Day 78 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 49:1–12

¹Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all inhabitants of the world, ²both low and high, rich and poor alike. ³My mouth will impart wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding. ⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle with the harp: ⁵Why should I fear in times of trouble, when wicked usurpers surround me? ⁶They trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches. ⁷No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God. ⁸For the redemption of his soul is costly, and never can payment suffice, ⁹that he should live on forever and not see decay. ¹⁰For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others. ¹¹Their graves are their eternal homes— their dwellings for endless generations— even though their lands were their namesakes. ¹²But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.

New Testament·Mark 15:1–22

¹Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. ²So Pilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. ³And the chief priests began to accuse Him of many things. ⁴Then Pilate questioned Him again, “Have You no answer? Look how many charges they are bringing against You!” ⁵But to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further reply. ⁶Now it was Pilate’s custom at the feast to release to the people a prisoner of their choosing. ⁷And a man named Barabbas was imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. ⁸So the crowd went up and began asking Pilate to keep his custom. ⁹“Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked. ¹⁰For he knew it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead. ¹²So Pilate asked them again, “What then do you want me to do with the One you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³And they shouted back, “Crucify Him!” ¹⁴“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!” ¹⁵And wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified. ¹⁶Then the soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called the whole company together. ¹⁷They dressed Him in a purple robe, twisted together a crown of thorns, and set it on His head. ¹⁸And they began to salute Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹They kept striking His head with a staff and spitting on Him. And they knelt down and bowed before Him. ²⁰After they had mocked Him, they removed the purple robe and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him. ²¹Now Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus. ²²They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means The Place of the Skull.

Old Testament·Numbers 15–16

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land that I am giving you as a home ³and you present an offering made by fire to the LORD from the herd or flock to produce a pleasing aroma to the LORD—either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, for a special vow or freewill offering or appointed feast— ⁴then the one presenting his offering to the LORD shall also present a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter hin of olive oil. ⁵With the burnt offering or sacrifice of each lamb, you are to prepare a quarter hin of wine as a drink offering. ⁶With a ram you are to prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil, ⁷and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ⁸When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice to fulfill a vow or as a peace offering to the LORD, ⁹present with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of olive oil. ¹⁰Also present half a hin of wine as a drink offering. It is an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ¹¹This is to be done for each bull, ram, lamb, or goat. ¹²This is how you must prepare each one, no matter how many. ¹³Everyone who is native-born shall prepare these things in this way when he presents an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ¹⁴And for the generations to come, if a foreigner residing with you or someone else among you wants to prepare an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he is to do exactly as you do. ¹⁵The assembly is to have the same statute both for you and for the foreign resident; it is a permanent statute for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the LORD. ¹⁶The same law and the same ordinance will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing with you.” ¹⁷Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land to which I am bringing you ¹⁹and you eat the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the LORD. ²⁰From the first of your dough, you are to lift up a cake as a contribution; offer it just like an offering from the threshing floor. ²¹Throughout your generations, you are to give the LORD an offering from the first of your dough. ²²Now if you stray unintentionally and do not obey all these commandments that the LORD has spoken to Moses— ²³all that the LORD has commanded you through Moses from the day the LORD gave them and continuing through the generations to come— ²⁴and if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, then the whole congregation is to prepare one young bull as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and drink offering according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering. ²⁵The priest is to make atonement for the whole congregation of Israel, so that they may be forgiven; for the sin was unintentional and they have brought to the LORD an offering made by fire and a sin offering, presented before the LORD for their unintentional sin. ²⁶Then the whole congregation of Israel and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, since it happened to all the people unintentionally. ²⁷Also, if one person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering. ²⁸And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the person who erred by sinning unintentionally; and when atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven. ²⁹You shall have the same law for the one who acts in error, whether he is a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you. ³⁰But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹He shall certainly be cut off, because he has despised the word of the LORD and broken His commandment; his guilt remains on him.” ³²While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³Those who found the man gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation, ³⁴and because it had not been declared what should be done to him, they placed him in custody. ³⁵And the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.” ³⁶So the whole congregation took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses. ³⁷Later, the LORD said to Moses, ³⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout the generations to come they are to make for themselves tassels for the corners of their garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. ³⁹These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes. ⁴⁰Then you will remember and obey all My commandments, and you will be holy to your God. ⁴¹I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.”

16Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted ²a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 men of Israel renowned as leaders of the congregation and representatives in the assembly. ³They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves! For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” ⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses, He will bring near to Himself. ⁶You, Korah, and all your followers are to do as follows: Take censers, ⁷and tomorrow you are to place fire and incense in them in the presence of the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. It is you sons of Levi who have taken too much upon yourselves!” ⁸Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you sons of Levi! ⁹Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? ¹⁰He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites, but you are seeking the priesthood as well. ¹¹Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?” ¹²Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us? ¹⁴Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!” ¹⁵Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.” ¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. ¹⁷Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the LORD—250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.” ¹⁸So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁹When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation. ²⁰And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” ²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?” ²³Then the LORD said to Moses, ²⁴“Tell the congregation to move away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” ²⁵So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” ²⁷So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants. ²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing: ²⁹If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me. ³⁰But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.” ³¹As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open, ³²and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions. ³³They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. ³⁴At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!” ³⁵And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. ³⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, ³⁷“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the flames and to scatter the coals far away, because the censers are holy. ³⁸As for the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar, for these were presented before the LORD, and so have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.” ³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, ⁴⁰just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his followers. ⁴¹The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!” ⁴²But when the congregation gathered against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. ⁴³Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁴and the LORD said to Moses, ⁴⁵“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown. ⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.” ⁴⁷So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted. ⁴⁹But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah. ⁵⁰Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.