Day 55 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 36

¹An oracle is in my heart regarding the transgression of the wicked man: There is no fear of God before his eyes. ²For his eyes are too full of conceit to detect or hate his own sin. ³The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing. ⁴Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil. ⁵Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds. ⁶Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast. ⁷How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings! ⁸They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights. ⁹For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. ¹⁰Extend Your loving devotion to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart. ¹¹Let not the foot of the proud come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. ¹²There the evildoers lie fallen, thrown down and unable to rise.

New Testament·Mark 4:1–21

¹Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore. ²And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said, ³“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.” ⁹Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ¹⁰As soon as Jesus was alone with the Twelve and those around Him, they asked Him about the parable. ¹¹He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables, ¹²so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.’” ¹³Then Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? ¹⁴The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵Some are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶Some are like the seeds sown on rocky ground. They hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷But they themselves have no root, and they remain for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰Still others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, receive it, and produce a crop—thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold.” ²¹Jesus also said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp to put it under a basket or under a bed? Doesn’t he set it on a stand?

Old Testament·Leviticus 8–9

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Take Aaron and his sons, their garments, the anointing oil, the bull of the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, ³and assemble the whole congregation at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.” ⁴So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him, and the assembly gathered at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁵And Moses said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded to be done.” ⁶Then Moses presented Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. ⁷He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him. He tied the woven band of the ephod around him and fastened it to him. ⁸Then he put the breastpiece on him and placed the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece. ⁹Moses also put the turban on Aaron’s head and set the gold plate, the holy diadem, on the front of the turban, as the LORD had commanded him. ¹⁰Next, Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it; and so he consecrated them. ¹¹He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them. ¹²He also poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. ¹³Then Moses presented Aaron’s sons, put tunics on them, wrapped sashes around them, and tied headbands on them, just as the LORD had commanded him. ¹⁴Moses then brought the bull near for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ¹⁵Moses slaughtered the bull, took some of the blood, and applied it with his finger to all four horns of the altar, purifying the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it so that atonement could be made on it. ¹⁶Moses also took all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys and their fat, and burned it all on the altar. ¹⁷But the bull with its hide, flesh, and dung he burned outside the camp, as the LORD had commanded him. ¹⁸Then Moses presented the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ¹⁹Moses slaughtered the ram and sprinkled the blood on all sides of the altar. ²⁰He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces, and the fat. ²¹He washed the entrails and legs with water and burned the entire ram on the altar as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. ²²After that, Moses presented the other ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ²³Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴Moses also presented Aaron’s sons and put some of the blood on their right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he sprinkled the blood on all sides of the altar. ²⁵And Moses took the fat—the fat tail, all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with their fat—as well as the right thigh. ²⁶And from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the LORD, he took one cake of unleavened bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer, and he placed them on the fat portions and on the right thigh. ²⁷He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and waved them before the LORD as a wave offering. ²⁸Then Moses took these from their hands and burned them on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. ²⁹He also took the breast—Moses’ portion of the ram of ordination—and waved it before the LORD as a wave offering, as the LORD had commanded him. ³⁰Next, Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments, as well as Aaron’s sons and their garments. ³¹And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the meat at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons are to eat it.’ ³²Then you must burn up the remainder of the meat and bread. ³³You must not go outside the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are complete; for it will take seven days to ordain you. ³⁴What has been done today has been commanded by the LORD in order to make atonement on your behalf. ³⁵You must remain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and keep the LORD’s charge so that you will not die, for this is what I have been commanded.” ³⁶So Aaron and his sons did everything the LORD had commanded through Moses.

9On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. ²He said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and present them before the LORD. ³Then speak to the Israelites and say, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb—both a year old and without blemish—for a burnt offering, ⁴an ox and a ram for a peace offering to sacrifice before the LORD, and a grain offering mixed with oil. For today the LORD will appear to you.’” ⁵So they took what Moses had commanded to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the whole congregation drew near and stood before the LORD. ⁶And Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.” ⁷Then Moses said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering to make atonement for yourself and for the people. And sacrifice the people’s offering to make atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded.” ⁸So Aaron approached the altar and slaughtered the calf as a sin offering for himself. ⁹The sons of Aaron brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and applied it to the horns of the altar. And he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹⁰On the altar he burned the fat, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver from the sin offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses. ¹¹But he burned up the flesh and the hide outside the camp. ¹²Then Aaron slaughtered the burnt offering. His sons brought him the blood, and he sprinkled it on all sides of the altar. ¹³They brought him the burnt offering piece by piece, including the head, and he burned them on the altar. ¹⁴He washed the entrails and the legs and burned them atop the burnt offering on the altar. ¹⁵Aaron then presented the people’s offering. He took the male goat for the people’s sin offering, slaughtered it, and offered it for sin like the first one. ¹⁶He presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the ordinance. ¹⁷Next he presented the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar in addition to the morning’s burnt offering. ¹⁸Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram as the people’s peace offering. His sons brought him the blood, and he sprinkled it on all sides of the altar. ¹⁹They also brought the fat portions from the ox and the ram—the fat tail, the fat covering the entrails, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver— ²⁰and placed these on the breasts. Aaron burned the fat portions on the altar, ²¹but he waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering before the LORD, as Moses had commanded. ²²Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. And having made the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering, he stepped down. ²³Moses and Aaron then entered the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. ²⁴Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.