In the multitude of words, there is no lack of disobedience, but he who refrains his lips is wise. Proverbs 10:19

Leviticus 23-24

Leviticus 23

Feast of the Lord

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The set feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my set feasts:

³ Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work of any kind. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.’ ”

The Passover Feast

⁴ ” ‘These are the set feasts of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season. ⁵ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶ On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ⁷ On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. ⁸ But you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.’ ”

The Feast of First Fruits

⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you have come into the land which I am giving to you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.

¹¹ He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

¹² On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a one year old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³ The grain offering with it shall be four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord for a pleasant aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be one quart of wine.

¹⁴ You must not eat bread, or roasted grain, or fresh grain, until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.’ ”

The Feast of Pentecost

¹⁵ ” ‘You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. ¹⁶ The next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count 50 days, and you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.

¹⁷ You shall bring out of your dwellings, two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of four quarts of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to the Lord. ¹⁸ You shall present with the bread seven one year old lambs without defect, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to the Lord.

¹⁹ You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two one year old male lambs for a sacrifice of peace offerings. ²⁰ The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. ²¹ You shall make a proclamation on the same day that there shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

²² When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not wholly reap into the corners of your field, and you must not gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

The Feast of Trumpets

²³ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there shall be a Sabbath rest for you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵ You shall do no regular work. You shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord.’ ”

The Day of Atonement

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷ “However, the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall afflict your souls and you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ You shall do no kind of work on that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.

²⁹ For whatever soul is not afflicted on that same day shall be cut off from among his people. ³⁰ And whatever person that does any work on that same day, that same person, I will destroy from among his people. ³¹ You shall do no kind of work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³² It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath rest.”

The Feast of Booths

³³ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to the Lord. ³⁵ The first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. ³⁶ Seven days you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. The eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly. You shall do no regular work.

³⁷ These are the appointed feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering, a grain offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day— ³⁸ in addition to the Lord’s Sabbaths, and in addition to your gifts, and in addition to all your vows, and in addition to all your free will offerings, which you give to the Lord.

³⁹ So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. The first day shall be a sabbath rest, and the eighth day shall be a sabbath rest.

⁴⁰ The first day, you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹ You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord seven days a year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

⁴² You shall dwell in temporary booths for seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, ⁴³ that your generations may know that I made the Israelites dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

⁴⁴ So Moses declared to the Israelites the appointed feasts of the Lord.

Leviticus 24

The Oil for the Lamps

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the Israelites, that they bring to you pure oil from pressed olives, to cause the light of the lamp to burn continually. ³ Outside of the veil of the Testimony, in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord continually. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. ⁴ He shall keep in order, the lamps on the pure gold lamp stand before the Lord continually.’ ”

The Showbread

⁵ ” ‘You shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it: four quarts shall be in one cake. ⁶ You shall set them in two rows, six in each row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. ⁷ You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread as a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord. ⁸ Every Sabbath day it shall be set in order before the Lord as an everlasting covenant on behalf of the Israelites. ⁹ It shall be for Aaron and his sons. They shall eat it in a holy place, for, of the offerings of the Lord, it is most holy to him, made by fire as a perpetual statute.’ ”

Shelomith’s Son Blasphemes

¹⁰ Living among the Israelites was a son from an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father. A fight broke out in the camp between this son and an Israelite man. ¹¹ The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name and cursed, and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.

¹² They put him in custody until the Lord’s will should be declared to them. ¹³ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁴ “Take the man who cursed out of the camp and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

¹⁵ You shall speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. ¹⁶ He who blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native-born shall be put to death when he blasphemes the Name.’ ”

An Eye for an Eye

¹⁷ ” ‘He who takes the life of any man shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸ He who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, animal for animal. ¹⁹ If anyone injures his neighbor, it shall be done to him as he has done: ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. It shall be done to him as he has injured someone. ²¹ He who kills an animal shall make it good, and he who kills a man shall be put to death.

²² You shall have one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born, for I am the Lord your God.’ ”

²³ Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they brought him who had cursed out of the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.

Mark 9:30-10:12

Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection

³⁰ They went out from there and passed through Galilee, but Jesus did not want anyone to know about it. ³¹ He was teaching his disciples, and said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and after they have killed him, on the third day, he will rise again.” ³² But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

The Greatest in the Kingdom

³³ He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing among yourselves on the way?”  ³⁴ But they were silent, for they had been discussing with one another along the way, who was the greatest.

³⁵ He sat down and called the twelve disciples, and he said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ He took a little child and set him in the middle of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, does not receive me, but the one who sent me.”

Intolerance Rebuked

³⁸ John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us, casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.”

³⁹ But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name and soon afterward be able to speak evil of me. ⁴⁰ For whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹ For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.”

Temptations and Trespasses

⁴² “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck.

⁴³ If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, ⁴⁴ ‘where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’

⁴⁵ If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that will never be quenched— ⁴⁶ ‘where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’

⁴⁷ If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes and be cast into the fire of hell, ⁴⁸ ‘where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ ^a

⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.”

Mark 10

Jesus’ Teaching about Divorce

¹ He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Again, crowds of people gathered together to him, and as was his custom, he continued teaching them. ² Some Pharisees came and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” They were testing him.

³ He answered, “What did Moses command you?”

⁴ They said, “Moses permitted a certificate of divorce to be written and to send her away.”

⁵ But Jesus said to them, “It was because of the hardness of your heart that he wrote this commandment. ⁶ But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. ⁷ For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and will cleave to his wife, ⁸ and the two will become one flesh so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.”

¹⁰ In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter. ¹¹ He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. ¹² If a woman herself divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” 

^{a Isaiah 66:24}

Psalm 44:1-8

Redeem Us

For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm.

¹ We have heard with our ears, O God.
Our fathers have told us what work you did in their days,
in the days of old.
² By your hand,
you drove out and planted nations.
You afflicted the people
and cast them out.
³ For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your countenance,
because you had favor on them.

⁴ You are my King, O God.
Command victories for Jacob!
⁵ Through you, will we push down our adversaries.
Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us.
⁶ For I will trust, not in my bow,
nor shall my sword save me.
⁷ But you have saved us from our adversaries
and have put to shame, those who hate us.
⁸ In God we boast all the day long,
and your name, forever we praise.

Selah.

Proverbs 10:19

¹⁹ In the multitude of words, there is no lack of disobedience,
but he who refrains his lips is wise.

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