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.
[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
[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
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
[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
[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
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
