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First Reading: Numbers Chapter 5 and 6
Numbers 5
5:1 Ceremonially Unclean Persons Isolated
(cf. Lev 15)
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "Command the children of Israel
that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and
whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. 3 You shall put out both male and female;
you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in
the midst of which I dwell." 4 And the children of Israel did so, and put
them outside the camp; as the LORD spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel
did.
5 Confession and Restitution
(Lev 6:1-7)
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6 "Speak to the children of Israel:'When
a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the
LORD, and that person is guilty, 7 then he shall confess the sin which he has
committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth
of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. 8 But if the man has no relative
to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong
must go to the LORD for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement
with which atonement is made for him. 9 Every offering of all the holy things
of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. 10
And every man's holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest
shall be his.'"
11 Concerning Unfaithful Wives
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 "Speak to the children of Israel,
and say to them: 'If any man's wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward
him, 13 and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of
her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was
no witness against her, nor was she caught 14 if the spirit of jealousy
comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself;
or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife,
although she has not defiled herself 15 then the man shall bring his
wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth
of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense
on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering,
for bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16'And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD. 17 The
priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust
that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 Then the
priest shall stand the woman before the LORD, uncover the woman's head, and
put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of
jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings
a curse. 19 And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, "If
no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while
under your husband's authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a
curse. 20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband's authority,
and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain
with you" 21 then the priest shall put the woman under the oath
of the curse, and he shall say to the woman "the LORD make you a
curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh rot and
your belly swell; 22 and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach,
and make your belly swell and your thigh rot."
'Then the woman shall say, "Amen, so be it."
23'Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them
off into the bitter water. 24 And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water
that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to
become bitter. 25 Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy
from the woman's hand, shall wave the offering before the LORD, and bring it
to the altar; 26 and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, as its
memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the
water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has
defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water
that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell,
her thigh will rot, and the woman will become a curse among her people. 28 But
if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and
may conceive children.
29'This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband's authority,
goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon
a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before
the LORD, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her. 31 Then the man
shall be free from iniquity, but that woman shall bear her guilt.'"
Numbers 6
6:1 The Law of the Nazirite
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the children of Israel,
and say to them: 'When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take
the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, 3 he shall separate
himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from
wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice,
nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat
nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.
5'All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head;
until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD, he
shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. 6 All
the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.
7 He shall not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his
brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his
head. 8 All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the LORD.
9'And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated
head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh
day he shall shave it. 10 Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves
or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting;
11 and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt
offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse;
and he shall sanctify his head that same day. 12 He shall consecrate to the
LORD the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year as
a trespass offering; but the former days shall be lost, because his separation
was defiled.
13'Now this is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his separation are
fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 14
And he shall present his offering to the LORD: one male lamb in its first year
without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without
blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as a peace offering, 15 a
basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers
anointed with oil, and their grain offering with their drink offerings.
16'Then the priest shall bring them before the LORD and offer his sin offering
and his burnt offering; 17 and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace
offering to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall
also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. 18 Then the Nazirite shall
shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall
take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under
the sacrifice of the peace offering.
19'And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened
cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them upon the hands
of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair, 20 and the priest
shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD; they are holy for the priest,
together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering.
After that the Nazirite may drink wine.'
21 "This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the LORD the offering for
his separation, and besides that, whatever else his hand is able to provide;
according to the vow which he takes, so he must do according to the law of his
separation."
22 The Priestly Blessing
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 23 "Speak to Aaron and his sons,
saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:
24 "The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon
you,And be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,And
give you peace."'
27 "So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless
them."
Romans 1
1:1 Greeting
Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to
the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy
Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the
seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with
power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith
among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus
Christ;
7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 Desire to Visit Rome
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is
spoken of throughout the whole world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve
with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention
of you always in my prayers, 10 making request if, by some means, now at last
I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. 11 For I long to see you,
that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established
12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual
faith both of you and me.
13 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come
to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you
also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and
to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am
ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
16 The Just Live by Faith
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to
salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it
is written, "The just shall live by faith."
18 God's Wrath on Unrighteousness
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation
of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by
the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him
as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish
hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed
the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man
and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts,
to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God
for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,
who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged
the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving
the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with
men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of
their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being
filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are
whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors
of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving,
unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that
those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same
but also approve of those who practice them.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
ROMANS
Part 1 of 2
Romans is one of the letters to the new Christian churches written by Paul around 58-60 A.D. It was written before Paul went to Rome and served as his introduction. The believers in Rome were predominately Gentiles although there were some Jewish believers there. Paul begins his letter by showing how all men are sinners in the eyes of God and therefore worthy of death. However, Paul explains that Jesus Christ was the "second Adam" in whom no sin was found, and is able to provide an acceptable covering for men's sin if they accept all that Jesus said and follow after him in their own lives. With this in mind, Paul explains the distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles and the final outcome of all things when the Lord Jesus returns to the earth to establish the Kingdom of God.
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