LEVITICUS 25:47-27:13
MARK 10:32-52
PSALM 45:1-17
PROVERBS 10:22
LEVITICUS 25:47-27:13
" If a resident foreigner becomes rich, and if some of your Israelite relatives go bankrupt and sell themselves to such a foreigner, 48 they still retain the right of redemption. They may be bought back by a close relative--49 an uncle, a nephew, or anyone else who is closely related. They may also redeem themselves if they can get the money. 50 The price of their freedom will be based on the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee--whatever it would cost to hire a servant for that number of years. 51 If many years still remain, they will repay most of what they received when they sold themselves. 52 If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, then they will repay a relatively small amount for their redemption. 53 The foreigner must treat them as servants hired on a yearly basis. You must not allow a resident foreigner to treat any of your Israelite relatives ruthlessly. 54 If any Israelites have not been redeemed by the time the Year of Jubilee arrives, then they and their children must be set free at that time. 55 For the people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I, the LORD, am your God. 26:1 " DO not make idols or set up carved images, sacred pillars, or shaped stones to be worshiped in your land. I, the LORD, am your God. 2 You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD. 3 " If you keep my laws and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees will produce their fruit. 5 Your threshing season will extend until the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will extend until it is time to plant grain again. You will eat your fill and live securely in your land. 6 " I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep without fear. I will remove the wild animals from your land and protect you from your enemies. 7 In fact, you will chase down all your enemies and slaughter them with your swords. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath the blows of your weapons.9 " I will look favorably upon you and multiply your people and fulfill my covenant with you. 10 You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to get rid of the leftovers from the previous year to make room for each new harvest. 11 I will live among you, and I will not despise you. 12 I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt so you would no longer be slaves. I have lifted the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk free with your heads held high. 14 " However, if you do not listen to me or obey my commands, 15 and if you break my covenant by rejecting my laws and treating my regulations with contempt, 16 I will punish you. You will suffer from sudden terrors, with wasting diseases, and with burning fevers, causing your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them. 17 I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by all your enemies. They will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you! 18 " And if, in spite of this, you still disobey me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. 19 I will break down your arrogant spirit by making the skies above as unyielding as iron and the earth beneath as hard as bronze. 20 All your work will be for nothing, for your land will yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit. 21 " If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey, I will inflict you with seven more disasters for your sins. 22 I will release wild animals that will kill your children and destroy your cattle, so your numbers will dwindle and your roads will be deserted. 23 " And if you fail to learn a lesson from this and continue your hostility toward me, 24 then I myself will be hostile toward you, and I will personally strike you seven times over for your sins. 25 I will send armies against you to carry out these covenant threats. If you flee to your cities, I will send a plague to destroy you there, and you will be conquered by your enemies. 26 I will completely destroy your food supply, so the bread from one oven will have to be stretched to feed ten families. They will ration your food by weight, and even if you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied. 27 " If after this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me, 28 then I will give full vent to my hostility. I will punish you seven times over for your sins. 29 You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters. 30 I will destroy your pagan shrines and cut down your incense altars. I will leave your corpses piled up beside your lifeless idols, and I will despise you. 31 I will make your cities desolate and destroy your places of worship, and I will take no pleasure in your offerings of incense. 32 Yes, I myself will devastate your land. Your enemies who come to occupy it will be utterly shocked at the destruction they see. 33 I will scatter you among the nations and attack you with my own weapons. Your land will become desolate, and your cities will lie in ruins. 34 Then at last the land will make up for its missed Sabbath years as it lies desolate during your years of exile in the land of your enemies. Then the land will finally rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35 As the land lies in ruins, it will take the rest you never allowed it to take every seventh year while you lived in it. 36 " And for those of you who survive, I will demoralize you in the land of your enemies far away. You will live there in such constant fear that the sound of a leaf driven by the wind will send you fleeing. You will run as though chased by a warrior with a sword, and you will fall even when no one is pursuing you. 37 Yes, though no one is chasing you, you will stumble over each other in flight, as though fleeing in battle. You will have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 You will die among the foreign nations and be devoured in the land of your enemies. 39 Those still left alive will rot away in enemy lands because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors. 40 " But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me. 41 Finally, when I have given full expression to my hostility and have brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their disobedient hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins. 42 Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, with Isaac, and with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 And the land will enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last the people will receive the due punishment for their sins, for they rejected my regulations and despised my laws. 44 " But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out. I, the LORD, am their God. 45 I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of Egypt while all the nations watched. I, the LORD, am their God." 46 These are the laws, regulations, and instructions that the LORD gave to the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.27:1 THE LORD said to Moses, 2 " Give the following instructions to the Israelites: If you make a special vow to dedicate someone to the LORD by paying the value of that person, 3 here is the scale of values to be used. A man between the ages of twenty and sixty is valued at fifty pieces of silver; 4 a woman of that age is valued at thirty pieces of silver. 5 A boy between five and twenty is valued at twenty pieces of silver; a girl of that age is valued at ten pieces of silver. 6 A boy between the ages of one month and five years is valued at five pieces of silver; a girl of that age is valued at three pieces of silver. 7 A man older than sixty is valued at fifteen pieces of silver; a woman older than sixty is valued at ten pieces of silver. 8 If you desire to make such a vow but cannot afford to pay the prescribed amount, go to the priest and he will evaluate your ability to pay. You will then pay the amount decided by the priest. 9 " If your vow involves giving a clean animal--one that is acceptable as an offering to the LORD--then your gift to the LORD will be considered holy. 10 The animal should never be exchanged or substituted for another--neither a good animal for a bad one nor a bad animal for a good one. But if such an exchange is in fact made, then both the original animal and the substitute will be considered holy. 11 But if your vow involves an unclean animal--one that is not acceptable as an offering to the LORD--then you must bring the animal to the priest. 12 He will assess its value, and his assessment will be final. 13 If you want to redeem the animal, you must pay the value set by the priest, plus 20 percent."
MARK 10:32-52
They [the disciples] were now on the way to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with dread and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him in Jerusalem. 33 " When we get to Jerusalem," he told them, " the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. 34 They will mock him, spit on him, beat him with their whips, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again." 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. " Teacher," they said, " we want you to do us a favor." 36 " What is it?" he asked. 37 " In your glorious Kingdom, we want to sit in places of honor next to you," they said, " one at your right and the other at your left." 38 But Jesus answered, " You don't know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of sorrow I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?" 39 " Oh yes," they said, " we are able!" And Jesus said, " You will indeed drink from my cup and be baptized with my baptism, 40 but I have no right to say who will sit on the thrones next to mine. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen." 41 When the ten other disciples discovered what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42 So Jesus called them together and said, " You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. 43 But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. 45 For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many." 46 And so they reached Jericho. Later, as Jesus and his disciples left town, a great crowd was following. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout out, " Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48 " Be quiet!" some of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, " Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, " Tell him to come here." So they called the blind man. " Cheer up," they said. " Come on, he's calling you!" 50 Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. 51 " What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked. " Teacher," the blind man said, " I want to see!" 52 And Jesus said to him, " Go your way. Your faith has healed you." And instantly the blind man could see! Then he followed Jesus down the road.
PSALM 45:1-17
For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah, to be sung to the tune " Lilies." A love song.
1 My heart overflows with a beautiful thought!
I will recite a lovely poem to the king,
for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet.
2 You are the most handsome of all.
Gracious words stream from your lips.
God himself has blessed you forever.
3 Put on your sword, O mighty warrior!
You are so glorious, so majestic!
4 In your majesty, ride out to victory,
defending truth, humility, and justice.
Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds!
5 Your arrows are sharp,
piercing your enemies' hearts.
The nations fall before you,
lying down beneath your feet.
6 Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.
Your royal power is expressed in justice.
7 You love what is right and hate what is wrong.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.
8 Your robes are perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
In palaces decorated with ivory,
you are entertained by the music of harps.
9 Kings' daughters are among your concubines.
At your right side stands the queen,
wearing jewelry of finest gold from Ophir!
10 Listen to me, O royal daughter; take to heart what I say.
Forget your people and your homeland far away.
11 For your royal husband delights in your beauty;
honor him, for he is your lord.
12 The princes of Tyre will shower you with gifts.
People of great wealth will entreat your favor.
13 The bride, a princess, waits within her chamber,
dressed in a gown woven with gold.
14 In her beautiful robes, she is led to the king,
accompanied by her bridesmaids.
15 What a joyful, enthusiastic procession
as they enter the king's palace!
16 Your sons will become kings like their father.
You will make them rulers over many lands.
17 I will bring honor to your name in every generation.
Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever.
PROVERBS 10:22
The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
