February 17 Reading through the Bible - Day 48

LEVITICUS 4:1-5:19
MARK 2:13-3:6
PSALM 36:1-12
PROVERBS 10:1-2

LEVITICUS 4:1-5:19
Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 " Give the Israelites the following instructions for dealing with those who sin unintentionally by doing anything forbidden by the LORD's commands. 3 " If the high priest sins, bringing guilt upon the entire community, he must bring to the LORD a young bull with no physical defects. 4 He must present the bull to the LORD at the entrance of the Tabernacle, lay his hand on the bull's head, and slaughter it there in the LORD's presence. 5 The priest on duty will then take some of the animal's blood into the Tabernacle, 6 dip his finger into the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD in front of the inner curtain of the Most Holy Place. 7 The priest will put some of the blood on the horns of the incense altar that stands in the LORD's presence in the Tabernacle. The rest of the bull's blood must be poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offerings at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 8 The priest must remove all the fat around the bull's internal organs, 9 the two kidneys with the fat around them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver. 10 Then he must burn them on the altar of burnt offerings, just as is done with the bull or cow sacrificed as a peace offering. 11 But the rest of the bull--its hide, meat, head, legs, internal organs, and dung--12 must be carried away to a ceremonially clean place outside the camp, the place where the ashes are thrown. He will burn it all on a wood fire in the ash heap. 13 " If the entire Israelite community does something forbidden by the LORD and the matter escapes the community's notice, all the people will be guilty. 14 When they discover their sin, the leaders of the community must bring a young bull for a sin offering and present it at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 15 The leaders must then lay their hands on the bull's head and slaughter it there before the LORD. 16 The priest will bring some of its blood into the Tabernacle, 17 dip his finger into the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD in front of the inner curtain. 18 He will then put some of the blood on the horns of the incense altar that stands in the LORD's presence in the Tabernacle. The rest of the blood must then be poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offerings at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 19 The priest must remove all the animal's fat and burn it on the altar, 20 following the same procedure as with the sin offering for the priest. In this way, the priest will make atonement for the people, and they will be forgiven. 21 The priest must then take what is left of the bull outside the camp and burn it there, just as is done with the sin offering for the high priest. This is a sin offering for the entire community of Israel. 22 " If one of Israel's leaders does something forbidden by the LORD his God, he will be guilty even if he sinned unintentionally. 23 When he becomes aware of his sin, he must bring as his offering a male goat with no physical defects. 24 He is to lay his hand on the goat's head and slaughter it before the LORD at the place where burnt offerings are slaughtered. This will be his sin offering. 25 Then the priest will dip his finger into the blood of the sin offering, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offerings, and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 26 He must burn all the goat's fat on the altar, just as is done with the peace offering. In this way, the priest will make atonement for the leader's sin, and he will be forgiven. 27 " If any of the citizens of Israel do something forbidden by the LORD, they will be guilty even if they sinned unintentionally. 28 When they become aware of their sin, they must bring as their offering a female goat with no physical defects. It will be offered for their sin. 29 They are to lay a hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place where burnt offerings are slaughtered. 30 The priest will then dip his finger into the blood, put the blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offerings, and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 31 Those who are guilty must remove all the goat's fat, just as is done with the peace offering. Then the priest will burn the fat on the altar, and it will be very pleasing to the LORD. In this way, the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven. 32 " If any of the people bring a sheep as their sin offering, it must be a female with no physical defects. 33 They are to lay a hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offerings are slaughtered. 34 The priest will then dip his finger into the blood, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offerings, and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 35 Those who are guilty must remove all the sheep's fat, just as is done with a sheep presented as a peace offering. Then the priest will burn the fat on the altar on top of the offerings given to the LORD by fire. In this way, the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.5:1 " IF any of the people are called to testify about something they have witnessed, but they refuse to testify, they will be held responsible and be subject to punishment. 2 " Or if they touch something that is ceremonially unclean, such as the dead body of an animal that is ceremonially unclean--whether a wild animal, a domesticated animal, or an animal that scurries along the ground--they will be considered ceremonially unclean and guilty, even if they are unaware of their defilement. 3 " Or if they come into contact with any source of human defilement, even if they don't realize they have been defiled, they will be considered guilty as soon as they become aware of it. 4 " Or if they make a rash vow of any kind, whether its purpose is for good or bad, they will be considered guilty even if they were not fully aware of what they were doing at the time. 5 " When any of the people become aware of their guilt in any of these ways, they must confess their sin 6 and bring to the LORD as their penalty a female from the flock, either a sheep or a goat. This will be a sin offering to remove their sin, and the priest will make atonement for them. 7 " If any of them cannot afford to bring a sheep, they must bring to the LORD two young turtledoves or two young pigeons as the penalty for their sin. One of the birds will be a sin offering, and the other will be a burnt offering. 8 They must bring them to the priest, who will offer one of the birds as the sin offering. The priest will wring its neck but without severing its head from the body. 9 Then he will sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering against the sides of the altar, and the rest will be drained out at the base of the altar. 10 The priest will offer the second bird as a whole burnt offering, following all the procedures that have been prescribed. In this way, the priest will make atonement for those who are guilty, and they will be forgiven. 11 " If any of the people cannot afford to bring young turtledoves or pigeons, they must bring two quarts of choice flour for their sin offering. Since it is a sin offering, they must not mix it with olive oil or put any incense on it. 12 They must take the flour to the priest, who will scoop out a handful as a token portion. He will burn this flour on the altar just like any other offering given to the LORD by fire. This will be their sin offering. 13 In this way, the priest will make atonement for those who are guilty, and they will be forgiven. The rest of the flour will belong to the priest, just as with the grain offering." 14 Then the LORD said to Moses, 15 " If any of the people sin by unintentionally defiling the LORD's sacred property, they must bring to the LORD a ram from the flock as their guilt offering. The animal must have no physical defects, and it must be of the proper value in silver as measured by the standard sanctuary shekel. 16 They must then make restitution for whatever holy things they have defiled by paying for the loss, plus an added penalty of 20 percent. When they give their payments to the priest, he will make atonement for them with the ram sacrificed as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven. 17 " If any of them sin by doing something forbidden by the LORD, even if it is done unintentionally, they will be held responsible. When they become aware of their guilt, 18 they must bring to the priest a ram from the flock as a guilt offering. The animal must have no physical defects, and it must be of the proper value. In this way, the priest will make atonement for those who are guilty, and they will be forgiven. 19 This is a guilt offering, for they have been guilty of an offense against the LORD."

MARK 2:13-3:6
Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that gathered around him. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax-collection booth. " Come, be my disciple," Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him. 15 That night Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus.) 16 But when some of the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with people like that, they said to his disciples, " Why does he eat with such scum?" 17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, " Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough." 18 John's disciples and the Pharisees sometimes fasted. One day some people came to Jesus and asked, " Why do John's disciples and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don't fast?" 19 Jesus replied, " Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can't fast while they are with the groom. 20 But someday he will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 21 And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the new patch shrinks and pulls away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger hole than before. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine needs new wineskins." 23 One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of wheat. 24 But the Pharisees said to Jesus, " They shouldn't be doing that! It's against the law to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath." 25 But Jesus replied, " Haven't you ever read in the Scriptures what King David did when he and his companions were hungry? 26 He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest), ate the special bread reserved for the priests alone, and then gave some to his companions. That was breaking the law, too." 27 Then he said to them, " The Sabbath was made to benefit people, and not people to benefit the Sabbath. 28 And I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath!"3:1 JESUS went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. 2 Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus' enemies watched him closely. Would he heal the man's hand on the Sabbath? If he did, they planned to condemn him. 3 Jesus said to the man, " Come and stand in front of everyone." 4 Then he turned to his critics and asked, " Is it legal to do good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing harm? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?" But they wouldn't answer him. 5 He looked around at them angrily, because he was deeply disturbed by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, " Reach out your hand." The man reached out his hand, and it became normal again! 6 At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to discuss plans for killing Jesus.

PSALM 36:1-12
For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the LORD.
1 Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts.
They have no fear of God to restrain them.
2 In their blind conceit,
they cannot see how wicked they really are.
3 Everything they say is crooked and deceitful.
They refuse to act wisely or do what is good.
4 They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots.
Their course of action is never good.
They make no attempt to turn from evil.
5 Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the ocean depths.
You care for people and animals alike, O LORD.
7 How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter
in the shadow of your wings.
8 You feed them from the abundance of your own house,
letting them drink from your rivers of delight.
9 For you are the fountain of life,
the light by which we see.
10 Pour out your unfailing love on those who love you;
give justice to those with honest hearts.
11 Don't let the proud trample me;
don't let the wicked push me around.
12 Look! They have fallen!
They have been thrown down, never to rise again.

PROVERBS 10:1-2
The proverbs of Solomon: A wise child> brings joy to a father; a foolish child brings grief to a mother. Ill-gotten gain has no lasting value, but right living can save your life.