Day 52 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 35:1–10

¹Contend with my opponents, O LORD; fight against those who fight against me. ²Take up Your shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid. ³Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers; say to my soul: “I am your salvation.” ⁴May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plan to harm me be driven back and confounded. ⁵May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the LORD drives them away. ⁶May their path be dark and slick, as the angel of the LORD pursues. ⁷For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul. ⁸May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created. ⁹Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and exult in His salvation. ¹⁰All my bones will exclaim, “Who is like You, O LORD, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?”

New Testament·Mark 2

¹A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum. And when the people heard that He was home, ²they gathered in such large numbers that there was no more room, not even outside the door, as Jesus spoke the word to them. ³Then a paralytic was brought to Him, carried by four men. ⁴Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat. ⁵When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁸At once Jesus knew in His spirit that they were thinking this way within themselves. “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?” He asked. ⁹“Which is easier: to say to a paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? ¹⁰But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic, ¹¹“I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.” ¹²And immediately the man got up, picked up his mat, and walked out in front of them all. As a result, they were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” ¹³Once again Jesus went out beside the sea. All the people came to Him, and He taught them there. ¹⁴As He was walking along, He saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Levi got up and followed Him. ¹⁵While Jesus was dining at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples—for there were many who followed Him. ¹⁶When the scribes who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with these people, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” ¹⁸Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were often fasting. So people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t Your disciples fast like John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees?” ¹⁹Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? As long as He is with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. ²¹No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, and a worse tear will result. ²²And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.” ²³One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain as they walked along. ²⁴So the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵Jesus replied, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶During the high priesthood of Abiathar, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was lawful only for the priests. And he gave some to his companions as well.” ²⁷Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Old Testament·Leviticus 2–4

¹“When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, his offering must consist of fine flour. He is to pour olive oil on it, put frankincense on it, ²and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil, together with all the frankincense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ³The remainder of the grain offering shall belong to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the LORD. ⁴Now if you bring an offering of grain baked in an oven, it must consist of fine flour, either unleavened cakes mixed with oil or unleavened wafers coated with oil. ⁵If your offering is a grain offering prepared on a griddle, it must be unleavened bread made of fine flour mixed with oil. ⁶Crumble it and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. ⁷If your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it must consist of fine flour with oil. ⁸When you bring to the LORD the grain offering made in any of these ways, it is to be presented to the priest, and he shall take it to the altar. ⁹The priest is to remove the memorial portion from the grain offering and burn it on the altar as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ¹⁰But the remainder of the grain offering shall belong to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the LORD. ¹¹No grain offering that you present to the LORD may be made with leaven, for you are not to burn any leaven or honey as an offering made by fire to the LORD. ¹²You may bring them to the LORD as an offering of firstfruits, but they are not to be offered on the altar as a pleasing aroma. ¹³And you shall season each of your grain offerings with salt. You must not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offering; you are to add salt to each of your offerings. ¹⁴If you bring a grain offering of firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer crushed heads of new grain roasted on the fire. ¹⁵And you are to put oil and frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. ¹⁶The priest shall then burn the memorial portion of the crushed grain and the oil, together with all its frankincense, as an offering made by fire to the LORD.

3“If one’s offering is a peace offering and he offers an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he must present it without blemish before the LORD. ²He is to lay his hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood on all sides of the altar. ³From the peace offering he is to bring an offering made by fire to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ⁴both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ⁵Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar atop the burnt offering that is on the burning wood, as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ⁶If, however, one’s peace offering to the LORD is from the flock, he must present a male or female without blemish. ⁷If he is presenting a lamb for his offering, he must present it before the LORD. ⁸He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle its blood on all sides of the altar. ⁹And from the peace offering he shall bring an offering made by fire to the LORD consisting of its fat: the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ¹⁰both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ¹¹Then the priest is to burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire to the LORD. ¹²If one’s offering is a goat, he is to present it before the LORD. ¹³He must lay his hand on its head and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle its blood on all sides of the altar. ¹⁴And from his offering he shall present an offering made by fire to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ¹⁵both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ¹⁶Then the priest is to burn the food on the altar as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD’s. ¹⁷This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”

4Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Tell the Israelites to do as follows with one who sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s commandments and does what is forbidden by them: ³If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. ⁴He must bring the bull to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and slaughter it before the LORD. ⁵Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the Tent of Meeting. ⁶The priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. ⁷The priest must then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. And he is to pour out the rest of the bull’s blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁸Then he shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering—the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ⁹both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys— ¹⁰just as the fat is removed from the ox of the peace offering. Then the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. ¹¹But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, with its head and legs and its entrails and dung— ¹²all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place where the ashes are poured out, and there he must burn it on a wood fire on the ash heap. ¹³Now if the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly so that they violate any of the LORD’s commandments and incur guilt by doing what is forbidden, ¹⁴when they become aware of the sin they have committed, then the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁵The elders of the congregation are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the LORD, and it shall be slaughtered before the LORD. ¹⁶Then the anointed priest is to bring some of the bull’s blood into the Tent of Meeting, ¹⁷and he is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD in front of the veil. ¹⁸He is also to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting, and he must pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁹And he is to remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. ²⁰He shall offer this bull just as he did the bull for the sin offering; in this way the priest will make atonement on their behalf, and they will be forgiven. ²¹Then he is to take the bull outside the camp and burn it, just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly. ²²When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is prohibited by any of the commandments of the LORD his God, he incurs guilt. ²³When he becomes aware of the sin he has committed, he must bring an unblemished male goat as his offering. ²⁴He is to lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the LORD. It is a sin offering. ²⁵Then the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ²⁶He must burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the peace offerings; thus the priest will make atonement for that man’s sin, and he will be forgiven. ²⁷And if one of the common people sins unintentionally and does what is prohibited by any of the LORD’s commandments, he incurs guilt. ²⁸When he becomes aware of the sin he has committed, he must bring an unblemished female goat as his offering for that sin. ²⁹He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. ³⁰Then the priest is to take some of its blood with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ³¹Then he is to remove all the fat, just as it is removed from the peace offering, and the priest is to burn it on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. ³²If, however, he brings a lamb as a sin offering, he must bring an unblemished female. ³³And he is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. ³⁴Then the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. ³⁵And he shall remove all the fat, just as the fat of the lamb is removed from the peace offerings, and he shall burn it on the altar along with the offerings made by fire to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.