Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Mark 12:29

Numbers 4-5

Numbers 4

Duties of the Kohathites

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families and clans, ³ from 30 to 50 years old, all who enter into the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

⁴ This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting, regarding the most holy things. ⁵ When the camp moves forward, Aaron shall go in with his sons, and they shall take down the veil of the screen, cover the ark of the Testimony with it, ⁶ put a leather covering on it, spread a blue cloth over it, and insert the poles.

⁷ On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth and put on it: the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the pitchers; and the continual bread shall be on it. ⁸ They shall spread a scarlet cloth over them, and cover it with a leather covering, and shall insert its poles.

⁹ They shall take a blue cloth and cover the lamp stand used for light, its lamps, its snuffers, its snuff dishes, and all its oil utensils, with which they minister to it. ¹⁰ They shall put it inside a leather covering with all its utensils and shall put them on a carrying frame.

¹¹ On the golden altar, they shall spread a blue cloth and cover it with a leather covering, and shall insert its poles.

¹² They shall take all the ministry utensils with which they minister in the sanctuary and put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a leather covering, and shall put them on the carrying frame.

¹³ They shall remove the ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth on it. ¹⁴ They shall put on it all its utensils with which they minister: the fire pans, the meat hooks, the shovels, and the basins—all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a leather covering over it, and insert its poles.

¹⁵ When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all its utensils, and the camp is ready to move forward, then, after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it, but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. It is the duty of the sons of Kohath to carry these things belonging to the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁶ The duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the continual grain offering, and the anointing oil, the requirements of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, and the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸ “Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites, ¹⁹ but do this to them so that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint everyone to his service, ²⁰ but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.”

Duties of the Gershonites

²¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²² “Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their clans and families. ²³ You shall count them, everyone who enters in to wait on the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting, from 30 to 50 years old.

²⁴ This is the service of the Gershonite families, in serving and carrying: ²⁵ they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, the leather covering that is on it, the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting, ²⁶ the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the gate of the court which is by the tabernacle and around the altar, their cords, all the instruments of their service, and whatever needs to be done with them. Thus the Gershonites shall so serve.

²⁷ All the Gershonites’ service is to be done at the command of Aaron and his sons. In all their service and in all they carry, you shall appoint their duties and responsibilities to them. ²⁸ This is the service of the families of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting. Their duty shall be under the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Merarites

²⁹ As for the Merari family, you shall count them by their clans and families. ³⁰ You shall count them from 30 to 50 years old—everyone who comes to do service or work of the Tent of Meeting.

³¹ This is the duty of their carrying, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the tabernacle’s boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, ³² the pillars of the court around it, their sockets, their pins, their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service. You shall appoint the responsibilities and duties to each man by name. ³³ This is the service of the Merari family at the Tent of Meeting, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

The Number of the Kohathites

³⁴ Moses, Aaron and the leaders of the congregation counted the Kohathites by their clans and families, ³⁵ from 30 to 50 years old, everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting. ³⁶ Those who were registered by their families were 2,750. ³⁷ These are the ones registered from the Kohathites family, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Number of the Gershonites

³⁸ The Gershon families were registered by clan. ³⁹ from 30 to 50 years old—everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁰ The Gershonites who were registered by their clans and families totaled 2,630. ⁴¹ These are the ones registered from the Gershonite family, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Number of the Merarites

⁴² The Merarite families were registered by clan. ⁴³ From 30 to 50 years old—everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting ⁴⁴ those registered by their families totaled 3,200. ⁴⁵ These are the ones registered from the Merarite family, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁶ Moses, Aaron and the leaders of Israel registered all of the Levites by their families and clans, ⁴⁷ from 30 to 50 years old, everyone who entered into the work of service and carrying in the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁸ Those registered totaled 8,580. ⁴⁹ By the commandment of the Lord, Moses counted everyone according to his service and carrying. This is how he counted them, as the Lord commanded Moses, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted as the Lord commanded Moses.

Numbers 5

Cleansing the Camps

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the Israelites that they put out of the camp, every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever has been made unclean by a corpse. ³ You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they do not defile their camp, where among them I dwell.”

⁴ The Israelites did so, and put them outside of the camp. As the Lord spoke to Moses, so the Israelites did.

Restitution for Trespasses

⁵ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Speak to the Israelites: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against the Lord, and that person is guilty, ⁷ then he shall confess his sin which he has committed, and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, adding twenty percent of its worth to it and give it to him against whom he has trespassed.

⁸ But if the man has no close relative to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to the Lord shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him. ⁹ Every heave offering of all the holy things of the Israelites, which they present to the priest, shall be his. ¹⁰ Every man’s holy things shall be his, whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’ ”

The Adultery Test

¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, ¹³ and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she is not taken in the act; ¹⁴ and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she is defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she is not defiled; ¹⁵ then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring  for her an offering: two quarts of barley. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.

¹⁶ The priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord. ¹⁷ The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

¹⁸ The priest shall set the woman before the Lord and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose and put the grain offering of memorial in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.

¹⁹ The priest shall make her take an oath and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness, being under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse. ²⁰ But if you have gone astray, being under your husband’s authority, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband—” ²¹ then the priest shall make the woman swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord allows your thigh to fall away and your body to swell; ²² and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels and make your body swell and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”

²³ The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness. ²⁴ He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse, and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.

²⁵ The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar. ²⁶ The priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

²⁷ When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people. ²⁸ If the woman is not defiled, but is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive offspring.

²⁹ This is the Law of Jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled, ³⁰ or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife, then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute on her all of this law. ³¹ The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’ ”

Mark 12:28-44

The Greatest Commandment

²⁸ One of the scribes came and heard them reasoning together, and knowing that Jesus had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  This is the first commandment.

³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

³² The scribe said to him, “Truly, teacher, you have spoken well that He is one, and there is none other but he, ³³ and to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding with all the soul and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

No one dared ask him any question after that.

Whose Son is the Christ

³⁵ Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? ³⁶ For David himself said in the Holy Spirit,

‘The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.” ^a

³⁷ Therefore David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?”
The common people listened with delight.

Beware of the Scribes

³⁸ In his teaching he said to them, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes and to get greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹ and the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts: ⁴⁰ those who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive greater condemnation.”

The Poor Widow’s Offering

⁴¹ Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. ⁴² A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, worth less than a penny. ⁴³ He called his disciples to himself, and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, ⁴⁴ for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”

^{a Psalm 110:1}

Psalm 48

Broken Bondage

A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

¹ Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.
² Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion, on the north sides,
the city of the great King.

³ The Lord has shown himself as a refuge in her citadels.
⁴ For the kings assembled,
they passed by together.
⁵ They saw it, and they marveled.
They were troubled and hurried away.
⁶ Trembling took hold of them there,
and pain, like a woman in labor.

⁷ With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.
⁸ As we have heard, so we have seen,
in the city of God of Armies, in the city of our God.
God will establish it forever.

Selah.

⁹ We have thought about your loving kindness, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
¹⁰ As is your name, O God,
so is your praise to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹ Let Mount Zion be glad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.
¹² Circle around Zion, and walk around her.
Count its towers.
¹³ Notice her fortification.
Consider her palaces,
that you may tell it to the next generation.

¹⁴ For this, the Lord is our God, forever and ever.
He will be our guide even to death.

Proverbs 10:26

²⁶ As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes,
so is the sluggard to those who send him.

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