March 1 Reading through the Bible Day 61

LEVITICUS 24:1-25:46
MARK 10:13-31
PSALM 44:9-26
PROVERBS 10:20-21

LEVITICUS 24:1-25:46
The LORD said to Moses, 2 " Command the people of Israel to provide you with pure olive oil for the lampstand, so it can be kept burning continually. 3 Aaron will set it up outside the inner curtain of the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle and must arrange to have the lamps tended continually, from evening until morning, before the LORD. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be kept by all future generations. 4 The lamps on the pure gold lampstand must be tended continually in the LORD's presence. 5 " You must bake twelve loaves of bread from choice flour, using three quarts of flour for each loaf. 6 Place the bread in the LORD's presence on the pure gold table, and arrange the loaves in two rows, with six in each row. 7 Sprinkle some pure frankincense near each row. It will serve as a token offering, to be burned in place of the bread as an offering given to the LORD by fire. 8 Every Sabbath day this bread must be laid out before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites as a continual part of the covenant. 9 The loaves of bread belong to Aaron and his male descendants, who must eat them in a sacred place, for they represent a most holy portion of the offerings given to the LORD by fire." 10 One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. 11 During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD's name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother's name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. 12 They put the man in custody until the LORD's will in the matter should become clear. 13 Then the LORD said to Moses, 14 " Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. 15 Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished. 16 Anyone who blasphemes the LORD's name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD's name will surely die. 17 " Anyone who takes another person's life must be put to death. 18 " Anyone who kills another person's animal must pay it back in full--a live animal for the animal that was killed. 19 " Anyone who injures another person must be dealt with according to the injury inflicted--20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Whatever anyone does to hurt another person must be paid back in kind. 21 " Whoever kills an animal must make full restitution, but whoever kills another person must be put to death. 22 " These same regulations apply to Israelites by birth and foreigners who live among you. I, the LORD, am your God." 23 After Moses gave all these instructions to the Israelites, they led the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.25:1 WHILE Moses was on Mount Sinai, the LORD said to him, 2 " Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you have entered the land I am giving you as an inheritance, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD every seventh year. 3 For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, 4 but during the seventh year the land will enjoy a Sabbath year of rest to the LORD. Do not plant your crops or prune your vineyards during that entire year. 5 And don't store away the crops that grow naturally or process the grapes that grow on your unpruned vines. The land is to have a year of total rest. 6 But you, your male and female slaves, your hired servants, and any foreigners who live with you may eat the produce that grows naturally during the Sabbath year. 7 And your livestock and the wild animals will also be allowed to eat of the land's bounty. 8 " In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven years times seven, adding up to forty-nine years in all. 9 Then on the Day of Atonement of the fiftieth year, blow the trumpets loud and long throughout the land. 10 This year will be set apart as holy, a time to proclaim release for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you returns to the lands that belonged to your ancestors and rejoins your clan. 11 Yes, the fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year, do not plant any seeds or store away any of the crops that grow naturally, and do not process the grapes that grow on your unpruned vines. 12 It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must observe it as a special and holy time. You may, however, eat the produce that grows naturally in the fields that year. 13 In the Year of Jubilee each of you must return to the lands that belonged to your ancestors. 14 " When you make an agreement with a neighbor to buy or sell property, you must never take advantage of each other. 15 When you buy land from your neighbor, the price of the land should be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller will charge you only for the crop years left until the next Year of Jubilee. 16 The more the years, the higher the price; the fewer the years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests. 17 Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I, the LORD, am your God. 18 " If you want to live securely in the land, keep my laws and obey my regulations. 19 Then the land will yield bumper crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. 20 But you might ask, ` What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?' 21 The answer is, ` I will order my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a bumper crop, enough to support you for three years. 22 As you plant the seed in the eighth year, you will still be eating the produce of the previous year. In fact, you will eat from the old crop until the new harvest comes in the ninth year.' 23 And remember, the land must never be sold on a permanent basis because it really belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenants living with me. 24 " With every sale of land there must be a stipulation that the land can be redeemed at any time. 25 If any of your Israelite relatives go bankrupt and are forced to sell some inherited land, then a close relative, a kinsman redeemer, may buy it back for them. 26 If there is no one to redeem the land but the person who sold it manages to get enough money to buy it back, 27 then that person has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be based on the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. After buying it back, the original owner may then return to the land. 28 But if the original owner cannot afford to redeem it, then it will belong to the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land will be returned to the original owner. 29 " Anyone who sells a house inside a walled city has the right to redeem it for a full year after its sale. During that time, the seller retains the right to buy it back. 30 But if it is not redeemed within a year, then the house within the walled city will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee. 31 But a house in a village--a settlement without fortified walls--will be treated like property in the open fields. Such a house may be redeemed at any time and must be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee. 32 " The Levites always have the right to redeem any house they have sold within the cities belonging to them. 33 And any property that can be redeemed by the Levites--all houses within the Levitical cities--must be returned in the Year of Jubilee. After all, the cities reserved for the Levites are the only property they own in all Israel. 34 The strip of pastureland around each of the Levitical cities may never be sold. It is their permanent ancestral property. 35 " If any of your Israelite relatives fall into poverty and cannot support themselves, support them as you would a resident foreigner and allow them to live with you. 36 Do not demand an advance or charge interest on the money you lend them. Instead, show your fear of God by letting them live with you as your relatives. 37 Remember, do not charge your relatives interest on anything you lend them, whether money or food. 38 I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. 39 " If any of your Israelite relatives go bankrupt and sell themselves to you, do not treat them as slaves. 40 Treat them instead as hired servants or as resident foreigners who live with you, and they will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee. 41 At that time they and their children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clan and ancestral property. 42 The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves. 43 Show your fear of God by treating them well; never exercise your power over them in a ruthless way. 44 " However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. 45 You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, 46 passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way."

MARK 10:13-31
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. 14 But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, " Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God." 16 Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. 17 As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running up to Jesus, knelt down, and asked, " Good Teacher, what should I do to get eternal life?" 18 " Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked. " Only God is truly good. 19 But as for your question, you know the commandments: ` Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. Do not cheat. Honor your father and mother.'" 20 " Teacher," the man replied, " I've obeyed all these commandments since I was a child." 21 Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. " You lack only one thing," he told him. " Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 22 At this, the man's face fell, and he went sadly away because he had many possessions. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, " How hard it is for rich people to get into the Kingdom of God!" 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, " Dear children, it is very hard to get into the Kingdom of God. 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" 26 The disciples were astounded. " Then who in the world can be saved?" they asked. 27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, " Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God." 28 Then Peter began to mention all that he and the other disciples had left behind. " We've given up everything to follow you," he said. 29 And Jesus replied, " I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property--with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life. 31 But many who seem to be important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then."

PSALM 44:9-26
But now you have tossed us aside in dishonor.
You no longer lead our armies to battle.
10 You make us retreat from our enemies
and allow them to plunder our land.
11 You have treated us like sheep waiting to be slaughtered;
you have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold us--your precious people--for a pittance.
You valued us at nothing at all.
13 You have caused all our neighbors to mock us.
We are an object of scorn and derision to the nations around us.
14 You have made us the butt of their jokes;
we are scorned by the whole world.
15 We can't escape the constant humiliation;
shame is written across our faces.
16 All we hear are the taunts of our mockers.
All we see are our vengeful enemies.
17 All this has happened despite our loyalty to you.
We have not violated your covenant.
18 Our hearts have not deserted you.
We have not strayed from your path.
19 Yet you have crushed us in the desert.
You have covered us with darkness and death.
20 If we had turned away from worshiping our God
or spread our hands in prayer to foreign gods,
21 God would surely have known it,
for he knows the secrets of every heart.
22 For your sake we are killed every day;
we are being slaughtered like sheep.
23 Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep?
Get up! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you look the other way?
Why do you ignore our suffering and oppression?
25 We collapse in the dust,
lying face down in the dirt.
26 Rise up! Come and help us!
Save us because of your unfailing love.

PROVERBS 10:20-21
The words of the godly are like sterling silver; the heart of a fool is worthless. The godly give good advice, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense.