LEVITICUS 22:17- 23:44
MARK 9:30- 10:12
PSALM 44:1- 8
PROVERBS 10:19
And the LORD said to Moses, 18 "Give Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites these instructions, which apply to those who are Israelites by birth as well as to the foreigners living among you. If you offer a whole burnt offering to the LORD, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, 19 it will be accepted only if it is a male animal with no physical defects. It may be either a bull, a ram, or a male goat. 20 Do not bring an animal with physical defects, because it won't be accepted on your behalf. 21" If you bring a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or flock, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, you must offer an animal that has no physical defects of any kind. 22 An animal that is blind, injured, mutilated, or that has a growth, an open sore, or a scab must never be offered to the LORD by fire on the altar. 23 If the bull or lamb is deformed or stunted, it may still be offered as a freewill offering, but it may not be offered to fulfill a vow. 24 If an animal has damaged testicles or is castrated, it may never be offered to the LORD. 25 You must never accept mutilated or defective animals from foreigners to be offered as a sacrifice to your God. Such animals will not be accepted on your behalf because they are defective. "26 And the LORD said to Moses, 27" When a bull or a ram or a male goat is born, it must be left with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering given to the LORD by fire. 28 But you must never slaughter a mother animal and her offspring on the same day, whether from the herd or the flock. 29 When you bring a thanksgiving offering to the LORD, it must be sacrificed properly so it will be accepted on your behalf. 30 Eat the entire sacrificial animal on the day it is presented. Don't leave any of it until the second day. I am the LORD. 31 "You must faithfully keep all my commands by obeying them, for I am the LORD. 32 Do not treat my holy name as common and ordinary. I must be treated as holy by the people of Israel. It is I, the LORD, who makes you holy. 33 It was I who rescued you from Egypt, that I might be your very own God. I am the LORD." 23:1 THE LORD said to Moses, 2 "Give the Israelites instructions regarding the LORD's appointed festivals, the days when all of you will be summoned to worship me. 3 You may work for six days each week, but on the seventh day all work must come to a complete stop. It is the LORD's Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day to assemble for worship. It must be observed wherever you live. 4 In addition to the Sabbath, the LORD has established festivals, the holy occasions to be observed at the proper time each year. 5" First comes the LORD's Passover, which begins at twilight on its appointed day in early spring. 6 Then the day after the Passover celebration, the Festival of Unleavened Bread begins. This festival to the LORD continues for seven days, and during that time all the bread you eat must be made without yeast. 7 On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their regular work and gather for a sacred assembly. 8 On each of the next seven days, the people must present an offering to the LORD by fire. On the seventh day, the people must again stop all their regular work to hold a sacred assembly. "9 Then the LORD told Moses 10 to give these instructions to the Israelites:" When you arrive in the land I am giving you and you harvest your first crops, bring the priest some grain from the first portion of your grain harvest. 11 On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the LORD so it may be accepted on your behalf. 12 That same day you must sacrifice a year- old male lamb with no physical defects as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. 13 A grain offering must accompany it consisting of three quarts of choice flour mixed with olive oil. It will be an offering given to the LORD by fire, and it will be very pleasing to him. Along with this sacrifice, you must also offer one quart of wine as a drink offering. 14 Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until after you have brought this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed wherever you live. 15 "From the day after the Sabbath, the day the bundle of grain was lifted up as an offering, count off seven weeks. 16 Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later, and bring an offering of new grain to the LORD. 17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the LORD as an offering. These loaves must be baked from three quarts of choice flour that contains yeast. They will be an offering to the LORD from the first of your crops. 18 Along with this bread, present seven one- year- old lambs with no physical defects, one bull, and two rams as burnt offerings to the LORD. These whole burnt offerings, together with the accompanying grain offerings and drink offerings, will be given to the LORD by fire and will be pleasing to him. 19 Then you must offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one- year- old male lambs as a peace offering. 20" The priest will lift up these offerings before the LORD, together with the loaves representing the first of your later crops. These offerings are holy to the LORD and will belong to the priests. 21 That same day, you must stop all your regular work and gather for a sacred assembly. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed wherever you live. 22 "When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I, the LORD, am your God." 23 The LORD told Moses 24 to give these instructions to the Israelites:"On the appointed day in early autumn, you are to celebrate a day of complete rest. All your work must stop on that day. You will call the people to a sacred assembly-- the Festival of Trumpets-- with loud blasts from a trumpet. 25 You must do no regular work on that day. Instead, you are to present offerings to the LORD by fire." 26 Then the LORD said to Moses, 27 "Remember that the Day of Atonement is to be celebrated on the ninth day after the Festival of Trumpets. On that day you must humble yourselves, gather for a sacred assembly, and present offerings to the LORD by fire. 28 Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement will be made for you before the LORD your God, and payment will be made for your sins. 29 Anyone who does not spend that day in humility will be cut off from the community. 30 And I will destroy anyone among you who does any kind of work on that day. 31 You must do no work at all! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed wherever you live. 32 This will be a Sabbath day of total rest for you, and on that day you must humble yourselves. This time of rest and fasting will begin the evening before the Day of Atonement and extend until evening of that day." 33 And the LORD said to Moses, 34 "Tell the Israelites to begin the Festival of Shelters on the fifth day after the Day of Atonement. This festival to the LORD will last for seven days. 35 It will begin with a sacred assembly on the first day, and all your regular work must stop. 36 On each of the seven festival days, you must present offerings to the LORD by fire. On the eighth day, you must gather again for a sacred assembly and present another offering to the LORD by fire. This will be a solemn closing assembly, and no regular work may be done that day. 37" These are the LORD's appointed annual festivals. Celebrate them by gathering in sacred assemblies to present all the various offerings to the LORD by fire-- whole burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrificial meals and drink offerings-- each on its proper day. 38 These festivals must be observed in addition to the LORD's regular Sabbath days. And these offerings must be given in addition to your personal gifts, the offerings you make to accompany your vows, and any freewill offerings that you present to the LORD. 39 "Now, on the first day of the Festival of Shelters, after you have harvested all the produce of the land, you will begin to celebrate this seven- day festival to the LORD. Remember that the first day and closing eighth day of the festival will be days of total rest. 40 On the first day, gather fruit from citrus trees, and collect palm fronds and other leafy branches and willows that grow by the streams. Then rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. 41 You must observe this seven- day festival to the LORD every year. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be kept by all future generations. 42 During the seven festival days, all of you who are Israelites by birth must live in shelters. 43 This will remind each new generation of Israelites that their ancestors had to live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I, the LORD, am your God." 44 So Moses gave these instructions regarding the annual festivals of the LORD to the Israelites.
Leaving that region, they [Jesus and his disciples] traveled through Galilee. Jesus tried to avoid all publicity 31 in order to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead." 32 But they didn't understand what he was saying, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant. 33 After they arrived at Capernaum, Jesus and his disciples settled in the house where they would be staying. Jesus asked them, "What were you discussing out on the road?" 34 But they didn't answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. 35 He sat down and called the twelve disciples over to him. Then he said, "Anyone who wants to be the first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else." 36 Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes my Father who sent me." 38 John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn't one of our group." 39 "Don't stop him!" Jesus said. "No one who performs miracles in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. 40 Anyone who is not against us is for us. 41 If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I assure you, that person will be rewarded. 42" But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better to enter heaven with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. 45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better to enter heaven with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It is better to enter the Kingdom of God half blind than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 `where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out. '49 "For everyone will be purified with fire. 50 Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other." 10:1 THEN Jesus left Capernaum and went southward to the region of Judea and into the area east of the Jordan River. As always there were the crowds, and as usual he taught them. 2 Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question:"Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?" 3 "What did Moses say about divorce?" Jesus asked them. 4 "Well, he permitted it," they replied. "He said a man merely has to write his wife an official letter of divorce and send her away." 5 But Jesus responded, "He wrote those instructions only as a concession to your hard- hearted wickedness. 6 But God's plan was seen from the beginning of creation, for `He made them male and female.' 7 `This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, 8 and the two are united into one. 'Since they are no longer two but one, 9 let no one separate them, for God has joined them together." 10 Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought up the subject again. 11 He told them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman divorces her husband and remarries, she commits adultery."
For the choir director:A psalm of the descendants of Korah.
1 O God, we have heard it with our own ears--
our ancestors have told us
of all you did in other days,
in days long ago:
2 You drove out the pagan nations
and gave all the land to our ancestors;
you crushed their enemies,
setting our ancestors free.
3 They did not conquer the land with their swords;
it was not their own strength that gave them victory.
It was by your mighty power that they succeeded;
it was because you favored them and smiled on them.
4 You are my King and my God.
You command victories for your people.
5 Only by your power can we push back our enemies;
only in your name can we trample our foes.
6 I do not trust my bow;
I do not count on my sword to save me.
7 It is you who gives us victory over our enemies;
it is you who humbles those who hate us.
8 O God, we give glory to you all day long
and constantly praise your name.
Interlude
Don't talk too much, for it fosters sin. Be sensible and turn off the flow
