March 8

Matthew 23:25-39

[25] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. [26] You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

[27] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. [28] So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

[29] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, [30] saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ [31] Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. [32] Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. [33] You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? [34] Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, [35] so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. [36] Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

[37] “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! [38] See, your house is left to you desolate. [39] For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Romans 6:1-14

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

[1] What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? [2] By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? [3] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4] We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

[5] For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. [6] We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. [7] For one who has died has been set free from sin. [8] Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. [9] We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. [10] For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. [11] So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

[12] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. [13] Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. [14] For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Psalm 55

Cast Your Burden on the LORD

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.

    [1] Give ear to my prayer, O God,

        and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy! 

    [2] Attend to me, and answer me;

        I am restless in my complaint and I moan, 

    [3] because of the noise of the enemy,

        because of the oppression of the wicked.

    For they drop trouble upon me,

        and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

    [4] My heart is in anguish within me;

        the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 

    [5] Fear and trembling come upon me,

        and horror overwhelms me. 

    [6] And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

        I would fly away and be at rest; 

    [7] yes, I would wander far away;

        I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah 

    [8] I would hurry to find a shelter

        from the raging wind and tempest.”

    [9] Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;

        for I see violence and strife in the city. 

    [10] Day and night they go around it

        on its walls,

    and iniquity and trouble are within it; 

    [11]     ruin is in its midst;

    oppression and fraud

        do not depart from its marketplace.

    [12] For it is not an enemy who taunts me—

        then I could bear it;

    it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—

        then I could hide from him. 

    [13] But it is you, a man, my equal,

        my companion, my familiar friend. 

    [14] We used to take sweet counsel together;

        within God’s house we walked in the throng. 

    [15] Let death steal over them;

        let them go down to Sheol alive;

        for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

    [16] But I call to God,

        and the LORD will save me. 

    [17] Evening and morning and at noon

        I utter my complaint and moan,

        and he hears my voice. 

    [18] He redeems my soul in safety

        from the battle that I wage,

        for many are arrayed against me. 

    [19] God will give ear and humble them,

        he who is enthroned from of old, Selah

    because they do not change

        and do not fear God.

    [20] My companion stretched out his hand against his friends;

        he violated his covenant. 

    [21] His speech was smooth as butter,

        yet war was in his heart;

    his words were softer than oil,

        yet they were drawn swords.

    [22] Cast your burden on the LORD,

        and he will sustain you;

    he will never permit

        the righteous to be moved.

    [23] But you, O God, will cast them down

        into the pit of destruction;

    men of blood and treachery

        shall not live out half their days.

    But I will trust in you.

Numbers 18

Duties of Priests and Levites

[1] So the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. [2] And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. [3] They shall keep guard over you and over the whole tent, but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar lest they, and you, die. [4] They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, and no outsider shall come near you. [5] And you shall keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel. [6] And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the LORD, to do the service of the tent of meeting. [7] And you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

[8] Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due. [9] This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every sin offering of theirs and every guilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. [10] In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you. [11] This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the wave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. [12] All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the LORD, I give to you. [13] The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. [14] Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. [15] Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the LORD, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. [16] And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. [17] But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. [18] But their flesh shall be yours, as the breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours. [19] All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the LORD I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you.” [20] And the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

[21] “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, [22] so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. [23] But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. [24] For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel.”

[25] And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [26] “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe. [27] And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. [28] So you shall also present a contribution to the LORD from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the LORD’s contribution to Aaron the priest. [29] Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the LORD; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ [30] Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. [31] And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. [32] And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’”

Numbers 19

Laws for Purification

[1] Now the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, [2] “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come. [3] And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. [4] And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. [5] And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. [6] And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. [7] Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. [8] The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. [9] And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. [10] And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.

[11] “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. [12] He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. [13] Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.

[14] “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. [15] And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. [16] Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. [17] For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh water shall be added in a vessel. [18] Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. [19] And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean.

[20] “If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. [21] And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. [22] And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.”

Numbers 20

The Death of Miriam

[1] And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there.

The Waters of Meribah

[2] Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. [3] And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD! [4] Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? [5] And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” [6] Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them, [7] and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [8] “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” [9] And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

[10] Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” [11] And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. [12] And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” [13] These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy.

Edom Refuses Passage

[14] Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: [15] how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. [16] And when we cried to the LORD, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. [17] Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from a well. We will go along the King’s Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” [18] But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” [19] And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” [20] But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. [21] Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.

The Death of Aaron

[22] And they journeyed from Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. [23] And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, [24] “Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. [25] Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. [26] And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” [27] Moses did as the LORD commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. [28] And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. [29] And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.