Day 79 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 49:13–20

¹³This is the fate of the self-confident and their followers who endorse their sayings. Selah ¹⁴Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode. ¹⁵But God will redeem my life from Sheol, for He will surely take me to Himself. Selah ¹⁶Do not be amazed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases. ¹⁷For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down. ¹⁸Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul— and men praise you when you prosper— ¹⁹he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of day. ²⁰A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

New Testament·Mark 15:23–47

²³There they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified Him. They also divided His garments by casting lots to decide what each of them would take. ²⁵It was the third hour when they crucified Him. ²⁶And the charge inscribed against Him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁷Along with Jesus, they crucified two robbers, one on His right and one on His left. ²⁹And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰come down from the cross and save Yourself!” ³¹In the same way, the chief priests and scribes mocked Him among themselves, saying, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! ³²Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” And even those who were crucified with Him berated Him. ³³From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. ³⁴At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ³⁵When some of those standing nearby heard this, they said, “Behold, He is calling Elijah.” ³⁶And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine. He put it on a reed and held it up for Jesus to drink, saying, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down.” ³⁷But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last. ³⁸And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹When the centurion standing there in front of Jesus saw how He had breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” ⁴⁰And there were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹These women had followed Jesus and ministered to Him while He was in Galilee, and there were many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him. ⁴²Now it was already evening. Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent Council member who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God, boldly went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, so he summoned the centurion to ask if this was so. ⁴⁵When Pilate had confirmed it with the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶So Joseph bought a linen cloth, took down the body of Jesus, wrapped it in the cloth, and placed it in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where His body was placed.

Old Testament·Numbers 17–18

¹And the LORD said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites and take from them twelve staffs, one from the leader of each tribe. Write each man’s name on his staff, ³and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe. ⁴Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you. ⁵The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.” ⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff—one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. And Aaron’s staff was among them. ⁷Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony. ⁸The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds. ⁹Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff. ¹⁰The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die.” ¹¹So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him. ¹²Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost! ¹³Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to perish?”

18So the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house must bear the iniquity involving the sanctuary. And you and your sons alone must bear the iniquity involving your priesthood. ²But bring with you also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and assist you and your sons before the Tent of the Testimony. ³And they shall attend to your duties and to all the duties of the Tent; but they must not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die. ⁴They are to join you and attend to the duties of the Tent of Meeting, doing all the work at the Tent; but no outsider may come near you. ⁵And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and of the altar, so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again. ⁶Behold, I Myself have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to perform the service for the Tent of Meeting. ⁷But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but any outsider who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.” ⁸Then the LORD said to Aaron, “Behold, I have put you in charge of My offerings. As for all the sacred offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute. ⁹A portion of the most holy offerings reserved from the fire will be yours. From all the offerings they render to Me as most holy offerings, whether grain offerings or sin offerings or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons. ¹⁰You are to eat it as a most holy offering, and every male may eat it. You shall regard it as holy. ¹¹And this is yours as well: the offering of their gifts, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given this to you and your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat it. ¹²I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits. ¹³The firstfruits of everything in their land that they bring to the LORD will belong to you. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat them. ¹⁴Every devoted thing in Israel belongs to you. ¹⁵The firstborn of every womb, whether man or beast, that is offered to the LORD belongs to you. But you must surely redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals. ¹⁶You are to pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your valuation: five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs. ¹⁷But you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You are to sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ¹⁸And their meat belongs to you, just as the breast and right thigh of the wave offering belong to you. ¹⁹All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the LORD for you and your offspring.” ²⁰Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites. ²¹Behold, I have given to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the service of the Tent of Meeting. ²²No longer may the Israelites come near to the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die. ²³The Levites are to perform the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites. ²⁴For I have given to the Levites as their inheritance the tithe that the Israelites present to the LORD as a contribution. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.” ²⁵And the LORD instructed Moses, ²⁶“Speak to the Levites and tell them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present part of it as an offering to the LORD—a tithe of the tithe. ²⁷Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. ²⁸So you are to present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites, and from these you are to give the LORD’s offering to Aaron the priest. ²⁹You must present the offering due the LORD from all the best of every gift, the holiest part of it.’ ³⁰Therefore say to the Levites, ‘When you have presented the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the produce of the threshing floor or winepress. ³¹And you and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere; it is the compensation for your work at the Tent of Meeting. ³²Once you have presented the best part of it, you will not incur guilt because of it. But you must not defile the sacred offerings of the Israelites, or else you will die.’”