February 23 Reading through the Bible

LEVITICUS 14:1-57
MARK 6:30-56
PSALM 40:1-10
PROVERBS 10:11-12

LEVITICUS 14:1-57
And the LORD said to Moses, 2 " The following instructions must be followed by those seeking purification from a contagious skin disease. Those who have been healed must be brought to the priest, 3 who will examine them at a place outside the camp. If the priest finds that someone has been healed of the skin disease, 4 he will perform a purification ceremony, using two wild birds of a kind permitted for food, along with some cedarwood, a scarlet cloth, and a hyssop branch. 5 The priest will order one of the birds to be slaughtered over a clay pot that is filled with fresh spring water. 6 He will then dip the living bird, along with the cedarwood, the scarlet cloth, and the hyssop branch, into the blood of the slaughtered bird. 7 The priest will also sprinkle the dead bird's blood seven times over the person being purified, and the priest will pronounce that person to be ceremonially clean. At the end of the ceremony, the priest will set the living bird free so it can fly away into the open fields. 8 " The people being purified must complete the cleansing ceremony by washing their clothes, shaving off all their hair, and bathing themselves in water. Then they will be ceremonially clean and may return to live inside the camp. However, they must still remain outside their tents for seven days. 9 On the seventh day, they must again shave off all their hair, including the hair of the beard and eyebrows, and wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water. Then they will be pronounced ceremonially clean. 10 " On the next day, the eighth day, each person cured of the skin disease must bring two male lambs and one female year-old lamb with no physical defects, along with five quarts of choice flour mixed with olive oil and three-fifths of a pint of olive oil. 11 Then the officiating priest will present that person for cleansing, along with the offerings, before the LORD at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 12 The priest will take one of the lambs and the olive oil and offer them as a guilt offering by lifting them up before the LORD. 13 He will then slaughter the lamb there in the sacred area at the place where sin offerings and burnt offerings are slaughtered. As with the sin offering, the guilt offering will be given to the priest. It is a most holy offering. 14 The priest will then take some of the blood from the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the healed person's right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot. 15 " Then the priest will pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his own left hand. 16 He will dip his right finger into the oil and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD. 17 The priest will then put some of the oil remaining in his left hand on the tip of the healed person's right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot, in addition to the blood of the guilt offering. 18 The oil remaining in the priest's hand will then be poured over the healed person's head. In this way, the priest will make atonement before the LORD for the person being cleansed. 19 " Then the priest must offer the sin offering and again perform the atonement ceremony for the person cured of the skin disease. After that, the priest will slaughter the whole burnt offering 20 and offer it on the altar along with the grain offering. In this way, the priest will make atonement for the person being cleansed, and the healed person will be ceremonially clean. 21 " But anyone who cannot afford two lambs must bring one male lamb for a guilt offering, along with two quarts of choice flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering and three-fifths of a pint of olive oil. The guilt offering will be presented by lifting it up, thus making atonement for the person being cleansed. 22 The person being cleansed must also bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whichever the person can afford. One of the pair must be used for a sin offering and the other for a whole burnt offering. 23 On the eighth day, the person being cleansed must bring the offerings to the priest for the cleansing ceremony to be performed in the LORD's presence at the Tabernacle entrance. 24 The priest will take the lamb for the guilt offering, along with the olive oil, and lift them up before the LORD as an offering to him. 25 Then the priest will slaughter the lamb for the guilt offering and put some of its blood on the tip of the person's right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot. 26 " The priest will also pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his own left hand. 27 He will dip his right finger into the oil and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD. 28 The priest will then put some of the olive oil from his hand on the lobe of the person's right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot, in addition to the blood of the guilt offering. 29 The oil that is still in the priest's hand will then be poured over the person's head. In this way, the priest will make atonement for the person being cleansed. 30 " Then the priest will offer the two turtledoves or the two young pigeons, whichever the person was able to afford. 31 One of them is for a sin offering and the other for a whole burnt offering, to be presented along with the grain offering. In this way, the priest will make atonement before the LORD for the person being cleansed. 32 These are the instructions for cleansing those who have recovered from a contagious skin disease but who cannot afford to bring the sacrifices normally required for the ceremony of cleansing." 33 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 34 " When you arrive in Canaan, the land I am giving you as an inheritance, I may contaminate some of your houses with an infectious mildew. 35 The owner of such a house must then go to the priest and say, ` It looks like my house has some kind of disease.' 36 Before the priest examines the house, he must have the house emptied so everything inside will not be pronounced unclean. Then the priest will go in and inspect the house. 37 If he finds bright green or reddish streaks on the walls of the house and the contamination appears to go deeper than the wall's surface, 38 he will leave the house and lock it up for seven days. 39 On the seventh day the priest must return for another inspection. If the mildew on the walls of the house has spread, 40 the priest must order that the stones from those areas be removed. The contaminated material will then be thrown into an area outside the town designated as ceremonially unclean. 41 Next the inside walls of the entire house must be scraped thoroughly and the scrapings dumped in the unclean place outside the town. 42 Other stones will be brought in to replace the ones that were removed, and the walls will be replastered. 43 " But if the mildew reappears after all these things have been done, 44 the priest must return and inspect the house again. If he sees that the affected areas have spread, the walls are clearly contaminated with an infectious mildew, and the house is defiled. 45 It must be torn down, and all its stones, timbers, and plaster must be carried out of town to the place designated as ceremonially unclean. 46 Anyone who enters the house while it is closed will be considered ceremonially unclean until evening. 47 All who sleep or eat in the house must wash their clothing. 48 " But if the priest returns for his inspection and finds that the affected areas have not reappeared after the fresh plastering, then he will pronounce the house clean because the infectious mildew is clearly gone. 49 To purify the house the priest will need two birds, some cedarwood, a scarlet cloth, and a hyssop branch. 50 He will slaughter one of the birds over a clay pot that is filled with fresh spring water. 51 Then he will dip the cedarwood, the hyssop branch, the scarlet cloth, and the living bird into the blood of the slaughtered bird, and he will sprinkle the house seven times. 52 After he has purified the house in this way, 53 he will release the living bird in the open fields outside the town. In this way, the priest will make atonement for the house, and it will be ceremonially clean. 54 " These are the instructions for dealing with the various kinds of contagious skin disease and infectious mildew,* 55 whether in clothing, in a house, 56 in a swollen area of skin, in a skin rash, or in a shiny patch of skin. 57 These instructions must be followed when dealing with any contagious skin disease or infectious mildew, to determine when something is ceremonially clean or unclean."

MARK 6:30-56
The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and what they had taught. 31 Then Jesus said, " Let's get away from the crowds for a while and rest." There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn't even have time to eat. 32 They left by boat for a quieter spot. 33 But many people saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and met them as they landed. 34 A vast crowd was there as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he taught them many things. 35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, " This is a desolate place, and it is getting late. 36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy themselves some food." 37 But Jesus said, " You feed them." " With what?" they asked. " It would take a small fortune to buy food for all this crowd!" 38 " How much food do you have?" he asked. " Go and find out." They came back and reported, " We have five loaves of bread and two fish." 39 Then Jesus told the crowd to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat in groups of fifty or a hundred. 41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and asked God's blessing on the food. Breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples to give to the people. 42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and they picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. 44 Five thousand men had eaten from those five loaves! 45 Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and head out across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home. 46 Afterward he went up into the hills by himself to pray. 47 During the night, the disciples were in their boat out in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. 48 He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o'clock in the morning he came to them, walking on the water. He started to go past them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the water, they screamed in terror, thinking he was a ghost. 50 They were all terrified when they saw him. But Jesus spoke to them at once. " It's all right," he said. " I am here! Don't be afraid." 51 Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were astonished at what they saw. 52 They still didn't understand the significance of the miracle of the multiplied loaves, for their hearts were hard and they did not believe. 53 When they arrived at Gennesaret on the other side of the lake, they anchored the boat 54 and climbed out. The people standing there recognized him at once, 55 and they ran throughout the whole area and began carrying sick people to him on mats. 56 Wherever he went--in villages and cities and out on the farms--they laid the sick in the market plazas and streets. The sick begged him to let them at least touch the fringe of his robe, and all who touched it were healed.

PSALM 40:1-10
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
3 He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be astounded.
They will put their trust in the LORD.
4 Oh, the joys of those who trust the LORD,
who have no confidence in the proud,
or in those who worship idols.
5 O LORD my God, you have done many miracles for us.
Your plans for us are too numerous to list.
If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds,
I would never come to the end of them.
6 You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.
Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand--
you don't require burnt offerings or sin offerings.
7 Then I said, " Look, I have come.
And this has been written about me in your scroll:
8 I take joy in doing your will, my God,
for your law is written on my heart."
9 I have told all your people about your justice.
I have not been afraid to speak out,
as you, O LORD, well know.
10 I have not kept this good news hidden in my heart;
I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power.
I have told everyone in the great assembly
of your unfailing love and faithfulness.

PROVERBS 10:11-12

The words of the godly lead to life; evil people cover up their harmful intentions. Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love covers all offenses.