Day 80 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 50:1–11

¹The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from where the sun rises to where it sets. ²From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. ³Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him. ⁴He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people: ⁵“Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” ⁶And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah ⁷“Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God. ⁸I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me. ⁹I have no need for a bull from your stall or goats from your pens, ¹⁰for every beast of the forest is Mine— the cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine.

New Testament·Mark 16

¹When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus. ²Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb. ³They were asking one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, even though it was extremely large. ⁵When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ⁶But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here! See the place where they put Him. ⁷But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” ⁸So the women left the tomb and ran away, trembling and bewildered. And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone. ⁹Early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons. ¹⁰She went and told those who had been with Him, who were mourning and weeping. ¹¹And when they heard that Jesus was alive and she had seen Him, they did not believe it. ¹²After this, Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them as they walked along in the country. ¹³And they went back and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. ¹⁴Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. ¹⁵And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.” ¹⁹After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.

Old Testament·Numbers 19–20

¹Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ²“This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer that has no defect and has never been placed under a yoke. ³Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. ⁵Then the heifer must be burned in his sight. Its hide, its flesh, and its blood are to be burned, along with its dung. ⁶The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. ⁷Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean until evening. ⁸The one who burned the heifer must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he too will be ceremonially unclean until evening. ⁹Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept by the congregation of Israel for preparing the water of purification; this is for purification from sin. ¹⁰The man who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he will be ceremonially unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the foreigner residing among them. ¹¹Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days. ¹²He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. ¹³Anyone who touches a human corpse and fails to purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person must be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean, because the water of purification has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him. ¹⁴This is the law when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone already in the tent will be unclean for seven days, ¹⁵and any open container without a lid fastened on it is unclean. ¹⁶Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁷For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water over them. ¹⁸Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain. ¹⁹The man who is ceremonially clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and that evening he will be clean. ²⁰But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. ²¹This is a permanent statute for the people: The one who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. ²²Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”

20In the first month, the whole congregation of Israel entered the Wilderness of Zin and stayed in Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. ²Now there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered against Moses and Aaron. ³The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD! ⁴Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? ⁵Why have you led us up out of Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain, figs, vines, or pomegranates—and there is no water to drink!” ⁶Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. They fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. ⁷And the LORD said to Moses, ⁸“Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.” ⁹So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he had been commanded. ¹⁰Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen now, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” ¹¹Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink. ¹²But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” ¹³These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and He showed His holiness among them. ¹⁴From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to tell the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has befallen us, ¹⁵how our fathers went down to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers, ¹⁶and when we cried out to the LORD, He heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷Please let us pass through your land. We will not cut through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway; we will not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” ¹⁸But Edom answered, “You may not travel through our land, or we will come out and confront you with the sword.” ¹⁹“We will stay on the main road,” the Israelites replied, “and if we or our herds drink your water, we will pay for it. There will be no problem; only let us pass through on foot.” ²⁰But Edom insisted, “You may not pass through.” And they came out to confront the Israelites with a large army and a strong hand. ²¹So Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their territory, and Israel turned away from them. ²²After they had set out from Kadesh, the whole congregation of Israel came to Mount Hor. ²³And at Mount Hor, near the border of the land of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land that I have given the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up Mount Hor. ²⁶Remove Aaron’s priestly garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered to his people and will die there.” ²⁷So Moses did as the LORD had commanded, and they climbed Mount Hor in the sight of the whole congregation. ²⁸After Moses had removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹When the whole congregation saw that Aaron had died, the entire house of Israel mourned for him thirty days.