20For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful schemes against those who live quietly in the land. 21They gape at me and say, “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!” 22O LORD, You have seen it; be not silent. O Lord, be not far from me. 23Awake and rise to my defense, to my cause, my God and my Lord! 24Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God, and do not let them gloat over me. 25Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up!” 26May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach. 27May those who favor my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “Exalted be the LORD who delights in His servant’s well-being.” 28Then my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness and Your praises all day long.
New Testament·Mark 3:13–35
13Then Jesus went up on the mountain and called for those He wanted, and they came to Him. 14He appointed twelve of them, whom He designated as apostles, to accompany Him, to be sent out to preach, 15and to have authority to drive out demons. 16These are the twelve He appointed: Simon (whom He named Peter), 17James son of Zebedee and his brother John (whom He named Boanerges, meaning “Sons of Thunder”), 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. 20Then Jesus went home, and once again a crowd gathered, so that He and His disciples could not even eat. 21When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.” 22And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.” 23So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand. 26And if Satan is divided and rises against himself, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. 28Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies, as many as they utter. 29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.” 30Jesus made this statement because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” 31Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came and stood outside. They sent someone in to summon Him, 32and a crowd was sitting around Him. “Look,” He was told, “Your mother and brothers are outside, asking for You.” 33But Jesus replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34Looking at those seated in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35For whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”
Old Testament·Leviticus 7
1“Now this is the law of the guilt offering, which is most holy: 2The guilt offering must be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and the priest shall sprinkle its blood on all sides of the altar. 3And all the fat from it shall be offered: the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, 4both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys. 5The priest shall burn them on the altar as an offering made by fire to the LORD; it is a guilt offering. 6Every male among the priests may eat of it. It must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy. 7The guilt offering is like the sin offering; the same law applies to both. It belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it. 8As for the priest who presents a burnt offering for anyone, the hide of that offering belongs to him. 9Likewise, every grain offering that is baked in an oven or cooked in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who presents it, 10and every grain offering, whether dry or mixed with oil, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron. 11Now this is the law of the peace offering that one may present to the LORD: 12If he offers it in thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil. 13Along with his peace offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of leavened bread. 14From the cakes he must present one portion of each offering as a contribution to the LORD. It belongs to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering. 15The meat of the sacrifice of his peace offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day he offers it; none of it may be left until morning. 16If, however, the sacrifice he offers is a vow or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, but the remainder may be eaten on the next day. 17But any meat of the sacrifice remaining until the third day must be burned up. 18If any of the meat from his peace offering is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who presented it; it shall be an abomination, and the one who eats of it shall bear his iniquity. 19Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it is to be burned up. As for any other meat, anyone who is ceremonially clean may eat it. 20But if anyone who is unclean eats meat from the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people. 21If one touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean, detestable thing, and then eats any of the meat of the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.” 22Then the LORD said to Moses, 23“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘You are not to eat any of the fat of an ox, a sheep, or a goat. 24The fat of an animal found dead or mauled by wild beasts may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. 25If anyone eats the fat of an animal from which an offering made by fire may be presented to the LORD, the one who eats it must be cut off from his people. 26You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings. 27If anyone eats blood, that person must be cut off from his people.’” 28Then the LORD said to Moses, 29“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘Anyone who presents a peace offering to the LORD must bring it as his sacrifice to the LORD. 30With his own hands he is to bring the offerings made by fire to the LORD; he shall bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast as a wave offering before the LORD. 31The priest is to burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. 32And you are to give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from your peace offering. 33The son of Aaron who presents the blood and fat of the peace offering shall have the right thigh as a portion. 34I have taken from the sons of Israel the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution of their peace offerings, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as a permanent portion from the sons of Israel.’” 35This is the portion of the offerings made by fire to the LORD for Aaron and his sons since the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests. 36On the day they were anointed, the LORD commanded that this be given them by the sons of Israel. It is a permanent portion for the generations to come. 37This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, and the peace offering, 38which the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai on the day He commanded the Israelites to present their offerings to the LORD in the Wilderness of Sinai.
Reflect
What do you want to ask God about something you read today?