Day 53 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 35:11–19

¹¹Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about. ¹²They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul. ¹³Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered. ¹⁴I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother. ¹⁵But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing. ¹⁶Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me. ¹⁷How long, O Lord, will You look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages, my precious life from these lions. ¹⁸Then I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people. ¹⁹Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.

New Testament·Mark 3:1–12

¹Once again Jesus entered the synagogue, and a man with a withered hand was there. ²In order to accuse Jesus, they were watching to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. ³Then Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, “Stand up among us.” ⁴And He asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” But they were silent. ⁵Jesus looked around at them with anger and sorrow at their hardness of heart. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored. ⁶At this, the Pharisees went out and began plotting with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. ⁷So Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea, accompanied by a large crowd from Galilee, Judea, ⁸Jerusalem, Idumea, the region beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him when they heard what great things He was doing. ⁹Jesus asked His disciples to have a boat ready for Him so that the crowd would not crush Him. ¹⁰For He had healed so many that all who had diseases were pressing forward to touch Him. ¹¹And when the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!” ¹²But He warned them sternly not to make Him known.

Old Testament·Leviticus 5–6

¹“If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity. ²Or if a person touches anything unclean—whether the carcass of any unclean wild animal or livestock or crawling creature—even if he is unaware of it, he is unclean and guilty. ³Or if he touches human uncleanness—anything by which one becomes unclean—even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, he is guilty. ⁴Or if someone swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do anything good or evil—in whatever matter a man may rashly pronounce an oath—even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, he is guilty in the matter. ⁵If someone incurs guilt in one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed, ⁶and he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin he has committed: a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering. And the priest will make atonement for him concerning his sin. ⁷If, however, he cannot afford a lamb, he may bring to the LORD as restitution for his sin two turtledoves or two young pigeons—one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. ⁸He is to bring them to the priest, who shall first present the one for the sin offering. He is to twist its head at the front of its neck without severing it; ⁹then he is to sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood is drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. ¹⁰And the priest must prepare the second bird as a burnt offering according to the ordinance. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven. ¹¹But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he may bring a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering. He must not put olive oil or frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering. ¹²He is to bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful from it as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar atop the offerings made by fire to the LORD; it is a sin offering. ¹³In this way the priest will make atonement for him for any of these sins he has committed, and he will be forgiven. The remainder will belong to the priest, like the grain offering.” ¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹⁵“If someone acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s holy things, he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram from the flock, of proper value in silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering. ¹⁶Regarding any holy thing he has harmed, he must make restitution by adding a fifth of its value to it and giving it to the priest, who will make atonement on his behalf with the ram as a guilt offering, and he will be forgiven. ¹⁷If someone sins and violates any of the LORD’s commandments even though he was unaware, he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. ¹⁸He is to bring to the priest an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock as a guilt offering. Then the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the wrong he has committed in ignorance, and he will be forgiven. ¹⁹It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD.”

6And the LORD said to Moses, ²“If someone sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him or stolen, or if he extorts his neighbor ³or finds lost property and lies about it and swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that a man might commit— ⁴once he has sinned and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost property he found, ⁵or anything else about which he has sworn falsely. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value, and pay it to the owner on the day he acknowledges his guilt. ⁶Then he must bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock. ⁷In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt.” ⁸Then the LORD said to Moses, ⁹“Command Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night, until morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. ¹⁰And the priest shall put on his linen robe and linen undergarments, and he shall remove from the altar the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed and place them beside it. ¹¹Then he must take off his garments, put on other clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place. ¹²The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it must not be extinguished. Every morning the priest is to add wood to the fire, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. ¹³The fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not be extinguished. ¹⁴Now this is the law of the grain offering: Aaron’s sons shall present it before the LORD in front of the altar. ¹⁵The priest is to remove a handful of fine flour and olive oil, together with all the frankincense from the grain offering, and burn the memorial portion on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ¹⁶Aaron and his sons are to eat the remainder. It must be eaten without leaven in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁷It must not be baked with leaven; I have assigned it as their portion of My offerings made by fire. It is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. ¹⁸Any male among the sons of Aaron may eat it. This is a permanent portion from the offerings made by fire to the LORD for the generations to come. Anything that touches them will become holy.” ¹⁹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²⁰“This is the offering that Aaron and his sons must present to the LORD on the day he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. ²¹It shall be prepared with oil on a griddle; you are to bring it well-kneaded and present it as a grain offering broken in pieces, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ²²The priest, who is one of Aaron’s sons and will be anointed to take his place, is to prepare it. As a permanent portion for the LORD, it must be burned completely. ²³Every grain offering for a priest shall be burned completely; it is not to be eaten.” ²⁴And the LORD said to Moses, ²⁵“Tell Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering shall be slaughtered before the LORD; it is most holy. ²⁶The priest who offers it shall eat it; it must be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. ²⁷Anything that touches its flesh will become holy, and if any of the blood is spattered on a garment, you must wash it in a holy place. ²⁸The clay pot in which the sin offering is boiled must be broken; if it is boiled in a bronze pot, the pot must be scoured and rinsed with water. ²⁹Any male among the priests may eat it; it is most holy. ³⁰But no sin offering may be eaten if its blood has been brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it must be burned.