostriches, screech-owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk,

16 little owls, great owls, horned owls,

17 pelicans, barn owls, cormorants,

18 storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes and bats.

19 "All winged swarming creatures are unclean for you; they are not to be eaten;

20 but all clean flying creatures you may eat.

21 "You are not to eat any animal that dies naturally; although you may let a stranger staying with you eat it, or sell it to a foreigner; because you are a holy people for ADONAI your God. "You are not to boil a young animal in its mother's milk.

22 "Every year you must take one tenth of everything your seed produces in the field,

23 and eat it in the presence of ADONAI your God. In the place where he chooses to have his name live you will eat the tenth of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, so that you will learn to fear ADONAI your God always.

24 But if the distance is too great for you, so that you are unable to transport it, because the place where ADONAI chooses to put his name is too far away from you; then, when ADONAI your God prospers you,

25 you are to convert it into money, take the money with you, go to the place which ADONAI your God will choose,

26 and exchange the money for anything you want - cattle, sheep, wine, other intoxicating liquor, or anything you please - and you are to eat there in the presence of ADONAI your God, and enjoy yourselves, you and your household.

27 "But don't neglect the Levi staying with you, because he has no share or inheritance like yours.

28 At the end of every three years you are to take all the tenths of your produce from that year and store it in your towns.

29 Then the Levi, because he has no share or inheritance like yours, along with the foreigner, the orphan and the widow living in your towns, will come, eat and be satisfied - so that ADONAI your God will bless you in everything your hands produce.

Job 10

1 "I am just worn out. "By my life , I will never abandon my complaint; I will speak out in my soul's bitterness.

2 I will say to God, 'Don't condemn me! Tell me why you are contending with me.

3 Do you gain some advantage from oppressing, from spurning what your own hands made, from shining on the schemes of the wicked?

4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see?

5 Are your days like the days of mortals? Are your years like human years,

6 that you have to seek my guilt and search out my sin?

7 You know that I won't be condemned, yet no one can rescue me from your power.

8 Your own hands shaped me, they made me; so why do you turn and destroy me?

9 Please remember that you made me, like clay; will you return me to dust?

10 Didn't you pour me out like milk, then let me thicken like cheese?

11 You clothed me with skin and flesh you knit me together with bones and sinews.

12 You granted me life and grace; your careful attention preserved my spirit.

13 "'Yet you hid these things in your heart; I know what your secret purpose was -

14 to watch until I would sin and then not absolve me of my guilt.

15 If I am wicked, woe to me! -but if righteous, I still don't dare raise my head, because I am so filled with shame, so soaked in my misery.

16 You rise up to hunt me like a lion, and you keep treating me in such peculiar ways.

17 You keep producing fresh witnesses against me, your anger against me keeps growing, your troops assail me, wave after wave.

18 "'Why did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died there where no eye could see me.

19 I would have been as if I had never existed, I would have been carried from womb to grave.

20 Aren't my days few? So stop! Leave me alone, so I can cheer up a little

21 before I go to the place of no return, to the land of darkness and death-dark gloom,

22 a land of gloom like darkness itself, of dense darkness and utter disorder, where even the light is dark.'"

[phkrause]

Today's Bible Reading

April 10

Acts 2:14-47; Deuteronomy 15-16; Job 11 CJB

Acts 2:14-47

14 Then Kefa stood up with the Eleven and raised his voice to address them: "You Judeans, and all of you staying here in Yerushalayim! Let me tell you what this means! Listen carefully to me!

15 "These people aren't drunk, as you suppose - it's only nine in the morning.

16 No, this is what was spoken about through the prophet Yo'el:

17 'ADONAI says: "In the Last Days, I will pour out from my Spirit upon everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

18 Even on my slaves, both men and women, will I pour out from my Spirit in those days; and they will prophesy.

19 I will perform miracles in the sky above and signs on the earth below blood, fire and thick smoke.

20 The sun will become dark and the moon blood before the great and fearful Day of ADONAI comes.

21 And then, whoever calls on the name of ADONAI will be saved."'

22 "Men of Isra'el! Listen to this! Yeshua from Natzeret was a man demonstrated to you to have been from God by the powerful works, miracles and signs that God performed through him in your presence. You yourselves know this.

23 This man was arrested in accordance with God's predetermined plan and foreknowledge; and, through the agency of persons not bound by the Torah, you nailed him up on a stake and killed him!

24 "But God has raised him up and freed him from the suffering of death; it was impossible that death could keep its hold on him.

25 For David says this about him: 'I saw ADONAI always before me, for he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.

26 For this reason, my heart was glad; and my tongue rejoiced; and now my body too will live on in the certain hope

27 that you will not abandon me to Sh'ol or let your Holy One see decay.

28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you will fill me with joy by your presence.'

29 "Brothers, I know I can say to you frankly that the patriarch David died and was buried - his tomb is with us to this day.

30 Therefore, since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that one of his descendants would sit on his throne,

31 he was speaking in advance about the resurrection of the Messiah, that it was he who was not abandoned in Sh'ol and whose flesh did not see decay.

32 God raised up this Yeshua! And we are all witnesses of it!

33 "Moreover, he has been exalted to the right hand of God; has received from the Father what he promised, namely, the Ruach HaKodesh; and has poured out this gift, which you are both seeing and hearing.

34 For David did not ascend into heaven. But he says,

35 'ADONAI said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."'

36 Therefore, let the whole house of Isra'el know beyond doubt that God has made him both Lord and Messiah - this Yeshua, whom you executed on a stake!"

37 On hearing this, they were stung in their hearts; and they said to Kefa and the other emissaries, "Brothers, what should we do?"

38 Kefa answered them, "Turn from sin, return to God, and each of you be immersed on the authority of Yeshua the Messiah into forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh!

39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for those far away - as many as ADONAI our God may call!"

40 He pressed his case with many other arguments and kept pleading with them, "Save yourselves from this perverse generation!"

41 So those who accepted what he said were immersed, and there were added to the group that day about three thousand people.

42 They continued faithfully in the teaching of the emissaries, in fellowship, in breaking bread and in the prayers.

43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many miracles and signs took place through the emissaries.

44 All those trusting in Yeshua stayed together and had everything in common;

45 in fact, they sold their property and possessions and distributed the proceeds to all who were in need.

46 Continuing faithfully and with singleness of purpose to meet in the Temple courts daily, and breaking bread in their several homes, they shared their food in joy and simplicity of heart,

47 praising God and having the respect of all the people. And day after day the Lord kept adding to them those who were being saved.

 

Deuteronomy 15

1 "At the end of every seven years you are to have a sh'mittah.

2 Here is how the sh'mittah is to be done: every creditor is to give up what he has loaned to his fellow member of the community -he is not to force his neighbor or relative to repay it, because ADONAI's time of remission has been proclaimed.

3 You may demand that a foreigner repay his debt, but you are to release your claim on whatever your brother owes you.

4 In spite of this, there will be no one needy among you; because ADONAI will certainly bless you in the land which ADONAI your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess -

5 if only you will listen carefully to what ADONAI your God says and take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you today.

6 Yes, ADONAI your God will bless you, as he promised you - you will lend money to many nations without having to borrow, and you will rule over many nations without their ruling over you.

7 "If someone among you is needy, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which ADONAI your God is giving you, you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from giving to your needy brother.

8 No, you must open your hand to him and lend him enough to meet his need and enable him to obtain what he wants.

9 Guard yourself against allowing your heart to entertain the mean-spirited thought that because the seventh year, the year of sh'mittah is at hand, you would be stingy toward your needy brother and not give him anything; for then he may cry out to ADONAI against you, and it will be your sin.

10 Rather, you must give to him; and you are not to be grudging when you give to him. If you do this, ADONAI your God will bless you in all your work, in everything you undertake -

11 for there will always be poor people in the land. That is why I am giving you this order, 'You must open your hand to your poor and needy brother in your land.'

12 "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, he is to serve you for six years; but in the seventh year, you are to set him free.

13 Moreover, when you set him free, don't let him leave empty-handed;

14 but supply him generously from your flock, threshing-floor and winepress; from what ADONAI your God has blessed you with, you are to give to him.

15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and ADONAI your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this order today.

16 But if he says to you, 'I don't want to leave you,' because he loves you and your household, and because his life with you is a good one;

17 then take an awl, and pierce his ear through, right into the door; and he will be your slave forever. Do the same with your female slave.

18 Don't resent it when you set him free, since during his six years of service he has been worth twice as much as a hired employee. Then ADONAI your God will bless you in everything you do.

19 "All the firstborn males in your herd of cattle and in your flock you are to set aside for ADONAI your God; you are not to do any work with a firstborn from your herd or shear a firstborn sheep.

20 Each year you and your household are to eat it in the presence of ADONAI your God in the place which ADONAI will choose.

21 But if it has a defect, is lame or blind, or has some other kind of fault, you are not to sacrifice it to ADONAI your God;

22 rather, eat it on your own property; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, like the gazelle or the deer.

23 Just don't eat its blood, but pour it out on the ground like water.

Deuteronomy 16

1 "Observe the month of Aviv, and keep Pesach to ADONAI your God; for in the month of Aviv, ADONAI your God brought you out of Egypt at night.

2 You are to sacrifice the Pesach offering from flock and herd to ADONAI your God in the place where ADONAI will choose to have his name live.

3 You are not to eat any hametz with it; for seven days you are to eat with it matzah, the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. Thus you will remember the day you left the land of Egypt as long as you live.

4 No leaven is to be seen with you anywhere in your territory for seven days. None of the meat from your sacrifice on the first day in the evening is to remain all night until morning.

5 You may not sacrifice the Pesach offering in just any of the towns that ADONAI your God is giving you;

6 but at the place where ADONAI your God will choose to have his name live - there is where you are to sacrifice the Pesach offering, in the evening, when the sun sets, at the time of year that you came out of Egypt.

7 You are to roast it and eat it in the place ADONAI your God will choose; in the morning you will return and go to your tents.

8 For six days you are to eat matzah; on the seventh day there is to be a festive assembly for ADONAI your God; do not do any kind of work.

9 "You are to count seven weeks; you are to begin counting seven weeks from the time you first put your sickle to the standing grain.

10 You are to observe the festival of Shavu'ot [weeks] for ADONAI your God with a voluntary offering, which you are to give in accordance with the degree to which ADONAI your God has prospered you.

11 You are to rejoice in the presence of ADONAI your God - you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the L'vi'im living in your towns, and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you - in the place where ADONAI your God will choose to have his name live.

12 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt; then you will keep and obey these laws.

13 "You are to keep the festival of Sukkot for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and winepress.

14 Rejoice at your festival - you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the L'vi'im, and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you.

15 Seven days you are to keep the festival for ADONAI your God in the place ADONAI your God will choose, because ADONAI your God will bless you in all your crops and in all your work, so you are to be full of joy!

16 "Three times a year all your men are to appear in the presence of ADONAI your God in the place which he will choose - at the festival of matzah, at the festival of Shavu'ot and at the festival of Sukkot. They are not to show up before ADONAI empty-handed,

17 but every man is to give what he can, in accordance with the blessing ADONAI your God has given you.

18 "You are to appoint judges and officers for all your gates [in the cities] ADONAI your God is giving you, tribe by tribe; and they are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

19 You are not to distort justice or show favoritism, and you are not to accept a bribe, for a gift blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of even the upright.

20 Justice, only justice, you must pursue; so that you will live and inherit the land ADONAI your God is giving you.

21 "You are not to plant any sort of tree as a sacred pole beside the altar of ADONAI your God that you will make for yourselves.

22 Likewise, do not set up a standing-stone; ADONAI your God hates such things.

Job 11

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: 2 “Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated? 3 Will your idle talk reduce others to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock? 4 You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.’ 5 Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you 6 and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin. 7 “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? 8 They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know? 9 Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea. 10 “If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him? 11 Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note? 12 But the witless can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human. 13 “Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, 14 if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, 15 then, free of fault, you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear. 16 You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. 17 Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. 18 You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. 19 You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. 20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp.”